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Auto Crafting Block

under review

I'd like to suggest a new technical block for auto crafting items. 

It should work in a similar fashion to a furnace in that it takes an input of items and requires fuel of some type to operate. The GUI should look like a crafting table grid where you can add items to form any craftable recipe. If those items are available from the input (hopper) they are taken from the container and after a period of time the crafted output is available. It can then proceed to craft the next item if the items are available.

I understand that this could be viewed as being over powered but with the requirement of fuel and also the time it takes to produce the output I think it could be balanced. 

This would be very useful for all sorts of farms where we commonly craft the farm output into other blocks. For example, an iron farm outputs mainly iron ingots. It would be very useful to pass these through an auto crafting block to produce iron blocks directly from the farm.

The recent addition of the recipe book in the crafting UI has certainly helped with the pain of crafting blocks but for some projects that require thousands of blocks it is still a very tedious task that this kind of block could help with.

Thanks

Logic

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  • 56
    Registered User commented
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    Perhaps not calling crafting would help make this more palatable. Combining is more what you're after. Iron to iron blocks, dried kelp to kelp blocks, wheat to wheat blocks.. etc...

    I wouldn't want it to craft items that required multiple different objects, but simple object grouping would indeed be very beneficial.

  • 22
    Registered User commented
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    Melon slices into melon blocks too.

    I agree that this item could be very useful even if its only use was to craft an item fed into it into its block form.  It would be very simple too, since you wouldn’t need to supply the recipe.  The recipe would be either a 2x2 or 3x3 crafting grid filled with the item fed into the system, and I suspect they could make the block smart enough to figure out which is appropriate.  Is there an item that has a filled 2x2 and a filled 3x3 crafting grid recipe?

    Although I suspect the OP is actually asking for a full crafting block, it’s just that one of their main examples was farm outputs that could be crafted into blocks.

  • 47
    Registered User commented
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    After discussing this with a bunch of people in my Discord group, we came up with the following to try to balance the power of this block. We see it as a late game block and one that would be limited in the same way a beacon is limited. You could have many of these blocks if you are a power player but for the average player they may only have a few.

    To do this we thing the crafting recipe should include a Nether Star, specifically our suggestion would be:

    In addition, the fuel source could be Dragons Breath. This is an item that late game and not so easy to get but is renewable. Dragons Breath isn't used that much typically and giving players another reason to fight the dragon extends gameplay.

    That's our suggestion, but of course a new fuel item could be added if this balance isn't right.

    Thanks

    Logic

  • 27
    Registered User commented
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    Not sure about the nether star...that seems a bit excessive. An eye of ender seems more appropriate for this(that being said, there could be another version of this that uses a nether star that doesn't require fuel). The mode of operation should be similar to a furnace - one item crafted per unit of runtime(i.e. if you're using charcoal lumps for fuel, it would craft 8 items). It should also take the same amount of time as a furnace to perform an operation.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    could be useful and should use a redstone signal , but dontu think it will be a little bit complicated

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    there is a lot of automatic creations already made. why not another one

     

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    not only items to blocks but bows and arrows, wool, trunks to planks, gold and iron nuggets to ingest, cooked kelp to kelp blocks, because, bread, and more  everything craftable can be automated  

  • 10
    Registered User commented
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    the simple version can look like this

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    maybe a rechargeable item. so the there can be a renewable resource. for example a nether star.

  • 8
    Registered User commented
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    another thing I have somewhat designed is what the work area would look like.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    Maybe instead of a block, have a villager profession that will run a random crafting recipe upon being created if carrying the necessary ingredients and near the corresponding crafting table. This would allow for some more technical use for villagers such as is found in fully-automatic wheat farms.

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    I was going to propose this but then I saw your post. I would have it so the player sets to the table to what it should craft, and crafts that when it receives the items. They could be put in and taken out manually or with a hopper. It has eight storage spaces for items it crafts. If there is excess overflow or the table receives an item which it cannot craft with, the item(s) will be ejected.

