Overview
TerraTech crafting is a little unintuitive and fraught with bugs. This covers everything, from the most basic Crafty Mike lessons, to advanced tips and tricks for quickly and easily fabricating everything you could want!
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β1βΊ “Crafty Business I” – Receivers, Conveyors, Refining, Selling
Receivers pick up resource chunks, passing them to Conveyors that move them, Orbital Delivery Canons sell them and Refineries convert them into more valuable refined chunks.
π Receivers pick up loose resources within their short grab range, or from Collectors on separate, allied techs (not from the same tech).
π Resources can be placed directly on, or taken off, Conveyor blocks manually.
π Conveyor direction can be reversed by right clicking anywhere on a length of 2 or more connected Conveyor blocks that form a continuous path.
π Conveyor blocks will still connect when one is rotated edge on to the other, even upside down, provided they are edge to edge, not edge to top or bottom. This permits 3D routes. (See section 9 for a full list of which crafting blocks have limited orientations.)
π Conveyors normally move resources at exactly 1 block per second.
π» Bug – Contiguous Conveyor lines may become split, with direction not changing along its whole length. This might occasionally cause the game to hang when changing the direction of a glitched Conveyor. It may well be the result of a new ‘Undo’ bug. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
π Orbital canons dispatch resources at half that speed – 1 block every 2 seconds.
π» Bug – Refineries only take 5 chunks consecutively before pausing for 1 second, when connected as shown in “Crafty Business I”, above (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]). This potentially causes some resources to bypass them on a conveyor. See section 5 for more details.
πTherefore, Mike’s example selling base would have been better with the Refinery placed in a break in a conveyor, to ensure all chunks must get processed before reaching the Delivery Canon.
π Raw Plumbite Ore sells for 18BB (Block Bucks), compared to 27BB for refined Plumbia Ingots, which is a gain in value of 50%.
π All 11 resources have the same percentage mark-up, but their raw base prices vary greatly, as follows:
π Turning refined resources into components also increases the sell price – approximately 25% per tier, up to double, for “Exotic” components. Please see Potato’s spreadsheet[docs.google.com] for those prices and mark-ups, via this forum thread[forum.terratechgame.com].
β2βΊ “Crafty Business II” – Silos, Fabricators
Silos store resources and can send them down a conveyor to a Fabricator that’s requesting them as part of a recipe for a block it is making.
π Silos and conveyors continue to work as normal when their tech is unanchored.
π»However, GSO Silos may lose resources at high speed (e.g. flying faster than about 80mph) or during sudden jerking motions.
π Picking up and replacing a Silo is a quick way to empty it. Or send the entire tech to inventory!
π Silos also work fine when placed sideways or upside down.
π Conveyors (and other Components) still interface with Silos provided they are edge on.
π» Bug – Silo (and Collector) contents may appear to glitch out and then quickly be pulled back in from the location (on the ground) from which they were picked up, once, after a mobile tech re-anchors (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π» Bug – Silo (and collector) contents may appear to flip, once, after resuming from a game reload (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π Resources passing on adjacent Conveyors will be pulled into a Silo if there is space, unless the resource is being requested by a Fabricator (or Component Factory).
π Silo corners can only accept one resource chunk per second (on normal speed). So if chunks are being presented to both attach points, simultaneously, one will have to wait until the other has cleared, before the Silo can take it, too.
π Resources can be taken from both sides of a Silo corner simultaneously.
π Resources stored in Silos (and on Conveyors) on anchored techs are able to pass through blocks on that tech without collision.
π This physics simplification means resources in storage cause less FPS loss than when loose, on the ground.
π Silos can be stacked so that their contents intersect!
π» Bug – Silos drop a portion of their stored resource chunks when a save is reloaded, or the base is returned to after being temporarily unloaded from the game (over ~600m). It’s repeatable, but the pattern and cause is not understood. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]) Looks like this may have been fixed in 1.0.
π Fabricators can not accept any resources unless they match a recipe they are trying to craft.
π Fabrication resources are requested in sequence, but can be accepted in any order.
π» Input resources are destroyed if Fabrication is cancelled half way through, or the Fabricator is picked up or removed from the tech.
