Log of Experiments, with results.

This is a guide that gives you a list of test I have done in the game to improve my own experience, and the results I got from those test. Success experiments might be based on guides I have already posted. Failed experiments is an info dump that might give you some inspiration, and equipment test is my own experience with specific equipment and weapons.

Successful Experiments

Log 1. A search for a system in witch I would not have to pick up loot from my mob farms has lead me to test designs. Attempting to place a robot arm in the location will just result in the mobs destroying it. In some cases by accident.

Desired result I wanted to see how far away the loot would go on a conveyor belt. In other words I wanted to see if a conveyor belt would push the object far enough to be grabbed by the arm over one space.

This resulted in a success, I added a fence between those locations too see if loot could pass thought the objects to be grabbed, again another success. I then concluded that any object can be between the two locations without effecting the robot arms ability to pick up the loot. In other words by leading the conveyor belt off a cliff or into a wall the robot arm can still pick up the object.

example of a cliff between the belt and robot arm


Log 2 A hate of farming has lead me to attempt an auto farming system. In an attempt to use drills and conveyor belts I have found that food as a certain hit points before and after it is fully grown.

Desired results: I would turn the drills on long enough to mine plants when they are ready to be harvested but not long enough to mine them before they are ready. Allowing the drills to pick up the plants and put them on conveyor belts.

This resulted in a successes, I created a repeater that would turn the drills off and on after a short delay. I have previously made a guide called quick guide to never garden again, you can find more details there. I had to update my design after an update, note future updates might mess up the timing again. Note I did attempt to make a mob plant for me, I trapped a caviling farmer and threw seeds at it, this test did not successes more test needed on farmer

this is my current garden


this is my current repeater for the garden I had to re make it since a update ago it no longer had the right timing. I found a more simple Set up.


Log 3 An update to the game has made this log unneeded(seeds no longer get stuck in saws). I will leave this here as notes

A need for funds to buy stuff from the vending machine or from merchants has me forced to make a money farm. I found that planks have a 1 to 1 value. Since they are easy to make all one would need is wood and a saw I would use planks. The problem is when I attempted to make my wood farm auto place them into a saw I found seeds in my saw.

Desired result: A way to prevent seeds from filling the input of my saw at the wood farm.

I was able to make this work quite easily all one would need is more saws. If you are cutting coral wood and normal wood you will need a total of 4 saws to make both into planks. How this works is by placing 1 seed in a saw it will fill the rest of the seeds into that saw. Placing the seeded saws in front of the two that will be cutting the wood, that's it.

example with saws with seed circled


location of seeds in saw.


Log 4: A lack of garbage food to eat so I didn’t waste my good food unless its a boss fight made me focus on mushroom farming.

Desired results: Create a mushroom farm that would be effective and large enough to make a lot of mushrooms is easy enough, but I wanted one that didn’t have me pick them up myself. belts, unfortunately it also breaks fungal soil at the same rate. Second attempt was to make spike traps on top of the fungal soil and have robot arms pick up the mushrooms or dead mobs. Again some of the mushrooms would fall on top of the robot arm preventing it from piking it up. Another thing to note is making a large number of drills or robot arms was not effective with the amount of space I wanted to use for my farm. Instead I found big Larva would break mushrooms for me, if left on a large area of conveyor belts they would farm the resources for you. You can find more detail in my guide Dumb ways to Farm Mushrooms. Something I did not add to my Guide was a more efferent way of farming the mushrooms. By making the path lead in a two by two route the large larva would see the mushrooms instead of wondering around until they happen to find one. Note: with the addition of the materializer it is now possible to make the farm extremely effective.

path used to lead the big larva into mushrooms.


end of conveyor belts witch kills any mobs who make it


materializer addition

Log 5: I am taking time to make colorful flooring for my base of operations. I did however wish to have a larger pool of color for my work.

Desired result: make more colors to make interesting effects in my base.

This was easy I just used glass floor over lit floor. I was able to make 13 by 12 or 156 colors variations at this time, this number includes the first 13 (12 + original lit floor color) as white paint on glass just makes it clear. More will be possible with each additional paint added into the game.

The following are the colors the top is the lit floor and the left is the colored glass floor.



Log 6: I wanted to level up my combat ability but I usually mess around in the game instead of go out and fight. I had not maxed out my melee or ranged combat.

Desired result: Make an area that I can use to farm my melee or ranged stats.

