Er'cana/Theories
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[edit] Pellet production process
Editors: Please, do not edit this article. In stead, do post any comments, advices and theories you have on the discussion article.
This article is about my theory on the exact workings of the Er'cana factory. I studied the complex for a long time in various ways, from thorough observation in MOUL to using fly mode and H'uru software to look at the factory from all possible angles and not miss a titbit of information.
To avoid having to type out 'in my theory' or 'I think that' all the time, the rest of this article will assume that the theory is true so that I can type 'this is so' and 'this happens like that'. Please remember this when you read the article.
Also, please take these theories with a grain of IC, because I'm quite convinced the designers didn't think about this otherwise awesome industrial complex in the way of it actually having a traceable production process ;)
[edit] Resource Gathering
Before the actual process of the pellet production will be explained, I will share what I have found about the harvesting machines and the harvesting process.
[edit] The Harvester
The main harvesting is done by a machine on rails called the harvester. It requires only one person to operate it, though a second crew member might have been on board for safety and such.
Although the exact power source of the harvest is unknown, the three piston-like thrusters at the front indicate it is powered by some kind of piston engine. The power from this engine is then fed to the magnetic levitation units that propel the harvester along the rails.
The machine is divided into two parts: the harvester itself, and the carriage at the front. The two are held together by magnetic forces, and can be detached from each other when necessary. It is unclear whether the carriage has its own propulsion or not (more on this later).
On the main section of the harvester, a control area can be found with a number of levers and buttons. The large right lever starts and stops the movement of the harvester. The lever in the middle designates the direction the harvester moves along the rails. The large left lever lowers the 'wings' of the harvester, or brings them back to their out-of-use positions, which is sometimes needed to manoeuvre through the more narrow parts of the canyons of Er'cana.
However, this last lever is stuck now. This could be for a number of different reasons. One is that the DRC disabled it to prevent accidental damaging of the wings. Another possible reason is that it simply broke or was otherwise 'naturally' disabled over time since the fall of the D'ni empire.
There are two more features to the controls. One is the blue button to the right. With it, the front carriage of the harvester can be called back when it has left the harvester to enter the factory. However, it can not be used to send the carriage into the factory from the harvester. In stead, an additional lever can be found at the end of the carriage to fulfil this task.
The final point of interest on the controls is the small blinking red light. Similar red lights can be found throughout the Age, serving as warning signals in dangerous places, where caution should be used, though in this particular case it might indicate the fact that the left lever is out-of-order. Whether the lights have always been there or were placed by the DRC is unclear, since they could not be found in Er'cana in Uru: The Path of the Shell. It is interesting to note that all of these lights throughout the Age blink perfectly synchronized.
Additionally, the red lights may detect whether anyone is in the danger zone, and halt any potentially dangerous commands from outside. In this case, the harvester would refuse to start driving if anyone is standing on the bridges. I will be testing to see if this is true. Update: I tested it, and it is not true. However, I sent in a feature request to make it so.
Two more lights can be found on the walkways that connect the main harvester and the carriage, to indicate that people should stay clear of it when the harvester is moving, since the walkways will move up during that time. More red lights will be pointed out and explained further on in the article.
Lastly, on the surface facing the controls a number of meters and gauges can be found. These were used to measure things such as available fuel and other resources needed to operate the harvester, engine temperature, speed, all the usual things.
[edit] Harvesting Process
The harvester harvested the long stalky plants that can be found in the Age (we know this because a number of cut versions of this plant can be found along the rails).
When the harvesting process is started, the harvester's wings are lowered. These then cut and scoop up the materials as the harvester passes over them at a fast pace, in a way much like some of today's agricultural machines do.
The materials are then exposed to some kind of very early pre-processing, perhaps (if possible with these materials) they are peeled and a coating of sorts is applied which for example protects them from the harsh sun of the Age or helps preserve them longer. The coating material is stored in 6 of the large cylinders at the back of the wing.
The seventh cylinder is used to propel the materials into an orange hose leading into the main body of the harvester (where a suction mechanism is helping to move the materials through the hose). Note: In the above picture of the harvester, the orange hose's two parts are disconnected when the wing is lowered. This, however, is wrong since the hoses can freely move and twist as the wing lowers.
