[Suggestion] Re-do Geothermal Energy

  • One of the major complaints with IC today is the over-poweredness of solars. This could be combated by providing another renewable (free) energy source. As it stands, geothermals only use lava. I suggest that they instead should use the heat of the earth.


    Real geothermal power pumps water down into the earth, then uses a turbine to produce power as the steam comes up. In Minecraft this is impossible; however, we could have geothermal generators produce power when placed underground. The EUs produced could be based on height, like wind farms: i.e. the deeper you go the more energy is produced. But what to do with all that lava? Lava could be used to increase the eu production, somewhat similar to how scrap works with the UU machine. This would also let us use our BC pipe systems to pump the buckets in and out. The recipe would probably need to be changed for balance reasons, but who really cares what that looks like.


    Anyway, let me know what you think and any gaps I left.

    I wonder how many cells I can put into my reactor before it ex... BOOOM!
    :Uranium Ingot: + MinecraftCreeper dust+ my friends base= fun

  • One of the major complaints with IC today is the over-poweredness of solars. This could be combated by providing another renewable (free) energy source. As it stands, geothermals only use lava. I suggest that they instead should use the heat of the earth.


    Real geothermal power pumps water down into the earth, then uses a turbine to produce power as the steam comes up. In Minecraft this is impossible; however, we could have geothermal generators produce power when placed underground. The EUs produced could be based on height, like wind farms: i.e. the deeper you go the more energy is produced. But what to do with all that lava? Lava could be used to increase the eu production, somewhat similar to how scrap works with the UU machine. This would also let us use our BC pipe systems to pump the buckets in and out. The recipe would probably need to be changed for balance reasons, but who really cares what that looks like.


    Anyway, let me know what you think and any gaps I left.

    So, to fix the overpowerment of one energy generator, create another? :wacko:

  • So, to fix the overpowerment of one energy generator, create another? :wacko:

    Lol, in a way. One reason most people don't use the nuclear generator is because you have to manage it and watch it. Whereas with solars you place them and hook them up then you are done. The geothermal generators would be be a sort of fusion, because you would have to pump lava in and such. Maybe add a heat level similar to that of the induction furnace. This allows you to actively manage your energy production instead of letting it sit. The downside to the generator would be that is is more expensive and needs to be underground. So, overall, it provides you with a method to replace solar energy by giving you a generator that is more expensive, but more productive with a little management (not to much, otherwise you have another nuclear generator). And again, it won't be overpowered because of the expense and management. Another idea, perhaps unrelated, would be to add a sort of minigame to break the monotony of managing the generators, similar to fable's bar tending. Left-click to poor lava into it, but poor too much and it overheats or something? Not sure if coding feasible/easy. Anyways, I hope I explained it.

    I wonder how many cells I can put into my reactor before it ex... BOOOM!
    :Uranium Ingot: + MinecraftCreeper dust+ my friends base= fun

  • Lol, Turns out, geothermal power is far more OP than solar ever was.


    Or at least if you take the (often considered required) buildcraft mod, where you just take a simple coal powered pump, and suck up a few tanks worth of lava, fill cells, take to overworld (this is in nether btw) and just produce ****tons of power.

  • Lol, Turns out, geothermal power is far more OP than solar ever was.


    Or at least if you take the (often considered required) buildcraft mod, where you just take a simple coal powered pump, and suck up a few tanks worth of lava, fill cells, take to overworld (this is in nether btw) and just produce ****tons of power.

    But that requires time. Time in which I could be mining well my solars produce energy. I could, in fact, be mining coal, which means I am getting energy as well, or diamonds, or any number of things. In addition, solars don't require anything produce energy other than daylight.

    I wonder how many cells I can put into my reactor before it ex... BOOOM!
    :Uranium Ingot: + MinecraftCreeper dust+ my friends base= fun

  • One reason most people don't use the nuclear generator is because you have to manage it and watch it. <snip>


    Have you even used nuclear? get a nice Mk 1 or 2 and you can just toss some uranium in there and forget about it. Sure it's not a primary fuel supply without some fancy RP2 or BC stuff but it works great as a secondary power source for mass fabs and stuff like that.
    also gives one a place to use up all the extra uranium one pulls out of the ground.
    So far in every IC2 world i've built a reactor or have plans to build one.

  • As you said, it doesn't produce a lot of energy. I am not suggesting geothermal as a "secondary" power source. Geothermal would be something to rival solars and reward people who will put a little extra work in, as opposed to the huge amounts of labor necessary for Mk IV and up reactors. In addition, geothermals have the added benefit of requiring a facility. Now that I think about it, having them placed over lava should increase EU output as well. I know I am not the only person who likes having large areas and buildings that fit their role. I.e. I built a big cooling tower and stuff for my nuclear reactor because it looked cool. Having a large lava field combined with wires and pipes would be very cool and fitting.

