I agree with junkengineer except for a few things. Those things are in blue.
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I'm going to quote you and make my comments/suggestions beside them
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Liquid/Gas
When harnessed by drains, liquids or gases flow through pipes to mechanisms that utilize them or to other drains to be redistributed. Possible liquids/gases: water, lava, steam, combustible gas, float gas, mud, et cetera.
Harnessing a fluid by a drain is reasonable, however harnessing a gas by a drain isn't very useful/or realistic. to make a gas do work, it has to be at a great pressure and be able to change its volume or transmit its pressure. So ideally in a gas system it would need to be a closed loop system (more in the boiler section)
Components:
Gear
Pretty simple, but with many uses. It's the base of the mechanics system. Crafted with iron. You get about 2 for each iron ore. Used in many other pieces/parts. You can also place gears on walls (like the ones from indev) to channel energy between gearboxes and mechanisms in the vertical 2D plane. Possible uses are M.E. logic gates or pure decoration.
Gears are not really useful unless you can somehow specify a gear ratio
Drive Shaft
Made from logs, it connects gear boxes, and some mechanisms. It transfers mechanical energy. Only connects in a single line, no corners, from a gear shaft or mechanism to another gear box or mechanism. About one log for each block of length. Inspired by this concept which may or may not have been made by a "jon_z". I really don't know. Great job, whoever you are!
I disagree on the point of no corners. Without being able to create a corner you are unable to create a lever arm to do work. However if you are able to make a shaft that goes parallel to the output and create a lever arm that way, then it is all good.
Pipe
Connects drains to move liquids easily. When a pipe ends unconnected to a drain or anything else, it is capped for simplicity. If pipes carrying different substances meet, the reactions could be either harmless, debilitating, or explosive in certain situations... Examples: Connect boilers and drains to move steam easily, or boil water. Move lava, harvest gases, make burners, etc.
I think it should be a prerequisite that anything that can move a fluid has a valve on the output by default. So if one wanted to they could have the fluid just dump out somehwere, ie pumping water out of a room to the lake above. So the pipe could be open by default and not capped.
Valve
Craft onto a pipe end to make a valve with a small animation of whatever the pipe carries spraying out. For combustible gas, it's a small flame that lights things on fire. Steam does damage to any mobs/players next to it. Lava obviously does high damage, burns things. Water and mud do nothing. Float-gas or other gases make the player suffocate (like swimming, but faster) when in close range.
The valve should have a selectable direction. Such as an arrow on top of it, and when the player hits/activates it, it will change in 90 degree increments; this could also be accomplished by redstone I suppose. 3 of which are direction and 1 which will be off
Rope
Starts as a single block entity. Attached to a regular block, it can be extended with a held right click, and retracted with another. Player can climb said rope like a ladder. Attached to the bottom of a gear box, it either extends or is shortened continually (not block-by-block), depending on whether gear box is on or off. Moving entities, including more rope for more extension, can be attached to other end (not like like in extenders, this is strictly entities). Made with lots, and lots of string. Has some maximum extension length.
It would be nice if the rope could connect two movable objects together, so one could make pulleys or something.
Pressure Plate
Right now pressure plates are only a logical 1 0 it would be nice if there was someway to have a truth table from the plates. This would make a logical gate based weight, for sorting or something.
Intermediary Blocks:
Gear Box
Crafted using iron, wood, and gears. It's a place-able block that takes one drive shaft input and can output another or mechanical energy in another direction. It also allows mechanisms as inputs directly. A redstone or wire input can activate/deactivate it. Low yield. About one for 4 iron. Can work in conjunction with circuit blocks to create complex systems. Conducts M.E. to other gear boxes directly adjacent. Inspired by this concept.
It would be nice to incorporate a gear ratio in these as to eliminate the need for gears.
Circuit Box
Crafted using copper, redstone, and iron. It's a block that allows the user to create large redstone circuits inside, on a sort of crafting grid. You can select which sides are inputs and outputs. Low yield, about one for four iron and four copper Can work in conjunction with gear boxes to create complex systems.