When the materials from one wing arrive inside the harvester they join the materials harvested by the other wing. Inside the machine, another pre-process may happen, but this unlikely. In any case, the materials are then shot of the a long, curved metal pipe (the 'neck' of the harvester) into the middle of the front carriage, where they drop into a large storage tank, where they remain until the harvester returns to the factory. If needed, the carriage's storage tank may be filled with water or some nutritious mix to keep the materials healthy.
The neck can be turned over a vertical axis, which is needed to keep it pointed at the carriage when the harvester is making turns (no matter how slight). If sharper turns are made, however, the neck may turn too far and point next to the carriage, which would shoot the materials to the ground. This is thought however to be a limitation of the game MOUL, not of the concept of the harvester itself. It is unknown how the harvester knows which way to point the neck.
Although after this the material is ready to be taken to the factory to start the real process, there are a few more things to the harvester I'd like to point out. Namely, some 'sprinklers' which provide a fertilizing mix to the plants (which was probably a secondary task, not always executed simultaneously with harvesting) and an antenna, which would have broadcasted such information as positioning (using a system similar to the KI coordinates) and status to the control room in the factory.
And finally, another blinking red light can be found on the ladder that allows access to the harvester. This is because when the harvester is moving, part of this ladder it retracted. When the harvester stops, it is extended again. Obviously, this red light warns people not to climb the ladder when they know it might be retracted soon, and not to stand under it when it is not yet extended.
When the harvester had emptied the fields or the carriage was full, it would return to the factory to deliver the materials. As it neared the factory, it had to pass through a large round sealed door, which was opened from the control room in the factory. The purpose of this gate was most likely safety: anything dangerous that was outside of the secluded area could not enter.
[edit] Additional Harvesting Units
In Er'cana, two of the kind of harvester described above were used to supply the bulk of the materials to the factory. Four smaller, probably tractor-sized harvesting units were used to supply additional resources (but nothing is known about these as they can not be found in the accessible part of the age). They possible harvested the fruits of the other kind of plant found in the Age. So, at any moment, there would have been up to six harvesters at work (supplying the factory with up to four different materials).
An alternative theory is that these smaller harvesters never existed, but the resources they would have gathered, were actually gathered by hand.
[edit] Diagram
At this point I'd like to show a simple diagram I made of the pellet production process from this stage on. It will be further explained in the rest of the article, and can be used as a guideline and to look back.
Line colour/style legend:
- Normal line/red arrow - Materials
- Large dotted line/blue arrow - Water
- Small dotted line/yellow arrow - Power
[edit] Docking, Delivery and Pre-processing
As the different harvesters neared the factory after they had harvested the resources, they were spotted by camera's (orange 'windows' on the two towers on the front of the factory) that are connected to the control room. The control room staff could then signal for the docks to be prepared for the transfer of the materials.
[edit] Main Harvesters
[edit] Docking and Delivery
As one of the two main harvesters (the ones on rails) would dock with the factory, another camera above the dock would be used to get information like the amount of materials that were to be transferred (and of course the camera was also used for security). After this the lever on the front carriage of the harvester would be pulled and the carriage would move into the factory.
How exactly the carriage is propelled into the factory, is unclear. There are several theories. The first is that the carriage simply uses its own power source and magnetic levitation units (or perhaps wheels) to enter the factory. However, after that the carriage makes a near-vertical climb higher into the factory, which would be unlikely to be possible using the same maglev engines as it did for the horizontal advancement. When it arrives at the top of the climb, it uses the magnetic levitation again to move a bit more forward.
Another theory is that the gravity field which connects the carriage to the harvester, inverts, so that is pushes the carriage into the factory. It then connects to a chain that takes it up into the factory. At the top of the climb are a number of magnetic units inside the walls that move the carriage a bit more forward.
Perhaps the reality is a combination of these two theories: the carriage has its own maglev propulsion units but is also aided by a chain to make the climb.
Either way, when the carriage arrives at the docking site inside one of the two transit rooms, its momentum is halted by a large wooden board, and the two 'mouths' at its underside (not earlier discussed for simplicity reasons) connect to the two pipes of the docking station. The carriage's mouths then open and the materials would have flowed out into the pipes until the carriage was empty and could return to the harvester and back to the fields.
Note that the mouths of the harvester look very unrealistic and unfinished. This is however again a limitation in the design of the game itself, not in the concept of the harvester.
[edit] Pre-processing
When the materials left either of the two pipes on the outside of the docking station, they would glide down in gutters into devices of which the purpose is unclear, though they were most probably just used for storage. If they did have a purpose, it might be to remove waste particles like sand. The top part of the storage tank may also have served an unknown purpose.
When there was a need for them, the materials were sucked into the pipe at the top of the tank that leads into the wall. It comes out again at the outside of the building, and leads to one of the towers atop the factory. Inside these towers, the material would have undergone some kind of pre-processing. Waste products of this process were disposed of via another pipe that leads down to one of the waste water basins (more on these later).
On top of the two towers are solar power generators (or at least power generators of some kind). These power everything in the front part of the factory (with the exception of the two smaller docking stations discussed further on).
After pre-processing, the materials travelled to the centre of the front of the factory, where they would join up with the materials from the other large docking station and two of the smaller docking stations.
[edit] Secondary Harvesting Units
The smaller harvesting units mentioned before used much smaller, exterior docking stations to deliver their materials. These tower-like structures provided power to the individual docking stations through small solar power generators.
When one of these machines arrived, it would send a signal to the control room to open up the docking pipe, and the control room staff would in turn send a signal to the top of the dock tower to open up the pipe (or, alternatively, the harvester may have sent send a signal directly to the tower). The tower would send a current through two orange cables down to the hatch of the pipe, opening it to allow the harvesting unit to deliver its materials.
The materials would then move through the pipe to the top of the tower, then through some pre-process to the bottom, where they would be shot into a large pipe leading deeper into the factory. Perhaps they would be suspended in water first to ease the propelling through the pipe.
From the factory, three smaller grey pipes lead to the docking station. These may have provided a number of different things. Perhaps they provided ingoing and outgoing pressure, which may have been needed for the pre-process inside the towers, and/or they may have provided the water in which the materials would be suspended. They probably also removed waste from the dock tower.
This waste would then join up with any possible waste produced by the larger docks and then move up to one of the two large towers, from where it would be pumped into the waste water basins. The machines pumping supplies through the three smaller grey pipes were also powered by one of the larger solar power generators on the towers, through a large orange pipe.
To the different docking stations, different materials were delivered: to the two inner smaller docking stations, the same materials were delivered. After the pre-processing, they joined up with the pre-processed materials from the two larger docking stations. They may even have been used to provide backup for the same materials as those docking stations, when there was a large need.
The two outer docking stations provided different materials each to the factory. After these materials were processed, they moved through the large pipes directly to the ovens at the back of the factory.
[edit] Village and Service Corridor
The 'village' is where the D'ni that worked on the factory lived. It was most likely just a temporary home for them. There isn't a lot known about it, since the interior of the buildings does not exist in the game. Judging from a number of signs though, it would seem that they had central heating.
One prominent feature is the windmill, which provided power to part of the village (only part of it because power cables can be seen running back to the factory, though these may also have served communication purposes). It is interesting to note that the village windmill's blades use an alpha channel for a texture that is very similar to the shape of the factory's main windmill's blades, though we know the two mills don't use the same technology (more on this mentioned later).
To reach the village, one would have to enter a hidden service corridor. This corridor can be reached through the tunnels the carriages moves through when entering the factory. At the end of the tunnel would have been a ladder leading up to the roof of the factory, and from there the catwalk could be used to reach the village.
[edit] The Mill
After the materials that were delivered to the two main docks and the two inner smaller docks are pre-processed, they join up and are transported through a very large pipe that runs over the so-called courtyard of the factory, which also holds the various water basins that will be discussed later, into one of the 'electric balls' mounted on one of the factory's main features: the mill. Notice another camera above the main entrance.
The mill serves a number of purposes, of which some are unclear to me. I will start with those. The image to the right will be explained and can be used as guidance when reading this section.
[edit] Power Generation
As one would assume, the windmill somehow generates power (to drive the grindstones and water pump discussed further on). However, unlike most windmills (including the village's windmill) the blades of the factory's stand exactly perpendicular to its rotational axis. This means that no kind of ordinary wind could ever get it to turn around.
Normally, that would pose a problem. However, this is not an ordinary windmill. Ordinary windmills don't have metal plating and round disks on their blades, nor 'electric balls'. I mentioned these before, and I call them like that because their texture file is called the same.
While I do not know what these electric balls are used for or how they function, they, together with the other features of the blades, might be able to explain how the windmill generates power. I, however, am not a physicist, so I can't explain it myself.
