Power network (across games)

Of IndustrialCraft, BuildCraft and Thermal Expansion, IndustrialCraft 1 has the earliest known power network: the IC wiki described its cables carrying a generator's current to machines by 11 April 2011. BuildCraft added its power system, Minecraft Joules, in 2.0.0 at the end of July 2011, by the account of its later developer asie, and Thermal Expansion's first release, in June 2012, needed power from BuildCraft or Forestry. Factorio's earliest date read here is its first demo, released on 31 December 2012; when its electric poles arrived isn't read here. power-network/earliest-known

"Earliest known" among the three mods only, and only as far as the dated sources read here go: the IC wiki's cable page is a revision of 11 April 2011 (industrialcraft/ic1-cables), and IC1's forum thread opens on 27 February 2011 (industrialcraft-history/ic1-thread) without dating its cables. BuildCraft 1.4.1, April 2011, has no engines (buildcraft/first-pipes). Thermal Expansion's date is its forum thread's first post (thermal-expansion-history/first-release); Factorio's is factorio-history/demo-2012. When Factorio's electric poles were added isn't read here.

Cited by: Power network

In Thermal Dynamics r2.3.9 (Minecraft 1.12.2), connected fluxducts of one tier form a grid that keeps its energy in one store; ducts of different tiers neither connect nor merge. The store holds five times the tier's transfer rate for each duct that touches a block. Energy put into any duct goes into that store, at most the transfer rate per insertion and up to the free space. Once a tick, while the store holds energy, each duct beside a block offers the blocks around it the store divided by the number of such ducts, worked out once for the tick (the remainder when that rounds to 0), and no more than the transfer rate; the round stops at a duct whose chunk is unloading. With the default base of 1,000 RF a tick, the five tiers (energyBasic, which the config's comment calls the Leadstone Fluxduct, energyHardened, energyReinforced, energySignalum, energyResonant) move 1,000, 4,000, 9,000, 16,000 and 25,000 RF a tick. The super-conducting duct has a transfer limit of 0, so it can't join these grids, and is excluded. power-network/fluxduct-grid

About: Thermal Expansion Power network

{
 "baseTransfer": 1000,
 "transfer": [
  1000,
  4000,
  9000,
  16000,
  25000
 ],
 "storePerNodeDuct": 5
}

The store's size counts only node ducts (nodeSet, those touching a block), where the fluid grid's tank counts every duct (thermal-expansion/fluid-grid-tank). The base rate is the config's BaseTransfer, 100 to 10,000. The in-game names of the other tiers come from language files not read here. Thermal Dynamics r2.3.9 is the 1.12.2 version; how Thermal Expansion 2's Redstone Energy Conduits of 2012–2013 moved energy isn't read here.

Cited by: Power network

The Factorio wiki's Electric system page (captured October 2026) says a building is on an electric network if one of its tiles lies in a pole's coverage area, and that poles placed close enough connect by themselves. When generation falls short, the electricity is spread evenly over the network's machines by their demand, and all of them slow by the same proportion. Generators meet demand in order: solar panels first, then steam engines and turbines, and accumulators last, which charge only from power left over once all demand is met. power-network/factorio-network

About: Factorio Power network

The page covers 2.0 and Space Age (lightning collectors, fusion generators), which this claim leaves out. The engine is closed, so the order isn't read in code; the base data's usage_priority fields (solar, secondary output, tertiary) are where it would be checked.

Cited by: Power network