Codex Processing Deep Core

Deep Core Extractor

The Deep Core Extractor is a drilling derrick that brings up ore without mining: a drill string reaches deep below the tower and lifts ore blocks of the dimension it stands in, the ores of other mods included. It is a source of ore for the late game, paid for with a great deal of energy, liquid nitrogen and drill heads.

How it works

1. Lowering: first the drill string goes down, one depth step after the other, until it reaches the depth the tower allows. Every step costs a large one-time amount of energy.
2. Drilling: at full depth the drill brings up one ore block after the other. Every ore costs a fixed amount of energy, 25 mB of liquid nitrogen and one use of the drill head.
3. The ores go into the nine output slots, from where pipes take them through the Item Output Port.

A missing drill head, coolant, room in the outputs or energy pauses the drill without losing anything.

Building

Shown size: 7 wide, 12 high, 7 deep (adjustable: Height 12–20).

One example of many: within the rules on this page, size and arrangement are up to you; the Build Projector shows the plan in every allowed size.

	Key	Block	Count
	E	Derrick Frame	160
	A	Precision Casing	157
	D	Industrial Sight Glass	15
	F	Energy Input Hatch (Tier 4)	2
	H	Drill Wellhead	1
	G	Fluid Input Port	1
	B	Item Input Port	1
	C	Item Output Port	1
	I	Rod Bearing	1
	0	Deep Core Extractor Controller	1

Step by step

Each picture adds one layer, from the bottom up; the newest layer is bright. The controller wall faces you on the left.

Step 1: Layer 1

Parts in this step: Precision Casing (A) ×49

Step 2: Layer 2

Parts in this step: Precision Casing (A) ×18, Energy Input Hatch (Tier 4) (F) ×2, Deep Core Extractor Controller (0) ×1, Drill Wellhead (H) ×1, Fluid Input Port (G) ×1, Item Input Port (B) ×1, Item Output Port (C) ×1

Step 3: Layer 3

Parts in this step: Industrial Sight Glass (D) ×15, Precision Casing (A) ×9

Step 4: Layers 4–10 (identical)

Place this layer 7 times on top of each other.

Parts in this step: Derrick Frame (E) ×20, Precision Casing (A) ×4

Step 5: Layer 11

Parts in this step: Derrick Frame (E) ×20, Precision Casing (A) ×4, Rod Bearing (I) ×1

Step 6: Layer 12

Parts in this step: Precision Casing (A) ×49

Rules

• Size: 7 × 7 and 12 to 20 high. The extractor finds its height by itself, starting from the block behind the controller.
• Edges and corners: only Precision Casing.
• Walls, floor and roof: Precision Casing, Derrick Frame, Industrial Sight Glass, ports and the controller. The example has a housing of casing on the lowest 3 layers and a crown of casing on top, with lattice walls of Derrick Frame in between.
• Inside: the Drill Wellhead in the middle of the inside floor, the Rod Bearing in the middle of the highest inside layer, air everywhere else.
• Energy Input Hatches: up to 4.
• Controller: in a wall face (not on an edge), front facing out, with the inside directly behind it.
• Ports: Item Input Port (drill heads), Item Output Port (ores), Fluid Input Port (liquid nitrogen) and Energy Input Hatches. Every port works only on its outer face.

Depth and power

• The tower height sets the depth: one depth step at a height of 12, one more for every block above it, up to 9 steps at 20.
• Every depth step is lowered once: 250,000,000 E, drawn at up to 16,000,000 E/t. A lower tower pulls the rods out at once.
• Drilling power grows evenly with the depth, from 500,000 E/t at depth 1 to 2,000,000 E/t at depth 9.
• Every ore block costs the same energy at every depth: works.deepCoreEnergyPerOre (default 20000000, allowed 1000000–2000000000). Depth makes the drill faster, never cheaper: with the default an ore comes every 2 seconds at depth 1 and every 0.5 seconds at full depth.
• The drill takes what the buffer holds, up to its power. With less power it drills more slowly; with none at all the status line says so.
• The energy buffer holds 256,000,000 E.