π»Bug – Clicking “Craft” too quickly, before the previous block is spat out, will cancel the previous block and sometimes waste a second set of resources too (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π»Bug – Fabricated blocks may get stuck inside their Fabricator (particularly GSO Solar Generators). This has been seen to cause a game crash on very rare occasions. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
πFabrication is paused when when the tech is unanchored, but progress is retained. Also upon game save and reload.
π»Bug – Fabricators continue to request resources when tech is unanchored, but can not accept any inputs, potentially causing chaos. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
π» Bug – Fabricators hang upon reloading a save or returning to an area that was unloaded, over 500m away (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]). Fabricator (or Component Factory) may have taken all ingredient chunks but be refusing to spit out the block. Fix by ‘rebooting’ the crafting AI by removing and re-adding any block anywhere on the tech.
β3βΊ “Crafty Business III” – Filters, Generators
Filter Conveyors can selectively pluck resources from a conveyor, based on their current selection. This is made by either placing a chunk on the Filter or right clicking for it’s UI wheel. Generators can burn certain resource types as fuel (e.g. Fiberwood, Oleite and Carbite), charging batteries to power shields.
π Filters work sideways too, like conveyors.
π» Bug – The red and green direction indicator triangles always render horizontally, even when a crafting block is on its side (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π Filters will pull resources out from Silos they are connected to, unlike conveyors.
π Filters (and Alternators) have an order of precedence when multiple resource types can be taken, opting for the lowliest type first (i.e. wood, then…).
π»Bug – A Filter will fail to pull 1 in 3 consecutive resource chunks off a Conveyor if it is outputting them onto another Conveyor. Outputting directly into a Silo avoids this problem (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π»Bug – Filter outputs don’t pass resources to directly connected inputs of anchored crafting blocks, if they are connected while the tech is not anchored. Or if the tech is loaded from an unanchored snapshot. Fix this by removing and reattaching the Filter(s). (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
π Fabricators can order and receive resources through filters, provided their filter setting is compatible. (Not generally advised.)
βΉοΈ Filters do not push resources, so can not be used to put them onto Collectors or Receivers.
π»Generators continue to burn resources even when the tech is fully charged, wasting them.
π Fuel resources that can be burned (raw/refined): Wood/Fibron, Carbius/Carbite and Olastic/Oleite.
Charge figures accurate to Β±0.1 (GSO batteries). Time accurate to the nearest second, except for variations of Β±2s in Carbite and Carbius burning times. (Google Docs Spreadsheet here[docs.google.com].)
* 0.8.2 note: Venture battery capacity was buffed to be worth 1 whole GSO battery, and the new Hawkeye batteries are about 2.3.
π Pacemakers can speed up or slow down generators. However…
π»Bug – Generators waste a lot of charge from a string of consecutive fuel chunks when a the Pacemaker is set to ‘Turbo’. This appears to be because they are consumed faster, but charge is created in the same length bursts as normal, which overlap. Burning chunks manually, one at a time, produces the expected amount of charge. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
β4βΊ “Crafty Business IV” – Auto-miners
Auto-miners can be used to extract certain resources (like Oliete) from seams that are found under special rocks.
π About 1000 960 resource chunks can be extracted from each seam (before it disappears).
π Auto-miners have a dial on the side with a tiny black needle that indicates how depleted the seam below is.
π Auto-miners extract 1 chunk every 30 seconds.
π So 8 hours 20 minutes to deplete a seam with one Auto-miner. 4h10m with two. 2h45m with 3. 2h05m with 4.
π 4 Auto-miners is currently the maximum number per seam. Achieved by positioning all their anchor stems as close to the centre of a resource seam as possible. (Ignore the auger drill animation.) Deploy a pre-made tech to make this process easier (see description in item’s Steam workshop for instructions):
π Auto-miners keep track of how long they have been in place, while you are away. They then pay out all the chunks they should have produced, upon you returning to their area, at a higher rate of 1 every 10 seconds. (Previous rate was a far more rapid 4 per second, prior to 0.7.8.3.)
π» Several hundred extracted resources, sitting loose, can create a large CPU burden that greatly lowers game FPS (AKA ‘lag’). This can happen while they remain out of sight, beyond maximum draw distance, but are only a problem while loaded in, within about 600m of the player’s tech. (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π Mining is the best way to get rich easily, particularly when setting up a refining/selling operation on a cluster of Erudite seams, which are currently plentiful.
