[T-MEC] Terrarian Mechanical Engineering Corps

Safeman🌻 · Apr 8, 2016

Hello Terrarians!

With the highly anticipated 1.3.1 update getting closer and closer (the latest on that here), we'd like to showcase a vastly creative, rapidly growing, and inspiring part of the Terraria community, T-MEC. Terrarian Mechanical Engineering Corps (T-MEC) is all about wiring and the myriad of possibilities it opens in the world of Terraria. Want to optimize your traps and farms, streamline world travel, or break a speedrun record? The ingenuity of T-MEC can literally change the way you play the game

And the T-MEC community is the best source for getting started, brainstorming or improving ideas, and sharing your builds/achievements with others!

Video credit @ZeroGravitas

Read on for a comprehensive Q & A from founding members @ZeroGravitas and @DicemanX

1. So, Terraria. When/why/how did you first get involved with the game?

I think a couple of 'real world' computer gaming friends pulled me into some multi-player with them, back in late 2011. Version 1.0, those were the days!

Starting out a brand new world together is pretty exciting, but getting on at the same times to play together can be hard, even before accounting for variations in progression rate.

Many players are very gung-ho with progression, while I'm naturally a little slow and also need to take extra time organizing storage, then tend to get sidetracked building/fixing things, etc. So trying to maintain equipment parity can create... tensions, sometimes.

There's much to be said for having an entire world to one's self: a big, private space into which you can unfold, mentally. Perhaps even more so for those of us who are a little neurodiverse and/or introverts; restful, to escape that small burden of interaction; therapeutic, even.

Also, the range of game-play Terraria offers up been great for me with chronic fatigue (for many years), which has greatly limited my (mental) energy, fogging my thinking most of the time (to a very variable extent). Often, the most I can manage has been just to dig... Explore the next cave, next pocket of ore, etc, etc, until inventory is jammed. But then there's all manner of building potential for better days: pretty homes, also tree/mushroom farming was oddly compelling. Then, if I'm doing especially well, it can go right up to figuring out complex wiring logic. :happy:

A little hark back to my formal academic path.

The great content updates have brought me back to the game each year, such good value that I've bought Terraria for all my old Steam friends. In recent years the great online communities around the game have kept me striving to come back to build and explain new things.

Here's some old screen shot for a little more context, plus nostalgic joy and just because I tend to photograph archive compulsively:

[2011] First base | Enjoying 'farming' | and building traps.

[2012] Waterfalls before waterfalls | Chest-room base | Bird powered darts.

[2014] Up-sizing to corporate headquarters | My 1.2.4.1 base | First laboratory with first hoik.

... Then I've published a bunch of stuff after there, like my decorative builds from this year.

I started playing shortly after the game's release, mainly because I enjoy open world exploration games. I also really liked the fact that Terraria allowed for a lot of creativity

2. Mechanics are an often under-appreciated aspect of Terraria. Sure, most players have the occasional trap or arena...but T-Mec goes much further. What is the attraction for you guys?

Exploring the 'design space' of the game is very compelling, for me. It's a parallel reality, with different laws of physics to plumb and emergent concepts that stem from them. The game is such a richly detailed sandbox that there are all these possibilities built into it that are unknown to everyone, even those who programmed it. That's the nature of complexity.

Terraria is like the real world in also having weird nuances - you might call them 'glitches' - that can be exploited to great effect once you experiment and understand what's happening. Like LASERs only work because atoms can only exist at discrete (quantum) energy levels (reality is granular), hence you can get a whole massive lump of atoms to sync up their photon emissions in perfect lock-step (same wavelength, same phase), creating this really powerful effect. So useful that these clever setups are ubiquitous in our world now. It's virtually a 'cheese' tactic...

When I first saw others using up-sloped blocks for elevators, it instantly grabbed my attention: what the heck was this phenomenon?! Then once I'd played with it enough to figure out the horizontal 'hoiks' for the first time, that was both an amazingly exciting and nerve wracking experience (what if someone else publishes this first while I'm messing about making a silly video about it?!). So, anyway, I get to play the meta-game of being a (pretend) scientist/engineer!

There's a pure joy to discovery of new concepts and of course some ego tied up in being the first to put them out there.

Of course there's a great satisfaction to be had from just seeing someone else's machine and replicating the function for yourself, maybe just tweaking it a little. But, personally, I'm often better at figuring things out for myself, struggling to follow detailed instructions (that might be a little of my ADHD-PI nature).

