Engineering Discoveries!

FrostFenex · Post by **FrostFenex** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:30 am #56397

I will be posting here all the discoveries I find while building my autistic builds

Today I attempted to build a mini space bar, which didnt get finished but led to some nice discoveries such as;

Spoiler:

*Catwalks while supporting wires will not let solar trackers or solar panels work if their build on them

*Even if 2 places are connected and have the same area name, the apc will not power all of it(possibly due to doors)

Today I built a mini singulo in the old singulo area and learned some things

Spoiler:

*stage one singulo while still producing radiation can not produce power as collectors have a threshold that must be reached to gen power

*It appears that SMES construction(might be in only new areas)must have their terminal built then deconstructed and built again(the SMES not the terminal for the SMES to start charging and to start sending output.

mrpain · Post by **mrpain** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:44 am #56415

Cutting all the wires while tator tot engineer is fun.

I will report back with further findings.

Whoisthere · Post by **Whoisthere** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 12:17 pm #56451

IIRC there is a limit to how far the PA particles will travel and it depends on how much power the PA is set to produce (0,1,2,3).
I think at 3 the particles go like 20 tiles?

Whoisthere · Post by **Whoisthere** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 12:51 pm #56460

Also we once tried to run two singularities using a single PA and they somehow died even though they were separated and couldn't eat each other.
Either because singulos actually eat the particles or because the containment field was too large.

AnonymousNow · Wed Jan 07, 2015 12:59 pm

I ask these of you not because I am lazy, but because I am not very good with the power sources on the station - I can set up the singularity and the solar arrays, but otherwise it's a bit beyond me.

- Is there a version of that mini Singulon engine that works? Like, the next size singularity up? If so, how well?
- Does adequate containment actually dictate the size of a singularity? I'm assuming so, since you had time to set up your singuluno there.
- Is there a quick and dirty auxillary power setup that cargo can whip up in case of engineering being gone? I know they have access to entire singularity engine equipment sets, but I was thinking something smaller.
- In regards to the supermatter shard engine... how does it work, from a /tg/ perspective? And if it just needs cooling, why can't we just put it and its collector, or whatever, in a sealed box in space?
- Probably the most important question... for each power source, is there a long-term stable state that can be made? Like, set up and forget?

Whoisthere · Post by **Whoisthere** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:19 pm #56469

Singulo is set up and forget in that as long as no-one sabotages it, it will provide power and won't get loose (PA set to 0 power, but on).
Supermatter needs atmosphere to provide power.
Can cargo get power cells easily? If so, I guess you can just build a new SMES which probably will come partially charged and will let you power the station. Either that or PACMAN if you have tons of plasma.

AnonymousNow · Post by **AnonymousNow** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 1:39 pm #56476

Whoisthere wrote:Singulo is set up and forget in that as long as no-one sabotages it, it will provide power and won't get loose (PA set to 0 power, but on).
Supermatter needs atmosphere to provide power.
Can cargo get power cells easily? If so, I guess you can just build a new SMES which probably will come partially charged and will let you power the station. Either that or PACMAN if you have tons of plasma.

Oh god. If the singularity really is stable at 0-On, then engineers in all those singularity-loose rounds are more to blame than I imagined.

Cooling the supermatter... I suppose you'd use a looped pump system, then? I know jack shit about atmos - it's the one job on station I just won't do - but if you could set up, say, a gas drainage pipe that runs through space long enough to cool the gas, and feeds right back into the room at the other end... or an improved refrigeration unit.

If batteries come to mind, then robotics is well-equipped to power the station. Print off the best batteries you can, replace the APC charges semi-regularly. It's not perfect, but it works. I'll have to look into PACMAN and SUPERPACMAN generators (is there a MRSPACMAN? I forget), because I've literally never used one in my 4 years+ of playing this game, and I don't know how efficiently they run/how much material they use.

Screemonster · Post by **Screemonster** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 5:53 pm #56513

FrostFenex wrote:*stage one singulo while still producing radiation can not produce power as collectors have a threshold that must be reached to gen power

Any idea what that threshold is? I've tried putting a bunch of collectors in the middle of a 5x5 room enclosed by uranium walls and it didn't produce squat.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:50 pm #56597

Collectors don't check for rads.
Collectors check for Singulo.

Hibbles · Post by **Hibbles** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 9:59 pm #56601

There's an idea for a cool update, make the singulo actually give off (more) radiation, and make the collectors actually check for radiation. Hence, uranium walls can be put to a use other than killing people at Escape.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 10:38 pm #56612

Exactly that is what people (read: devs) don't want.
Free energy.

