Introduction In this thread all known engines will be compared with each other. The focus of the comparison lies on the speed of the engine and how the speed translate itself to statues that have half a second cool down like the fish statue. Table of content Method Crab Engine Bird Engine Corrupt Bunny Engine Mimic Engine Skeleton Engine Jellyfish Engine Goldfish Engine Piranha Engine Slime Engine Bat Engine King Slime Engine Boulder Engine Second Timers Manual Running Manual Clicking Other Engines Table of speeds Acknowledgement Downloadable schematics 1. Method Engines were reconstructed based on their examples in several threads at the forum. Then they were activated and the sound that resulted from the pressure plates were recorded with help of the free program Audacity. The sound images given by Audacity made it possible to count every pressure plate activation. The amount of activations during the first 10 seconds was divided by 10 to give the activations per second (a/s). If there was a clear pattern the amount of activations were divided by the duration of the pattern. The amount of gold fish an engine created in combination with a single gold fish statue farm, using only one activation point and a thin layer of lava on water, which is explained in the Lava-on-Water guide by Sye Naem, for a time of one minute was measured as well. Why engines should be reconstructed exactly (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Why engines should be reconstructed exactly (open) Why engines should be reconstructed exactly (close) Six different crab engines are shown. They all work with the same self trapping system and three engines are even mirror images of another one. Despite the similarities only two of the six engines work: engine three and engine four. 2. Crab Engine History The most used engine is the famous crab engine. It was first mentioned by Jilly2 in his Money making guide. It is unknown who came up with the idea of the crab engine. People who improved the engine: Karolis1234 reduced the horizontal space to two blocks here. Dibidy was the first one who introduced the automatic trapping system using active stone blocks here. Sye Naem was the first one who managed to trap multiple traps automatic using a single crab statue here. Karolis1234 made the fastest crab engine that traps 10 crabs automatically here. Speed 6 a/s 121 gold fish per minute (f/m) Sound picture of the crab engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture of the crab engine (open) Sound picture of the crab engine (close) Advantages gets the best out of a fish statue small. consistent. easy to make one click set up designs for multiple crabs are available best developed engine Disadvantages none 3. Bird Engine Notes There are two kinds of bird engines: the first one is focused on sending out signals as fast as possible using one output wire and the second one on sending out signals very fast using multiple outputs. The latter one could be used for example to send signals to multiple activation point of a single statue. Both types are far developed. The first one could be made bigger by increasing the amount of pressure plates. This is due to the fact that it requires time for the bird to turn around when reaching the wall, which will be shown in the sound pictures. As rule of a thumb it can be said that the more pressure plates are used the higher the a/s value of the engine is. History The bird engine was first published on the Brazilian forum by xXAndreXx. Space Sphere improved the bird engine after that here. Fruitbatsalad suggested in Space Sphere's guide to use a bird engine with three pressure plates which resulted in the second bird engine picture I posted. Speed I tested the first shown engine with two pressure plates, (2 pp), 8pp and 75pp. The second engine showed will be referred to as the 3pp bird engine and is the only one that has been tested with three bird instead of one. 2pp 5.4 a/s 8pp 9.8 a/s 75pp 11 a/s 3pp 13.6 a/s 2pp 110 f/m 8pp 108 f/m 75pp 114 f/m 3pp 105 f/m (using 1 activation point) The lower f/m value for the 8pp bird engine seems odd, but confirmed true after testing the four bird engine 4 times. Sound pictures of the bird engines (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound pictures of the bird engines (open) Sound pictures of the bird engines (close) 2pp bird engines 8pp bird engine. That it takes time to turn around for the bird is showed by making those 'breaks' red. 75pp bird engine. The smaller peaks are a result from the bird moving farther away from the player due to the large size of the engine. 3pp bird engine. To make the counting easier the recording was done in three times, each time recording a different pressure plate by removing the other two. Advantages fast small one click set up designs available far developed Disadvantages not consistent 4. Corrupt Bunny Engine Notes Due to the high activation costs a big corrupt bunny engine and a small corrupt bunny engine (requires only 1 vile powder) will be discussed. For good speed comparison both are designed for a single output wire. The corrupt bunnies in the first corrupt bunny engine don't run away to the right since they run to under the player and then to the left where they walk against a wall after hitting ~50 pressure plates before they return. The crab engine in the small bunny engines has been placed to make the bunny spawning easier, but isn't necessary since the switch could be used for fast spawning. History Spystone was the first person who used corrupt bunnies to power a statue in his The FASTEST known 'Soul of Light' FARMING + Picture thread. Junion then improved the