Guide to the Antimatter Engine

The Antimatter Engine

This device injects antimatter into connected shielding units, with the more antimatter injected the more power being produced. The Antimatter Engine isn't favored as it requires constant maintenance, and will blow up if its integrity falls to 0.

Unlike the singularity, tesla, supermatter, and TEG, the Antimatter Engine doesn't have a chance to appear by default in Engineering. This guide will provide you with the basics to get your Antimatter Engine up-and-running.

Before You Start

As this engine is rarely seen, the station doesn't come equipped with most of the materials needed. You will need to gather some tools and order some crates at Cargo Bay.

You will need the following tools:

The actual components of the reactor can be purchased by Cargo:

Antimatter Containment Jar Crate: Two antimatter containment jars. Costs 2000 credits.
Antimatter Control Crate: An antimatter control unit . Costs 5000 credits.
Antimatter Shielding Crate: 10 Antimatter Reaction Section boxes. Costs 2000 credits.

Now that you have your supplies, it's time to get to work! Clear or find a space to start building your engine in, you will need at minimum a 4x3 area to work with. The Construction Area is a good space for this, if there is one on the station.

How to Set Up the Antimatter Engine

You will need a source of power before it can start, so make sure the main engine has been set up, solars are on, or you have a generator.

Create a wire connected to the powernet/generator. Make sure there is a connected wire node.
Drag the Control Unit onto the tile with the wire node and wrench it in place.
Drop 9 antimatter reactor section boxes in a 3x3 square, making sure one is adjacent to the Control Unit.
Using your multitool, tap the boxes that are connected to the antimatter control unit. Don't leave the centre box to last, or it will become impossible to reach.

Starting the Engine

By now things should be looking like this.

Grab an antimatter jar and put it into the control unit . This is the fuel for the engine.
Left click on the control unit (see below for the control panel), click toggle status, and when it lights up it's generating power! By default, it should be injecting only 2 units of antimatter, generating around 800kW (kilowatts).

Maintaining the Engine

The Antimatter Engine requires constant maintenance. Luckily, it is easy to maintain.

Always set the injection rate to no more than two times the number of cores. For a basic 3x3 engine, this is 2 units. You can see how many cores you have by counting the black circles on the engine.
If integrity reaches zero, it will cause a large explosion. Higher injection rates will produce additional power, but also damage the integrity of the control unit.
Check the engine regularly to take note of the fuel level.
To create more power after the fuel has run out, eject the fuel jar, place a new fuel jar inside, and set the mode to Injecting once more.

Tips

The antimatter reactor injects the specified amount every 6 to 8 seconds.
Antimatter containment jars contain 10,000 units of antimatter each. Divide that by the number of units being injected to see how long one will last.
Adding segments to the Antimatter Engine will increase the number of cores, in turn allowing you to safely increase the injection rate. Remember that this will also cause the engine to deplete fuel faster.
The power produced by an antimatter engine as it is expanded has linear growth, and is given by the formula: (Injection Rate)^2 * 20000 / (Number of Cores).
Unlike the other engines, there is no verbal warning before it explodes.
Cargo will make use of the crates once they have been emptied, so bring them back there if they are in your way.