Ice Flingomatic is not a Perfect Machine! [In-depth Mechanics]

[Dst Nevoart]

The ice flingomatic is the only machine in the Constant that can water plants and put out fire on land. For regular use, you may think that it works really well. However, for heavy-duty use, you will realize that it is in fact, an imperfect machine.

In a set up that I made (inspired by others), which I call the ‘Endless Fire’, I discovered that the ice flingomatic has 4 quirks that is not talked about or discussed anywhere (or there is but I can’t find it). 

 

1. Inconsistent AoE
The AoE of snowballs that put of fire, is in fact, non-consistent. The radius can be slighter larger or slighter lower. Current suspect is that the maximum and minimum splash radius is +- 1 point of geometric placement space. 

 

2. Irregular Power  
The power is the degree of temperature that the snowball projectile cools down. This is also irregular. In the set-up, the flingo can bring down the same fuel stacks to smoldering temperature and sometimes completely douse the fuel stacks to non-smoldering temperature. 
Remark: I have less confidence in this claim because it can also be related to fire spread mechanics and the accumulated latent heat of objects. 

 

3. Inconsistent Initiation Speed
The ice flingomatic actually has 2 modes of initiation before throwing the snowball projectile. 

Mode 1 ( Normal Speed )
The flingo spins clockwise 2.5 turns, springs up and spins 1.5 turns to release snow projectile, 
and then recoils one turn, back to preparation state. 

Total time taken to release projectile = 1.00 second

Mode 2 ( Faster than Normal Speed )  -- Occasional
The flingo spins clockwise 2.5 turns, springs up, spins only 1 turn and release snow projectile, inertia spin 0.5 turn, 
and then recoils one turn, back to preparation state. 

Total time taken to release projectile = 0.85 second.

 

4. Attempt to Put out Smoldering Objects or Fire during Plant Watering Duration

The flingo will occasionally enter into a state that water plants. During this duration (my estimation of somewhere between 1-2 seconds), the flingo will also throw snowballs to put out any smoldering objects or fire. 

 

I have put down the links for the set-up, flingo, and also the save file / world so that you can see, test and verify my claims. 
Endless Fire: https://youtu.be/PJ_FtyXW8ms
Flingo Imperfections: https://youtu.be/sGmYcGz4Bt0
Save file / world : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1n5J2CdYHuKYYgk2dNiZcBh6cOMRM4MxH?usp=sharing

I also vaguely know that there is somehow a way to look into the prefab file or game data file, is there someone knowledgeable in this help to confirm these claims or teach me how to do it?

At last, thanks for reading the post and feel free to share any related flingo or fire mechanics to help elucidate them!

[DaZoul]

Interesting, but how much of this actually matters?

[Articestone]

Lets be honest, we all base in caves or oasis during summer, we never use ice flingo. If not we play until summer and then stop playing and give up

[Starphire]

Just because some don't understand or make use of the power of the ice flingomatic doesn't mean that this topic isn't important. It has the potential to allow those who want to remain in their base, in the summer, in the overworld, outside of oasis *gasp* the safety to do so. This is definitely a topic worthy of further research and discussion given the implications of harnessing it fully.

@Dst Nevoart: Ty for making this post! I definitely appreciate this info. I too have been amused by the creation of infinite fire and was just considering that recently. I've never observed so closely the details of how the flingo works as you have, and I wish I could datamine the game files to really see for myself, but I hope those who can will weigh in. I just know the flingo is one of those game mechanics that I think flies under the radar of most and is rather underrated unfortunately.

I've found out it has capability of exceeding its own protection range. So I really hope someone who has the ability to really read and decipher the lua can bring us details about how it functions. I was wondering if there is anyway to speed its ability to come off alarm mode and automatically go into action to douse a fire (without player intervention), such as maybe increasing the number or nature of the structures within its range? The faster it becomes active, the better.

I'm curious how you gathered this information, such as in point 2? Also, are you aware of what the maximum size/range of the splash aoe actually is? Either during active fire supression, or smouldering/wither prevention mode?

 

[GelatinousCube]

2 hours ago, Articestone said:

Lets be honest, we all base in caves or oasis during summer, we never use ice flingo. If not we play until summer and then stop playing and give up

Some Summers I base in Caves but others I remain above ground with my Flingos on All the rot that accumulates throughout the other seasons, poop from all my wild Koalafants and doing lots of Tumbleweed runs (sticks, grass and plenty of other fuel) gives me more than enough fuel without having to use stuff like logs etc, its tedious at times but it certainly works - its great for hallowed nights at the moment because tumbleweeds also give you the halloween decorations AND they give you trinkets which you need if you want candy. I do have Wildfires turned to low I believe though... so I guess that makes a big difference..

