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=Atmospherics: The Department=
{{toc_right}}
[[File:Atmosproper.png|right]]{{toc_right}}Welcome to Atmospherics, the place where Dreams Come True™. Or at least the place that can partially sustain the ability to dream... y'know, by allowing you to breathe and stuff. Breathing is important, and the primary function of this maze of pipes and gas is to distribute breathable air throughout the station efficiently, and to restore air to depressurized - but hopefully air-tight - rooms. Its secondary function is to process contaminant gases captured by the scrubber network and sort the gas accordingly into one of many chambers.
=Power Generation=
If you want power then you gotta talk about how it's generated first


If you're new to all of this - or even just someone who's never really given Atmos a fair shake - then this will all look very complex and downright intimidating to look at. This mostly stems from just how much stuff can get on screen at once, but there's a few things put in place to make pipe-readability easier on the user if they just take the time to truly examine what each pipe network is meant to do. Alongside that will be this guide to help you out.
==Thermoelectric Generator==
<small>See also: [[Supermatter_Engine#The_TEGs|Supermatter Engine Guide]]</small><br>
You put in cold gas in one end and hot gas in the other and you get power depending on the difference in temperature and if the pressure difference isn't awful


==What Do These Colors Mean?==
==Tesla Coils==
So there's a lot of pipes with a bunch of colors and they all look really important. It's true that all of the colored pipes - which represent different pipe networks - have their place in the department, but not all of them are strictly necessary to produce gas. Here's all of the important colors, though note that the colored pipes beneath the catwalks aren't to be taken into account:
<small>See also: [[INDRA]]</small><br>
*<span style="color:#00cccc">'''{{anchor|Air Mix}}Air Mix'''</span>: This is the air mix loop, and these pipes are the most important: they're the ones that contain the [[#Air|air mix]], which is combined at a [[#Gas Mixer|mixer]] set to specific percentages to ensure that the gas everyone breathes is, in fact, breathable. Tampering with the mixer is ill-advised, as is modifying this network in such a way that it will not be able to reach the [[#Distribution|distribution network]].
sorry burrito justice... it's over
*<span style="color:#0000ff">'''{{anchor|Distribution}}Distribution'''</span>: Equally important is this blue network, offset pipes to the south alongside the [[#ScrubberN|scrubber pipes]]. This massive network of pipes is what will actually distribute the air that it receives from the [[#Air Mix|air mix loop]] and send it all towards [[#Unary Vent|vents]] placed all around the station, ensuring every room remains at [[#Pressure|optimal pressure]].
*<span style="color:#ff0000">'''{{anchor|Filtering}}Filtering'''</span>: These pipes are part of the ''filtering network'', a pipe line connected to the [[#ScrubberN|scrubber network]] that leads to [[#Gas Filter|filtering devices]] which will filter a select gas out of the line and output it into a large storage chamber full of that same gas. If the gas type does not match then it'll continue down the line until it eventually does reach where it's meant to go. If, somehow, it reaches the end of the line and doesn't match any of the filtering criteria then it will just be output into the [[#Mix|mix loop]].
*<span style="color:#ff0000">'''{{anchor|ScrubberN}}Scrubber'''</span>: You'll probably notice some [[#Pipe Adapter|pipe adapters]] and pipes that aren't centered towards the south of Atmos proper. These pipes are part of the scrubber network and, as you can imagine, much of this network is comprised of [[#Scrubber|scrubbers]]. The end of this line - where all of the scrubber pipe contents are pumped out towards - is the [[#Filtering|filtering line]].
*<span style="color:#8b6e00">'''{{anchor|Mix}}Mix'''</span>: This line is a bit odd, but its intended function is to provide a pipe network that you can pump any of the gases in atmos into, allowing you to make custom mixes and letting you warm them up or cool them down. Using this line isn't necessary for Atmos to function, but it's good to use as a test bed of sorts if you'd like to experiment with how devices interact with pipe networks. Note that part of this network is colorless.
*<span style="color:#00cc00">'''Misc Mix'''</span>: These pipes aren't actually part of a network, they just pipe [[#O2|oxygen]] and [[#N2|nitrogen]] into a [[#Gas Mixer|mixer]] which outputs into the [[#Air|air chamber]] which later outputs into the [[#Air Mix|air mix line]].
*'''Waste''': These are the black pipes, as few as they are, towards the southern end of Atmos proper. It's intended function is to eject undesirable gas out into space harmlessly, usually by pumping gas you don't want filtered into it from either the [[#Mix|mix line]] or the [[#Filtering|filter line]] by way of [[#Gas Pump|pumps]], and turning a [[#Manual Valve|valve]] open to space.


