Introducing: The Portable Chemical Mixer

[LordVollkorn]

Hello everyone!
On the station I am known as Jay Smith and with my buddy Michael Trauf, I have recently developed an item called the "Portable Chemical Dispenser".
We made a pull request to merge it into the main code and while a lot of people seemed to like the basic idea of it, the PR ultimately did not get merged.
However, we absolutely do understand the concerns that came up, mainly, that the portable chemical dispenser created reagents from nothing but a power cell.

We received a lot of very good, constructive criticism, and therefore decided to give it another shot and address the biggest concerns that came up.
After some brainstorming, this has lead us to our new project: The Portable Chemical Mixer

The key difference is, that the Portable Chemical Mixer does not create any reagents or chemicals from thin air.
Every single unit of a reagent has to be sourced from Botany, Chemistry, the kitchen, vendors or Cargo.
The item needs to be supplied with base reagents through usage of Chemical Cartridges.
The Portable Chemical Mixer is a bulky item, that is attached to the belt slot, which is also the slot that Chemists would use for the Chembag for beakers and pills.

The Interface looks similar to that of a dispenser, however, the remaining units of each reagent are displayed next to the reagent itself.
And of course, the storage capacity of this item is limited.

We currently have two branches of code that approach the Cartridges and Limits in different ways:

a) Version 1
The Portable Chemical Mixer must first be equipped with a matter bin. The matter bin determines the total volume.
The most basic matter bin will enable the device to store 10u per reagent (=260u total). A bluespace matter bin currently allows 80u per reagent (2080u total).
Chemical cartridges can be printed at the medical techfab and are reusable, requiring plastic for producing them, therefore encouraging the production of plastic.
These cartridges may be filled using any source, e.g. the normal dispensers or chemicals from bottles and beakers. A cartridge holds 100u of reagents.
Using a cartridge on the Portable Chemical Mixer will add its reagents to the Mixer.
For balancing and future-proofing, the Portable Chemical Mixer only accepts the contents of a cartridge, if it is a pure reagent of a single type.
Alternatively, a new, medically restricted crate can be ordered from Cargo, containing "Multi-Cartridges" that add 10u/20u/30u to each single reagent respectively.
It is possible to load the device up with only one single reagent in very high numbers, though you would have to source said reagents first.
This branch of code could be compared to a chemistry bag full of beakers, in which each beaker can hold multiple types of reagent.
[We have finished coding this version]

b) Version 2
The Portable Chemical Mixer is loaded with one special cartridge that has specific slots for each type of base reagent.
There is a maximum amount that one reagent slot can be filled with, independent from the states of other slots.
The cartridge and its slots can be refilled individually using a dispenser, a beaker or any other common method.
It is not possible to go into very high numbers with just one single reagent, since each one is capped.
This branch of code could be compared to a chemistry bag full of beakers, in which each beaker only holds a single type of reagent.
[We are currently still working on this version]

We believe that the Portable Chemical Mixer has great potential and fits into the existing gameplay without causing any imbalances.
Since all the base reagents have to be supplied, the starting conditions of this item are neutral.
Furthermore, we designed it with the goal of being "future-proof", so that it is ready for any changes that chemistry might experience, e.g. the supply of base reagents through other means than the dispensers.
This item might offer a new way of playing as Chemist, while keeping the "chemical equilibrium" of the station intact.

We are eager to listen to your opinions and are looking forward to suggestions,
Jay & Michael

[Ivuchnu]

Cobby's hackmd hosted design doc seems to be focused on shift towards botany making all the good chems. I don't get why exactly this is good idea. Whole concept fills me with

I personally would love to see this belt in game. Right now if you want something similar, it's either bunch of beakers to mix or wrenching out portable chem dispenser and dragging it to where it's needed.