See this video at 18:34 for an Erudite money farming tutorial:
β5βΊ”Craftier Business I” – Refining for Fabrication
Refineries will automatically take or ignore passing resources on their way to a Fabricator, depending on which type is being requested.
π» Bug – 6 or more consecutive raw resource chunks will apparently overwhelm a Refinery, causing it to pause for one second, allowing unrefined chunks past (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]). Also mentioned above.
βΉοΈ This can cause blockages when unsuitable resources reach a Fabricator on a Conveyor dead-end.β
π Looping the Conveyor system (as shown by Mike) is a viable work around for this problem, and some others.β (May cause other problems, later.)
π A second, adjacent Refinery can help here, catching raw chunks that slip past the first. (Not perfect, and causes other problems, currently.)
π One piece of Conveyor on the Refinery output’s second side, feeding back onto a main line (at the front) will βfix this.
Note, this only functions in conjunction with a Fabricator calling the shots, it will still jam when passively bulk refining, oddly (e.g. for a selling base).
All other broken and functional configurations demonstrated:
π Pre-refining all resources is the most reliable approach, in line with the “Compress to Blocks” advice in section 10.
π Refineries can be attached directly to Silos, either converting everything in-place (without pause), or pulling the chunks out and onto a conveyor, or into another Silo.
π There is a small range of blocks which do require raw resources (graphic below). However, these are all low end GSO and GeoCorp blocks (except the Hawkeye Wing Wheel) – cheap to buy and generally plentiful from destroying enemy techs. The exceptions being Fixed Anchors, Refineries and the new GeoCorp Bumpers (currently uncommon in the tech population).
Wood, Rubber Jelly, Luxite, Plumbite and Titanite are the main resources that are ever used raw. These are all harvestable in Grasslands, Desert and Mountains. Refineries are ironically awkward to craft, requiring Carbite, from Salt Flats or an Ice biome.β
π» Bug – When multiple Refineries are accessible to a Fabricator, the allocated Refinery may alternate between them, each second, causing Silo dispatch dither and other problems (report 1[forum.terratechgame.com], report 2[forum.terratechgame.com]).
β6βΊ”Craftier Business II” – Scrappers
Scrappers can convert blocks back into resource chunks, which allows them to be sold for money.
π Scrappers pick up only blocks of their corporation type.
π Scrappers pick up loose blocks 3 at a time (before a short pause).
βΉοΈ Other blocks may be thrown a long way by those suddenly being picked up from a pile.
π Blocks can be placed manually instead, directly onto their maw, as with SCUs.
π Scrappers will attempt to stack 10-15 blocks above their input (exact number is corporation specific).
βΉοΈ If the stack is too unwieldy, blocks will be dropped (common with big GeoCorp blocks).β
π Scrappers will take blocks held by magnets on other allied techs, but not on the same tech.
π SCUs take priority over scrappers for grabbing loose blocks. But will not take blocks already suspended above a scrapper’s input.
π» Resources from partially scrapped blocks are lost if the scrapper is picked up or removed from the tech.
π But partially complete progress is retained upon de-anchoring the whole tech and game save/reload.β
βΉοΈ The nearest scrapper will take a block, when multiple scrappers on the same tech are in range. However, when pick-up fields on separate techs overlap, the first tech loaded in will take precedence over all blocks (grabbing up to 3 at a time).
π»Bug – Anchored scrappers continue to function after a tech is unanchored (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π»Bug – Scrappers drop some of their held blocks on world reload, and regurgitate scrapped blocks in their internal buffer (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π»Bug – Scrappers can sometimes drop resource chunks from an anchored base, as they are output. E.g. when transitioning directly to the top of a Silo stack, with pacemaker on Turbo. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
π»Bug – Similarly, Resource chunk from a (Hawkeye) Scapper may get stuck inside it. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
βΉοΈ This is because resources are able to collide with blocks on the crafting tech during the one tick immediately as they exit from a crafting block (i.e. Scrapper, Refinery, Component Factory), even on an anchored tech, which they will normally pass straight through.
π All blocks cost 3 times the value of selling their scrapped component chunks. (When bought from Trade Stations and Payload Terminals.)
π This includes Compressed Resource Blocks which provide refined chunks at 3 times their sell price.
