Power and logic

Power; it is the name for the capacity to do work in Waste of Space. Without power, your machines cannot operate. As such, it is crucial to master this mechanic. Power is also closely linked with this game's electronics mechanics, such as trigger signals. This guide will cover everything from the basics of how power works, to constructing nuclear reactors to power your base. Before we can cover more advanced topics though, we must start with the basics of how power works. If you've played the tutorial, this should be familiar.

Power and triggers

An example of how power flows. The red and blue wires are connected to each other and a power source; as such power flows from the source to the light causing it to glow. The green and magenta wires are not connected; the light doesn't glow

The basics

One of the most important things to understand about power in this game is its flow. Power flows in all directions from a source (PowerCell or battery) to parts which consume it. Power is able to be moved from a source using transmitters. The available transmitters in this game are wires, ZapWires, antennas, and relays.

You can think of power in this game sort of like water in pipes! Water flows into the pipes from a source, and travels through them to an exit.

Power in this game is measured in units, a fictional unit of measurement.

A source stores power and enables its use. Power cannot be used directly, but must first be stored. You'll learn more about generating it later.

Transmitters allow power to flow through them, moving it from a source to consuming parts. Power is also able to flow directly from a source to a consuming part.

For wires to transmit power, they must be physically touching. A wire touching a source will have power flowing through it, as will any wires touching it. Antennas are able to transmit power between each other (and to any touching wires) given they have the same ID. Relays allow power to be transmitted cross-region.

Multiple sources are also able to be connected together, providing an overall larger pool of power available for use. Sources still remain individual parts though, so this will only work if you are drawing power from the transmitter connecting them.

Parts which consume power deduct (n) power from the circuit every tick so they may perform their function - this is referred to as "power per tick" (ppt). Each part has its own ppt requirement; if there is less power available in the circuit than the part requires, it will stop operating. Note power cannot pass through objects which consume it.

Let's put what we've learnt so far to use and map out the flow of power in a basic circuit where a PowerCell is connected to a light with a wire;

• Power flows from the PowerCell into the wire ->
• The wire allows power to flow through it, transmitting it to the light ->
• The light recieves power; it glows! ->
• One unit of power is deducted from the PowerCell

Controlling flow

Switches being toggled on and off to allow power to flow to a light. You'll need to click on the gif to be able to view it.

One common issue you'll quickly run into is controlling the flow of power. You'll sometimes only want it to flow at certain times, or only in one direction. This is where this game's electronic ('Logic' and 'Electrical' in-game) parts come in. The most basic of these is the switch.

The switch can be toggled either on or off, acting as either a normal part in its off state, or as a wire in its on state.

The switch is able to be toggled on/off by either clicking on it, using polysilicon, or by having a microcontroller (see Programming for more info) configure its SwitchValue property. Don't worry if you don't understand what trigger signals or polysilicon are at the moment, we'll get to it soon. First though, must cover a few other basic electronic parts you'll likely be using a lot. This will make a lot more sense later;

• The diode only allows power to flow in one direction. This is indicated by the arrow drawn on it
• The DelayWire wait (n) seconds when triggered, only then allowing a trigger signal through.
  • n is equal to its configuration
• The button emits a trigger signal when clicked
• The transformer emits a trigger signal every (n) seconds when powered, the time between pulses is able to be configured

Triggers and polysilicon

Trigger signals nearly identically to power, but are transmitted by TriggerWires instead (Antennas work with both power and triggers). The TriggerSwitch is also available as trigger counterpart to the regular switch. Trigger signals are generally produced when something occurs, an example would be a button being clicked.

Unlike power, triggers cannot be stored; this is because they act as a kind of 'Message'. You can think of this message like mailing someone a blank piece of paper; it contains no information, but they know they've been sent something.

Certain objects will perform an action upon being triggered; this action will always be the same, and requires no input. As triggers contain no information, objects purely relying on them are often quite simple. An example would be an explosive.

More complex objects, however, require additional information. A switch must know if it should be turned on or off. This is where polysilicon comes in.

Polysilicon adds additional information to trigger signals. It can either be activating, deactivating, or FlipFlop - which switches through the other two modes each time it is triggered. A switch receiving a signal from activating polysilicon will turn on, and vice versa. Note this type of 'trigger' cannot be transmitted.

Generating Power

One important aspect of power we haven't talked about yet is how its generated. We'll cover that now.