[Cobby]

Cobby's hackmd hosted design doc seems to be focused on shift towards botany making all the good chems. I don't get why exactly this is good idea. Whole concept fills me with

I personally would love to see this belt in game. Right now if you want something similar, it's either bunch of beakers to mix or wrenching out portable chem dispenser and dragging it to where it's needed.

They already have access to exclusive chems that make them compete with chemistry alone, and can take a single machine of chemistry's (compared to tools/tray) to become chemistry plus which is what's done every round depending on server/botany player. I'd like to see botany just manage the reagent procurement, and chemistry turn the procured gunk into pure reagents through abusing reagent physical properties.

Even if you disagree that botany is the way to go, you have to agree dispensers are terrible for the role so you're left with a "horizontal depth" system where you can do 500 things right off the bat but because there's no real substance beyond making the chems people have just decided to make meth every round because at least blowing stuff up is kinda cool. I want a system with "vertical depth" that may limit the 500, but allow you to explore the content in a more impactful (enjoyable?) manner.

I think some people are quick to jump the gun here because they believed this would be with current chem and current botany. No, there is a very large prereq that these wouldneed to be better integrated prior to implementing this system (well we need properties first).

[Cobby]

That said, an item that further integrates the dispenser is not a direction I want chemistry to go in. I believe I mentioned this in the PR.

[Ivuchnu]

I think banning belt-mounted chem dispenser before "botany just makes biomass and chemists refine it into all the goods" (which sounds pretty good, I'll be honest) PR is bad. Just like R&D console thing and dissection surgery before proper R&D overhaul. You always could remove those in one big swoop when merging complete branch full of new chem features and reverts.

EDIT: To clarify why , while botany & chemistry having relationship like mining & science (one gets mats, other gets mat getting tech) sounds like cool idea, having features slowly removed or nerfed (everything from chemistry being damage converter chem, really?) before botany & chemistry big overhaul thing or having complete ban on implementing things related to existing system (chem dispenser alternative variant did nothing wrong) understandably gets people going "coder man bad". No one wants nerfs or lack of new features because overhaul is not finished. And if it's finished, I hope it will work. Horizontal spacemen are not exactly fun and lack of meds will lead to that.

[LordVollkorn]

That said, an item that further integrates the dispenser is not a direction I want chemistry to go in. I believe I mentioned this in the PR.

This item does not require the dispenser, you can use reagents from any source, so if the dispenser should disappear one day, this item would work just as fine
And since every reagent has to be found first, it makes department interaction with (e.g. future botany) necessary. It doesn't create anything from thin air .
(With your example: Botany makes unrefined chemicals, Chemistry refines them, then Chemistry can use those reagents with this device)
And if the types of reagents change, we can update this item to work with them. Cartridges coming from Cargo can be removed or adjusted.
Isn't this the right direction?

[Cobby]

if it requires pure samples so it is purely a dispenser as opposed to a synthesizer of any sort I would be fine with it.

pure samples meaning if I had a beaker full of goop (aka multiple reagents) it would not autosort it.

[LordVollkorn]

Yes, the pure samples would absolutely be possible, no problem
But from the gameplay perspective, wouldn't that mean that a player would have to insert 10-15 cartridges one by one first in order to start mixing?

If you insist, we can do it, but if there will be a purifying process in the future, couldn't we alternatively make the cartridges only fillable by the purifying machine (when one gets made)?

I am not against it, I am just thinking that (especially with the current chemistry) it might be cumbersome for players to print so many cartridges, fill each one individually with a single pure reagent and put them in one after the other?

[Cobby]

you could have refillable cartridges or something, I care less about the refill method and more about how it does not play nicely with goop.

either of the below methods would be fine imo.

1) not working if there is goop (you will have to manually insert pure samples)

2) works with goop but when you try to dispense you will get that goop

[LordVollkorn]

Thank you for your feedback, I have adjusted the cartridges accordingly
- The mixer now only accepts pure samples
- The cartridges are reusable (and need more materials to be made)

I also edited the description in the first post of this thread, so it stays up-to-date