Research + Tutorial + GUI

Steam Engine

 



History

 



1663: Edward Somerset, 2nd
Marquis of Worcester, publishes a selection of his
inventions. One is a new sort of steam pump, essentially two devices like de
Caus', but attached to a single boiler. A key invention is the addition of
cooling around the containers to force the steam to condense. This produces a
partial vacuum inside the chambers, which is used to draw a volume of water
into the containers through a pipe, thus forming a pump. He builds one of very
large size into the side of Raglan Castle,
apparently the first "industrial scale" steam engine.[3]
He has plans to build them for mining, but dies before he can set up his
company.

 



c.1705: Thomas Newcomen
develops the atmospheric engine,
which, unlike the Savery pump, employs a piston in a cylinder; the vacuum
pulling the piston down to the bottom of the cylinder when water is injected
into it.[6]
The engine enabled a great increase in pumping height and the draining of
deeper mines than possible when using vacuum to pull the water up.

 



1765: James Watt
invents the separate condenser, the key being to relocate the water jet, (which
condenses the steam and creates the vacuum in the Newcomen engine) inside an
additional cylindrical vessel of smaller size enclosed in a water bath; the
still-warm condensate is then evacuated into a hot well by means of a suction
pump allowing the preheated water to be returned to the boiler. This greatly
increases thermal efficiency by ensuring that the main cylinder can be kept hot
at all times, unlike in the Newcomen engines where the condensing water spray
cooled the cylinder at each stroke. Watt also seals the top of the cylinder so
that steam at a pressure marginally above that of the atmosphere can act on top
of the piston against the vacuum created beneath it.

 


1849: George Henry Corliss
develops and markets the Corliss-type steam
engine, a four-valve counterflow engine with
separate steam admission and exhaust valves. Trip valve
mechanisms provide sharp cutoff of steam during admission stroke. The governor
is used to control the cut off instead of the throttle valve. The efficiency of
Corliss engines greatly exceeds other engines of the period, and they are
rapidly adopted in stationary service throughout industry. The Corliss engine
has better response to changes in load and runs at a more constant speed,
making it suitable for applications such as thread spinning.[13][10]

 



1897:
Charles Algernon
Parsons patented a steam turbine,
which was used to power a ship. The turbine works like a multi-cylinder steam
engine, but with any number of "cylinders" in series, built of simple
bladed wheels. The efficiency of large steam turbines is considerably better
than the best compound engines, while also being much simpler, more reliable,
smaller and lighter all at the same time. Steam turbines have replaced piston
engines for power generation almost universally since then.

 

((Note: Given that these years are so far
apart whilst the later technology was more advanced and information more
available allowing a much shorter time-frame of research, the start of Project
Glasshouse will be slower and easy paced. This will help significantly in
teaching new players the ropes in a more natural way))

 

Abstraction

 

Five tiers
of development stand out from other innovations;   

• The
  Steam Pump:
  
  Boiling
  water is forced through a cylinder to create large amounts of steam, which are
  then cooled around the outside to force the steam to condense, creating
  pressure which draws water into the containers and creates a pump.
• The
  Atmospheric Engine:
  
  A piston is added in the main cylinder,
  allowing increased pumping heights for deeper mining, and the cooling is
  handled by a spray of water on the inside of the cylinder rather than on the
  outside.
• The
  Watt Condenser: The water jet which creates the
  pressure difference is housed into another smaller cylindrical container
  submerged in water, with a suction pump pulling that water back into the
  cylinder, greatly increasing thermal efficiency.
  
• The
  Corliss Steam Engine:
  
  A
  set of four cylinders which replace the piston driven valves with circular
  rotary valves, allowing more constant temperatures and offering much better
  thermal efficiency as a system.The
  Corliss Steam Engine
  
  A
  set of four cylinders which replace the piston driven valves with circular
  rotary valves, allowing more constant temperatures and offering much better
  thermal efficiency as a system.
• 
  The
  Steam Turbine:
  
  Superheated
  steam is shot through several sets of rotating and stationary blades, creating
  huge pressure differences and spinning the blades incredibly fast, generating
  electricity.
  

Tutorial

At the start
of the game, there is no bar for energy production. There is only a requirement
of mechanical power from the population. Players will be told the population
wants a large amount of wood so that they can power the new Steam Engines, and
are paying taxes to allow the player the means to cut down their first forest
and receive the wood resource.



The player
taps-to-collect their first set of taxes from the Village, and tap-and-hold a Forest
tile and click “Clear Forest”, costing $(cost) and sending out people who
slowly cut down the forest and carry the wood back to the Village, adding a
Biofuel Bar with (amount) of wood. Then, the player tap-and-holds the Cleared
tile and selects “Construct”, opening a window where they can select their
first building, the Steam Engine. Once the player confirms, the window
disappears, the player loses $(cost) and the Steam Engine begins construction
for (seconds) of time. The player can also build a Water Wheel if they are
close to a body of water. Simply connecting this first Steam Engine and Water
Wheel will power the city as it only requires one of each of these connections
to proceed.


Players will
have to tap-to-collect on the Steam Engine every (seconds) of time to continue
generating power, which takes a certain resource so the player will have to
make sure they have enough resources being collected to do so. For a while, the
player will use wood to power the Steam Engine, however only Forest tiles with
a Cleared tile path to the Village can be cut down from it (hence, the Cleared
land is functionally the borders of each population centre).


Before long
the player will run into Brown Coal, allowing them to access their first
research option. This will teach the player how to use the research interface.
The player can put any amount of money they want into different Research
Papers, which allow all sorts of effects on the game; they  might increase efficiency in certain plants,
allow different buildings to be constructed, open up new resources to use or
could even be dead ends that don't go anywhere. Each Research Paper has a
Difficulty Rating which decreases as time goes on. How long each Research Paper
takes depends on both the amount of money the player puts towards it and its
current Difficulty Rating (broadly similar to Civilisation). As soon as any
money is put into a Research Paper it will begin researching.


After Brown
Coal is researched, the player is able to build a Basic Mine and use the Brown
Coal in the Steam Engines, which opens up the ability to research the Watt
Condenser, allowing deep mining and ore crushing facilities. Mines and ore
processing allow the player to get access to Black Coal, opening up avenues to
research how to use this new resource in Steam Engines. After the Watt
Condenser/Black Coal or the Water Turbine have been researched, the Electric
Generator will be able to be researched. After it is researched, the player
will be informed that all Steam Engines/Water Turbines will automatically begin
upgrading to generate electricity, giving the player some time to prepare and
watch as the population begins to adopt electricity. As the Electrical
Generators finish installing, the player is given their first MW target and
must begin tapping to generating the electricity and collect taxes, while
continuing to mine more resources, process the resources to use them, and
research new technologies.

                                              

 


GUI

Buildings
can be tap-and-held to drop down a medium sized box with information on that
building. For example, tap-and-holding a Power Station shows that stations
power output, maintenance cost, and upgrade level and options. Tap-and-holding
a Town will show the town's population, tax level, and upgrade level and
options. The horizontal window bar at the top of the window is a long red close
button. All windows will stay on the screen for about 5 seconds before closing.


Similarly, a
Forest tile when tap-and-held will pop down a small window with a button for
“Clear Forest”, and later on another button for “Survey Land”. Cleared tiles
when tap-and-held will pop down a small window with a button for “Survey Land”
and another button for “Construct”. The “Construct” button opens a large window
with all available buildings placed in horizontal slightly differently coloured
tiers of development, such as Auxiliary Development, Coal Development, Gas
Development, Hydro Development etc. which become visible as each tier gets
researched.