![[Main Quest] Assemble Solar Panels](/art/e40421.webp)
Nothing powered yet
The Small Solar Panel and the Lead-Acid Battery, $40 together. Every solar panel is the same 0.30 power per dollar, so buy the size that fits the wall rather than the biggest. Add a second Lead-Acid Battery before a second panel: it stores 50 units per dollar, and the other batteries store 40.
Something must run all night
A fridge draws 2 continuously, a Electric Heater 8 through a cold wave (keeping warm has when), and the Drone draws 180 only while it works. Add the largest generator you can keep fed: Extra Large Fuel Generator returns 1.22× the power per unit of fuel that Small Fuel Generator does and holds 8 fuel, so it runs longer between refills. Feed it Diesel and nothing you paid for otherwise.
The fuel has run out
Burn what you scavenged: High-Proof Alcohol is the best found fuel at 9000 burn, and it cost nothing. Work the Manual Generator for 100 power each time, which is the cheapest way in the game to turn time into power. Then move the constant draws onto what the panels make in daylight, and let the battery carry the fridge through the night. Do not burn books or spirits: Dry Red Wine is 192 times worse per dollar than Diesel.
Open the equipment list Every generator, panel, battery and powered piece with its output, its draw and whether it draws constantly, in one list. This opens on the Extra Large Fuel Generator, the one the worked examples measure against.
Fuel generators give you 2.7× the power per dollar that solar panels do, and every generator in the game is the same 0.80 power per dollar regardless of size. Solar is the same 0.30 at every size too. So the size you buy changes the floor space, not the value, what changes the value is whether you can keep it fed.
This page covers what each fitting is worth, what a working house actually draws, and which fuel is worth burning.
The five numbers the system runs on
Power in this game is five quantities, and the game keeps them apart. Three are rates, one is a total, one is a stock that runs out.
| Quantity | What it is | Where it sits | Range in the game |
|---|---|---|---|
| Draw | What a piece takes while it is switched on, and whether it takes it constantly | 29 pieces of furniture | 1 to 180 |
| Generation | What a fitting makes on its own, continuously for a generator and in daylight for a panel | 10 fittings | 6 to 160 |
| Injection | A one-off push you get by working a thing, not a rate | Manual Generator only | 100 a turn |
| Storage | What a battery holds, which is a total and not a rate | 4 batteries | 1000 to 8000 |
| Fuel | Burn value sitting in an item, which a generator turns into power at its own rate | 72 items burn | 200 to 48000 |
Every figure on this page is a pair of those five divided by each other or by a price, and the last section sets out which pair each one is. The split that decides the most is between the rates and the stock. A panel and a battery are bought once and cost nothing after that. A generator is bought once and then charges you at every refill, which is why the fuel figures matter more than the generator figures.
Making power
| Fitting | Price | Makes | Per dollar | Fuel slots |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Extra Large Fuel Generator | $200 | 160 continuously | 0.80 | 8 |
| Medium Fuel Generator | $100 | 80 continuously | 0.80 | 5 |
| Small Fuel Generator | $50 | 40 continuously | 0.80 | 3 |
| Large Solar Panel | $80 | 24 in daylight | 0.30 | none |
| Medium Solar Panel | $40 | 12 in daylight | 0.30 | none |
| Small Solar Panel | $20 | 6 in daylight | 0.30 | none |
| Extra Large Rat Cage | $360 | 6 continuously | 0.02 | none |
| Small Rat Cage | $50 | 6 continuously | 0.12 | none |
| Medium Rat Cage | $100 | 6 continuously | 0.06 | none |
| Large Rat Cage | $180 | 6 continuously | 0.03 | none |
| Manual Generator | $20 | 100 per use | none | none |
Bigger generators are more fuel-efficient, not just bigger. Extra Large Fuel Generator Package Furniture Packages 3000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely returns 1.22× as much power per unit of fuel burned as Small Fuel Generator Package Furniture Packages 1000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely , and holds 8 fuel rather than 3. If you can afford the fuel to keep it running, the large one wastes less of it.
The rat cages are a flat 6 power each. All 4 sizes make exactly the same power; what changes is how many animals they house (2, 4, 8, 16) and the price, which runs from $50 to $360. Treat the larger cages as housing for what your traps catch rather than as a power upgrade.
Manual Generator Package Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely adds 100 power every time you work it, for $20. It produces nothing while you are not standing at it, so it is the answer to a flat battery rather than a supply , but nothing else in the game turns time into power that cheaply.