=Principles and Concepts=
==Solar Panels==
<small>See also: [[Solars|Solar Setup Guide]]</small><br>
You connect the solars to a solar tracker and it tries to track the sun and generates power based on how many solars can see the sun


==Pressure==
==Antimatter==
Wacky engine that supplies power by feeding it fuel. It can also be scaled as large as you want and in any shape you want as long as the parts are laterally adjacent. There's not much else to it unless you mess up the settings, then it might blow up. Ordered through cargo.


===Delta P===
==PACMAN==
watch out for that pressure differential. also 200 kpa ambient pressure blah blah
Secure over a wire knot, give fuel, set target power, turn on. What fuel it takes and how high it can go depends on the subtype
*PACMAN: Takes phoron sheets
*SUPERPACMAN: Takes uranium
*MRSPACMAN: Takes tritium


==Temperature==
==Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator==
e x p a n d
thing with infinite fuel that can power up to 1 kilowatt. that's it. there's an advanced version that can generate up to 10 KW with good parts


===Specific Heat===
==Unimplemented and Misc==
factors into heat capacity
===TEG 2===
If the TEG is so great then why isn't there a TEG 2? Well, there was. It didn't go anywhere and has been sitting around collecting dust in the code for ages.


==Volume==
===Radiation Collector Arrays===
Though available in cargo, these don't collect radiation since they've existed before radiation was actually implemented and never got changed. They can harvest power from a singularity but they can't harvest energy from a SM because that part of the code got commented out.


==Mass==
===Gas Turbine===
moles moles moles
<small>See also: [[Guide_to_Atmospherics#Unimplemented|Guide to Atmospherics]]</small><br>
Two machines that compress gas in the surrounding atmosphere to shove through a turbine in order to generate power. The compressor takes power to do its job, meaning this engine can be run at a net loss for power, but if supplied a decently hot burn mix then the pressure will be high enough to allow the turbine to turn at a rate that can generate sort of decent amounts of power - the turbine is more of a supplement to existing engines for powering the station rather than a standalone one. As it stands, despite the code not being meaningfully altered in almost a decade, the turbine runs almost exactly as it was intended.


==Math==
===Pipe Turbine===
See [[#Basic Pipes|this section]] for volume of pipes
The pipe version of the gas turbine, however the code and era when it was implemented are completely different. High pressure gas must be piped into the input and the output pipe should remain as low pressure as possible to allow gas to be turned through without issue. The turbine will then turn a motor which generates power. Just needs a proc called on the motor to connect to a wired power net, otherwise this setup is still functional. Mention the Adiabatic Process


Pressure (in kPa) * Volume = Moles * 8.314 (the molar gas constant) * temperature (in Kelvin. Kelvin = Celsius + 273.15)
===Fractal Reactor===
Generates 1 MW of power when active, which is pretty crazy, and it doesn't seem to use any fuel. Probably because it's actually used for debugging. If you see this then you should probably ahelp.


=Gas Gas Gas=
=Power Storage=
*{{anchor|O2}}[[File:Oxygen_canister.png]]'''Oxygen (O2)''': 20 SH, 0.032 MM, oxidizer, necessary for life
If you wanna keep power then you gotta talk about how it's stored
*{{anchor|N2}}[[File:Nitrogen_canister.png]]'''Nitrogen (N2)''': 20 SH, 0.028 MM, inert, non-toxic
*{{anchor|Air}}[[File:Air_canister.png]]'''Air (Air)''': 79% N2 21% O2
*{{anchor|CO2}}[[File:Carbon_canister.png]]'''Carbon Dioxide (CO2)''': 30 SH 0.044 MM, toxic in high concentrations
*{{anchor|N2O}}[[File:Nitrous_canister.png]]'''Nitrous Oxide (N2O)''': No, it's not N20, it's N2O. Jamming twenty nitrogen molecules together would be stupid. 40 SH 0.044 MM, sleep agent, oxidizer
*{{anchor|H2}}[[File:Hydrogen_canister.png]]'''Hydrogen (H2)''':  100 SH 0.002 MM, fuel, non-toxic
*{{anchor|PH}}[[File:Phoron_canister.png]]'''Phoron (PH)''': 200 SH 0.405 MM, fuel, toxic, contaminant


=Relevant Tools=
==[[File:SMES.png]]SMES==
wrenches and analyzers. also the pipe dispenser
Big battery fella. The amount of power it can store and the amount of power it can input and output per tick depends on the type and amount of coils installed. Receives power through a terminal, outputs power into a wire beneath itself
*[[File:Wrench.png]]'''Wrench'''
*[[File:Pipewrench.png]]'''Pipe Wrench'''
*[[File:Impactwrench.png]]'''Impact Wrench'''
*[[File:Analyzer.png]]'''Gas Analyzer'''
*[[File:Pipedispenser.png]]'''Pipe Dispenser'''
*[[File:RPD.png]]'''RPD'''
*[[File:Multitool.png]]'''Multitool''': for changing what network a meter pays attention to


=Pipes and Devices=
===SMES Coils===
Coils determine how much power can be stored and how far you can adjust the I/O. You can fit six coils inside a single SMES unit
*Superconductive Magnetic Coil: Stores 5 MJ of power, I/O of 250 KW
*Transmission Coil: Stores 0.5 MJ of power, I/O of 1000 KW
*Capacitance Coil: Stores 50 MJ of power, I/O of 50 KW
*Basic Coil: Stores 1 MJ of power, I/O of 150 KW


==Basic Pipes==
==Power Cell Rack PSU==
*'''Straight''': 70L
An alternative to the SMES. I/O is probably locked but the amount of power you can store depends on how many power cells you shoved inside it.
**'''Corner''':
*'''Manifold''': 105L
*'''Four Way''': 140L
*'''Cap''': 35L
*'''Z-Pipe''': 70L, effectively 140L
*'''{{anchor|Pipe Adapter}}Universal Pipe Adapter''': 70L
*'''Heat Exchange''': 70L
**'''Junction''':
*'''Insulated''': 70L


==Devices and Utilities==
===Power Cells===
most powered devices use 150 watts when idle
*Default: 1000
*Heavy Duty: 5000, found in APCs and portable atmospheric equipment
*High Capacity: 10000
*Super Capacity: 20000
*Hyper Capacity: 30000
*Slime: 15000, recharges, harvested from yellow slimes in xenobiology
*Potato: 300


===Unary===
=Power Distribution=
*'''Connector''': no volume
If you wanna use power you gotta talk about how it's distributed
*'''Heat Exchanger''': no volume
*'''Tank''': 10000L
*'''Gas Cooler''': 600L by default
*'''Gas Heater''': 600L by default
*'''Injector''': 700L, up to 700L/s
*'''{{anchor|Unary Vent}}Vent Pump (Unary Vent)''': 200L, up to 200L/s, rated to pressurize to 7500 kPa, can consume 7.5 kw
*'''{{anchor|Scrubber}}Scrubber''': 200L, up to 200L/s, 2500L/s on siphon, rated to pressurize to 7500 kPa, can consume 7.5 kw
*'''Cryo Cell''': no volume


===Binary===
==Wires==
*'''Pressure Regulator''': Effectively 1000L, 500L/s, no power usage
Things you throw down to carry power from one place to the next. Distance doesn't matter, a cable close to a SMES and a cable really far on the same network will have the same charge. use a multitool on these to figure out how much power is available.
*'''{{anchor|Manual Valve}}Manual Valve''': no volume
**'''Digital Valve''': no volume, fucked up
*'''TEG Circulator''': 400L I guess
*'''{{anchor|Gas Pump}}Gas Pump''': Effectively 400L, 200L/s, rated to pressurize to 7500 kPa, can consume 7.5 kw
**'''High Power Pump''': Effectively 400L, 200L/s, rated to pressurize to 15000 kPa, can consume 15 kw


