Power

Power is a brand new mechanic added by the Frackin Universe mod. It is akin to the real-world phenomena of electricity. This mechanic involves many stations, such as power-generating and power-using, as well as storage and informative devices. It involves the wiring system laid by the vanilla code.

Introduction
The first step to interplanetary domination using power is the humble Electronics Center. Craft one at a Machining Table, and there you can access the basic machines and technology that allows you to handle power. It can be upgraded to a Power Station once you gather better materials. The Machining Table is also a necessity, as it allows the crafting of some necessary components used by the machinery crafted in the Electronics Center.

In the mod, units of power are expressed in Watts. Powered machinery uses some amount of watts in order to do their assigned task. More advanced machines will use more watts, but better power-producing stations will also be available.

Power Generation
Now that you have access to an Electronics Center, you can start handling power. But of course, you have to start somewhere. Firstly, gathering power is an essential part of using it. Initially, some machines can be used to produce power with the most basic materials. Once better minerals are at your disposal, better variants of these machines can be accessed.

Generators & Reactors
Generators have greater power output than solar panels, but they continually consume resources, whether it be lower-tier resources like Coal or higher-tier resources like Thorium Rods or Plutonium Rods.

These are the fuel-using generators and reactors available to the player.
 * Alternator Generator
 * Combustion Generator
 * Hydraulic Dynamo
 * Fission Reactor
 * Small Fusion Reactor
 * Large Fusion Reactor
 * Quantum Reactor
 * Neuro-Psionic Generator
 * Precursor Reactor

Renewable Resources
Solar generators, nocturn arrays, and wind turbines produce a constant flux of energy with no fuel requirement. However, they are not always available in every situation, and some require specific conditions to produce power. Solar generators, in particular, do not work with artificial light in recent versions.

These are some renewable generators that can be used by the player.
 * Solar Panel
 * Solar Array
 * Solar Tower
 * Nocturn Array
 * Wind Turbine

Power Storage
You've got some machines to produce power, now you can harvest it and temporarily store it in batteries for use later. Unlike generators, which can output variable amounts of power depending on conditions, batteries will only ever output as much power as is needed to run the connected lab equipment.

You can also use batteries to increase the output of power in a system, such as using a low-power generating alternator and transfer it to multiple batteries that can output higher amounts of a watt.

These are the batteries accessible to the player.
 * Simple Battery (350J)
 * Basic Battery (1000J)
 * Improved Battery (2500J)
 * Industrial Battery (4000J)
 * Psionic Battery (5000J, requires Madness research)
 * Advanced Battery (8000J)
 * Ultra Battery Unit (18000J)
 * Precursor Battery (25000J, blueprint found as loot)

How to wire a battery
Connect the (top-right blue circle) of the battery either to Reactor or to the Power Relay. See the image below:

Here you see 1 Ultra Battery (on the right) and 1 Quantum Reactor (on the left).


 * Note: You can't wire two batteries to each other.

Powered Stations
Now that you've gathered power, you can finally start using powered stations.

Smelters
Smelters are similar to the furnaces found in vanilla Starbound; they require power to run, however. Smelters have a better conversion ratio of ore to ingots (better than 2:1) and typically produce useful byproducts when smelting. In addition, they can process some non-ore blocks such as Moonrock.

These are the smelters open to the player.
 * Electric Furnace
 * Blast Furnace
 * Arc Smelter

Centrifuges
Centrifuges extract useful ingredients from liquids. They also refine radioactive ores into rods, which can be used either in crafting or as ship fuel.

These are the centrifuges that require power to function.
 * Iron Centrifuge
 * Industrial Centrifuge
 * Lab Centrifuge
 * Gas Centrifuge

Environment Modifiers
Environmental modifiers help tame the harsh planetary environments where some FU scientists may choose to establish their laboratories. For effects ranging from protection against deadly heat, to healing, to gravity generation, look no further than your Power station. Atmospheric regulators now require 120u. There is also a smaller, weaker version requiring significantly less. Regulators have 5000 tile range.

These are the environment modifiers that can be used by the player.
 * Atmospheric Filter
 * Atmospheric Regulator
 * Regeneration Matrix

Extractors
Extractors extract useful ingredients from blocks.

Only the top-tier extractor needs power.
 * Quantum Extractor

Others
These are miscellaneous stations that require power.
 * Atmospheric Condenser
 * Liquid Collector
 * Liquid Mixer
 * Hydro Tray
 * Manufacturing Station
 * Entropic Converter

Informative Devices
Power sensors give valuable information about output levels when using solar arrays, and can alert players to dangerous critical reactions when using radioactive elements to power generators, potentially averting disaster before it happens.

There are currently two kinds of power sensors.
 * Power Sensor
 * Large Power Sensor

Guides
Players can share their power-related guides here.
 * Power Progression