Oh, and 2 things I would like to suggest consideration to change. 1: Boiler pressure is quite a bit more accurate and useful for monitoring the boiler. While boiler temp is important, maintaining proper pressure is essential. Increasing pressure means you are building steam, decreasing pressure means you are losing steam faster than the boiler can make it and a pressure over 10 will make it explode. The most simple way of maintaining boiler pressure is having a fire temperature of 250 to 300, have a pump, then valve going into the boiler. A pump coming out can help too. Use a less than logic gate to open the valve when boiler pressure is under something like 5 then close when its over 5. 5 gives you a good safety zone and creates plenty of steam for most needs. 2. Variable valves going into each piston, with a throttle to control them all, really helps with the fluctuations of piston speed you get without them. I added a pump from the boiler to make sure there is a constant flow of steam going to the valves. And the exhaust side of the pistons needs to have very little restriction so that the one side is not pushing against the other because steam can't get out fast enough. Just something to consider if anyone has any issues with that.
@@weylinwest9505 I haven't posted anything to the workshop yet with the new pistons. But i have a steam locomotive that is somewhat modeled on a steam locomotive that can be used to see how different values can be changed to control temps and pressures. If you search my profile name in steam workshop you should find it. I have a few other things that are mostly creations I posted to fix other's issues or show how to do something.
@@weylinwest9505 I have not been home to be able to get to try it yet, but I think I have an even more simple way to control temps and pressure. When I get the chance, I will try it and post it on the workshop if it works.
I used this creation to learn a lot about these steam engines. Also the first time I edited the micro controller. Props to you for making this so easy to understand and build upon
Alternative way of controling the furnace temperature, use a variable valve and the function: -x+200 that will control your furnace very well at 200C, also you can use a threshold to control the boiler coolant flow
This was fascinating, so fat none of my piston engines work longterm and I noticed your firebox wasn't chucking out black smoke. Guess it was a temperature issue
If you put a big vacuum pump between engine and condenser and rund it a little faster than the engine(I power it by the engine itself), you will see a little over 1 rps on all engine sizes. Flywheel helps too. I think you have to much pressure at the engine exhausted, I limit my engines input pressure at around 0.33 and 0.5, and around 1.5 on my main steam pipe. What will result on 6.8 pressure at the boiler. I hold my boiler always half filled
The rotation of the pistons should be as evenly distributed as possible. Like you mentioned, in distances of 1/6 in this case (why didn't you do it this way?). The thought behind this is that you want the power to be as evenly distributed throughout a crankshaft rotation as possible. It might look better in your opinion to set the pistons to other rotations, but you need to keep in mind that every deviation from the optimum will lead to an uneven power distribution through one rotation. So, for a 6 cylinder you want pistons with this rotations: 0, 1/6, -1/6, 1/3, -1/3, 1/2
I explained in the video that I set it where they are because you cannot go to more than 2 decimal places. I also mentioned there were more efficient orientations.
@@CaptainCockerels If they were set in intervals of 0.8 they'd be more even. As it is currently the interval between the outer pistons reaching max power and the next pistons in reaching max power is twice as long as the interval between the middle and innermost pistons. That's gonna lead to unwanted rocking. What you've done by balancing them like you did is effectively reduced your system to a more powerful 3 piston system. Instead of taking advantage of the smoothness of 6 pistons you've turned it into a 3 step process that accelerates and decelerates very often. This is fine in a flat 6 combustion engine because it runs at very high RPM where the rocking felt is usually due to the pistons going up and down, instead of the power being applied unevenly through the cycle. In Stormworks we get the opposite. That up/down vibration is not felt, only the uneven power through the cycle, and because the RPS is so low it becomes all the more evident.
You want a condenser for RP? Why are condensers not needed? Doesnt the steam need to turn into water again to be recycled unless you want to run out of usable steam? I know you can run electrolysis to clean seawater but that is a negative on power.