    Crafting recipe:

    R=Redstone

    C=Crating Table

    H=Hopper

    RHR

    RCR

    RRR

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    At first I didn't see the point of this but now I'm starting to like it.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    This is an awesome idea! Maybe you could choose the recipe by having to click on each tile in the crafting grid and assigning a certain item/block to it, and the auto-crafting table will only accept the items you picked in the grid, meaning you will have to be smart about where you send all your items, as you don’t want your hopper to be clogged with nonessential things

  • 5
    Registered User commented
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    Item Stacks determine Output instead of Crafting Grid

    If the crafting bench determines the output item by just counting the number and type of input items, you would not need a crafting grid. For example, you put in 4 planks and 2 sticks and it will know that you want a fence. You could replace the grid with a few item slots and the bench could determine the output automatically. It just outputs the item that uses all the item types and the largest number in those stacks. This would simplify crafting a lot and encourage experimenting over Google-ing the recipe.

    Redstone Problem Solving

    If the block determines its output automatically, it follows that it could be automatable. When triggered by redstone it could consume one lot of input items and spit out its determined output. Hoppers could fill the input slots and suck items from the output.

    When trying to create a redstone circuit to automate crafting, players will quickly realize the limitations of the comparator; they only update in intervals of n(maybe 23) items and cannot differentiate between different stacks of items. For example, ensuring the block crafts fences instead of gates would require a very different circuit to crafting trapdoors. They may end up using filter hoppers, redstone clocks, comparators, even binary counters. 

    Advantages

    • It simplifies manual crafting for beginners.
    • Provides a lot of redstone puzzles for experienced players.

    Concerns

    There are some problems however. This system is only applicable to items that are unique when its recipe is converted to shapeless stacks. For example, cobblestone stairs and fences, and a pickaxe and axe require the same number and types of items. The crafting bench cannot determine the output automatically. Therefore I recommend this system only be used for a subset of blocks that avoids duplicate shapeless recipes. It could also be used for purposes other than crafting like alloy smelting, chemistry, etc. For compressing stacks like redstone, coal or wheat into blocks it may only need 1 slot.

    Another problem is that crafting benches let the player preview the item in the output slot. In a furnace, hoppers would suck from the output slot automatically as soon as an item enters it. I suggest that the output slot have a ghostly preview of the item that becomes the normal image when it actually exists. Alternatively, the first item just consumes the input stacks but does not change the image in the output. 

    The Assembler

    The Assembler consumes items from two input slots and outputs an item when either the output slot is clicked by the player, or the block is triggered by redstone.

    This block is used to craft simple dynamic components. Here is a short list:

    chest, trapped chest, dropper, hopper, tnt, lever, pressure plate, button, redstone lamp, note block, rail, gates, trapdoors, redstone torch...

    Now, imagine you wanted to craft a chest. You put in 1 plank and it offers you a button. You need to wait for at least 8 planks before you can craft a chest, or you might get 7 buttons and no one wants that. You probably want a filter hopper because if the wrong item enters that second slot, you are crafting nothing. You could cascade 2 assemblers so you can automatically craft hoppers. For that you will need 5 iron ingots and 1 chest. You have to prevent your redstone clock from triggering before 5 ingots because otherwise you are getting iron pressure plates and, again, no one wants that. In this case a comparator doesn't help because its output is 1 at 1 item updates to 2 for 10 items. You will have to count your items in a different way.

    Each recipe introduces a different redstone puzzle. A different redstone circuit may be used to solve each of them. You can still use it manually. So it both simplifies recipes for new players and encourages problem solving for experienced players.

    I think it should be crafted with a Crafting Bench, 2 Pistons, 2 Comparators and a Stonecutter.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    It seems to me that one problem is determining the difference between the items used for the pattern, and the inventory of the crafting grid, from which it could craft items. We could split out the two separately. Create a "recipe" item, imprint the recipe you want on to it, and then provide that recipe item to the auto-crafter, similar to how the loom accepts a pattern. The auto-crafter would have one slot for the recipe, 9 for the inventory, one for the fuel, and one for the output. When a recipe is provided, the grid opens up the slots needed for the recipe, and only allows one of the designated item to fill that slot, and then behaves like a normal inventory which accepts hoppers. The items come in left to right, top to bottom, going into the first slot they're allowed.

    The recipes could also serve to add cost to auto-crafting.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    This is an awesome idea. I've wanted something like this for a long time. It helps with autosorters so that you don't have the manual job of blocking up stuff after mining. 



  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    This would probably work well in coordination with an 'automining' block

     

     

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I also think that you should have an interface where you select which block you want assembled and then the assembler assembles the block when it recieves all the necessary ingredients

     

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    See, what I think is amazing about this idea is that it can give the world more automation which is what I LOVE in games such as this. Like in the game Terratech, you can make a base that constantly crafts items you need/want, and sell the items you don't automatically, which is what makes it so satisfying and addictive.

