Factorio Forums

Hurkyl wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 3:50 pm For something specific that high discharge rate would get in the way of....

On the Steam forums, someone developed an uninterruptable power supply: they added logic to a solar farm that ensured it would never deliver more power than it was rated for, so that during the night your factory can only brownout and will never blackout.

This relied on the slower discharge rate of the accumulator; IIRC during high power usage, the network would break apart into seven segments and rotate between them to throttle the rate of power delivery.

With a large increase to the discharge rate, it would inflate the number of needed segments to a (likely) unmanageable level.

AntiElitz wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 4:12 pm

Hurkyl wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 3:50 pm For something specific that high discharge rate would get in the way of....

On the Steam forums, someone developed an uninterruptable power supply: they added logic to a solar farm that ensured it would never deliver more power than it was rated for, so that during the night your factory can only brownout and will never blackout.

This relied on the slower discharge rate of the accumulator; IIRC during high power usage, the network would break apart into seven segments and rotate between them to throttle the rate of power delivery.

With a large increase to the discharge rate, it would inflate the number of needed segments to a (likely) unmanageable level.

https://xkcd.com/1172/

Hurkyl wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 5:08 pm

AntiElitz wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 4:12 pm

Hurkyl wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 3:50 pm For something specific that high discharge rate would get in the way of....

On the Steam forums, someone developed an uninterruptable power supply: they added logic to a solar farm that ensured it would never deliver more power than it was rated for, so that during the night your factory can only brownout and will never blackout.

This relied on the slower discharge rate of the accumulator; IIRC during high power usage, the network would break apart into seven segments and rotate between them to throttle the rate of power delivery.

With a large increase to the discharge rate, it would inflate the number of needed segments to a (likely) unmanageable level.

https://xkcd.com/1172/

Is there not value in collecting all of the ways the current behavior has advantages over the proposed change, so that the idea can be accepted (or not) accurately on its merits? Or is it just supposed to be accepted blindly?

crimsonarmy wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 7:21 pm

Hurkyl wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 5:08 pm

AntiElitz wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 4:12 pm

Hurkyl wrote: Fri Oct 17, 2025 3:50 pm For something specific that high discharge rate would get in the way of....

On the Steam forums, someone developed an uninterruptable power supply: they added logic to a solar farm that ensured it would never deliver more power than it was rated for, so that during the night your factory can only brownout and will never blackout.

This relied on the slower discharge rate of the accumulator; IIRC during high power usage, the network would break apart into seven segments and rotate between them to throttle the rate of power delivery.

With a large increase to the discharge rate, it would inflate the number of needed segments to a (likely) unmanageable level.

https://xkcd.com/1172/

Is there not value in collecting all of the ways the current behavior has advantages over the proposed change, so that the idea can be accepted (or not) accurately on its merits? Or is it just supposed to be accepted blindly?

I think the point is that it is such a minor use case.

• No modules: consumed 75 MJ at 4 MW peak
• Prod 1 modules: consumed 193 MJ at 10.37 MW peak
• Prod 3 modules with one speed 3 beacon (on a separate power network): 463 MJ at 25.14 MW peak

eugenekay wrote: Sat Oct 18, 2025 12:58 am From the entity definition:

Code: Select all

energy_source =
{
  type = "electric",
  buffer_capacity = "5MJ",
  usage_priority = "tertiary",
  input_flow_limit = "300kW",
  output_flow_limit = "300kW"
},

5 Mega-Joules / 300 kilowatts * 60 Ticks per Second = 1000 Ticks at full drain

I think that the Accumulator's current math is absolutely flawless, and strongly oppose any change on the grounds that it will upset the Powers of Ten.

Hurkyl wrote: Sat Oct 18, 2025 1:09 am Spite is a powerful motivator, so I thought to actually look more carefully at the rocket silo example.

A common quality accumulator stores 16.7 seconds of charge.

In my tests, I prepped by loaded a rocket silo up with two full rockets and charging the accumulators. Then I disconnected the power network, turned off the rocket part ingredients feed (and cleared the inventory), and loaded the silo up with items.

I tested a few configurations:

• No modules: consumed 75 MJ at 4 MW peak
• Prod 1 modules: consumed 193 MJ at 10.37 MW peak
• Prod 3 modules with one speed 3 beacon (on a separate power network): 463 MJ at 25.14 MW peak

In all cases, the energy consumed is around 18.7 seconds of peak power. So if you have enough accumulators to satisfy the energy demand, you already have sufficient discharge rate.

So the problem observed in the OP, insofar as the rocket silo is concerned, seems limited specifically to quality accumulators, where the storage capacity grows much more quickly than the (dis)charging rate.

---

For completeness, I'll add that if you never have to cover both spikes -- i.e. both the rocket reveal and the rocket launch are spread out in time to allow accumulators to recharge in-between -- then having just enough accumulators to cover the energy storage will indeed leave you lacking in discharge rate.

• There's the issue that accumulators seem balanced just for buffering solar and are woefully underpowered in comparison to buffering steam and overprovisioning on turbines/engines
• For quality specifically, the fact capacity grows much faster than (dis)charge rate throws its statistics out of whack