Automation, the way of the past, in the future
The_Shark
USA Join Date: 2015-08-24 Member: 207433Members
USA Join Date: 2015-08-24 Member: 207433Members
So, I've been making massive excursions for Titanium to build my base, filling up not only all 64 slots in my Seamoth, but all of my own inventory, and three wall lockers in my Cyclops, with the material. But then I take it back to the base, and it takes almost as long as it took to gather it to process the Scrap into Titanium, then store it in my base for use. Since automated systems have existed since the Industrial Revolution, I think it would make sense to have them in the future.
Perhaps any rooms which have automation-related stations (which I'll list ideas for below), could be connected together, so that once you have a base of a certain size, it doesn't take twenty minutes to walk to the other side and get some more titanium to keep building.
Anyway, here are my ideas for automation-related items:
Automated Fabricator
Extractor
Pneumatic Pipes
Pneumatic Pipe Branches
The ARM (Advanced Resource Module) (yes, that is the name I have dubbed thee, and thou shalt take it, or begone)
Sorter
Command Panel
Smart Storage
Automation Control Center
Computer Chip
I know I tend to be rather verbose, which is why I put each of the items into a separate spoiler (finally figured out how to do so). Anyway, as always, let me know what you think.
Perhaps any rooms which have automation-related stations (which I'll list ideas for below), could be connected together, so that once you have a base of a certain size, it doesn't take twenty minutes to walk to the other side and get some more titanium to keep building.
Anyway, here are my ideas for automation-related items:
Automated Fabricator
Materials for Construction: 2 Titanium, 1 Wiring Kit
Blueprint Data: 2 Fragments needed, fragments found in Kelp Forest, Grassy Plateaus, and the Grand Reef
Size: A bit bigger than a normal Fabricator.
Role: The player can go into the normal crafting menu and select a single crafting recipe. From then on, any time that the materials needed are sent to the AF, they will be conserved up to four times the amount needed in the recipe. Once all materials are acquired, the AF will create the object in question and send it along the pipe. Intake is from below, output is form above.
Blueprint Data: 2 Fragments needed, fragments found in Kelp Forest, Grassy Plateaus, and the Grand Reef
Size: A bit bigger than a normal Fabricator.
Role: The player can go into the normal crafting menu and select a single crafting recipe. From then on, any time that the materials needed are sent to the AF, they will be conserved up to four times the amount needed in the recipe. Once all materials are acquired, the AF will create the object in question and send it along the pipe. Intake is from below, output is form above.
Extractor
Materials for Construction: 1 Titanium, 1 Advanced Wiring Kit
Blueprint Data: 3 fragments needed, fragments found in the Grand Reef
Size: One wall of a Moonpool.
Role: Pulling items out of any storage lockers on a SeaMoth, and into the automation system. See this post.
Blueprint Data: 3 fragments needed, fragments found in the Grand Reef
Size: One wall of a Moonpool.
Role: Pulling items out of any storage lockers on a SeaMoth, and into the automation system. See this post.
Pneumatic Pipes
Materials for Construction: 2 Titanium, 1 Copper Wire
Blueprint Data: starter blueprint
Size: Able to lock into the ceiling or floor of any Corridor types, though not the walls, as well as the ceilings and floors of Moonpools and Multipurpose Rooms, as well as any part of an Automation Control Center (below)
Role: Moving items around inside the automation system. Without a few of these and some Pneumatic Pipe Branches, not much is going to get done. Luckily, they're cheap!
Blueprint Data: starter blueprint
Size: Able to lock into the ceiling or floor of any Corridor types, though not the walls, as well as the ceilings and floors of Moonpools and Multipurpose Rooms, as well as any part of an Automation Control Center (below)
Role: Moving items around inside the automation system. Without a few of these and some Pneumatic Pipe Branches, not much is going to get done. Luckily, they're cheap!
Pneumatic Pipe Branches
Materials for Construction: 1 Titanium, 1 Copper Wire
Blueprint Data: starter blueprint
Size: Up to 8 meters long, extending from a section of Pneumatic Pipe to an Automated Fabricator, Extractor, ARM, Sorter, or Smart Storage.
