11x11x11 Power Reactor Producing 104659.6

[garthrs]

I was messing around trying to improve my large ship's power when I stumbled on this...

Here is the layout. I'll post a video shortly to show how I put it together. I search around the googles and best I could find was ~97K.

JPG: http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/rr16/garthrs/11x11x11104569.png
Video:
If you know of a better result/setup let me know. I am looking to maximize my power while reducing the space it takes up. Thanks a million!

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Reactor cubes typically will always be less efficient compared to building to the dimensions of your ship. Reactors gain power the bigger they get so restricting their size will restrict this power.

For example a single reactor containing 160 blocks will produce more power.

Now all that being said, it is an efficient design, If I was forced to build my standard reactor design in a 11x11x11 cube your reactor would win in terms of power. But if you ever need more power though and think to place another cube you are now less efficient, the way I build I can extend it to 22x11x11 and it is now more efficient than two of that cube.

 

[Marduk_Zoekoff]

I have an 11.11.11 that does 124480.3

I'll show it better after classes.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I really need to get to that "why power cubes are bad" video I want to make. Just remember this simple rule, no mater how efficient your power cube is, if you need more than one, you could be building a better power system.

For another reference point, the standard, start with two corners, work inward and then add some more reactors to the spaces on the outsides without additional fill is 114125.5 power. I usually build my reactors differently due to ease of construction and compatibility with empty spaces that are not cubes.

 

[Thalanor]

Yes. Also if your ship is small enough, do not just spam 1-dimensional lines. Try to make almost every power reactor group occupy the maximum boxdims the ship has, and instead use less groups. Also, never let other system blocks stop you from extending a reactor group boxdim within the hull. Power boxdims have priority, even if it makes weapon refitting more difficult.

 

[SmilingDemon]

I use them mostly for aestetic purposes. A hall with power generator thingies with control consoles and walkways around and stuff.
The power generators that provide the real juice are tugged away out of sight

 

[garthrs]

This is exactly why I posted. Thanks for all the information. I didn't make the cube to power my ship, I did it to help me understand the way groups have to fit together. Getting 104 was not my goal, understanding was... So thanks for the information!

 

[Marduk_Zoekoff]

I wouldn't say cubes are bad, it mostly depends on how you plan to use them, but I would say what is important with power is that whatever space you are filling, you should try to work out a pattern that does not diminish any of your power lines or bonus as you go. For example, and that is only because I happen to build a cube, in this instance every line of every layer of the cube has the exact same bonus and cube count as every other line in the same layer. If you work your lines so that the first has a huge bonus and count, but eventually some of your other lines start to shrink, it will not balance out as well as if you try to balance the count throughout your lines and bonuses. The pattern I have in the cube can be varied in size for better power rather than adding additional cubes. one at 15x15x15 produces 380k and at 23x23x23 it produces over 1million. But you can also do this with any area you are trying to fill, if your pattern can be repeated to fill smaller or larger areas without a huge overhaul to the design your golden.

OOH I almost forgot, what you are looking at here, is not actually a cube pattern at all. it is two inverted U patterns which when locked together form a cube, but it can actually be altered to any shape you want.

 

[AtraUnam]

I love building reactors. After half an hour of messing with repeating patterns I got an 11^3 reactor with 110054.6 e/sec :p

EDIT: Make that 117892.7 e/sec with a slightly lower mass than the previous design.

EDIT 2: Make that 130596.3 e/sec at the same mass as the previous design. Thats 25% more efficient than OP's reactor.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I love building reactors. After half an hour of messing with repeating patterns I got an 11^3 reactor with 110054.6 e/sec :p

EDIT: Make that 117892.7 e/sec with a slightly lower mass than the previous design.

EDIT 2: Make that 130596.3 e/sec at the same mass as the previous design. Thats 25% more efficient than OP's reactor.

Chances are I can make a more efficient reactor using less volume by not restricting myself to a cube.