In waste of space, power generation can roughly be split into five categories, these are;

• Coal-based
  • BurnerGenerators
• Gasoline-based
  • CombustionTurbine
• Solar power
• Steam-based
  • Boilers
  • Reactors
• DarkMatter-based
  • DarkConverter

We'll cover building each of them by outlining every step. Let's start simple with coal-based power;

Building a coal-based power generation setup

Building coal-based power generation setups is as simple as 4 steps. This makes them ideal for early-game progression or bootstrapping a base;

1. Find a coal node and place an extractor on it, the front side should face away from the node. Make sure the Extractor is configured properly.
2. Resize a bin to 10×10×10, attach it to the front of the extractor. The bin does not need to be 10x10x10,but it is recommended because 10x10x10 is the maximum size, and bin's storage capacity is based on volume.
3. Place BurnerGenerators onto the bin, or connect them to the bin using chutes. The burners need direct access to the Coal Bin. THE MINIMUM BurnerGenerator COUNT IS 2. Any less, and it will not sufficiently power the Extractor. If you'd like, the maximum BurnerGenerator count is 8, meaning that at 8, the setup is at full efficiency.
4. Connect (wires) the BurnerGenerators to a PowerCell and drop a piece of coal into the bin, The Coal will go into the burner generators and generate power, going into the PowerCell.

A simple diagram of a coal gen setup:

Building a gasoline-based power generation setup

Gasoline-based setups are a bit more difficult. They're also not a great choice for powering your base due to low efficiency (processing oil through refineries take a lot of power), but they could make a good alternative to BurnerGenerator setups for starter bases. They're also great for ships as CombustionTurbines aren't as volatile as reactors and still have a decent power output. If you are getting your gasoline from somewhere else (eg. on a ship refueling from a base), only follow steps 5. and 6.;

1. Setup Oil - mining extractors (if your later game, MiningLaser setups could be good as they don't have the same distance restrictions as Extractor.) setup. You can get Oil from any Stone node, including mountains. Power it and configure it to extract Oil.
2. Connect container(s) to your Oil mining setup using pipes or transporters.
3. Connect your container(s) to a Refinery. Do not power it yet, as you don't have storage for the Gasoline / Petroleum yet.
4. Connect filters to the Refinery. To these filters, you will attach containers or pipes going to containers. Make sure the filters are configured to Gasoline and/or Petroleum.
5. Connect the Gasoline containers to CombustionTurbine(s)
6. Place down a PowerCell. Use somes wires or antennas to connect the Oil Extractor, Refinery, and CombustionTurbine(s) to the PowerCell
7. Power the Refinery. The best way to do this is with a Battery, as batteries are pre-filled and ready for use, unlike the PowerCell

Solar power

Solar power is incredibly easy to set up. Just connect SolarPanels (which have direct view of the sun and are either around a star or in a planet where it's day) to PowerCells. What else? Literally nothing, that's it! No catches, so overcomplicated explanations. Literally just attach a SolarPanel with a view of the sun to a PowerCell.

It's a low-maintenance solution which can yield incredible results if used in the right conditions.

Its power output is affected by the time of day, as well as the proximity to your star, as well as its type (eg. SolarPanels around Neutron Stars generate much more energy than those around Red Giants, black holes however generate no power.).

Steam-based power generation setups

Boilers

Boilers are an interesting way of generating power. They use coal to turn water into steam, which can then be run through SteamTurbines to make power. If you have a large starterbase or are stuck with coal, they are a pretty good option, as they generate way more power than BurnerGenerator and CombustionTurbine setups.

1. Set up water extraction. Either pump it from the sea using pumps or get it by melting ice This is only really used for Barren planets and other planets with no water, as it is not very efficient. which you can mine from mountains or Stone nodes. Store this water in container(s).
2. Next, set up coal extraction. Configure the Extractor to mine Coal, and power the Extractor. Store the coal in a bin.
3. Connect both the coal and the water to boilers using chutes/transporters, and pipes/transporters. If you have an excess of Water and Coal set up more. The minimum is 2 boilers per SteamTurbine.
4. Connect the boilers using pipes to a container which will store steam.
5. Connect the Steam Container to SteamTurbine(s), to generate power.
6. Connect the SteamTurbines to a PowerCell with wires.

Reactors

Reactors are a great way of generating power for bases. They are basically a way better Boiler, but instead of consuming Coal, it consumes Uranium. They aren't ideal for smaller ships due to their high water consumption, however larger ships should have no problem fitting the necessary Water Containers needed for running a Reactor for a meaningful amount of time. Note that the SteamTurbines required to generate power from, well, Steam (duh) are quite large, so make sure you have enough room for them if you're doing this on a ship. This guide assumes that you'll be creating a single-Reactor setup;