Storing power
| Battery | Price | Holds | Per dollar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lead-Acid Battery | $20 | 1000 | 50 |
| Household UPS | $50 | 2000 | 40 |
| Home Power Storage Station | $100 | 4000 | 40 |
| Extra Large Power Storage Device | $200 | 8000 | 40 |
Lead-Acid Battery Pack Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely is the only battery that is better than the others per dollar, 50 units of storage per dollar against 40 for every other size. Buy several of the cheap one rather than one large one, unless floor space is what you are short of.
What the house draws
Power draw comes in two shapes, and only one of them is a running cost.
| Equipment | Draws | When | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drone | 180 | while in use | $40 |
| Electric Oven | 40 | while in use | $120 |
| Shredder | 40 | while in use | $200 |
| Microwave | 30 | while in use | $40 |
| Ration Press | 20 | while in use | $200 |
| Air Conditioning | 11 | constantly | $50 |
| Massage Chair | 10 | while in use | $100 |
| Electric Hot Pot | 10 | while in use | $30 |
The heaviest draws are all the second kind. 16 of the 29 powered pieces draw constantly, and those are the only ones that size your generator; everything else spikes while you use it and then stops. A fridge at 2 power is a permanent load, a Drone at 180 is not.
Keeping food cold
| Store | Price | Food keeps | Power | Storage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fridge | $40 | 5× longer | 2 | 56 cells |
| Double-Door Fridge | $50 | 5× longer | 2 | 56 cells |
| Freezer | $100 | 5× longer | 6 | 80 cells |
All of them slow spoilage by exactly the same 5×. What differs is price, storage and the power bill. The Fridge at $40 is the one to buy: the Double-Door Fridge costs $10 more for identical cells, identical power and identical shelf life, and the largest asks 6 power against 2 for the same 5×. Multiplying every shelf life by 5 is the single biggest thing you can do about spoilage.
What to burn
| Fuel | Burn value | Price | Per dollar |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diesel | 48000 | $50 | 960 |
| Gas Canister | 12000 | $15 | 800 |
| Scrap Paper | 1500 | $10 | 150 |
| Waste Plastic | 1500 | $10 | 150 |
| Common Alcohol | 6000 | $40 | 150 |
| Wood Chips | 1500 | $10 | 150 |
Buy Diesel Fuel 800 g 1×1 cells $50 Keeps indefinitely Fuel 48000 Fuel for diesel generators. . At 960 burn per dollar it beats Gas Canister Fuel 200 g 1×2 cells $15 Keeps indefinitely Fuel 12000 Portable Fuel Canister by 1.20× and everything else by more than 6×. One unit of it burns 4× as long as one Gas Canister, which also means fewer trips to refill a generator.
Do not burn your books. The bottom of the list is Dry Red Wine Food · Alcohol Morale +15 Stamina -3 1000 g 1×2 cells $120 90 d shelf life Waste at day 225 Fuel 600 Alcohol Adds aroma when cooking. Mildly intoxicating when consumed. at 5 burn per dollar , 192 times worse than Diesel. Books and spirits burn, but every one you burn is a book or a drink you paid for.
What you scavenge is different: it cost you nothing, so burn value is all that matters.
| Found fuel | Burn value |
|---|---|
| High-Proof Alcohol | 9000 |
| Poor-Quality Alcohol | 4000 |
| The Young Master's Self-Cultivation | 3000 |
| Paper Airplane | 3000 |
| Barricade Construction Guide | 3000 |
Most of what burns is not a fuel the shops sell. 72 items in the game carry a burn value. A shop shelf stocks 37 of them; the other 35 never appear on one. Searching is the wider net by a long way: 66 of the 72 can be found in containers or loose loot, including 34 of the ones the shops also sell. So the shop list is what to spend money on, not what your generator will mostly eat.
The burn ratio decides refills as well as cost. One Diesel carries 5.3 times the burn of High-Proof Alcohol, the best thing you can find. Extra Large Fuel Generator filled with it holds what 43 slots of that alcohol would hold, off 8 slots, which is the difference between one refill and a shelf of them.
Fuel is not only for power. Heating Stove holds 8 fuel and burns at a rate of 50 for 1 heat and no power at all, against a draw of 8 for the same 1 from Electric Heater Package Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely . In a cold wave the two heat sources compete for the same cans.
