Guides/Power and Energy Costs

Current as of Version 0.1.11954

What's in 100 Watts

The purpose of this guide is to quantify the strengths and weaknesses of each method of generating power. For each method the cost (including frames) to generate 100 power is calculated and broken down into the number of spaces required, the resources required, and the number of seconds it takes a standard miner to gather those resources.

For simplicity this excludes processing and time Laser Extractor mining time, but in general recipes that require more basic resources also require more processing per resource.

Stationary Power

Unless noted this uses the cheapest available frame for each component size: Building 1x1 (1S), Building 1x1 (1M), and Building 1x1 (1L)*

^{*There are some scenarios where Building 2x1 (1M1S) can produce a cheaper/free S slot, although it doesn't have a huge effect as S slots are already cheap}

	Miner-seconds	Space	Metal Ore	Crystal Chunk	Silica Sand	Blight Crystal Chunk	Laterite ore	Notes
Crystal Power	110	0.67	10.0	10.0				1
Solar Cell +Small Battery +Building 1x1 (1S)	773	3.17	65.7	75.8				2
Solar Cell +Small Battery +Building 1x1 (2S)	982	1.58	100.5	75.8
Solar Cell +Small Battery + frameless	504	3.17	34.0	60.0				3
Solar Panel +Large Battery	1770	0.40	129.8	97.9	80.1	2.2	2.0
Wind Turbine	1103	1.00	128.0	61.0	5.0			4
Large Wind Turbine	913	0.25	64.5	42.8	52.0			4
Power Unit	749	0.10	40.0	19.0	31.5	22.5	40.0	5
Power Core	2310	0.10	153.4	110.5	139.5
Power Cell	6938		452.0	526.0	266.0
Blight Power Generator	73	0.10	7.2	1.0		2.5	5.0	6

1. Uses 1 crystal chunk (5 miner-seconds) per 100 power per 60 seconds. So after around 2.5 hours (of running near max power) it's less efficient than having built solar cells, and after around 7.5 hours it's less efficient than having built a power core.
2. A cheap source of earlygame grid power
3. Components require frames. However, it's common for the player to have free/cheap S slots such as the bots running the logistics network, so this is provided for reference
4. If not running on a plateau double all costs. Requires battery backup during blight storms
5. This is the only option with a significant Laser Extractor mining cost at 240 seconds, making it more comparable to expensive options like power cores than miner-seconds implies
6. The current best stationary power source, although it requires dipping into three tech trees

Mobile Power

Mobile power is more expensive due to the increased cost of frames and the fact that the frames consume some of the energy. This assumes using the cheapest available frame for each component size: Worker, Cub, and Rock

	Miner-seconds	Space	Metal Ore	Crystal Chunk	Silica Sand	Blight Crystal Chunk	Laterite ore	Notes
Power Transmitter	1698	1.00	140.0	66.0	88.0			1
Large Power Transmitter	1664	0.20	90.8	59.0	79.0	35.0		1
Crystal Power	122	0.71	11.4	10.7				2
Solar Panel+Medium Battery	3034	0.55	235.8	197.1	105.7
Wind Turbine	2719	1.18	277.6	189.4	17.6			3
Power Unit	757	0.10	40.5	19.2	31.8	22.7	40.4	4
Power Core	4200	0.10	274.1	234.5	230.5
Power Cell	6938		452.0	526.0	266.0			5
Solar Cell+Small Battery	1288	4.32	114.3	120.5				6
Solar Cell+2xCapacitor	1617	3.33	116.7	183.3

1. Mounted on a Building 1x1 (1M)/Building 1x1 (1L). Doesn't include the cost of the grid power being transmitted
2. Uses 1 crystal chunk (5 miner-seconds) per 100 power per 60 seconds. So after around 6 hours (of running near max power) it's less efficient than having built a power transmitter + blight power, and after around 9 hours it's less efficient than having built a power transmitter + wind turbines. Excellent source of mobile power for the early and midgame
3. Not useful compared to power transmitters, and wind power more than doubles when not on a plateau
4. Still has a significant Laser Extractor cost of 240 seconds, but the costs of its competitors have almost doubled making it competitive with basically everything except transmitted blight power. Can be mounted on a faster bot without significantly increasing costs.
5. Very expensive but has a few uses, especially as it has a 10-range power field on an internal slot
6. Uses behaviors on the solar bots to shut them off at night

Mobile Power: Unorthodox (range-limited) options

Extension Cords: There are blueprints on the discord for Workers with Small Power Fields and a Behavior Controller instructing them to form a chain to the target. This chain can transmit infinite power but gets more expensive with distance. The break even point with power transmitters is around 0.86 tiles per unit power transmitted (wind grid) and 1.2 tiles per unit power transmitted (blight grid).

Battery Running: A loop of Workers with Small Batterys and Behavior Controllers is theoretically competitive with power transmitters for distances of up to 1900 tiles (depending on how grid power is generated). However, there are not currently any behaviors available for automating this.