Automation
Automation is the technique of making a certain process operate with little to no input from the player.
Electricity[edit]
Most machineries require electricity to function. Electricity is created by a Electricity Generator, Lever or Pressure Plate. It can then be spread around either by using Electrical Wire or by placing a machine next to another electrically charged machine. Once a machine is powered, notches on the four sides of the base of the machine will glow yellow.
The following machines require electricity to function:
Electricity is transmitted at full power over a path length of up to 18 conducting tiles from an Electricity Generator, 6 from a Lever or Pressure Plate. It will then fall off in power level over a further length of 5 tiles, causing connected lamps to illuminate less brightly. All machines decrease the transmitted power level by one, as a tile of wire would.
Drills, Arms and Doors all work normally at any power level. Delay Circuits will pass along a lower powered signal. As will Logic Circuits, unless they have a higher power level on another input. In this way, they can act as a relay, boosting the power of a signal. Levers are player activated switches that will pass through generator's higher power signal, as well as generating their own power.
Ore mining[edit]
Examples of Ore Boulder mining setups. The 8-drill example automatically smelts Scarlet Ore into bars.
Because boulders now produce 1800 ore, the output storage of the above (right) Smelter Kiln would fill to 999 and stop working, if not emptied in time. Using another robot arm to empty the output into a Chest would ensure all ore is processed automatically.
Wood farming[edit]
Example of a simple extendable automated Wood farm grown from Root Seeds.
Advanced/Efficient Setup[edit]
While the simple setup is easy to implement, it is not high yielding. The following is a setup that utilizes the growing mechanics of roots for a much higher yield.
This advanced automation does require some setup work, as simply planting the roots and letting them grow can result in gaps in the roots, (as seen below) due to how root plants decide where to place the next growth. Roots will not grow directly beside any other root, so making sure they initially grow in straight lines is important. Because of this, it is helpful to start with a single root to frame the growth paths.
There are limitations in how far the roots from a single root plant can grow, so the main root plant system will need to be added part way through to complete the setup. Make sure these new root plants are planted strategically, so that they do not cause early wood growth further down that will create gaps and prevent complete growth of the roots. After the main root plant system is in place, the root plant used for framing can be removed if desired.
Using this method, much larger and higher yielding root farms can be planted.
See ZeroGravitas's guide, which this was based on, for more in-depth information: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2802836829
Enemy farming[edit]
Example of a very small and inefficient manual mob farm that uses Chrysalis to spawn Larva, Big Larva and Cocoons, for their drops and ranged or melee experience.
Orange Slime farming can most easily be automated by placing any number of Spike Traps in their enclosure. Mobs mostly wander around randomly, and Slimes will aggro on any trap that hits them, causing them to jump on it repeatedly.
Logic Gates[edit]
If you wanna get into electronic circuits and advanced electronics, you need to learn the basics of logic circuits.
Here are all the different truth tables, and a picture representing all of them using the electronic blocks of the game: