PCB Factory
The PCB Factory is a UV multiblock for crafting circuit boards more efficiently. Compared to the chemical reactor recipes for circuit boards, the PCB Factory saves the player a significant amount of resources which is why it is recommended to build as soon as possible. However that will require access to a single wetware lifesupport circuit board (and therefore growth catalyst medium) in order to scan the recipe and ZPM circuit assemblers to craft the controller block. Note that the PCB Factory is not actually required for progression other than to make the optical circuit board.
Construction
Not only does the PCB Factory have three different tiers (set in the controller's GUI), but there are also additional structures that can be built around it to improve its functionality. Enable/disable the additional structures and even set their exact locations in the configuration menu of the controller BEFORE using the Multiblock Structure Hologram Projector.
Note that power consumption is increased by the number of additional structures:
Requires:
- 1-2 Energy Hatch OR 1 TecTech Energy Hatch
- 1 Maintenance Hatch
- 1+ Input Bus
- 1+ Input Hatch
- 1+ Output Bus
Tier 1 Base Multi
- 77 Basic Photolithography Framework Casing
- 40 Damascus Steel Frame Box
- 25 Plascrete Block
- 25 Reinforced Glass
- 12 Grate Machine Casing
- 9 Vibrant Alloy Frame Box
Tier 2 Base Multi (Adds to Tier 1)
Unlocks Tier 2 recipes and parallel processing with silver nanites.
- 158 Reinforced Photolithography Framework Casing
- 34 Duranium Frame Box
Tier 3 Base Multi (New Structure)
Unlocks Tier 3 recipes and parallel processing with gold nanites.
- 292 Radiation Proof Photolithography Framework Casing
- 76 Radiant Naquadah Alloy Casing
Biochamber
Unlocks the recipes for wetware and bioware circuit boards.
- 72 Reinforced Glass
- 68 Clean Stainless Steel Machine Casing
- 40 Damascus Steel Frame Box
Liquid Cooling Tower
Unlocks imperfect overclock (2x/4x) at the cost of 10L/s of distilled water when running.
- 68 Radiant Naquadah Alloy Casing
- 40 Damascus Steel Frame Box
- 20 Reinforced Photolithography Framework Casing
- 20 Tungstensteel Pipe Casing
- 12 Extreme Engine Intake Casing
- 1 Input Hatch
Thermosink Radiator (Replaces Liquid Cooling Tower)
Unlocks perfect overclock (4x/4x) at the cost of 10L/s of super coolant when running.
- 48 Infinity Cooled Casing
- 40 Reinforced Photolithography Framework Casing
- 40 Americium Frame Box
- 20 Tungstensteel Pipe Casing
- 8 Superconducting Coil Block
- 1 Input Hatch
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1) PCB Factory Tier 1 with no additional structures.
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2) PCB Factory Tier 1 with Biochamber Upgrade
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3) PCB Factory Tier 1 with Biochamber Upgrade and Liquid Cooling Tower Upgrade.
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4) PCB Factory Tier 2 with Biochamber Upgrade and Liquid Cooling Tower Upgrade.
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5) PCB Factory Tier 3 with Biochamber Upgrade and Liquid Cooling Tower Upgrade.
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6) PCB Factory Tier 3 with Biochamber Upgrade and Thermosink Radiator Upgrade.
Usage
Trace Size
This represents the lines between components which are needed to transmit the electrical signals on the circuit board. The player can either lower the trace size to slow down the machine and use less resources, or increase the trace size to make it faster and use more resources. Trace Size can only be between 50-200 μm.
| Trace Size | Production | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 50 | x2.00 | x4.00 |
| 100 | x1.00 | x1.00 |
| 200 | x0.50 | x0.25 |
Nanites
Tier 2 and 3 PCB Factories require silver and gold nanites, respectively, in order to function but having more than one increases the number of parallels that the machine can run. More specifically, every doubling of nanites adds one parallel. Nanites from other tiers have no effect (ie. silver nanites do nothing in a tier 3 PCB Factory). The bonus stacks infinitely, but going past 32 parallels (2,147,483,648 nanites) is impossible due to the maximum items a stocking input bus can stock.
| Nanites | Parallels |
|---|---|
| 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 |
| 4 | 3 |
| 8 | 4 |
| 16 | 5 |