Rods and blades
Placing blades
The Turbine Blade is not placed like a normal block. Right-click a Turbine Rod while holding a blade to attach the next blade on that rod. Each click uses one blade from your inventory.
Blades grow outward in rings around the rod, kept even on all four sides:
- First step — 2 blades on opposite sides.
- Next — 4 blades (one on each side).
- Then — 8, 12, 16… up to the pack limit (default 31 rings per rod, up to 124 blades on a single rod).
The game always picks the side that keeps the layout balanced before moving to the next ring.
Blades in the world
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Blades are ethereal: you cannot walk into them, mine them by hand, or pick them up directly.
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If you break the rod, every blade on that rod is removed and dropped as items on the rod block—you do not need to search the turbine interior.
Blade bonus by height
Along the rod controller’s direction, blades are counted per layer (like a floor at each height on a vertical shaft).
| How layers compare | Effect |
|---|---|
| Upper layer has more blades than the one below | +3% output bonus per step (pack default) |
| Same blade count | No change |
| Upper layer has fewer blades | Bonus chain lost; each drop also applies about −3% |
For the best bonus, add rings from the bottom upward (the builder’s Efficient layout does this). Filling every layer to the maximum right away (Productive) skips that climbing bonus but reaches full steam throughput sooner.
On some packs, only even rings (4, 8, 12 blades on a layer, and so on) count fully toward steam capacity—check your mod config if numbers look low.
Builder layouts
The Turbine Builder can place rods and blades for you:
- Efficient — rods on a checkerboard; blade rings grow taller step by step (best for the height bonus).
- Productive — rods everywhere allowed; each layer gets the maximum ring count immediately.
Hand-placing blades with the item follows the same ring order as the builder.