Screemonster · Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:26 pm

It's not free if people have to dig it up / build it / build a containment wall so people without radsuits don't get fried.

Scott · Post by **Scott** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:33 pm #56633

Whoisthere wrote:Also we once tried to run two singularities using a single PA and they somehow died even though they were separated and couldn't eat each other.
Either because singulos actually eat the particles or because the containment field was too large.

I have tried to set up a 5 singulo engine with a single PA and what I discovered was that you can't even maintain two singularities with a single PA. To keep the second singularity fed, you need to keep the PA at 2, which means the first singulo will eventually grow and consume everything.

So one PA per singulo is the way to go.

Saegrimr · Post by **Saegrimr** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:45 pm #56639

DemonFiren wrote:Free energy.

Like the solars, amirite

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Wed Jan 07, 2015 11:58 pm #56647

Yeah, only more...

...I don't know, I don't have the mind of a dev.

cedarbridge · Post by **cedarbridge** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:36 am #56656

Saegrimr wrote:
DemonFiren wrote:Free energy.
Like the solars, amirite

A new mission for telescience. We farm the sun directly.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:50 am #56668

...and figure out the sun is basically a huge-ass RUST.

Saegrimr · Post by **Saegrimr** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 12:51 am #56671

cedarbridge wrote:
Saegrimr wrote:
DemonFiren wrote:Free energy.
Like the solars, amirite
A new mission for telescience. We farm the sun directly.

Replace the singularity by teleporting a chunk of THE SUN into it.
Harness THE SUN in its place, and when it escapes it just ashes everything it runs through while igniting everything surrounding it.
SUN CHUNKS.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:05 am #56674

Just teleport Princess Celestia in.

Fuelled by player rage.

rook · Post by **rook** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:20 am #56686

Spoiler:

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 1:43 am #56692

Can't Cargo just order a new one?

Cheridan · Post by **Cheridan** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:31 am #56705

DemonFiren wrote:Exactly that is what people (read: devs) don't want.
Free energy.

Solars are already free energy. At least a uranium wall has some danger to it. It'd be fine as long as the power gain wasn't as much as an average singularity (which already gives off too much power to begin with).

The real reason it hasn't been done is because radiation isn't coded that well, so it's hard to expand to other things.

rook · Post by **rook** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 2:40 am #56708

DemonFiren wrote:Can't Cargo just order a new one?

yeah but the initial panic is hilarious and most inexperienced engineers have no idea what to do.

FrostFenex · Post by **FrostFenex** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:45 am #56743

I made a Space Hockey Rink, for reasons of autism

Spoiler:

*The crew is not canadian and does not enjoy space hockey

*Why isn't there a slippery tile yet?

*I didn't actually discover anything I just wanted to share

Saegrimr · Post by **Saegrimr** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 5:56 am #56747

Why do you keep centering your text?

Screemonster · Post by **Screemonster** » Thu Jan 08, 2015 6:36 pm #56877

FrostFenex wrote:Why isn't there a slippery tile yet?

in before someone sets up a curling sheet in the hallways using space lube instead of ice and assistants for stones

callanrockslol · Sun Jan 11, 2015 11:20 am

Screemonster wrote:
FrostFenex wrote:Why isn't there a slippery tile yet?
in before someone sets up a curling sheet in the hallways using space lube instead of ice and assistants for stones

Lube it all up boys, we got this going.

AnonymousNow · Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:02 pm

Make it into a slip-and-slide speedy transportation system, the kind cargo can set up if atmos isn't paying attention with their pipes.

Malkevin · Post by **Malkevin** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 12:53 pm #57864

I'm just going to repost these....
----------------------------------------------------------------
Radiation Collectors consume 0.001 moles of plasma per game tick
A standard plasma tank has 8.73464 moles of plasma
A filled tank contains 29.1154 moles of plasma

So ([moles] / [drainrate]) * [tickrate of 1.8] gives us:
Standard tank: 4.36732 HOURS before depletion
Filled tank: 14.5577 HOURS before depletion.

