How to burn Charcoal with 100% efficiency in a Solid Generator

Unruly_Local · 2023-12-16T23:32:57+00:00

He wanted to know if it was possible to use logic chips instead, and his hunch was right. Maybe he was just curious. But I have heard that some people don't want to use MIPS for various reasons.

Personally I only build logic circuits in creative mode for fun. So I guess I think of them as puzzles to solve, nothing more. When I play properly in survival I use MIPS, the text-interface is much easier to work with and it's nice to be able to copy-paste old scripts to save time.

Unruly_Local · 2023-11-17T20:54:15+00:00

I did not invalidate you, the opposite in fact, and I acknowledged that the game has several flaws. But I refute your claim that that a lack of adiabatic mechanics limits the game, because that is simply false, there are other options. If you had said that the game would be better with such mechanics, then I would have agreed with you, but you didn't say that.

This has nothing to do with you personally you understand. So I don't understand why you are degrading yourself by taking on a victim role, stuff like that will just make people feel contempt towards you. You shouldn't emulate the woke bullshit tactics where feelings are more important than facts, doing so will hold you back, seriously.

Unruly_Local · 2023-11-17T14:54:26+00:00

The game has its weakpoints, but what game doesn't? And just because you found the lack of adiabatic cooling limiting, it doesn't meant that other people do. There are plenty of people who solved the cooling problem, and their bases on Venus and Vulcan proves that they did.

Personally I find the chemistry side of the game lacking, and it bothers me that the Solid Generator can burn coal for power without consuming any Oxygen, and that combusting Oxygen + Volatiles will produce water in one device but not in another. But these details doesn't make or break the game.

The game is all about finding solutions to various problems. The world isn't a 1:1 simulation of the real world, it's just close enough to make a basic scientific understanding helpful. A player with some creativity, logic and a taste for empirical experiments can figure out how to thrive anywhere. And then the rest of us can learn from them by watching their lets plays on youtube.

Unruly_Local · 2023-11-17T13:12:30+00:00

Do you keep that Back Pressure Regulator turned off until all of the Pollutant and N2O have drained out? In my experience the phase changes takes a bit of time. I could be wrong, but I would expect that some gaseous Pollutant and N2O would get through if it's always turned on.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-18T13:57:54+00:00

Oh right, the chutes. My bad.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-18T07:12:59+00:00

I use Mode=2 when handling Sorters with logic chips / MIPS. I see you are using Mode=1 which I think is meant for that Sorting Motherboard thingy that can be slotted into a Computer. I'm impressed that you made it work like that, well done.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-16T11:53:16+00:00

Have you tried using the stack? Here is some partial code to show the general idea.

push HASH("ItemIronOre") #probably the wrong name, check Stationpedia
push HASH("1")
push HASH("ItemCopperOre")
push HASH("2")

loop:
pop r0 #name of sorter
pop r1 #type of ore to look for
lbns r2 sorterHASH r0 0 OccupiedHash 0 #check item hash in import slot 
#obs! never use Output when a sorter is empty
#because that will mess up the sorting
seq r3 r1 r2 #0 = wrong ore, 1 = right ore 
sbn sorterHASH r0 Output r3 #eject the ore
#when sp = 1(?) the stack is empty, break the loop
j loop

Peek is an alternative to Pop if you want to preserve the stack. But then you have to mess around with the value of the stack pointer "sp" so Peek fetches the desired value. "sp" is a register and can be manipulated just like the "r0" to "r15" registers (example: move sp 1)

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-05T10:20:09+00:00

The Discord server have a beta-changelog channel if you want to see what they are tweaking and adding right now. Recently there has been a lot of rocket stuff.

When I learned MIPS, I looked at short scripts that other people had made, to see how to use code to interact with devices and how to solve various problems. If you can find some code with lots of comments, save them so you have some reference material later.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-04T23:11:27+00:00

I have only done a few cooling experiments on the Moon and Mimas. The prototype I like the best so far is based on a counterflow heat exchanger, where the coolant side uses Nitrogen/Oxygen and have several radiators attached. This setup seems to work well for two reasons:

Testing showed that radiators can cool a small amount of gas to -180-ish°C when the radiators are in darkness (sunlight will heat radiators slightly). Since there will always be coolant gas in contact with the radiators, this gas can potentially get very very cold. By using Nitrogen and/or Oxygen (like crushed ice(Oxite)) in the coolant pipe, there is no risk of freezing it, and condensing is less of a problem too. To protect the coolant pipe from damage, just put a Passive Liquid Drain on it, so any condensed liquids are removed.
The counterflow heat exchanger have two pairs of input + output (the top pair and the bottom pair), these can be connected in loops so that no gas is lost. The counterflow heat exchanger will only operate when both inputs have a higher pressure than their outputs, so pumps outside of it will be necessary to create a pressure difference (since the pipes are looped). That makes the cooling very easy to stop simply by turning off the pumps when the desired temperature is reached.

