a multiplayer game of parenting and civilization building
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I'm the maintainer of https://onetech.info and am looking for ideas for improvements, particularly in making it easier for beginners to use.
1. What part of the site do you find confusing or has tripped you up? Please be specific.
2. Any suggestions or ideas for new features?
I keep meaning to test and see whether diagonal travel has a speed advantage. I suspect that it does - I suspect that your movement rate is a fixed X moves per second, where one move can be either orthogonal or diagonal, which means that moving diagonally will actually let you move a larger distance in a given amount of time. In which case you're absolutely right, moving diagonally would be the right thing to do when searching.
I think you are right about diagonal walking speed being faster.
Also, moving diagonally allows you to see more tiles than moving orthogonally since the view distance is square and not circular.
Actually I don't think we will ever get down to one server since he needs to take down half the servers at a time during an update. It would be awesome if updates could be done without needing to kill all family lines, but until then we need two servers.
Still, two servers are much better than five. We could probably handle the current peak across two beefy servers.
I think the bottleneck has to do with the number of players and objects in the database not scaling linearly. There was a discussion a while back on database lookup slowing down exponentially as objects are added. So if you make a server 4x faster it won't necessarily handle 4x the number of players. He has made performance improvements on the database so this may no longer be the case.
When players get lineage banned from one town, they'll have the possibility of being reborn onto any of the servers and so have a wider range of other towns that they could spawn in, which will dramatically reduce the number of forced Eve runs.
This would be an improvement but still not as effective as a single server since there's a chance you'll randomly get added to the same server where you have the lineage ban and have no chance of spawning in a server with a larger city until you die again.
That is unless the reflector takes lineage bans into account and prefers active servers where you have the fewest lineage bans. This would probably require a big change to the reflector.
I dont know why we are not all on one big server, if it's a cost/performance issue then it's understandable but having one big server should cost about the same as 15 servers especially since 10-11 of them are unused
One server is definitely ideal. I think the bottleneck was database lookup time. Adding 4x the objects doesn't necessarily mean 4x the CPU/Memory will be as effective. However I would like to see Jason's thoughts on this. Could we handle 200 players on a single server with a giant VPS?
That's my main problem with this whole thing, how is anyone supposed to tell where anyone is?
This could be established by travelers who also communicate what the different blinks mean.
I saw on Twisted’s stream a paper saying “HUGE CITY 300 TILES EAST”. He traveled there and was able to start a family along with a few other travelers. This would be a good scenario for radio communication since they had no other way to communicate except traveling.
I still think the tech is mostly useless, but that will probably change as the tech expands.
I hope Jason also works on performance improvements to get a higher population on each server. This will increase the chance of multiple large towns staying alive.
The latest update allows us to communicate over radio frequencies. The catch is it can only turn a light on and off. Morse code is a possibility, but I think lag and the difficulty in learning makes it impractical. We will need to get creative on how this is used.
A simple blink system could work. Two blinks mean one thing, three another, etc. This will be more useful to communicate with nearby villages where someone could write down what the blinks mean and deliver that to nearby villages.
Here is an example:
1 Blink: HELLO / OK
2 Blinks: NO MORE FEMALES
3 Blinks: NEED IRON
4 Blinks: NEED FOOD
5 Blinks: NEED FIGHTERS
You can start by trading a single blink to confirm someone is listening. Then after delivering the message they can respond with a single blink if they understand. This way they can deliver supplies, weapons, or females to repopulate.
Do you have any ideas of how to use this new tech?
Sounds like a bug. I don’t think the Global object is supposed to show up.
It is used internally to trigger a transition. When you create the transmitter and power it, it creates an invisible Global trigger object which causes the light to turn on for any receivers.
At least that is how I understand it.
The latest update brings us radio technology along with a slew of new resources like glass, copper, zinc and salt peter. This update is massive with over 140 new objects, and I'm sure they will be expanded in future updates.
There are two major parts to the radio: the Transmitter and Receiver. When you power the Transmitter, it will make all receivers of the same frequency light up. Does it do anything else? Not from what I can tell but I haven't had the chance to test it yet. Let me know when you do!
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Here are some of the objects you'll need to get started.
• Newcomen Roller
• Newcomen Lathe
• Newcomen Hammer
• 12 Blank Papers
• 2 Boards
• A lot of Bowls
• Plenty of Charcoal and Water for boilers
• 1 Wrought Iron
• 1 Steel Ingot
• 1 Steel Blade Blank
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Another Newcomen attachment has been added in this update. To make the drill:
1. Heat up a steel ingot
2. Use on Newcomen Roller twice to get a Hot Thin Steel Rod
3. Use on Newcomen Lathe to get the Drill Bit attachment
4. Disconnect the Pully Drive Mechanism to attach the Drill Bit
5. Use a Steel Blade Blank on the Newcomen Drill to get the Draw Plate
That is the only thing you can do with the drill at the moment. The Draw Plate is used to make Copper Wire.