This is all thanks to the materializer and cocoon figuring. First by placing two drills next to two materializers it would destroy the cocoon after it hatches allowing multiple mobs to be made. Leaving this on will make an endless supply of larva to fight. This allows me to do other things afk while the mobs build up, I am worried about a game crash if I forget so further test are needed.

Failed Experiments.

All experiments in this log were attempted before the Crystal caves update.

Log 1. Mold ground does not spawn the mold mobs if tilled for farming. This had me wondering if tilled ground was taken into account when spawning mobs. The test was simple I would make two groups one with tilled ground and one without. I would wait a period of time and see any spawn in the tilled area. If so I would count the number of mobs to spawn compared to the un-tilled area.

Desired result would be for no mobs to spawn in tilled area even with added spanners in that location. The idea is to get the maximum spawn rate of mobs in a small area to save resources or control area.

After several attempts with slime, caviling moss, and chrysalis, I have found no difference between the areas. Perhaps I had my tilled and un-tilled zones too close, but without the ability to make them in close proximity I would be unable to achieve my desired result.

after 5 minutes


after 8 minutes


Log 2. I accidentally found that by placing a crystal lamp down at the player location with no area to move too behind the player will result with teleportation to the other side of the crystal lamp or to an available location.

Desired result: I wanted to see if by placing walls I could teleport to a available location a distance away instead of only one space. It would also spawn the player in an unexplored location without the need to mine my way there. If done correctly that is.

This did work but not with desired results. The max distance seems to be 8 blocks and will not pass water. Also if not place properly, or there is no where nearby to go too it might fail trapping the player. A player who is trapped between the Crystal lamp and a wall will automatically die after a short delay. This death unlike being killed by a mob does not drop your loot but instead you wake up in bed with all your loot. Could be used to teleport back to base instead of using a recall idol but you will leave behind the Crystal lamp, should find another item preferring one that can be crafted to replace the crystal lamp.

I have also attempted to use this to pass though unbreakable wall found in the scarlet area. For example the door that only opens when you have a tulip, or the random generated walls the developers will replace later for those of us who use the same world for everything. Anyhow I have not had any success with that yet even with good locations or spawns, If I ever successes I will post it here

test 1 block movement.



test 2 8 block movement.





Log 3: When they released the Galaxite turret it brought with it new possibility in mob farm department. I no longer had to rely on mobs killing other mobs dropping loot on the conveyor belts and leading to my chest. But now I had to deal with how mobs heal out of combat, meaning that the turrets did not shoot fast enough to kill stronger mobs before they healed.

Desired result: find a way to stack or make turrets fire faster to kill mobs more effectively.

I created a loop with a logic circuit and wire that would turn itself on and off fast. This was an attempt to see if the cool down on the turret would reset when turned off and on again. Unfortunately after testing it several times I found it was not so. I had to focus more on kill boxes, or several turrets in a room that all shot the mob as they walk though it. This works but if too many mobs spawn at one time and enter the room they will out heal any damage done to them.

attempt of fast shooting.


kill box.


Log 4: A desire for entertainment as led me to build an arena where I can watch mobs kill each other.

Desired results: watch several enemas kill each other for fun.

Results: this one was easy to make by creating a center safe zone I can create a long hall of conveyor belts that leads to one room of any given size. Each hall has many rooms of different mob spawning blocked off with electric doors. Levers made with a short enough path don't need a generator to operate the doors. Depending on the mobs I might make more adjustments, for example on the off chance minor cavilings mine the walls I have built many aspects with sandstone wall, so far none of mobs have mined more test need to know if its luck or a limit on mining damage. Being paranoid I also added fence in front of some walls to block mobs from mining them if they can. Note large larva have not been add at the time of writing this.

The problem: When I log off and on again or when I leave the area the mobs are able to move though the doors. Unsure of the cause of it but the slime's seems to be fine, the other mobs on the other hand are not. Perhaps its a design flaw and can be fixed by making the hallways left to right instead of up and down.

Rooms



Wire set up




Log 5: I found that melee attacks on Galaxite traps while having melee damage heal you x amount will proc when smacking a trap with the king slime set on.

I wanted to see if it would work with a hoe witch I can use to pick up a large amount of the traps at the same time. This way I have a quick way to heal in a boss fight that is not only potions.

This does not work with a hoe, even using a hammer to pick them up only proc the heal once in much the same way as hit a normal enemy, I am sad now.

