Superheating (Reborn)
A continuation of Superheating by GotLag, updated for Factorio 2.1.
All original art, design and balance are GotLag's. I've fixed it up and kept it running.
What it does
Adds superheaters and oil-fired boilers so steam power can get more out of its fuel. It also opens up steam turbines earlier, between steam engines and nuclear power.
| Machine | What it does |
|---|---|
| Superheater | Burns fuel to heat steam (100°C or hotter) up to 465°C at 200% fuel efficiency |
| Oil-fired boiler | A boiler that burns oil, gas or any other fluid with a fuel value instead of solid fuel |
| Oil-fired superheater | A superheater that burns fluid fuel |
| Heat-pipe superheater (optional, off by default) | Uses heat pipes to heat steam (100°C or hotter) up to 465°C. No efficiency bonus, just a neat extra that also works with other mods' heat networks |
Superheating boilers research unlocks the superheaters, the oil-fired boiler and the steam turbine.
Needs: Flammables, Advanced material processing. Costs 100 × red + green science.
The Heat-pipe superheater is unlocked by Nuclear power, since that's when you get heat pipes. It's made from 1 superheater + 4 heat pipes.
The numbers
Standard setup: 1 boiler → 1 superheater → 1 steam turbine
- Boiler: 1.8 MW of fuel → 60 steam/s at 165°C
- Superheater: 1.8 MW of fuel → heats the same 60 steam/s to 465°C
- Turbine: 5.4 MW of electricity from 3.6 MW of fuel
That's 50% more power per unit of fuel than steam engines, and about two-thirds less water for the same power.
Single-stage option: 1 superheater → 1 steam turbine. It takes water straight in and gives the same total power and fuel cost.
Heat-pipe superheater: connects to heat pipes like a vanilla heat exchanger and runs at the same 10 MW. Heat pipes pass energy through 1:1, so there's no bonus: you get out exactly the heat you put in.
Liquid fuel values
These fluids are given fuel values so the oil-fired boilers can burn them. A value is only applied if no other mod has already set one, unless you turn on the override setting.
| Fluid | Fuel value | Pollution |
|---|---|---|
| Crude oil | 1020 kJ | ×1.5 |
| Heavy oil | 600 kJ | ×1 |
| Light oil | 1200 kJ | ×0.5 |
| Petroleum gas | 600 kJ | ×0.25 |
Each value can be changed in the settings.
Settings (startup)
Main menu → Settings → Mod settings → Startup. On a server, the host sets these.
- Enable superheaters (on)
- Single-stage superheaters (off): superheaters take water directly, so no boilers are needed
- Enable liquid-fuelled boilers (on)
- Override liquid fuel values (off)
- Enable heat-pipe superheater (off): needs superheaters enabled. It always takes steam, even with single-stage on
- Fuel value for each fluid
What's new in Reborn
- Updated for Factorio 2.1, including the fluid changes in 2.1.22.
- Full superheater output is back. In 2.0, a boiler + superheater pair only made 40 steam/s (3.6 MW) instead of 60/s (5.4 MW) because of a game bug. Wube fixed it in 2.1, so you no longer need "Single-stage superheaters" turned on as a workaround. If you switch that setting on an existing save, rebuild and reconnect your superheaters.
- New: optional Heat-pipe superheater for nuclear and heat-pipe setups.
- Modded fuels work in the superheater. It accepts every fuel the vanilla boiler accepts, including fuels from Krastorio 2 / K2 Spaced Out and AAI Industry.
- Space Age: Superheaters and boilers follow the vanilla boiler's and heat exchanger's rules for where they can be built and for freezing.
- Overhaul-proof: Mods that rewrite every boiler's efficiency can no longer remove the superheater's 200% bonus.
- Steam at 100°C or hotter can now be superheated (it used to need 165°C), so steam from other mods works too.
- Every setting now has a description, and the code has been cleaned up.
Compatibility
- Existing saves: Machine and research names are unchanged, so a save using the original Superheating carries over. Just swap the mods.
- Can't be used together with Superheating or Superheating (Balanced), since they all add the same machines.
- Leaves base game entities, recipes and technologies alone. The only change is that Nuclear power also unlocks the Heat-pipe superheater when it's enabled.
- Works with or without Space Age.
Credits
- GotLag: original creator of Superheating, with all the art, design and balance. Go give his other mods some love.
- tntmasta: the 100°C steam idea from Superheating (Balanced).
- Everyone who reported bugs and workarounds in the original mod's discussion page.
Continued and maintained by FallenPaladin. Bug reports and suggestions are welcome on the Discussion tab.