I enjoy engineering in Terraria because of the challenge of building something that seems almost impossible to build at first - the puzzle-solving aspect of engineering is quite appealing, and it is very satisfying to figure out some clever way of achieving your constructional goals. Aside from wires, switches, and a few other tools Terraria doesn't actually have many materials for the express purpose of engineering, so it's quite a challenge to convert a really ambitious idea into a functional end product within the game.

I thought more than a year ago that building a machine that, for example, can perform basic arithmetic functions within the game was an impossibility, and yet that feat was accomplished. It was extremely satisfying building something so ambitious and complex! Now I hold a much different view of what's possible to construct within the game - in fact I have many ideas that I plan to explore in the near future.

3. What creation would each of you say makes you the most proud (doesn't have to be your own)?

The creation of the T-MEC group itself is a big one, to twist the question.

It's very gratifying to have been a grain of dust seeding this metaphorical snowflake; a real privilege. That it's kept growing and so many have posted up interesting information, question, screen shots and videos.

In fact, there's so much more to report on there now, compared to if I were answering this a year ago. I really struggled trying to getall the best stuff into my video, here, which ended up rather a lot bigger than my initial aim anyway.

So I hope I've covered a fair spread of what's been going on, and included a bit of something from most of the contributors there, but there's a lot I can think of that I didn't have time to include, and a lot of stuff that's hard to show in that format.

But I'm very proud of the video on my own behalf, too: it feels like the biggest project I've successfully completed in a long time (perhaps, ever?!). It included organising the logo competition then the group build afterwards. Kind of stressful, but definitely a thrill when it came off. Getting a bunch of people from different parts of the world together at the same time to enact an idea I'd dreamed up some a while back, then all-but given up on until recently. My co-builders were such pros too, taking in all my directions straight off, and a first time in multi-player for some. I'm not sure if anyone else has ever filmed a 4 person Terraria speed-build before, either... So maybe that's a nifty little first too?

From my own (solo) builds, I guess I'd have to say my "Digi-Comp 2" binary calculator has been my peak in terms of complexity, applying computing principles that I couldn't even quite wrap my head around at the time (by copying a good educational model example).

But, to be honest, most of my build projects have taken so much energy, that by the time they are out there, I am mostly just kinda glad they're done. :sigh:

Heh. And likewise I really should appreciate DicemanX's far more, but take his fantastic works too much much for granted, having hung around the same space for quite some while, I suppose. He's really taken the hoik idea and spun it out into a whole field of in-game technology, with a little help and input from a few other players, as I've tried to show in video. :happy:

In terms of unfettered excitement and big, cheesy grins, I'd have to mention @Yrimir's "Dungeon Guardian on Second Night" because he did such an amazing job of bring our half-formed pitch to life; he totally nailed it. His adoration is well deserved.

My biggest engineering project to date which I am most proud of is a working computer/calculator that displays the answers to calculations via seven-segment displays. I posted a guide and video explaining how the in-game calculator functions here:

http://forums.terraria.org/index.ph...ed-computer-binary-to-decimal-converter.9965/

I constructed a number of versions of this calculator before finding an efficient mechanism, and it also took a while to figure out how to convert the binary outputs to decimal outputs at the end of each calculation. This massive project was also quite educational - I had a chance to gain some insight into how arithmetic logic units operate inside of real-life computers, and the types of algorithms computers use to perform certain functions. It was a significant challenge to convert some of those algorithms into Terraria terms!

For instance, since computations are done in binary, to generate a decimal output an algorithm needs to be used to convert a binary number into a binary-coded display (BCD), and then another approach needs to be used to convert that BCD into decimal. One often-used algorithm to convert binary to BCD is the double dabble algorithm (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_dabble), which is relatively straightforward on paper, but fairly difficult to engineer in Terraria. It was immensely satisfying to finally work out how to do it in-game!

4. What would be your top piece if advice for aspiring Terrarian mechanics?

Just plunge right in an try things out: experiment! For one thing, if you want to find a totally new thing then you have to take a path not yet traveled before, which often requires making mistake. Even purposefully testing old assumptions can be too limiting by comparison.

But more generally, copy builds you think are cool. Great ideas don't come from nowhere; everything out there is derivative in various ways. Just try not to get bogged down in 100% exact replication; always try to cut out unnecessary details to find the bare bones functionality. That's the best way to understand what's going on and then surpass it.

It is very easy to be intimidated by the apparent complexity of some of the builds, especially if one were to examine the wiring diagrams such as the diagram to the computer/converter linked above. Those diagrams are more likely to make you go cross-eyed than glean anything useful from them

. I used to be one of those individuals who would be easily intimidated and discouraged from engineering - when I'd examine wiring diagrams posted in various threads in the guides forum more than a year ago, I'd move right along since most of that stuff was too opaque for me to decipher. I'd enjoy watching the contraptions in action in the videos, but as far as understanding their internal workings, that was a different matter.

