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Yes, this was the intention. using the generator during special times ( night, eclipse, maybe when your other power gens are destoyed). you can produce fuel during the day time ( with solar power ) and use the fuel in the night. the fuel is a bit like a battery i guess. A fulled generator can run for 5 and a half days in the eco mode ( 10 fuel units in the tank and one in the generator, normal mode about 2 till 3 days ). So it can be rational to produce fuel BEFORE you need it and store it for harder times.

Edit: you can also build two generators instead of one, or even more 
like this, 4 generators with one fuel tank

thx for your feedback.
yes that's right. i did a test with the generator and making shale gas. in the time of a fuel unit ( eco mode ) you can make 2 to 3 shale gas tanks. one generator is used by the fuel distillery, so you can support up to two other generators ( 600 W in eco mode ). the idea behind the generator is not to replace the other power sources but to give an additional ( and emergency, can burn during the night and during eclipse, even during a solar flare but since the other building are affected this case is a bit senseless ) power generator. If you want more power output you need to build more generators. you have also a reserve of 100 W power ( normal mode 400 W ). I think the fuel supply should be not to easy because the generator has some advantages in comarison to the solar gen and the geo gen. You can also buy the fuel at the fuel trader so you don't need to produce fuel.
But in general i agree, it need some more balancing.

Thx    the most difficult thing is to balancing the generator so i need feedback and new ideas.

I think it would be interesting if there was a different generator for each different fuel type, and they each had their own use.

For example:

Wood burning is slow and not the most energy, but lasts a long time. You'll get a small, constant supply of energy from burning wood but it doesn't need to be refilled so often.

Ethanol burning is faster than wood, but gives off way more energy. The downside is that it doesn't last nearly as long and ethanol requires an extra step or maybe even research to be viable.

ect, ect.

Just tossing out some ideas

thx for the feedback and for the ideas. i updated the generator so you can now choose the power mode. more power but less burning time or less power and longer burning time. I keep your ideas in mind, sounds really good.

Well, all I did was run some numbers. I didn't even get to testing it too much. But 300W / 10000 ticks seems to be a good rate.

i have another idea to complicate the calculations  . whats about shale gas made out of stones. could be a nice source for power.

I think 10000 ticks at 300W/350W might be a really nice point(though currently that's just from the theory, I haven't tested it yet). It would make the electric generator quite versatile. A crafty person would probably use the electric generators as the night energy supply and use the solar during the day. Kinda like an ethanol fueled battery. And it would work fine as an emergency energy source for eclipses.

i agree, i test a little with these stats ( i prefer for now 300 W / 10000 ticks ). you know that i must mention you in the credits for the new version 

here are two  other test versions


version3 : 350 W power, 10000 ticks burn time

version4: 300 W power, 10000 ticks burn time

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Damn, talk about a quick coder. It'll require a bit of testing and I think compared to the Solars it'll be a bit too potent (It kinda hinges on if how much workforce you'd tie up with using electric generators instead of solars). But seeing as it'll require 120 potato plants to equal the power supply of a geothermal, I doubt anyone will prefer it over one.

just like i designed it, not for full power supply but for support in special situations. if there is need for other test version just ask. i'm not sure about the burning time, could be to long? maybe 10000 ticks ( half day )?

here is test version 300 W power, fuel distillery needs 300 W, 30 plants for fuel or 30 wood logs an 5 metal, 20000 ticks burntime ( about a day )

Test version 0.6.0.2

a second test version with 350 W power all other stats the same.

Test version2 0.6.0.2


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i think a day should be somthing around 20000 ticks ( i know from the booze mod that the alcohol there spoils in 7,8 days which are 160000 ticks).if want to change the power output you need to change the assembly dll. i you can't do this i could send you different test versions ( 300 W 6000 ticks, 350 W 7000 ticks, 400 W 8000 ticks  or something different). the resource costs can be changed in the recipes.

Edit: the idea behind the mod was to make an emergency or additional power generator. my intention was not to replace the other generators. that's why i want to keep the generator not to powerfull ( but again, you're  right that it need balancing )

A few things you seem to forget in your balancing calculations. Unlike the other power generators the electric generators require a daily effort in the forms of farming the fuel ingredients, making said fuel and the hauling involved(which is usually the most valuable resource in a colony, work time). Another thing is when you talk about the space your generators take up in comparison to a solar gen, you forget that you'll need space for the distillery and farmland to cultivate the resources for the fuel, I'm not certain how much farmland you'll need, but it probably is going to be a lot more than you'll need in the form of battery room. Also the fuel distillery required 500 power, negating 2 generators(at 250W) per fuel distillery you put down.

I haven't played with this mod enough to know have exact numbers(how much potato field you need per generator and how many engines can be fueled with a single distillery), nor do I know where I could tweak the power output and burntime of the fuel, so I can't really help with balancing. But in my honest opinion you should try to balance them towards the geothermals not the solar generators, in terms of power output, because of the continued maintenance you have on the generators in comparison to the other two. And the burntime does need an increase in my opinion.

yes  the point with the other costs ( farm land, working time, place need for the farmland and distillery and so on) shouldn't be forgotten. i think that's a essential point on the pros and cons list and in experiments with comparing the different generators. thx for reminding that  .
i'm trying to find a good value ( last test was with 300 w power. here again 28 x 300 W = 8400 to 3600 geo gen ). i also increased the burn time to 6000 ( 5000 before ) so you need less fuel ( better W power to work/time ratio a point which you mentioned ). the next release will be tweaked. i agree that the current power production should be changed.

Edit : the point with the resources for the fuel is something that i forgot. thx again  . yes this should be changed as well. i think i will half the resource costs

you can also place the generators like this



the fuel tank is reachable and you have 4 generators von 5 squares. compared with the solar generator you get get yout of 15 squares 12 generators altogether with 3000 w power.
on 35 squares you can place 28 generators with 7000 power ( geothermal generator 36 squares with 3600 power )


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i made some test with the generator to compare it with the solar generator. The solar generator needs 4x4 squares and produces 1700 W power only during day. The generator needs 2x1 squares and produces 250 W power. on a 4x4 big place you can place at least 8 generators = 2000 W power. if you improve the array you can even get more W per square.  i got 11 generators placed so that all of them get access to a fuel tank and the fuel tanks are all reachable for haulers. this means 2750 W power.



here a test to compare with the geothermal generator which produces 3600 W power on 6x6 squares. here again all generators have at least one fuel tank and all fuel tanks are reachable.  21 generators with 5250 W power.



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Thx for the feedback. i  agree that the output should be changed.something like 300 W till 500 W a generator? ( 8 x 300 W = 2400 W to 8 x 500 = 4000 W , the last seems to powerful. you said it, tweaking and balancing is a hard and challengig job  ). another possibility is to increase the burning time. now it burns 5000 ticks,in my opinion it could be changed up to 10000 ticks. you're dead right that the fuel consumption should be ballanced with the output/burning time.

yes it's not balanced and maybe 250 W is really to little. on the other hand the generator is small ( 2 squares with the fuel tank ), runs during the night and the eclipse ( and solar flare in some way i guess  ).  a solar generator has 16 squares place for 8 generators, if i make each generator producing 1000 W it would be much to powerful compared with a solar generator. ( 8 x 250 W = 2000 W ) but as i said it could definitely be tweaked a bit.