Mekanism: Feature Request Thread

[casilleroatr]

This is just a small idea to add flavour to an auto miner described in the posts above which replace mined blocks with cobblestone or some other block. What if it replaced the mined blocks not with stone but with gravel. Or perhaps smooth stone in the area being acted on by the machine could have a small chance of being turned into gravel (because of the stresses placed on the earth by the miner). If you go digging in the area it might get a bit dangerous and to retrieve the miner you might have to take some precautions - just to add a bit of flair and dynamism to the process.

Also, Aidan. There is a block in your mod which is one of my favourites in modded minecraft. Its not the machines (I haven't had a chance to play with them much yet), or the pipes or robits (same). It is the refined glowstone block. It is perfect for making moody futuristic lighting. I am surprised more people haven't made other simple light emitting blocks that sit there and emit light while not looking like garish yellow cobblestone. Your decorative/storage blocks are pretty nice in general and if you could make another one that was pink or blue or purple that would be really cool, especially if it was the same texture as refined glowstone but dyed a different colour.

P.S Just noticed you already have a nice purple block (refined obsidian). I forgot about it because it didn't fit into the aesthetic of my last major creative build, but I think I can find a use for it next time.

Edit: In addition, the gravel thing has the potential to be a good source of flint for the ore tripling line up.

 

[Yusunoha]

Bins are all done, thanks for the idea guys

I love that idea of liquid dirt, that should theoretically be not too hard to implement.
As for a miner...I like the idea of not making ugly holes on the surface too. Something like IC2's miner would be cool, but like @MrJeff said, it should replace the blocks after it mines them. Maybe an auto-miner where you simply tell it what blocks to mine, and it will immediately get to work. Shouldn't be too hard to do...you could set it's max mining range, etc. What do you think?

perhaps an idea to add some sort of an upgrade that can change the appearance of the bins. for example if you've a wall build out of oak logs with bins, the bins would look kind of weird with the oak logs. with that upgrade you'd be able to change the texture of the bins to oak so it blends it better.

 

[Vaygrim]

I was thinking about this "Mekanism Miner" a bit more; Mekanism already has teleportation technology in the form of a teleportation portal. You could actually recycle pre-existing parts from that to make the "Mekanism Miner", basing it on the theory of targeted teleportation / targeted block swapping. Upgrades in the form of improved sensors could be crafted for the block, with it retaining those upgrades whenever the block is broken and picked up (just like all your other Mekanism machines do!).

Some upgrade ideas:

• MINING DEPTH INCREASE - Have the base block mine down a max of about 60 blocks. This would allow for mining from sea level to bedrock for start, which would be good. A upgrade could be plugged in to increase this distance however, allowing for it to mine an extra 20 blocks per upgrade. (This should be a semi-expensive to expensive upgrade.)
• TARGETING SENSORS - This would upgrade search radius for the machine, increasing radius of the area in which it can search for valid ores. (This should be a semi-expensive upgrade.)
• SPEED - I think the initial block should have a relatively slow "searching" speed when it is looking for valid ores, then an additional step of it slowly swapping out the targeted ore with a 'swap block' like cobblestone or dirt. Socketing the machine with Speed Upgrades would increase the speed on both of these steps incrementally. (Use the pre-existing upgrade from your machines for this.) This should still be configurable post upgrade. Just because I have a max-search-radius machine it does not mean I want to run it at max search radius (and max power consumption) all the time.
• ENERGY STORAGE - I think it could be very nice if I could have enough Energy Storage upgrades in my Miner that I could charge it up back at my base, then take it out to a location and set it up for a short run without the need for additional power. This could be feasible if I am running a machine on a small search radius, looking only for top level resources like Copper, Iron or Coal. (Use the pre-existing upgrade from your machines for this.)

Make the machine itself only slightly more expensive than some of the teleporter components, but have the functionality and cost of the machine basically scale with the upgrades. If I wanted to, I could have two different miners configured two very different ways: one with speed, mining depth and targeting sensor upgrades... another with just energy storage. I could use the first machine for my 'primary mining', leaving it hooked up to major power. The second machine I could just charge up, then take out and run for short durations to get extra coal, copper or iron (or other surface resources).

