This mod attempts to add another tier of non-solar power generation, between steam engines and nuclear reactors. It does this by introducing turbines earlier, and adding three new types of boiler:
- Superheater: takes 165°C steam as input, and consumes 1.8 MW to heat it to 465°C
- Oil-fired boiler: an alternative to the standard boiler, produces 165°C steam by burning oil/gas directly
- Oil-fired superheater: liquid-fuelled version of the superheater
The Superheating boilers technology is available after researching Advanced material processing and Flammables. It unlocks the boilers mentioned above, as well as steam turbines.
The overall effect of superheaters is a 50% increase in power output per unit of fuel consumed. This is because superheaters consume up to 1.8 MW of energy but actually do 3.6 MW of work increasing the steam temperature. This means that a boiler and superheater together consume 3.6 MW of fuel but provide 5.4 MW of steam to a turbine. The higher steam temperature also has the effect of reducing water consumption by two thirds, making it more practical to supply water by train to remote outposts.
Oil-fired boilers and superheaters are the same as the conventional versions, except for consuming liquid fuel. The fuel values of the various oil products are derived from the solid fuel recipes. That is, there is no difference in efficiency between burning the fuel as a liquid or as a solid, except for saving the cost of producing solid fuel.
The fuel values are:
- Crude oil: 1020 kJ per unit (+50% pollution)
- Heavy oil: 600 kJ per unit
- Light oil: 1200 kJ per unit (-50% pollution)
- Petroleum gas: 600 kJ per unit (-75% pollution)
This mod will only assign values to these fluids if another mod has not already done so.
The pictures above show two example power plants, both producing 21.6 MW.
The coal-fired version consumes 216 coal per minute.
Fuel consumption of the oil-fired version varies depending on which fuel is used: 847 per minute for crude oil, 1440 per minute for heavy oil and petroleum gas, and 720 per minute for light oil.
Settings
Note that if the first two settings are disabled, this mod will have no effect.
- Enable superheaters (enabled by default): Adds recipes and unlocks for superheaters
- Enable liquid-fuelled boilers (enabled by default): Adds recipes and unlocks for oil-fired boilers, and sets fuel values
- Override liquid fuel values (disabled by default): Overrides existing fuel values that may have been set by other mods
- Fuel value settings: kJ per unit of each listed fluid
Compatibility
No base game entities, recipes or technologies are changed (except for the addition of fast-replace to the original boiler). If the override setting is disabled then fluid fuel values are only applied if they have not already been set by another mod.