A dedicated machine for the creation of basic and advanced circuits (the existing components), potentially with multiple recipes.
So I've been thinking about how long I spend crafting together copper cable and rubber and redstone and iron plates, and it occurred to me that perhaps a machine could do the job better and more efficiently. And really, if it's something as delicate as a circuit, why shouldn't I have a machine do it for me?
= The Circuitry Assembler =
I/O slots: Four input, one output
- Input (basic): plate, redstone, copper cable, rubber
- Input (advanced): circuit, redstone, glowstone, lapis
- Alternate input suggestions later on
Power tier: 1 (tiny robotic arms don't need huge voltages, right?)
EU storage: 1.2k (just copying the macerator - not really set on this, honestly)
EU per operation: 600 (same)
= Explanation =
Autocrafters don't get a lot of love in this forum, which given IC2's industrial bent... kind of makes sense to me? You're basically saying 'here's a machine that can craft literally anything a human can'. (Maybe some sort of robot...? Hmm...) So I went with a machine that makes /one/ thing (two, technically) and does it really well. IC2 already has this in the form (ha) of the Metal Former, and beyond that the Block Cutting Machine. You can accomplish everything those do manually, and faster to boot, but you have to use tools that take damage and have to be replaced. So the tradeoff is materials used to make tools (manual) vs. time and EU (machine).
Circuits are made without tools, so I needed a different tradeoff, but one that still made sense. There are a few ways to do this: most of them come down to 'machines are better at intricate details than you, fumblefingers'. I'm not recommending these /all/ be implemented, just suggesting some options.
- Reduce material requirements (e.g. 6 -> 3 cables, 6 -> 3 rubber, 2 -> 1 redstone for basic; half cost except for main plate)
- Allow lapis dust in place of lapis for advanced circuits (this would be nice in general, honestly)
- Allow raw material input (iron ingot vs. plate, 2x copper ingot vs. 6x cable)
--- This should require power tier 2, though, IMO; more intense processing and all
--- Extra option: allow blocks of metal and redstone, get 9x output
The coolest thing, though, would be to allow multiple recipes with varying outputs, allowing you to have more use for metals that don't normally see much action. After all, why have a machine that just duplicates what you can do by hand? The Metal Former makes iron fences and tin cans and empty fuel rods, after all. (Plus, if you ever wanted to add a third-tier circuit, or other circuitry-related things...)
Example recipes (not using any of the other options above):
- 1x Iron Plate, 6x Copper Cable, 6x Rubber, 2x Redstone -> 1x Basic Circuit
- 1x Gold Plate, 4x Gold Cable, 4x Rubber, 2x Redstone -> 2x Basic Circuit (or maybe 1x advanced)
- Plate options: iron, gold, copper? silver even? (but plateSilver isn't a thing in core IC2)
- Cable options: copper, gold, tin, glass fibre (HV seems silly but maybe for a special HV circuit?)
- Rubber options: possibly remove entirely, or use a different insulator (wikipedia mentions glass, ceramic, and composite materials)
- Redstone options: redstone, glowstone, silver dust, energium dust
One last option, and I'm a little hesitant to mention it for fear of backlash, but it /is/ an option: make advanced circuits craftable only with this machine, no longer manually. (They're /advanced/, right?) Only because I know other things used to be manually craftable and no longer are, and... /circuits/. Seriously.
