Watermill generator
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Watermill generator
Produces electricity from a river. Must be placed with its wheel in moving water. If watermills are placed too close together, the turbulence they generate will interfere and reduce power generation.
Base Stats
Building
- Size
- 5 × 6
- Placeable
- Yes
- Power
- + 1100 W
Creation
- Skill Required
- Construction 6
- Work To Make
- 4,000 ticks (1.11 mins)
- Resources to make
280 + 
80 + 
3- Deconstruct yield
-
210 + 
60 + 2
Watermill generators are built on moving water to generate a constant 1100W of electricity, regardless of weather or other conditions.
A watermill generator must be placed:
- with its water wheel entirely in moving water,
- with its base on tiles that can support Heavy (for example, not on a bridge or marsh),
- with neither its housing nor wheel overlapping any other buildings or walls.
The base is a 3x3 square in the middle of the housing, which is a 5x5 square. Then the 1x5 waterwheel is attached to the housing, making the total footprint 5x6. Only the base must be on firm ground, the rest of the housing may be over water.
When placing the watermill generator, the blueprint will show:
- The base of the generator (in white)
- The housing of the generator (green if placeable, red if not)
- The waterwheel of the generator (green if placeable, red if not)
- The exclusion zone, explained below (blue on previously built watermills, green if OK, flashing orange if overlapping)
Watermill placement not allowed, and exclusion zone overlapping.
Acceptable placement of watermill. Note base on firm ground but housing partially over water.
Power output does not depend on water tiles covered. However, the output of watermills will be reduced to 30% (330W) if you overlap their exclusion zones. The exclusion zones are 13x7 rectangles, extending 4 squares above, below and outside the mill. If you wish to build multiple maximally efficient watermills, they will need to be spread out a bit making them slightly harder to defend than most other power generating systems.
The 30% reduction does not stack, so given a sufficiently straight river, an alternative strategy to maximize power output would be to cram as many watermill generators as possible along both sides of the river bank.
Bridges do not interfere with power generation if built within the generator's exclusion zone.
Requires the Watermill Generator research to be completed.
Version history
Introduced in Beta 19.
- Power
- Power conduit (Waterproof) • Power switch • Wood-fired generator • Chemfuel powered generator • Wind turbine
- (research)
- Battery • Geothermal generator • Solar generator • Watermill generator • Toxifier generator
- (uncraftable)
- Vanometric power cell • Unstable power cell
- Related
- Ship reactor