Have the Mekanism Miner auto-eject to an adjacent inventory (such as a chest or pipe) and auto-pull cobblestone, smooth stone or dirt that it can find from an adjacent inventory. This would allow the player to pop a chest half full of cobblestone next to their Miner, and slowly watch the cobblestone stacks get replaced with other resources.

Thoughts? (Aidan, I'd tell you all this on the #Mekanism IRC channel but Esper.Net seems to have died today.)

 

[Greylocke]

As for a miner...I like the idea of not making ugly holes on the surface too. Something like IC2's miner would be cool, but like @MrJeff said, it should replace the blocks after it mines them. Maybe an auto-miner where you simply tell it what blocks to mine, and it will immediately get to work. Shouldn't be too hard to do...you could set it's max mining range, etc. What do you think?

One of my favorite things about the IC2 Miner was exploring the tunnels that it left behind. There were always bits and pieces of ore vein that were just outside of the Miner's range, and it was all opened up for easy pickings. I had some really fun adventures going down those mineshafts. So although I like the option of "replacing" blocks, I would like it to be optional. For me, I'd prefer to have it fill the vertical shaft only.

Unlike the IC2 miner, you should be able to tell it in-game which materials to look for by dropping a sample in a bin. This also gives two opportunities to keep the Miner from being over powered: 1) limit the number of materials it will scan for, 2) the miner consumes the sample that you give it.

 

[Vaygrim]

One of my favorite things about the IC2 Miner was exploring the tunnels that it left behind. There were always bits and pieces of ore vein that were just outside of the Miner's range, and it was all opened up for easy pickings. I had some really fun adventures going down those mineshafts. So although I like the option of "replacing" blocks, I would like it to be optional. For me, I'd prefer to have it fill the vertical shaft only.

Unlike the IC2 miner, you should be able to tell it in-game which materials to look for by dropping a sample in a bin. This also gives two opportunities to keep the Miner from being over powered: 1) limit the number of materials it will scan for, 2) the miner consumes the sample that you give it.

If you are looking for a mining solution that leaves vertical shafts open, giving you access to the caverns it cut through for adventuring.. couldn't you just stick with the BuildCraft Quarry? (shrug) Why make another mining solution that does the exact same thing.. in the same way? How would you propose to add this core design in with the 'targeted mining' feature as well?

Please, expound upon your idea!
The more input we have from the community, the more ideas Aidan has to work with (which is always great).

 

[Greylocke]

If you are looking for a mining solution that leaves vertical shafts open, giving you access to the caverns it cut through for adventuring.. couldn't you just stick with the BuildCraft Quarry? (shrug) Why make another mining solution that does the exact same thing.. in the same way?

The IC2 Miner was like a "smart drill" that would dig straight down a block then drill horizontally toward any valuable materials. Once there were no valuables in its scan range, it would drill down one more block & repeat. It left most of the world untouched except for the vertical shaft and the horizontals that got dug out while going after valuables. Maybe I didn't explain it clearly enough, but that is what I'd like a Mek Miner to do. But with more in-game control and a little more cost.

The quarry... just makes a big, dumb hole in the ground.

 

[Vaygrim]

The IC2 Miner was like a "smart drill" that would dig straight down a block then drill horizontally toward any valuable materials. Once there were no valuables in its scan range, it would drill down one more block & repeat. It left most of the world untouched except for the vertical shaft and the horizontals that got dug out while going after valuables. Maybe I didn't explain it clearly enough, but that is what I'd like a Mek Miner to do. But with more in-game control and a little more cost.

The quarry... just makes a big, dumb hole in the ground.

Hmm, that's interesting!

Well, if the MekMiner worked by drilling directional, smaller mineshafts, it could still be filled up by the "Liquid Dirt" idea to be sure. So that is definitely a viable solution. My big personal gripe, specifically regarding things like the Quarry or Thaumcraft's Arcane Bore are the massive holes they leave in the landscape (vertical and horizontal respectively). Servers with a large player base very quickly ban the use of Quarries and Arcane Bores in the Overworld.. developing a "Mining Age" using MystCraft as an alternative.

