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.
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 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


💀 WARNING. From this point onwards, the article rapidly drops in quality. Proceed with caution. 💀

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 three categories, these are;

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;

Find a coal node and place an extractor on it, the front side should face away from the node
Resize a bin to 10×10×10, attach it to the front of the extractor
Place BurnerGenerators onto the bin, or connect them to the bin using chutes.
Connect (wires) the BurnerGenerators to a PowerCell and drop a piece of coal into the bin

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 takes a lot of power). However, they're 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.;

Set up oil extraction. You can extract it from mountains.
Connect (pipes) container(s) to what you are using to extract oil and store it in them
Connect (pipes) the containers to a Refinery. Do not power it yet.
Connect filters to the refinery, to these you'll attach container(s), or pipes leading to them. Configure the filters to only allow Gasoline past.
Connect (pipes) the gasoline containers to CombustionTurbine(s)
Connect (wires) the CombustionTurbine(s), the refinery and what you are using to extract oil to PowerCell(s).
Power the refinery. You can do this with a few batteries.

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. Yup, that's it. Due to this, solar power is an amazing source of energy for ships or space bases.

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).

Steam-based power generation setups

Boilers

Boilers are an interesting way of generating power. They aren't often used as better solutions are often available by the time you can set them up. They use coal to turn water into steam, which can then be run through SteamTurbines. If you have a large starterbase or are stuck with coal, they are a decent option;

Set up water extraction. Either pump it from the sea using pumps or get it by melting ice which you can mine from mountains. Store this water in container(s).
Also set up coal extraction. Store the coal in a bin.
Connect (chutes, pipes) both the coal and the water to as many boilers as they can support
Connect (pipes) the boilers to a container which will store steam
Connect (pipes) the steam container to SteamTurbine(s)
Connect (wires) the SteamTurbines to a PowerCell

Reactors

Reactors are a great way of generating power for bases. 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;

Set up water extraction via Pumps or Melters. Reactors consume large amounts of water, so you will need a reliable source of it.
Set up a baseplate on which you'll build the reactor. Or not. You can build a reactor setups on terrain if you really wanted to. Onto it, attach the reactor.
Onto the Reactor, attach two TemperatureSensors. Configure one to -inf:1000, and the other to 1001:inf
Attach a piece of Polysilicon set to Mode 1/Deactivate to the former, and another piece of Polysilicon set to Mode 0/Activate to the latter. Ensure both the TemperatureSensors AND the Polysilicon are touching the Reactor.
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.).
Provide a Container to which the Reactor can output steam. Connect this container to the SteamTurbines.
Connect the SteamTurbines to your PowerCells using Wires, Antennas or Relays.
Place a bin onto the back of the reactor. Nuclear waste will be dispensed here.
Add a piece of Polysilicon set to Mode 2/FlipFlop to the reactor. Connect it to a Button. If the temperature is nearing 1200 OR the fuel rods are spent, click the Button.
Finally, 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

If you are on a planet that does not have uranium readily available , you can instead make what's known as a custom boiler or a custom reactor. The idea is simple. Extractors mine ice, ZapWires melt ice into steam, steam floats up, Containers collect steam. Do you see where I'm going with this? No? Well, here's how to make one.

The first step is to set up ice extraction. Ice is part of the stone extra-drops loot table (Mountains), it can also be found on planet rings, as they are either made of stone or ice. Next, install a Extractor, configure it to extract "Ice", and slap it on the previously mentioned mountain. Now you have some ice!
After that, you'll need to grab everything else you need. That's a Dispenser, a ZapWire, a SteamTurbine, a Container, a Bin, and some building materials (preferably glass).
Then, assemble the custom boiler. Construct a chamber with a ZapWire as the floor, a Dispenser in one the walls connected to a Bin of Ice, and put a Container as the roof which will pick up the Steam, finally, connect the SteamTurbine to the Container and activate the Dispenser.

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;

Craft a DarkConverter and a DarkReactor. If you already have DarkMatter, you'll only need the former.
Power the DarkReactor. Make sure you provide sufficient cooling, as it emits a scorching amount of heat. You'll need around 5 WaterCoolers.
Attach a bin to the DarkReactor. DarkMatter will be deposited by it into the bin.
Attach a DarkConverter to the DarkMatter bin.
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, and built a power generation setup for your base or ship.

That was probably a lot to read, maybe take a break?