Most FICSIT Buildings require electricity, or power, to run. Power is generated in generators and has to be supplied to your buildings via a power grid consisting of Power Lines and Power Poles. Power is measured in megawatts (MW).
Power grid
A power grid is a network of power-generating and power-consuming buildings connected through power lines and poles. A graph of total power production versus consumption can be viewed by activating any power pole or generator on that grid. If consumption ever exceeds production, the grid will overload and shut off, requiring manual reactivation at one of these. Before reactivating, it is recommended and sometimes necessary to either attach more power generators to the grid or remove power-consuming buildings, otherwise the grid will simply overload again as soon as it's reactivated.
- Power grid UI.jpg
A normal power grid, with production exceeding consumption
- Power grid UI overloaded.jpg
That same power grid after consumption exceeded production, and the entire grid shut down
Power generators
Power generators convert fuels into power. Each type of generator building has its own set of fuel item types and power output. Fuel consumption depends on power consumption. At 50%, fuel will last twice as long as at 100% consumption.
Biomass Burner
Consumes various forms of organic matter to produce 20MW of power for each generator built. Up to 2 biomass burners are attached to the HUB. Most harvested fuel items can be crafted into Biomass to increase their energy, and biomass can be further refined to Biofuel.
| Fuel Type | Energy | Stack size | Energy/stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leaves | 15 | 500 | 7.5k |
| Vines | 35 | 200 | 7k |
| Wood | 100 | 100 | 10k |
| Mycelia | 20 | 200 | 4k |
| Alien Carapace | 250 | 50 | 12.5k |
| Alien Organs | 250 | 50 | 12.5k |
| Fabric | 15 | 100 | 1.5k |
| Biomass | 120 | 200 | 24k |
| Biofuel | 300 | 200 | 60k |
Notes:
- Biomass burners must be fed manually and can therefore not run indefinitely without player interaction
- Biofuel has a lot of energy for early game, but requires two crafting processes to acquire
Coal Generator
Coal generators consume Coal to produce 50MW of power per generator.
| Fuel Type | Energy | Stack size | Energy/stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coal | 270 | 100 | 27000 |
| Compacted Coal | 600 | 100 | 60000 |
Notes:
- Coal has less energy per item and per stack than Biofuel, but is much easier to acquire in bulk
- Coal generators can be supplied via belts to allow them to run indefinitely
Fuel Generator
Fuel generators consume Fuel to provide 150MW of power per generator.
| Fuel Type | Energy | Stack size | Energy/stack |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fuel | 750 | 100 | 75000 |
| Biofuel | 300 | 200 | 60000 |
| Turbofuel | 2000 | 100 | 200000 |
Geo Thermal Generator
Other generators do not operate while Geo Thermal energy is enough to power the grid
A Geo Thermal Generator can be built on a Geyser node to provide 200MW of power. It does not require any resource input to function. Geo Thermal Generators do not scale with power consumption and always produce 100% of power, which means that other generators only have to produce the difference between your total power consumption and what Geo Thermal Generators produce. This means, if the total power consumption is less than the total power generated by Geo Thermal Generators alone, no other generators will run and fuel resources for those generators will be conserved.
Nuclear Reactor
Nuclear Reactor consumes Nuclear Fuel Rods and generates 2500MW of power. It also produces Nuclear Waste that emits dangerous radiation and can not be disposed of by normal means.
Clock speed
Overclocked/underclocked production buildings consume polynomially more/less power, while production speed increases/decreases linearly. Overclocking power generators increases their power output at a loss. Overclocking one to 200%, for example, will result in 170% of its original power output. Fuel consumption is still proportional to power consumption.
See also
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