Anyone still using AETNs?

[SamuraiJones]

Just realize I hadn't fired one of those things up in months. Been running with wheezeworts and steam turbines for cooling. Is there any reason to use those old things?

[Gus Smedstad]

AETN's are kind of simple and easy to understand compared to cooling with steam turbines. Put hydrogen in here, get cold out there.

At this point I view them as a stepping stone for when you're still learning the mechanics.

[storm6436]

Eh, I use the nearest one to my base to serve as a chiller for my electrolysis setup. 

 I encase the AETN with enough space to put a few weezeworts (and phosphate sweeper delivery) in, insulate the top/bottom, fill with hydrogen, with dupe access from below.  Sides are gold tile.  Both sides gets hydrolyzer and 3 pumps.  Diamond temp shift plates inside when I get to that point. Igneous tempshift plates outside the access hatches. 

 Nominal output temps with 1-2  worts, everything running full bore?  65-75 degree o2.  Perfect.  Fire it up and basically forget it's there once you toss some automation to toggle the 2nd hydrogen generator when the tanks get full. 

 I used to try to run extra pumps/worts to force chill places that needed chilling/cooling, like my geyser water chiller, my main battery array, and my NG generator space... but that was primarily before they straightened steam turbines out... still haven't quite gotten the best implementation of those down yet. 

 I'll point out that using a wort augmented AETN is *not* helpful for chilling water.  Too much effort/space required for that amount of energy density... which is why everyone's gone steam once that started working.  Wish they'd fix tuneups on them. 

[Mojo Filter]

1 hour ago, storm6436 said:

I use the nearest one to my base to serve as a chiller for my electrolysis setup. 

Same here. My setup does not sound as complicated as that, but if the AETN is right there anyway, why not take advantage of it? The cost in hydrogen to run it is minuscule compared to the heat deletion benefit.

[Lifegrow]

I deleted one to make space for some oxyferns, I deleted another for symmetry. 

They hold little value to me personally - but then again, i'm a hydrogen *****...  

[PickPay]

I've been using this setup for 100s of cycles, works very well providing cool oxygen for 8 Dupes (and Atmo suits). There's only 1 filter so occasionally a hydrogen block will get in the base. I know there are tricks to split the hydrogen but this was very simple to setup and self-sustaining power wise (Coal Gen. is there for backup but haven't seen it turn on)

I placed only 4 Diamond Tempshift Plates. Could more help ? I'm never sure how many I should build...

[LucidFugue]

Just finished setting one up to pump pwater through as an early game cooling solution. I say finished, but it's still WIP, really. I'm not ranching dreckos this time so until I hit the oil biome I'm not building steamtuners over steam geysers, and I can't build high pressurevents so I haven't flooded the chamber with hydrogen. I even started it up before putting in all the tempshift plates, but the cool steam vent was erupting, I had a reservoir full of output from my metal refinery, and my hydrogen storage was getting full. 

I don't see why you wouldn't take advantage of them the same as any other geyser if they're in a good spot.  

[QuQuasar]

Their biggest benefit over steam turbines/aquatuners is that they can cool down to -170 C without needing supercoolant. I ended up using one to freeze my excess Co2.

 

(Edit) Approximately 1 Kg per second, assuming 30 C Co2. That's how much a single AETN can freeze, once it's primed.

[TLW]

I generally don't use AETNs.

They burn (small amounts of) H2, which is rather useful late-game.

They have too high a min temp to be directly useful in any of the more exotic builds.

Their actual output is relatively underwhelming.

They are often in really weird locations...especially as cold biomes tend not to be near the starting location.

Their very existence implies that there's a cold biome... in which case I can use the cold biome directly while bootstrapping, and later on set up an aquatuner/steam turbine combo.

 

As such, I tend to view them as a situational bootstrapping measure at best.

1 hour ago, LucidFugue said:

I don't see why you wouldn't take advantage of them the same as any other geyser if they're in a good spot. 

The keys here are:

• "same as any other geyser" -> they aren't; they need an input. Not much of an input, but still annoying.
• "if they're in a good spot" -> cold biomes tend not to be in a good spot.
  • If they are, and if you've got spare H2 handy? Sure. If.

 

[beowulf2010]

Honestly, I never seem to get them melted out in time to use them. By the time I get them exposed, I've got other cooling methods going and don't spend the time on building an AETN. 

I really need to make the effort to use one one of these days. 

[SamuraiJones]

33 minutes ago, beowulf2010 said:

Honestly, I never seem to get them melted out in time to use them. By the time I get them exposed, I've got other cooling methods going and don't spend the time on building an AETN. 

I really need to make the effort to use one one of these days. 

Yea, that's kinda my take on it too. Again, once upon a time we didn't have steam turbines or any way to get more wheezeworts, so cooling was limited to wheezeworts, AETNs (and of course exploits). But based on what I'm hearing, it sounds like I'm not really missing anything.

[Nebbie]

If what ONI assistant's cooling calculator is telling me is correct, the power to pump hydrogen to keep an AETN fed (5W) is actually higher than what it takes (4W net) to achieve the same cooling with an aquatuner on supercoolant and a steam turbine.

I dare say, Klei could just make the AETN a lategame building made out of a small amount of niobium and most people would only seriously interact with it by deconstructing ones spawned into the map to get some early thermium.

[Steve8]

I also like them for an electrolyzer setup to get some cool oxygen. I don't agree that they are hard to find. I had three easy to reach one in my last map. So they are a good mid game cooling solution. I don't think they need to be competitive in the end game when you have all kinds of advanced materials

[Gus Smedstad]

"As energy efficient as an aquatuner with supercoolant" is a pretty high bar. AETN's are rather low tech since all you need is an electolyzer for a renewable source of hydrogen.

The main reason I don't end up using them so often these days is that they're often in inconvenient spots. If I had a start where I got a water / steam geyser early and had an AETN nearby I'd probably use it. In practice, by the time I find one I'm probably making steam turbines.

[Voigt]

I still like AETN, I use them for either just cooling hydrogen and then cooling my base/farm/industry with it, or pumping sourgas there so I get Methan/Nat.Gas from it.

[Steve8]

58 minutes ago, Gus Smedstad said:

If I had a start where I got a water / steam geyser early and had an AETN nearby I'd probably use it.

Exactly what I had my last game. Geyser almost right next to it. It worked with insulation, but I would have preferred my cold biome to stay a bit colder. Lots of issues with melting polluted ice.

[lilibat]

Not since I moved to Frigia. 

[KittenIsAGeek]

On 8/11/2019 at 1:56 PM, Gus Smedstad said:

AETN's are kind of simple and easy to understand compared to cooling with steam turbines.

I agree.  Their simplicity makes them useful.  Not only that, but they run on hydrogen and nothing else.  This means that the moment I get an electrolyzer going, I can run an AETN continually.  I don't have to research up to aquatuners.  I don't have to refine steel or find gold.  Just build a pipe, fill it with hydrogen and bam.  Good to go.

They're efficient, they're cheap, they're easy... they aren't especially powerful.  They also aren't always convenient.  *shrug*  

On 8/11/2019 at 1:47 PM, SamuraiJones said:

 Is there any reason to use those old things?

As I see it the reasons to use them are simple: "Do you need to cool something early?  Do you need to cool something inexpensively?  Do you want to cool something without setting up a lot of extra systems?"  If you can answer yes to any of those, then the AETN can be useful to you.