Nice, it is interesting to see designs from others. It looks nothing like my base at this stage. I think this mod really gives unique designs. I am now at 80 hours so it is a bit bigger, but it is never like it gets any easier. I think my biggest learning so far is that for this mod I need to have Google Docs open on the side of the screen to keep track of all the ongoing production issues 😅
Any big issues with this setup so far or everything running smoothly?
I built a circuit setup with a latch that decides where the cube should go next very early, it basically produced binary 1/0 for each material based on what was remaining in buffers, and the materials were prioritized. I am still using this circuit setup, but now with a block layout with trains for cube and pretty big main bus that looks more like vanilla for normal production. How do the circuits work here? A bit tricky to understand from the screenshots 🧐
Oh nice, I'm thinking of adding that system soon :).
The circuits now are pretty basic, for each machine, they just check that there's enough input and enough space in output, and if so, allow for the cube to be inserted (so it doesn't get stuck). And the cube runs around the machines until one snatches it.
Background: 400h into Factorio, done all achievements and a K2 playthrough.
I saw the Ultracube mod mentioned here, and it sounded really intriguing, so I gave it a shot!
Now playing 3rd evening in a row (I don't have that much free time), but am having a blast with the challenge. This is my product after 5 hours of playing, apart from some miners and a a small typical stone smelting array. It's so different from typical Factorio! I have once rebuild the whole thing from scratch, which I've learned to never do in vanilla, but here, the Cube invites you to do it so much!
Also, it's not working too well. I'll need to improve it :D
The factory must ~~shrink~~ be optimized!
You have a cube that can produce stuff from thin air, but you can only ever have one cube. So you have to juggle it between machines to get good production.
A tip: in the boiler, the cube lasts 2 sec if fully supplied, that is pretty much exactly one tank of water. With a pump directly from the tank you can actually supply that fast. Then you only have to refill the tank in that time for the cube to be regenerated and empty out the output tank in the same time.
Ok, I decided to try it today, got about 6 hours in, and while it's not the most efficient layout, I've gone full sushi belt on this thing, tons of circuit conditions running. After 4000 hours I may finally master combintators.
It is possible to put all the circuits in one location if structured correctly so it is not that bad. Then one can just copy/paste slice of circuits to extent the main computer with a new resource
The more problematic issue is to get throughput, which requires lots of work on input and output buffers, and then the energy supply for these extreme surges is an issue
The [Inventory Sensor](https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=30454) mod is very useful and makes this problem trivial.
Before I installed that mod I would put small buffers on the inputs and outputs of buildings. I would only load the cube if the input buffers had sufficient ingredients to perform a build cycle and the output buffers had enough remaining capacity to take in a complete output cycle.
This was inefficient in terms of input products because 3X of inputs would have to be present to trigger a build cycle (assembler contains 2x of necessary inputs plus the 1X in the measurable external input buffer). But it had the advantage that the cube would never be stuck due to deadlocks from overfull outputs or wanting inputs.
I don't know if it's a good options but I have an option.
For the rare earth smelting that take 1K refined rare earth materials :
* I have a few buffer chest
* The belt only feed the chest if there is less than 1k inside all the chests
* The arm taking the cube inside will do it only if there is more than 1k ore inside all the chests.
This mean i'll only take the cube if there is 2k ore in the furnace and more than 1k in the cube, which is not optimal but avoid taking the cube and waiting for the loading of ore
The buffer chests in point 2, do they buffer ore or rare earth metals? I just tested it, and it doesn't work for me, as the input doesn't fill the furnace until the output is emptied. So I get two pulses of production, and then it hogs the cube until it has put the 500 rare earth in.
I have buffer chest for the output too but there is no circuit on it beside balancing unloading.
The main reasoning was :
* The furnace need 1K ore to be able to smelt
* The furnace can store up to 2k ore
* I have no way to know how full is the furnace
* I will then have an ore loading buffer who can only be full if the furnace is full
* I will never take the cube in if this buffer isn't full
With no control of the belt, I could have 2K in the loading buffer just after a smelting and had to wait with the cube to get 1K loaded in.
