Fractional Distillation Stack

[Chris Johnson]

As far as I know Petrol is currently only produced using the fractional distillation stack. Biodiesel is another engine fuel which can be produced . Engines will also run on alcohol and propane.

Currently the plan is all engines will run on all fuels - petrol & biodiesel being more efficient than propane & alcohol.

RD will be writing up a section in the Wiki explaining engines and fuel usage and production in the near future.

[wichita]

I have added the fractional distillation stack, biodiesel mixing vat, and pot still entries to the Wiki. The projects list is not complete yet on the pot still entry, but all projects are in the automatic update page on the Wiki, for any of you Wiki hawks that have some free time to add them in.


P.S. - just because I like to keep things as well referenced a s possible, I just bumped the fuel thread from Accepted to Implemented.

http://www.cantr.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6424

[The Sociologist]

Thank you for the Wiki additions. I'm still going through them. Obviously game balancing will be quite an issue here. A bus should surely chew petrol relative to a dirt bike or car. And as a further example, if one can make biodiesel with wood, of all things, then why can one not make petrol using at least charcoal? I know that the RD folks' charries live most of their lives in nice safe places like Seatown Garden, but please spare a thought for the rest of us. Also, how soon will we know the relative "eating" rates of vehicles? This will give a critical idea as to game balancing.

Most importantly, when will vehicles begin consuming fuel? One of my characters is going on a journey right now so I'd like to know. In other words, if I'll be gone 10-20 days, should I take propane with and if so, then how much? (It is ironic that almost the entire town now have tandems but my character has a dirt bike! )

One comment I was about to make about the restricted kinds of buildings now seems less relevant if the projects are automated. And that is that it has been very difficult to rebuild the kind of "factory culture" we had in the old days. Almost nobody welcomes working indoors anymore and forcing new machines into different building types would make the situation of lonely and isolated factory workers even worse.

However, this will not be such an issue with automated projects. Still, it's something to keep in mind if you guys ever think of doing this again (and upgrading buildings to higher classes was listed in my Essay on Motivation as being of some importance).

Anyhow, thanks for all the hard work.

(By the way, I'm curious about the emphasis on "meat" in the biodiesel. That isn't so IRL, surely, so why?)

[Zanthos]

Maybe to reduce massive meat stocks in many towns?

[Nakranoth]

Because it's the only substancial source of fats/oils we have in game at the moment... unless you feel like going all mortar and pestal on some nuts or something. True, you wouldn't use the whole meat, but also true, the meat left over would be mostly unusable in anything but a stew... so instead of making you as players de-lard the meat, just use it in its entirety.

[dryn]

I just thought we were turning the meat into car food.

[Surly]

I am hoping the RD is going to stick with what they said and give us all the information a month before.

And yes, that includes explaining fuel efficiency to us. Otherwise we will have no chance to prepare. And if you're going to force things like this on us, that's the least you can do.

[Sho]

All of the fuel usage information appears to be on the wiki in one place or another. The formula is on http://www.cantr.net/mwiki/index.php/Category:Engines, the engine-specific parameters are on the individual engine pages, and the vehicle parameters are buried in the database changes.

[Joshuamonkey]

So car engine B is better than A, but it uses more fuel and costs more to make.

[Surly]

How does speed/max speed work? Speed is dependent on a number of things... is max speed calculated by the road type you are currently on?

Also, does max speed assume the speed of your vehicle completely unloaded?

Or am I completely misunderstanding, and its the percentage speed you select?

Note: Also, is that grams used per turn? Or day?

[Sho]

I assume it's percentage speed selected - that makes the numbers work out so the fuel consumption ranges from the vehicle minimum to the maximum.

[Surly]

Also means you use fuel when stopped, which is somewhat stupid.

[Nakranoth]

Well, have you ever put your car in neutral? It still runs the engine until you actually cut it. And I believe that's grams per pixel traveled when you work it out.

[the_antisocial_hermit]

Do you leave a car in neutral all the time?

[Nakranoth]

Only when stopping while driving. If you're on the road, there's usually no real reason to stop completely anyway... and come to think of it... at a stop, you're not moving any pixels... so at x grams/pixel... you've used 0 fuel.