Which green generator do you prefer ?

1st Official Post

    Which generator do you prefer ? 119

    1. Solar (62) 52%
    2. Water (18) 15%
    3. Wind (39) 33%

    I used mainly solar power(besides nuclear) in my last world. I was not very satisfied with the weather, so i'm probably going to use water power in my actual world.
    The design i made consists of floors with 16 generators on each floor. Floors can be easily added since whole system uses only one water source block (you don't have to remove a lot of water). It uses quite a lot tin cables (about 45 bars per 4 floors) but its still cheaper than solar power.


    What do you prefer ? What are your generator setups ?


    Edit:

    I typically use a little bit of solar power for "trickle" fillup on my storage units and until I get other generation going. Wind power can be very effective - I got more output from y 16-mill windfarm at the build limit than I did from my solars.


    I've never really tried water power, but it's just a matter of never finding the opportunity to consider its use. I'm sure it won't be long before I build a water tower and then I'll be able to compare.

    My last world had all three. I prefer windmills over watermills. Yes you still have to build wayyyyy up in the air to get the best output for windmills, but I really don't mind.

    Actually I really would like a "disable-sound"-option.


    I use water quite alot. One water-gen seems to power a simple machine (Macerator, E-Furnace, Compressor etc.) and it is easy to supply them with buckets via Redpower. I often build one or two water-towers mainly for the optics, but they create a good amount of power too. I dislike solars and I die to often, trying to build wind-mills :P

    Quote from Bluehorazon

    Actually I really would like a "disable-sound"-option.


    I use water quite alot. One water-gen seems to power a simple machine (Macerator, E-Furnace, Compressor etc.) and it is easy to supply them with buckets via Redpower. I often build one or two water-towers mainly for the optics, but they create a good amount of power too. I dislike solars and I die to often, trying to build wind-mills :P


    define: "disable-sound option" as in all sounds? already exists, take a look at the config file, it's there.

    Wind... AFTER removing their .ogg sound file from the IC2 .jar :P


    I haven't tried water much, though. It's a shame river biomes are always flat, so that it's hard to build a convincing dam without major terraforming. :(

    Quote from SpeedDaemon

    Wind... AFTER removing their .ogg sound file from the IC2 .jar :P


    I haven't tried water much, though. It's a shame river biomes are always flat, so that it's hard to build a convincing dam without major terraforming. :(


    err? Water generators don't have to be in moving water. They just give a mostly useless power output in "unmanned" mode unless you put *lots* of them in. (at a rather expensive rate)

    Quote from FnordMan

    err? Water generators don't have to be in moving water. They just give a mostly useless power output in "unmanned" mode unless you put *lots* of them in. (at a rather expensive rate)


    But it looks better !


    Expensive ? You get 2 generators cheaper than 1 solar. 2 of them give 0.5 EU/t (CONSTANTLY), while solar generator in bad weather gives down to 0 EU/t (0.54 EU/t without rain). All numbers are average per minecraft day.

    Quote from raGan


    And that's why i have never used them. Damn sound lag spikes !

    Better than general lag spikes from Solar if you have a bad computer. I could barely do anything with just four of them working outside. I actually use both Water and Wind, but my main power is linked to Wind. Ironically enough, I use Water Mills to farm water in the form of snow.

    What is exactly the best way to build a watermill to generate the maximum amount of EU unmaned?


    I usually just use solar because of the easyness of them (I have made a solar flower of 41 generators connected with tin cables to a single MFU that then powers my MFSU via Glass Fibre, i was intending to made it up to 128 generators but i decided to move in my base before that)

    Quote from FenixR

    What is exactly the best way to build a watermill to generate the maximum amount of EU unmaned?


    I usually just use solar because of the easyness of them (I have made a solar flower of 41 generators connected with tin cables to a single MFU that then powers my MFSU via Glass Fibre, i was intending to made it up to 128 generators but i decided to move in my base before that)


    the "best" way? i'm reasonably certain it checks in a 1 block radius around it (inclusive of diagonals) so a watermill on top of a cable.


    The method i've seen a couple times involves a cable in the middle with them around it in plus signs every two blocks and water cascading down over it.


    still: better to just experiment with things, load up a test world and (TMI or NEI) and see what works for you. It's what I do before I spend resources on something that might not work.

    Quote from FenixR

    What is exactly the best way to build a watermill to generate the maximum amount of EU unmaned?


    I usually just use solar because of the easyness of them (I have made a solar flower of 41 generators connected with tin cables to a single MFU that then powers my MFSU via Glass Fibre, i was intending to made it up to 128 generators but i decided to move in my base before that)

    Best way ? Any way that provides 25 water blocks around it. Like this.

    I’ve sworn off solars since they got so expensive. I’m using wind exclusively now while planning to add water in the near future.


    I’d say that water beats out solar hands down at this point. Think of it this way, solars produce 1eu/t, but since they don’t produce at night that’s knocked down to .5eu/t. Water gens however produce .25eu/t when surrounded with water. Double that since you get TWO water gens for the materials and you have .5eu/t, same as solar. Consider also the rain which knocks out solar gens and the horrendous building costs of solars and we have a clear winner.


    Other factors include where you want to build, and how much work you want to do to place them. Granted, placing solar is easy as pie if you live anywhere near the surface of the world. Wind-gens are troublesome to engineer if you live in lowlands and watermills require some engineering to properly set up. Still, there’s no place in the world that solars can beat out either water or wind. The only merit they have is looking pretty. Bleh.

    I prefer either solar, or wind, because of water's low power output.
    Wind generators are cheaper than solar, but you need to use glass fibre cables or a ton of batboxes to avoid melting any cables.
    Solar is very convenient - just wire it and forget it, which cancels out some of its expense.


    If we're not talking vanilla IC2, Power Converters has generators called Water Strainers, which are like watermills that take water from BC pipes instead of buckets. They produce 4-5x as much EU/t/iron ingot as solar, but actually pumping the water causes plenty of lag with my Intel graphics...

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    Quote from immibis

    If we're not talking vanilla IC2, Power Converters has generators called Water Strainers, which are like watermills that take water from BC pipes instead of buckets. They produce 4-5x as much EU/t/iron ingot as solar, but actually pumping the water causes plenty of lag with my Intel graphics...


    They actually provide the same as a "manned" water mill without the whole bucket system. (2 EU/t)
    I've love to build a few dozen more myself but the two that I am using are unstable as heck. keep having to knock them down and re-place both them and the tubes leading to them. Not sure if this is a SMP thing or not though.

    Actually I would like Generators as an option. Using biofuel actually is a green alternative, but basically I just dump planks into them. They give 750EU each, which means 3000 per piece of wood, which is quite nice compared to 4000EU of coal. I don't get why plain wood only gives 750, but Rubberwood (RP2) gives 3000^^ (at least it burns longer). Shouldn't vanilla-wood give 3000 too?