From d4609f23f2344e530cf610f107029249039abf33 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: SmallJoker <SmallJoker@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 21:36:33 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] Chests: Use prepend styling and re-order elements (#608)
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-Minetest technic modpack user manual
-====================================
+# Technic User Manual
-The technic modpack extends the Minetest game with many new elements,
-mainly constructable machines and tools. It is a large modpack, and
-tends to dominate gameplay when it is used. This manual describes how
-to use the technic modpack, mainly from a player's perspective.
+The technic modpack extends Minetest Game (shipped with Minetest by default)
+with many new elements, mainly constructable machines and tools. This manual
+describes how to use the modpack, mainly from a player's perspective.
-The technic modpack depends on some other modpacks:
-
-* the basic Minetest game
-* mesecons, which supports the construction of logic systems based on
- signalling elements
-* pipeworks, which supports the automation of item transport
-* moreores, which provides some additional ore types
-
-This manual doesn't explain how to use these other modpacks, which have
-their own manuals:
+Documentation of the mod dependencies can be found here:
* [Minetest Game Documentation](https://wiki.minetest.net/Main_Page)
* [Mesecons Documentation](http://mesecons.net/items.html)
-* [Pipeworks Documentation](https://github.com/minetest-mods/pipeworks/wiki)
+* [Pipeworks Documentation](https://github.com/mt-mods/pipeworks/wiki/)
* [Moreores Forum Post](https://forum.minetest.net/viewtopic.php?t=549)
+* [Basic materials Repository](https://gitlab.com/VanessaE/basic_materials)
-Recipes for constructable items in technic are generally not guessable,
-and are also not specifically documented here. You should use a
-craft guide mod to look up the recipes in-game. For the best possible
-guidance, use the unified\_inventory mod, with which technic registers
-its specialised recipe types.
+## 1.0 Recipes
-substances
-----------
+Recipes for items registered by technic are not specifically documented here.
+Please consult a craft guide mod to look up the recipes in-game.
-### ore ###
+**Recommended mod:** [Unified Inventory](https://github.com/minetest-mods/unified_inventory)
-The technic mod makes extensive use of not just the default ores but also
-some that are added by mods. You will need to mine for all the ore types
-in the course of the game. Each ore type is found at a specific range of
-elevations, and while the ranges mostly overlap, some have non-overlapping
-ranges, so you will ultimately need to mine at more than one elevation
-to find all the ores. Also, because one of the best elevations to mine
-at is very deep, you will be unable to mine there early in the game.
+## 2.0 Substances
-Elevation is measured in meters, relative to a reference plane that
-is not quite sea level. (The standard sea level is at an elevation
-of about +1.4.) Positive elevations are above the reference plane and
-negative elevations below. Because elevations are always described this
-way round, greater numbers when higher, we avoid the word "depth".
+### 2.1 Ores
-The ores that matter in technic are coal, iron, copper, tin, zinc,
-chromium, uranium, silver, gold, mithril, mese, and diamond.
+Technic registers a few ores which are needed to craft machines or items.
+Each ore type is found at a specific range of elevations so you will
+ultimately need to mine at more than one elevation to find all the ores.
-Coal is part of the basic Minetest game. It is found from elevation
-+64 downwards, so is available right on the surface at the start of
-the game, but it is far less abundant above elevation 0 than below.
-It is initially used as a fuel, driving important machines in the early
-part of the game. It becomes less important as a fuel once most of your
-machines are electrically powered, but burning fuel remains a way to
-generate electrical power. Coal is also used, usually in dust form, as
-an ingredient in alloying recipes, wherever elemental carbon is required.
+Elevation (Y axis) is measured in meters. The reference is usually at sea
+level. Ores can generally be found more commonly by going downwards to -1000m.
-Iron is part of the basic Minetest game. It is found from elevation
-+2 downwards, and its abundance increases in stages as one descends,
-reaching its maximum from elevation -64 downwards. It is a common metal,
-used frequently as a structural component. In technic, unlike the basic
-game, iron is used in multiple forms, mainly alloys based on iron and
-including carbon (coal).
+Note ¹: *These ores are provided by Minetest Game. See [Ores](https://wiki.minetest.net/Ores#Ores_overview) for a rough overview*
-Copper is part of the basic Minetest game (having migrated there from
-moreores). It is found from elevation -16 downwards, but is more abundant
-from elevation -64 downwards. It is a common metal, used either on its
-own for its electrical conductivity, or as the base component of alloys.
