[10/11/2014]Nullbear: Its Midnight here.

[Nullbear]

While, this is most certainly a work of progress, It'll be a good place to stuff updates regarding this system.

First important machine regarding the prototype assembly engine: The AutoLathe. (I've possibly decided to remove the protolathe. The protolathe may make an appearance later as a more advanced autolathe, allowing for more properties, etc.)

The AutoLathe will hold ONE sheet. But that sheet can be just about anything, be it a sheet of aluminum, phoron, or woven monkey hair.

The AutoLathe will hold ONE additional, optional item. This item can be just about anything, be it a component, another sheet, or a Nearly completed assembly. (EVEN NOTHING!) Depending on what you choose, the results may be different.

The Autolathe will be able to make several very basic components, In the future with the magic of updates, You will be able to add more 'basic component' blueprints using an electronic lathe schematic disk or something fancy like that.

THIS list needs a LOT of expanding on... but... For the first few things you can do with metal sheets in an autolathe, note, this is assuming there is NO optional item.

Sheet (Spits out a sheet.)
Rod (Spits out a rod.)
Bar (Its a bar. Woopee.)
Container (Makes a container out of the material of the sheet, In an autolathe, you can tweak the volume of the container by increments of... lets say 5, 10, 50. A protolathe could be more accurate.)
To Be Continued...

Now, If you were to say, put a gold/copper/conductive material inside, and have a container as the optional material, You would have different options to choose from... Ideas such as:
Coat (Coat the container/object with this material.)
Battery (If its a container, You can make a battery out of it.)


Done with the autolathes.

Batteries:

So, Feel free to expand on this, but i'm rather preferential to the 'simple' take on this. You put a container, WITH reagents inside, and turn it into a battery.

The battery size is depended on the container size. So a smaller container takes up less space, but has a lower possible charge potential.

The charge/max charge of the battery is dependent on the reagents of the container. Now, Most chemicals will have a charge of "0" but some, like acids, may have a positive charge. (Batteries are made with containers of battery acid, and copper/gold contacts/electrodes, hint hint.) Other acids, lets call them bases, would have a negative charge. These would be ridiculously useless in batteries, sorry, i dont feel like overcomplications and stuff.

The batteries max charge, will be reagentcharge*totalreagents. Rather simple.

All batteries will be able to be charged, cause why not? Thats useful.
Most chemicals will have a decay variable, I'm not sure if i mentioned it before, but its similar to a half life. While in stable chemicals it will be negligible, in some it will not.
Something to keep in mind when making batteries is this decay variable. It will affect the batteries decay variable, Which is really the rate at which the batteries maxcharge decreases, until the battery is no longer charegeable/useable. Since just about any chemical can be used in a battery, you can use that as an easy way to learn the charge of each chemical.

Now, One final thing.

Corporation names, and vendors.

So I'm thinking, the station will need to get its goods from somewhere, and this is the job cargo does. They get to communicate with 'vendors' and buy supplies from them. As an example, and one that will probably be used in-game, Is "Ultrabeam Power Equipment Ltd." A supplier of electronics, power equipment, and mainly and mostly, BATTERIES YAY! Batteries purchased from them are probably a HELL of a lot better than you could make at the start-of-game, but the costs also build up over time, and as the station gets bigger, it will be needing more and more batteries for portable electronics equipment. So designing better batteries, or reverse engineering their batteries, would probably be a good starting point for a budding self-sufficient space corporation.

I'll probably be using a few names from the corporation name vote for vendors, but feel free to drop by more, and what they sell, and how often they're in stock.

Oh, Another cargo thing, Buying from the black market will be a thing, though often illegal and sketchy. You can also acquire cheaper, used goods from budget vendors, and 'do-all' goods from mysterious ones, who just take your money and run. So building trust between vendors would also be an important thing for cargo/logistics, as well as knowing who you can trust. Some might for example, charge extra, but for every 5 crates of X you buy, They slip in a little extra something special on the side.

I've not yet decided whether cargo shuttle pilots/vendors will be playable or automated yet.

Discuss this.

[Hate9]

Will we have electrically insulated materials like rubber?

[Nullbear]

Yes. To make an insulated cable, for example, you would first make the wire, Then 'coat' it with rubber in another step.

Different wires could have very different qualities, For example, an obvious one, Is insulated vs. non-insulated. *touches*

As well as how much power it can handle! Some materials, may heat up slowly, and eventually just melt through and break, While others may spontaneously cause an electrical explosion if you put too much energy through it. This would be one of the main differences between regular and direct power lines... The amount of power they handle, And the cost of each.

[maxinatorx]

Reading through all of that was like the first minute of this clip.
I have nothing else to add other than: "That is money right there!"