bunny spawn rate and improved its potential as engine and money maker in his http://www.terrariaonline.com/threa...the-day-the-rabbit-suicide-booth.75172/page-2. It's engine function is more focused on powering all the six activation points of a statue and is therefore not tested. The corrupt bunny engine with extra options by Junion (Move your mouse to reveal the content) The corrupt bunny engine with extra options by Junion (open) The corrupt bunny engine with extra options by Junion (close) The pictures has been made by Junion as well. Speed The speed of both designs was too high to measure the a/s. small: 114 f/m big: 121 f/m Sound pictures of the corrupt bunny engines (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound pictures of the corrupt bunny engines (open) Sound pictures of the corrupt bunny engines (close) The small corrupt bunny engine The big corrupt bunny engine Advantages by far the fastest engine in regard to a/s has extra options which makes it during a blood moon the fastest money farm after the chest duping bug and allows easy bunny hood farming Disadvantages big not consistent requires vile powder to start can't be started with a single click when there's no blood moon you have to stand still at the same spot or the running pattern of the corrupt bunnies gets messed up 5. Mimic Engine History Mimics were already used as traps (by Gzomyndzor) were they functioned as semi engines before they were first mentioned as an engine by XKittyXChaosX in a reply here. In this thread they've been given shape for the first time. Speed 2pp: 2.3 10pp: 6.4 2pp: 71 f/m 10pp: 107 f/m Sound pictures of the mimic engines (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound pictures of the mimic engines (open) Sound pictures of the mimic engines (close) 2pp mimic engine 10pp mimic engine Advantages can be used as trap at the same time average engine Disadvantages can't be started with a single click (yet) not consistent quite big (the 10 pp version) with the 10pp design you can't stand too far to the left or right or it will become the same as the 2pp design. Walking back to the middle will fix this again unlike the corrupt bunny engine can be dangerous due to the mimics deactivating takes quite some time one has to stay within 15 feet of the statue to activate the mimic or use a dart trap to activate the mimic (after it the mimic will stay active till it dies or disappear) 6. Skeleton engine Note Despite two pressure plates are shown the skeleton only jumps at the left pressure plate which was discovered when connecting only the right pressure plate to a goldfish farm. History It was first mentioned by PortalShifter in a reply to the Slime Engine - More consistent, faster start up, space saving. (Speed not compared) thread. They've never been developed since it's assumed by everyone that trapping the skeleton in a 2 by 3 area is the fastest. Speed 3.7 a/s 105 f/m Sound picture and jumping pattern of the skeleton engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture and jumping pattern of the skeleton engine (open) Sound picture and jumping pattern of the skeleton engine (close) The sound picture of the skeleton engine. When analyzing a bigger time interval the following jumping pattern can be seen: 15 'double jumps' followed by a 8 'combo jump.' Advantages: small moderate gold fish output Disadvantages slow no good one click set up designs available (if you use the self trapping door system by Choklakan the a/s value becomes 2.9 and the f/m 64). not consistent 7. Jellyfish Engine History There are no records of the Jellyfish engine. This is the first time something is written about it in public. The design To make the Jellyfish engine you can simply rebuild the engine as shown on the picture. For this design you have to fill the engine with 10 half buckets of water. If the engine is used, and the game is closed and started again, add a new half bucket of water in the engine again since the water level has been lowered. Using more buckets of water could solve this problem, but this hasn't been tested. Using too many buckets of water results in the jellyfish swimming too high and thus in a lowering speed or giving no output at all. More/less pressure plates can be used to make the engine faster/slower and at the same time bigger/smaller. For an engine of a different size another amount of water buckets may be needed. Credit for the automatic set up goes to the door system published by Chokladkakan in his A better crab engine (that isn't a pain to start) thread. Speed 1.7 a/s 103 f/m Sound picture of the Jellyfish Engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture of the Jellyfish Engine (open) Sound picture of the Jellyfish Engine (close) Advantages moderate goldfish output one click set up design available Disadvantages slow big takes quite some time to build has to be refilled every time it has been used and the game has been closed not consistent 8. Goldfish Engine History First mentioned by Polarhifly in a reply here. Now it's published for the first time with a picture. Note Despite a double pressure plate is shown the goldfish only touches the left one. This was discovered when only the right pressure plate was connected with a goldfish farm. If you build the mirror image of the goldfish engine the goldfish still only touch the left pressure plate. Speed 3.6 a/s 103 f/m Sound picture of the goldfish engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture of the goldfish engine (open) Sound picture of the goldfish engine (close) Advantages no need for another statue when making a goldfish farm which makes it excellent for a first goldfish farm when no other engines can be build (although you have to replace it) moderate goldfish output Disadvantages no one click set up designs available not consistent the AI of the jumping goldfish is complicated and seems to be a bit random, but goes more to the left than the right. This will make a one click set up design harder, especially when multiple engines have to be started using one goldfish statue and one click. 