 

[AtraUnam]

I could too but restrictions are half the fun. Also the designs are compatible with any cuboid shape, not just cubes.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

The more I play around with reactor designs the more I find simple stick reactors to be the better option. Reactors that longer in one direction have proven to be more efficient than cube reactors of a larger volume. A 11x11x11 has a max reactor size of 31 and that cube has a volume of 1331. Now if we take the volume and divide it by the max reactor size (31) we get around 43, next we take the square root to get the other two sides, and that's a little over 6. Now lets for simplicity sake just round down. Now we have a box 31x6x6, fill it with sticks and we have a total power of 136223.9 with a total volume of 1116.

So, AtraUnam your complex reactor has a power output of 98.11 per volume and my simple stick reactor, that is smaller size, has a power volume of 122.06. So far my test to improve the output beyond that of simple sticks has proven fruitless. To increase any of the reactors dimensions I would have to cut the dimensions of two or more reactors, this in turn creates less power. So while complex patterns may be the best in a perfectly square environment I have yet to see anything improve this grid of longer arrays.

I'll have to refit some of my ships and compare reactor designs in order to say anything for sure though as this is all theoretical work with ideal boxes.

 

[Thalanor]

I was a fan of lines once, but on smaller ships they just take up too much space as in power reactors required.
Lines are far from the optimal configuration in most cases, however they are a very practical configuration - 100% maxed out eficiency is rarely needed.
Rule of thumb: If your ship is built with performance in mind, don't go for line checkerboards if the lines are less than 50 blocks long, or you will waste alot of space that could be used for shields/thrust/capacity.

 

[AtraUnam]

Now we have a box 31x6x6, fill it with sticks and we have a total power of 136223.9 with a total volume of 1116.

After 3 iterations of reactors within the stated volume I was able to get 136974.1 e/sec. This may only be 0.55% more efficient but it does show that lines are not necessarily the most efficient design, though I did use 2 more blocks than a line reactor.

EDIT: Iteration 4 generates 137920.8 e/sec making it 1.24% more efficient.

 

[Magrim]

EDIT: Iteration 4 generates 137920.8 e/sec making it 1.24% more efficient.

I'm very curious to see the design. The best I could come up with is 117k

 

[AtraUnam]

I'm very curious to see the design. The best I could come up with is 117k

117k for a 31x6x6 reactor? because just lines gets you 136k.

 

[Magrim]

117k for a 31x6x6 reactor? because just lines gets you 136k.

I misunderstood what you where building. I thought you were trying to maximize efficiency in an 11^3 reactor. Instead you where using Sven's example, derp.

Out of curiosity:

Make that 130596.3 e/sec at the same mass as the previous design.

How'd you put this one together?

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

After 3 iterations of reactors within the stated volume I was able to get 136974.1 e/sec. This may only be 0.55% more efficient but it does show that lines are not necessarily the most efficient design, though I did use 2 more blocks than a line reactor.

EDIT: Iteration 4 generates 137920.8 e/sec making it 1.24% more efficient.

I sure would like to see this reactor as well.

 

[Marduk_Zoekoff]

I misunderstood what you where building. I thought you were trying to maximize efficiency in an 11^3 reactor. Instead you where using Sven's example, derp.

Out of curiosity:


How'd you put this one together?

I am also curious to see the design as well, I would like to see if it can help improve my own design. For instance this is the basic repeating pattern I used, it is not specifically restricted to a cube form but any surface area you wish to cover, It uses 3 sides for a cube but could also be rearranged to fit other shapes. the basic idea of it is to try to keep a high bonus on each line as well as counts.

[DOUBLEPOST=1422594880,1422594781][/DOUBLEPOST]also if the line of lines on the right is inverted the power jumps but it is no longer usable as a cube

 

[Magrim]

I figured out the pattern from your first pic and recreated it in game. It's a very efficient design Marduk, with very little wasted space. So far I've managed to get 118k with my own reactors but cant seem to break into the 120s yet. I think I'll have to rethink the patterns I'm using because with a twisted design things get messy toward the center.