+Note ²: *These ores are provided by moreores. TODO: Add reference link*
+
+#### Chromium
+Use: stainless steel
+
+Generated below: -100m, more commonly below -200m
+
+#### Coal ¹
+Use: Fuel, alloy as carbon
+
+Burning coal is a way to generate electrical power. Coal is also used,
+usually in dust form, as an ingredient in alloying recipes, wherever
+elemental carbon is required.
+
+#### Copper ¹
+Copper is a common metal, used either on its own for its electrical
+conductivity, or as the base component of alloys.
Although common, it is very heavily used, and most of the time it will
be the material that most limits your activity.
-Tin is part of the basic Minetest game (having migrated there from
-moreores). It is found from elevation +8 downwards, with no
-elevation-dependent variations in abundance beyond that point.
-It is a common metal. Its main use in pure form is as a component
-of electrical batteries. Apart from that its main purpose is
-as the secondary ingredient in bronze (the base being copper), but bronze
-is itself little used. Its abundance is well in excess of its usage,
-so you will usually have a surplus of it.
+#### Diamond ¹
+Use: mainly for cutting machines
-Zinc is supplied by technic. It is found from elevation +2 downwards,
-with no elevation-dependent variations in abundance beyond that point.
-It is a common metal. Its main use is as the secondary ingredient
-in brass (the base being copper), but brass is itself little used.
-Its abundance is well in excess of its usage, so you will usually have
-a surplus of it.
+Diamond is a precious gemstone. It is used moderately, mainly for reasons
+connected to its extreme hardness.
-Chromium is supplied by technic. It is found from elevation -100
-downwards, with no elevation-dependent variations in abundance beyond
-that point. It is a moderately common metal. Its main use is as the
-secondary ingredient in stainless steel (the base being iron).
+#### Gold ¹
+Use: various
-Uranium is supplied by technic. It is found only from elevation -80 down
-to -300; using it therefore requires one to mine above elevation -300 even
-though deeper mining is otherwise more productive. It is a moderately
-common metal, useful only for reasons related to radioactivity: it forms
-the fuel for nuclear reactors, and is also one of the best radiation
-shielding materials available. It is not difficult to find enough uranium
-ore to satisfy these uses. Beware that the ore is slightly radioactive:
-it will slightly harm you if you stand as close as possible to it.
-It is safe when more than a meter away or when mined.
+Generated below: -64m, more commonly below -256m
-Silver is supplied by the moreores mod. It is found from elevation -2
-downwards, with no elevation-dependent variations in abundance beyond
-that point. It is a semi-precious metal. It is little used, being most
-notably used in electrical items due to its conductivity, being the best
-conductor of all the pure elements.
+Gold is a precious metal. It is most notably used in electrical items due to
+its combination of good conductivity and corrosion resistance.
-Gold is part of the basic Minetest game (having migrated there from
-moreores). It is found from elevation -64 downwards, but is more
-abundant from elevation -256 downwards. It is a precious metal. It is
-little used, being most notably used in electrical items due to its
-combination of good conductivity (third best of all the pure elements)
-and corrosion resistance.
+#### Iron ¹
+Use: multiple, mainly for alloys with carbon (coal).
-Mithril is supplied by the moreores mod. It is found from elevation
--512 downwards, the deepest ceiling of any minable substance, with
-no elevation-dependent variations in abundance beyond that point.
-It is a rare precious metal, and unlike all the other metals described
-here it is entirely fictional, being derived from J. R. R. Tolkien's
+#### Lead
+Use: batteries, HV nuclear reactor layout
+
+Generated below: 16m, more common below -128m
+
+#### Mese ¹
+Use: various
+
+Mese is a precious gemstone, and unlike diamond it is entirely fictional.
+It is used in small quantities, wherever some magic needs to be imparted.
+
+#### Mithril ²
+Use: chests
+
+Generated below: -512m, evenly common
+
+Mithril is a fictional ore, being derived from J. R. R. Tolkien's
Middle-Earth setting. It is little used.
-Mese is part of the basic Minetest game. It is found from elevation
--64 downwards. The ore is more abundant from elevation -256 downwards,
-and from elevation -1024 downwards there are also occasional blocks of
-solid mese (each yielding as much mese as nine blocks of ore). It is a
-precious gemstone, and unlike diamond it is entirely fictional. It is
-used in many recipes, though mainly not in large quantities, wherever
-some magical quality needs to be imparted.
