Gas Storage: Rockets vs Tanks

[Cursed_Handus]

A standard Gas Reservoir holds 150kg of gasses while a large gas cargo canister holds 11 tons of gasses in a similar space. I feel that the Gas Reservoir should be able to compete with the rocket version.

Perhaps a compression mechanic could be added where it uses power while gasses are being put into the tank, then when nothing is being loaded no power is drawn.

[NewWorldDan]

I generally agree with you.   A gas reservoir only holds gasses equal to the same space at 5kg per tile.  It should at least be competitive with a high pressure gas vent.  If the reservoir worked at even that level, it would hold 600kg in the 15 tiles it occupies.  By contrast liquid reservoirs are at a similar level to the amount of space they occupy - 5000kg in 6 tiles.  The only real utility the gas reservoir provides is that you don't need a pump to get gas back out of it.  The gas cargo canister is kind of ridiculous.  I think Klei went a bit overboard in raising the capacity of cargo hauling.  But, eh, I've never actually used the gas cargo canister.

[Lacero]

you get semi-free filtering with the rocket storage too

[babba]

19 minutes ago, Lacero said:

you get semi-free filtering with the rocket storage too

BTW I would love to have manufactured "Filters" in the game - Filters which actually get dirty and need to be replaced by the mechanic from time to time. Also there could be fabric/cloth/rubber production to press and construct filters.

Installing a filter before the receiver, could actually prevent the machinery to brake being fed wrong intake materials...The player only needs to replace the dirty filter ( inside the filter case ).

Fluid & Air Filters

[DolphinWing]

3 hours ago, babba said:

BTW I would love to have manufactured "Filters" in the game - Filters which actually get dirty and need to be replaced by the mechanic from time to time. Also there could be fabric/cloth/rubber production to press and construct filters.

Installing a filter before the receiver, could actually prevent the machinery to brake being fed wrong intake materials...The player only needs to replace the dirty filter ( inside the filter case ).

Maybe some amazing modders can make one first?

[fpx007]

5 hours ago, babba said:

I would love to have manufactured "Filters" in the game

Did you forget the structures called gas/liquid filters? They can do the job pretty well at a cost of power.

Yes, the actual issue is their energy cost. They costs 120w but can be replaced by sensor-shutoff combo, which costs only 10w, not to mention the reduced material cost. However, as the sensor-shutoff combo may fail due to game lag, the robustness of systems using gas/liquid filters are usually better.

Considering this, I think the energy cost of gas/liquid filters should be reduced to 10-20w (the latter is for better reliability which brings better robustness to the system), since 120w is too high (equal to 1/2 gas pump or 1/4 liquid pump). I believe this is an issue of oversight (similar to fridge power cost) as they were introduced in the early development of ONI, and when the automation system was introduced, these filters just became highly incompetitive.

[babba]

@fpx007 Replaceable air and gas filters, to avoid machine breaking...Made out of paper, fabric and such, that`s what I meant my dear friend, just to clarify. I understand your point of automation - Good one.

"Real" filters could be a nice addition to the game, so more like "in the real" world and for mechanical fans and material builders.

So building a filter box in a pipe, a dupe putting a fabric filter inside, next time the wrong material goes down the pipe...The dupe mechanic can replace the paper/fabric filter ( in the filter box ) with a new fresh and clean paper filter Could avoid machine breaking Paper/fabric filters could be researched and paper filters could be manufactured in a press.

Another way of doing things in the game, an industrial approach "with real materials" - I love industry.

[MiniDeathStar]

The gas cargo bay is not actually free storage because it costs power both to load and to unload. The capacity itself is fine for exporting gas in high demand such as oxygen and natural gas. However, it takes a standard gas pipe 18.33 cycles to load the cargo bay and another 18.33 cycles to unload it. Over a month. That is ridiculous. At this point it's way more efficient to condense the gas to a liquid, transport it in 1/10th of the time, then boil it. I want pressurised pipes.

As for the regular gas reservoir – it badly needs a buff. I modded mine to store 500 kg, so it's 500 times the capacity of the pipe like the liquid one. I still have to fill a frightening portion of the map with gas tanks if I want to extract a vent, but at least it doesn't make me reach for infinite storage exploits.

[Meltdown]

28 minutes ago, MiniDeathStar said:

However, it takes a standard gas pipe 18.33 cycles to load the cargo bay and another 18.33 cycles to unload it.

You aren't limited to a single pipe. You can use multiple gas loaders and unloaders to move gas faster. Same with liquid pipes and conveyor rails.

[NeoDeusMachina]

26 minutes ago, Meltdown said:

You aren't limited to a single pipe. You can use multiple gas loaders and unloaders to move gas faster. Same with liquid pipes and conveyor rails.

But then you multiply the power needed to load/unload your gas in your tank. It is 240W each, just to "load up" or "access" 1 kg/s of a single resource and move it around. If you want to store and use multiple resources, it adds up. That is basically the compromise you have to live with when using rocket storage. You need the platform, the tank, the loader(s) and unloader(s) that consume power to put it in and get it out, vs no power storage, and very low power filters (negligible if shutoffs or mechanical filters). Again, I don't personally believe we should always try to make every solution equivalent to each other, it is okay to have different options that have different level of performance, different pros/cons, etc.

[Nebbie]

It's almost fair with the power cost, but yeah, Gas Reservoirs need a serious rebalance. I would suggest even that they store 1t, but be made of refined metals (representing how it's generally harder to stop gas flow than liquid flow).