What really turned things around was starting with the basics and working my way up. I'd experiment with wiring and with hoiks, building very basic mechanisms. For instance, it was quite a feat to build something as simple as a hoik loop which could propel the player endlessly around. Pretty soon I moved up to building hoik junctions - a hoik tooth in the middle of the junction can control whether a player or NPC will move in one direction or another depending on the actuation state of that tooth - very basic, but the foundation of much of the logic in Terraria engineering. I then found myself building increasingly complex mechanisms because once I understood the logic behind how those contraptions operated, the wiring became a straightforward consequence of that logic. I also noticed that many of the complex contraptions revolved around a few very basic mechanisms, such as hoik junctions and controlling paths that NPCs take.

So I'd recommend three things for any budding engineers:

1) Start by building basic mechanisms! Learn about hoiks and how they propel NPCs and players down hoik tracks, and then add some wires into the mix and experiment with hoik junctions. Put some pressure plates down on the hoik tracks and connect those pressure plates to various outputs (lights, teleporters etc.) and observe how it all works. To learn all about hoik basics, ZeorGravitas has posted a few excellent starter guides, the most important of which is the introduction to hoiks along with an exhaustive list of all possible basic hoik set-ups:

http://forums.terraria.org/index.ph...c-etc-transport-using-only-sloped-tiles.1656/

I used this guide a lot when starting out!

2) Download the worlds ZeroGravitas and I have offered (and that other engineers have offered as well) to get a first hand look at the more complex contraptions and how they function. Don't be put off by the wiring! Instead, it is much more important to focus on the logic behind the mechanisms - once the logic is understood, it becomes much easier to figure out the wiring. Watch our tutorial videos as well explaining the logic of the constructions. I personally have started recording a series of lengthy tutorial videos explaining my more complicated hoiktronics builds in an effort to make engineering less intimidating, and ZeroGravitas has already released several tutorial videos explaining in detail the fundamental hoiktronics components.

3) Get involved on the T-MEC forums! We have some experienced engineers that can address any of your questions or concerns, and help out with your projects. T-MEC has a massive number of guides and other resources as well, and we add to the knowledge pool periodically via new threads once something new is discovered.

With the wealth of resources at the budding engineer's disposal in the form of videos, written guides, world downloads, and forums dedicated to engineering, coupled with the massive design space opened up by the discovery of hoiks, Terraria engineering has never been more exciting to get into than right now!

5. What wonderful machines are you guys exploring nowadays?

Hmm... Well, it's not necessarily always about building bigger and adding complexity, especially for me; I've been trying to make minimal, simple designs to demonstrate technical concepts succinctly, with my animated teleporter tutorial Gifs. I don't think I can compete with @DicemanX, here, for the truly impressive, high-end feats, anyway.

It's also been difficult, with my illness, unable to implement a bunch of ideas I've had under my hat for the last year or so. But I'm always striving to come back and see what I can make happen, even if it's not me actually doing the building.

One of my major projects is a converter from decimal into binary. In my computer/calculator the inputs are currently in binary, but it would be much better if the inputs were in decimal instead, just like in a real calculator or computer.

However, I also periodically work on some "low-tech" stuff. For instance, I previously managed to design an away-from-keyboard arena capable of killing all 13 Terraria bosses simultaneously without using any exploits:

http://forums.terraria.org/index.ph...s-destruction-of-every-boss-in-the-game.5552/.

6. Has there ever been a mechanical concept that continues to elude a solution?

Ooo, that's a tricky one. I mean, I've tested a lot of little ideas, just in case, that mostly don't work out and get forgotten about. Just part of the process.

One I felt I got really close with, was a silly little idea of "Intuitive, Switch Free, 1 Pad per 'Stepping Stone' Teleporter", but no cigar; it kind of worked, but too unreliably, sometimes triggering by mistake. I admitted defeat there, that it probably isn't possible to find a configuration as small and as simple as I was hoping for. Then it seems that @aeonic eclipse has come and posted a working version that's a little bigger and more complex. So, I guess that just goes to show that sometimes you just need to re-align your expectations a little, re-frame the objective.

Then there are a few things that are out-right impossible, like a totally automated play-through, since the player has to provide a mouse click to summon the Golem. But amazingly @DicemanX did everything but that in his deeply impressive automated expert play-through, going to show that every other step along the way is do-able. Man, he's so much more accomplished than me, lol!; I've not even beaten normal mode Moonlord yet! (Always an update behind on finishing content, it seems.)

