diff --git a/manual.md b/manual.md index 94d2359..d43e320 100644 --- a/manual.md +++ b/manual.md @@ -242,6 +242,10 @@ more than one of the input item: the quantity required is part of the recipe. Centrifuging is only performed by a single machine type, the MV (electrically-powered) centrifuge. +Currently, centrifuging recipes don't appear in the unified_inventory +craft guide, because unified_inventory can't yet handle recipes with +multiple outputs. + Generally, centrifuging separates the input item into constituent substances, but it can only work when the input is reasonably fluid, and in marginal cases it is quite destructive to item structure. @@ -422,15 +426,107 @@ 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. +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. + +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. + +Raw latex isn't used directly. It must be vulcanized to produce finished +rubber. This can be performed by simply cooking the latex, with each +latex lump producing one lump of rubber. If you have an extractor, +however, the latex is better processed there: each latex lump will +produce three lumps of rubber. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. Due to a bug, +the switching station will visually appear to connect to cables on other +sides, but those connections don't do anything. + +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. + +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). + +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. + subjects missing from this manual --------------------------------- This manual needs to be extended with sections on: -* rubber -* electrical networks -* the powered machine types +* the miscellaneous powered machine types * how machines interact with tubes +* the generator types * the mining tools * radioactivity * frames