===Ternary/Quaternary===
==APC==
*'''T-Valve''': no volume
Stores power but not much, it supplies power to all machines in the same area as the APC. If it's not in the same area, it's not under that APC's control
**'''Digital T-Valve''': no volume, fucked up
*'''{{anchor|Gas Filter}}(Omni) Gas Filter''': 600-600L, 200L/s, rated to pressurize up to 7500 kPa, can consume up to 7.5 kw
*'''{{anchor|Gas Mixer}}(Omni) Gas Mixer''': 600-800L, 200L/s, rated to pressurize up to 7500 kPa, can consume up to 7.5 kw


==Portables==
==Rechargers==
canisters, air pumps, etc
These things use ridiculous amounts of power so maybe don't decide to recharge more than two power cells at a time lmao
*Device Recharger: 45 KW when active. Accepts power cells, energy weapons, batons, and certain devices.
*Heavy-Duty Cell Charger: 90 KW when active. Only accepts [[#Power Cells|power cells]].
*Cyborg Recharging Station: 40 KW when active with default parts. Accepts stationbounds, [[IPC|IPCs]], and biologic crew if they're wearing a [[Hardsuit Operation|RIG]]. It can also repair the damage of synthetic individuals if its parts are upgraded, though this can consume more power.
*Exosuit Dock: 90 KW when active. Park a mech over this to recharge its cell.


==Unimplemented==
==Power Priority==
*'''Passive Vent''': 250L, 1000L on high vol variant
SMES receive priority over APCs, otherwise everything will try to charge equally and simultaneously based on available input, i.e. four SMES units with max input but only 4 KW available will mean that all four SMES will charge at 1 KW/h
*'''Binary Vent Pump''':
*'''Oxygen Generator''':
*'''Thermal Plate''':
*'''Thruster''':
*'''Pipe Turbine''':


=Breathe That Air=
==Interruptions and Syncing==
something about how stuff works in practice? idk
APCs will turn red for a while if an explosion happens or if substations have their breaker boxes toggled. That's because power code sucks and has to resync everything after a large change in power nets like wires being spawned or deleted. if people complain about APCs being red and that engineering sucks tell them to shove it up their ass and wait two seconds lmao


==Air Alarm Operation==
==RCON==
[[File:AiralarmUI.png|right|thumb|an air alarm's interface set to something idk what i didn't take the picture yet]]how to work that dumb air alarm
RCON is short for Remote Control in that it is a program that can remotely interface with SMES units that have their RCON wire enabled, and it is also able to toggle breaker boxes remotely, allowing you to manage most of the grid from a single computer. It's intended purpose is to separate and organize department power networks into their own grids so that they aren't wholly reliant on the main grid. There are many reasons to setup substations, however there are another many reasons to ''not'' use RCON. [[#Pros and Cons|You will have to determine when it's best to use]], but setting up substations is by no means necessary: unless purposefully sabotaged, the main grid will power the whole station just fine assuming the SMES in charge of the grid is charged and outputting enough power.


=PHORON CHECK!=
The ideal way to configure each substation is to set it up in a way that the department will always receive power when necessary. If you aren't sure what settings to use then don't bother configuring the substation; it's simpler and safer to just run it off the grid directly. Nonetheless, the substation's output must be able to meet a number of factors:
<nowiki>*face melts off*</nowiki>
#'''The amount of APCs:''' All rooms should have one APC, though sometimes multiple rooms share an APC. Departments vary in the amount of APCs they have but, ignoring the rest of these factors, 20 to 60 KW is a safe minimum to expect.
#'''The amount of machinery:''' Lots of machinery will consume power while idle, so it's important to keep them in mind, ''especially'' when they're in use. Lights fall under this category, atmospheric installations especially so.
#'''The amount of [[#Rechargers|rechargers]]:''' Rechargers are machines that tend to consume the most power at a time. The amount of rechargers in a department is what you want to know the most, and you'll want to adjust the SMES output to account for the potential for all rechargers being used at the same time. If the SMES output doesn't go high enough then the department will lose power if someone decides to recharge a lot of equipment. Research is especially prone to this.
If you want a quick and easy way to determine how much power a department will draw normally, just setup the substation like normal and set the output to maximum, the SMES will tell you the expected draw. If the draw is below available output then you can lower it to something a bit above that value to account for intermittent draws of power. However, if the draw is the same as available output or higher then you will need to either upgrade the SMES or re-enable the bypass.
 