Worked examples
Sizing a generator against the constant load
Every constantly drawing piece in the game running at once is 62 power. Nobody builds all 16, so treat it as the ceiling rather than a target. Small Fuel Generator Package Furniture Packages 1000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely makes 40, which is 65% of that ceiling. Medium Fuel Generator Package Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely makes 80 and is the smallest one that covers the whole of it, at $100.
Solar can reach the same number and costs nothing to run: 3 Large Solar Panel Package Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely make 72, for $240. That is $140 more than the generator, it only makes it in daylight, and it needs the batteries under it. The generator is cheaper to buy and the panels are cheaper to keep.
What one unit of fuel is worth
A generator turns burn value into power at a fixed rate: 0.145 power per unit of burn in Extra Large Fuel Generator against 0.119 in Small Fuel Generator. One Diesel Fuel 800 g 1×1 cells $50 Keeps indefinitely Fuel 48000 Fuel for diesel generators. is 48000 burn, so the same can is worth 6982 power in the large generator and 5714 in the small one. The can costs the same either way; the small generator throws 1268 of it away.
Put that against storage and the scale is clear. 6982 power is 87% of what Extra Large Power Storage Device holds, or 7.0 times what a Lead-Acid Battery holds.
What a dollar of fuel buys
| Fuel | Burn per dollar | Power per dollar in Extra Large Fuel Generator | In Small Fuel Generator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Diesel | 960 | 140 | 114 |
| Gas Canister | 800 | 116 | 95 |
| Scrap Paper | 150 | 22 | 18 |
| Waste Plastic | 150 | 22 | 18 |
| Common Alcohol | 150 | 22 | 18 |
This is a different measure from the power per dollar in the first table, and the two do not compare. That one prices the hardware once and the number is a rate you keep. This one prices the fuel, and you pay it again at every refill.
What a kit adds up to
A first kit is a Small Solar Panel Package Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely and a Lead-Acid Battery Pack Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely for $40: 6 generated in daylight and 1000 held. A settled house running the generator that covers the constant load, the largest panel and the largest battery is $380: 104 generated and 8000 held.
Adding Manual Generator Package Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely to either kit moves the generated figure by nothing, because 100 power arrives when you work it and not otherwise. It is a way to refill a flat battery, not a supply.
What to do
- Start with a Small Solar Panel Package Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely and a battery to go with it. It makes less per dollar than a generator, but it costs nothing to run, and nothing you build later stops it working. The panel on its own has nowhere to put what it makes, and the game says so at the till: "Solar panels need batteries to store electricity". The cheapest working pair is Small Solar Panel and Lead-Acid Battery Pack Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely , which is $40 rather than $20.
- Add the largest generator you can keep fed, once something has to run through the night. It returns 1.22× the power per unit of fuel that the smallest does. What a supply is worth ranks fuel by what it burns per dollar and names the burnables no shop sells.
- Buy the Lead-Acid Battery Pack Furniture Packages 2000 g 2×2 cells Keeps indefinitely rather than a bigger battery. It stores 50 per dollar against 40.
- Buy Diesel Fuel 800 g 1×1 cells $50 Keeps indefinitely Fuel 48000 Fuel for diesel generators. and nothing else as fuel. Burn scavenged paper and plastic only when you have run out.
- Count only the constant draws when you size a generator. There are 16 of them; the rest cost you nothing until you switch them on.
- Check any piece before you buy it in the equipment list. It carries the draw, the output and the price for all of them.
The talent that changes this
One permanent talent lowers what every appliance draws, which is the same as buying more generator.
| Talent | First level | All levels | At the top |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Saver | 20 pts | 90 pts | Total power consumption of electrical devices reduced by 20%. |
Which talents to buy covers what the tree costs as a whole.
Quick reference
- Solar: 0.30 power per dollar, no running cost, same at every size.
- Generators: 0.80 power per dollar, and the largest is the most fuel-efficient.
- Best battery: Lead-Acid Battery, 50 stored per dollar.
- Best fuel: Diesel, 960 burn per dollar.
- Rat cages all make 6 power whatever they cost.
- Cold stores all give 5× shelf life; buy on power and cells.
- 16 pieces draw constantly; everything else only while in use. All of them at once is 62, which Medium Fuel Generator covers.
- One Diesel is 6982 power in Extra Large Fuel Generator and 5714 in Small Fuel Generator.
- 72 items burn, 37 of them sold and 66 findable.