Understanding Heat, Heaters, and the Reactor in Create: New Age
This guide explains heat generation, heat distribution, and the nuclear reactor system in Create: New Age. Heat is a crucial resource for various processes, including boiling water for steam engines.
Generating Heat
Several methods exist for producing heat:
- Heating Plate: This block generates heat during the daytime.
- Boiler Heater: This device functions similarly to a blaze burner but consumes heat instead of burnable fuel. The amount of heat it releases increases with the amount of heat supplied to it.
- Nuclear Reactor: A nuclear reactor is a powerful way to produce substantial amounts of heat.
The Heating System
Heat can be managed and transferred using specific components:
Heat Pipes: These pipes allow for the distribution of heat.- Heating Plate: As mentioned, this generates heat during the day.
The mod introduces a temperature unit, degrees T (˚T). Here are some example temperature values: 240 ˚T, 120 ˚T, 80 ˚T, and 0 ˚T.
Nuclear Reactor
A nuclear reactor provides a high-volume source of heat. Building one requires several components:
Reactor Rods: These are essential for nuclear reactions to occur.- Reactor Fuel Inserter: This component is used to place fuel into the reactor.
Reactor Heat Vent: This part gathers heat from the reactor and sends it into connected pipes.
Operating a nuclear reactor comes with risks. Nuclear reactors emit dangerous radiation. To protect against radiation, players can wear leather armor or completely enclose the reactor using Reactor Casing/Glass.
It is critical to ensure that the heat generated by the reactor is being used. Failing to utilize the reactor's heat will result in a meltdown.
The reactor's parts
A reactor is assembled from a small set of dedicated blocks rather than a generic casing: 
Reactor Casing forms the shell, 
Reactor Glass lets you see in, Reactor Rod holds the fuel, 
Reactor Fuel Acceptor takes it in, and Reactor Heat Vent carries the heat away. The casing is built through an incomplete stage, so expect it to pass through a 
Incomplete Reactor Casing on the way.
The fuel chain
Fuel starts as 
Thorium, which becomes 
Radioactive Thorium, which converts into 
Nuclear Fuel. That fuel then goes into a Reactor Rod — one Reactor Casing, one Nuclear Fuel, Reactor Glass and a 
Golden Sheet produce two rods, so the fuel is doubled at the point it is packaged rather than wasted one rod at a time.
Corium is what appears when things go wrong, and it is worth recognising before you meet it.
Moving heat around
Heat is transported, not just generated. A Heat Pipe carries it, a 
Heat Pump moves it against the gradient, a 
Heater supplies it directly, and the Reactor Heat Vent is what stops a running reactor from cooking itself. The solar heating plates feed the same network, which means a reactor is one heat source among several rather than a separate system.
Plan the venting before the fuel. A reactor with insufficient heat handling is the failure most players meet first, and it is entirely a matter of how many vents and pipes were built into the shell.
Covers the mod’s in-game guide topics: Boiler Heater Heating System Using Nuclear Energy