The substation's input, on the other hand, must be set to what the department is expected to require at the least. It is '''safe to set the input lower than the output''' - as long as the input can meet demand during normal work then the higher output will use the SMES' stored charge to account for more demanding loads, assuming the high demand is only temporary (like recharging equipment).
 
===Breaker Boxes===
Breaker boxes are the physical objects next to SMES units inside substations that determine whether or not the substation is bypassed. It does this by literally spawning wires underneath itself to connect a wire leading to it from the grid to a wire beneath the SMES leading to the rest of the department, effectively connecting the department to the grid and ''bypassing'' the SMES. Breaker boxes can be interacted with in person or remotely, though to prevent [[#Interruptions and Syncing|power net weirdness]] they cannot be toggled back for a while. To clarify: wires beneath the breaker means the SMES is '''bypassed''', wires missing from beneath the breaker means the '''bypass is disabled'''.
 
===Pros and Cons===
Setting substations can be a nice tool if you know what you're doing, but it can easily incapacitate entire departments if you aren't careful. If you aren't sure then don't setup substations. Anyway here's all the benefits and disadvantages to disabling the bypasses of substations:
*'''Pros:'''
**Department-specific power net monitors will be limited to only their department instead of it ''and'' whatever else is connected to the grid, allowing you to diagnose room-specific power draw issues remotely more easily.
**Substation SMES can function as backup batteries if something terrible happens to everything else, assuming they're charged. This, however, doesn't require the bypass to be disabled: the SMES will charge as long as a wire from the grid is connected to its terminal, and it will always be there unless damage or sabotage is done.
**Incomprehensibly high power draw can be isolated to a single department, sparing the rest of the station.
**''Carefully maintained'' output can reduce the damage of being shocked by equipment managed by the substation.
*'''Cons:'''
**Values that do not take all equipment in a department into account can result in the department running out of power, or simply not being supplied enough power.
**Certain departments (like Research) are capable of exceeding the maximum possible output of their substation SMES by several times, meaning either the SMES needs to be upgraded or the SMES should remain bypassed.
**The benefits of keeping a SMES' output low for the sake of reducing the damage of shocks is irrelevant if you are forced to maximize the output or need to bypass the SMES.
**Grid checks affect APCs ''and'' SMES units. A SMES must be restarted before it can output power again, so departments that don't have their bypass enabled are reliant on their substation to restart rather than the main grid SMES being restarted and powering everything.
 
{{Engineering}}
{{Guides}}
[[Category:Engineering]]
[[Category:Guides]]
<!---if you're seeing this then I'm not working on a project at the moment--->

Текущая версия от 11:26, 15 октября 2023

Power Generation

If you want power then you gotta talk about how it's generated first

Thermoelectric Generator

See also: Supermatter Engine Guide
You put in cold gas in one end and hot gas in the other and you get power depending on the difference in temperature and if the pressure difference isn't awful

Tesla Coils

See also: INDRA
sorry burrito justice... it's over

Solar Panels

See also: Solar Setup Guide
You connect the solars to a solar tracker and it tries to track the sun and generates power based on how many solars can see the sun

Antimatter

Wacky engine that supplies power by feeding it fuel. It can also be scaled as large as you want and in any shape you want as long as the parts are laterally adjacent. There's not much else to it unless you mess up the settings, then it might blow up. Ordered through cargo.

PACMAN

Secure over a wire knot, give fuel, set target power, turn on. What fuel it takes and how high it can go depends on the subtype

  • PACMAN: Takes phoron sheets
  • SUPERPACMAN: Takes uranium
  • MRSPACMAN: Takes tritium

Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

thing with infinite fuel that can power up to 1 kilowatt. that's it. there's an advanced version that can generate up to 10 KW with good parts

Unimplemented and Misc

TEG 2

If the TEG is so great then why isn't there a TEG 2? Well, there was. It didn't go anywhere and has been sitting around collecting dust in the code for ages.

