Difference between revisions of "Wood-fired generator"

Latest revision as of 12:48, 27 September 2024

A wood-fired generator is a power source that runs by burning wood as fuel, producing some heat as a byproduct.

Acquisition[edit]

Wood-fired generators can be constructed once the electricity research project has been completed. Each requires 100 Steel, 2 Components, 2,500 ticks (41.67 secs) of work modified by the construction speed of the builder, and a construction skill of 4.

Once constructed, they cannot be re-installed, they can only be deconstructed.

Summary[edit]

The wood-fired generator consumes 22 wood per day and generates a constant 1000W as long as it is switched on and fueled. It can hold up to 75 fuel at a time, for a maximum run time of 3.27 days. Fuel consumption is not dependent on how much power is actually drawn. Fuel has to be delivered to the generator by a hauler colonist. It can be switched off; in the off state it will neither consume fuel nor produce power.

It outputs light in a 6 tile radius, with the nearest 3.442 tiles being above 50% light level and considered lit. Note that the light source is centered at the bottom-left tile of the generator, rather than the "true" center of the generator. It heats at a rate of 6 heat per second^{^{[Exact mechanic unclear]}}.

Analysis[edit]

Wood-fired generators incur considerable labor costs for chopping and hauling wood, but provide an improvement from neolithic technology. They can make a decent source of consistent, earlygame power.

Wood powered appliances[edit]

A variety of buildings are powered directly by wood, such as campfires and torch lamps. It is significantly more efficient to fuel a generator and run the electric equivalents, if all 1000 W of power is used. The generator does not scale with power use, so if power is wasted, then fueled versions may be superior. In addition, electric buildings require more infrastructure, and are vulnerable to solar flares and other interruptions.

Wood-powered appliance	Wood per day	Electric equivalent	Equivalent wood per day^[1]
Campfire^[2] (roofed)	10	Heater^[2]	3.85
Passive cooler^[2]	10	Cooler^[2]	4.4
Fueled stove	160^[Verify]	Electric stove^[3]	7.7
Fueled smithy	?^[Detail]	Electric smithy^[3]	4.62
Torch lamp (roofed)	2	Standing lamp^[4]	0.66

↑ Equivalent wood per day is assuming is the percentage of a wood fired generator power generation multiplied by the generators wood consumption. Note that this assumes that the generators entire production capacity is used.
↑ ^2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 Campfires and passive coolers regulate temperature at the same rate as heaters and coolers, but have a maximum/minimum temperature. In addition, both campfires and passive coolers are unable to be turned off, consuming wood until none is left.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 Fueled stoves and smithies only consume power when being actively worked, while electric stoves and smithies have to manually toggled off to save power. This comparison assumes they are on for the same length of time.
↑ Standing lamps don't produce heat, unlike torch lamps, but light a larger area. This also does not include the effect of the Advanced lights halving the power consumption.

Wind turbines[edit]

Wind turbines are also unlocked via researching Electricity. They require no labor to maintain, but do require a large amount of space free of structures and trees. This can make them difficult to defend, and completely unsuitable in certain base layouts. Wind turbine power output is variable, realistically forcing the construction of batteries to smooth out periods of low power production.

If you have both wind and wood-fired generators, there's no reason why you can't use both at the same time. You can use wood when wind power is low, turning off the generator when extra power isn't required.

Chemfuel powered generators[edit]

A chemfuel powered generator is generally more efficient in terms of both wood and work. However, it is difficult to obtain chemfuel in the earlygame.

Each chemfuel generator generates 1,000 W of power. Assuming the colony is running a biofuel refinery to make chemfuel from wood, each consumes 9 wood per day and an extra 257 ticks (4.28 secs) of work. Powering the biofuel refinery takes -170 W of power, but takes only 2,000 ticks (0.8 in-game hours) to produce enough fuel for 3.89 in-game days of fuel, or on average equivalent of a constant load of only 1.46 W.