π Better value is to buy low tier blocks made of unrefined chunks, because refining adds a 50% mark-up.β
β7βΊ “Craftier Business III” – Component Factories
Component Factories are needed to turn resources into Components that are used by Fabricators for more advanced block types. These Factories can automatically order Resources from Silos and command Refiners in the same way as Fabricators. They can also be automatically controlled by Fabricators.
π Components can be made manually (by right clicking a Factory), or automatically on demand, during block Fabrication.
π Dongles must be directly connected to a Component Factory to enable it to make that tier of Component, or directly connected to a Dongle that is (in a stack).
π Dongles can be shared by 2 Component Factories if properly placed.β
π»Higher level dongles do not enable the making of Components in the tiers below (but basic level Components are always possible).
π A Fabricator will need a series of at least 4 Component Factories, feeding it, to make Exotic Components for top tier blocks. Examples: “Compact All Crafter” or “CFS Perhonen” (on Steam Workshop, or Section 11, below) or @Zed’s “YAFF 400[forum.terratechgame.com]” (snapshot image here):
βΉοΈ The auto-crafting AI is not smart enough to temporarily store sub-components in Silos or on looped conveyors.β
π Fabricators send for ingredient components in order, starting from the left of their list, simplest first. As do Component Factories, with their sub-components, which they can order one at a time.
π Before the crafting AI will show a Component in production, a Component Factory must see one other available Component Factory, upstream of it, that is capable of making the tier of sub-Component it needs. This dependency back-propagates up the Conveyor line in a chain, requiring 1 additional Component factory for each additional tier of end Component required.
The number of Component Factories required in a chain to make each level of Component is:
Basic = 1. Advanced = 2. Complex = 3. Exotic = 4.
π Below – diagrammatic setup showing the branching chain of sub-Components needed to make a ‘Gluon Beam’ (Exotic Component, far right):
π»Bug – A Fabricator, and it’s Component Factories, often need to ‘see’ a Refinery upstream on their conveyor, to order Exotic (top tier) components. Also, to visibly allocate Factories, when resources are missing (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π» Fabricators will not work when they are connected via Conveyor off-spurs, it must be on the same, unbroken line as Component Factories and Refineries. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com].) Unless a Filter is there to pull resources off the main line for it (which may well cause other problems).
π Silos, however, work fine when connected via tributary Conveyor spurs.
π»Bug – Conveyor loops (or very long lines) with many connected Component Factories and/or Refineries and Silos will cause the game to hang for a couple of seconds when starting fabrication. Also when changing blocks anywhere on the tech while a Fabricator is running (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]). Tip – use a Pacemaker to pause your crafting tech to avoid these hangs while making modifications, if you can’t cancel fabrication.
π»Bug – Component Factories sometimes request additional resources, e.g. when they have already received them (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π This bug will happen when the Fabricator block was added to the tech before the Component Factory (credit to Klilidiplomus – here[forum.terratechgame.com]). Fix – remove and re-add the Fabricator(s).
π»Bug – resources sometimes skip past Component Factories for no apparent reason (seemingly non-deterministic). This was previously seen more while Fabricating using a high density setup with Pacemaker set to “Turbo”. (E.g. with “OptiCFS Godzilla” crafting tech, section 11.)β This may have become more common after the 0.8.0 update – long, looped Conveyor lines cause bad cases of this, now. (Forum report[forum.terratechgame.com])
π»Bug – Component Factories with blocked outputs will continuously request more input resources they are unable to accept, sending them down the conveyor (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]). Fix – terminate the input conveyor at the Component Factory’s input port, so the requested resources remain ‘visible’ to it, while stalled en-route.
π»Bug – Component Factories and Fabricators will steal Resources/Components away from other active crafting blocks on the same conveyor. The first attached Fabricator appears to take precedence.
π»Bug – adding more Dongles to certain minimal Component Factory setups will cause them to stop working (e.g. “Compact Crafter” example tech, below).
π»Bug – Component Factories can delete input resources if their target Component is (automatically) switched, under certain edge cases where other problems are occupying with a crafting system (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
β8βΊ Not mentioned! – Collectors, Pacemakers, Droppers, Alternators, Anchoring
The bits Crafty Mike forgot, or didn’t know about yet…
π Collectors pick up loose resource chunks over a wider radius than Receivers.
π Collectors relinquish held resources to Receivers on allied techs, but not on the same tech.
π» Fabricators can not order resources to be dispatched from Collectors, down conveyors.