Radiation Collector Arrays

Though available in cargo, these don't collect radiation since they've existed before radiation was actually implemented and never got changed. They can harvest power from a singularity but they can't harvest energy from a SM because that part of the code got commented out.

Gas Turbine

See also: Guide to Atmospherics
Two machines that compress gas in the surrounding atmosphere to shove through a turbine in order to generate power. The compressor takes power to do its job, meaning this engine can be run at a net loss for power, but if supplied a decently hot burn mix then the pressure will be high enough to allow the turbine to turn at a rate that can generate sort of decent amounts of power - the turbine is more of a supplement to existing engines for powering the station rather than a standalone one. As it stands, despite the code not being meaningfully altered in almost a decade, the turbine runs almost exactly as it was intended.

Pipe Turbine

The pipe version of the gas turbine, however the code and era when it was implemented are completely different. High pressure gas must be piped into the input and the output pipe should remain as low pressure as possible to allow gas to be turned through without issue. The turbine will then turn a motor which generates power. Just needs a proc called on the motor to connect to a wired power net, otherwise this setup is still functional. Mention the Adiabatic Process

Fractal Reactor

Generates 1 MW of power when active, which is pretty crazy, and it doesn't seem to use any fuel. Probably because it's actually used for debugging. If you see this then you should probably ahelp.

Power Storage

If you wanna keep power then you gotta talk about how it's stored

Файл:SMES.pngSMES

Big battery fella. The amount of power it can store and the amount of power it can input and output per tick depends on the type and amount of coils installed. Receives power through a terminal, outputs power into a wire beneath itself

SMES Coils

Coils determine how much power can be stored and how far you can adjust the I/O. You can fit six coils inside a single SMES unit

  • Superconductive Magnetic Coil: Stores 5 MJ of power, I/O of 250 KW
  • Transmission Coil: Stores 0.5 MJ of power, I/O of 1000 KW
  • Capacitance Coil: Stores 50 MJ of power, I/O of 50 KW
  • Basic Coil: Stores 1 MJ of power, I/O of 150 KW

Power Cell Rack PSU

An alternative to the SMES. I/O is probably locked but the amount of power you can store depends on how many power cells you shoved inside it.

Power Cells

  • Default: 1000
  • Heavy Duty: 5000, found in APCs and portable atmospheric equipment
  • High Capacity: 10000
  • Super Capacity: 20000
  • Hyper Capacity: 30000
  • Slime: 15000, recharges, harvested from yellow slimes in xenobiology
  • Potato: 300

Power Distribution

If you wanna use power you gotta talk about how it's distributed

Wires

Things you throw down to carry power from one place to the next. Distance doesn't matter, a cable close to a SMES and a cable really far on the same network will have the same charge. use a multitool on these to figure out how much power is available.

APC

Stores power but not much, it supplies power to all machines in the same area as the APC. If it's not in the same area, it's not under that APC's control

Rechargers

These things use ridiculous amounts of power so maybe don't decide to recharge more than two power cells at a time lmao

  • Device Recharger: 45 KW when active. Accepts power cells, energy weapons, batons, and certain devices.
  • Heavy-Duty Cell Charger: 90 KW when active. Only accepts power cells.
  • Cyborg Recharging Station: 40 KW when active with default parts. Accepts stationbounds, IPCs, and biologic crew if they're wearing a RIG. It can also repair the damage of synthetic individuals if its parts are upgraded, though this can consume more power.
  • Exosuit Dock: 90 KW when active. Park a mech over this to recharge its cell.

