From: Zefram Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 20:12:20 +0000 (+0100) Subject: Manual section on processing machines X-Git-Url: http://81.2.79.47:8989/gitweb/?a=commitdiff_plain;h=8cec4180af9e92b3741c1116425c31f51942fb0c;p=zefram%2Fminetest%2Ftechnic.git Manual section on processing machines --- diff --git a/manual.md b/manual.md index 22c91bd..31e2e2b 100644 --- a/manual.md +++ b/manual.md @@ -848,6 +848,53 @@ discharging slot through the top. Items are not accepted through the front, back, or sides. With a tube upgrade, fully charged/discharged tools (as appropriate for their slot) will be ejected through a side. +### processing machines ### + +The furnace, alloy furnace, grinder, extractor, compressor, and centrifuge +have much in common. Each implements some industrial process that +transforms items into other items, and they manner in which they present +these processes as powered machines is essentially identical. + +Most of the processing machines operate on inputs of only a single type +at a time, and correspondingly have only a single input slot. The alloy +furnace is an exception: it operates on inputs of two distinct types at +once, and correspondingly has two input slots. It doesn't matter which +way round the alloy furnace's inputs are placed in the two slots. + +The processing machines are mostly available in variants for multiple +tiers. The furnace and alloy furnace are each available in fuel-fired, +LV, and MV forms. The grinder, extractor, and compressor are each +available in LV and MV forms. The centrifuge is the only single-tier +processing machine, being only available in MV form. The higher-tier +machines process items faster than the lower-tier ones, but also have +higher power consumption, usually taking more energy overall to perform +the same amount of processing. The MV machines have upgrade slots, +and energy upgrades reduce their energy consumption. + +The MV machines can work with pneumatic tubes. They accept inputs via +tubes from any direction. For most of the machines, having only a single +input slot, this is perfectly simple behavior. The alloy furnace is more +complex: it will put an arriving item in either input slot, preferring to +stack it with existing items of the same type. It doesn't matter which +slot each of the alloy furnace's inputs is in, so it doesn't matter that +there's no direct control ovar that, but there is a risk that supplying +a lot of one item type through tubes will result in both slots containing +the same type of item, leaving no room for the second input. + +The MV machines can be given a tube upgrade to make them automatically +eject output items into pneumatic tubes. The items are always ejected +through a side, though which side it is depends on the machine's +orientation, due to a bug. Output items are always ejected singly. +For some machines, such as the grinder, the ejection rate with a +single tube upgrade doesn't keep up with the rate at which items can +be processed. A second tube upgrade increases the ejection rate. + +The LV and fuel-fired machines do not work with pneumatic tubes, except +that the fuel-fired furnace (actually part of the basic Minetest game) +can accept inputs from tubes. Items arriving through the bottom of +the furnace go into the fuel slot, and items arriving from all other +directions go into the input slot. + administrative world anchor --------------------------- @@ -910,7 +957,6 @@ subjects missing from this manual This manual needs to be extended with sections on: * powered machines - * processing machines * CNC machine * music player * tool workshop