Draconic Reactor

Draconic Reactor
Name	Draconic Reactor
Source Mod	Draconic Evolution

The Draconic Reactor is a multiblock power generation structure added by the mod Draconic Evolution. It consumes Awakened Draconium at a very slow rate (measured in nb, or nanobuckets) in order to produce Redstone Flux.

Details

The reactor will produce a constant supply of Redstone Flux at a very high rate, usually between 300,000-500,000rf/t. It is a very end-game structure, as it requires large amounts of difficult-to-acquire materials. However, as the fuel conversion goes up, so does the power output. A reactor running at 50% fuel conversion can easily produce 2,000,000rf/t. When the fuel conversion level reaches 75% it becomes near impossible to sustain the fusion reaction any longer; afterwards reactor must be shut down and refueled once it reaches this fuel conversion level, however, it maintains its current Redstone Flux output even after being refueled. Since the 1.12.2 version, the maximum amount of energy the reactor can produce is solely dependent on the amount of chaos currently in the reactor. When you refuel the reactor, to make it so the reactor will keep producing the same energy output, DO NOT remove the chaos shards that are in the reactor, this will reset the energy production back down to default.

The reactor itself consists of at least 4 Reactor Stabilizers, a Reactor Core, a Reactor Energy Injector, and (optionally) a Flux Gate or similar structure to regulate energy flow. It utilizes a nuclear reaction between Chaos and Awakened Draconium in order to sustain a fusion reaction. Using such a reactor is not without risk; if built wrongly it will rapidly destabilize and explode, causing massive destruction in a very wide radius centered around the reactor. Although these explosions do not quite penetrate down to bedrock, they come to within 30-40 blocks (assuming the reactor is placed at approximately layer 60) and spawn random lava sources throughout the affected area. Currently, the Reactor Stabilizers have a high enough blast resistance to avoid being destroyed by an explosion; however surrounding a reactor with explosion-proof blocks will not contain an explosion. Although the aforementioned blocks will not be destroyed, any explosion that occurs will simply pass through them unaffected.

Setup

A functional reactor requires at least 4 Reactor Stabilizers positioned an equal distance away from the Reactor Core such that it shares two coordinates (x, y, or z) with the core (in other words, it can be placed directly above, below, or straight out from any side). Each Stabilizer needs to be a minimum of 2 blocks away; although it's a good idea to place them as far as 5 blocks away — more distance means the reactor can hold more fuel. If the Stabilizers are 5 block away, the reactor will be able to hold 8 cubic meters of Draconium (8 blocks). A Reactor Energy Injector should be placed below the core, although it can also be positioned above or to the side. Reactor Energy Injectors use Flux to power the containment field of the reactor, which keeps the fusion reaction in check (thus preventing an explosion).

The reactor GUI can be accessed by right-clicking one of the Reactor Stabilizers. It displays the core heat level, containment field strength, energy saturation, energy production rate, core mass, heat load, containment field load, fuel burnup rate, and fuel remaining.

Mechanics

Reactors can take up to 8 cubic meters of Awakened Draconium (8 blocks), and a functional reactor will produce Flux as long as there's more than 0nb of fuel inside the reactor. Fuel can be inserted or removed via the reactor GUI, which can be accessed by right-clicking on any properly placed Reactor Stabilizer. Fuel cannot be inserted or removed when the reactor is active or charging. When the reactor is running, heat is generated from the core, load is placed on the containment field, and Flux is produced. Since the containment field is indirectly powered via the Reactor Energy Injector, it's essential to maintain a constant supply of power to the injector.

The energy output, load placed on the containment field, and the fuel usage rate is directly dependent on the heat of the reactor, which rises as more energy is drawn from the reactor. If the heat rises above 8000 degrees, the load placed on the reactor increases exponentially in relation to the heat level. Generally speaking, reactors operating at a greater temperature than 8000 degrees will destabilize and explode. If they don't, the energy quantity required to sustain the containment field will quickly become extremely large, thus rendering the reactor highly inefficient.

Before a reactor can produce Flux, it requires an initial supply of energy to kick-start the reaction. This can be taken from any sufficient power source and must be routed into the Injector. To initiate the charging process, press the blue power button labeled "Charge". The core will slowly change color from orange to dark blue, and the reactor's internal energy buffer (titled "Energy Saturation" in the GUI), and the Containment Field buffer, will fill. The process will be complete when it reaches 50%. Cutting the power supply to the Injector during charging will not cause an explosion, although it will stop the saturation bar from filling. Breaking the core during any point during operation or charging will cause an explosion.

