Description
UNTRA self-replicating rail framework v1
Click here for v2
- requires recursive blueprints+
- optional AAI warehousing
- recommended Ghost on Water
The factory must grow! By itself!
This roundabout rail intersection utilizes the recursive blueprints+ chest to duplicate copies of itself when deployed at the edges, causing it to expand across the map as bots fill in the logistic network, forming the skeleton of a 3x3 chunk city block, with an additional chunk as rail intersection border, with fluids, defenses and power all included. It snaps to a 128x128 grid with a 128x 128y offset.
This makes it ideal for building the scaffolding of a micro-megabase, one that self-replicates by using it's own blueprint requested on the logistic network. RH-drive rail, I envision it's size is ideal for 1-1 train network but I leave that to the implementer. This blueprint could be modified to make a longer city block, however this size ensures all internals can be reached by construction robots.
Usage:
tldr Just place the intersection down once, and then place a copy of this blueprint within a requester chest in the center.
Ideally you should have built your factory to a point where:
- you have researched robotics, and have automated the building of robots, placed into logistics chests
- you have automated the building of everything else this blueprint requires into logistics chests
- raw resources are not a problem; that is, you have enough to supply a good expansion or they are infinite with mods
- you are not using robots to carry blueprints currently or elsewhere in your factory
- you are comfortable letting loose a monster of recursion that will spread across the map like an unstoppable virus
It is recommended you place this blueprint a few times around your existing base, and preemptively remove any requestor chests where you don't want the factory to expand. Removing the requestor chest from a node prevents it from deploying or replicating.
Just place the intersection down once, and then place a copy of this blueprint within a requester chest in the center.
How it works
The Recursive Blueprint mode deployer chest is incredibly powerful, and is used to deploy and copy this blueprint, and remove the requester chest that requested it to stop the cycle.
Inside each roundabout is a requestor chest requesting blueprints. Once fed this blueprint, it will deploy itself at a new intersection, then remove the requestor chest and copying the blueprint thrice, so that each other edge of the rail intersection deploys as well.
Sweet Features
The roundabouts house a spaghetti of internals, including the self-replicating "brain" that copies it's own blueprint to disseminate to it's boundaries. This brain is a 3x5 mess of chests, inserters and combinators that duplicate 2+ blueprint copies. The roundabout also houses two tanks for separate fluids; mega-bases shouldn't be schlepping water or oil on the rails, instead these fluids have dedicated transport throughout the intersection and inputs within the city block.
Edges are packed with accumulators and solar panels, with room to upgrade to SE 4x4 solar panels. Use this template to terraform a planet, and then fill in the city blocks with exactly what your factory needs. Electrical towers also carry the red and green networks, so you can communicate across your base's circuit network.
The skeleton uses aai warehousing for the expanded 2x2 yellow chest storage which, but can be replaced with regular yellow chests. lasers will guard the block edges while the nucleus center is surrounded by traditional turrets requesting bullets from buffer chests. This ensures the intersection can expand safely, and survive enough biter attacks without intervention.
Use Cases
Lots of cool things you can do with this blueprint, but the best thing you can do is tweak it perfectly for what you need, and remake the blueprint again before you deploy it.
Playing Peaceful? Remove the walls!
If you don't need walls or defenses, you can remove the walls and turrets, and get all that sweet room.
Use with Rampant!
The defenses are already pretty peaked on this blueprint, and you should be ready for automated war if you choose to run this rail intersection. Definitely there is room to expand in the blueprint for better defenses and weapons to enhance diplomacy on nauvis.
Use it Space Exploration!
The blueprint should still work in with the Space Exploration mod ostensibly. Instead of water and oil in the fluid network can house warm and cool thermofluid. TODO: make space rail corresponding blueprint
Rail Intersection == City Block corner
This requires really leaning into the recursive blueprints chest and scanner. A megabase that builds it's own skeleton while leaving you city blocks opens the door for another parallel process that starts filling in those city blocks with manufactories.
This rail intersection is theoretically the corner of a city block. Using both the blueprint deployer chest and the scanner, you can add a station that enables itself once the city block has been scanned to be built, safe and cleaned, to request a train with further instructions on what the city block becomes and deploys itself, and removes the station once deployed.
You can also have a station that could request an artillery train if it finds artillery targets nearby, that deletes itself once it is safe.
