Not sure if this would fit better in redstone, but it's not really a redstone question... I want to build an afk ice farm. There are (few) videos on this, but none that shows exactly what I want to do (using flying machines and conveyer belts to move the ice to an afk player). The idea was mentioned in some scicraft video I think but it didn't show details of the design. But I have a pretty good idea how to build the flying machines required -- what remains is the question of the water source layout.
My question is this. I need a rectangular area where I want to collect the ice, say approx. 10x100. What would be the minimal amount of water sources to create still water in that area (no currents that prevent freezing)? Can we get better than one block per row? I know that a diagonal layout of water sources will work (see picture, the diorite slabs are water sources). However, as I'll need a few additional blocks in the middle to allow faster freezing (to allow ice to form there), so the fewer water sources the better.
The width doesn't have to be 10, I'm pretty flexible there. But I guess it would make things easier to stay below the push limit of pistons, so we could go up to width 12 (or slightly more if we have at most 12 ice blocks per row).
The water sources will be protected from freezing, but all other blocks could turn into ice and will be mined automatically. That is, the design must be robust such that I can remove any pattern of frozen blocks (that are not water sources) then the result must again be an infinite water source.
Obviously there can't be any manual steps involved once the water is placed.
I see this was posted quite a while ago but thought I'd answer it anyway.
You can do a bit better than 1 source per row but I don't think it's worth it.
I'm pretty sure you need to either have sources along 2 adjacent sides in which case you only need every other block to be a source, or in "diagonal" lines crossing the whole width of the pool but where 2 "diagonals" meet you could leave a 1 block gap (see screenshot).
But I'm wondering how you can harvest without destroying the source blocks?
If you have the source blocks along the sides outside the harvested area then having source blocks on 2 adjacent sides would make auto harvesting problematic, you might have to have the ice pushed either up or down as well as horizontally.
I'd suggest trying to place the source blocks with dispensers, picking the water back up before harvesting and replacing it after the harvest.
If the dispensers are under the pool and the source blocks are picked back up (or down) ;-) soon enough (assuming there is a minimum freeze time) new source blocks would form and could be frozen increasing the harvest.
I see this was posted quite a while ago but thought I'd answer it anyway.
You can do a bit better than 1 source per row but I don't think it's worth it.
I'm pretty sure you need to either have sources along 2 adjacent sides in which case you only need every other block to be a source, or in "diagonal" lines crossing the whole width of the pool but where 2 "diagonals" meet you could leave a 1 block gap (see screenshot).
I tried this but wasn't successful somehow. There was no screenshot attached, could you give an example?
But I'm wondering how you can harvest without destroying the source blocks?
Oh, that's easy Place an immovable block under the desired source location (furnace or obsidian). Put a halfslab on it and waterlog it. It becomes a water source that can't be pushed downwards and that won't freeze over. I can just send a row of sweepers pushing everything downwards - ice gets pushed until the push limit is reached.
The problem is that water freezes only if next to a solid block, so it starts freezing on the outside. If I use a larger area (say 10x10) it takes an eternity to freeze a portion. To speed this up I need to place additional solid blocks in the middle somewhere (again immovable blocks but no water sources), which can disturb the water distribution.
Right now my best designs use a width of only 4 or 5 (using no additional solid blocks) or a larger width with some solid blocks in the middle of each triangle (screenshot). But I certainly wouldn't mind replacing a few water sources with water (or solid blocks to enhance freezing).
I wonder if there is a more formal description when a water with current becomes still water? The wiki is no help for once, because it doesn't explain what I see in reality. It seems that in some cases water spots without currents become water sources. However, in my second screenshot there is no current in the middle and yet it doesn't become a water source, because the whole pool will lose its current if I add a water source in the middle.
The wiki text "A water source block is created from a flowing block that is horizontally next to 2 or more other source blocks, and sitting on top of a solid block or another water source block." is necessary but not sufficient, obviously. The missing condition might be that the currents from all directions even out, or something.
You can't just leave out a block, you need 2 complete diagonals (or equivalent) then you can leave an empty row between them.
Ok, pushing up or down I can see, so you build towers of waterlogged slabs so the whole pool is just source blocks?
Re your second screenshot: what the Wiki text is missing is that the source blocks have to be orthagonally (N/S/E/W) next to the water block that is to become a source block, not diagonally next to.
Flow has nothing to do with it, consider my second screenshot, the block under my cursor is flowing diagonally down to the right, but if I place a block under it it will become a source block (and continue flowing).
You can't just leave out a block, you need 2 complete diagonals (or equivalent) then you can leave an empty row between them.
Ok, pushing up or down I can see, so you build towers of waterlogged slabs so the whole pool is just source blocks?
Re your second screenshot: what the Wiki text is missing is that the source blocks have to be orthagonally (N/S/E/W) next to the water block that is to become a source block, not diagonally next to.
Flow has nothing to do with it, consider my second screenshot, the block under my cursor is flowing diagonally down to the right, but if I place a block under it it will become a source block (and continue flowing).
Ah, I see. And now I understand why it works as it does.
Leaving out one block helps already, as I can replace a water source with a solid block to increase freezing speed. Here is the new layout, maybe a bit clearer with the slabs moved to the top: Prismarine are waterlogged slabs (sources) with obsidian below that, obsidian are simple solid blocks where ice can form next to them.
