Talk:Processing unit

About the ratio edit

It's not correct as it stands. The article says "factories", and a "factory" is the black box where the corresponding item pops out. How the factory achieves this, and what's inside that factory, isn't relevant. So the ratio change is wrong. A ratio of 5:6:5 (green factories:red factories:blue factories) was and is correct for this point of view.

If you change "factory" into "assembling machine", it would be correct, because you need green assembling machines to produce red circuits. So the new ratio 6:5:5 is correct for (green assembling machines:red assembling machines:blue assembling machines). If seen this way, all assembling machines define one big blue factory and no separate green or red factories.

Since the articles about the other circuits also speak of factories and don't count the intermediates needed within them (otherwise you need more copper cable factories for the advanced circuit), I suggest to revert to the previous ratio to keep things consistent. One doesn't always build green circuits on the spot within a red or blue circuit factory - often if not usually it comes preproduced from a bus, outside the "factory". Tertius3 (talk) 14:37, 4 April 2022 (UTC)

I suggested an edit here because I thought the ratios were incorrect. There has been a counter suggestion that they are correct because the page refers to factories, whereas I was referring to assembling machines.

I don't believe that the definition of factory claimed here is understood. It certainly isn't defined anywhere in the wiki.

For example is a processing unit factory, 1 assembling machine, or 5 machines? Should the page instead reference 1 green 'factory' and 1.2 red factories per blue factory?

This isn't helped because just before the definition of ratios, assembling machines are referenced. — Preceding unsigned comment added by DRY411S (talk • contribs) 15:02, 4 April 2022‎

Hey, I took the liberty to merge the two sections since they are about the same topic.

I think you both raise good points: "factory" is not defined on the page(s) and the definition itself is debatable with different usecases for each. Another problem is the crafting speed of the assembling machines/factories itself; because they are used in conjunction with chemical plants this cannot just be assumed to be "the same tier/amount for all". My general opinion on ratios on the wiki is that they tend to be iffy beyond the simplest of simple cases. Basically everything breaks down at some point with modules etc, even "no-brainers" like 1 iron furnace to 1 steel furnace or 3:2 wire:green circuit assemblers. This makes the ratios a lot more subjective and less useful than they seem at first glance.

So for now, I removed the ratios on the processing unit and advanced circuit pages. I also tried to make the electronic circuit page a bit clearer.

However, this is not some "final decision" against ratios on these two pages. The science pack pages have rather large ratio sections that I think go beyond ratio for factories into an overview of where the items in those multistage recipes are going. These seem helpful despite them having some other flaws (what items are broken down/have assemblers listed and what don't, what assembler tier etc). I think sections of similar organization may work here too. If someone can come up with these sections for processing unit and advanced circuit pages (with the necessary associated constraints) I encourage you to add them to the pages. -- Bilka (talk) - Admin 12:24, 22 April 2022 (UTC)