That video is over a year old. A lot has changed. Here is the most recent tutorial series on steam. Steam Tutorial Series: ua-cam.com/play/PL4BURbFo2IhoZQgoZmtWGBhXINtJQ4pF-.html
@@CaptainCockerelsah okay, I managed to make a steam engine mostly like yours (using small pistons) only thing I really had to change was a gas relief port in the radiator loop for the condenser
The pressure was just a fake number and not useful. You can use a pressure gauge on the pipe and see it if you want. I would guess that removing the exploding was a balancing thing so that less knowledgeable players do not get discourages.
Hey man I'm just curious when you say "it valves" do you mean it automatically releases pressure on it's own. Because dealing with pressure release valves has been a massive headache for me as it appears to be bugged in my game.
yea, i'm necroing. lol i watched a video where somebody did just that. i tried doing it but wasn't able to spawn the system in with steam in the tank. i'm guessing they either removed steam from the list or the video creator was using a mod to allow it. i guess you could spawn the boiler and heat box in as a separate vehicle and fill the tank with steam. i'm not sure about that, since there is no option for steam in the tank. however, it may be possible to charge the pistons with steam.
I built this Sam thing step by step and for some reason the RPS and generator output was lower so I just put the boiler temp to 119 and it increased it, but it still didn't output as much as yours
They made some changes to the crank shaft settings after the video came out. I'll have to take a look at it and run it up and see what it's putting out currently.
When these first came out I remember reading something some where that said building valve timing systems made them more efficient, I spent an entire day proving that mechanic did not exist in the game 🤣
Idk why my engine dont work, its 4 cylinder with 1 boiler and 1 firebox, pressure is high but nothing gonna work properly (I am russian and maybe lose some information, I am not a perfect translator, pls help)
btw you can press X on your keyboard to quickly activate/deactivate the erase tool. and pretty sure you can use the number row to switch what block you've selected in your hotbar. just saves some time, lol
There are two small mistakes in this tutorial: -Its really unnecessary to add more water to the boiler. Especially for small piston setups like this you already have more than enough contained within the boiler itself. -You can and should still place your own valves down because the inner timing of the pistons is not enough to get them to reach max power. I've gotten 7,500 sW out of a 4 medium piston system using custom valves, which are not hard to do. Out of your system, if fully optimized with custom valve timing, you'd probably be able to get 10,000 sW. 1,400 sW may seem like a lot, especially coming from the underpowered turbines we had previously, but its nowhere near the full capacity of these pistons. I suspect they may be getting nerfed soon because they currently make everything else obsolete.
They are not mistakes. I explain at 5:34 that that is for RP. It is a "basics" tutorial, hence why I'm not going to go into valve timing. This setup produces more than enough electricity for my applications so there is no need to produce more. Creating excessive electricity would break RP for me.
@@CaptainCockerels I understand that this is intended to teach only the basics. Problem is that the way you describe it in the video can give new players the wrong idea that they just shouldn't explore valves at all, as you repeatedly insist they are not needed without elaborating. The right thing to say would've been that valves are not strictly necessary, BUT can lead to massive performance improvements for more advanced players.
@@sebastiaomendonca1477 You can not say something is a mistake because it is not how you do it. The great thing about stormworks is there are dozens if not hundreds of different ways to do the same thing. While someone may do something one way, another may do it completely differently. Neither may be the best way, but if it works, it works. If you do not agree with the way someone does something try suggesting a better option instead of just saying that they are wrong and telling them to do it how you do it.
5:34. Wait, whaaattt??? 😲 Ohhh. R.P. not our pee.... 🤣 Speaking of R.P. i was disappointed that there is only automatic valve function. I was really looking forward to making complex valve systems to adjust timing and power. 😒 i really hope they make it an option to do manual valves or make modular pistons like modular engines are.
I agree. It would be cool if they would make it an option so that your could manually valve. Build in the auto to be inherently less efficient so that it is less work but better if you manually valve.
@@CaptainCockerels I appreciate the ease of having the automatic valves, the just seem like they could be so much more efficient with a proper valve system created by the player.