    I've thought of a sort of auto-crafter myself multiple times just never in a balanced format such as this one. I think the biggest use of this is a massive auto-smelter which takes kelp from an auto-farm and smelts them into dried kelp, then crafts them into dried kelp blocks. The blocks are then divided up into two hopper tunnels: one leading back into the kelp smelter and auto-crafter to fuel them and make more dried kelp, and one that leads to the main smelter for items such as food. I have wanted something like this for a long time, and an auto-crafter would be freaking awesome to make it.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    I think, that the "auto Assembler" block would be very cool, and wouldn't be too overpowered. Opposed to the OP, my idea doesn't need fuel to operate and would work as normal crafting box. Said item could only work with hoppers, so that's the first cost of making it - you need hoppers. it would have input from any side besides bottom. How to make it not too overpowered? First idea is that it cannot craft stacks. It only crafts items in the same way, as a player would by clicking on the output box in normal crafting box. It could produce output only if powered by redstone, so in the same way as dispenser works. How to make the recipe? You put items as you would in normal crafting box... and here comes the sad part - items you put in are trapped there as part of the recipe. so for a golden pick you have to sacrifice 2 sticks and 3 diax if you want to operate the table. Craft occurs when box is powered with redstone pulse. All the other items that do not match the recipe given in the box, fall through the block without beeing powered by redstone. Another thing to make the block less overpowered: if not enaugh items are supplied, they are all dispensed without crafting, sou you have to make a circuit counting the number of items inserted and make sure, that the box was supplied with them. If too much items are supplied, they pass through. Why isn't it overpowered? first of all, you would need circuits supplying exactly as many items as you want, you would need sorting system and a clock. You will have to make some complicated circuitry + sacrifice some items, so it comes with a cost of space around it + knowledge. Why no fuel? because it would disallow the input-from-side method of recipe items. Also recipes cannot use half used items such as sword with half durability used. Items match to the type, not lore, durability etc., so recipe with 2 full swords would accept 2 swords of for example 1 and 5 uses left. What's more, comparator would be able to output signal from 0-9 telling how many items were supplied till now. A recipe book interface could be reused to implement this, and it would also solve the problem with recipes using same materials with different data ID for example planks.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    could be useful if you gave it one of the item you want to auto craft, and then it crafts as many as it can, the recipe that was suggested seems to balance out how overpowered the block is, but it seems all round a good idea!

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Oh! I think this would be beatiful if it's a feature add to the norm crafting table
    You can apply it to craft something you select & let the hopper/s connect to it & see it's crafting you (or anyone else) can come late to collect the crafted items or let it go auto through hoppers to chests

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I agree completely, but I think you should have to set it to a single recipe, since this would make it much easier on the game

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Spawnlegacy000, I see what you mean however you would end up with mutiple items from one block. Wooden planks can make sticks, crafting tables, slabs and chests. This would cause a problem which is why I suggested to click-craft system like in PE.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    T3s T3ro, I believe that that would make it too hard and expensive to make for the average Minecraft player, how about a unlock system that requires the materials used to make the item for the first time as payment?

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    I think the Auto Crafting Block should be crafted using 4 Iron Blocks, a Piston, Furnace, Hopper, Crafting Table, and Dispenser.

    I also think it should have only 3 slots for items but it can be set to build a particular item automatically via the knowledge book and make that item if fueled, then it would spit it out if powered by a redstone signal.

    The fuel used would be the same as a regular Furnace would use, which could be brought in with a hopper to the side of the block, then the items which would be crafted to something would be brought in via a hopper from above, and then it'd dispense the newly crafted item at the front just like a regular dispenser.

  • 6
    Registered User commented
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    I want these since like 7 years ago. I got a perfect name for it — Fabricator. A Fabricator takes three inputs from hoppers and crafts whatever the item you've placed in. Crafting takes some time, similar to how a furnace smelts items. The Fabricator uses a new fuel type — Anthracite. You craft Anthracite out of Coal Blocks, Gunpowder and Glowstone Dust. Anthracite is an extremely powerful fuel so if used in a regular furnace it has a high chance of exploding.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Calling it an assembler or a factory term might make it more industrial theme like the new blast furnace is an example. Also, it would work really well if you have a shulker storage system. The fuel should be like regular fuel but run out at a different rate than furnaces, either faster or slower.

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    Gonna be cool if it required a blueprint of the item that you want this thing to craft.