funky station

WELCOME TO THE FUNKY PIPES GUIDE!
^{By Cookie Butter/Peanut Sugar (@fushirimaya on Discord)}


I've also fully written it here, if you want to utilize more images
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iY1 ... sp=sharing

So, you’re looking to learn a bit of Atmos, but don’t wanna look stupid in a shift?

Well, here’s the perfect guide for you!
^{(PSA: It is fine to look stupid in Atmos, even veterans learn something new every day!)}

This guide contains a breakdown of pipes in atmospherics, a basic rundown, and a basic, handy framework used in explaining, in case you get lost trying to make sense of all of the information in your head!

HOW THE GAME ACTUALLY SIMULATES GAS
Atmos is a pressure simulation. This means that every tile, pipe, and canister contains the following

• Gas (measured in mols)

• Volume (how much space the gas has)

• Pressure (how hard the gas is pushing outward)

• Temperature (how hot or cold the gas is)

They specifically follow the ideal gas law, which goes into the equation of

I SKIPPED READING THIS! MATH IS NOT MY FORTE!

Fret not! The concept of this equation is very simple:


Let’s define PRESSURE and VOLUME first:

VOLUME is how much space a gas has. Think of it like the size of a container!
Pour water into a small container, and it fills up to the brim
Get a bigger container, and it no longer fills up to the brim anymore!

PRESSURE is how tightly packed the gas is INSIDE that container.
Therefore, having HIGH Pressure means having a LOT of gas in a space
Having LOW Pressure means having a LITTLE amount of gas in the same amount of space

If you’re still confused, just follow this basic rule:
At the SAME temperature:

• More gas (mols) in the same volume (L) → higher pressure (kPa)

• Same gas (mols) in a larger volume (L) → lower pressure (kPa)

If the temperature RISES

• Volume (L) stays the same, amount (mol) stays the same, and pressure (kPa) RISES

If the temperature LOWERS

• Volume (L) remains the same, amount (mol) stays the same, and pressure (kPa) DECREASES

Gas WILL ALWAYS try to equalize pressure.
If two connected spaces have different pressures, gas flows from high pressure → low pressure until equilibrium is reached.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS A PIPENET?

A pipenet is a continuous, connected group of pipes

If pipes are physically connected and not blocked by a device, they are considered a pipenet!

A pipenet shares gas instantly across itself, and equalizes the pressure across all the pipes in the area. The volume of that pipenet is the sum of all connected pipe volumes + devices in that network.

If you add more pipes, you increase total volume.
If the total gas amount stays the same, pressure drops.

If, however, you add a DEVICE, a pipenet will then be split.

WHAT THE HECK ARE DEVICES?
Atmos devices are ones that basically ENFORCE the flow of gas into the pipe, using either VOLUME or PRESSURE differences to move gas

VOLUMETRIC DEVICES
Volumetric devices are Atmospheric devices that moves gases through VOLUME. It essentially pulls a fixed amount of gas in the pipenet before it. How this is calculated is weird though; As Dicerson noted, the server utilizes a cvar - a constant in the server that basically determines how fast or how slow an interaction is within a tick.

Each Atmos tick is half a second, and we have a CVar of 8.

Now take a volumetric pump that can pull 200L based off on it's configuration. Due to our cvar, this is multiplied by 8, and due to our Atmos tick, this is divided into 2!

Therefore, a 200L volumetric pump can pull 800L worth of volume!

Let's summarize:

• • A normal pipe is 200L and a volumetric pump is 200L

  • A volumetric pump can therefore pull across a 800L pipenet, or specifically 4 pipes!

  Gas filters and volumetric pumps are the most basic applicable examples for these devices.

  PRESSURE DEVICES
  Pressure devices move gas according to PRESSURE. Instead of how volumetric devices work, it would not care for how many pipes are in, for as long as it meets the conditions for moving gas

  What are the conditions?

  • If the input pressure is higher than the output target, then it moves gas forward

  • If the output pressure reaches the target, the device stops pushing.

  Gas mixers and pressure pumps are the most basic applicable examples for these devices.

  Now, that's the end of a basic explanation!
  This is just a simple rundown of how gas works! If you want to learn more, please read my WIP Guide to all things Atmos!
  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iY1 ... sp=sharing

  Oh, and DO let me know if you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer!

Technical bit of misinfo - on volumetric devices the number of pipes they can move is 8x higher on 90%+ of servers due to an arbitrary speedup cvar from wizden

And then its halved after the fact since atmos processes in half second ticks - so its actually 4x!

Dicerson wrote: Sun Mar 15, 2026 10:51 am

Technical bit of misinfo - on volumetric devices the number of pipes they can move is 8x higher on 90%+ of servers due to an arbitrary speedup cvar from wizden

And then its halved after the fact since atmos processes in half second ticks - so its actually 4x!

Guess I still learn something new everyday, I'll correct this part, thank you