@@Bendigo1 Well you can by using external valves e.g on/off valves, and also steam pistons are a bit modular in the definition because you can get the same power with steam turbines
@@Specifix5 iT DOESNT really work the way i would like though. yes using valves does give SOME control but they still open and close their own VAlves at specific times so it is not possibleto really change the timing. just the amount of steam that is used.
For some reason these steam pistons just refuse to turn on and work, I’ve gone through 17 separate videos and nothing works, absolutely ridiculous how over complicated this VIDEO GAME is
Oh, and 2 things I would like to suggest consideration to change.
1: Boiler pressure is quite a bit more accurate and useful for monitoring the boiler. While boiler temp is important, maintaining proper pressure is essential. Increasing pressure means you are building steam, decreasing pressure means you are losing steam faster than the boiler can make it and a pressure over 10 will make it explode. The most simple way of maintaining boiler pressure is having a fire temperature of 250 to 300, have a pump, then valve going into the boiler. A pump coming out can help too. Use a less than logic gate to open the valve when boiler pressure is under something like 5 then close when its over 5. 5 gives you a good safety zone and creates plenty of steam for most needs.
2. Variable valves going into each piston, with a throttle to control them all, really helps with the fluctuations of piston speed you get without them. I added a pump from the boiler to make sure there is a constant flow of steam going to the valves. And the exhaust side of the pistons needs to have very little restriction so that the one side is not pushing against the other because steam can't get out fast enough.
Just something to consider if anyone has any issues with that.
Do you have a workshop link for your creation? I'd like to see what you did.
@@weylinwest9505 I haven't posted anything to the workshop yet with the new pistons. But i have a steam locomotive that is somewhat modeled on a steam locomotive that can be used to see how different values can be changed to control temps and pressures.
If you search my profile name in steam workshop you should find it. I have a few other things that are mostly creations I posted to fix other's issues or show how to do something.
@@weylinwest9505 I have not been home to be able to get to try it yet, but I think I have an even more simple way to control temps and pressure. When I get the chance, I will try it and post it on the workshop if it works.
you dont need valves on the pistons they are inbuilt
Limiting the water to the boiler is how i keep it from blowing up
I used this creation to learn a lot about these steam engines. Also the first time I edited the micro controller. Props to you for making this so easy to understand and build upon
Alternative way of controling the furnace temperature, use a variable valve and the function: -x+200 that will control your furnace very well at 200C, also you can use a threshold to control the boiler coolant flow
This was fascinating, so fat none of my piston engines work longterm and I noticed your firebox wasn't chucking out black smoke.
Guess it was a temperature issue
Thx for this my boiler kept blowing up
You did an open valve warm up - we used to do that at Didcot Power Station to warm the turbines up with the boiler :)
If you put a big vacuum pump between engine and condenser and rund it a little faster than the engine(I power it by the engine itself), you will see a little over 1 rps on all engine sizes. Flywheel helps too. I think you have to much pressure at the engine exhausted, I limit my engines input pressure at around 0.33 and 0.5, and around 1.5 on my main steam pipe. What will result on 6.8 pressure at the boiler. I hold my boiler always half filled
I'll have to look into it. I have not bothered refining it much. I get more power than I can use currently
Update actually managed to use a steam engine in stormworks thanks to this tutorial cheers man.
Great to hear!
Hello comrades! I am pleased with so much feedback! I am realy happy to improve this built with your feedback!
oh god a little steam piston tutorial
Thanks, I understood everything about it
Thanks for this tutorial. When I get around to trying pistons I'm going to take a look at this again.
The rotation of the pistons should be as evenly distributed as possible. Like you mentioned, in distances of 1/6 in this case (why didn't you do it this way?). The thought behind this is that you want the power to be as evenly distributed throughout a crankshaft rotation as possible. It might look better in your opinion to set the pistons to other rotations, but you need to keep in mind that every deviation from the optimum will lead to an uneven power distribution through one rotation.
So, for a 6 cylinder you want pistons with this rotations: 0, 1/6, -1/6, 1/3, -1/3, 1/2
I explained in the video that I set it where they are because you cannot go to more than 2 decimal places. I also mentioned there were more efficient orientations.