The basic idea is to have a pool with water sources and possibly solid blocks where the water freezes over. A sweeper runs over it pushing all ice blocks down, and the water sources replace all ice blocks with water. The sweeper has to be timed right such that most water blocks have frozen over, a simple hopper clock (pushing 5 stacks) is too fast for that.
Haven't found a good way to harvest the ice yet. I considered two possibilities:
Use flying machines to move the player along the rows, down at the push limit. Water transport below. That's why I went with a 4-wide ice design and one block space, a player can sit on top of a flying machine and break 4 blocks deep. Ice falls into the water transport.|
This setup allows for an arbitrary amount of 4-wide rows. but the 4-way flying machines are tricky. First I thought to use ilmangos compact 4-way flying machine but I can't modify it to hold a minecart at the top, as this goes one block beyond the limit.
Move the ice sideways and harvest it there. That's easy too, have more flying machines down at the bottom that push the lowest ice blocks (12 blocks down) to the side. Limits the width of the layout (as I can't push more than 12 blocks of ice), but may be easier to harvest.
Not sure if this would fit better in redstone, but it's not really a redstone question... I want to build an afk ice farm. There are (few) videos on this, but none that shows exactly what I want to do (using flying machines and conveyer belts to move the ice to an afk player). The idea was mentioned in some scicraft video I think but it didn't show details of the design. But I have a pretty good idea how to build the flying machines required -- what remains is the question of the water source layout.
My question is this. I need a rectangular area where I want to collect the ice, say approx. 10x100. What would be the minimal amount of water sources to create still water in that area (no currents that prevent freezing)? Can we get better than one block per row? I know that a diagonal layout of water sources will work (see picture, the diorite slabs are water sources). However, as I'll need a few additional blocks in the middle to allow faster freezing (to allow ice to form there), so the fewer water sources the better.
I see this was posted quite a while ago but thought I'd answer it anyway.
You can do a bit better than 1 source per row but I don't think it's worth it.
I'm pretty sure you need to either have sources along 2 adjacent sides in which case you only need every other block to be a source, or in "diagonal" lines crossing the whole width of the pool but where 2 "diagonals" meet you could leave a 1 block gap (see screenshot).
But I'm wondering how you can harvest without destroying the source blocks?
If you have the source blocks along the sides outside the harvested area then having source blocks on 2 adjacent sides would make auto harvesting problematic, you might have to have the ice pushed either up or down as well as horizontally.
I'd suggest trying to place the source blocks with dispensers, picking the water back up before harvesting and replacing it after the harvest.
If the dispensers are under the pool and the source blocks are picked back up (or down) ;-) soon enough (assuming there is a minimum freeze time) new source blocks would form and could be frozen increasing the harvest.
Just testing.
I tried this but wasn't successful somehow. There was no screenshot attached, could you give an example?
Oh, that's easy Place an immovable block under the desired source location (furnace or obsidian). Put a halfslab on it and waterlog it. It becomes a water source that can't be pushed downwards and that won't freeze over. I can just send a row of sweepers pushing everything downwards - ice gets pushed until the push limit is reached.
The problem is that water freezes only if next to a solid block, so it starts freezing on the outside. If I use a larger area (say 10x10) it takes an eternity to freeze a portion. To speed this up I need to place additional solid blocks in the middle somewhere (again immovable blocks but no water sources), which can disturb the water distribution.
Right now my best designs use a width of only 4 or 5 (using no additional solid blocks) or a larger width with some solid blocks in the middle of each triangle (screenshot). But I certainly wouldn't mind replacing a few water sources with water (or solid blocks to enhance freezing).
I wonder if there is a more formal description when a water with current becomes still water? The wiki is no help for once, because it doesn't explain what I see in reality. It seems that in some cases water spots without currents become water sources. However, in my second screenshot there is no current in the middle and yet it doesn't become a water source, because the whole pool will lose its current if I add a water source in the middle.
The wiki text "A water source block is created from a flowing block that is horizontally next to 2 or more other source blocks, and sitting on top of a solid block or another water source block." is necessary but not sufficient, obviously. The missing condition might be that the currents from all directions even out, or something.
Sorry, I forgot the screenshot.
You can't just leave out a block, you need 2 complete diagonals (or equivalent) then you can leave an empty row between them.
Ok, pushing up or down I can see, so you build towers of waterlogged slabs so the whole pool is just source blocks?
Re your second screenshot: what the Wiki text is missing is that the source blocks have to be orthagonally (N/S/E/W) next to the water block that is to become a source block, not diagonally next to.
Flow has nothing to do with it, consider my second screenshot, the block under my cursor is flowing diagonally down to the right, but if I place a block under it it will become a source block (and continue flowing).
Just testing.
Ah, I see. And now I understand why it works as it does.
Leaving out one block helps already, as I can replace a water source with a solid block to increase freezing speed. Here is the new layout, maybe a bit clearer with the slabs moved to the top: Prismarine are waterlogged slabs (sources) with obsidian below that, obsidian are simple solid blocks where ice can form next to them.
The basic idea is to have a pool with water sources and possibly solid blocks where the water freezes over. A sweeper runs over it pushing all ice blocks down, and the water sources replace all ice blocks with water. The sweeper has to be timed right such that most water blocks have frozen over, a simple hopper clock (pushing 5 stacks) is too fast for that.
Here is a small 16.5 world download: https://www.mediafire.com/file/myrv80g1bv2hfp9/Ice.zip/file
Haven't found a good way to harvest the ice yet. I considered two possibilities: