Suggestion: concrete

1st Official Post

    Name: Concrete


    Description: Concrete would be a new fluid that would be somewhat similar to lava. Once placed it would harden after a few seconds, once hardened it would be rather strong (somewhere between obsidian and reinforced stone?). Because it is liquid it would need to have a cast so it is in the right shape (similar to using lava and water to make obsidian structures w/o a diamond pick.


    Recipe: Cement; I have no idea how to implement this though... anyone know how its actually made?
    Sand, Gravel, and/or Cobblestone
    Water


    This would be a relatively cheap material since it would spread from the source tile so you get multiple blocks from 1 bucket, however making the cast would be very time consuming making reinforced stone still a viable option.


    EDIT: I just realised that the tar suggestion is extremely similar... well I did check for people suggesting concrete.

    Concrete could be very useful, I have a lot of building that be sped up with concrete like this. Also, using reinforced stone forms will make for a nice 3 layer thick wall for my fortress of solitude.

    I think the tar should eventuall spread to a 1/8th block, I like concrete, but unless it is "reinforced concrete" it should be merely a tad harder than cobblestone. The options for reinforced concrete (with ref. iron) and high-tech/Reactor concrete (with alloy) would be great additions as well. I like the idea, generally. Normally concrete is made from ground stone with calcium and likewise minerals added, chalk etc. If Al says its not worth a new ore/stone block (which he probably will) you could "extract" minerals from sand and the craft them into concrete dust piles with more sand. Then add water to obtain concrete source blocks.

    • Official Post

    I've made some thoughts about this... the current concept would suggest either:
    1. A finite Liquid spreading like water and then hardening into a solid block. If the hardened Source block gets destroyed by explosion, it would turn liquid again, effectively repairing the explosion damage.
    2. A 2-component system, where the liquid is cheap and needs to be rightclicked with a special powder to turn it solid. In redo, all destroyed blocks would turn into liquid, but would need to be resolified with powder again.
    3. Liquid plastic, which needs to be heated to condense into a solid block. Probably with Mining Laser.



    All concept show up a few issues that need to be though about, mainly balance stuff.

    Quote from Alblaka

    I've made some thoughts about this... the current concept would suggest either:
    1. A finite Liquid spreading like water and then hardening into a solid block. If the hardened Source block gets destroyed by explosion, it would turn liquid again, effectively repairing the explosion damage.
    2. A 2-component system, where the liquid is cheap and needs to be rightclicked with a special powder to turn it solid. In redo, all destroyed blocks would turn into liquid, but would need to be resolified with powder again.
    3. Liquid plastic, which needs to be heated to condense into a solid block. Probably with Mining Laser.



    All concept show up a few issues that need to be though about, mainly balance stuff.

    haha. That sounds like a fun bunch of ideas. Problem with number 1 is: presumably we want to remove the moulds after casting, destroy a block and your base becomes a very pretty airport runway. Also from your previous posts I gathered you're not overly excited by finite liquid coding.


    Option 2 seems like the easiest to implement, although it would be difficult to construct anything quickly as you would be only able to construct one row at a time, since you cannot reach the liquid blocks below surface once having solidified the top layer.


    I see this problem being solved with option 3, if the mining laser would be configured to solidify the bottom layer of a particular project first (i.e. checking for a liquidconcrete/solid interface).

    • Official Post
    Quote from IC_Pandemonium

    haha. That sounds like a fun bunch of ideas. Problem with number 1 is: presumably we want to remove the moulds after casting, destroy a block and your base becomes a very pretty airport runway. Also from your previous posts I gathered you're not overly excited by finite liquid coding.


    Option 2 seems like the easiest to implement, although it would be difficult to construct anything quickly as you would be only able to construct one row at a time, since you cannot reach the liquid blocks below surface once having solidified the top layer.


    I see this problem being solved with option 3, if the mining laser would be configured to solidify the bottom layer of a particular project first (i.e. checking for a liquidconcrete/solid interface).

    @1: The hardening would take a few minutes, enough time to bucket the create source block ^^ Finite liquid coding shouldn't be much harder then coding liquids at all. Which is something i haven't done yet, though.