But automation wise, anything's possible in game. I mean, it's probably been theoretically possible to build a fully fledged computer (finite Turing machine) in-game ever since wiring and mob were introduced. But with 3 wires, hoiks and dummy-ghosts it could be done in style. With the progress made, I think it would only have been a matter of time before Diceman finished bringing all the pieces together for a simple programable computer. But with 1.3.1, maybe we'll see an acceleration of this...

Not for me (not anymore at least), but that's only because I've more or less learned to recognize the limits of what can be achieved in Terraria and thus my ambitions are more tempered. However, on occasion I'll dream big and then see if that dream can be fulfilled within the game. For instance, I recently set out to build a slot machine capable of generating random symbols in the three slots. However, I wanted to push the limits of what I could do with that machine, so I decided to explore whether I could set up a "bank" that keeps track of your cash, automatically deducting a small amount with each pull of the lever (the cost of playing), or automatically adding to the bank when three symbols match up in the three slots. This at first seemed a bit too ambitious, but after a bit of exploration I managed to fulfill all of my goals:

http://forums.terraria.org/index.ph...slot-machine-video-tutorial-schematics.13276/

7. So, looking ahead to 1.3.1 - an update focused on what you guys do best! How do you foresee - and granted you only have limited info - this changing the way mechanical crafting works and expand its possibilities?

Well, I've long been talking about my ambivalence about the new possibilities; a little nervous that there might even be too muchprovision. "Too many options" might sound silly, but I do like using the boundaries of possibility as a kinda of guide rail, limiting the search space and also making accomplishment more impressive due to being unexpected. A bit of performance pressure on now with all the new tools coming.

Back in T-MEC thread for 1.3 suggestions, before the last update came out, I mused on the possibility of having traps directly activate plates/switches, like Sirion's Lasers and photocells suggestion. This would make it far easier to expand out large, complex logic mechanisms (without the need for mob, etc, to trigger plates), but it would totally change the character of Terraria wiring mechanics too. From one of the teasers, it did look like this might be happening, so we'll see.

Of course a confirmed addition (and we've talked about all these here, in T-MEC) are logic gates, which have been a massively popular request, should be really powerful and enable far faster, bigger computing machines to be build, in theory. Although, again, I'd been worrying about them taking some of the zany character out of our wiring systems. But then that's easier to say as one of a handful of people with decent grasp on the intricacies of 'hoiktronics'. It would be really great to see an upsurge in new players and knowledge inspired to build complex machine with these things, even though they could easily leave me far, far behind.

No idea - I tend to avoid speculation or spoilers until an update is released. It's more fun discovering and exploring the new content without any foreknowledge of it!

8. Building from that question, what one mechanical addition from 1.3.1 are you most interested in?

Ooo-er... The one I know nothing about yet, I guess. Exploring the unknown again. Hoping for more mechanisms and more challenges that wiring can pit itself against (since Diceman has crushed most everything in the game that way already, heh.

With the damage/trap triggered pressure plate, for example (if there is one

), we'd be looking at super-simple self-repeating traps, and figuring out the best spacing for setting those up, and such. Then the more complex configurations and building fun Rube Goldberg chains of different events triggered off each other.

The really interesting stuff will probably happen when a couple or more of the new features come together in some interesting or unexpected way... Those kinds of possibilities will take a lot of clever players many months to explore and report. Good times ahead, hopefully!

There are quite a few engineering tools that I'd like to see added to Terraria, many of which have been suggested in our suggestions thread on T-MEC:

http://forums.terraria.org/index.ph...ing-view-the-devs-are-looking-for-ideas.6362/

However, if I were limited to just one thing, and if I were to take into consideration the ease of implementation, it would be more wire colors. Even just one more wire color would make such a huge difference and make many more builds possible.

9. That all sounds great! So if someone is interested in T-Mec, how can they get involved and what can they expect?

As a game discussion group T-MEC is set to fully open so that anyone, anywhere might benefit from information thrown around by members. Obviously you'll need to be a member to post (just log into TCF and click "Join" up in the top right, there). Also, to see some of the natively hosted embedded images you'll need to be logged into the forum (due to permission nuances).

Plenty of our membership have kept quiet, which is fine to just lend support and get notifications. But of course we love to have more contributions and questions, creations and ideas. You can just create a personal profile thread to post up you own builds, even if you don't consider them particularly novel. It's always interesting to know what others are actually doing.

