Basic Idea:
A device that can sort ores and send particular ones to an inventory (ore crate) and a device that can dispense the ore in its inventory out into the world.
Problem:
When mining with lasers, it is difficult to discriminate which materials are zapped and collected, filling up ore crates with unwanted rock or ice. Additionally, the only way for ship inventories to be accessed is through a mining backpack and resource bridge.
Solution:
Ore Filter
This device connects via pipe to an ore crate network and pulls ores from it that the user has defined and puts them into another ore crate network that it connects to on the other side. The sorting could be either be blacklist or white list and formatted via a configuration string.
Dispenser
The dispenser device has a single inventory slot and can put whatever is in that slot outside into the world. It can be set to do this continuously or once per activation. The ore leaves with a small velocity to push it away from the ship.
Discussion of Effects:
This should allow for quicker mining as the combination of these devices could be configured to throw away rock and ice. No longer would miners have to periodically stop to get out and chuck all the waste materials overboard.
These devices also could be used for vending machines or simply accessing ores inside a ship without the need of a mining backpack. I suspect that players could come up with some novel uses for these two devices.
A device that can sort ores and send particular ones to an inventory (ore crate) and a device that can dispense the ore in its inventory out into the world.
Problem:
When mining with lasers, it is difficult to discriminate which materials are zapped and collected, filling up ore crates with unwanted rock or ice. Additionally, the only way for ship inventories to be accessed is through a mining backpack and resource bridge.
Solution:
Ore Filter
This device connects via pipe to an ore crate network and pulls ores from it that the user has defined and puts them into another ore crate network that it connects to on the other side. The sorting could be either be blacklist or white list and formatted via a configuration string.
Dispenser
The dispenser device has a single inventory slot and can put whatever is in that slot outside into the world. It can be set to do this continuously or once per activation. The ore leaves with a small velocity to push it away from the ship.
Discussion of Effects:
This should allow for quicker mining as the combination of these devices could be configured to throw away rock and ice. No longer would miners have to periodically stop to get out and chuck all the waste materials overboard.
These devices also could be used for vending machines or simply accessing ores inside a ship without the need of a mining backpack. I suspect that players could come up with some novel uses for these two devices.
