Automatically melt water regardless of quality

[fredthedeadhead]

How can I configure a chemical plant to dynamically melt the available ice cubes on the belt, regardless of quality?

Although I am curious how it could be done with circuits, I would prefer avoiding them. They have a very poor UX, are too confusing, hard to debug, difficult to copy-paste, and take up too much room for basic operations.

I want to avoid using bots, because I think they are an uninteresting, inelegant, and power hungry solution.

I am doing this on Fulgora which has absurdly tiny islands, so I have limited space. I have a water shortage so I can't afford to waste water.

I tried looping the belts, but this just eventually clogs.

https://i.imgur.com/yvw9Gy9.png

I tried using a circuit to dynamically set the recipe but I don't have room for this for all factories, and the factories clog with old ingredients.

[Kyralessa]

Are you open to splitter filtering? You could split off the better-than-normal-quality ice cubes and send them to their own chemical plants for melting.

[Tesse11ation]

Without circuit network logic, you won't be able to dynamically set recipes. Your best bet will then be having at least one chem plant per quality type, then using filters on splitters to route the different quality ice.

I have to ask though why you're making quality ice to begin with. It is entirely pointless unless you're using it to make quality space science packs. Fluids don't confer any quality bonus and IIRC, neither does ice.

[jaylawl]

While quality is based on chance it is mathematically predictable. X amount will be uncommon, Y will be rare, and so on. The simplest solution is to just build a few extra chemical plants based on that ratio. This will cost a bit of space, but it saves you the circuitry headache.

[Tesse11ation]

After taking another look at your setup there, I realize you don't even have quality ice.

The best way to melt all the ice on a belt as quickly as possible is just by having enough machines and/or speed modules to keep up with ice supply. Also note that it will back up if your water gets full.

[fredthedeadhead]

Are you open to splitter filtering? You could split off the better-than-normal-quality ice cubes and send them to their own chemical plants for melting.

Thanks, I will try that and report back.

[fredthedeadhead]

I have to ask though why you're making quality ice to begin with. It is entirely pointless unless you're using it to make quality space science packs. Fluids don't confer any quality bonus and IIRC, neither does ice.

I have quality modules in the scrap recyclers to help with making quality ingredients for quality recipes. Unfortunately this produces useless items, like quality ice and holmium ore, that just gums up factories.

[fredthedeadhead]

While quality is based on chance it is mathematically predictable. X amount will be uncommon, Y will be rare, and so on. The simplest solution is to just build a few extra chemical plants based on that ratio. This will cost a bit of space, but it saves you the circuitry headache.

Yes, this makes sense, and what I tried. However, I find that they just eventually get gummed up.

[fredthedeadhead]

After taking another look at your setup there, I realize you don't even have quality ice.

There is definitely quality ice on the belt.

https://i.imgur.com/Y3MYwyp.png

[fredthedeadhead]

Okay, this seems to work.

https://i.imgur.com/T1R4TMO.png

1. When looping the unprocessed ice back use a splitter to prefer the previously looped ice.
2. Use a selector to randomly select a recipe. Most of the time it's the wrong recipe, but at least it will eventually unblock the belt, I only need two circuit boxes, and it only one machine per belt needs to be dedicated to dealing with the annoying quality clogging so the rest can be dedicated to unflavoured ice.

I'm disappointed that setting the recipes requires so many complicated circuits, and clogs the machine with old ingredients. Quality is such an irritating hassle to deal with.


EDIT urgh never mind, this doesn't work, it still gets clogged.

[Kyralessa]

Try this:

Make a splitter that splits off the higher-than-normal quality ice. Put that on a loop and around the loop have one of each chemical plant, for uncommon ice, rare ice, etc.

Then your main belt (which doesn't need a loop) goes to several chemical plants that melt normal-quality ice.

You'll always have more normal ice than higher-quality ice; even four level 3 legendary quality modules will only get you roughly 25% uncommon, 2.5% rare, etc.

You may not have realized that you can split off based on quality without caring what the item is. The splitter condition is > [normal] without picking an item. It displays as >.

And this way you don't need any circuitry.

[Kyralessa]

Also, if you're trying to get rid of ice, I don't understand why you have productivity modules in each of these chemical plants. Productivity, if it does anything, produces *more* water out of each ice cube, making the cubes last longer, which is the opposite of what you want. Better to use speed modules if anything.

[IsaacOscar]

You can always recycle the quality ice into nothingness.... You won't get any water, but it will be much easier to set up and won't require seperate recyclers per quality level.

Or send them to a space platform and have it throw them into the void....

[jaylawl]

The OP says that he needs lots of water and can't afford to lose any ice.

[teatime11]

Melt ice using highest quality ice in the box.

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