9. Piranha Engine History Was first mentioned by Polarhifly as well in the same post where he mentioned the goldfish engine here. In this thread it's published for the first time with a picture. Note Like the goldfish engine the piranha also touches only the left pressure plate. Speed 4 a/s 96 f/m Sound picture of the piranha engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture of the piranha engine (open) Sound picture of the piranha engine (close) Advantages none Disadvantages no one click set up designs available not consistent the AI of the jumping piranha is complicated and seems to be a bit random, but goes more to the right than the left (the opposite of the goldfish). This will make a one click set up design harder, especially when multiple engines have to be started using one goldfish statue and one click. 10. Slime Engine History First mentioned and published by Paranσid in his thread Slime Engine - More consistent, faster start up, space saving. (Speed not compared). Speed 2.2 a/s 67 f/m Sound picture of the slime engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture of the slime engine (open) Sound picture of the slime engine (close) Advantages small consistent One click start up designs available Disadvantages slow 11. Bat engine History Hasn't been mentioned before. Speed 1.2 a/s 41 f/m Sound picture of the bat engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture of the bat engine (open) Sound picture of the bat engine (close) The bat is bigger than one block, but smaller than two. The result of that is that the bat isn't touching the pressure plates for most of the time. It does has a characteristic period of 18 hits, no hits, 18 hits, no hits, 11 hits, no hits, 7 hits, no hits, 11 hits and no hits. That period has a duration of 54.5 seconds. Advantages one click set up designs available Disadvantages slow not consistent 12. King Slime Engine History First mentioned by Fruitbatsalad in a reply here. Speed 0.7 a/s Sound picture of the king slime engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound picture of the king slime engine (open) Sound picture of the king slime engine (close) Advantages only engine that can have four different output wires sending out signals at exactly the same time using only one monster. king slimes are cool and can move through floors once they have lost more than 100 hp. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbieK-oaNU8 Disadvantages big inconsistent has to be rebuilt every time very slow expensive to summon the king slime 13. Boulder Engine History The first mentioning of the boulder acting as an one time engine was by Connery0 in a reply on the circuit 1.1 thread. Notes The engine hasn't a lot of practical usage for farming and since a one minute boulder runway would require a path of more than 1250 pressure plates it wasn't tested on a fish farm. Two tests were done on the boulder engine over a runway of 250 pressure plates (500 feet). In the first run the boulder was dropped in front of the pressure plates, so the starting speed would be 0. In the second test the boulder was dropped quite far in front of the runway to ensure that it would have reached its maximum speed. With help of the known path length, maximum speed and the different travel times Chokladkakan managed to calculate the acceleration of the boulder before it reaches terminal velocity. acceleration time: 1.74 seconds acceleration: 30.13 fs^-2 Calculation by Chokladkakan (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Calculation by Chokladkakan (open) Calculation by Chokladkakan (close) s = 500 feet v max = 52,47 feet per second T = 10.40 s when v=0 at T(0) T = 9,53 s when v = v max at T(0) Delta T = 0.87 s Assume you travelled at v max for 10.40 s, then s = 545.688. Now, we know the actual s = 500, hence there is 45.688 too much. That must be above the velocity curve in the accelerating portion. Hence, to find acceleration, we have a triangle of area 45.688 and one leg 52.47. Find the other leg (1.74149038) and we've got the gradient. 52.47 / 1.74149038 = 30.13 fs^-2 Speed 26,23 a/s Sound pictures of the boulder engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound pictures of the boulder engine (open) Sound pictures of the boulder engine (close) Sound picture of the boulder including the acceleration Sound picture of the boulder without the acceleration Advantages fastest engine after the corrupt bunny engine consistent once the maximum speed has been reached Disadvantages big short duration has to be reloaded a monster at the runway can stop the engine too early 14. Second Timers Pictures of the second timers are taken from the wiki. Speed respectively 1, 0.33 and 0.2 a/s respectively 60, 20 and 12 f/m Advantages easy to obtain can be started with a single click smallest engines available consistent continue working when you are far away Disadvantages slow to extremely slow 15. Manual Running Note The human running engine has some interesting speed. With the test a speed of 22.12 f/s (feet per second) was measured when not wearing any equipment that boost horizontal movement speed while the wiki says that the base speed is 22.72 f/s. This could be an experimental error. With full speed set (full shadow