@@CaptainCockerels If they were set in intervals of 0.8 they'd be more even. As it is currently the interval between the outer pistons reaching max power and the next pistons in reaching max power is twice as long as the interval between the middle and innermost pistons. That's gonna lead to unwanted rocking.
What you've done by balancing them like you did is effectively reduced your system to a more powerful 3 piston system. Instead of taking advantage of the smoothness of 6 pistons you've turned it into a 3 step process that accelerates and decelerates very often. This is fine in a flat 6 combustion engine because it runs at very high RPM where the rocking felt is usually due to the pistons going up and down, instead of the power being applied unevenly through the cycle. In Stormworks we get the opposite. That up/down vibration is not felt, only the uneven power through the cycle, and because the RPS is so low it becomes all the more evident.
Thx for this tutorial, because my pistons have gone crazy XD
Thanks for the helpful tips and tricks with the walkthrough
Glad to help 😁
You want a condenser for RP? Why are condensers not needed? Doesnt the steam need to turn into water again to be recycled unless you want to run out of usable steam? I know you can run electrolysis to clean seawater but that is a negative on power.
That video is over a year old. A lot has changed. Here is the most recent tutorial series on steam. Steam Tutorial Series: ua-cam.com/play/PL4BURbFo2IhoZQgoZmtWGBhXINtJQ4pF-.html
@@CaptainCockerelsah okay, I managed to make a steam engine mostly like yours (using small pistons) only thing I really had to change was a gas relief port in the radiator loop for the condenser
It works pretty well, unfortunately the diesel furnace generate 0 exhaust
I see that boilers do not explode anymore and there is no longer a pressure node, what's the reasoning for these details being taken away?
The pressure was just a fake number and not useful. You can use a pressure gauge on the pipe and see it if you want. I would guess that removing the exploding was a balancing thing so that less knowledgeable players do not get discourages.
@@CaptainCockerels 10-4
lovley tutorial
Hey man I'm just curious when you say "it valves" do you mean it automatically releases pressure on it's own. Because dealing with pressure release valves has been a massive headache for me as it appears to be bugged in my game.
Is auto valves for timing. You do not need to sequence it.
how do we make a steam train
Very good tutorial, thank you
Glad it was helpful! 😁
I was having soo meany problems with steam this helped a lot thank you! finally made my train fly off the track using steam 🚂 🛤 ✈️ 🌊
Thanks, I'm glad you found it helpful.
Can't we just send the steam out from the pistons straight back through the pump behind the boiler and have infinite energy?
yea, i'm necroing. lol
i watched a video where somebody did just that. i tried doing it but wasn't able to spawn the system in with steam in the tank. i'm guessing they either removed steam from the list or the video creator was using a mod to allow it.
i guess you could spawn the boiler and heat box in as a separate vehicle and fill the tank with steam. i'm not sure about that, since there is no option for steam in the tank.
however, it may be possible to charge the pistons with steam.
Why doesent the propel stop spinning when i put clutch back on 0?
Is there electricity going to the clutch? Which clutch are you using? The modular clutch or the 1x2 clutch?
@@CaptainCockerels 1x2
@@CaptainCockerels and theres electricity
@@SomeFinnishGUY33 discord.gg/wzKn6JXJmN
How do I do a to piston engine please help
Do you have a guide for nuclear power, i have no idea how it works, but i wanna learn how to use it..
I do not yet. I have not spent any time working with nuclear. I would like to. Once I have it figured out I will make a tutorial.
I built this Sam thing step by step and for some reason the RPS and generator output was lower so I just put the boiler temp to 119 and it increased it, but it still didn't output as much as yours
They made some changes to the crank shaft settings after the video came out. I'll have to take a look at it and run it up and see what it's putting out currently.
@@CaptainCockerels alr
Very helpful! Thanks man!
When these first came out I remember reading something some where that said building valve timing systems made them more efficient, I spent an entire day proving that mechanic did not exist in the game 🤣
agree.