+#### Silver ²
+Use: conductors
-Diamond is part of the basic Minetest game (having migrated there from
-technic). It is found from elevation -128 downwards, but is more abundant
-from elevation -256 downwards. It is a precious gemstone. It is used
-moderately, mainly for reasons connected to its extreme hardness.
+Generated below: -2m, evenly common
-### rock ###
+Silver is a semi-precious metal and is the best conductor of all the pure elements.
-In addition to the ores, there are multiple kinds of rock that need to be
-mined in their own right, rather than for minerals. The rock types that
-matter in technic are standard stone, desert stone, marble, and granite.
+#### Tin ¹
+Use: batteries, bronze
-Standard stone is part of the basic Minetest game. It is extremely
-common. As in the basic game, when dug it yields cobblestone, which can
-be cooked to turn it back into standard stone. Cobblestone is used in
-recipes only for some relatively primitive machines. Standard stone is
-used in a couple of machine recipes. These rock types gain additional
-significance with technic because the grinder can be used to turn them
-into dirt and sand. This, especially when combined with an automated
-cobblestone generator, can be an easier way to acquire sand than
-collecting it where it occurs naturally.
+Tin is a common metal but is used rarely. Its abundance is well in excess
+of its usage, so you will usually have a surplus of it.
-Desert stone is part of the basic Minetest game. It is found specifically
-in desert biomes, and only from elevation +2 upwards. Although it is
-easily accessible, therefore, its quantity is ultimately quite limited.
-It is used in a few recipes.
+#### Uranium
+Use: nuclear reactor fuel
-Marble is supplied by technic. It is found in dense clusters from
-elevation -50 downwards. It has mainly decorative use, but also appears
-in one machine recipe.
+Depth: -80m until -300m, more commonly between -100m and -200m
-Granite is supplied by technic. It is found in dense clusters from
-elevation -150 downwards. It is much harder to dig than standard stone,
-so impedes mining when it is encountered. It has mainly decorative use,
-but also appears in a couple of machine recipes.
+It is a moderately common metal, useful only for reasons related to radioactivity:
+it forms the fuel for nuclear reactors, and is also one of the best radiation
+shielding materials available.
-### rubber ###
+Keep a safety distance of a meter to avoid being harmed by radiation.
+#### Zinc
+Use: brass
+
+Generated below: 2m, more commonly below -32m
+
+Zinc only has a few uses but is a common metal.
+
+
+### 2.2 Rocks
+
+This section describes the rock types added by technic. Further rock types
+are supported by technic machines. These can be processed using the grinder:
+
+ * Stone (plain)
+ * Cobblestone
+ * Desert Stone
+
+#### Marble
+Depth: -50m, evenly common
+
+Marble is found in dense clusters and has mainly decorative use, but also
+appears in one machine recipe.
+
+#### Granite
+Depth: -150m, evenly common
+
+Granite is found in dense clusters and is much harder to dig than standard
+stone. It has mainly decorative use, but also appears in a couple of
+machine recipes.
+
+#### Sulfur
+Uses: battery box
+
+Sulur is generated around some lava patches (caves).
+
+
+### 2.3 Rubber
Rubber is a biologically-derived material that has industrial uses due
to its electrical resistivity and its impermeability. In technic, it
is used in a few recipes, and it must be acquired by tapping rubber trees.
-If you have the moretrees mod installed, the rubber trees you need
-are those defined by that mod. If not, technic supplies a copy of the
-moretrees rubber tree.
+Rubber trees are provided by technic if the moretrees mod is not present.
-Extracting rubber requires a specific tool, a tree tap. Using the tree
-tap (by left-clicking) on a rubber tree trunk block extracts a lump of
-raw latex from the trunk. Each trunk block can be repeatedly tapped for
-latex, at intervals of several minutes; its appearance changes to show
-whether it is currently ripe for tapping. Each tree has several trunk
-blocks, so several latex lumps can be extracted from a tree in one visit.
+Extract raw latex from rubber using the "Tree Tap" tool. Punch/left-click the
+tool on a rubber tree trunk to extract a lump of raw latex from the trunk.
+Emptied trunks will regenerate at intervals of several minutes, which can be
+observed by its appearance.
-Raw latex isn't used directly. It must be vulcanized to produce finished
-rubber. This can be performed by alloying the latex with coal dust.
+To obtain rubber from latex, alloy latex with coal dust.
-### metal ###
+## 3.0 Metal processing
+Generally, each metal can exist in five forms:
-Many of the substances important in technic are metals, and there is
-a common pattern in how metals are handled. Generally, each metal can
-exist in five forms: ore, lump, dust, ingot, and block. With a couple of
-tricky exceptions in mods outside technic, metals are only *used* in dust,
-ingot, and block forms. Metals can be readily converted between these
-three forms, but can't be converted from them back to ore or lump forms.
+ * ore -> stone containing the lump
+ * lump -> draw metal obtained by digging ("nuggets")
+ * dust -> grinder output
+ * ingot -> melted/cooked lump or dust
+ * block -> placeable node
-As in the basic Minetest game, a "lump" of metal is acquired directly by
-digging ore, and will then be processed into some other form for use.
-A lump is thus more akin to ore than to refined metal. (In real life,
-metal ore rarely yields lumps ("nuggets") of pure metal directly.
-More often the desired metal is chemically bound into the rock as an
-oxide or some other compound, and the ore must be chemically processed
-to yield pure metal.)
+Metals can be converted between dust, ingot and block, but can't be converted
+from them back to ore or lump forms.
-Not all metals occur directly as ore. Generally, elemental metals (those
-consisting of a single chemical element) occur as ore, and alloys (those
-consisting of a mixture of multiple elements) do not. In fact, if the
-fictional mithril is taken to be elemental, this pattern is currently
-followed perfectly. (It is not clear in the Middle-Earth setting whether
-mithril is elemental or an alloy.) This might change in the future:
-in real life some alloys do occur as ore, and some elemental metals
-rarely occur naturally outside such alloys. Metals that do not occur
-as ore also lack the "lump" form.
+### Grinding
+Ores can be processed as follows:
-The basic Minetest game offers a single way to refine metals: cook a lump
-in a furnace to produce an ingot. With technic this refinement method
-still exists, but is rarely used outside the early part of the game,
-because technic offers a more efficient method once some machines have
-been built. The grinder, available only in electrically-powered forms,
-can grind a metal lump into two piles of metal dust. Each dust pile
-can then be cooked into an ingot, yielding two ingots from one lump.
-This doubling of material value means that you should only cook a lump
-directly when you have no choice, mainly early in the game when you
-haven't yet built a grinder.
+ * ore -> lump (digging) -> ingot (melting)
+ * ore -> lump (digging) -> 2x dust (grinding) -> 2x ingot (melting)
-An ingot can also be ground back to (one pile of) dust. Thus it is always
-possible to convert metal between ingot and dust forms, at the expense
-of some energy consumption. Nine ingots of a metal can be crafted into
-a block, which can be used for building. The block can also be crafted
-back to nine ingots. Thus it is possible to freely convert metal between
-ingot and block forms, which is convenient to store the metal compactly.
-Every metal has dust, ingot, and block forms.
+At the expense of some energy consumption, the grinder can extract more material
+from the lump, resulting in 2x dust which can be melted to two ingots in total.
-Alloying recipes in which a metal is the base ingredient, to produce a
-metal alloy, always come in two forms, using the metal either as dust
-or as an ingot. If the secondary ingredient is also a metal, it must
-be supplied in the same form as the base ingredient. The output alloy
-is also returned in the same form. For example, brass can be produced
-by alloying two copper ingots with one zinc ingot to make three brass
-ingots, or by alloying two piles of copper dust with one pile of zinc
-dust to make three piles of brass dust. The two ways of alloying produce
-equivalent results.
+### Alloying
+Input: two ingredients of the same form - lump or dust
-### iron and its alloys ###
+Output: resulting alloy, as an ingot
-Iron forms several important alloys. In real-life history, iron was the
-second metal to be used as the base component of deliberately-constructed
-alloys (the first was copper), and it was the first metal whose working
-required processes of any metallurgical sophistication. The game
-mechanics around iron broadly imitate the historical progression of
-processes around it, rather than the less-varied modern processes.
+Example: 2x copper ingots + 1x zinc ingot -> 3x brass ingot (alloying)
-The two-component alloying system of iron with carbon is of huge
-importance, both in the game and in real life. The basic Minetest game
-doesn't distinguish between these pure iron and these alloys at all,
-but technic introduces a distinction based on the carbon content, and
-renames some items of the basic game accordingly.
+Note that grinding before alloying is the preferred method to gain more output.
-The iron/carbon spectrum is represented in the game by three metal
-substances: wrought iron, carbon steel, and cast iron. Wrought iron
-has low carbon content (less than 0.25%), resists shattering, and
-is easily welded, but is relatively soft and susceptible to rusting.
-In real-life history it was used for rails, gates, chains, wire, pipes,
-fasteners, and other purposes. Cast iron has high carbon content
-(2.1% to 4%), is especially hard, and resists corrosion, but is
-relatively brittle, and difficult to work. Historically it was used
-to build large structures such as bridges, and for cannons, cookware,
-and engine cylinders. Carbon steel has medium carbon content (0.25%
-to 2.1%), and intermediate properties: moderately hard and also tough,
-somewhat resistant to corrosion. In real life it is now used for most
-of the purposes previously satisfied by wrought iron and many of those
-of cast iron, but has historically been especially important for its
-use in swords, armor, skyscrapers, large bridges, and machines.
+#### iron and its alloys
-In real-life history, the first form of iron to be refined was
-wrought iron, which is nearly pure iron, having low carbon content.
-It was produced from ore by a low-temperature furnace process (the
-"bloomery") in which the ore/iron remains solid and impurities (slag)
-are progressively removed by hammering ("working", hence "wrought").
-This began in the middle East, around 1800 BCE.
+Historically iron was the first metal whose working required processes of any
+metallurgical sophistication. The mod's mechanics around iron broadly imitate
+the historical progression of processes around it to get more variety.
-Historically, the next forms of iron to be refined were those of high
-carbon content. This was the result of the development of a more
-sophisticated kind of furnace, the blast furnace, capable of reaching
-higher temperatures. The real advantage of the blast furnace is that it
-melts the metal, allowing it to be cast straight into a shape supplied by
-a mould, rather than having to be gradually beaten into the desired shape.
-A side effect of the blast furnace is that carbon from the furnace's fuel
-is unavoidably incorporated into the metal. Normally iron is processed
-twice through the blast furnace: once producing "pig iron", which has
-very high carbon content and lots of impurities but lower melting point,
-casting it into rough ingots, then remelting the pig iron and casting it
-into the final moulds. The result is called "cast iron". Pig iron was
-first produced in China around 1200 BCE, and cast iron later in the 5th
-century BCE. Incidentally, the Chinese did not have the bloomery process,
-so this was their first iron refining process, and, unlike the rest of
-the world, their first wrought iron was made from pig iron rather than
-directly from ore.
+Notable alloys:
-Carbon steel, with intermediate carbon content, was developed much later,
-in Europe in the 17th century CE. It required a more sophisticated
-process, because the blast furnace made it extremely difficult to achieve
-a controlled carbon content. Tweaks of the blast furnace would sometimes
-produce an intermediate carbon content by luck, but the first processes to
-reliably produce steel were based on removing almost all the carbon from
-pig iron and then explicitly mixing a controlled amount of carbon back in.
+ * Wrought iron: <0.25% carbon
+ * Resists shattering but is relatively soft.
+ * Known since: 1800 BC (approx.)
+ * Cast iron: 2.1% to 4% carbon.
+ * Especially hard and rather corrosion-resistant
+ * Known since: 1200 BC (approx.)
+ * Carbon steel: 0.25% to 2.1% carbon.
+ * Intermediate of the two above.
+ * Known since: 1600 AD (approx.)
-In the game, the bloomery process is represented by ordinary cooking
-or grinding of an iron lump. The lump represents unprocessed ore,
-and is identified only as "iron", not specifically as wrought iron.
-This standard refining process produces dust or an ingot which is
-specifically identified as wrought iron. Thus the standard refining
-process produces the (nearly) pure metal.
+Technic introduces a distinction based on the carbon content, and renames some
+items of the basic game accordingly. Iron and Steel are now distinguished.