But what about nominal power?
With the way the singularity engine works anything past the amount the SMESes can absorb is wasted, so at max input that's 600,000 watts.
Per collector, the amount of power produced is:
[moles] * [singularity energy] * 20
For the sake of simplicity we'll take the singularity energy as 500 as that's where it usually hovers about with the PAC set to on:0
To achieve nominal power input each collector needs to produce 100,000 watts (as theres six of them as standard)
So the minimum amount of moles required per tank for the engine to function at nominal efficiency is:
100,000 / 20 / 500 = 10 moles
A standard tank (304 kPa) isn't enough for nominal efficiency, you'd need the tanks to be above 348 kPa for that

A filled tank, which is 29.1154 moles, has a surplus of 19.1154 moles.
It will take 9.5577 HOURs for this surplus to be consumed.

The stage 3 singularity (purple) itself will dissipate more energy than it receives from a PAC set to On:0

So in conclusion, once the tanks are filled up Engies really can piss off to the bar and get wasted. (the singularity sucks as a game mechanic, literally and figuratively)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I did the super chilled plasma in the collectors thing

1.20248e+007W in power network.

Notice that is says +007 instead of +006 as it usually does.
Each collector was outputting 1.9397e+006W each, that's more than normal total output of a room temperature six collector array outputs.

And I still didn't die from shocking myself with that much power - WTF

Phalanx300 · Post by **Phalanx300** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:03 pm #57867

You used to be able to instacrit people if you connected the singularity to the main grid. (Power cables from collectors into main station power cables) Not sure if its still possible but its fun to screw around with.

Ricotez · Post by **Ricotez** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 1:25 pm #57875

Nope, it's not possible. Shocking yourself deals burn damage to one of your body parts (forgot which one), but the burn damage cap on that body part is below 100, so if you are perfectly healthy it is literally impossible to go into crit from a single shock, no matter how high the charge on the power grid is.

Whoisthere · Post by **Whoisthere** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 2:04 pm #57881

What about shocking yourself on grilles?

Ricotez · Post by **Ricotez** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:01 pm #57887

Same mechanic, same story.

Post by **Fatal** » Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:30 pm #57893

Upgrading SMES with better capacitors and power cells is usually quite helpful, but, usually not necessary, even solely the solars provide enough power for the station

However, regarding SMES, the regular SMES in engineering provide power to the emitters preventing the singularity from escaping, and if they are gone, or even a SINGLE WIRE cut from powering those emitters, that singularity gonna get released

So, every engineer whose not a complete tool, should either ensure the singularity is wired into the grid, ensuring it cannot be freed by lack of power, or wire the backup SMES in electrical maint which will provide the same function

Not really a discovery, but, simple things like this have prevented the singularity getting loose many times when Ive been engineer

Screemonster · Post by **Screemonster** » Wed Jan 14, 2015 9:53 pm #59145

Malkevin wrote:So I did the super chilled plasma in the collectors thing

1.20248e+007W in power network.

Notice that is says +007 instead of +006 as it usually does.
Each collector was outputting 1.9397e+006W each, that's more than normal total output of a room temperature six collector array outputs.

And I still didn't die from shocking myself with that much power - WTF

holy tits I just tried this for myself, you weren't kidding.

peoplearestrange · Fri Jan 16, 2015 2:39 pm

Screemonster wrote:
Malkevin wrote:So I did the super chilled plasma in the collectors thing

1.20248e+007W in power network.

Notice that is says +007 instead of +006 as it usually does.
Each collector was outputting 1.9397e+006W each, that's more than normal total output of a room temperature six collector array outputs.

And I still didn't die from shocking myself with that much power - WTF
holy tits I just tried this for myself, you weren't kidding.

This is pretty interesting! This means you could run a stage 2 singlo and still get easily enough power.

Malkevin · Post by **Malkevin** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:02 pm #59676

You get that anyway

AnonymousNow · Post by **AnonymousNow** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:13 pm #59679

I'm posting this here and not the Simple Questions thread, because it's not a simple question and pertains to an aspect of the game associated primarily with engineering.

Is it possible to use a supermatter shard as The Best Mining Charge?

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:19 pm #59681

It is, hypothetically.

If you want to trip on mindbreaker and take a fuckton of radloss.

AnonymousNow · Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:40 pm

DemonFiren wrote:It is, hypothetically.

If you want to trip on mindbreaker and take a fuckton of radloss.

The delivery method is important, though. I don't know how the shard is transported, or how it arrives, what effects it has, how it can be safely handled etc.

Logic dictates that you teleport that bastard/send a VTEC cyborg to drag its container into place, but I don't know if that's even possible. My knowledge is literally limited to the boom.

DemonFiren · Post by **DemonFiren** » Fri Jan 16, 2015 11:45 pm #59793

You can MULE shards, but you have to prime them first by blasting them a bit.