More Efficient Steel
Steel sucks.
In vanilla, a recipe like Open Hearth Process uses 30 coal and 90 iron, and if you use the Rotary Valve Engine automation PM, the total input goods goes to 40 coal, 90 iron, and 5 tools. In exchange it produces 120 steel. At base prices, 100% MAPI, and no wages paid, the cost of the input goods is 5000 and the sale price of the output steel is 6000, which is a 20% profit. Of course, MAPI will rarely be at 100% and workers demand wages, so the actual profit will usually be much lower, sometimes to the point of nearly disappearing altogether. Steel is a load-bearing good in this game as it was in real life, and I always found it disappointing how unprofitable it was. This has downstream implications for things like motors which are also nearly unprofitable at base goods prices.
Here’s a list of the profit margins for all the steel recipes assuming Rotary Valve Engine, 100% MAPI, no wages, and base good prices:
- Blister: 8.33% profit
- Bessemer: 18.42% profit
- Open Hearth: 20.00% profit
- Arc: 19.05% profit
What this mod does is make steel recipes a bit more efficient by increasing the amount of steel output by each recipe. The precise adjustments are
- Blister: 65 steel –> 70 steel
- Bessemer: 90 steel –> 100 steel
- Open Hearth: 120 steel –> 150 steel
- Arc: 150 steel –> 220 steel
The profit margin then becomes:
- Blister: 16.67% profit
- Bessemer: 31.58% profit
- Open Hearth: 50.00% profit
- Arc: 74.60% profit
These profit margins are much more in-line with other goods like tools (which has a profit% of 14%, 30%, 56%, 87% for its 4 recipes assuming Rotary Valve Engine). This should allow you to become a proper steel baron while not being too crazy that it overwhelms the spirit of the game.