Ttake a stroll though our threads. If you're looking for something specific, maybe use Google to search "T-MEC terraria, etc" as the in-build search isn't always terribly edifying. Or take a gander at my old links list of topical material, which is fairly higgledy-piggledy and in need of a comprehensive update, but covers (older) content from various places, as well as indexing our own threads and the main guides section.

Getting involved is easy - just click the join button and you're free to post! Newcomers can expect a wealth of engineering-based resources (videos, written guides, world downloads) and assistance from fellow engineers to help them with their own projects. It's a rather casual and relaxed atmosphere as well!

We have seen enough spoilers to know that 1.3.1 and the new wiring mechanics it brings will take T-MEC to the next level. Special thanks to the T-MEC community, @ZeroGravitas, and @DicemanX for showing us a whole new way to enjoy Terraria

Looking forward to whats next!

[T-MEC] Terrarian Mechanical Engineering Corps

darthmorf · Apr 30, 2016

T-MEC is so cool. Neat to see an article about that group!

ZeroGravitas · Apr 30, 2016

Really happy to be shining a light on some of our little hidden gems and underappreciated Terrarians!

Hope people enjoy watching the video, that it's not tooo long, or too densely packed.

Beezwax&Nectar · Apr 30, 2016

Yay! Good to see this group recognized!

Timothy the Engineer · Apr 30, 2016

Wow I can't belived that T-MEC is being notice.

GT4tube · Apr 30, 2016

Epic!

Fury · Apr 30, 2016

Very nice feature! Great work

Su3dy:) · Apr 30, 2016

Amazing!!!! That made me interested into wiring in Terraria T-MEC is awesome keep it up!

inomanoms · Apr 30, 2016

@Safeman uh... why has this been submitted April 8th (and thusly found at the bottom of the main page)? Isn't today the 30th?

Vaikyia · Apr 30, 2016

Woah, this is pretty neat! I'm really happy to see more of the community being together and creating amazing stuff like this. ^^

Tunnel King · Apr 30, 2016

inomanoms said:
@Safeman uh... why has this been submitted April 8th (and thusly found at the bottom of the main page)? Isn't today the 30th?

Sometimes we start preparing threads before they are ready for publication.

There's a feature banner for the article in the slider at the top of the home page; clicking on that will bring people to this thread.

cancan460 · Apr 30, 2016

Hey look, a community full of people smarter than me! Bless me with some intelligence too, will ya, I'd love to learn some T-Engineering.
You've got yourself a new member.

Loki · Apr 30, 2016

These guys are absolutely clever and brilliant. I cannot wait to see what they will do with the enhanced capabilities at their disposal in 1.3.1.

Fantastic work, T-MEC!!!

ZeroGravitas · Apr 30, 2016

Loki said:
These guys are absolutely clever and brilliant. I cannot wait to see what they will do with the enhanced capabilities at their disposal in 1.3.1.

Thanks @Loki! And also for getting this whole project moving! Twice!

Feeling very self-conscious of the burden of expectation now, with all the forthcoming gadgets that we know about, so far...

Derpinator-9000🪓 · Apr 30, 2016

Pretty Awesome! Not gonna lie, I thought this was otherworld, and got excited, but thats just because I am expecting it

. Overall, this looks really awesome! Good Work T-MEC

MinerTurtle45 · Apr 30, 2016

I've been a member of T-MEC for a while, and I gotta say, I wish I was as creative as these guys!

ballista rod · Apr 30, 2016

I'm going to make a mechanic playthrough after 1.3.1 is released!

These things look so awesome! I'm not going to start before the update comes out because of possible new early game items or new naturally spawning things

Derpinator-9000🪓 · Apr 30, 2016

samufinland said:
I'm going to make a mechanic playthrough after 1.3.1 is released!

These things look so awesome! I'm not going to start before the update comes out because of possible new early game items or new naturally spawning things

How would a mechanic playthrough work? I might try it

ballista rod · Apr 30, 2016

Derpinator-9000 said:
How would a mechanic playthrough work? I might try it

The video shows it. You can only damage enemies with tools and traps. The video shows Skeletron getting killed by boulders(that requires the Goblin Invasion though[which requires at least one Shadow Orb to be destroyed which either requires a boss being defeated before{purifation powder from Dryad} or explosives])

ZeroGravitas · Apr 30, 2016

Derpinator-9000 said:
How would a mechanic playthrough work? I might try it

@DicemanX lays down the rules in this old thread (that I showed briefly): "The Engineer Playthrough!" http://forums.terraria.org/index.php?threads/challenge-the-engineer-playthrough.5970/

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