The extra 257 ticks (4.28 secs) of work is not nothing, but the reduced wood saves at least 390 ticks (6.5 secs) of work in tree cutting work, assuming the most efficient harvest tree and that the tree doesn't have to be planted first. This means that a pawn requires a Plant Work Speed of 152% (Plants skill 13) to make it more work efficient to use the wood fired generator, and this increases to a massive 489% speed if the tree has to be planted as well. This also ignores walking distance; the wood-fired generator often forces colonists to walk further as more trees are harvested.

Also, you can make chemfuel out of raw food; corn or even rice take much less work to cultivate than trees, while taking up less space. Meanwhile, insect meat can be extremely plentiful and used all the same. Finally, boomalopes can create chemfuel from grass, which takes no work to grow.

The only disadvantage of chemfuel generators is that they require chemfuel. Biofuel Refining costs 700 points of research. Boomalopes require you to tame / buy the boomalopes in the first place. Provided you can make chemfuel, the chemfuel generator is strictly better.

Version history[edit]

0.13.1135 - Added.
0.15.1279 - Fueled generator will consume fuel faster. Fuel duration 5 days -> 3 days 9 hours.
Beta 18 - Name changed from fueled generator to wood-fired generator to prevent ambiguity with the Chemfuel powered generator, which was added in the same update. No other changes made.
1.1.0 - Refueling is now toggleable.

Architect

Power: Power conduit (Hidden, Waterproof) • Power switch • Wood-fired generator • Chemfuel powered generator • Wind turbine
(research): Battery • Geothermal generator • Solar generator • Watermill generator • Toxifier generator • Bioferrite generator
(uncraftable): Vanometric power cell • Unstable power cell
Related: Ship reactor • Electroharvester

[1] Equivalent wood per day is assuming is the percentage of a wood fired generator power generation multiplied by the generators wood consumption. Note that this assumes that the generators entire production capacity is used.

[temperature-2] 2.0 ^2.1 ^2.2 ^2.3 Campfires and passive coolers regulate temperature at the same rate as heaters and coolers, but have a maximum/minimum temperature. In addition, both campfires and passive coolers are unable to be turned off, consuming wood until none is left.

[production-3] 3.0 ^3.1 Fueled stoves and smithies only consume power when being actively worked, while electric stoves and smithies have to manually toggled off to save power. This comparison assumes they are on for the same length of time.