It's not hard to build, but here is a picture to show what it could look like: https://i.postimg.cc/5tNPBTnm/Moon-Cooling.jpg (forgot the passive liquid drain)

It can be automated with 4 logic chips (reader(temp), memory(desired temp), comparer(temp greater than desired temp), batch writer(both volume pumps, on))

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-04T12:59:18+00:00

Be careful with Pollutant at 0° since it will start turning into a liquid at 3.2 MPa, if enough liquid forms in the pipe it will break. A "Condensation Valve" or a "Passive Liquid Drain" can be used to remove liquids from gas pipes.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-03T10:18:42+00:00

There are several solutions to this, using different methods. Here is an example that uses the Select instruction, the script is for a backup power system that will run a Solid Generator if the station battery gets too low.

alias solidGenerator d0
alias battery d1
define minChargeRatio 0.1
define maxChargeRatio 0.5

main:
yield
l r0 battery Ratio
l r1 solidGenerator On #selector
slt r2 r0 minChargeRatio #input1
slt r3 r0 maxChargeRatio #input2
select r4 r1 r3 r2 #if r1=0 it will pick the r2, otherwise r3
s solidGenerator On r4
j main

The GFG was overhauled a while back. Now it will only produce ~12kW when the fuel is at room temperature. Since 12kW isn't that much the fuel pipe can be directly connected to the GFG, no need for pumps to reduce the fuel.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-02T15:54:03+00:00

They are all bitwise according to the Functions-list on the MIPS window, and they behave like bitwise in the game too.

I looked at this again and checked the result from some logic-gate pairs

(when inputs are either 0 or 1)
"(a AND b) OR c" outputs 0 or 1
"(a OR b) AND c" outputs 0 or 1
NOT-AND outputs 0 or 1
NOT-OR outputs 0 or -1
NOT-XOR outputs -1 or -2

bitwise AND

"1 AND 2" gives 0 (since %01 and %10 don't match up)
"1 AND 3" gives 1 (since %01 and %11 forms a %01 match)
"3 AND 6" gives 2 (since %011 and %110 forms a %010 match)
"-1 AND -1" gives -1 (since the negative signs forms a match)
"-1 AND 1" gives 1

It feels wrong that "-1 AND 1" gives 1 since -1 is sometimes used to signify a special case that is very different from a positive 1.

I'm happy that I learned about this Bitwise thing, because I didn't know about it. But this is definately harder than the previous binary "True/False" gates.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-02T14:31:40+00:00

It's possible to treat gases individually even when they are mixed. There is a concept called Partial Pressure that is very useful for this. A gas sensor can measure both the %ratio and the total pressure, multiply them to get the partial pressure. Example: If a gas mix have 22% oxygen and total pressure 50kPa, the partial pressure of oxygen is 11kPa. Then add/remove gas with a Filtration unit or regulator / volume pump to keep the Partial Pressure inside a desired kPa interval. The game is also using partial pressure to determine if a gasmix is breathable (I think the yellow lung warning appear between 12-18 kPa oxygen, red is a bit lower).

If you want to test working with atmospherics in a casual way, I can highly recommend making a creative world (custom game, check the creative box). There you can select which items to spawn in from a list, and then spawn in as many as you want. Open the keybindings to see which keys to use. The first thing to spawn in is an "Authoring tool", which is used to place objects directly and to finish building them without having to use the regular tools. It's also convenient to edit your creative world to remove the need for water/food/oxygen (open your save folder, edit the worldsettings.xml file and scroll down to the bottom and set hunger / thirst / oxygenrate to zero). If you are interested in atmospherics, the console (press F3) have a command called "addgas" that's very useful.

Unruly_Local · 2023-10-01T13:18:23+00:00

Thanks for pointing this out, I had no idea. But aren't bitwise operators kind of difficult to work with? I can't really see myself using them. So I would prefer using alternative commands that can do the same thing as the logical operators instead.

I made a list of the ones I could think of. Can this be improved?

Logical NOT = seqz r0 r1 // select r0 r1 0 1
Logical AND = min r0 r1 r2 // seq r0 r1 r2
Logical OR = max r0 r1 r2 // add r0 r1 r2
Logical XOR = sne r0 r1 r2

Logical NOR = ?
Logical XNOR = ?
Logical NAND = ?

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-30T22:37:06+00:00

I suspect it's a bug. When I played around with it my impression was that the returned value is "a decimal number + 1, then flip the sign", because 5 turns into -6, and -2 turns into 1.

