Steam Engine

The Steam Engine is a block that provides Rotational Force. It has the highest Stress (SU) capacity of all the survival-mode power-generating blocks. It converts the pressure caused by heating Water in a Fluid Tank into Rotational Force, allowing for large scale item production and multiple contraptions.

Obtaining

Crafting

Name	Ingredients	Crafting Recipe
Steam Engine	Golden Sheet + Andesite Alloy + Copper Block

Usage

Steam Engines use heated Water for power and are placed on Fluid Tanks used as a boiler. At least 4 Fluid Tanks and 1 heat source block are required. A Shaft can be used on the engine to make a kinetic output.

The amount of power generated is determined not by the Steam Engine but by the boiler based on the type and number of heat sources, size of the boiler, and amount of water flow. Multiple Steam Engines can be attached to a single boiler; however, this will not increase the total power generated by the boiler. Increasing the total power requires that one or more of the three characteristics (heat, size, water) of the boiler be increased.

All passive heat sources generate the same amount of heat. More power can be generated with the help of Blaze Burners, which produce varying amounts of heat depending on their state. Adding additional fluid tanks and water-input pipes can also generate more power. At higher power levels, more Steam Engines are required to extract rotational power from the boiler.

The water requirements for a steam engine depend on its level, with higher levels consuming more water. To control the flow of water, you can use a Fluid Pump and a Rotation Speed Controller, or another method for adjusting the pump's speed. This allows you to achieve different fluid transfer rates for different engine levels.

When operating a steam engine, it's important to ensure that you have the correct amount of water flowing through it. For each level of a steam engine, you'll need to supply it with 10mb/t of water. If the water source directly touches the fluid pumps, you can use the fluid transfer rate to calculate the rpm:

• For a level 1 (passive) engine, a fluid pump running at 20rpm is sufficient.
• For a level 9 (heated) engine, a fluid pump running at 180rpm is required.
• For a level 18 (superheated) engine, you'll need two fluid pumps running at 180rpm each.

Viewing Power Levels

Power levels can be inspected by viewing the boiler with the Engineer's Goggles or by attaching a Display Link and a display block. The required water input rate will also be highlighted in this display if insufficient. The levels are shown as a number representing the number of Steam Engines that can be attached. The maximum number of power levels is 18. Eighteen Steam Engines each producing their maximum power of 16,384 SU gives a maximum boiler stress capacity of 294,912 SU.

Heat sources

• Passive (0 heating levels)
  •  Fire
  •  Campfire
  •  Lava
  •  Magma Block
  •  Empty Blaze Burner lit with Flint and Steel
  •  Blaze Burner (smouldering)
• Active (1 heating level per Blaze Burner)
  •  Blaze Burner (heated)
• Overclocked (2 heating levels per Blaze Burner)
  •  Blaze Burner (super-heated)

Trivia

• Steam Engines can overstress separately. This means that if one overstresses, the rest will continue to generate stress units. This makes it possible to make a steam engine that never binds up.
• Unlike machines in various other mods, which may use only a small amount of water and store excess for later, a Steam Engine setup does not store water, despite being made of Fluid Tanks. Water is, "evaporated" upon insertion whether it surpasses the requirements of the engine or not, and any liquid stored beforehand in the Fluid Tank is instantly voided.

History

• 0.5.1: Boiler status now highlights information about water flow when insufficient.
• 0.5: Introduced, replacing the Furnace Engine as the premier source of power.