-Cast iron is trickier. You might expect from the real-life notes above
-that cooking an iron lump (representing ore) would produce pig iron that
-can then be cooked again to produce cast iron. This is kind of the case,
-but not exactly, because as already noted cooking an iron lump produces
-wrought iron. The game doesn't distinguish between low-temperature
-and high-temperature cooking processes: the same furnace is used not
-just to cast all kinds of metal but also to cook food. So there is no
-distinction between cooking processes to produce distinct wrought iron
-and pig iron. But repeated cooking *is* available as a game mechanic,
-and is indeed used to produce cast iron: re-cooking a wrought iron ingot
-produces a cast iron ingot. So pig iron isn't represented in the game as
-a distinct item; instead wrought iron stands in for pig iron in addition
-to its realistic uses as wrought iron.
+Notable references:
-Carbon steel is produced by a more regular in-game process: alloying
-wrought iron with coal dust (which is essentially carbon). This bears
-a fair resemblance to the historical development of carbon steel.
-This alloying recipe is relatively time-consuming for the amount of
-material processed, when compared against other alloying recipes, and
-carbon steel is heavily used, so it is wise to alloy it in advance,
-when you're not waiting for it.
+ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron
+ * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stainless_steel
+ * ... plus many more.
-There are additional recipes that permit all three of these types of iron
-to be converted into each other. Alloying carbon steel again with coal
-dust produces cast iron, with its higher carbon content. Cooking carbon
-steel or cast iron produces wrought iron, in an abbreviated form of the
-bloomery process.
+Processes:
-There's one more iron alloy in the game: stainless steel. It is managed
-in a completely regular manner, created by alloying carbon steel with
-chromium.
+ * Iron -> Wrought iron (melting)
+ * Wrought iron -> Cast iron (melting)
+ * Wrought iron + coal dust -> Carbon steel (alloying)
+ * Carbon steel + coal dust -> Cast iron (alloying)
+ * Carbon steel + chromium -> Stainless steel (alloying)
-### uranium enrichment ###
+Reversible processes:
+
+ * Cast iron -> Wrought iron (melting)
+ * Carbon steel -> Wrought iron (melting)
+
+Check your preferred crafting guide for more information.
+
+
+### Uranium enrichment
When uranium is to be used to fuel a nuclear reactor, it is not
sufficient to merely isolate and refine uranium metal. It is necessary
@@ -521,35 +410,15 @@
industrial processes
--------------------
-### alloying ###
+### Alloying
-In technic, alloying is a way of combining items to create other items,
-distinct from standard crafting. Alloying always uses inputs of exactly
-two distinct types, and produces a single output. Like cooking, which
-takes a single input, it is performed using a powered machine, known
-generically as an "alloy furnace". An alloy furnace always has two
-input slots, and it doesn't matter which way round the two ingredients
-are placed in the slots. Many alloying recipes require one or both
-slots to contain a stack of more than one of the ingredient item: the
-quantity required of each ingredient is part of the recipe.
+In Technic, alloying is a way of combining items to create other items,
+distinct from standard crafting. Alloying always uses inputs of exactly
+two distinct types, and produces a single output.
-As with the furnaces used for cooking, there are multiple kinds of alloy
-furnace, powered in different ways. The most-used alloy furnaces are
-electrically powered. There is also an alloy furnace that is powered
-by directly burning fuel, just like the basic cooking furnace. Building
-almost any electrical machine, including the electrically-powered alloy
-furnaces, requires a machine casing component, one ingredient of which
-is brass, an alloy. It is therefore necessary to use the fuel-fired
-alloy furnace in the early part of the game, on the way to building
-electrical machinery.
+Check your preferred crafting guide for more information.
-Alloying recipes are mainly concerned with metals. These recipes
-combine a base metal with some other element, most often another metal,
-to produce a new metal. This is discussed in the section on metal.
-There are also a few alloying recipes in which the base ingredient is
-non-metallic, such as the recipe for the silicon wafer.
-
-### grinding, extracting, and compressing ###
+### Grinding, extracting, and compressing
Grinding, extracting, and compressing are three distinct, but very
similar, ways of converting one item into another. They are all quite
@@ -623,57 +492,17 @@
It recovers both components of binary metal/metal alloys. It can't
recover the carbon from steel or cast iron.
-chests
+Chests
------
-The technic mod replaces the basic Minetest game's single type of
-chest with a range of chests that have different sizes and features.
