Where to get CO2 to feed a slickster ranch?

[Technoincubus]

8 slicksters. Assuming you have at least one Nat.Gas geyser and CO2 vents a random element in map generation, plus the fact that they usually have a very low output, how do you sustain a slickster ranch? They eat all CO2 very fast and start starving after several cycles.

[crypticorb]

Other than from your dupes?

1. Natural Gas generators. Two should be enough to keep the ranch from starving. Not the best method, but it's piped and consistent.
2. Coal generators. These put out a decent amount of CO2, but require manual interaction, pumping/filtering, and coal.
3. Petroleum generator. The best method, as it can be nearly automated, very consistent, and puts out loads of CO2.
4. CO2 vents. These put out pathetic amounts of CO2, but cost nothing.

One thing I'd recommend is using a gas valve to limit the CO2 to keep the slicksters just above starving. If you aren't after the crude oil or petroleum, you can get a decent amount of eggs/meat from them and they provide a convenient CO2 sink. After securing a supply of CO2, limit the amount you give the slicksters every day to less and less until you don't get critter starvation any longer.

Slicksters consume about 20kg/cycle, or 33g/s of CO2, which is quite a lot for a whole ranch, but you don't need to give them that much, only enough to keep them above starvation.

[Neotuck]

Would the CO2 from polymer press be worth it?

[crypticorb]

Just now, Neotuck said:

Would the CO2 from polymer press be worth it?

8.33g/s isn't much unless you're running a ton of them 24/7, and that requires a LOT of support compared to a coal generator, which produces 20g/s.

[SackMaggie]

From rocket engine! nope it's too hot so your source of CO2 is just polymer press(8.33 g/s), natural gas generator(22.5 g/s), dupe breathing(2 g/s), geyser(x) ,coal generator(20g/s) and petroleum generator(500 g/s) (and meteor ? not sure). build bunch of those you will have enough CO2.

[DMFan79]

I'm actually feeding two slickster farms. I use a mix of sources: polymer factories, nat gas generators and petroleum generators. Occasionally I just pump CO2 coming from my base.

Now and then I see the "critter starvation" message, but since it takes a lot for them to die, eventually they get some CO2 to feed on.

[Steve Raptor]

Petroleum generator is the best one imo.

[stoeberhai]

if they introduce export by connecting a pipe to the edge of the map....i could sell you some

[JonnyMonroe]

I'm thinking up a surface layout that should allow me to recapture a decent chunk of the co2 from meteor strikes. Each meteor is a few kg of co2 so it should support a fair few slicks.

[crypticorb]

17 minutes ago, JonnyMonroe said:

I'm thinking up a surface layout that should allow me to recapture a decent chunk of the co2 from meteor strikes. Each meteor is a few kg of co2 so it should support a fair few slicks.

How would you capture the CO2 before it dissipates into space? You'd need to keep the bunker doors open to let the meteors fall into a drywalled room, then close them behind the meteors to keep the gas in. The gas is also incredibly hot, though if you have a pump that is made of the new high temperature materials, I suppose this could be mitigated, assuming meteors don't trash the pump.

[JonnyMonroe]

22 minutes ago, crypticorb said:

How would you capture the CO2 before it dissipates into space? You'd need to keep the bunker doors open to let the meteors fall into a drywalled room, then close them behind the meteors to keep the gas in. The gas is also incredibly hot, though if you have a pump that is made of the new high temperature materials, I suppose this could be mitigated, assuming meteors don't trash the pump.

The gas isn't that hot. It heats up from contact with the hot regolith though. A steel pump should be fine. I'll post the results of the build once I've made and tested it as so far all I have is napkin math as I'm at work.

[fredhp]

Almost every power plant generates CO2. Just pump it to your slickster farm.
 

[Technoincubus]

They eat much much more than any power plant can produce

[thejams]

15 minutes ago, Technoincubus said:

They eat much much more than any power plant can produce

A single petroleum generator will feed 15.

[Neotuck]

2 hours ago, thejams said:

A single petroleum generator will feed 15.

but it would take 120 molten slicksters to run one petroleum generator so what would be the point?

[Sasza22]

4 minutes ago, Neotuck said:

but it would take 120 molten slicksters to run one petroleum generator so what would be the point?

Meat? It`s not sustainable but it`s recycling resources. You`ll need less oil form your wells and get rid of the CO2 waste.

[Neotuck]

32 minutes ago, Sasza22 said:

Meat?

and why would we farm slicksters for meat over other critters?

35 minutes ago, Sasza22 said:

It`s not sustainable but it`s recycling resources. You`ll need less oil form your wells and get rid of the CO2 waste.

the key word is not sustainable, even when recycling if you can't maintain balance you deal with a lot of net loss in the long run.  In this case a lot of starving slicksters

I find CO2 more useful in converting hot 90+C water from steam geysers into 40C Pwater that can be sieved back into 40C water

[Saturnus]

@Neotuck I think you're slightly missing the point. Slicksters is a supplement fuel source that recycles your CO2. For instance on my current map I only have one oil well and one leaky oil fissure, and I have very low output steam vents (490g/s and 1097g/s average) and a single slush geyser that is also fairly mediocre output (2597g/s average). To have enough water to feed 16 dupes high quality food and provide oxygen I need to run 2 petrol generators constantly, and preferably have a small surplus for plastic production. That not possible without recycling the CO2 back into petroleum with slicksters which also gives me most of the meat I need for high quality food.

That's why I love my current map so much. It's a real challenge and forces me to make highly integrated systems in order to achieve the goals I have.

[fredhp]

The whole idea of slickster ranching is to recycle CO2, turning it into something usable (Crude Oil), saving  water (used by the oil well).

Every 6 Kg of CO2 (converted into 3Kg of Crude Oil) means 1Kg of water not used in the Oil Well.

[ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy]

32 minutes ago, fredhp said:

The whole idea of slickster ranching is to recycle CO2, turning it into something usable (Crude Oil), saving  water (used by the oil well).

Every 6 Kg of CO2 (converted into 3Kg of Crude Oil) means 1Kg of water not used in the Oil Well.

Or better, 3kg of petroleum

[JonnyMonroe]

To update on my surface co2 post above;

I now have a small build set up which is pulling co2 from meteor showers. The pumps are only 50 steel each and they're hooked up to the scanner network so they only activate during showers to save on power. They're spaced 14 tiles apart (it's a repeatable build that includes robo miners and such), and currently I have the 1st 2 in place. Each shower nets me about 50kg or so of co2, but I can improve this if I extend the drywall out to reduce loss to space. Co2 from meteors is only 46 Celsius so you can conduct some surface heat into it first before sending it to the slicksters if you like. I'm sure if I move my pumps higher up I would get significantly more co2 as each meteor does not create a fixed amount but rather spits out a continuous amount as it travels. The point is meteors are absolutely a viable source of co2 and can support a decent number of slicksters to supplement petrol production. I'll add a screenshot once I'm back on my pc.

[fredhp]

57 minutes ago, ToiDiaeRaRIsuOy said:

Or better, 3kg of petroleum

with molten slickster yes! 

I never ranched molten slickster because my last long gameplay was before sour gas introduction, so almost all oil was converted into natgas. For what i saw until now Space Industry upgrade looks promissing for a new long gameplay. (heat resistent pumps! YES!! )
 

 

[greggbert]

I have 8 dupes

1 Coal plant (full time)

and 2 petroleum plants that kick on when batteries get below 30%, which is about 1/3 of a cycle total.  I make enough CO2 to feed 12 slicksters and still have to skim a bit every once in a while.