Engines are used to power modular carts around. There are currently four engines available: Tiny Coal Engine, Basic Solar Engine, Coal Engine and Solar Engine. On one cart, you can have up to both of the tier 1 engines or both of the tier 2 engines, allowing for a maximum of 2 engines per cart, making the Max Engine Count of a Reinforced Hull pointless. (picture left) The four types of Engine (Left to right, top down) Solar Engine, Coal Engine, Basic Solar Engine, Tiny Coal Engine.
Solar Engines[]
The Solar Engines use the light level and whether they have a direct view of the sky (which can be through transparent blocks such as glass) to determine whether electricity will be generated.Therefore, this is impractical for a cart that will spend most of it's time underground as even if it is lit up well it won't generate electricity as it doesn't have a direct view of the sky. These are more practical for carts that will spend most of their time overground as they will generate more electricity.
- However, when it turns night time, power will not be generated.
- However, when it turns night time, power will not be generated.
Coal Engines[]
The two coal engines burn coal similar to a Furnace Cart to generate electricity to power the cart. Because it uses coal rather than light, it is more practical for use at night or in a cave. It is especially useful for a cart with a Drill attachment as any Coal Ore mined will be inserted into the engine regardless of if there is any storage available as the engine takes priority. The Coal Engine also does not take up a facing like the Solar Engine so it will only conflict with another Coal engine.
Priorities[]
Next to either the power bar on the Solar Engine or the Coal slots in the Coal Engine is a button that will either say 'High', 'Medium', 'Low' or 'Disabled'. This is the priority of the Engine. A high-priority engine will always be running unless the light level is too low or there is no view of the sky if it is a Solar Engine, and if it has run out of Coal if it is a Coal Engine.
A medium-priority engine will run if there isn't a high-priority engine running, a low-priority engine will run if there isn't a medium or high-priority engine running and a disabled engine will never run.