    I wonder how many cells I can put into my reactor before it ex... BOOOM!
    :Uranium Ingot: + MinecraftCreeper dust+ my friends base= fun

  • I have made a automated Geothermal Generator with at least 3-4 mods (Redpower2, Buildcraft,BuildcraftBucketFiller, and BuildcraftTeleportPipes. The last one optional), you just only need to find a Pretty big Lava lake in the overworld (I dunno if nether operation still runs if you arent in the nether, and i also dont know if teleport pipes connects from the nether->Overworld and backwards) and you are set.

  • Quote

    One reason most people don't use the nuclear generator is because you have to manage it and watch it


    Erm...I don't? And thats not only me i think...
    Its just a matter of planning. You can put every part of your reactor as a cell, but to input buckets of water using pump into it, so you dont need to watch it. Not so much to do, but not everyone want to make all those buckets&shit.


    You can make more energy using water mills when using solar panels, it depens on planing.

  • You can't have a nuclear reactor has a main source of power without watching it constantly. I use my generators has secondary power for UU and teleporters, and only that because of my extra uranium. You missed the point of the new system.

    I wonder how many cells I can put into my reactor before it ex... BOOOM!
    :Uranium Ingot: + MinecraftCreeper dust+ my friends base= fun

  • Actually you /can/ have a Nuke as a power source without watching it constantly (if you're using RP2). Item Detectors allow you to watch for buckets existing via your filter or retriever (which as Cadde would like, does require power; though ATM only RP2 solar is an option given the lack of a converter).


    On my server a friend built a breeder reactor which almost powers two miners (50eU/t) while operating. My biggest issue for it is actually storage when the miners aren't running (MFSUs are super expensive and diamond+redstone rarity is noticeable).

  • Quote

    But that requires time. Time in which I could be mining well my solars produce energy. I could, in fact, be mining coal, which means I am getting energy as well, or diamonds, or any number of things. In addition, solars don't require anything produce energy other than daylight.

    Oh my, the choice between waiting all 'hours' of the day on 1 Eu/t per panel, or a couple of mins. with a couple of stacks of empty cells in the Nether to get about 2.56 Million EU. Boy, the choices... >.>


    Geothermal IS the OP energy choice in IC. The reason why many fail to see that is due to the fact that they don't understand lava mechanics, and that they don't see how to fully harness the availability of some resources (cobble/sand and Tin) next to acquiring others. Actually, a Geothermal with an innate storage of 240k EU actually beats out a Batbox because it now outputs at 20 EU/t instead of 10. Batboxes only have 40k EU storage at 32 EU/t output, so they run out much quicker than, say, running directly off a GeoGen instead...


    So yeah, solars. They're so OP, right? Sure...

    Would anyone like to try a Slowpoke Tail?! Only 1 Million Yen!


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    this isn't about arrogance or ego, I have a block that I put a lot of freaking work into


    Every Mod Author, in existence. And yet, you STILL say otherwise.

  • Oh my, the choice between waiting all 'hours' of the day on 1 Eu/t per panel, or a couple of mins. with a couple of stacks of empty cells in the Nether to get about 2.56 Million EU. Boy, the choices... >.>


    Geothermal IS the OP energy choice in IC. The reason why many fail to see that is due to the fact that they don't understand lava mechanics, and that they don't see how to fully harness the availability of some resources (cobble/sand and Tin) next to acquiring others. Actually, a Geothermal with an innate storage of 240k EU actually beats out a Batbox because it now outputs at 20 EU/t instead of 10. Batboxes only have 40k EU storage at 32 EU/t output, so they run out much quicker than, say, running directly off a GeoGen instead...


    So yeah, solars. They're so OP, right? Sure...


    Once again, you don't have to do ANY work for solars. Some machines take 512 EU. That is about 20 uses for each bucket of lava at 20000 EU, which takes about one minute to get. Solars output 1 EU/Tick. Now an average farm (for me) is consisted of 31 solars Lined up like so:
    :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel:
    :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :MFS-Unit:


    :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel: :Solar Panel:


    That is 31 EU/T at 10 ticks a second (not to sure about that). That adds up to 310 EU a second OR Over 18000 EU a minute for NO WORK and no risk of dying from ghasts or other nether hazards.
    Not only this, but I have 3 of these for a total of over 54000 a minute (or 27000 because of night, but I typically sleep through it anyway.)


    Once again I am not too sure about these numbers, but the point remains clear. One UU matter is equal to 1 million EU. That is 50 lava buckets, at one minute per bucket AND the risk of getting killed, 50 minutes. OR Just over 50 minutes with ONE of my 31 solar farms with NO WORK INVOLVED. Clearly OP.