π Filter and Alternator Conveyors can pull selected resources from Collectors, as will Refineries, Component Factories and Fabricators, if their input port is directly connected.
The GSO level 2 “Thimble Collector” has a grab radius about twice that of the Receiver, so far superior for use on selling bases, like this (here on Steam Workshop).
πThe small Venture and Hawkeye Collectors have no attach points on their sides, so can no output to a crafting system.
π Silos will pull resources from adjacent collectors, provided they are edge on (can be sideways). Used in “Harvester Bricker (V2)” example tech, below.
π Have 4 speed settings that control all crafting blocks on the tech they are connected to: Pause, Slow, Normal and Turbo (right click UI menu wheel).
π Normal = 1 operation per second (i.e. chunks move 1 conveyor block per second).
π Slow = 1 operation every 4 seconds (helpful for debugging your build).
π Turbo = 4 operations per second (essential for timely crafting).
π Pause = zero operations (allows editing a crafting setup without making a mess).
π»Pause (or slow) can cause a block, just fabricated, to appear to hang in mid-air on it’s way out.
π»Bug – Speed setting is not currently stored in snapshots or restored upon Undo of Pacemaker detachment (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π»Bug – Turbo speed can exacerbate problems with crafting setups dropping resources to the ground: e.g. particularly when they’re exiting Refineries, Scrappers or Component Factories directly into a full Silo (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]). Using a (single) Conveyor block between outputs and Silo storage generally resolves this.
πPacemakers do no speed up Auto-miners, Generators, Collectors or Receivers (which always pick up extremely quickly).
π Release resource chunks from a crafting system’s holding beams, simply dropping them.
π Droppers do not pull resources from Silos, so a Filter Conveyor will also be need to supply the dropper and empty a Silo.
πIt is also possible to scrape chunks off Conveyors by blocking their progress very effectively. On unanchored tech, this can be with blocks that are part of the same tech. Resources on anchored techs will only interact with blocks from another tech.
π Alternators send chunks from their input to one of their 3 possible outputs, in turn, like dealing cards.
π Output directions are only active when there is a crafting block connected that is able to receive a chunk (e.g. Conveyor, Silo, Refinery).
π If an output block is already occupied by a chunk, the Alternator will stay stuck, trying to output in that direction until there is space, before outputting to any other outputs.
π Will function as a Filter Conveyor set to “All“, when only one output is connected. But with the benefits of: (a) no user interface overlay clutter. (b) can output sideways.
π»Bug – The input/output arrows are rendered in the wrong orientation when Alternators (or Filters) are placed sideways, or upside down (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]).
π Alternators can be used to split a continuous flow of resources 2 or 3 (or more) different ways, e.g. to sell half of mined resources and Fabricate the other half into Compressed Bricks for later use.
π A string of Alternators will act as a binary counter (or ternary[en.wikipedia.org], with return Conveyors on both sides). Demonstration video:
Bigger, semi-useful version shown at 19m45s in my ΰΈΏΰΈΏ1Bn Speedrun video.
π To function, all Fabricators need to be on a tech that is currently anchored. As do Component Factories, Scrappers and and all Refineries except Venture’s.
π Full crafting bases can be made mobile using the anchoring/un-anchoring feature.
π» Failure to anchor can cause your tech to jerk violently, spilling stored resources. (Partially fixed, now.)
π Anchor down from Build Beam for a smoother crafting base deployment.
β
π Anchoring enables physics optimisations that disable collisions between the tech’s blocks and resources. So, un-anchoring can make an enormous mess if your base utilises stacked Silos, with intersecting resources – when these are then pushed out of position and thrown everywhere.
β9βΊ Advanced Tips
π Conveyors are delicate, but the larger crafting blocks have a lot of health; Component Factories are almost twice as tough as the 2×2 GeoCorp Small Shock Plating, so are viable for use as amour!(Although very heavy.)
π Resource chunks held in Silos, etc, can block your tech’s weapons from firing (no line of sight). They’re also impervious to enemy damage (and immovable), so can be used as shielding. Plus they weigh nothing when suspended.
π Order of precedence – At a conveyor junction, where a chunk could go multiple directions, e.g. pulled by 2 or 3 different Filters (or 2 to 3 Silos), the block that was attached to your tech first will take the chunk. You can specify this by taking off and replacing the others.