armor + well fed buff, swiftness buff, spectre boots, aglet, anklet of wind and two other accessories (all 5 the accessories had the quick prefix) the speed measure was 44.37 f/s. The wiki claims that the maximum movement speed is +40% (31.81 f/s) and about the spectre boots they say the following Here by it's verified that the spectre boots build up a fixed speed which is far above the maximum speed (39,83%) and almost twice as fast as the base speed. The test hasn't been performed with just spectre boots as well resulting in the same speed as with the full speed set. It can be concluded that it are just the spectre boots that increase the movement speed Speed Base speed: 11.4 a/s (using the value of the wiki) Maximum speed: 22.19 a/s For the same reasons as for the boulder engine the speed hasn't been tested on a goldfish farm. Sound pictures of the human running engine (Move your mouse to reveal the content) Sound pictures of the human running engine (open) Sound pictures of the human running engine (close) Base speed Spectre boots only Advantages no statues or boulders needed fast consistent Disadvantages you can't be idle big 16. Manual Clicking Note It's called manual clicking so there will be no looking into so called clicking macros. Speed Everyone's clicking speed is different, but most people will have a clicking speed that lies between that of a crab engine and the best bird engine. Goldfish output hasn't been measured due to the fact that everyone is clicking differently Advantages smallest 'engine' together with the second timers (if a switch is used) almost no materials needed fast Disadvantages it's bad for your fingers speed tend to decrease the longer you click not consistent you can't be idling 17. Other Engines Engines that haven't been mentioned are the npc engine (too slow) and engines using 'wild' creatures. The reason for this is that the npc engines will find little usage and it's too random to say anything about. The engines using 'wild' animals would find little usage as well and researching engines with all the creatures in game would simply take too much time. 18. Table of speeds 19. Acknowledgement A huge thanks goes to Chokladkakan for suggesting to use Audacity to measure the speed of the engines. Without his suggestion you wouldn't be reading this thread. He also helped with calculating the acceleration of the boulder which would have taken much longer if I had to do it myself. He also kept me excited for this project and volunteered for proofreading the article. I would also like to thank BinaryConstruct for making TEdit so I could make the engines available for download. If there's a part of my history that's incorrect I would be pleased if you would be so kind to mention it (together with a link) so I can correct it and give the people credit for their work and/or ideas. 20. Downloadable Schematics The schematics for all engines, with exception of the boulder engine, king slime engine, big corrupt bunny engine and the manual running engines can be downloaded in a .zip file below. The reason why some engines are not included is that I had to destroy them during the research due to monsters spawning on the pressure plates or they have little extra value. Schematics of the engines uploaded at MediaFire.
You, sir, have officially won the internet. I crown you king. Here you go- Didn't read the whole thing, but know that this is awesome. Must have taken awhile, aye?
I have said it before, but it most certainly demands repeating: fantastic work, Nuxohiz. Absolutely brilliant and a great contribution to wiring science. Quite; he's been working on it for weeks.
Certainly: Nuxohiz has shared his progress with me and, at times, I have contributed minor additions and the odd encouraging comment.
Well done, might I suggest, though, for your Mimic engine, add a dart shooter facing the mimics. If you fire a dart at the mimics, you can 'activate' them all, effectively removing the disadvantage requiring you to be within 15 ft.
Thats the thread that ends all the debates about which engine is faster! Good job! This is just amazing.
Thanks for the kind words I spammed Choklakaran the last few days a lot with the progress The idea of such a thread already existed for more than 1.5 months in my mind, but I started building some engines February the 12th. Last Friday I built and tested most engines and Sunday I started writing. Estimated amount of time: Building, testing and making screenshots 10-20 hours Writing ~15 hours (the history part took a long time and had to test some extra little things) Total: 25-35 hours Thanks, I forgot that despite I've seen traps and farms using that method. I will change that part immediately. The calculation of the speed and acceleration was a bit done for you and your clan. Thought that you could appreciate some extra research on boulders. Thanks. I hope that there will be some testing and wiring with other engines as well now and not just the crab and bird engine.
woa, so let me get this straight, the "Big Corrupt Bunny Engine" is just as fast as the infamous "Crab Engine?"
If you only look to the output of statues with a 0.5 s or bigger cool down (like fish statue and heart statue): yes. If you look to everything with a smaller cool down (torches, pumps, although I don't know or fast and small pulses result in a larger water flow than slow, but large pulses): no. We also don't know what the future updates will bring for awesome wiring possibilities that maybe require other engines than the crab engine for the best result.
I mainly paid attention to this handy dandy chart of his. That, and the slime engine. I think you know why.