Power Priority

SMES receive priority over APCs, otherwise everything will try to charge equally and simultaneously based on available input, i.e. four SMES units with max input but only 4 KW available will mean that all four SMES will charge at 1 KW/h

Interruptions and Syncing

APCs will turn red for a while if an explosion happens or if substations have their breaker boxes toggled. That's because power code sucks and has to resync everything after a large change in power nets like wires being spawned or deleted. if people complain about APCs being red and that engineering sucks tell them to shove it up their ass and wait two seconds lmao

RCON

RCON is short for Remote Control in that it is a program that can remotely interface with SMES units that have their RCON wire enabled, and it is also able to toggle breaker boxes remotely, allowing you to manage most of the grid from a single computer. It's intended purpose is to separate and organize department power networks into their own grids so that they aren't wholly reliant on the main grid. There are many reasons to setup substations, however there are another many reasons to not use RCON. You will have to determine when it's best to use, but setting up substations is by no means necessary: unless purposefully sabotaged, the main grid will power the whole station just fine assuming the SMES in charge of the grid is charged and outputting enough power.

The ideal way to configure each substation is to set it up in a way that the department will always receive power when necessary. If you aren't sure what settings to use then don't bother configuring the substation; it's simpler and safer to just run it off the grid directly. Nonetheless, the substation's output must be able to meet a number of factors:

  1. The amount of APCs: All rooms should have one APC, though sometimes multiple rooms share an APC. Departments vary in the amount of APCs they have but, ignoring the rest of these factors, 20 to 60 KW is a safe minimum to expect.
  2. The amount of machinery: Lots of machinery will consume power while idle, so it's important to keep them in mind, especially when they're in use. Lights fall under this category, atmospheric installations especially so.
  3. The amount of rechargers: Rechargers are machines that tend to consume the most power at a time. The amount of rechargers in a department is what you want to know the most, and you'll want to adjust the SMES output to account for the potential for all rechargers being used at the same time. If the SMES output doesn't go high enough then the department will lose power if someone decides to recharge a lot of equipment. Research is especially prone to this.

If you want a quick and easy way to determine how much power a department will draw normally, just setup the substation like normal and set the output to maximum, the SMES will tell you the expected draw. If the draw is below available output then you can lower it to something a bit above that value to account for intermittent draws of power. However, if the draw is the same as available output or higher then you will need to either upgrade the SMES or re-enable the bypass.

The substation's input, on the other hand, must be set to what the department is expected to require at the least. It is safe to set the input lower than the output - as long as the input can meet demand during normal work then the higher output will use the SMES' stored charge to account for more demanding loads, assuming the high demand is only temporary (like recharging equipment).

Breaker Boxes

Breaker boxes are the physical objects next to SMES units inside substations that determine whether or not the substation is bypassed. It does this by literally spawning wires underneath itself to connect a wire leading to it from the grid to a wire beneath the SMES leading to the rest of the department, effectively connecting the department to the grid and bypassing the SMES. Breaker boxes can be interacted with in person or remotely, though to prevent power net weirdness they cannot be toggled back for a while. To clarify: wires beneath the breaker means the SMES is bypassed, wires missing from beneath the breaker means the bypass is disabled.

Pros and Cons

Setting substations can be a nice tool if you know what you're doing, but it can easily incapacitate entire departments if you aren't careful. If you aren't sure then don't setup substations. Anyway here's all the benefits and disadvantages to disabling the bypasses of substations:

  • Pros:
    • Department-specific power net monitors will be limited to only their department instead of it and whatever else is connected to the grid, allowing you to diagnose room-specific power draw issues remotely more easily.
    • Substation SMES can function as backup batteries if something terrible happens to everything else, assuming they're charged. This, however, doesn't require the bypass to be disabled: the SMES will charge as long as a wire from the grid is connected to its terminal, and it will always be there unless damage or sabotage is done.
    • Incomprehensibly high power draw can be isolated to a single department, sparing the rest of the station.
    • Carefully maintained output can reduce the damage of being shocked by equipment managed by the substation.
  • Cons:
    • Values that do not take all equipment in a department into account can result in the department running out of power, or simply not being supplied enough power.
    • Certain departments (like Research) are capable of exceeding the maximum possible output of their substation SMES by several times, meaning either the SMES needs to be upgraded or the SMES should remain bypassed.
    • The benefits of keeping a SMES' output low for the sake of reducing the damage of shocks is irrelevant if you are forced to maximize the output or need to bypass the SMES.
    • Grid checks affect APCs and SMES units. A SMES must be restarted before it can output power again, so departments that don't have their bypass enabled are reliant on their substation to restart rather than the main grid SMES being restarted and powering everything.
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