π Turn things sideways and upside down! e.g. Silos, Conveyors, Component Factories, non-GSO Scrappers, all the latest crafting blocks – including GeoCorp and Hawkeye refineries and delivery canons! Full list:
β10βΊ General Crafting Bugs
π» Bug – When a tech is split in two, all the Silos on the secondary tech drop all their resources and all Crafting blocks loose their settings (Filters, etc).
π» Bug – Very large techs (e.g. over-sized crafting bases) may sometimes experience a visible offset between where their blocks appear and where their Crafting user interface elements and suspended resource chunks appear (forum report[forum.terratechgame.com]). Fix by re-anchoring the tech.
π»Fabricators and Component Factories have a limit on how far they can control along conveyors. So crafting blocks at the ends of very long Conveyors may not function with automatic crafting. Each Component Factory or Refinery on a Conveyor shortens this maximum distance. Conveyor loops with these parts attached limit things even further. (Forum thread[forum.terratechgame.com])
The little white spark will not animate on crafting components that are beyond range. See this forum ‘Community Help’ thread[forum.terratechgame.com] (by Twigjack) for some hard numbers on the distances.
π» Bug – Resources dither when entering Silos (and sometimes some other crafting components, like Furnace Generators), appearing to enter multiple times in quick succession. This can be caused by a high load on the GPU (from a lot of techs in a world, or external program use).
β11βΊ Best Practices – Heuristics for Better Crafting:
An enormous rainbow array of big Silos stacked with Resources looks impressive, but can cause more problems than it’s worth:
βΉοΈ FPS slowdown (AKA ‘lag’) – Even with game engine optimisations for Resources in Silos on anchored techs, a massive base with many hundred resource chunks is going to slow down your frame rate.
βΉοΈ Travel time – The more spread out crafting ingredients are, the longer they will take to traverse Conveyors to the essential processing stages. Each block length is another second on your fabrication time (or 1/4 second on Turbo). A delay repeated for each successive fabrication step, depending on number of Component Factories.
βΉοΈ Problem Filters – 1 in 3 consecutive Resources will slip past a Filter, unless it’s pushing direct to a Silo. Using them as part of a big loop to sort resources back to a storage array may also introduce resource dispatch dither. Better to keep complexity down.
π Halve the number of Resource types you have to deal with (from 22 to 11).
π Bypass any potential Refinery glitches, mentioned above (Sections 1 and 5).
π There are no crafting recipes that use raw Celestite, Erudite, Ignite or Rodite, and only the GSO and CeoCorp Refinery blocks require Olite and Carbite.β (See info-graphic in Section 5.)
π You should have loads of the basic blocks (made with raw ingredients), from destroying enemies. You can also buy unlimited quantities of them (e.g. GSO One Block) very cheaply. So scrap some of these for the unrefined chunks to make others (like Fixed Anchors, Refineries, etc), if you really feel the need. You could even load a small, dedicated tech, e.g. from earlier in campaign, just for this purpose.
π If scrapping or collecting resources – insert them straight into a big Silo with a Refinery directly attached. Then use a Filter to pass out only refined chunks to your crafting system (and maybe pre-made components).
π Use Fabricators to immediately store all mined (or harvested) resources into your SCU inventory.
π Then simply scrap the Compressed Resource Blocks, as needed, into a couple of mixed feeder Silos; short Conveyors means reduced Fabrication time, every time. Also, less chance of crafting AI related game engine stress.
π GSO (or Venture) Resource Blocks are recommended, earlier on, as they contain a manageable number of chunks:
Venture = 8, GSO = 24, Hawkeye = 64, GeoCorp 120.
π Alternatively, for a larger crafting base, use an array of Scrappers, one for each resource, which feed into the small GSO Node Silos. These act as output buffers, serving the conveyor system, while taking up minimal space and CPU resources. One compressed block, floating in the grip of a scrapper, can supply many resources! (See “CFS Perhonen” example tech below.)
π Convert bonus compressed resource blocks, from other Corporations, into the same denomination you use on your main crafting tech. (E.g. from mission rewards, enemy drops.) Sell any left over ‘loose change’, you can get more easy enough.