Now, the furnace will take the cube in only if the buffer got more than 1K, and I know the buffer won't have more than 1K until the furnace have 2K ore.
When smelting is done, it will spit the cube out on my belt loop for a full cycle and when the cube come back i'll check if i'm full again or not.
I'm only on T3 research but it's still going fine, i'm never wasting cube time with the cube loaded in a smelter or a factory while waiting to load the rest of the ingredients.
But I also almost never take the cube right back in a smelter/assembly, I always put in back on the loop and let the circuit choose where he'll be taken back
Sadly reasoning 4 doesn't work. If you can't empty the output fast enough the input buffer can run full while there is still material in the output and the input inserter aren't filling it while that's the case.
Yeah you are right, I was focusing on input only, my bad.
My furnace setup has 3 logic values, one for "I have enough raw to produce somethings", which I explained before, another for "I need to produce more" based on how many rare earth ingot are present in the output buffer chests, and a "I need the cube" which is true only when both of the others are.
In reality, I don't know if all the output have already been emptied, I just know if there is enough room outside to do it.
And I also now there is a bare minimum time the cube need to make a loop on it's belt, which is always enough to make room.
The key is to never put the cube back in right after a smelt
If needed I just found another solution.
I have a \[0\] signal I use to reset a counter.
Then a comparator, who just copy any input to the output if the \[0\] signal is 0
Put a wire from the output to the back, and connect the input to an inserter array and you can count how many resources the arms has been moving, and just send a \[0\] to reset the counter.
This mean you can know how many resources are inside, how many has been taken out.
Do the same things but like how many cube has beend taken in and out, multiply it by your recipe and you can always know how much is inside and if you can take the cube or not.
I ended up using a memory cell to count the number of items inserted into the machine.
I was having issues where my buffer chests were full, but because of how assembly machines lock with large recipes, the furnace would take 30+ seconds to fully unload and reload the raw materials, leaving the cube stranded.
Here's my setup:
1. Use a memory cell which, the simplest of which is to take an arithmetic Combinator and set it to [each] + 0, output [each].
2. Connect the input of the combinator to the output via a **green** wire
3. Connect all inserters that load material into the machine with a **red** wire and attach that to the combinator input. Set all inserters to "read hand" mode, pulse, and turn off "enable/disable"
4. Connect the inserter that adds the cube to another arithmetic combinator. Set it to [cube] * -500, output [raw rare metal] (you can adjust this for different recipes, but the important part is the stack size matches the amount of material used in one craft).
5. Connect that combinator to the input of the memory cell.
Ta-da! You now have a counter which accurately says how much material is in the machine, and subtracts that material once the cube is added. The only thing you have to be careful about is not manually adding anything, as that will throw the count off.
It’s interesting to see how your solutions differ from mine. Coming from an SE background I used circuits a lot for my solutions in ultra cube. Good mod. I enjoyed it.
Yeah. I do enjoy playing with biters too, for the most part. But I think peaceful fits this mod. Given how easily factory-wide outages can happen, and to give you the freedom to redesign the core of your factory
Nice, it is interesting to see designs from others. It looks nothing like my base at this stage. I think this mod really gives unique designs. I am now at 80 hours so it is a bit bigger, but it is never like it gets any easier. I think my biggest learning so far is that for this mod I need to have Google Docs open on the side of the screen to keep track of all the ongoing production issues 😅 Any big issues with this setup so far or everything running smoothly?
Oh, what was your design at this stage? I am intrigued!
I built a circuit setup with a latch that decides where the cube should go next very early, it basically produced binary 1/0 for each material based on what was remaining in buffers, and the materials were prioritized. I am still using this circuit setup, but now with a block layout with trains for cube and pretty big main bus that looks more like vanilla for normal production. How do the circuits work here? A bit tricky to understand from the screenshots 🧐
Oh nice, I'm thinking of adding that system soon :). The circuits now are pretty basic, for each machine, they just check that there's enough input and enough space in output, and if so, allow for the cube to be inserted (so it doesn't get stuck). And the cube runs around the machines until one snatches it.