Important

Hatches for millions The example has two tier 4 hatches (512,000 E/t each): depth 1 needs 500,000 E/t. With small hatches one depth step takes hours. Full depth needs 2,000,000 E/t: four tier 4 hatches or one tier 5 (4,096,000 E/t).

What comes up

• The ores of the dimension the extractor stands in: every ore its world generation places, from every mod, in proportion to vein size and veins per chunk. Only items in the tag c:ores come up.
• Which ore comes next is fixed in advance, not random; over many blocks every ore comes up in its share.
• A data pack can change the shares, add ores or switch a dimension off with a file in data/<namespace>/qnet/deep_core/ (dimension, weights, add, enabled).

Regional reserve

Every region of 128 × 128 blocks holds a reserve of works.deepCoreRegionReserve (default 50000, allowed 100–100000000) ores for all extractors in it together. The more ore a region has given, the more energy the next ore costs: 1 + mined ÷ reserve times the normal energy. The region never runs dry, but after one full reserve every ore costs twice as much. Build the next extractor in another region.

Drill head and coolant

• A Drill Head in the head slot lasts 2,048 ores, one use per ore. A worn-out head disappears; put a new one in, by hand or through the Item Input Port.
• Every ore takes 25 mB of liquid nitrogen. The coolant tank holds 16,000 mB and only takes liquid nitrogen. It comes from a chemical reaction (Chemical Reactor or Chemical Plant).

The screen

• Bars for energy, coolant and the region's reserve, the progress towards the next ore.
• The drill head slot and nine output slots.
• The status line, the depth line ("Depth 3 of 5, …": the depth reached, the depth the tower allows and the drilling power) and the reserve line ("Region reserve: … / … ores, energy per ore x1.02": what is left of the region's reserve and the energy factor of the next ore).
• The R button switches the redstone mode. Redstone stops everything: the drilling and the lowering of the drill string.

What the status line says

Status	Meaning
Lowering the drill string to depth 1: 40 %	A depth step is being lowered.
Drilling	Ore comes up.
Not enough power	The buffer is empty; nothing was drilled this tick.
No drill head	Put a Drill Head into its slot.
No liquid nitrogen	The tank holds less than one ore needs.
Output full	The next ore does not fit into the outputs.
No ores in this dimension	The dimension has no ores, or a data pack switched it off.
Stopped by redstone	The redstone mode stops the drill and the lowering.

Automation

• Pipes put drill heads in through the Item Input Port and liquid nitrogen through the Fluid Input Port.
• Items can only be taken out of the output slots.
• A Grid Monitor can pause the extractor.

Error messages

Message	What to do
The controller must sit in a wall, front facing out	Put the controller into a wall face, front outwards, with the inside behind it.
Structure too small (…) / Structure too large or not closed near …	Build 7 × 7, 12 to 20 high, and close every wall.
Wrong block at … (expected: Precision Casing)	Only Precision Casing on edges and corners.
Wrong block at … (expected: Drill Wellhead)	The middle of the inside floor must be the Drill Wellhead.
Wrong block at … (expected: Rod Bearing)	The middle of the highest inside layer must be the Rod Bearing.
Wrong block at … (expected: Air)	Nothing else inside.
Too many ports of one kind	At most 4 Energy Input Hatches.
Port not allowed here	Only item ports, the Fluid Input Port and Energy Input Hatches work.

Breaking it

If a wall block breaks, the drill string stays down in the controller's memory. If you break the controller, the drill head and the ores in the slots drop; the depth, the coolant and the stored energy are lost.

In the world

The drill string turns between the wellhead and the rod bearing and slides down while a depth step is lowered. Embers glow and sparks fly at the wellhead, and a cage lifts the last ore up the shaft.

Building the controller and the drill head

			→ Deep Core Extractor Controller

Diamond		Diamond
			→ Drill Head
	Diamond

Tip

Tall or short? A full-height tower drills four times as fast as the smallest one for the same energy per ore. If your power is limited, a lower tower wastes nothing: it just takes longer.