[Starphire]

Yes, rot is a great for fueling flingos. 33 will fill it from 0 to 99%. So save up those chests of rot b/c they can go to good use in ur flingos. Also, this is another reason I like to let my beefalo herds expand to max. So long as they're out of range of your base and not actively loaded they're not a bother. Especially on those long nights in certain seasons, you can run from herd to herd and razor a TON of beefalo wool at once. This is a source of renewable fuel that has as much fuel value as a log AND stacks to 40. What's not to like? ;P

Another reason to understand flingo mechanics is to be able to improve your ability to protect your base with as few as possible - you definitely want to minimize how many are actively running during summer. I've found you can protect even large bases successfully.

@GelatinousCube: Are you speaking of flingos freezing flaming tumbleweeds as they roll by? They don't interact with any tumbleweeds that aren't burning, do they?

[Bird Up]

open ur present

[ArubaroBeefalo]

icefling is op enought

[Moonatik]

10 hours ago, Articestone said:

Lets be honest, we all base in caves or oasis during summer, we never use ice flingo. If not we play until summer and then stop playing and give up

Lets be honest, some of us just put the fire off.

[Cheggf]

12 hours ago, Dst Nevoart said:

For regular use, you may think that it works really well. However, for heavy-duty use, you will realize that it is in fact, an imperfect machine.

What is "Heavy duty use"? What are you trying to do with it that it can't?

[ZTheNecromancer]

Well, nothing's perfect and sometimes ya gotta just suck it up and deal with it. This is one of those times.

[GelatinousCube]

12 hours ago, Starphire said:

Yes, rot is a great for fueling flingos. 33 will fill it from 0 to 99%. So save up those chests of rot b/c they can go to good use in ur flingos. Also, this is another reason I like to let my beefalo herds expand to max. So long as they're out of range of your base and not actively loaded they're not a bother. Especially on those long nights in certain seasons, you can run from herd to herd and razor a TON of beefalo wool at once. This is a source of renewable fuel that has as much fuel value as a log AND stacks to 40. What's not to like? ;P

Another reason to understand flingo mechanics is to be able to improve your ability to protect your base with as few as possible - you definitely want to minimize how many are actively running during summer. I've found you can protect even large bases successfully.

@GelatinousCube: Are you speaking of flingos freezing flaming tumbleweeds as they roll by? They don't interact with any tumbleweeds that aren't burning, do they?

No sorry I just mean that doing Tumbleweeds runs during Summer can be highly beneficial as you can obtain a ton of fuel for your flingos from the tumbleweeds. Not using the Flingos on the tumbleweeds!

[Dst Nevoart]

Thanks for all that comments, I don't mean that this is a breakthrough or what that changes how to play the game. Rather, it is a discovery that ice flingomatic actually has such a deep mechanic that has been not mentioned before. What will come out of it is another matter. Also, I'm not complaining it is imperfect, rather I'm sharing it and pointing it out. 
 

21 hours ago, Cheggf said:

What is "Heavy duty use"? What are you trying to do with it that it can't?

Burn items / fuel stacks endless to provide endless fire and light (like in the video), and also for other set up that I have not thought about yet. 
 

On 10/29/2020 at 7:34 PM, Starphire said:

I'm curious how you gathered this information, such as in point 2? Also, are you aware of what the maximum size/range of the splash aoe actually is? Either during active fire supression, or smouldering/wither prevention mode?

Point 2 is merely my presumption of how smoldering/burning works, based on the set-up and other gameplays, so take it with a grain of salt. All other points are derived from the observations during the set-up. I'm not aware of the maximum size/range of the splash aoe during the different modes tho, but I think they may be similar.

I'm also surprised that ice flingomatic has such deep mechanics and agree it is underrated and not often talked about. I have also made a pig fire farm with automated flingo extinguisher, so if you're interested in fire/flingo, you can find it on my youtube channel and watch it. 

[Mysterious box]

For some reason reading this post makes me want a snowball skin for water balloons.

On 10/29/2020 at 5:02 AM, DaZoul said:

Interesting, but how much of this actually matters?

Maybe none but we crave data.

[Dst Nevoart]

More Ice Flingomatic Mechanics for those who are interested

A full Ice Flingomatic will last for 5 day. Each bar indicate 1 Day. You can actually tell how many days the fuels will last based on the fuel gauge. 

This flingo has fuels to last for 1 day. 