Idk why my engine dont work, its 4 cylinder with 1 boiler and 1 firebox, pressure is high but nothing gonna work properly (I am russian and maybe lose some information, I am not a perfect translator, pls help)
I can’t help and neither can I give the information in Russian sorry
this is what frantic used!
Cool, in which video did you use it in?
can you make pistons rotate faster?
They tend to rotate on the slower side, but that is on purpose. They are low RPS high torque. You can convert the torque to RPS using gearing.
btw you can press X on your keyboard to quickly activate/deactivate the erase tool. and pretty sure you can use the number row to switch what block you've selected in your hotbar. just saves some time, lol
I am a ware. This is my preferred way.
seems like my issue is that I haven't offset the pistons
nvm, still having issues, rip
I've set this up roughly the same and my boiler is heating a c h i n g l y slow, I'm mystified
Interesting not sure
I think I missed the name, what game is this?
Stormworks
I was trying to build this without a video for an hour, all I did wrong was not connect th pipes to the right spots😅
Oh trust me it happens to all of us.
There are two small mistakes in this tutorial:
-Its really unnecessary to add more water to the boiler. Especially for small piston setups like this you already have more than enough contained within the boiler itself.
-You can and should still place your own valves down because the inner timing of the pistons is not enough to get them to reach max power. I've gotten 7,500 sW out of a 4 medium piston system using custom valves, which are not hard to do. Out of your system, if fully optimized with custom valve timing, you'd probably be able to get 10,000 sW. 1,400 sW may seem like a lot, especially coming from the underpowered turbines we had previously, but its nowhere near the full capacity of these pistons. I suspect they may be getting nerfed soon because they currently make everything else obsolete.
They are not mistakes. I explain at 5:34 that that is for RP. It is a "basics" tutorial, hence why I'm not going to go into valve timing. This setup produces more than enough electricity for my applications so there is no need to produce more. Creating excessive electricity would break RP for me.
@@CaptainCockerels I understand that this is intended to teach only the basics. Problem is that the way you describe it in the video can give new players the wrong idea that they just shouldn't explore valves at all, as you repeatedly insist they are not needed without elaborating. The right thing to say would've been that valves are not strictly necessary, BUT can lead to massive performance improvements for more advanced players.
@@sebastiaomendonca1477 feel free to make your own tutorial
@@CaptainCockerels You're not gonna go far if you take constructive criticism like this...
@@sebastiaomendonca1477 You can not say something is a mistake because it is not how you do it. The great thing about stormworks is there are dozens if not hundreds of different ways to do the same thing. While someone may do something one way, another may do it completely differently. Neither may be the best way, but if it works, it works.
If you do not agree with the way someone does something try suggesting a better option instead of just saying that they are wrong and telling them to do it how you do it.
5:34. Wait, whaaattt??? 😲
Ohhh. R.P. not our pee.... 🤣
Speaking of R.P. i was disappointed that there is only automatic valve function. I was really looking forward to making complex valve systems to adjust timing and power. 😒 i really hope they make it an option to do manual valves or make modular pistons like modular engines are.
I agree. It would be cool if they would make it an option so that your could manually valve. Build in the auto to be inherently less efficient so that it is less work but better if you manually valve.
@@CaptainCockerels I appreciate the ease of having the automatic valves, the just seem like they could be so much more efficient with a proper valve system created by the player.
@@Bendigo1 Well you can by using external valves e.g on/off valves, and also steam pistons are a bit modular in the definition because you can get the same power with steam turbines
@@Specifix5 iT DOESNT really work the way i would like though. yes using valves does give SOME control but they still open and close their own VAlves at specific times so it is not possibleto really change the timing. just the amount of steam that is used.
For some reason these steam pistons just refuse to turn on and work, I’ve gone through 17 separate videos and nothing works, absolutely ridiculous how over complicated this VIDEO GAME is
Steam Tutorial Series: ua-cam.com/play/PL4BURbFo2IhoZQgoZmtWGBhXINtJQ4pF-.html this is the most up to date tutorial series.
Wow