Confused and need help on Danopth "Nothing Works"

[Alizona]

The problem with "Nothing Works" is that every time I break down the N-N and the C-H4 molecules, I end up with one extra H and one extra N that aren't required on the output end.

What am I supposed to do with these extra atoms? Is there a way to "throw away" atoms I don't need? Or should I collect the extra H's and eventually turn those into more of the requred H-H molecules? But that will cause havoc with designing the processing, since everything relies on regularity and consistency. It causes me more harm than good by having these two extra atoms every cycle or two. Helpful advice appreciated, thanks!

[cake>pie]

2 (CH4) + N2 --> 2 (HCN) + 3 (H2)

[Alizona]

Oh that's right... gotta balance the equation. Hey, it's been how many years since college chemistry class? Too many. hahaha Thanks.

So now I see how it really boils down to proper timing of all the components... still not sure how to slow down a reaction really. Speeding them up is just being more efficient in our design, so maybe I'm supposed to consider being very IN-efficient in my designs too? Such as run my atom around the level a few times before outputting, to slow it down? Or is there a much better way to do it?

Is there any cost for making the pipelines extremely long in order to provide a storage place for atoms? This would eliminate some of the need to balance the timing of my reactors, although I know 40 cycles is a lot, and a small overflow problem can become a large one before 40 cycles are complete. But it seems there's no penalty for having very long connections between the reactors?

[cake>pie]

If you need to, there's output blocking: if the output pipe is already full, the waldo attempting to execute a "out" instruction will not be able to advance.

So for example, if there's a buildup of H in the pipes because you're tearing apart CH4 efficiently but can't assemble H2 fast enough, the pipe between those two reactors might get clogged up for a bit -- in which case the CH4 dismantling reactor will halt until space is freed up for it to output H atoms again.

[Alizona]

The problem is that when an output gets filled and a Waldo gets blocked and stops moving... that obviously messes up the timing of ALL my reactions which often leads to unanticipated events such as molecules colliding inside a reactor somewhere

Yes, I know good use of SYNC will prevent this sort of backing-up problem. There's a lot of trial-and-error stuff in this game, its a very iterative process. But I am making slow progress with things so that's good, and its definitely enjoyable, even if it is frustrating at times.

Also, I just got to the level where I have to fill Methane tanks to stop the truck from running over my base... and so now I see there *IS* a storage item in the game which might help me in the future with overflows.

[RealOfficialTurf]

There won't be any storage tanks in production mode. Only defense mode have storage tanks. Just make a long, long pipe to hold off more molecules.