Guide: Simple fully-automated critter meat harvester

[Tonyroid]

I saw some pretty elaborate solutions for this in the forum. This seems like a much simpler way.

While the door is closed, all the critters in the stable are safe.

When the critter sensor detects that you have more critters than you want, then the door opens.

When a critter hops into the space under the door, then the critter sensor under the door closes the door and traps the critter. Notice that the water fills the entire space under the door even though there is just a small amount of water.

The critter drowns and turns into meat, and the auto-sweeper picks up the meat and sends it on it's way. (I positioned the auto-sweeper so it can reach the meat even when the door is closed.)

Here's the automation, it's nothing more than a NOT and an AND. Set the critter sensor in the room to the number you want to keep alive. Set the critter sensor under the door to zero.

I didn't try it with flying critters, it seems like it would still work but you may have to wait a long while for something to fly into the trap. Perhaps that issue could be mitigated by making the trap wider (more doors) or using a lure to get one into a small room.

EDIT: A vulnerability of this approach is that an egg laid atop the door will fall inside the trap. This makes the whole thing stop working until the egg hatches. Perhaps this can be avoided in most cases by putting tiles above the door.

[Neotuck]

what if a critter lays an egg you don't want to hatch?

[Tonyroid]

1 hour ago, Neotuck said:

what if a critter lays an egg you don't want to hatch?

I may not clearly understand the problem you are expressing. Can you just set the critter sensor to +1 so an egg is accommodated long enough for you to use it for... whatever you are going to do with it? 

 

[Neotuck]

or set a delay with a filter gate so dupes have time to move the egg before the trap opens

[Glassyfo]

2 hours ago, Neotuck said:

what if a critter lays an egg you don't want to hatch?

Do hatchlings give the meat too when they die? Or do they just disappear?

[Sasza22]

The problem is when critters lay eggs on the door. In theory the eggs might end in the pool leaving no critters in the stable. Very unlikely but might happen.

[Neotuck]

1 minute ago, bleeter6 said:

Do hatchlings give the meat too when they die? Or do they just disappear?

they do, and I think it's the same amount as the adults

[Tonyroid]

19 hours ago, Sasza22 said:

The problem is when critters lay eggs on the door. In theory the eggs might end in the pool leaving no critters in the stable. Very unlikely but might happen.

You are right. It's also possible for all your critters to jump into the trap at the same instant so they all die.

If you are ranching only a few individuals then these risks might be something to be concerned about.

Automation can be used to workaround this issue. Just keep the door open until ONLY 1 critter is beneath it. This has caveats as well... like if you get two eggs under the door then you'll be waiting for them to hatch before the trap can work.

But, if you are keeping something like... 180 shove voles for meat and lime, then there's hardly any reason to worry about slaughtering a few extra now and then.

[Yunru]

A simple variant might be two pressure plates linked with an AND gate, that way you never drown anything without having at least two critters to maintain population.

[Tonyroid]

3 hours ago, Yunru said:

A simple variant might be two pressure plates linked with an AND gate, that way you never drown anything without having at least two critters to maintain population.

Not everything triggers a pressure plate. I know that Shove Voles do not. 

[cblack]

My only problem, with this or any automated critter killer, is they don't look at the age of the critters being killed.  I usually like to kill off the oldest ones first, as they won't lay as many (or possibly any) more eggs.  As far as I can tell, nothing short of human intervention can read the age of the critters, so I ultimately gave up bothering.

Sleet wheat and pincha peppers are easier to farm and give the same bonus as BBQ when cooked, unless "Soul Food" actually does something.  Does it?

[Yunru]

Why would you farm shovel voles?

[Jackblac]

20 minutes ago, Yunru said:

Why would you farm shovel voles?

Dont know if its a bug but shove voles drop 16000 kcal meat when they die. They are also great at destoying all of the regolith on the map for performance reasons

[Xyer]

I tried your solution and it does keep the ranch from being overcrowded. However, since the critter sensor counts even eggs, it often makes the ranches maintain a rather low count from the max that you set. My ranch for 8 often maintains only 3 hatches due to the many eggs lying around.

So while your solution is much simpler and can be used in the mid game, it is definitely not something I will go for in the late game for a fully automated ranch.