Head lift

Head lift determines how high fluids can be pushed up: only the vertical distance, or the difference between the elevation of starting and ending points matter; it does not depends on whether the Pipeline's shape is vertical, slanted diagonally or even a U-shaped.

In the other words, fluids need head lift to be moved vertically upwards, and head lift can be generated by a variety of buildings: Head lift produced by different buildings have different base starting point, see below.
 * - 20 meters
 * - up to 12 meters
 * ,, , - 10 meters
 * - up to 8 meters
 * - varies

For example, Water Extractor output Water with a head lift of 10 meters, this means the Water Extractor can push Water up to 10 meters vertically.

Head lift does not stack; chaining multiple Pipeline Pumps close to each other will not add them up, instead it will be set to 20 meters at the last Pipeline Pump in the series.

Head lift and elevation difference
The head lift required to fill a fluid containment is directly proportional to the elevation difference, measured from the base point of the source of head lift to the top level of the fluid containment.

If the Pipeline is not perfectly vertical or contains a mixture of horizontal and vertical component, then the reading of head lift (as displayed on a Pipeline Pump) will not be directly linear.

Currently the only way to measure head lift is by constructing a Pipeline Pump at the elevation of measurement.

Recommended, actual and maximum head lift
Within the recommended head lift, fluids flow freely without resistance. The system may continue to work 1 or 2 meters higher than that, which marks the actual head lift. Beyond that, flow rate drops abruptly, down to zero flow around 2 to 3 meters beyond the recommended head lift, which marks the 'maximum head lift'. When approaching maximum head lift, the fluid starts to act in a strange way: fluid may or may not flow, and may sometimes oscillate forward and backward while attempting to achieve the head lift equilibrium, producing inconsistent behavior. Thus, it is always recommended to keep the system within the actual head lift.

TODO: insert infograph here indicating head lift measurement for each building

Exploits
Head lift is not influenced by a fluid's flow rate (but can affect it). Fluids can flow freely along perfect horizontal Pipelines.




 * Fluids have a Head Lift that dictates how far upwards they can travel in Pipelines. In short terms, a 1m rise requires a Head Lift of 1m, a rise of 10m requires a Head Lift of 10m and so on.
 * The Head Lift's lowest point is measured at the geometrical center of a pipeline pump or the pipe connector of a fluid outputting building. Fluid Buffers are the only excption, with their Head Lift being measured upwards from the bottom of the building.
 * ,, and  provide recommended head lift of 10 meters + 2 meters beyond limit. Pipeline Pumps output at a "Recommmended Max Head Lift" of 20m + 2m beyond limit, thereby having a theoretical maximum Head Lift of 22m, yet practically the limit is at around 23m, after which flow rate will drop sharply and reach 0 m³/min at around 23.3m.
 * Note that the applied Head Lift is not accumulative, it is therefore necessary to space out the pumps evenly if the rise exceeds 20m and that the maximum Head Lift shown in the Pumps UI is 22m.

Head lift exploit
Pipeline pumps, if used in large quantity, can be a burden to the Power grid, thus innovative solution is highly desirable to minimize the power usage. If multiple fluid sources connected to a single or multiple pipelines with different head lifts, then the highest head lift among them will be applied to the entire connected network. This makes head lift exploits possible, provided water bodies at different heights are in close proximity such as near the waterfalls.
 * To do so, first construct as many water extractors at the lower water body as you need.
 * Build a floating factory above the lower extractors, but not more than 10 meters higher than the upper water level. Connect the pipes between the factory needing the water and those extractors.
 * Construct 1 water extractor at the upper water body. Extend a water pipe down the waterfall and to connect this extractor to all the other pipes at the lower part.
 * All the pipes will then share the head lift of the highest water extractor.
 * For this setup, Pipeline Pump is not required at all.
 * If a waterfall is not available, a priming pipe can be built by applying an upward pipe boosted by pipeline pumps until a high point, then return downward and connect to multiple lower pipes to share its head lift among them.

A Fluid Freight Platform does not generate opposing head lift when being filled up, and thus a fluid source can easily fully fill it up as long as the pipe inlet level of the Fluid Platform is within the source's head lift. As such it is advised to always use its lower pipe inlet first, followed by the upper inlet if the input rate higher than 300 is desired.

A Fluid Freight Platform has a temporary head lift of up to 39.2 meters. Take note this is a one-time effect, as it will stop outputting the fluid if the head lift is ever exceeded, and even if the head lift drops below 39.2 meters afterward.

Its sustainable head lift is 10 meters, measured from the platform's base. The generated head lift does not depend on its remaining fluid content, this means it can easily empty itself to Fluid Buffers located at the same level.

A Fluid Platform has the ability to output fluid regardless if it is powered and whether if it is set to load or unload.

A Water Extractor has a recommended head lift of 10 meters. It can still output water up to 12 meters maximum head lift, with slightly reduced flow. As it lacks a head lift gauge, the only way to check its head lift is by interacting with Pipelines to check if the water is flowing.