Role: Moves items from the individual specialized modules of the automation system to the main distribution circuit (the Pneumatic Pipes), and vice-versa.
Blueprint Data: starter blueprint
Size: Up to 8 meters long, extending from a section of Pneumatic Pipe to an Automated Fabricator, Extractor, ARM, Sorter, or Smart Storage.
Role: Moves items from the individual specialized modules of the automation system to the main distribution circuit (the Pneumatic Pipes), and vice-versa.
The ARM (Advanced Resource Module) (yes, that is the name I have dubbed thee, and thou shalt take it, or begone)
Materials for Construction: 1 Titanium Ingot, 1 Advanced Wiring Kit, 2 Silicone Rubber
Blueprint Data: 4 fragments needed, fragments found in the Deep Grand Reef
Size: The entire underside of a Multipurpose Room, with a large, prehensile arm tipped with a U-shaped silicone seal extending 25 meters down from there.
Role: Latches onto the top of the Cyclops whenever one gets inside of the 25-meter range. A station could be added extending from the ceiling to just above head-height behind the bridge, and any items placed into the station are automatically sucked out of the Cyclops and into the ARM once one is attached, which can then put them into the distribution system. The station can be connected to nearby Smart Lockers (one of only two automation systems available in the Cyclops) via Pneumatic Pipe Branches (the other system available to the Cyclops), so that anything in certain lockers in the Bridge area that the player chooses can automatically be emptied into the Base. Increases the efficiency of the Cyclops, especially as a cargo submarine, by a massive amount. Perhaps a reverse system could be integrated as well to feed materials into the Cyclops, but I don’t really feel like coming up with how that could work.
Blueprint Data: 4 fragments needed, fragments found in the Deep Grand Reef
Size: The entire underside of a Multipurpose Room, with a large, prehensile arm tipped with a U-shaped silicone seal extending 25 meters down from there.
Role: Latches onto the top of the Cyclops whenever one gets inside of the 25-meter range. A station could be added extending from the ceiling to just above head-height behind the bridge, and any items placed into the station are automatically sucked out of the Cyclops and into the ARM once one is attached, which can then put them into the distribution system. The station can be connected to nearby Smart Lockers (one of only two automation systems available in the Cyclops) via Pneumatic Pipe Branches (the other system available to the Cyclops), so that anything in certain lockers in the Bridge area that the player chooses can automatically be emptied into the Base. Increases the efficiency of the Cyclops, especially as a cargo submarine, by a massive amount. Perhaps a reverse system could be integrated as well to feed materials into the Cyclops, but I don’t really feel like coming up with how that could work.
Sorter
Materials for Construction: 4 Titanium, 1 Advanced Wiring Kit
Blueprint Data: 2 fragments needed, found in the Sparse Reef
Size: The entire ceiling of a Multipurpose Room.
Role: Can be connected via Pneumatic Pipe Branches to the main distribution system, and then to any Smart Storage in range; needs two Pipe Branches plus the number of items to be sorted into that particular room to work properly. Can be programmed to a number of items equal to the number of Smart Storage containers in the same room, with each item chosen going to a different container. Any items that are not programmed in will be shuttled out through the Pipe Branch opposite of the intake, to continue on to the rest of the system.
Blueprint Data: 2 fragments needed, found in the Sparse Reef
Size: The entire ceiling of a Multipurpose Room.
Role: Can be connected via Pneumatic Pipe Branches to the main distribution system, and then to any Smart Storage in range; needs two Pipe Branches plus the number of items to be sorted into that particular room to work properly. Can be programmed to a number of items equal to the number of Smart Storage containers in the same room, with each item chosen going to a different container. Any items that are not programmed in will be shuttled out through the Pipe Branch opposite of the intake, to continue on to the rest of the system.
Command Panel
Materials for Construction:
Blueprint Data: 5 fragments needed, found in the Grand Reef
Size: Connected to the face of a Smart Storage (see below), or directly onto the roof of an Automation Control Center. About half the size of a Fabricator in the former event, and about the size of one wall of a Multipurpose Room in the latter.
Role: Giving orders to your automation system. Absolutely useless unless connected to the parts it needs to communicate with via Computer Chip (explained below). Cleverly-built automation systems are able to work without these, but having them opens up a whole new world of possibilities. When attached to Smart Storage, it can be used to request objects or to send them off to the sorting system (if the automation system is setup right). When connected to a Control Center, it allows micromanagement of every module connected to the Control Center in question, within reason.
Blueprint Data: 5 fragments needed, found in the Grand Reef
Size: Connected to the face of a Smart Storage (see below), or directly onto the roof of an Automation Control Center. About half the size of a Fabricator in the former event, and about the size of one wall of a Multipurpose Room in the latter.
Role: Giving orders to your automation system. Absolutely useless unless connected to the parts it needs to communicate with via Computer Chip (explained below). Cleverly-built automation systems are able to work without these, but having them opens up a whole new world of possibilities. When attached to Smart Storage, it can be used to request objects or to send them off to the sorting system (if the automation system is setup right). When connected to a Control Center, it allows micromanagement of every module connected to the Control Center in question, within reason.
Smart Storage
Materials for Construction:
Blueprint Data: 3 fragments needed, found in the Grassy Plateaus and the Kelp Forests (rare in the latter)
Size: A bit bigger than a Wall Locker.
Role: Has an internal storage space equal to a classic Wall Locker. Able to be connected to Pneumatic Pipe Branches.
Blueprint Data: 3 fragments needed, found in the Grassy Plateaus and the Kelp Forests (rare in the latter)
Size: A bit bigger than a Wall Locker.
Role: Has an internal storage space equal to a classic Wall Locker. Able to be connected to Pneumatic Pipe Branches.
Automation Control Center
Materials for Construction: 4 Motherboards (constructed of a few Advanced Wiring Kits and some Silicone Rubber), 8 Titanium, 4 Gold
Blueprint Data: 1 fragment needed, found in the Reactor Room in the Aurora (yes, I'm serious)
Size: Equal in size to the Multipurpose room, but the amount of free space inside is nil, it's just a bunch of wires and circuits everywhere.
Role: The essential component for any automated systems. If a part of the system isn't connected to this, it simply doesn't work.
Blueprint Data: 1 fragment needed, found in the Reactor Room in the Aurora (yes, I'm serious)
Size: Equal in size to the Multipurpose room, but the amount of free space inside is nil, it's just a bunch of wires and circuits everywhere.
Role: The essential component for any automated systems. If a part of the system isn't connected to this, it simply doesn't work.
Computer Chip
Materials for Construction: same as always
Blueprint Data: same as always:
Size: nil
Role: Basically, this is giving even more purpose to the existing computer chips. Put them on your hotbar, right-click one automation system, and then go over and right-click another, and it connects them electrically. For instance, connect a Command Panel to an Automated Fabricator, then the Fabricator to a Smart Storage. Whenever you press a certain command on the Panel, the Fabricator gets a request for the item you selected. With that request, it requests the required materials from the Smart Storage. The SS will pump out the items needed to the Fabricator, which will then build it and pump it to the SS that the Command Panel is connected to.
Blueprint Data: same as always:
Size: nil
Role: Basically, this is giving even more purpose to the existing computer chips. Put them on your hotbar, right-click one automation system, and then go over and right-click another, and it connects them electrically. For instance, connect a Command Panel to an Automated Fabricator, then the Fabricator to a Smart Storage. Whenever you press a certain command on the Panel, the Fabricator gets a request for the item you selected. With that request, it requests the required materials from the Smart Storage. The SS will pump out the items needed to the Fabricator, which will then build it and pump it to the SS that the Command Panel is connected to.
I know I tend to be rather verbose, which is why I put each of the items into a separate spoiler (finally figured out how to do so). Anyway, as always, let me know what you think.