[4] Standing lamps don't produce heat, unlike torch lamps, but light a larger area. This also does not include the effect of the Advanced lights halving the power consumption.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-{{Stub}}{{infobox main|building|
+{{Infobox main|building
-|name = Wood-fired generator
+| name = Wood-fired generator
-|image = fueledgenerator.png|128px{{!}} Fueled generator
+| image = fueledgenerator.png
-|description = Produces power by consuming wood. Must be periodically loaded with wood fuel by hand.
+| description = Produces power by consuming wood. Must be periodically loaded with wood fuel by hand.
-|type = Building
+| type = Building
-|type2 = Power
+| type2 = Power
-|placeable = true
+| placeable = true
-|path cost = 50
+| path cost = 50
-|passability = pass through only
+| passability = pass through only
-|blockswind = true
+| blockswind = true
-|cover = 1
+| cover = 1
-|minifiable = false
+| minifiable = false
-|size = 2 ˣ 2
+| size = 2 ˣ 2
-|flammability = 1
+| flammability = 1
-|hp = 300
+| hp = 300
-|beauty = -20
+| beauty = -20
-|power = 1000
+| power = 1000
-|glowradius = 6
+| glowradius = 6
-|glowcolor = (217, 112, 33)
+| glowcolor = (217, 112, 33)
-|heatpersecond = 6
+| heatpersecond = 6
-|terrain affordance = medium
+| terrain affordance = medium
-|research = Electricity
+| research = Electricity
-|skill 1 = Construction
+| skill 1 = Construction
-|skill 1 level = 4
+| skill 1 level = 4
-|work to make = 2500
+| work to make = 2500
-|resource 1 = Steel
+| resource 1 = Steel
-|resource 1 amount = 100
+| resource 1 amount = 100
-|resource 2 = Component
+| resource 2 = Component
-|resource 2 amount = 2
+| resource 2 amount = 2
-}}{{Info|A '''wood-fired generator''' is a power source that runs by burning [[wood]] as fuel. Holds up to 75 wood max, and consumes it at a rate 22 per day for a constant supply of {{P|Power Consumption}}W for roughly 3 days and 9 hours before running out. It also produces a slight amount of heat and light while running as secondary effect and thus should not be placed in or adjacent to spaces you want to cool. }}
+| fuel filter = Wood
+| fuel capacity = 75.0
+| fuel consumption rate = 22.0
+}}
+A '''wood-fired generator''' is a power source that runs by burning [[wood]] as fuel, producing some [[temperature|heat]] as a byproduct.
-==Acquisition==
+== Acquisition ==
-Wood-fired generators can be built once [[Research#Electricity|Electricity]] is researched. Each generator requires {{Required Resources}}, {{ticks|{{P|Work To Make}}}} of work, and a [[construction]] skill of {{P|Skill 1 Level}}.
+{{Acquisition}}
-==Summary==
+== Summary ==
-The wood-fired generator consumes {{icon small|wood}} 22 [[wood]] per day and generates a constant 1000W as long as it is switched on and fueled. It can hold up to 75 fuel at a time, for a maximum run time of 3.27 days. Fuel consumption is not dependent on how much power is actually drawn.  Fuel has to be delivered to the generator by a [[Menus#Work_types|hauler colonists]]. It can be switched off; in the off state it will neither consume fuel nor produce power.
+The wood-fired generator consumes {{Icon Small|wood}} 22 [[wood]] per day and generates a constant 1000W as long as it is switched on and fueled. It can hold up to 75 fuel at a time, for a maximum run time of 3.27 days. Fuel consumption is not dependent on how much power is actually drawn.  Fuel has to be delivered to the generator by a [[Work#Haul|hauler colonist]]. It can be switched off; in the off state it will neither consume fuel nor produce power.
-It outputs [[light]] in a 6 tile radius, with the nearest {{P|Light Radius}} tiles being above 50% light level and considered lit.  Note that the light source is centered at the bottom-left tile of the generator, rather than the "true" center of the generator. It heats at a rate of 6 heat per second<sup>{{Check Tag|Exact mechanic unclear|Provides comparison with other heat sources but doesn't explain how much it actually heats}}</sup>. Unlike many other heat sources, it does not appear to have a maximum temperature and will continue to heat up rooms indefinitely.{{Check Tag|Confirmation needed}}
+It outputs [[light]] in a 6 tile radius, with the nearest {{P|Light Radius}} tiles being above 50% light level and considered lit.  Note that the light source is centered at the bottom-left tile of the generator, rather than the "true" center of the generator. It heats at a rate of 6 heat per second<sup>{{Check Tag|Exact mechanic unclear|Provides comparison with other heat sources but doesn't explain how much it actually heats}}</sup>.
 == Analysis ==
-{{Stub|section=1|reason=Need actual math on work required chopping+chemfuel refining vs chopping more trees}}
+Wood-fired generators incur considerable labor costs for [[Chop_Wood|chopping]] and [[hauling|hauling]] wood, but provide an improvement from neolithic technology. They can make a decent source of consistent, earlygame power.
-Though having a considerable labor cost for [[Chop_Wood|chopping]] and [[hauling|hauling]] wood, the wood-fired generator nonetheless represents a big improvement in fuel efficiency from neolithic heating and cooling technology.
-For example: The [[Passive_cooler|passive cooler]] and the [[cooler|electric cooler]] have the same cooling power (meaning, they will cool the same space by the same number of degrees -- down to the passive cooler's minimum, anyway). The passive cooler uses 50 wood and cools for 5 days, for a wood consumption of 10 per cooler-day equivalent (CDE). Electric coolers use 200 W when on, meaning the wood-fired generator can power 5 of them, and its wood consumption is 22 per day. This gives a wood consumption per CDE of 4.4, which is more than a doubling of fuel efficiency! This is very noticeable if you are playing the tribal scenario and have need for constant cooling.
+=== Wood powered appliances ===
+A variety of buildings are powered directly by wood, such as [[campfire]]s and [[torch lamp]]s. It is significantly more efficient to fuel a generator and run the electric equivalents, if all 1000 W of power is used. The generator does not scale with power use, so if power is wasted, then fueled versions may be superior. In addition, electric buildings require more infrastructure, and are vulnerable to [[solar flare]]s and other interruptions.
-In comparison, the wood/CDE for a [[chemfuel_powered_generator|chemfuel powered generator]] is 1.8.  Though chemfuel has a labor cost for refining, the lessened workload for your choppers and haulers more than makes up for this; thus, the wood-fired generator is strictly obsolete once you have access to chemfuel.
+{| class="wikitable"
+! Wood-powered appliance
+! Wood per day
+! Electric equivalent
+! Equivalent wood per day<ref>Equivalent wood per day is assuming is the percentage of a wood fired generator power generation multiplied by the generators wood consumption. Note that this assumes that the generators entire production capacity is used.</ref>
+|-
+| [[Campfire]]<ref name="temperature">Campfires and passive coolers regulate temperature at the same rate as heaters and coolers, but have a maximum/minimum temperature. In addition, both campfires and passive coolers are unable to be turned off, consuming wood until none is left.</ref> (roofed)
+| {{Icon Small|Wood|| 10}}
+| [[Heater]]<ref name="temperature" />
+| {{Icon Small|Wood|| {{#expr: -22*{{Q|Heater|Power Consumption #}}/{{P|Power Consumption #}}}}}}
+|-
+| [[Passive cooler]]<ref name="temperature" />
+| {{Icon Small|Wood|| 10}}
+| [[Cooler]]<ref name="temperature" />
+| {{Icon Small|Wood|| {{#expr: -22*{{Q|Cooler|Power Consumption #}}/{{P|Power Consumption #}}}}}}
+|-
+| [[Fueled stove]]
+| {{Icon Small|Wood||160}}{{Check Tag|Verify|Needs to be checked and then confirmed on the main building page}}
+| [[Electric stove]]<ref name="production">Fueled stoves and smithies only consume power when being actively worked, while electric stoves and smithies have to manually toggled off to save power. This comparison assumes they are on for the same length of time.</ref>
+| {{Icon Small|Wood|| {{#expr: -22*{{Q|Electric stove|Power Consumption #}}/{{P|Power Consumption #}}}}}}
+|-
+| [[Fueled smithy]]
+| {{Icon Small|Wood||  ?}}{{Check Tag|Detail|Needs to be checked and then added to the main building page}}
+| [[Electric smithy]]<ref name="production" />
+| {{Icon Small|Wood|| {{#expr: -22*{{Q|Electric smithy|Power Consumption #}}/{{P|Power Consumption #}}}}}}
+|-
+| [[Torch lamp]] (roofed)
+| {{Icon Small|Wood||  2}}
+| [[Standing lamp]]<ref>Standing lamps don't produce heat, unlike torch lamps, but light a larger area. This also does not include the effect of the [[Research#Advanced lights|Advanced lights]] halving the power consumption.</ref>
+| {{Icon Small|Wood|| {{#expr: -22*{{Q|Standing lamp|Power Consumption #}}/{{P|Power Consumption #}}}}}}
+|}
+<references />
-Wind turbines, the other generator type unlocked by the electricity research, require [[battery|batteries]] to provide stable power. As such, they in practice require additional research, which you may not want to wait for. They are also a bigger investment (particularly if you take the need for batteries into account), and require more space and care in their placement.
+=== Wind turbines ===
+[[Wind turbine]]s are also unlocked via researching [[Research#Electricity|Electricity]]. They require no labor to maintain, but do require a large amount of space free of structures and trees. This can make them difficult to defend, and completely unsuitable in certain base layouts. Wind turbine power output is variable, realistically forcing the construction of [[battery|batteries]] to smooth out periods of low power production.
-Conclusion: If you have good access to wood, wood-fired generators are a natural choice for your first generator or two, since they provide stable power with little investment and no need for additional research. Longer-term, the labor cost of chopping down trees and hauling the wood makes the wood-fired generator unattractive compared to non-fueled generators, and it is made obsolete by chemfuel. Since it can be turned off, it can serve as emergency backup after you have made the transition to more efficient generators.
+If you have both wind and wood-fired generators, there's no reason why you can't use both at the same time. You can use wood when wind power is low, turning off the generator when extra power isn't required.
-== History ==
+=== Chemfuel powered generators ===
-* [[Version/0.13.1135|0.13.1135]] - added.
+A [[chemfuel powered generator]] is generally more efficient in terms of both wood and work. However, it is difficult to obtain chemfuel in the earlygame.
+Each chemfuel generator generates {{Q|Chemfuel powered generator|Power Consumption}} W of power. Assuming the colony is running a [[biofuel refinery]] to make chemfuel from wood, each consumes {{Icon Small|wood||{{#expr:(4.5/35) * 70}}}} [[wood]] per day and an extra {{Ticks|(4.5/35) * 2000 round 0}} of work. Powering the biofuel refinery takes {{Q|Biofuel refinery|Power Consumption}} W of power, but takes only {{Ticks/gametime|2000}} to produce enough fuel for {{#expr:35/9 round 2}} in-game days of fuel, or on average equivalent of a constant load of only {{#expr:(-{{Q|Biofuel refinery|Power Consumption #}}*(2000/60000))/(35/9) round 2}} W.
+The extra {{ticks|(4.5/35) * 2000 round 0}} of work is not nothing, but the reduced wood saves at least {{ticks|((22-(4.5*70/35))/{{Q|Cypress tree|Harvest Yield}}) * {{Q|Cypress tree|Harvest Work #}} round 0}} of work in tree cutting work, assuming the most efficient harvest tree and that the tree doesn't have to be planted first. This means that a pawn requires a [[Plant Work Speed]] of {{%|(((22-(4.5*70/35))/{{Q|Cypress tree|Harvest Yield}}) * {{Q|Cypress tree|Harvest Work #}})/((4.5/35) * 2000) round 2}} (Plants skill 13) to make it more work efficient to use the wood fired generator, and this increases to a massive {{%|(((22-(4.5*70/35))/{{Q|Cypress tree|Harvest Yield}}) * ({{Q|Cypress tree|Harvest Work #}} + {{Q|Cypress tree|Sow Work #}}))/((4.5/35) * 2000) round 2}} speed if the tree has to be planted as well. This also ignores walking distance; the wood-fired generator often forces colonists to walk further as more trees are harvested.
+Also, you can make chemfuel out of [[raw food]]; {{Icon Small|corn}} [[corn plant|corn]] or even {{Icon Small|rice}} [[rice plant|rice]] take much less work to cultivate than trees, while taking up less space. Meanwhile, [[insect meat]] can be extremely plentiful and used all the same. Finally, [[boomalope]]s can create chemfuel from grass, which takes no work to grow.
+The only disadvantage of chemfuel generators is that they require chemfuel. [[Research#Biofuel refining|Biofuel Refining]] costs 700 points of research. Boomalopes require you to tame / buy the boomalopes in the first place. Provided you can make chemfuel, the chemfuel generator is strictly better.
+== Version history ==
+* [[Version/0.13.1135|0.13.1135]] - Added.
 * [[Version/0.15.1279|0.15.1279]] -  Fueled generator will consume fuel faster. Fuel duration 5 days -> 3 days 9 hours.
 * Beta 18 - Name changed from '''fueled generator''' to '''wood-fired generator''' to prevent ambiguity with the Chemfuel powered generator, which was added in the same update. No other changes made.
 * [[Version/1.1.0|1.1.0]] - Refueling is now toggleable.
 {{nav|power|wide}}
-[[Category:Buildings]]
 [[Category:Power]]