I really like this idea, instead of having very large and cumbersome redstone circuits, replace them with one box. Also being able to label these boxes with a player defined name would be nice (ie AND gate box).
Drain/Pump
Crafted with iron, gravel, and a gear, takes user input (in dialog form) as to what sides take in water/steam/other liquids and what sides release water/steam/other liquids. Can be used with conjunction with pipes. Redstone to turns it on or off. When it's "off", no water is allowed through.
This really doesn't sound useful, it more of a glorified valve. Now what would make this useful is requiring power so that it can actually pump some stagnant fluid. Such as if you wanted to drain a lake and put that lake elsewhere. The power would then be limiting to how far, or tall, one could transport their fluid. So if I wanted to transport fluid 50m up then I would need like 2 windmils or something to give it enough power to do so.
Timer
Turns connected gear boxes and redstone boxes on and off over a certain interval. Immensely useful for certain types of automation. Made using a time-piece, gear, and copper.
This should be something that is in a circuit box, as to control the gearbox, or device that way.
Mechanisms:
[Power] Windmill
Placed on a gear box, above ground, with at least 6 blocks of space in front of it, it creates M.E.(mechanical energy). Intermittently switches on and off. Inspired by this concept.
The windmill (and other power sources) should have an associated power rating to them. So a windmill requires no resource to run, but only puts out 10 units of energy. However other devices like the boiler/steam engine put out 100 units of energy but require resources. Also I think it would be more convenient to always have the power source power things, instead of being intermittent, what if a security system was run by a windmill and decided to stop working at a critical battle?
Steam Engine
Placed adjacent to a gear box, and given a steam pipe from a boiler, it produces M.E..
The steam engine by itself sounds kind of redundant when you think about it. why should I make a furnace, a boiler, pipes, and find water just to run an engine to run something else? It would be simpler if the steam engine was a whole unit; ie you craft all the above items and then take those finished goods to the workbench and you then have a complete steam engine, where you can place anywhere. So the only required input is a fuel source. and the final good may take up like a 1 x 3 x 3 box.
I am unsure if it is possible to have a block with more than-- I feel like an idiot. Doors.
The fuel source used would just determine how long the unit is running, and not the efficiency of the system. Although the conversion of heat energy to mechanical could have an efficiency rating. So complete unit could produce 100 Watts (convenient to use Watts for now I guess) to do work for a specified time, much like how the furnace currently works.
Boiler
given water input form a pipe, and fed coal, it outputs steam form another pipe. Incredibly efficient.
By itself it should really only be used as a pressure vessel that can be heated, so one could have a volume, or a piston/linear actuator to activate when a valve is opened to it. And being a pressure vessel it is really meant for energy storage. Combined to make a steam engine sounds more practical as I mentioned before.
This could be a combination of a pressure vessel and a furnace.
Coal Engine
Burns coal very quickly for M.E. when placed next to a gear box. Incredibly inefficient.
This is really unneeded and limiting, seeing as the furnace is already a suitable heat source, and can use many different fuels. Making a coal engine by itself would be akin to saying you put a gearbox on a furnace and it goes, but it can only use coal. Much like how you can currently put a furnace in a mine cart and it will go, and you can still power it with anything.
there really isn't a "coal engine" that converts coal directly to mechanical energy in the real world (yes I know it's not the real world). steam engines/boilers/turbines all require heat sources and fluids to turn heat energy to mechanical energy. In all practicality there isn't anything that converts heat directly to mechanical energy in one step.
Now if there were a different heat-source that was more efficient than the furnace, then that would be good. Like a futuristic nuclear reactor type thing. Although as you said I think this is more of an "older era" game setting. So only natural sources of energy make sense, such as a Watermills, windmills, and steam engines.
As a note to power ratings, the free energy sources such as watermills and wind mills could have a 1:1 power ratio, but a low power output. Now steam engines can have a substantially higher output but require resources to run.
[Utilities] Minecart Accelerator
Given M.E. (mechanical energy), and having a minecart track placed on top, it accelerates the minecart swiftly. Made with stone and a gear. Inspired by this concept.
Couldn't this just be as simple as laying a track over a gearbox?