π Setup next to a trade station that sells a good selection of blocks and buy up a supply using some of your amassed money! (See below.) Ironically, it has become easier to buy the supposedly common resources (particularly Plumbite, Titanite, Luxite) and mine the rare, more valuable ones.β
π Find a well placed clutch of Erudite seams and Auto-mine the heck out of them, selling most of the Refined chunks for lots of cash. (Brick a few, too.)
π This works with any of the more valuable crystal resources, but Erudite seams are more numerous and accessible early game.
βΉοΈ If you are beyond 500-600 meters of a mining base for a long period, there will be an eruption of mined resources when you return, within that range. This can slow frame rates to a crawl, with all the collision physics.
π Place a base there, with large Collectors/Silos that can quickly grab up the loose chunks off the ground as fast as possible. Use a Pacemaker set to Turbo, of course. βRefine everything as fast as possible, with 2 Delivery Canons per Refinery, optimally.
β12βΊ Compressed Crafting Example Techs
Images, below, are fully functional tech snapshots that can be used by downloading the “.png” files and adding them to your “Snapshots” folder. (In Windows 10 – “C:Users[Windows_Username]DocumentsMy GamesTerraTech“).
Or follow the links to see and Subscribe to them via Steam Workshop (introduced in TerraTech Unstable 0.7.8.1). You’ll currently need to load and re-snapshot them via Creative, to have access in Campaign.
A minimalist example. Maybe useful while out and about, in a pinch. Feed one of each Venture compressed block to the scrapper, and replace the Fabricator with which ever Corp you want.
It’s available on Steam Workshop. Snapshot:
This simple, flattened layout (like a pinned out butterfly, under glass) epitomises the recommended way of using Compressed Resource Blocks in 11 dedicated scrappers, in place of large Silos. It has the same, minimal, 4 Component Factory setup as the most basic all-crafter, above. (This can be extended, of course.)
It’s available on Steam Workshop with full instructions there. Snapshot:
It’s the main feature of episode 5 of my crafting playthrough, with tutorials on the scrapper system and Component Factory setup:
More compact version of the Perhonen base, reconfigured for potability: crafting core on Steam Workshop. Example GSVs using this core: (1) Bora Horza 2 | (2) Gobuchul.
This video summarises (with voice-over) the key aspects of the Perhonen design and tutorials building and using the mobile version:
The very top end of manufacturing capability. It’s unlikely you’d ever want more crafting capacity than this! A spine of GeoCorp Scrappers, with depletion indicators, feeds a vertically stacked Node Silo core. This in-turn serves the 3 parallel production lines that each utilise 3D positioning of Component Factories in a optimally dense and fast configuration.
Full details here on Steam Workshop. Snapshot:
Obviously, to have Compressed Resources Blocks for your CFS Crafters, it helps to be able to make a whole load! This GSO Lv4, GeoCorp Lv1 tech is a bulk collector with twin, independent Fabricator lines that make GSO blocks. For use in early-mid game onwards. It’s suited for quick collection from (messy) Auto-miner sites or harvesting all destructible resources in any biome!
Full details here on Steam Workshop. Snapshot:
Full video tutorial on this and a bigger, more late game design (Crafting Playthrough Ep11):
These automatically compress mined resources into Resource blocks, sucking those straight into inventory, via SCUs. You will often need to extend their input conveyors to reach all the Auto-miners in a cluster. Need to remain within ~500m of player to be loaded in and processing resources.
βΊ” AutoBrickSell 2X” – processes two resource types simultaneously, selling 1/4 of each. Here on Steam Workshop.
β “4xAutoMineBricker” – built in Auto-miners for a compact single resource solution, bricks all resource chunks. Here on Steam Workshop.
βΊ “AutoMineBrickSell” – An all-in-one solution that also sells 1/4 of mined resource chunks and all resources chunks of other types. Here on Steam Workshop.
Full tutorial of setting these up in campaign in this playthrough video:
Pretty straight forwards – scrap resource blocks you’ve acquired for other corporations, turning them into the type you use on your Fabrication tech. This is set up with GSO Fabricators, ready for use with the CFS Perhonen. Ideally there would be no Conveyors at all, but they are currently needed to prevent resources being dropped when transitioning directly from a scrapper to a full Silo (bug).
Full details here on Steam Workshop. Snapshot:
A two channel scrapping base that automatically turns all extracted (or collected) resource chunks into GSO Compressed Resource Blocks, selling all Components in parallel. Will automatically convert from other corporation’s Compressed Resource Blocks. It’s two channel, with 2 arrays of Filters for double the throughput of a simpler setup.
