Deployers perform configured interaction-style tasks while Spouts apply fluids to items below. Both are common elements of sequenced manufacturing lines.
Deployer
- Use for recipes or processes that require an item to be applied in a player-like step.
- Configure filters/held items carefully so an automated line does not consume the wrong stock.
Spout
- Feeds fluid onto compatible items on a Depot or Belt.
- Requires a properly supplied fluid network and a valid filling recipe.
Production-line design
- Every process has an input position, an operation condition and an output path.
- Buffering at depots, vaults or chests prevents one slow stage from freezing the whole line.
Recipe verification
- Use the recipe viewer to confirm steps and required heat or fluids.
- Use Ponder to see how the machine expects items to be presented.
Processing as modules
A processing cell should make four things obvious: its input, its required condition, its operation and its output. For example, a press needs items placed under its working head; a basin process needs ingredients, powered operation and sometimes heat.
Once one cell is reliable, repeat or connect cells using belts, chutes, funnels, arms and storage. Modular processing lines are easier to upgrade, supply by train and sell from a player market.
Throughput and storage
Higher speed is useful only when every downstream stage can accept the results. When a line stalls, the apparent failure may be a full output inventory rather than the machine that stopped moving.