Gas Tank

A passive buffer that latches onto the first gas piped in (steam, ammonia, swamp gas…) and holds only that until it drains. Sitting between a source and its consumer, it smooths out gaps in supply.

Stats: Type Fluids · Storage: any gas, 5,000 t

How to obtain: Requires the Gas Tank research (Pressure 2.75). Buy from the Shop for 1,200 cr.

Access: get_component(id) · Like every component, exposes .id and .name.

Latching model

The tank commits to the first gas it receives and holds only that until it drains to 0, then re-latches. At 0 it can accept a different gas next.

Methods

.outpost

The outpost where this building is deployed, as an OutpostRef.

.fluid()

The latched gas id, or "" while empty. Possible values: "", "steam", "ammonia", "swamp_gas", "raw_sulfur_gas", "sulfur_gas", "raw_chlorine", "chlorine".

Returns: String

.level()

Current gas stored in tons (0 to capacity()). Near 0 means downstream is about to starve; near capacity means upstream is backpressured.

Returns: Number (tons)

.capacity()

Maximum tons this tank holds. Queryable rather than hardcoded so tank tuning doesn’t break scripts.

Returns: Number (tons)

.fill_pct()

Fill fraction (0-1), shortcut for level() / capacity(). Threshold checks: if self.fill_pct() < 0.2: # boost throttle upstream.

Returns: Number (0-1)

.inflow_rate()

Gas arriving in t/h. 0 means no upstream flow: dormant source, unavailable relationship, incomplete remote route, or full tank.

Returns: Number (t/h)

.outflow_rate()

Gas leaving in t/h. 0 means the downstream consumer is saturated or the pipe is disconnected.

Returns: Number (t/h)

.is_full()

True when level() == capacity(): upstream backpressure is kicking in, and a Cap may start venting. Detects when destinations cannot absorb current production.

Returns: Boolean

.is_empty()

True when level() == 0: the tank is unlatched and nothing can be sent downstream. If the source is still active, inspect the source and its pipe connection.