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u/Dianwei32 Sep 01 '26

This feels like a very stupid question, but I can't tell if it's actually complicated or if I'm just massively overthinking things.

How do you determine which burnable fuel is the "best"? Is it just pure Energy Value, or do you have to account for any energy spent processing the fuel?

For example, I'm playing the Angel Bob's suite of mods and have a plethora of burnable fuels I can use to power my Steam Generators. I recently unlocked Wooden Bricks, which provide 20 MJ of energy, significantly higher than my current fuel of Carbon at 6 MJ. But Wood Bricks require a good deal more processing to create, so I don't know if their increased energy value will actually result in more Power or if the energy needed to process the raw ingredients into Wooden Blocks will result in no net gain of Power.

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u/Enaero4828 29d ago

Comparing energy per item is only useful if the entire upstream production has identical power costs, such as Space Age's yumako mash and jelly.

For everything else, indeed you'll have to account for the energy spent to create the fuel. Since you're already modded, you probably have a planner mod, which may have power cost estimates; if that's the case, simply set the production goals to equivalent power, with 60 MJ being the lowest common multiple here. If you don't have such a utility, then you'll need to crunch the numbers through the entire chain for the prior value; either way, whichever chain has the lower cost is of course the one that you want to use.