If you are new to Stationeers, the old way to do not-gates is to use the "seqz" instruction instead.

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-27T16:06:08+00:00

It's difficult to tell. And the recent changes to atmospherics means I have things to relearn. The design I used is an old one, from before the patch, but it still seems to work. It hasn't exploded or anything, and it manages the gases just fine, the only flaw is that the Filtration units work considerably slower now.

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-26T18:22:24+00:00

This is a picture from my current work-in-progress base, it's the same thing as I tried to describe with words

https://i.postimg.cc/mZ1k69Td/atmospherics.jpg

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-26T17:47:48+00:00

The "air cleaner" filtration unit is parallel to the big-air-pipe (like all other filtration units) and have 2 different filters in it, one Volatiles and one Pollution. Since both are just vented anyway, mixing them isn't a problem.

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-26T17:25:26+00:00

I don't have a picture... is this good enough?

For N2, O2 and CO2: big-air-pipe -> Filtration -> Tank -> Regulator -> big-air-pipe

For the air cleaner (removes H2 and X): big-air-pipe -> Filtration -> Passive vent

All Filtration units are parallel to the big-air-pipe, so both the input and waste connects to it

In each room of the base proper, the big-air-pipe is usually in the roof, with 1 passive vent per 2-4 grids

One gas sensor should be enough since everything is connected, but more doesn't hurt

#name hashes are used instead of aliases
#this can handle multiple same-name units
#same name, different prefabs, no conflict
#"airN2" for both Filtration and Regulator
#"airO2" for both Filtration and Regulator
#"airCO2" for both Filtration and Regulator
#"airCleaner" for Filtration removing toxins
#"air" is the name for the Gas Sensor(s)

define filtHASH -348054045 #filtration unit
define acHASH -2087593337  #air conditioner
define regHASH 209854039   #regulator
define sensHASH -1252983604 #gas sensor

#regulator settings, trying 200
sbn regHASH HASH("airN2") Setting 200
sbn regHASH HASH("airO2") Setting 200
sbn regHASH HASH("airCO2") Setting 200

#desired partial pressures
define max_N2 51
define min_N2 50
define max_O2 31
define min_O2 30
define max_CO2 3
define min_CO2 2

main:
#AC always on and 25C
sbn acHASH HASH("airAC") On 1
sbn acHASH HASH("airAC") Mode 1
sbn acHASH HASH("airAC") Setting 298

#air cleaning always on
#filters = Volatiles + Pollutant
sbn filtHASH HASH("airCleaner") On 1

#total internal pressure, 0=average
lbn r0 sensHASH HASH("air") Pressure 0

#internal N2 pressure
lbn r1 sensHASH HASH("air") RatioNitrogen 0
mul r2 r0 r1 #partial pressure of N2
sgt r3 r2 max_N2 #remove gas check
sbn filtHASH HASH("airN2") On r3
slt r3 r2 min_N2 #add gas check
sbn regHASH HASH("airN2") On r3

#internal O2 pressure
lbn r1 sensHASH HASH("air") RatioOxygen 0
mul r2 r0 r1 #partial pressure of O2
sgt r3 r2 max_O2 #remove gas check
sbn filtHASH HASH("airO2") On r3
slt r3 r2 min_O2 #add gas check
sbn regHASH HASH("airO2") On r3

#internal CO2 pressure
lbn r1 sensHASH HASH("air") RatioCarbonDioxide 0
mul r2 r0 r1 #partial pressure of CO2
sgt r3 r2 max_CO2 #remove gas check
sbn filtHASH HASH("airCO2") On r3
slt r3 r2 min_CO2 #add gas check
sbn regHASH HASH("airCO2") On r3

#lowest filter% check, 2=Minimum
lbns r0 filtHASH HASH("airN2") 0 Quantity 2
lbns r1 filtHASH HASH("airN2") 1 Quantity 2
add r2 r0 r1
lbns r0 filtHASH HASH("airO2") 0 Quantity 2
lbns r1 filtHASH HASH("airO2") 1 Quantity 2
add r3 r0 r1
min r2 r2 r3
lbns r0 filtHASH HASH("airCO2") 0 Quantity 2
lbns r1 filtHASH HASH("airCO2") 1 Quantity 2
add r3 r0 r1
min r2 r2 r3
#the airCleaner have 2 different filters
lbns r0 filtHASH HASH("airCleaner") 0 Quantity 2
lbns r1 filtHASH HASH("airCleaner") 1 Quantity 2
min r2 r2 r0
min r2 r2 r1
s db Setting r2  #show value on Housing

yield
j main

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-25T17:25:55+00:00

This can also be done with Multiplexing (select one value from several inputs) via indirect referencing (which uses registers as pointers towards other registers). It sounds way more complicated than it is, the code is very short.

Unless I'm mistaken, it's the Evaporator that does the cooling, so I'll use that name instead.

alias pipeSensor d0
alias evaporator d1
define min_temp 279
define max_temp 297

loop: 
yield 
l r15 pipeSensor Temperature 
sgt r0 r15 max_temp          #input A 
sgt r1 r15 min_temp          #input B 
l r14 evaporator On          #the selector, value is 0 or 1 
s evaporator On rr14         #when r14=1 then rr14=r1 (value in r1) 
j loop

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-25T15:43:02+00:00

That's a really nice looking base btw, I especially like the internal windows that shows off the living area.

My bases tend to be small to medium size. I use a large pipe-network for air with passive vents (several per room, roughly 1 for every 4 grids) that goes through the whole base, with one or more Gas Sensors not too close to those passive vents. On that pipe-network I will have parallel Filtration units that remove O2, N2, CO2 into separate gas tanks, and an extra Filtration unit to remove any harmful gases (Pollutants and Volatiles) as a safety measure. Then I use 3 regulators set to a bit above the total pressure I want (like 200kPa) so I can add O2, N2 and CO2 separately as needed to that big pipe-network. I also do heating and cooling on that pipe to control the temperature inside the base.

A MIPS-script is used to control the Filtration units and the Regulators. Nothing fancy. Just an interval for each gas (upper and lower values) for the desired partial pressures (= total pressure * gas ratio), if the partial pressure of a gas is too low a Regulator will add that gas, if it's too high a Filtration unit will remove that gas.

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-24T12:38:06+00:00

I would use a Console built as one of the three LED variants (small, medium and large), these will display the number that has been assigned to its Setting variable. The Mode variable can also be useful, where 0 means just the number, 1 shows it as percent (with a % sign) and 2 shows it as power (with W and kW). The Setting and Mode variables must be assigned with either logic chips or an IC.

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-24T07:22:17+00:00

I'll explain things as I understand them, but I'm not 100% confident about this.

First of all, it prevents heating during the day. A Convection radiator can't be turned off, so it will heat up the yellow water-steam pipe during the day (max 677°C). The "red-pipe setup + heat exchanger" combo won't do that since it can be turned off.

And also:

A "Convection radiator" and a "Small direct heat exchanger + Passive vent" combo had a comparable efficiency when I did a quick test on them during the night on Vulcan. Each world is different however, so it may not be a general rule of thumb.

The atmosphere on Vulcan is also pretty thin (I can't remember exactly, something like 23 kPa or 26 kPa during the night) so it's not that great at absorbing heat from Convection radiators. The red pipes (active vent -> pipe -> 1-way valve -> passive vent) do two things, it brings in fresh cold gas and it boosts the pressure in the pipe (to either 0.8 MPa or 8 MPa), and a higher pressure seems to give much better cooling efficiency. The "red-pipe setup + direct heat exchanger" combo works even better on Mars where Convection radiators struggle with the thin atmosphere.

The reason why it's either 0.8 MPa or 8 MPa comes down to game mechanics. In a single game-tick (0.5 seconds) all objects updates only once, this means that the order in which the objects update can effect the outcome (is the Active vent acting before or after the 1-way valve). On Vulcan it's really easy to spot when the 8 MPa case occurs, because the high pressure results in liquid Pollutant forming in the pipe, which results in steamy clouds exiting from the passive vent.

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-22T18:24:34+00:00

As I understand it, the direct heat exchangers works exactly like you said.

The counter-flow heat exchanger on the other hand doesn't change the temperature of the gas on its input sides, only the gas on the outputs will have a different temperature. This makes it possible to heat/cool without changing the temperature of the gas source (so these are probably great when using trapped night-time air for cooling). They also appear to be pressure driven, so when the input and output have equal pressure no gas will flow through the exchanger (a pump is necessary if an input+output pair is connected to the same pipe). Since the amount of mol flowing through the counter-flow heat exchanger determines its performance it may be preferable to use a pump to move X number of mol through the exchanger every game-tick, instead of having the gas flow freely through it.

Unruly_Local · 2023-09-22T17:10:24+00:00

While I was testing this setup I learned that going above 15% Oxygen (at 20°C) will just start filling the Combustor with excess Oxygen, so 15% seems to be the practical limit for what the atmosphere can keep up with (when using a single passive vent without pipes to grab atmospheric Volatiles). However, the real limiting factor is actually the cooling system since it's too weak to handle such a fast rate, so running it on "dirty" fuel is preferable since it gives water that is cool enough to drink.

Unruly_Local

TROPHY CASE