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Author Topic: On the subject of iterative/chained filling via minecarts  (Read 792 times)

Fleeting Frames

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On the subject of iterative/chained filling via minecarts
« on: December 12, 2020, 10:59:05 pm »

Sometimes you have an automatic minecart magma lift. Sometimes you have a big pile of magma-filled minecarts. In either case, it is not useful to pour the magma in same place. Now, usually one does each route stop by hand, thus having dwarf hauling handle the last trip. But this requires attention and jointly-timed preparation.

Might there be another way?

Here I present a design for chain-filling smelter holes, based on "bounce back if full" design:

Track (Track/Ramps in red, with carts to be placed on NW ramp):

||

Using lowest friction track stops.

1. Cart:

||

2. Cart:

||

3. Cart:

||

4. Cart:

||

As a result every hole has precisely 4/7 magma in it. The input speed doesn't matter a great deal - as long as the cart makes the turn, it'll work out. More important is ensuring the carts aren't moved afterwards, so they can seal in the spots.

Advantage of this design is that it can be made entirely with digging and smoothing in stone layers, beyond the two already-necessary track stops. One can also easily see how to vary the amount of magma dumped in each individual hole.

PS: In particular cases, one can manage with just the initial 2 ramps. For example:

||

(High friction stop on first, lowest friction stop on second, iron carts.)

||

Case 2: Obsidian-casting trenches

Sometimes one needs to win a bit of land from aquifer or ocean.

Using cart jumps and collisions to place carts in a row is compact little idea:

||

Allowing one to obsidian-cast trench one by one.

||

Above example had highest-friction track stops. However, if one primed the system with a cart, one could use minimum-friction ones, where each further cart was redirected back to be refilled with magma.


Counting tiles as ▼1234..., number of tiles flown after channel:

▲╚ Tiles flown
1   1
2   2
3   3
4   4
5   5
...

Problem is:

||

Will not work, as 4+ ramps results in magma being shotgunned out of cart on collision with cart in front.

You can also fill in ramps every 5 like so with a singular cart:

||

||
(As gif shows, speed boost necessary every 2 holes to offset all the corners.)

But problem with that is that it doesn't fill a line.



What other iterative filling approches might one find (useful)?

Is there perhaps way to fill in longer lines?
« Last Edit: December 14, 2020, 03:05:10 pm by Fleeting Frames »
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Schmaven

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Re: On the subject of iterative/chained filling via minecarts
« Reply #1 on: December 13, 2020, 06:36:38 am »

I want to understand these designs, but *whoosh* they just go completely over my head.  I need to get more familiar with minecart systems in general.
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Loud Whispers

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Re: On the subject of iterative/chained filling via minecarts
« Reply #2 on: December 13, 2020, 07:30:55 am »

Might there be another way?

Here I present a design for chain-filling smelter holes, based on "bounce back if full" design
An excellent sales pitch, I'd like to order 5. Can I have them delivered to my mayor's office, preferably above their desk?

In all seriousness though this is a neat mechanism. Normally I just use a pump to fill out long channels of magma

Salmeuk

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Re: On the subject of iterative/chained filling via minecarts
« Reply #3 on: December 14, 2020, 01:29:08 pm »

This is wiki-level tutorial, thank you!

If you are confused at all, FF is describing a method to quickly place magma where needed, with only the use of minecarts and a few simple digging and smoothing designations. The previous method, at least used by *yours truly*, was to micromanage your dwarves as they brought individual carts full of magma to their destinations.

Veerrrry nice.
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