The Packager is a building used to package and unpackage fluids in and out of 
Empty Canisters or 
Empty Fluid Tanks. Both Canisters and Fluid Tanks are returned when fluid is unpackaged from them, allowing them to be reused. Packaged liquids can be transported with Conveyor Belts - this can be more efficient when transporting them with Conveyor Lifts due to the power usage of Pipeline Pumps, but only for very large vertical distances.
Recipes[]
Overclocking[]
The Packager can be overclocked using Power Shards. Overclocking increases the input/output speed of the Packager at the cost of exponentially increased power demand.
| Clock speed | 25% | 50% | 75% | 100% | 150% | 200% | 250% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consumption (MW) | 1.6 | 4 | 6.84 | 10 | 17.09 | 25 | 33.58 |
Head lift[]
The Packager has a recommended head lift of 10 meters, measured from the center of its pipe outlet.
Storage[]
Fluids can be stored in higher volume when packaged. This is most notable when packaging Nitrogen Gas, as a single stack of Packaged Nitrogen Gas holds 400 m3 of fluid. With 38 item slots, a single Freight Car can hold 12800 m3 of Packaged Nitrogen Gas, compared to only 2400 when transported as a fluid. For all other packaged fluids, a single Freight Car holds 3800 m3.
Using for vertical transport of fluids[]
For vertical transport of fluids, using Packagers and Conveyor Lifts instead of Pipelines and Pipeline Pumps can be more efficient, but only for extremely large vertical distances, due to the number of Packagers required to package/unpackage a full Pipeline of fluid. The break-even point varies by fluid as they all have different package/unpackage rates.
To approximately calculate the break-even amount of vertcal lift you:
- Calculate the number of Packagers required to package and unpackage a full Pipeline (300/s for mk1 or 600/s for mk2) of fluid
- Calculate the energy these Packagers require
- Packager count * 10MW
- Note this is simplified as it does not account for the lower-than-proportional energy usage of an underclocked machine, or the higher-than-proportional energy usage of a partially idle machine
- Calculate the number of Pipeline Pumps that can be powered for the same energy
- Packager energy / Pipeline Pump power
- (4MW for a mk1, 8MW for a mk2)
- Round the Pipeline Pump count down to the nearest whole number (as they do not underclock)
- Calculate the total Head lift this many Pipeline Pumps will provide
- Pipeline Pump count * Pipeline Pump Head lift
- (20m for a mk1, 50m for a mk2)
- This is the approximate break-even point
The equation for this is:
FLOOR( ( ( (pipe flow rate / package rate) + (pipe flow rate / unpackage rate) ) * packager power) / pump power ) * pump head lift
Where FLOOR() is a function that rounds down to the nearest integer.
Note this equation does not account for underclocked or partially idle Packagers, where a fractional number of Packagers is needed (e.g. 2.5 Packagers are needed to unpackage 300/s Water).
- If fractional Packagers are underclocked to the exact required fraction then power use and break-even will be slightly less than this equation indicates due to better power efficiency
- If fractional Packagers are left at 100% Clock speed and so are partially idle then power use and break-even will be slightly more than this equation indicates due to idle power draw
| Fluid | mk1 Pipeline | mk2 Pipeline | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mk1 Pipeline Pump | mk2 Pipeline Pump | mk1 Pipeline Pump | mk2 Pipeline Pump | |
| Alumina Solution | 240 | 300 | 500 | 600 |
| Fuel | 620 | 750 | 1240 | 1550 |
| Heavy Oil Residue | 1240 | 1550 | 2500 | 3100 |
| Liquid Biofuel | 620 | 750 | 1240 | 1550 |
| Nitric Acid | 1240 | 1550 | 2500 | 3100 |
| Nitrogen Gas* | infinity | infinity | infinity | infinity |
| Oil | 740 | 900 | 1500 | 1850 |
| Sulfuric Acid | 620 | 750 | 1240 | 1550 |
| Turbofuel | 1500 | 1850 | 3000 | 3750 |
| Water | 360 | 450 | 740 | 900 |
Even the smallest break even point for any combinaton is 240 metres, or 60 4m Wall segments.
*Nitrogen Gas is a gas, not a liquid. As such does not require Head lift to transport vertically, so does not require any Pipeline Pumps.
Trivia[]
- "PAC-IT MK1" is written on the machine, suggesting that higher marks would be available, though it has been denied by developers.[1]
- Before the introduction of the Packager, Refineries were given the job of packaging and unpackaging liquids. Refineries that were constructed after the update lost this ability.
- To calculate the energy spent to package / unpackage a certain fluid:
Energy = 600 MJ / (rate of un/packaging in X/min). The multiplier for the item recipe can be ignored as only the rate is concerned.
Gallery[]
-
A screenshot from the teaser, with the robotic arm causing a spillage.
History[]
- Patch 0.3.6: Introduced
References[]