1. Set up water extraction via Pumps or Melters + Ice. Because of the slowness of melters, it is only really recommended if your planet doesn't have oceans.Reactors consume large amounts of Water (~40 a tick), so you will need a reliable source of it.
2. Set up a baseplate on which you'll build the reactor. If you'd like, you can also build it on terrain, as it doesn't really matter.
3. Onto the Reactor, attach two TemperatureSensors. Configure one to -inf:1000, and the other to 1001:inf
4. Attach a piece of Polysilicon set to Mode 1/Deactivate on the one set to -inf:1000, and another piece of Polysilicon set to Mode 0/Activate to the one set to 1001:inf. Ensure both the TemperatureSensors AND the Polysilicon are touching the Reactor.
5. Provide the Reactor with Water from one side. Make sure you aren't directly connecting it to your water supply as empty Containers could fill with steam. To prevent this, you can use a Filter configured to "Water". You should also add a Valve so that you can store Water for later use (Reactors consume water even if they are not generating steam! (I think. It's been a while since I checked.).
6. Provide a Container to which the Reactor can output steam. Connect this container to the SteamTurbines.
7. Connect the SteamTurbines to your PowerCells using Wires, Antennas or Relays (ONLY USE RELAYS IF YOUR BASE ISN'T ON THE SAME PLANET).
8. Place a Bin onto the back of the reactor. Nuclear waste will be dispensed here.
9. Add a piece of Polysilicon set to Mode 2/FlipFlop to the reactor. The Polysilicon will eject fuel, allowing you to collect NuclearWaste. Connect it to a Button. If the temperature is nearing 1200 OR the fuel rods are spent, click the Button.
10. Add a bin nearby the Reactor with a Dispenser on it.
11. Finally, using the Dispenser, add four pieces of Uranium into the Reactor.

If you want the reactor to be refueled automatically, among other things, consider checking the Automatic Reactor article. If you want an example of a finished reactor set-up instead (note this one has some extra features), you can get the Roblox model file here, then compile and load it in game. Unfortunately, code is not provided.

Bonus: Custom boilers and snow RTGs

Custom boilers are machines that utilize the ability to extract snow from the part and melt it to get water anywhere, which can be used for power generation.

In earlier versions of custom boilers, it was possible to melt water into steam, which could be collected with a container and fed into a steam turbine. (See "Diagram of an early custom boiler")

Water melting into steam has been patched in as of 1/13/2024, but you can still melt snow into water which means that it is possible to recreate a custom boiler by feeding water into a reactor.

It is also possible to cycle the uranium in the reactor, which prevents it from turning into NuclearWaste and allows infinite usage of the uranium.

This new version of a custom boiler is called a "snow RTG".

This is how a snow RTG works (See "Diagram of a snow RTG");

1. A microcontroller turns on all dispensers in the machine.
2. An extractor or mining lasers extracts snow.
3. The snow is dispensed into a completely enclosed chamber. There is a long container on top and igniters on the bottom.
4. The igniters are constantly activated by a transformer. As the water piles up, it touches the container and enters it.
5. Snow melting into water is technically considered as the snow igniting. This means that nearby parts have a chance to ignite. However, because the container is long, the center is far away enough from the chamber that the container does not ignite.
6. Using a flip flop polysilicon, a transformer, and 2 dispensers, uranium is constantly ejected and put back into the reactor. This removes the uranium before it is used enough to become NuclearWaste and puts it back in, which means it never has to refill on uranium.
7. The water in the container is fed into the reactor, which produces steam for a steam turbine.

Due to the fact that snow RTGs require dispensers, it does not work when moving.

Also, if the snow RTG is not constructed in a specific way, new water spawns on top of old water in the chamber. The old water never touches the container and despawns, which causes significant water loss and hinders power production immensely.

The model code for a snow RTG which does not have this problem can be found here.

Diagram of a snow RTG

Snow cannot be extracted from the part in Unstable, however steam turbines are planned to turn steam back into water so that it can be recycled, which will make water generation redundant anyway.

Diagram of an early custom boiler

Building a DarkMatter-based power generation setup

To finish off this article, we'll finally cover DarkMatter setups. These are quite simple, though rarely used due to reactors being a way better alternative. DarkMatter is only really ever a good choice for ships;

1. Craft a DarkConverter and a DarkReactor. If you already have DarkMatter, you'll only need the former.
2. Power the DarkReactor. Make sure you provide sufficient cooling, as it emits a scorching amount of heat. You'll need around 5 WaterCoolers.
3. Attach a bin to the DarkReactor. DarkMatter will be deposited by it into the bin.
4. Attach a DarkConverter to the DarkMatter bin.
5. Connect the DarkConverter to PowerCells using wires.

Finishing off

If you've made it this far, good job! You've learnt the basics of power and triggers. Now that you have a power supply and have potential for more projects, you should go visit Building A Base. That was probably a lot to read, maybe take a break?

Also See

• Building A Base
• Building A Ship
• Reactor
• Automatic Reactor