If we can provide a viable mining solution (or combination of solutions), maybe we could eliminate this need during the early stages of a server? (shrug)

 

[Greylocke]

Hmm, that's interesting!

Well, if the MekMiner worked by drilling directional, smaller mineshafts, it could still be filled up by the "Liquid Dirt" idea to be sure. So that is definitely a viable solution. My big personal gripe, specifically regarding things like the Quarry or Thaumcraft's Arcane Bore are the massive holes they leave in the landscape (vertical and horizontal respectively). Servers with a large player base very quickly ban the use of Quarries and Arcane Bores in the Overworld.. developing a "Mining Age" using MystCraft as an alternative.

If we can provide a viable mining solution (or combination of solutions), maybe we could eliminate this need during the early stages of a server? (shrug)

since the IC2 MIner only drilled out single blocks (horizontally and vertically) it was very non-invasive, practically invisible from the surface. Another thing I liked about it. The typical process would be to use a handheld scanner to find a high ore value, then place the Miner and its support pieces (power, chest, pump to remove lava that might stop the Miner from working, transport pipes, and chunk loader) then walk away and let the machinery work for a few MC days. The handheld scanner fits inside the Miner, otherwise it wouldn't be able to move horizontally to find valuables. The scanner could be upgraded to increase the range. I believe that the maximum range was a radius of 9 blocks.

One of the other "realistic" parts of the miner that I liked is that it also required drill pipes, one per vertical block. Occasionally they'd get stuck and you'd have to reset the machine. When you'd turn off the miner, it would retract the pipes back into its inventory and leave behind a filler of whatever material you give it, filling the vertical shaft. You could control the maximum drilling level by only putting in the required number of pipes.

 

[PierceSG]

Even though I do not like IC2 much, I can say that I prefer IC2's Miner's method of mining over BC's Quarry. Cleaner and easier on the eye. Though I must say the quarry is many folds easier to setup compared to the Miner and therefore most people uses it.

Plus, coupled with mods like TE or Ender IO for easy power access as well as item transport, Quarry wins the fight for ease of setup and use.

 

[Aidan]

since the IC2 MIner only drilled out single blocks (horizontally and vertically) it was very non-invasive, practically invisible from the surface. Another thing I liked about it. The typical process would be to use a handheld scanner to find a high ore value, then place the Miner and its support pieces (power, chest, pump to remove lava that might stop the Miner from working, transport pipes, and chunk loader) then walk away and let the machinery work for a few MC days. The handheld scanner fits inside the Miner, otherwise it wouldn't be able to move horizontally to find valuables. The scanner could be upgraded to increase the range. I believe that the maximum range was a radius of 9 blocks.

One of the other "realistic" parts of the miner that I liked is that it also required drill pipes, one per vertical block. Occasionally they'd get stuck and you'd have to reset the machine. When you'd turn off the miner, it would retract the pipes back into its inventory and leave behind a filler of whatever material you give it, filling the vertical shaft. You could control the maximum drilling level by only putting in the required number of pipes.

What would you all think if I made the Mekanism miner literally make 1x2 mining shafts deep below the surface? This way you could go down and explore later on, but still have it work neatly...

EDIT:
It would replace the ores it removed from the shaft with a configurable type of block that would be pulled from nearby inventories.

 

[Vaygrim]

What would you all think if I made the Mekanism miner literally make 1x2 mining shafts deep below the surface? This way you could go down and explore later on, but still have it work neatly...

EDIT:
It would replace the ores it removed from the shaft with a configurable type of block that would be pulled from nearby inventories.

Creating 2 block high walkable shafts underground would be way worse than just a gaping hole in the group (ala the Quarry), specifically because you would be basically creating a vast network of monster spawner tunnels.

I really think it would be better to have either.. #1) a straight vertical shaft to let sunlight in through... or #2) work with the teleport & replace method so no terrain is screwed up AND you don't add to the monster spawning numbers of the area.

 

[Aidan]

I was thinking about this "Mekanism Miner" a bit more; Mekanism already has teleportation technology in the form of a teleportation portal. You could actually recycle pre-existing parts from that to make the "Mekanism Miner", basing it on the theory of targeted teleportation / targeted block swapping. Upgrades in the form of improved sensors could be crafted for the block, with it retaining those upgrades whenever the block is broken and picked up (just like all your other Mekanism machines do!).