    EDIT: Not quite sure what happened to those solar panels...

    I wonder how many cells I can put into my reactor before it ex... BOOOM!
    :Uranium Ingot: + MinecraftCreeper dust+ my friends base= fun

  • Just leave it be. I like generators that just use things up. If it creates power by being deep inside the ground and more if it gets lava... whats the difference?


    If it's output is mainly determined by the depth, then it is just another "fire and forget" generator which produces EU by just sitting around. If it's output is mainly determind by the fact that you put lava in it, then it is just the actual Geo-Gen which does provide a tiny amount of EU without getting lava (so basically it is some kind of water-gen... with lava).


    I would rather see a change in solars, then in the Geo-Gen. It clearly is quite strong with additional mods, but thats the same for the normal generator if you just fire it with reeds and cacti + some automation.

  • To the OP: I like the idea a lot! I think the current implementation is a bit odd but it works well enough.


    To the peanut gallery: um... once you have a mining machine and 64 pieces of mining pipe, the world is your oyster. In a few hours of mining I have enough lapis to make an MFSU.


    In 1 week (of holiday time so about 12 hrs a day) I gathered the resources for and created two nuclear reactors, each with 6 additional cores. They're eff3 and product 24M EU over a cycle. They're class 2 so could run a full cycle, I'd just have to let them cool down at the end. As it happens I eliminate that need by using a redpower sequencer to run them 50% on/off. They power a bank of 5 MFSU which in turn powers my workshop.


    I only used solar for the first day or so until I got my first reactor (a mini type 1 eff2) online. Then the reactor is very definitely my primary power source.

    GENERATION 26: The first time you see this, copy it into your sig on any forum and add 1 to the generation. Social experiment or chain letter? This is left as an exercise for the reader.


    Efficiency 3, 50% duty cycle. SMP friendly. Alternate two of them slowly with an rp2 sequencer for a steady 120 EU/t.
    http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.b…=1j10101001501521s1r11r10

  • But that requires time. Time in which I could be mining well my solars produce energy. I could, in fact, be mining coal, which means I am getting energy as well, or diamonds, or any number of things. In addition, solars don't require anything produce energy other than daylight.

    Yes but if you load em up with 64 cells of lava each your set for a long friggin' time. I'm currently trying to switch over to geothermal. Where I used to need 10 solar panels now only needs one geothermal and Alblaka is introducing Buildcraft pipe compatability to directly feed them.

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    That's a rather cool idea, but a lone tree is suspicious, better plant some more. So really... forget about solar-flowers, solar-trees are the next generation :P

  • You can't have a nuclear reactor has a main source of power without watching it constantly. I use my generators has secondary power for UU and teleporters, and only that because of my extra uranium. You missed the point of the new system.

    Wrong, on one world I made a MKII-(porlly something else)-SUC wasn't that hard and produced 80 eu/t however I have small energy needs my factorys tend to consist of 9 machines and caput. however people have built CASUCs that can run for cycles on end with zero surveilance.

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    That's a rather cool idea, but a lone tree is suspicious, better plant some more. So really... forget about solar-flowers, solar-trees are the next generation :P

  • Wrong, on one world I made a MKII-(porlly something else)-SUC wasn't that hard and produced 80 eu/t however I have small energy needs my factorys tend to consist of 9 machines and caput. however people have built CASUCs that can run for cycles on end with zero surveilance.


    yup, I've got a Mk 1 design that's since been sorta turned into a mk 2-20something (too many pies, wires and cables reducing water cooling) that used to run overnight without monitoring fine. Using a transposer to feed uranium to it and a retriever to suck out depleted uranium cells. I say "used to" as i'm sorta down to 9 uranium now :) (haven't used a quarry or gone mining in a while)

  • Geos surrounded in lava were a feature on IC1 for a while, but it was dropped because that's not the way geothermal energy works, and would be extremely overpowered.


    Also, making geothermal energy act like real life? Use a BC pump and a Geothermal on the next release (or a Geothermal2 from Power Converters while you wait).

  • Actually it doesn't seem like it would be that unfeasible (to me) to have some pipes that sent "water blocks" through them with each one recording the heat before it flashed into steam to shoot back up to the generator. Actually you could maybe make a turbine machine that was all generators and just have the different energy methods be ways of making it go- aside from wind, all power plants just use water to spin turbines right?


    The coal generators could conceivably have this all built into the one block so it wouldn't hinder the earliest development but after that you could reasonably demand people build systems to make the turbines go, and maybe even cooling towers for cases where the water reaches extreme temperatures.