The heal

Equipment tests and results

Unlike the rest of the log this will be filled with the common equipment I carry with me at all times, since it comes with uses and helps me on my adventures.

Log 1 the bubble gun. Pre Crystal Caves Update: Used to be my favorite weapon when fighting the devourer and Malugaz bosses no longer get slippery making this weapon not as effective as it used to be.

Log 2 Scarlet hoe: Pre Crystal Caves Update: this hoe as a 5 by 5 area that allows you to till the ground. Note what I use this hoe for is to pick up mob spawners, electric wire or conveyor belts. You can pick up grown plants with this as well making it faster to garden as you still get the points. It can be found in the scarlet crafting table.

Log 3 Bomb scarab mortar. Pre Crystal Caves update: I enjoy this weapon as a means to clear area or to mine 3 by 3 in a direction. Although to get the best out of this weapon you will need an attack speed build just be careful. I use this mostly to blow a hole in a wall I know will lead to a room filled with mobs, making them have to run towards me and allowing me to get all the shots off of whatever ranged weapon I happen to be using. Dropped by Bomb Scarabs in the desert of beginnings.

Log 4 Cupid bow. Pre Crystal Caves update: This weapon is fun to use but it has problems. Testing this weapon on boss summons such as those from the hive mother have shown them to still be friendly to the other mobs and yourself making it not effective to distract the hive mother and enemies. The low durability makes building attack speed with this weapon a fun but short experience. I wanted to see if the Farmer cavilings plant would be friendly but it still grabs the player even when the farmer who put it down is friendly. Using it against a larva egg before hatching does not make all mobs inside friendly. Still this weapon is a powerful tool I now use to lock down strong targets in a group and distract the rest while I lay waste to them in all areas. It is obtained by the Valentines event.

Log 5 Larva Set: Pre Crystal Caves update: Using the Larva set bonus the hive queen will not attack you making it possible to watch as the traps you have set kill her up close. The great devourer can still deal damage when he runs into you making him not a good opponent for the set. Unfortunately the skull necklace/ skull ring/ and tome bonus do not set them on fire when wearing the armor. Strange but the slime king and the Larva set both make you immune to the farmer cavilings plant trap in the scarlet zone. Unfortunately the bugs in the desert of beginning do not count as larva and will still attack you. You can get the Larva set from The devourer and hive mother.

Log 6 Slime King set: As of the crystal caves update the Slime king set no longer protects you from Tentacles and crabs in the octarine zone, lava butterfly is no longer considered a slime. it no longer stops farmer traps from stunning or doing damage. More test needed with traps to see if same effect occurs. I will leave old notes below to document change.

Pre Crystal update: Slime king set bonus has a wide range of bosses and units that it makes you immune too. Tentacles and crabs in the octarine zone count as slime's allowing you to explore the area extremely safe. Slime bosses count allowing you to make an area larger and clear out any slime before attacking the boss. Just like with the Larva set this make you immune to the cavilings plant trap in the scarlet zone. It is strange as the player can still attack and destroy the plant. Get the slime king set from defeating the slime king.

on another note I found out that by smacking a Galaxite trap not a spike trap, and having the melee hits restore health will proc as if to suggest they are enemies they do not do damage. Turrets do damage on the other hand, they will not shoot the player directly but if you stand in front after it fires it hurts with the king set on.

Log 7 Dynamite Pack: Pre Crystal update: This is made at the wire bench and allows the player to mine that witch can not be mined at early game. For example with my current character I can not mine Lava rock wall. This is a problem as i wish to make a quick access point to fight the red slime boss. but by stacking two or more of these next to each other (depending on how many hits it would take to break a wall) I can work my way to the area with nothing but dynamite packs, wire and a lever.

[Drakmour]

I don't get how you replant plants after gathering. Do you still need to do it manually by hand or there is some way to autoplant seeds?

[Hengineer]

wow impressive this helped alot with mob farming

[Brisby♥]

great work and fantastic book keeping, godspeed with your future endeavors core scientist

[ZeroGravitas]

Are you on the official discord? I think you might get on with the folks in the #circuitry channel.

[17]

I can see you being a scientist in another life, perhaps you are. cool guide

[XORandom]

[easytarget]

I hope this inspires or helps you with your Core Keeper experience. I might, if I have time, update this Guide with new experiments or projects I work on in the future. I truly love this game.