-The chest types are identified by the materials from which they are made;
-the better chests are made from more exotic materials. The chest types
-form a linear sequence, each being (with one exception noted below)
-strictly more powerful than the preceding one. The sequence begins with
-the wooden chest from the basic game, and each later chest type is built
-by upgrading a chest of the preceding type. The chest types are:
+See [GitHub Wiki / Chests](https://github.com/minetest-mods/technic/wiki/Chests)
-1. wooden chest: 8×4 (32) slots
-2. iron chest: 9×5 (45) slots
-3. copper chest: 12×5 (60) slots
-4. silver chest: 12×6 (72) slots
-5. gold chest: 15×6 (90) slots
-6. mithril chest: 15×6 (90) slots
+Features of extended chests:
-The iron and later chests have the ability to sort their contents,
-when commanded by a button in their interaction forms. Item types are
-sorted in the same order used in the unified\_inventory craft guide.
-The copper and later chests also have an auto-sorting facility that can
-be enabled from the interaction form. An auto-sorting chest automatically
-sorts its contents whenever a player closes the chest. The contents will
-then usually be in a sorted state when the chest is opened, but may not
-be if pneumatic tubes have operated on the chest while it was closed,
-or if two players have the chest open simultaneously.
+ * Larger storage space
+ * Labelling
+ * Advanced item sorting
-The silver and gold chests, but not the mithril chest, have a built-in
-sign-like capability. They can be given a textual label, which will
-be visible when hovering over the chest. The gold chest, but again not
-the mithril chest, can be further labelled with a colored patch that is
-visible from a moderate distance.
-
-The mithril chest is currently an exception to the upgrading system.
-It has only as many inventory slots as the preceding (gold) type, and has
-fewer of the features. It has no feature that other chests don't have:
-it is strictly weaker than the gold chest. It is planned that in the
-future it will acquire some unique features, but for now the only reason
-to use it is aesthetic.
-
-The size of the largest chests is dictated by the maximum size
-of interaction form that the game engine can successfully display.
-If in the future the engine becomes capable of handling larger forms,
-by scaling them to fit the screen, the sequence of chest sizes will
-likely be revised.
-
-As with the chest of the basic Minetest game, each chest type comes
-in both locked and unlocked flavors. All of the chests work with the
-pneumatic tubes of the pipeworks mod.
radioactivity
-------------
@@ -811,115 +640,44 @@
Tricky shine paths can also be addressed by just keeping players out of
the dangerous area.
-electrical power
-----------------
+## Electrical power
-Most machines in technic are electrically powered. To operate them it is
-necessary to construct an electrical power network. The network links
-together power generators and power-consuming machines, connecting them
-using power cables.
+Electrical networks in Technic are defined by a single tier (see below)
+and consist of:
-There are three tiers of electrical networking: low voltage (LV),
-medium voltage (MV), and high voltage (HV). Each network must operate
-at a single voltage, and most electrical items are specific to a single
-voltage. Generally, the machines of higher tiers are more powerful,
-but consume more energy and are more expensive to build, than machines
-of lower tiers. It is normal to build networks of all three tiers,
-in ascending order as one progresses through the game, but it is not
-strictly necessary to do this. Building HV equipment requires some parts
-that can only be manufactured using electrical machines, either LV or MV,
-so it is not possible to build an HV network first, but it is possible
-to skip either LV or MV on the way to HV.
+ * 1x Switching Station (central management unit)
+ * Any further stations are disabled automatically
+ * Electricity producers (PR)
+ * Electricity consumers/receivers (RE)
+ * Accumulators/batteries (BA)
-Each voltage has its own cable type, with distinctive insulation. Cable
-segments connect to each other and to compatible machines automatically.
-Incompatible electrical items don't connect. All non-cable electrical
-items must be connected via cable: they don't connect directly to each
-other. Most electrical items can connect to cables in any direction,
-but there are a couple of important exceptions noted below.
+### Tiers
-To be useful, an electrical network must connect at least one power
-generator to at least one power-consuming machine. In addition to these
-items, the network must have a "switching station" in order to operate:
-no energy will flow without one. Unlike most electrical items, the
-switching station is not voltage-specific: the same item will manage
-a network of any tier. However, also unlike most electrical items,
-it is picky about the direction in which it is connected to the cable:
-the cable must be directly below the switching station.
+ * LV: Low Voltage. Low material costs but is slower.
+ * MV: Medium Voltage. Higher processing speed.
+ * HV: High Voltage. High material costs but is the fastest.
-Hovering over a network's switching station will show the aggregate energy
-supply and demand, which is useful for troubleshooting. Electrical energy
-is measured in "EU", and power (energy flow) in EU per second (EU/s).
-Energy is shifted around a network instantaneously once per second.
+Tiers can be converted from one to another using the Supply Converter node.
+Its top connects to the input, the bottom to the output network. Configure
+the input power by right-clicking it.
-In a simple network with only generators and consumers, if total
-demand exceeds total supply then no energy will flow, the machines
-will do nothing, and the generators' output will be lost. To handle
-this situation, it is recommended to add a battery box to the network.
-A battery box will store generated energy, and when enough has been
-stored to run the consumers for one second it will deliver it to the
-consumers, letting them run part-time. It also stores spare energy
-when supply exceeds demand, to let consumers run full-time when their
-demand occasionally peaks above the supply. More battery boxes can
-be added to cope with larger periods of mismatched supply and demand,
-such as those resulting from using solar generators (which only produce
-energy in the daytime).
+### Machine upgrade slots
-When there are electrical networks of multiple tiers, it can be appealing
-to generate energy on one tier and transfer it to another. The most
-direct way to do this is with the "supply converter", which can be
-directly wired into two networks. It is another tier-independent item,
-and also particular about the direction of cable connections: it must
-have the cable of one network directly above, and the cable of another
-network directly below. The supply converter demands 10000 EU/s from
-the network above, and when this network gives it power it supplies 9000
-EU/s to the network below. Thus it is only 90% efficient, unlike most of
-the electrical system which is 100% efficient in moving energy around.
-To transfer more than 10000 EU/s between networks, connect multiple
-supply converters in parallel.
+Generally, machines of MV and HV tiers have two upgrade slots.
+Only specific items will have any upgrading effect. The occupied slots do
+count, but not the actual stack size.
-powered machines
-----------------
+**Type 1: Energy upgrade**
-### powered machine tiers ###
+Consists of any battery item. Reduces the machine's power consumption
+regardless the charge of the item.
-Each powered machine takes its power in some specific form, being
-either fuel-fired (burning fuel directly) or electrically powered at
-some specific voltage. There is a general progression through the
-game from using fuel-fired machines to electrical machines, and to
-higher electrical voltages. The most important kinds of machine come
-in multiple variants that are powered in different ways, so the earlier
-ones can be superseded. However, some machines are only available for
-a specific power tier, so the tier can't be entirely superseded.
+**Type 2: Tube upgrade**
-### powered machine upgrades ###
+Consists of a control logic unit item. Ejects processed items into pneumatic
+tubes for quicker processing.
-Some machines have inventory slots that are used to upgrade them in
-some way. Generally, machines of MV and HV tiers have two upgrade slots,
-and machines of lower tiers (fuel-fired and LV) do not. Any item can
-be placed in an upgrade slot, but only specific items will have any
-upgrading effect. It is possible to have multiple upgrades of the same
-type, but this can't be achieved by stacking more than one upgrade item
-in one slot: it is necessary to put the same kind of item in more than one
-upgrade slot. The ability to upgrade machines is therefore very limited.
-Two kinds of upgrade are currently possible: an energy upgrade and a
-tube upgrade.
-
-An energy upgrade consists of a battery item, the same kind of battery
-that serves as a mobile energy store. The effect of an energy upgrade
-is to improve in some way the machine's use of electrical energy, most
-often by making it use less energy. The upgrade effect has no relation
-to energy stored in the battery: the battery's charge level is irrelevant
-and will not be affected.
-
-A tube upgrade consists of a control logic unit item. The effect of a
-tube upgrade is to make the machine able, or more able, to eject items
-it has finished with into pneumatic tubes. The machines that can take
-this kind of upgrade are in any case capable of accepting inputs from
-pneumatic tubes. These upgrades are essential in using powered machines
-as components in larger automated systems.
-
-### tubes with powered machines ###
+### Machines + Tubes (pipeworks)
Generally, powered machines of MV and HV tiers can work with pneumatic
tubes, and those of lower tiers cannot. (As an exception, the fuel-fired
@@ -1152,7 +910,7 @@
### forcefield emitter ###
The forcefield emitter is an HV powered machine that generates a
-forcefield remeniscent of those seen in many science-fiction stories.
+forcefield reminiscent of those seen in many science-fiction stories.
The emitter can be configured to generate a forcefield of either
spherical or cubical shape, in either case centered on the emitter.
--
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