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Use for Amethyst Shards: Fiber Optics (Crystal Wire)

The uses for Amethyst Shards seem to be themed around light (base block glows, telescope, tinted glass). So after seeing a third copper wire/conductivity post, I had the sudden realization that fiber optic cables exist.

In the game, they would be crafted with 2 Amethyst Shards on either side of a redstone dust in a line for 4-6 Crystal Wire. They would be placable vertically/upside-down, waterlogable, and can have coloured casings applied to them like most wire suggestions do, but have the unique functionality of extending a non-diminishing redstone charge across its entire length, but only to its ends or blocks its directly pointing into. They would also not connect to parallel Crystal Wires adjacent to them, allowing them to be more compact.

This way it's not a complete replacement for base redstone, but has its own desirable properties.

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  • 2
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    Mojang(or at least that one dude) also said they were looking into actual uses of crystal, right?

  • 2
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    this is that kinda insightful idea that would be great if added.

    I think we really need to push these copper/amethyst redstone related posts

  • 3
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    We really need colored wires. That would blend redstone and builds much easier without having it all look like a bloody mess

  • 1
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    Mirrors sound like a more Minecraft version to me, with just reflecting images. Because mirrors are said to not be added, I doubt these would as well

  • 1
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    I don't get your reasoning there at all. How do mirrors even relate to redstone, let alone being more vanilla than wires? More over, a block that can reflect an image and wires that transfer a redstone signal are completely unrelated, so  invalidating mirrors has absolutely no relevance to this post.

    Did you just see "fiber optics" and skip the entire post?

  • 1
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    I read the post, but because of your title I assumed that your wires were designed for the purpose of sending images, which is what fiber optics do, along with the things mentioned in the post such as being waterloggable, colored, wall-placeable, etc. Because of that, I stated that mirrors would be better as mirrors have been around long before wires plus the fact that they can be arranged to reflect images to a certain point, essentially sending images. I would suggest updating the title of your post if it has nothing to do with fiber optics

  • 3
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    It's less about It's actual usage and more that it is a wire made of silica, which is most commonly found as quartz, and has the ability to extend signals over longer distances at greater bandwidths.

    That being said, I would love to remove fiber optics from the title, but I'm too scared of the approval process' unreliability to edit the post. 

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       Any light that enters an amethyst block will come out the other five faces. This means that light can be transmitted through a (long) line of amethyst blocks and can be converted to a redstone signal with a comparator or observer. However, raw crystal blocks probably have many impurities that diffuses light instead of focusing it, causing the light to dissipate, making it unreliable, so you would have to craft "Cut Amethyst." Cut Amethyst would be crafted from four shards placed in the four middle slots on the grid, Block of Amethyst in the core of the block, as it would diffuse light isotropically, allowing shards that are not in the path of the light beam to receive the light (thus allowing the signal to change directions), and four tinted glass in the remaining slots to prevent light from passing on diagonally.

       This could also be used to tell the time of day if you were not exposed to the sky, to measure the light level and utilize the signal generated from it in a redstone device, or simply as a different kind of light source.

       Notes:

    Cut Amethyst cannot function as a light source, but Block Amethyst can so long as it is subjected to light.

    Cut Amethyst will instantaneously send light from each end of a long line of it.

    Cut Amethyst light transference is limited to 256 blocks.

    Block Amethyst can emit a light level of 30 when combined with two light sources, and 45 with a beacon. More than two non-beacon lights will melt the amethyst.

    Amethyst is renewable.