To the left is one of the four blades of the mill. In the background some features of Er'cana can be seen, while a large part is invisible due to the height at which the picture was taken (the game does this to save processing power).
[edit] Processing of Primary Materials
Inside the building under the mill, three large grinding wheels can be found that are driven by a large shaft, which is driven by the mill. However, the materials arrive in the mill into one of the four electric balls that are mounted onto the base of the mill and are connected to each other by orange hoses or cables. Their purpose is unclear. The materials may undergo another process in these balls... Perhaps they are micro waved?
Now for the grinding wheels. These are a big question to me. Mainly, because there is no obvious way for the material to be transported to underneath the wheels, from the electric balls. There are barely any pipes or hoses that could connect the two, and it seems very unlikely that it was done by hand (because the balls appear sealed, but more so because the rest of Er'cana is fully automated).
The only solution I could come up with was for the materials to travel through two thin metal pipes that run from the ceiling to the sides of the wheels. After being ground, the materials would fall down in a hole in the middle of the grinding wheels mechanism. They were then sucked up through the inside of the driveshaft of the wheels (by a roundish device that can be seen further up the shaft). The six curved metal pipes served as chimneys to dispose of heat and possible waste.
The materials were then taken to the back of the base of the mill, where they entered two large pipes that run to the back of the factory. These pipes (being two) suggest that they carried two differently processed materials. Perhaps one carried materials that were processed by the grinding wheels, and the other carried those that went through an extended process of electric balls. Remember though that although these materials were likely differently processed, they both arrived at the mill in the same state (through the large pipe over the courtyard).
The two pipes lead directly to the bakery, which will be discussed further on.
[edit] Water Pump
The secondary task of the windmill is to drive the water pump underneath it. It is driven by the two huge wooden wheels on the sides of the mill, which are ultimately driven by the same drive shaft that drives the grinding wheels. Its purpose is to pump the water from the fresh water basin to the back of the factory. This is evidenced by two things: first, the fresh water basin lowers at the part near the mill. Secondly, the water in the basin moves toward the mill. The purpose of this water will be explained later.
[edit] Secondary Materials
The secondary materials, which were delivered into the two outer small docks at the front of the factory, moved through the outer walls of the courtyard, to the back of the factory. They did not undergo any further processing.
[edit] Control Room
In the middle of the factory, the control room can be found. From here, nearly all machines in the factory can be turned on or off, monitored and controlled. It was likely operated by two or three people. In the room, a large number of control panels can be found. These can not be used by explorers, because they control parts of the factory that are not vital to the production of the pellets (such as the opening of the smaller docks).
Explorers are, however, allowed to operate the main screen, which controls the power generators in the back of the factory and can turn the ovens in the bakery on or off. It also displays any carriages that are currently docked, the grinding wheels (if they are active) and available pellets in the pellet room.
There are two more features to the room: a large projection of a map of the factory, showing the parts of the factory that are currently supplied of power in blue. And the metal spires, which are antennas, broadcasting and receives signals to and from various parts of the factory (these explain the lack of wires and cables throughout the factory).
[edit] Water Cycle
The water cycle is an important part of the pellet production process. Without it, the ovens in the bakery would not be supplied of power. The cycle consists of three parts, which will be explained here.
[edit] Power Generators
The power generators are the four pools at the back of the factory. They are often referred to as 'mixers', because until now it was incorrectly assumed that these machines mixed the materials before they arrived at the ovens. The fact, however, that the materials are taken directly from the mill to the bakery in large pipes going over the generators, proves this assumption to be wrong.
How exactly the generators work is not known. What is known is that water enters the generators through the column in the middle. There are a number of theories as to what happens next. A viable one is that there is something in the water that creates energy as the three blades that rotate in it move against the walls of the basin. Another theory is that (seeing how the water still rotates when it is at a low level and not touched by the) the water rotates by itself, turning the blades, generating energy. It could be anything: there is a lot of unexplained D'ni technology out there.
Notice that the water and the blades of the generator rotate in opposite directions. This is a flaw in the game, not in the concept of the factory (officially confirmed).
Whatever the explanation, after the power is generated it moves through a large orange pipe that leads from the generator to one of the ovens. Every generator powers an individual oven.