 

Ice Flingomatic Emergency Mode

The flingo must be fueled and cannot be empty. 
Before the fueled flingo can enter emergency mode, it must first be in Alert State 

Alert Status (Yellow Light)
Trigger Condition I: 5 structures burning within flingo radius.   Structures are wood wall, hay wall, gate, fence, chest, science machine, etc. (suprisingly, mini sign does not count as a structure). Flowers, grass, saplings, berrybushes and trees count as structures
Trigger Condition II: 1 structure burnt down (either become blacken or into ash)

Only structures will trigger the alert state. No amount of items will do.

 

Emergency Mode (Red Light) -- Auto Put Out Any Burning Objects 
The Only Trigger Condition: During Alert Status, 1 structure burnt down

In Emergency Mode, flingo will consume fuel overtime just like in normal mode. 

It seems that very rarely, empty flingo can also enter emergency mode, however there is no consistent way (that I know of) to reproduce this behaviour, so I'm thinking it's actually a bug rather than feature. 

 

Additionally, ice flingomatic has a property which I call as bending time-space.. If walls are built nearby the flingo (even more so when there are food baits), mobs and even your characters will walk into the flingo as if the target location is at the flingo itself. Less esoterically, it might be called as flingo movement glitch/bug. 

 

Misc. Items/Structures Ash Time
rot, seed, feather = 7 secs
charcoal, log, beefalowool, wood wall item = 15 secs
wood wall, hay wall, gate, fence = 20 secs      (chest, sign = 10 secs)
rope, board = 30 secs
 

 

[Starphire]

Are you aware if any structures will catch on fire faster than others and thus spread fire faster?

[Crestwave]

55 minutes ago, Starphire said:

Are you aware if any structures will catch on fire faster than others and thus spread fire faster?

Yes. If I remember correctly:

There are small, medium, and large propagators which define a range of flashpoints and heatoutput. Flammables in a category are then assigned a random value in their respective range. After an entity hits a temperature over its flashpoint, it will start smoldering and catch on fire after <flashpoint> amount of time.

[thegreatJash]

I agree with most people. Just hop in the caves when summer hits, not only does it force you to live in the caves if you don't want your base burning down, it also prevents procrastinating when it comes to the ruins. I am always somewhat scared when entering the ruins, with all the terrorbeaks and shadow Splumonkeys. But deep down, I know if I go there and get the gears, I won't have to return next summer and my base will be safe.

[leafstale]

I had found a bug in my world that a ice flingomatic work day and night without any fuel. But I couldn't make it again. So I think your problem is very meaningful.

[MrNaxeros]

I just turn off wildfires and place two flingos. One for farms and one for berries/grass/twigs. Flingo works well enough on that front.

I am curious of how that endless fire would work on a bee queen though.

[Dst Nevoart]

On 11/8/2020 at 11:25 PM, MrNaxeros said:

I just turn off wildfires and place two flingos. One for farms and one for berries/grass/twigs. Flingo works well enough on that front.

I am curious of how that endless fire would work on a bee queen though.

The set-up is indeed originate from burning bee queen with it =D

 

On 11/7/2020 at 4:43 PM, Crestwave said:

Yes. If I remember correctly:

There are small, medium, and large propagators which define a range of flashpoints and heatoutput. Flammables in a category are then assigned a random value in their respective range. After an entity hits a temperature over its flashpoint, it will start smoldering and catch on fire after <flashpoint> amount of time.

Wow wow wow, thanks dude, finally someone that seems to know about these things. How do you get to know these info? And also, what are the small, medium, large fire propagators? Do you know about the game data / lua? So item/structure smolders after it reach certain temperature, and catch on fire after x time, is right afterall? There is so much computing behind the scene so that's why burning things give so much lag?

[Crestwave]

8 hours ago, Dst Nevoart said:

How do you get to know these info? Do you know about the game data / lua? So item/structure smolders after it reach certain temperature, and catch on fire after x time, is right afterall? There is so much computing behind the scene so that's why burning things give so much lag?

Yes, I got the info from the game's code.

8 hours ago, Dst Nevoart said:

And also, what are the small, medium, large fire propagators?

They are like categories of propagators with defined ranges of values for stuff like flashpoints and heatoutputs. Small propagators would be stuff like rot, probably cut grass, etc. They would both have random values from the same range.

8 hours ago, Dst Nevoart said:

So item/structure smolders after it reach certain temperature, and catch on fire after x time, is right afterall? There is so much computing behind the scene so that's why burning things give so much lag?

Yes, although I believe that this temperature is only affected by fire spreaders (not the same as character temperature) and slowly dissipates, even in summer. Also, it catches on fire after smoldering twice as fast if there is substantial heat near it. On the other hand, rain can slow or even completely "unsmolder" it.