Once a reactor is charged, the GUI will include a green power button labeled "Activate". Pressing this will start the reactor, and it will begin producing Flux. Load will be placed on the containment field, which requires a constant stream of power that comes directly from the energy saturation of the reactor (which in turn comes from the Reactor Injector). If the containment field does not constantly receive enough energy to offset the load, its protection percentage will slowly (or quickly, depending on how great the energy deficit is) decrease. When it reaches 0, the reactor will be fully uncontained and will explode.

Flux can be drawn from an operational reactor by connecting a Fluxduct or similar device to the back of a Reactor Stabilizer. Any power extracted comes directly from the reactor's internal buffer. Thus, if Flux is extracted faster than the reactor is producing it, the internal buffer will gradually decrease. This means that drawing power too fast will eventually result in an explosion, since the internal buffer powers the containment field. Because of this, it's necessary to either use low-tier Fluxduct to slowly transfer RF, or, if higher RF transfer values than 32,000/t are desired, a Flux Gate connected to Cryo-Stabilized Fluxduct. However, directly connecting the reactor's output to the Energy Injector using Cryo-Stabilized Fluxduct without a power regulator will very rapidly result in a large explosion. This is because the Cryo-Fluxduct does not have an RF/t transfer limit, so all the power from the reactor is drained at once.

An online reactor will also have a "Shutdown" button inside its GUI. Shutting down a reactor will, after a period, cause it to lose all of its charge (the charging process must be repeated in order to bring it online again). Typically, the shutdown process does not occur fast enough to prevent an explosion in the event that a reactor begins losing its containment field. However, it's necessary to shut down a reactor in order to extract or insert fuel, or if one wants to safely remove the core.

Safety (definitely not actually needed, nothing can go wrong) Right?

In most reactor setups, a portion of the Flux produced from a reactor is redirected to the Injector. The easiest possible way to do this is to simply use a Tesseract and connect a Cryo-Stabilized Fluxduct from the Tesseract to a Flux Gate, then connect the Flux Gate to the Energy Injector. This will constantly supply the Injector with 32,000rf/t, and the reactor be safely run at low output rates only. However, reactors that run very hot and produce extremely large quantities of Flux require much more charge routed to their Injector.

If one wants the reactor to be as efficient as possible, or one wants a very high-output reactor, it's necessary to automatically regulate power supply to the Injector. Fortunately, the Power Injector has a comparator output symmetric that helps solve this problem: Shift+right clicking on the Injector will cycle through these setting. For Injector power regulation, "Containment Field [Inverted]" is the best option. Setting a Flux Gate to 200,000rf/t (high) and routing the comparator signal from that Injector will cause increasing quantities of Flux to be routed from the reactor depending on the strength of the shield. Reactors are also compatible with ComputerCraft and RedNet, so if greater efficiency is desired, one can use the blocks from these mods to fine-tune Flux output, remotely shutdown a reactor, or more.

Despite what the Draconic Evolution Information Tablet tells you, these reactors are quite safe. As long as you follow these 5 steps your reactor WILL NOT explode and consume your entire base in a catastrophic nuclear disaster.

-DO NOT break any part of the reactor while it is online, this will result in a catastrophic nuclear disaster

-DO NOT connect the Energy output directly to the containment field, this will result in the containment field becoming unstable, and cause a catastrophic explosion

-DO NOT let your reactor's temperature get above 8,000 degrees Celsius, as this will increase the strain on the containment field to contain the fusion reaction by 10 times the amount, and can easily cause a nuclear meltdown.

-DO NOT let your reactor's fuel conversion rate get above 84%, this will cause the reactor to run dry causing the chaos to become unbalanced with the Awakened Draconium Block within the fusion reaction and will cause the temperature to rise exponentially and cause a nuclear meltdown as previously stated.

-DO NOT let your pet chicken stand on the reactor, as this will cause a catastrophic nuclear disaster, and will cause your chicken to evolve into an abyssal god.

Uses

The Draconic Reactor sustains such a immensely powerful fusion reaction, that outputs more power at its maximum potential than any other power generation in the game. Uses for 1,000,000rf/t or more? Besides setting up 60 Laser Drills, you could use the Draconic Reactor to provide the power needs for your entire server, depending on the amount of people that are playing. You may also find other uses for this completely absurd power output, keep in mind you are essentially creating and harnessing the power of an artificial star, so be very careful.