Some upgrade ideas:

• MINING DEPTH INCREASE - Have the base block mine down a max of about 60 blocks. This would allow for mining from sea level to bedrock for start, which would be good. A upgrade could be plugged in to increase this distance however, allowing for it to mine an extra 20 blocks per upgrade. (This should be a semi-expensive to expensive upgrade.)
• TARGETING SENSORS - This would upgrade search radius for the machine, increasing radius of the area in which it can search for valid ores. (This should be a semi-expensive upgrade.)
• SPEED - I think the initial block should have a relatively slow "searching" speed when it is looking for valid ores, then an additional step of it slowly swapping out the targeted ore with a 'swap block' like cobblestone or dirt. Socketing the machine with Speed Upgrades would increase the speed on both of these steps incrementally. (Use the pre-existing upgrade from your machines for this.) This should still be configurable post upgrade. Just because I have a max-search-radius machine it does not mean I want to run it at max search radius (and max power consumption) all the time.
• ENERGY STORAGE - I think it could be very nice if I could have enough Energy Storage upgrades in my Miner that I could charge it up back at my base, then take it out to a location and set it up for a short run without the need for additional power. This could be feasible if I am running a machine on a small search radius, looking only for top level resources like Copper, Iron or Coal. (Use the pre-existing upgrade from your machines for this.)

Make the machine itself only slightly more expensive than some of the teleporter components, but have the functionality and cost of the machine basically scale with the upgrades. If I wanted to, I could have two different miners configured two very different ways: one with speed, mining depth and targeting sensor upgrades... another with just energy storage. I could use the first machine for my 'primary mining', leaving it hooked up to major power. The second machine I could just charge up, then take out and run for short durations to get extra coal, copper or iron (or other surface resources).

Have the Mekanism Miner auto-eject to an adjacent inventory (such as a chest or pipe) and auto-pull cobblestone, smooth stone or dirt that it can find from an adjacent inventory. This would allow the player to pop a chest half full of cobblestone next to their Miner, and slowly watch the cobblestone stacks get replaced with other resources.

Thoughts? (Aidan, I'd tell you all this on the #Mekanism IRC channel but Esper.Net seems to have died today.)

I love all of this! Would you do me a favor and explain to me exactly what path the minor would take? I think I'll start on this project soon, but I'd like to know how to code the pathing algorithm first.

 

[Greylocke]

Creating 2 block high walkable shafts underground would be way worse than just a gaping hole in the group (ala the Quarry), specifically because you would be basically creating a vast network of monster spawner tunnels.

I really think it would be better to have either.. #1) a straight vertical shaft to let sunlight in through... or #2) work with the teleport & replace method so no terrain is screwed up AND you don't add to the monster spawning numbers of the area.

Although the IC2 Miner dug out 1x1s, often the pathing on the horizontal drilling would end up creating 2-high areas. These were often very dangerous. But the risk was offset by the reward since there was always lots of valuables to be found at the end of the horizontals.

 

[Not_Steve]

i think a miner more similar to the complex machines mod is more in the vane that i would prefer. i prefer a fire and forget system. maybe a machine that only mines blocks under y=64 it would mine from the top down and replace them with a block mobs cant spawn on. slowly the range would expand as the machine finished with the surrounding chunks. i prefer not having to move my mining operations around. i usually use the mfr mining or redstone in motion+ae based systems

 

[Vaygrim]

I love all of this! Would you do me a favor and explain to me exactly what path the minor would take? I think I'll start on this project soon, but I'd like to know how to code the pathing algorithm first.

In my mind it honestly depends on what iteration of the "MekMiner" you are going with; the drilling robot or the teleportation based 'silent miner'.