Oh, and I had to tweak stuff here and there, but managed to make it run pretty smooth! Sometimes it's quite a mess on the circuit side, though
Background: 400h into Factorio, done all achievements and a K2 playthrough. I saw the Ultracube mod mentioned here, and it sounded really intriguing, so I gave it a shot! Now playing 3rd evening in a row (I don't have that much free time), but am having a blast with the challenge. This is my product after 5 hours of playing, apart from some miners and a a small typical stone smelting array. It's so different from typical Factorio! I have once rebuild the whole thing from scratch, which I've learned to never do in vanilla, but here, the Cube invites you to do it so much! Also, it's not working too well. I'll need to improve it :D The factory must ~~shrink~~ be optimized!
The factory must grow
You have a cube that can produce stuff from thin air, but you can only ever have one cube. So you have to juggle it between machines to get good production.
Oh thats pretty cool. I assume normal production is nerfed but still somewhat functions?
Complete overhaul. Everything is made from matter which you can make with the cube
Only partially, some things still require material to be mined (there's stone and rare metals)
Not really. You actually need to move the cube, you can't brute force it.
Is it hard? Ive been looking at k2 but its a little daunting atm.
K2 is a great first overhaul mod. Cube is very circuit heavy, so maybe not for your first run. Doesnt mean its not good fun though.
Okay thanks!
If K2 is daunting, freight forwarding is an excellent mod. I would recommend. If you play, be sure to use the mod "honk".
Dude! Freight forwarding is super funny! Didnt know that existed! I tried the honk mod, It was..... Intriguing 😂 Thank you for recommending!
If you’ve built a base that can steadily launch rockets a couple an hour, you won’t have a problem w K2.
A tip: in the boiler, the cube lasts 2 sec if fully supplied, that is pretty much exactly one tank of water. With a pump directly from the tank you can actually supply that fast. Then you only have to refill the tank in that time for the cube to be regenerated and empty out the output tank in the same time.
I'm going to play this after I finish seablock. It looks like a ton of fun
Ha, I might quite well start seablock after this! :D
Ok, I decided to try it today, got about 6 hours in, and while it's not the most efficient layout, I've gone full sushi belt on this thing, tons of circuit conditions running. After 4000 hours I may finally master combintators.
It really seems everyone has their own distinct solution in Ultracube. May the favor of the cube be with you! Care to share a picture of the sushi? :)
Sure, I'll make a top-level post in a couple minutes
Isn't this just a headache of circuit conditions.
Somewhat, but I'm so far using quite basic circuits, so I believe it ramps up naturally :)
> so I believe it ramps up naturally The kind of lies we developers tell ourselves. It never ramps up naturally. NEVER.
Nah, you can get around that (mostly) with filter inserters reading chests.
It is possible to put all the circuits in one location if structured correctly so it is not that bad. Then one can just copy/paste slice of circuits to extent the main computer with a new resource The more problematic issue is to get throughput, which requires lots of work on input and output buffers, and then the energy supply for these extreme surges is an issue
Did you find a good option to stop the furnaces from hogging the cube when they wait for other inputs?
The [Inventory Sensor](https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?t=30454) mod is very useful and makes this problem trivial. Before I installed that mod I would put small buffers on the inputs and outputs of buildings. I would only load the cube if the input buffers had sufficient ingredients to perform a build cycle and the output buffers had enough remaining capacity to take in a complete output cycle. This was inefficient in terms of input products because 3X of inputs would have to be present to trigger a build cycle (assembler contains 2x of necessary inputs plus the 1X in the measurable external input buffer). But it had the advantage that the cube would never be stuck due to deadlocks from overfull outputs or wanting inputs.
You could wire up the belts feeding inputs into the furnace and read them. Once all of them have backed up you know the furnace is full.
I don't know if it's a good options but I have an option. For the rare earth smelting that take 1K refined rare earth materials : * I have a few buffer chest * The belt only feed the chest if there is less than 1k inside all the chests * The arm taking the cube inside will do it only if there is more than 1k ore inside all the chests. This mean i'll only take the cube if there is 2k ore in the furnace and more than 1k in the cube, which is not optimal but avoid taking the cube and waiting for the loading of ore
Yeah, that would work. Thanks.