Full details here on Steam Workshop. Snapshot:
β13βΊ Silo Storage Crafters
For those players who absolutely must have a crafting base that stores collected or salvaged resources in Silo arrays, here you go, these should work adequately. π
The most basic functional base (of this type) that I can conceive of. Resources go in one end, Fabrication happens at the other. One conveyor line in between, so it’s slow to fill it and simply sells any excess resources.
More details and instructions on it’s workshop page. Snapshot image:
This design somewhat abuses the ‘physics optimisation’ of anchored bases to intersect the contents of many Silos. It is a rearrangement of DerNiepe’s original design, which can be found here on the Workshop: “Simple StackedProd”.
He also has a larger variant with dual fabrication lines, that can store all Components in separate Silo stacks, too: “Scrap N Craft All V6″.
Additional note: DerNiepe should also be credited with showing me that 4 Component Factories, set up in this way, can be functional for crafting any block. As well as being the first example of stacked Silos I’d seen, and Node Silos as indicator arrays.
More details and operation instructions on it’s workshop page. Snapshot image:
β14βΊ F.A.Q.
π Crafty Mike – will give you the blocks from his example setups for free (see sections 1 -7).
π Trade stations – sell a randomised selection of all the blocks you are currently allowed (must be high enough level and have discovered each block). Unlimited Conveyors available for cheap!
π Craft them! – Once you have a compressed crafting base set up, and have a small supply of resources from each biome, this should be a great option. Blocks can be ‘discovered’ by crafting them. Best way to get the high end dongles, for example. Or to acquire a lot of Auto-miners.
π Quest rewards – randomised loot in those crate drops. Usually Corporation specific to the quest.
π Capture the base missions – often give you crafting bases as the objective and prize (although often these are more turret like, later on).
π Enemy techs and invaders – crafting parts on mobile enemies are fairly rare, Component Factories virtually unheard of. But Collectors, Receivers, Conveyors, Silos occur quite a lot.
π Manually – right click to download one of the tech image snapshots above, then move the “.png” file to the “Snapshots” folder of TerraTech’s root directory. E.g. Steam’s default path on Windows 10 is: “C:Users[Windows User]DocumentsMy GamesTerraTechSnapshots“.
π Steam Workshop – ‘Subscribe’ to an item via it’s Steam Workshop page (see links). Go to Creative mode in TerraTech. Click the Load button (bottom left of screen). Load from “Workshop” tab. Re-snapshot the tech, so it will now be stored as a local snapshot with your own techs, in the directory stated, above. Load as normal in Campaign.
Note: you will need to remove any blocks from the tech that you don’t yet have in your play-through, before re-snapshotting.
Please ask below, or on the forum.
β15βΊ Updates & Acknowledgements:
Added the 4 different Auto-miner Bricker setups I showed in Episode 6 of my crafting playthrough to the section 12 examples.
β’ Crafting fixes still aren’t scheduled in.
β’ I’ve tweaked a couple bug notes.
β’ Added a new Component Factory setup diagram, to make clear how Dongle must chain.
β’ Updated the CFS Perhonen design and embedded my video about it.
β’ Added 2 Silo storage crafting tech examples to a new section (13).
β’ We’ve been told by the devs {here on the forum[forum.terratechgame.com]} that crafting will, unfortunately, not be fixed for version 1.0 release, so…
β’ I’ve removed a couple of bugs that were fixed and added about 10 new ones to the guide, plus a couple diagrams and a fancy banner at the top.
This Guide was copied (at length) from where it was composed here on the official TerraTech forum[forum.terratechgame.com].There may be some more comments there.
Please tell me about any errors or major oversights.π This was intended as groundwork for possible future YouTube videos (see https://www.youtube.com/c/ZeroGravitas).
β’ Zargn – for providing me with a very handy set of Crafty Mike mission save game files, saving me a lot of time.π
β’ Streak1 – for uploading the block thumbnails to the official Wiki, which I used for all the info-graphics, above.
β’ HAL – for creating the TerraTech logo font that I used to assemble the banner, above. See their post on the forum[forum.terratechgame.com].
β’ Layer1 – for proof reading and a few suggestions[forum.terratechgame.com].
β’ Everyone who’s made bug report posts, helping to pin down these issues.