"Ore Seeking Drill Bot" - The ore seeking 'drill bot' is not my primary operating preference so I'm totally guessing on functionality. I would think that it would basically search within a given range out from the bot (maybe 8 blocks?) and find the nearest ore deposit. Once if finds a viable deposit, it heads for it, extracts it then repeats the process. The primary problem I see with this method is that the drill bot could very easily end up migrating over a distance of several chunks (horizontally) unless it had some 'tether' or 'beacon' back at the surface that it used to maps its movement limitations. Without this 'tether point' up at ground level, a Drill-bot with several upgrades to scanning range could easily end up migrating dozens of chunks distance, jumping from one ore deposit to the next.

"Teleportation / Silent Miner" - This one I really see as the best on numerous fronts. Place a single block or multiblock structure (your choice based upon how difficult you want to it be) and set it for how large a radius you want it to work within. Once it has a search radius.. and power.. it basically makes a 'grid search' of the top level of terrain one level beneath it. Once it finishes 'scanning' that layer, it then drops one block height and repeats until it finds any ore. (Basically.. repeat the scanning and movement of a Buildcraft Quarry but without the gigantic gaping hole in the ground.) An optional upgrade you could try to add in is the ability for the Silent Miner to recognize 'ore veins' (i.e. similar ore types within 1 block distance from the starting point) and pull entire veins out. This could increase efficiency and yield while diminishing missed ore at the 'edges' of the scanning range.

Whichever method you end up going with (tho personally I'm really hoping for method #2, teleportation), I very strongly believe that you will make Mekanism EXTREMELY server-friendly if your auto-miner does not leave massive holes / tunnels in the landscape. Minimal environmental impact, feasibly with minimal lag creation as well, would easily make the MekMiner the most popular auto-miner on multiplayer servers.

Does this help, Aidan?

 

[Vaygrim]

I would like to make sure and stress that while I love the operation setup of the MFR Laser Drill, I do not like the fact that it is basically creating 'free resources' in exchange for power... instead of actually mining and removing the resources from the map. I firmly believe that if the MekMiner works similar to the MFR Laser Drill (minimal environmental impact), it should actualy search for and MINE resources.. not just randomly create 'free resources'.

 

[Zenthon_127]

"Teleportation / Silent Miner" - This one I really see as the best on numerous fronts. Place a single block or multiblock structure (your choice based upon how difficult you want to it be) and set it for how large a radius you want it to work within. Once it has a search radius.. and power.. it basically makes a 'grid search' of the top level of terrain one level beneath it. Once it finishes 'scanning' that layer, it then drops one block height and repeats until it finds any ore. (Basically.. repeat the scanning and movement of a Buildcraft Quarry but without the gigantic gaping hole in the ground.) An optional upgrade you could try to add in is the ability for the Silent Miner to recognize 'ore veins' (i.e. similar ore types within 1 block distance from the starting point) and pull entire veins out. This could increase efficiency and yield while diminishing missed ore at the 'edges' of the scanning range.

I'm just imagining some crazy four-legged 3x3x2 drilling contraption for some reason:

Spoiler

I made this ugly piece of crap with steel multiblocks, but I hope it gives the main idea of what I'm thinking of: four legs, (animated?) drill at the bottom, cool-looking animated thing in the middle, ejects out the top. Obviously the color/legs are absolutely terrible and we need a place to input power (maybe the legs could accept power, or remove one of them to have an power input side), but this is just my idea.

 

[Vaygrim]

I'm just imagining some crazy four-legged 3x3x2 drilling contraption for some reason:

Spoiler

View attachment 8311

I made this ugly piece of crap with steel multiblocks, but I hope it gives the main idea of what I'm thinking of: four legs, (animated?) drill at the bottom, cool-looking animated thing in the middle, ejects out the top. Obviously the color/legs are absolutely terrible and we need a place to input power (maybe the legs could accept power, or remove one of them to have an power input side), but this is just my idea.

I must admit Zenthon, I feel sorry for the player that gets stuck under that creation of yours! Yikes! Haha!

 

[Yusunoha]

will the ores be silktouched or will you need a special upgrade for silk touch? because silk touch would be handy to keep the number of blocks to a low number, so you don't need a very large storage setup which would help with the portability of the setup

 

[Steel]

will the ores be silktouched or will you need a special upgrade for silk touch? because silk touch would be handy to keep the number of blocks to a low number, so you don't need a very large storage setup which would help with the portability of the setup

I second the request for a silk-touch upgrade.