Launcher
Given M.E. it launches any entity on top of it into the air, while they retain their horizontal momentum. Useful for bridging gaps on a minecart. made with gears, wood, and springs.
This could be where the pressure vessel/furnace combination actually prove useful. If you have a pressure vessel and a piston/linear actuator you could then tell a logic circuit to trigger a valve at a certain pressure, and thus launch a cart.
Honestly, if we can avoid making new parts and just use the same ones in different ways it opens creativity more.
Extender
Attach to a gear box. Then attach other blocks to it. Don't let these blocks touch any other surface. when done with whatever you wanted to attach, right click the extender. If the construction you made is under a certain block number, it "bakes" it into a block-grid entity, blocks that move like entities, but with block-style collisions. When the host gear box is activated, the end object on the extender extends a player-set (in the "bake" stage) number of blocks or until the construction hits a block. Made with iron and gears. Utilizes the block-grid entity idea by Mystify. Look it up.
I really don't follow what this is and how it differs from a driveshaft.
Bridger
attached to a gear box. when the gear box activates, the bridger extends a half-block thick surface to stand on in the direction opposite the gear box, until it meets another block or solid entity, or a max distance. Made with wood and gears.
Once again, i'm not too sure on this.
Misc.
Gondola
It's one of the current boats. Can be attached to rope to make an elevator. Can be combined with a chest. Has all the current properties of a boats, except can be placed on land, and is a bit more durable.
pulleys and ropes? seems simpler than making something completely new.
Compactor
Given M.E., it compacts materials, working like a furnace. EXAMPLES: Dirt to compact dirt, snow blocks to ice, hides to leather, and so on. Made with stone and iron. Exports finished product to an adjacent [chest/factory workbench/compactor/furnace/etc]. If fed incompatible (non-compactible) materials, it breaks, and must be destroyed.
I think this is kind of useless, what use does compact dirt serve that normal dirt doesn't?
Factory Workbench
Can set a design to automate, given the materials. It can receive material from conveyors. Exports finished product to an adjacent [chest/factory workbench/compactor/furnace/etc]. Made with gear, wood, and iron. If fed incompatible materials, it breaks, and must be destroyed.
Perhaps 1 height 3 width 3 depth (you know what I mean). And it drops finished product below the center. And when compatible materials are on top of it it falls. And if more than one per block then it does nothing until you clean it up. Factory Furnace
Can set a certain smelt to automate, given the materials. It can receive material from conveyors. Exports finished product to an adjacent [chest/factory workbench/compactor/furnace/etc]. Made with gear, furnace, and iron. If fed incompatible materials, it breaks, and must be destroyed.
Hrm... 3 height 1 width 1 depth fire in middle put stuff into fire to do... Understand? And feed burnable thing to bottom to keep fire. Sorter
Takes a stream of materials and based on player set rules, it puts them onto one of four possible adjacent spots. Any materials without a defined action are destroyed. Needs an M.E. feed to run. Made with gears and wood.
Making all these I think removes the creativity from the game. I think the factory workbench would be better served as a much larger bench with the ability to create larger Items.
Again, I think that the f. workbench is useful.
Factory furnace is once again redundant/unnecessary if it is just used for automation. If it were to store a larger amount of fuel (128 units vs 64) and have a output space equal to that I think that would be better.
Ditto
The sorter I probably have the biggest beef with. A sorter implies that the player is basically required to "write" a code that specifies how this thing works. That doesn't sound too enjoyable to me. Now a more purely mechanical system sounds more fun in implementation. If pressure plates could sense weight, then have a circuit chest that drives a pressure valve to push a piston to push a material on or off a conveyor. That sounds more creative than just having a block that does it all for you, imo.
I agree. Factory Sorter is useless.
Automation would be nice, but to a point.
However, I think you need a Factory Chest or something. I've been thinking about this for a long time, so I will put my suggestion at the bottom. AMAZING EXAMPLES :ohmy.gif:
A system using conveyors to dump your mining products on that deposits them in a factory furnace to be refined and then to a factory workbench to be turned into stairs, or steps, or tracks.
A system to Kill mobs and harvest their drops.
Better mine-cart track systems.
Easier redstone logic systems for more compact locks, central control computers for a factory, and more.
Faster player transport systems.
Combination with auto-drills to completely automate strip-mining.
Briders for moats and bridges and such.
Extender has a huge array of uses. Some might be as a fancy elevator, moving platform, or many other creative things.
Pure simple decoration.
AND MORE!
TLDR: More mechanical and logic stuff which works together in a complicated system.
I agree with a lot of what you are wanting. I myself am in the process of strip mining my current map and would love a conveyor system that has auto fills storage carts, although driven by a logic circuit I create rather than be autonomous. such as this:
So by default it is manually switched, but if the player decides it can be controlled via redstone, and then inturn by logic circuits.
For removing material it would be nice to have physics work on the contents of a storage car, so when flipped it would fall into something. However I am not sure how a contraption like this would work in game, if it would be a custom piece or could be user created, but here is a realword example:
I am also all for faster mining, but completely automating the process, I am not for. The process of gathering should be fun to do. I should be excited about getting to use a tracked excavator, or drill cart to mine. Maybe if I were ambitious enough I could create logic circuits to assist me in this endeavor, but I think a person shouldn't be completely removed from it.
So that is my take on your ideas. Overall I love them, but there are some knit-pick items in there.
So... Factory Chest
Like a normal chest, except for the fact that it also collects everything next to it. My original idea included it transporting items, but your conveyor belt is good for me.
I'm going to go ahead and necro-bump this thread again, simply because it's awesome (and it seems to be the most active thread about gears, gearboxes, etc). I think a system of gears and power sources would be awesome, and would fit much better into the "theme" of Minecraft than the electric-like redstone that we currently have. It would be incredibly awesome to have working windmills and water mills in the game, powering mine carts and drilling machines and such. The possibilities are endless.
I also think it could add a lot of depth to the game. Perhaps we could craft powered mills to process wheat into bread? Or maybe even require wheat grinding and baking to make bread, rather than simply harvesting wheat and crafting it in a single step? This would make cows and pigs more useful because wheat wouldn't be a cure-all food like it is now.
Edit: One thing I think might be a good idea is to make windmill and/or water wheel creation more dynamic. Instead of crafting a finished windmill, it would be cool to craft a gearbox, then attach blocks to one side. From those blocks you could then use wood and wool to manually make sails. This would add a lot of flexibility, allowing for small windmills that make relatively little power or very large ones that make more power (but require more building time and materials). Not sure how feasible this is from a programming standpoint, but I think it would beat a generic windmill, if it's possible.
Defend your words flexibly.
Change your words fittingly.
Let prejudice, popular opinion, and preconception be free from your judgments.
So...
Factory Chest
Like a normal chest, except for the fact that it also collects everything next to it. My original idea included it transporting items, but your conveyor belt is good for me.
Fair enough. I don't have time to do an edit now, but I think I've been convinced to remove the sorter.
Defend your words flexibly.
Change your words fittingly.
Let prejudice, popular opinion, and preconception be free from your judgments.
[>>-i>] = String
Of course, it would have a normal chest's sized inventory and when it fills up it will not pick up anymore. The radius for pickup would be 3 blocks.
I would make those for the mob traps
Needs more fishing rod
The Sun rises in the North!Now these points of data make a beautiful line...
+ 100! times
and some diamonds:
just because you're correct doesnt mean you're right
Necro-bump much?
I also think it could add a lot of depth to the game. Perhaps we could craft powered mills to process wheat into bread? Or maybe even require wheat grinding and baking to make bread, rather than simply harvesting wheat and crafting it in a single step? This would make cows and pigs more useful because wheat wouldn't be a cure-all food like it is now.
Edit: One thing I think might be a good idea is to make windmill and/or water wheel creation more dynamic. Instead of crafting a finished windmill, it would be cool to craft a gearbox, then attach blocks to one side. From those blocks you could then use wood and wool to manually make sails. This would add a lot of flexibility, allowing for small windmills that make relatively little power or very large ones that make more power (but require more building time and materials). Not sure how feasible this is from a programming standpoint, but I think it would beat a generic windmill, if it's possible.