Updated Energy Sector Guide

[mroyer]

Quite some time ago, grog (Jim Winsor) put together a brief guide to energy which I found useful as a quick lookup reference: https://www.matrixgames.com/forums/view ... 9#p4739389

However, especially with the recent updates and adjustments to the energy sector in Shadow Empire, grog's values have become quite stale. So, I decided to redo the numbers for my own convenience. Then (per my obsessive-compulsive nature), I put the data into a spreadsheet along with the ability to enter raw resource prices to calculate variable energy costs, in Cr, for the different power plants.

I'm not really sure how or if I'll use it, other than as a simple reference, but nevertheless I post it here in case it is useful to anyone else.

Spreadsheet: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2fxkhtp9 ... e39ei&dl=0

Fixed efficiency columns, again (16Aug2023)

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[Thrake]

Thanks for sharing. I had a look at a number of buildings but didn't investigate energy now that I think of it.

My first thought is that serpentinization is inferior in every way to volcano. It may be one of the buildings that has planetary modifiers however? It also lacks data on building costs as I find that cost to build a building is often more important than other information, assuming not a low population world. I often end up relying on solar as it's a great way to get use out of that excessive rare metal in spite of not being manpower efficient.

Well, thorough energy analysis is complex as it would also need to have a look at say the whole production chain to gauge how interesting the power plan is... Probably not quite as manpower efficient unless the oil comes from mines.

[fibol]

One quick note: Your description for Labor effc is wrong, it actually notes how much energy 1 worker produces.
edit: A second quick note on worker salaries: They have not been included in this chart and although for most plants a salary of 10 is around roughly 10% price per energy increase in the end, the organic and scavenging furnace are very sensitive to those, getting a 100% cost per energy increase at 10 salary.

[mroyer]

It also lacks data on building costs as I find that cost to build a building is often more important than other information, assuming not a low population world.

Hmmm... building costs would be non-recurring (NRE) costs and so would need to be amortized over the life of the asset. Could be tricky predicting that - perhaps just allow the user to enter an amortization timespan.

One quick note: Your description for Labor effc is wrong, it actually notes how much energy 1 worker produces.

Yeah, I fixed that a while ago - maybe you have an earlier version.

edit: A second quick note on worker salaries: They have not been included in this chart and although for most plants a salary of 10 is around roughly 10% price per energy increase in the end, the organic and scavenging furnace are very sensitive to those, getting a 100% cost per energy increase at 10 salary.

Good catch! Yes, I dropped the ball on that one.


I'll try to update to these comments sometime soon.
-Mark R.

[kwkn]

So looking at this chart, if you have a steady supply of rads than go fusion, otherwise spamming lv1 solar panels is the way to go?
Is there any reason to upgrade my solar panels instead of building a new one?

[Xxzard]

So looking at this chart, if you have a steady supply of rads than go fusion, otherwise spamming lv1 solar panels is the way to go?
Is there any reason to upgrade my solar panels instead of building a new one?

On the question of upgrading solar panels: All sizes of solar panels require 100 additional workers for upkeep (not production, just upkeep). So level 1 solar panels actually require 300 workers total: 200 workers + 100 for upkeep. Level 5 requires 2700 workers + 100 for upkeep. This ruins the labor efficiency of level 1 a bit, but overall it seems clear that solar panels upgrades are meant to be more or less linear. You gain no significant efficiency bonuses from upgrading them. So whether you build multiple or upgrade one is close to even.

On the general question of optimal energy buildings: The initial resource cost to build solar panels is quite high compared to their energy output, something not factored into the unit cost calculation here. The labor efficiency for solar panels is also pretty low - having enough labor for late game energy production might be prohibitive.

In addition, recent patches have made solar power less efficient at first, with a linear research tech available to increase their efficiency over time. The very latest patch similarly added a linear research tech to make fuel plants more efficient over time. Determining exactly how efficient each type of power is compared to fission/fusion may vary depending on your research progress by the time you reach fission/fusion tech.

TL;DR: Given that each planet has different conditions regarding the effectiveness of solar power (both irradiance and rainfall), the availability of oil, rad, resources etc., it is hard to make a definitive statement that covers every game.

[Thrake]

High level solar is worth as it produce more energy per rare metal spent.

I currently rely mostly on power plant even if it actually depends on the planet. The two big factors are the scarcity of rare metals in the beta and the fact that it's more IP efficient than solar. Power plant is also fast to upgrade while with solar it can be hard to catch up with continuous industrial buildup. Besides researching fuel efficiency is an all-in-one solution to increase energy output and reduce fuel input.