Choosing Fuel

[WolfgangPolska]

There should be option to switch fuel on refuelables in game, why is that missing? This is a feature which would help to manage colony, yet it is missing. Is there a mod for  that?

[Canute]

No there was at mod at the past which add this feature and only the HCSK modpack took these mod over.
But it never was able at the vanila gameplay to choose fuel.
Currently i don't know a standalone mod to add this feature, but i don't know all these workshop mods.

[Kirby23590]

Probably that feature came from the mods that you were using, and there are only two fuels used...

And those two fuels in the game are called, Wood and Chemfuel...

Wood is mostly for wood-fueled stuff like cooking stoves and wood-generators, alongside for campfires and making nice wooden floors and maces...

But Chemfuel in the other hand, you can actually convert wood into Chemfuel with a biofuel refinery but i mostly convert my excess food supplies which clogs up the freezer like rice and potatoes by turning them into chemfuel,
The Chemfuel powered generator being much better than the wood-fueled generator one with a longer lasting power before needing to be refueled again...

Chemfuel is also used to make Frag Grenades, Molotovs and Mortar shells alongside making IEDs and it is also used to fuel your transport pods to travel the world map...

[Limdood]

I can't think of anything in the game that takes more than one fuel type, so why would you need the option?

[Canute]

Why, i got many reason's why. Like at the desert when you got boomalope's but rarely wood.
I realy liked at HCSK modpack that i could use various fuel sources for some fueled generator.

But the problem are, the mod would need to adjust the fuelconsum based on the fuel source.
When the object would use Chemfuel that fast like wood, it is pointless.

[Limdood]

Why, i got many reason's why. Like at the desert when you got boomalope's but rarely wood.
I realy liked at HCSK modpack that i could use various fuel sources for some fueled generator.

But the problem are, the mod would need to adjust the fuelconsum based on the fuel source.
When the object would use Chemfuel that fast like wood, it is pointless.

The vanilla game doesn't need it though.  Adding the feature into vanilla implies that there are multiple fuel types.  Someone clicks the button...and can't select another fuel type.  You're complaining because the game doesn't already support functionality for features it never intended.

Plus if you'd rather use chemfuel than wood...build a chemfuel generator instead?  It's a bit of a stretch to assume that the same generator would work with different fuels anyways.

[Bozobub]

It's a bit of a stretch to assume that the same generator would work with different fuels anyways.

It's not difficult at all to build a steam or Stirling engine that can use many, if not most possible fuels.  The reason is both of these use "external combustion"; if you can supply enough heat (and in the case of a Stirling engine a heat sink, as well), it'll work, within the limits of your firebox's construction, of course.

Frankly, a steam/Stirling engine would be a lot more likely on a rimworld than internal combustion.  They're simpler AND can take *solid fuels* (such as wood/charcoal, coal), as well as liquid fuels (petroleum products, waxes, any natural oils) and other oddments (textiles/fabric, recycled materials, etc.)  Internal combustion engines are more compact and give much more power per pound, but for a colony's use case, steam/Stirling makes infinitely more sense.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_combustion_engine

[Roolo]

Aside from realism and the question if it really makes sense to do this in-game, it's actually very easy to make it possible with some very basic XML editing. I did the same for the Rogue AI in the What the Hack mod, which accepts hive data, as well as brain data as fuel.

Find the refuelable building XML, then find Compproperties_Refuelable, and make sure it has a fuelFilter that looks something like this:

Code Select Expand


<fuelFilter>
     <thingDefs>
         <li>Wood</li>
         <li>Chemfuel</li>
    </thingDefs>
</fuelFilter>


In this example the refuelable thing would consume wood and chemfuel, but you could replace it with any resource or any number of resources.