A simple guide to basic engines! (Singulo, Tesla and AME)

[Fushirimaya]

So you want to be an engineer, huh?

Well, here's a quick and easy guide for you to follow! This is sectioned off into two parts, specifically wiring and power generation! If you have any questions, feel free to ask me in the threads, or ping me at the discord @Fushirimaya

Wiring

In this game, there are three different cable coil types, low voltage (LV), medium voltage (MV) and high voltage (HV)



These wires are connected to multiple components found around the station, specifically the APCs, Substations, and SMEs.



SMEs are the BIG boys, they're usually installed in an array at engineering that help power the station. They have HIGH VOLTAGE WIRES coming from the power generator, which charges them, and HIGH VOLTAGE WIRES going out to power the SUBSTATION.

Substations are found usually by maintenance areas, and will have usually at least one per department. These will have HIGH VOLTAGE WIRES coming from SMEs and MEDIUM VOLTAGE WIRES going to the APCs

APCs are the things you find on walls, think of it as like small batteries that power all small machinery around the room. They will have MEDIUM VOLTAGE WIRES coming from the Substation and LOW VOLTAGE WIRES coming out, powering the nearby machinery (Lathes, lights, etc.)

In a basic setup, it'd generally look like this.



HV wires power the SMEs and HV wires go out to power a Substation, which uses MV wires to power an APC, which goes out to power machinery using LV wires in its vicinity.

Power Generation
So.. now that you know how wiring works around the station, it gets pretty easy to learn how to know the basic engines! As an engineer, the two most basic engines are the TESLA and the SINGULO (With the AME, but it's very easy to set up without much explanation)

These two engines require similar materials, and slightly vary with how it's usually set up.
First, is the particle accelerator, or PA for short.

You ever see that huge firing thing near the singulo or tesla room? That's what it is.



All you need are just LV wires which you place onto the PA, and screw all of it on. Scan the components in order to complete it, and it is now ready to fire at the engine generator as required.


Second, are the emitters and the containment field generators.



The emitters are powered by MV wires, and shoot at the containment field generators, which have to be manually turned on to create a field. This field serves as your "shield" for these engines, as them escaping it will result in DEADLY consequences.

As long as the containment field is being shot at, it will create fields adjacent to the other spots of where the containment fields are at

Example is shown here, where one emitter shoots at one containment field, creating a barrier on its other adjacent areas:



Now that the emitters are active and firing at the containment field, it must form a square-figure in order to contain your favorite engine.




Singulo

The singulo is a big black hole that generates radiation. It requires a big area (usually set up in default for most station), and radiation collectors are stationed nearby for collecting power.


^{Full (green) vs. Empty Radiation Collector}

Its maintenance includes refilling the plasma tanks inside the radiation collectors with plasma canisters.

They are refilled in the same way you fill up your gas tank, but instead of oxygen or nitrogen canisters, you put them inside a plasma canister, open a valve, set the output pressure to max, and close the valve, then take out the plasma tank.

Take note, firing the Particle Accelerator at the Singulo is what keeps it active..

LEAVING IT OFF WILL KILL THE SINGULO.

You can set it to PA level 2 or 3 depending on your length and width of the containment field. If you aren't sure, just do 2.

Tesla

^{NOTE: THIS SETUP RELIES ON MINI TESLA BALLS NOT HITTING IT ANYWHERE, KEEP THE EMITTERS AND WIRES FURTHER AWAY IF YOU DONT WANT ANY VARIABLES CAUSING A LOOSE}

A tesla is a big, scary ball that arcs out lightning. You don't need as big of a containment area as a singulo, but its maintenance and power generation differs!

It's powered by the tesla coils on the side, specifically the black and red ones, which charge as the lightning hits them. You'll need to weld the coils every now and then for maintenance.


^{Severely cracked coil (Left) vs. Undamaged coil (Right)]}

Keeping the PA on after the generator turns into the Tesla will cause the tesla to generate mini-tesla balls that will also arc lightning.

This can cause more frequent repairs to your coils, and can possibly strike other components that aren't protected by the coils. BE CAREFUL!

Antimatter Reactor
This is a separate power generating engine that serves to buy time while setting up your main engines.



They don't look like this, initially, they're flatpacked machines that you unpack using a multitool. You do 3 AME flatpacks in a line per tile at a time until you run out of flatpacks to place, like this.



They're unpacked using your multitool. Afterwards, you connect the AME control unit under an HV wire near the AME, and put a fuel jar inside the AME control unit. TAKE NOTE, the INJECTION RATE must only be 2 times the amount of the cores. If it counts 1 core, you inject 2, if you have 2 cores, inject 4. So on, and so forth.



TAKE NOTE THAT FOR ALL OF THESE ENGINES, YOUR POWER SOURCES WILL REQUIRE AN HV WIRE UNDER THEM.
A radiation collector requires an HV wire directly under it, connected to the SMEs to generate power
A tesla coil requires an HV wire directly under it, connected to the SMEs to generate power
The AME requires an HV wire directly under it, connected to the SMEs to generate power

[shimmers]

psst images uploaded on discord disappear and need to be regenerated after 24 hours- so you should use an image hosting site-
sidenote: I thought the forums had some way to upload attachments but I can't find it whenever I try to post?

Otherwise, good guide and I really appreciate things being color-coded! It helps a lot with readability.
Also appreciate the note about the tesla mini-balls... I've seen many a tesloose due to them..