Note that the area with the four power generators consists of a basin filled with water that looks a lot like that in the waste water basins. There is however no connection between the two. The water around the generators may be used to cool the water in the generators.
Finally, at the top of each power generator, four red lights can be found. These are there to warn people of the dangers of being inside the generators when it starts, and to make sure they don't get locked in by someone closing the hatch from the control room.
[edit] "Super Oven" Explained
As explorers have been experimenting with different pellet recipes, they have found that there is a so-called "Super Oven" among the four ovens in the bakery. Although all four ovens can be set to different settings, this oven's settings seem to affect the resulting pellets' properties the most (it's what I keep reading at least). The fact that all power generators power a separate oven, explains this. Namely because one of the generator's controls are broken, and it can not be turned off.
How does this explain anything? Well, there are a couple more things to consider. The first is that the other generators are already empty (the level of the all-important water is extremely low) when the explorer arrives. And secondly, there is a problem with the pump system that would otherwise refill the generators with water.
Although in the control room the command can still be given to refill them, nothing will actually change in the generators. But because the water can still be seen being pumped out of the fresh water basin, it can hardly be a problem with the pump itself. A better explanation would be that a pipe where the water moves though has broken, allowing the water to escape into the soil after it has passed the pump.
Add these facts up and one soon concludes that the only oven that is getting full power is the one connected to only working generator. And, of course, this happens to be the one that is being called the "super oven". It is for this reason that this oven's settings weigh much heavier in the properties of what will become the pellets. The other ovens probably run on a small emergency power supply and not at full capacity at all.
I will be testing soon whether the other ovens actually have a say in the pellet's properties or that they don't work at all.
[edit] Secondary Materials
The secondary materials move through pipes in the outer walls of the generator area directly to the bakery.
[edit] Water Recyclers
After the water has done its job in the generator (whatever that is precisely), a hatch is opened at the bottom and the water runs through tunnels back to the courtyard of the factory. Here, the water enters the waste water basins. It may stay there for an amount of time before being sucked up by one of the two pipes that can be found below the water level at the other end of the basin.
These pipes (of which there are four in total) are connected to two water recycling machines that stand in the transit rooms where the material is delivered (and were not discussed earlier for simplicity reasons). The purpose of these machines is obviously to recycle the waste water and make it ready for another round through the power generators for the ovens. Depending on why exactly the water is needed for the generation of power, chemicals or other substances may be added to it by the recycler.
For the recycling process itself, the waste water may be boiled and evaporated in the bottom part of the recycler, then separated from the waste particles at the top, then condensated again to drop back to the bottom via the sides of the column.
Out from the water recyclers extend six curved chimney pipes, identical to the ones that could be seen at the grinding wheels in the mill. These, too, serve to dispose of heat and waste.
After being recycled, the water moves through another pipe leading away from the recycler out into the fresh water basin.
[edit] Water Pump
The water then gets pumped out of the fresh water basin by the pump driven by the mill, and then pumped back to the generators (or it would, if it was not for the problem with the pump system), where the cycle starts over again.
[edit] The Bakery
The bakery is the building where the materials undergo one final process: baking.
[edit] Delivery
The main materials, which have been processed by the mill, are delivered via the two large pipes connecting to the roof of the bakery. The secondary materials, which came straight from the two outer smaller docks at the front of the factory, are delivered into the two 'pods' at either side of the bakery. The individual ovens are powered by the four generators.
From each pod at the sides of the oven, another pipe extends. This one likely served to power and control the machines that pumped the materials all the way from the front of the factory to the bakery.
From underneath the point where each power cable from the generators connects to the bakery, two more small pipes can be seen extending from the building. These run back to the control room.
Inside the bakery, the four ovens are found. Above each oven is a platform with a removable metal lid. Protruding from the ceiling above this lid is a pipe which can be pulled down and inserted into the opening under the lid. The four flaps to the sides of the pipe will fold up as they touch down on the platform, providing stability.
[edit] Turning of the Platforms
Most explorers will know that when the ovens are turned off, the platforms with the lids will rotate to allow the centre platform in the bakery to move up. But what is the purpose of all this?
First, the turning of the platforms. This can be explained: they might serve as a lock on the storage tanks above the ovens. This way, the oven's supply lids can never be opened when the ovens are baking, averting potential disaster.
However, one question remains: why go through all the trouble of building a moving platform, when there's a ladder one room away? And why prevent it from moving upwards when the ovens are on? I could not answer these questions.
[edit] Ovens
After the material arrives in the oven via the lid at the top, it enters a large wooden storage tank above the oven (this is the reason that we can keep making pellets without having to harvest new resources). Using the console at the front of the oven, a recipe can then be set (more on this later) and the ovens can be started. The console, by the way, can be moved and rotated for easy access (though this can't be done by explorers). When the oven is done baking, the materials are moved into the tank behind the console, and then pumped down through a pipe that leads to the pellet room.
Each oven cooks a different ingredient of the pellets: two ovens cook the materials that arrived at the left and right outer smaller docking stations respectively, and two ovens cook the two different products of the mill. The amount of each material that is used in the pellets can be set in the recipe (more on this later).
Note that although the ovens are quite large, they do not cook a lot of material at all. In fact, assuming the pellets provide any indication, and the ovens are set to cook an equal amount each, then each oven cooks the equivalent of 1.20 pellets.
The exact workings of the ovens are unknown. Notice, however, the electric ball above each oven. These are certain to play a part in the baking process.
[edit] Consoles
Using the individual consoles, a different recipe can be set for each oven. These consoles consist of a number of sliders, dials and buttons. Please use the image to the left as a guideline for this section.
- These sliders are used to set the three different settings. They can be set from 0 to 99, although the ovens won't function if any of the sliders is set to a value lower than 1. Every small red line on the sliders indicates a value of 2, and every thick black line indicates a value of 10.
- These three lights indicate whether the sliders are set to useable values. If a slider is set to a value lower than 1, its light will not be lit.
- The first slider sets the Time. This obviously indicates how long the materials will be cooked. Every value on the slider adds three minutes of cooking time, so the longest time possible is four hours and fifty-seven minutes (4:57). In the example image, this slider is set to a value of '80', so 4 hours.
- This dial indicates how much time of baking is left for this particular oven. In the example image, the dial sits at '0' because the oven is not currently baking. However, when the oven is started, this dial rotates clockwise to whatever value the oven was set to, and then slowly turns back to '0'.
- The second slider sets the Amount. This indicates how much of the material in the storage tank will be cooked by the oven. The higher this value, the more of the ingredient the oven prepares will be added to the final pellets. We do not know how much amount each value on the slider indicates. In the example image, this slider is set to '60'.
- The third slider sets the Temperature. Again, what this slider indicates is obvious: the temperature at which the materials are baked. And again, we do not know how much temperature each value on the slider indicates. In the example image, this slider is set to '20'.
- This dial represents the Temperature value. It will rotate when the baking process is started so that the static arrow indicates the colour representing the temperature.
- This button, when lit, is used to start the baking process. Once the baking process is started, it can not be stopped and the values of the sliders can not be changed (except by shutting down the power of the bakery). If any of the lights from 2 on any of the ovens are not lit, this button will not be active.
- This area indicates any completed pellets that are currently waiting in the pellet room. In the example image, three pellets are present.
When the different ovens are set to different Time values, the oven(s) with the longest value will start first, and the other ovens with different values will follow in such a way that they all finish at the exact same time.
[edit] "I thought the maximum value was 50, not 99?"
This is because it was initially assumed that every line on the sliders represents a value of 1, and because there are 50 lines. The Uru log files have taught us however that each line represents a value of 2, and that the 50th line does not count, though setting the slider to halfway between the 49th and the 50th line does. Thus, there are 99 values (49.5 lines times 2 value per line).
[edit] Recipe's and their Effects
In case you don't know, the pellets are used to feed the algae in the D'ni lake, to try to make them return to the 30-hour day/night cycle they once brought to the cavern. Depending on the recipe that was used to produce the pellets, they will have a better effect on the algae. The goal is to find the recipe that is best for the algae.
With four ovens with each three sliders with each 99 values, there are a total of 886,384,871,716,129,280,658,801 possible different recipes. That's a lot. Assuming that only the "Super Oven's" settings make a difference, this number is reduced to 970,299. Which is still a lot.
Rather than trying all the different combinations, I used a system to try and find out which recipe is best. In my experiments I set all ovens' consoles to the same values. First, I set all sliders to a value of 50. Then I took the Time slider on each oven, and set it to 20. I cooked the pellets, and noted down the results. I then set the Time slider to 99. I cooked the pellets again, and again noted down the results. Next, I set the Time slider to 60, the middle value between 20 and 99. I cooked and noted.
I then looked at my results for the Time values of 20 and 99. I got better results for the 99 value. So, I set the Time slider to the value between 60 and 99: 80. Again, I cooked and noted. I then looked at the results for the values of 60 and 99. I got better results on 60, so I next set the value between 60 and 80: 70.
I continued doing this until I had found the perfect value on the Time slider. I then moved to the next slider, and planned to find the next perfect value and move on to the last slider. This seems like a great system, right? Well, it would be, if the system that determines the effects of the different sliders was linear. However, through all these experiments, I found that it is not. On the contrary: it seems as if the perfect value for each slider is dependent on the settings of the other sliders!
This makes it almost impossible to experiment systematically with the sliders. At least for me, though I'm sure there are mathematicians out there that could make sense of it.
You can find a spreadsheet with the results of all my experiments here (you'll notice that the results I used above were just examples). After coming to this conclusion, I have decided to just use the best recipe from this website and go for the points ;)
One more thing I found: if the sliders are set to extreme values, as in all at 1 or 99, the resulting pellets will have no effects on the lake water: they will float around for a while, then simply sink.
[edit] Pellet Room
The pellet room is the final stage of the production process, where the actual pellets are created.
[edit] Delivery
The materials prepared by the four ovens arrive via four pipes on the sides of the corridor that leads to the room. They are then stored in storage tanks in the walls of the corridor, where they remain until the order is given to create the pellets.
[edit] Pellet Production
When the blue button on the front of the machine is pushed, a very fast process starts. First, four pumps that are on the four white pipes pump the materials rapidly from the storage tanks into the top of the oven. Here, the material is heated and formed into the shape of a pellet. It then enters a rotating part of the machine which drops a pellet in each of the five holders in the lower part of the machine. The machine is then cooled with water and the rotating part is left to stop spinning on its own. All heat and waste produced in the process are disposed of via the four chimneys that extend through the roof of the building. Over the now completed pellets sits a bright white lamp, which serves to preserve the pellets in some way.
Now, a blue button that was previously hidden can be pushed to have the machine present one of the finished pellets. The pellet will come rolling out of the machine and is grabbed by a device in front of the machine. The pellet can then by picked up and the linking book to the right can be used to take it to the silo in the Ashem'en district of the D'ni cavern.
However, if the pellet is not picked up within 10 seconds, the device will drop it into the pool at the bottom of the pellet room, to make sure no pellets over their expiration second will be dropped into the D'ni lake.
The machine will reset itself after all five pellets have been removed. Alternatively, a lever at the side of the machine can be pulled to drop all remaining pellets into the pool and reset the machine, which is useful when a bad recipe has been used and the resulting pellets could harm the lake algae.
[edit] City Silo
A silo against the wall of the cavern in the district of Ashem'en is where the pellets are taken after completion to be dropped into the water of the D'ni lake for the algae to eat.
Upon arrival in the silo, a pellet is scanned by a device similar to that in front of the pellet creating machine in Er'cana. It is then rated by the machine and it displays this rating in a gauge, on a scale of 1 to 10. What exactly the machine measures is not clear. It also awards the explorer with up to 1000 points, depending on how good an effect the pellet has on the lake water. If the pellet has a bad effect or no effect at all, 0 points are rewarded.
The machine then drops the pellet into the water of the lake and the pellet does its job. Depending on the recipe, it may make the algae spread a white or orange glow of differing size and brightness, or it might create bubbles or even explode (obviously, these are bad effects on the algae and should be avoided).
There is a ladder on the wall of the silo leading to a higher platform. Explorers can not do anything on this platform, although there is a large closed door that probably leads to the district of Ashem'en.
Seeing how the pellet making machine only creates five pellets per batch, it can be assumed that not a lot of pellets were needed to keep the D'ni lake alive. It might even have been an emergency measure for times when slight decreases in activity were noted.
[edit] Questions
Although I think my theory is very thorough, a number of questions remain that I didn't address in the rest of the article:
- What is the purpose of the two (in my theory undiscussed) machines in each transit room? They look a lot like the two storage tanks and the recycler: high wooden columns with metal pods at the top. However, unlike the other machines, these are not visibly connected to any sorts of pipes, hoses or cables. Thus, their purpose remains unclear.
- More?