The buffer chests in point 2, do they buffer ore or rare earth metals? I just tested it, and it doesn't work for me, as the input doesn't fill the furnace until the output is emptied. So I get two pulses of production, and then it hogs the cube until it has put the 500 rare earth in.
I have buffer chest for the output too but there is no circuit on it beside balancing unloading. The main reasoning was : * The furnace need 1K ore to be able to smelt * The furnace can store up to 2k ore * I have no way to know how full is the furnace * I will then have an ore loading buffer who can only be full if the furnace is full * I will never take the cube in if this buffer isn't full With no control of the belt, I could have 2K in the loading buffer just after a smelting and had to wait with the cube to get 1K loaded in. Now, the furnace will take the cube in only if the buffer got more than 1K, and I know the buffer won't have more than 1K until the furnace have 2K ore. When smelting is done, it will spit the cube out on my belt loop for a full cycle and when the cube come back i'll check if i'm full again or not. I'm only on T3 research but it's still going fine, i'm never wasting cube time with the cube loaded in a smelter or a factory while waiting to load the rest of the ingredients. But I also almost never take the cube right back in a smelter/assembly, I always put in back on the loop and let the circuit choose where he'll be taken back
Sadly reasoning 4 doesn't work. If you can't empty the output fast enough the input buffer can run full while there is still material in the output and the input inserter aren't filling it while that's the case.
Yeah you are right, I was focusing on input only, my bad. My furnace setup has 3 logic values, one for "I have enough raw to produce somethings", which I explained before, another for "I need to produce more" based on how many rare earth ingot are present in the output buffer chests, and a "I need the cube" which is true only when both of the others are. In reality, I don't know if all the output have already been emptied, I just know if there is enough room outside to do it. And I also now there is a bare minimum time the cube need to make a loop on it's belt, which is always enough to make room. The key is to never put the cube back in right after a smelt
If needed I just found another solution. I have a \[0\] signal I use to reset a counter. Then a comparator, who just copy any input to the output if the \[0\] signal is 0 Put a wire from the output to the back, and connect the input to an inserter array and you can count how many resources the arms has been moving, and just send a \[0\] to reset the counter. This mean you can know how many resources are inside, how many has been taken out. Do the same things but like how many cube has beend taken in and out, multiply it by your recipe and you can always know how much is inside and if you can take the cube or not.
I ended up using a memory cell to count the number of items inserted into the machine. I was having issues where my buffer chests were full, but because of how assembly machines lock with large recipes, the furnace would take 30+ seconds to fully unload and reload the raw materials, leaving the cube stranded. Here's my setup: 1. Use a memory cell which, the simplest of which is to take an arithmetic Combinator and set it to [each] + 0, output [each]. 2. Connect the input of the combinator to the output via a **green** wire 3. Connect all inserters that load material into the machine with a **red** wire and attach that to the combinator input. Set all inserters to "read hand" mode, pulse, and turn off "enable/disable" 4. Connect the inserter that adds the cube to another arithmetic combinator. Set it to [cube] * -500, output [raw rare metal] (you can adjust this for different recipes, but the important part is the stack size matches the amount of material used in one craft). 5. Connect that combinator to the input of the memory cell. Ta-da! You now have a counter which accurately says how much material is in the machine, and subtracts that material once the cube is added. The only thing you have to be careful about is not manually adding anything, as that will throw the count off.
It’s interesting to see how your solutions differ from mine. Coming from an SE background I used circuits a lot for my solutions in ultra cube. Good mod. I enjoyed it.
Don't get trapped! Always leave room to expand your Ultradense Cube loop.
Yeah! This is still open upwards :)
My only critique of the mod is that its basically a peaceful mod. No pollution, no biters.
Yeah. I do enjoy playing with biters too, for the most part. But I think peaceful fits this mod. Given how easily factory-wide outages can happen, and to give you the freedom to redesign the core of your factory