Power

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Power icon.png

Power is a resource that some Buildings icon.png buildings require to function. It is measured in hp Horsepower icon.png. It can be stored in Gravity Battery.

In Timberborn power can be broken down into the following parts. The power grid and buildings that require power.

Power grid

In Timberborn a power grid is the combination of power generation, storage, transmission, and distribution.

A power grid can be as small as 50 hp Horsepower icon.png. An example of this is a Power Wheel icon.png power wheel directly attached to a Lumber Mill icon.png lumber mill. As long as a Beavers icon.png beaver is assigned to both, the power wheel and lumber mill, and it is also during working hours, the power grid will be active and will be generating, transmitting, and distributing power. Power grids can also be much, much larger and more complex than this simple example.

What hp Horsepower icon.png a player will need in their power grid will depend upon the number of and which powered buildings a player wants to use. The player will also need to remember that power generation buildings are not always 100% efficient and take that into consideration when developing their power grid.

Generation

Power generation in Timberborn can be very sporadic in terms of efficiency and in terms of actual generation of power.

Power generation buildings

Building Max Power

Produced

hp Horsepower icon.png

Consumes Workers Availablity in

Faction

Power Wheel icon.png Power Wheel 50 None 1 Folktails icon.png Folktails, Iron Teeth icon.png Iron Teeth
Water Wheel icon.png Water Wheel 90 hp/cms None 0 Folktails icon.png Folktails
Compact Water Wheel icon.png Compact Water Wheel 40 hp/cms None 0 Iron Teeth icon.png Iron Teeth
Large Water Wheel icon.png Large Water Wheel 180 hp/cms None 0 Iron Teeth icon.png Iron Teeth
Windmill icon.png Windmill 200 None 0 Folktails icon.png Folktails
Large Windmill icon.png Large Windmill 400 None 0 Folktails icon.png Folktails
Engine icon.png Engine 400 Logs icon.png Logs 1 Iron Teeth icon.png Iron Teeth

Generation efficiency

Some power generation buildings do output consistently. The Power Wheel icon.png power wheel, and, if continually fed Logs icon.png logs, the Iron Teeth's Engine icon.png engine. Both of these Buildings icon.png buildings output their stated hp Horsepower icon.png.

The less consistent power generation buildings are the water wheels and the Folktails' windmills. The power generation ability of these buildings is at the mercy of nature.

If a Fluid icon.png fluid is not flowing, water wheels will not produce power and if the flow of water is not fast (strong) enough, water wheels will not produce power at it's max capacity.

The same is also true for theFolktails icon.png Folktails' windmills. If the wind is not blowing, no power is produced, and if the wind is not strong enough there is power production, but at a reduced rate.

Storage

The additional hp Horsepower icon.png can be stored in Gravity Battery.

Transmission

Transmission of power from the generation buildings to the buildings that require power can be accomplished multiple ways. Power generation buildings can be connected directly to the buildings that need power or something more complex can be used if required.

If the transmission of power requires covering a long distance power shafts are a viable option. They are not the only option for long distance transmission of power.

Power shafts

Power shafts are an alternative way to transfer power. Power shafts transfer power when they are properly connected to a power source, other power shafts or buildings that are powered.

Distribution

Distribution of power is accomplished when a power generation buildings' generated power is transmitted through power shafts and/or buildings that share power to the buildings that require power.

Players should be aware that buildings that are both, stackable and power sharing, will distribute (share) power with stacked buildings that are also capable of sharing power.

Buildings that share power

Roofs share power only at their bottom surface.

Powered buildings

Powered buildings are buildings that require access to power in order for them to function.

List of powered buildings

Powered buildings efficiency

Powered buildings are not guaranteed to always run at 100% efficiency. The same is also true for power generation buildings. If a powered building receives 100% of the power it requires it will be 100% efficient, but if a powered building receives less than 100% of the power it requires that building will have less than 100% efficiency.

These inconsistencies should be considered by a player when planning their production chains and power grid(s).

Comparison to Real Life HP

Since the unit hp Horsepower icon.png can easily be confused with the real life horse power, the following calculation will clear up the difference between the two on the basis of the Gravity Battery.

Assumptions

  • one block ingame equals 1 m³
  • the gravity battery weight is equal to 2 m³ of iron
  • general laws of physics apply
  • the Timberborn planet has the same gravity as planet earth

Actual energy stored in the Gravity Battery

Assuming the weight is 100% iron with a density of 7,874 g/cm³, this equals a total weight of 15.784 metric tons.

Calculating the stored potential energy with the formula E = m*g*h where m is the mass in kg, g is the gravitational acceleration of 9,81m/s² and h is a height of 1m results in a total potential energy of:

15784kg * 9,81m/s² * 1m = 154.84 kJ of stored energy per meter height.

Energy transfer rate

If we now compare this to the given stored energy ingame of 2.000 hph (hp Horsepower icon.png-hours) per block of height, one hph equals to 77.42 J/h.

Comparing to the real world

Using the energy transfer rate of the classical Horse Power given to be about 2,684.52 kJ/h, we can deduct, that the hp Horsepower icon.png is roughly equal to:

0.07742 kj/h / 2,684.52 kJ/h == 0.00288% of a standard horse power.

This implies the hp Horsepower icon.png is roughly a one-35.000th of the power a horse can deliver

Hamster power?

Another suggestion was that hp Horsepower icon.png stands for "hamster power", referring to the power a hamster would generate in a hamster-sized power wheel.

According to Wikipedia (though that fact is marked "citation needed"), a hamster can generate 500 mW, which is 1800 J/h. So if the assumptions above hold, an actual hamster produces 23.24 hp Horsepower icon.png. Still, it's a better match than a horse, and by changing some of the assumptions (e.g. the weight of the battery might not be 2 m² of iron, but a smaller volume of a lighter material), we can close the gap further. (Also, maybe it could be the average over a whole day of hamster activity.)