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This requires a lot of copper. At least 13 for the transmitter and 11 for the receiver, but you might want 4 more to make a longer antenna.
1. Gather 24 Malechite in the Badlands
2. Place in bowl with charcoal and smelt in a Forge to make 24 Copper Ingots
3. Use a Newcomen Hammer to make 7 Copper Foils
4. Use a Newcomen Roller to make 12 Copper Rods
5. Use a Smithing Hammer to make 3 Copper Pots
6. Combine the last two ingots with Copper Rods to make 2 Spark Terminals
7. Use the Copper Rods on a Draw Plate to make 10 Copper Wires
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This is a rudamentary battery for power. You'll need one cell for the transmitter and two cells for the receiver. Thankfully they last forever. First we'll make a few zinc rods:
1. Gather 3 Calamine in the Badlands
2. Smelt in a bowl with charcoal at a Forge to make 3 Zinc Ingots
3. Fire up a Newcomen Roller and Hot Coals nearby
4. Use Tongs to warm the Zinc on the Hot Coals
5. Use on Newcomen Roller to make 3 Zinc Rods
Next we need to make 6 bowls of Sulfuric Acid
1. Gather 6 Niter in the desert
2. Place each in a bowl of water
3. Add ashes leftover from a fire
4. Add paper and place in another bowl to filter out the solution
5. Wait 30 seconds to get your Bowl of Saltpeter
6. Use a bowl on a Hot Spring in the desert to get Sulfer
7. Mix the Sulfer with the Salt Peter
8. Add to Hot Coals and use another bowl on it within 30 seconds
9. By the end you should have 6 Bowls of Sulfuric Acid
Now we can complete the 3 Danie Cells.
1. Add 3 Copper Foils to 3 Bowls of Sulfuric Acid
2. Add to the Copper Pots
3. Place the Zinc Rods into the remaining Bowls of Sulfuric Acid
4. Add to the Pots of Copper Sulfate to make 3 Daniel Cells
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One of the Daniel Cells is used to power a Transmitter. First let's make a couple Capacitors.
1. Add Copper Foil to Paper twice
2. Combine to make a Capacitor
3. Repeat and combine to make Two Capacitors
Now for the transmitter. Be careful where you start building this since it cannot be moved.
1. Add two Spark Terminals together
2. Add to Boards
3. Add the Two Capacitors
4. Combine a Copper Cable with a Short Shaft to make a Copper Coil
5. Add that to the board
6. Combine two Copper Wires to make a Short Antenna
7. Add the antenna to make a High Frequency Spark Gap Transmitter
8. Add a Daniel Cell to power it
This will make the receiver light up, but we still need to build one.
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These items involve glass which you'll need a blowpipe to form. This is reusable so you only need one.
1. Smelt one Hot Steel Ingot
2. Use on a Newcomen Roller to make a Steel Rod
3. Use on a Newcomen Bore to make a Steel Pipe
4. Use on a Newcomen Roller to make the Blowpipe
Next prepare for the Coherer parts
1. Use a File on Wrought Iron to get Iron Shavings
2. Pick it up with a bowl and add a Copper Wire to make Coherer Parts
And prepare Light Bulb
1. Put thread in a bowl, cover
2. Smelt in forge to make Carbon Filament
3. Add a Copper Wire to add the Wire Leads
Time to prepare the glass ingredients
1. Find 2 Glasswort in the desert
2. Chop it down with a Sharp Rock and let it dry for 30 seconds
3. Light it with a Firebrand for 10 seconds to turn to ash
4. Place in a bowl and add a bowl of water
5. Add paper and place in another bowl to filter
6. Wait 30 seconds to get 2 Bowls of Soda Ash
Now add quicklime and sand:
1. Find 2 Limestone in the Badlands
2. Place in a bowl and heat in a Forge to make Quicklime
3. Mix with the Soda Ash
4. Add a Bowl of Sand from the desert to make 2 Soda Lime Glass Batches
This is the glass mixture to finish the Coherer and Bulb
1. Place the mixture in the Forge using tongs
2. Quickly remove the hot glass from bowl using the Blowpipe
3. Place on the Coherher Parts to make a Coherer
4. Add another to the Carbon Filament to make a Light Bulb
Phew, let's finish assembling everything
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First the electromagnet:
1. Heat up a Wrought Iron in a Forge
2. Use on a Newcomen Roller to make an Iron Rod
3. Add a Copper Wire to make the Electromagnet
Now make the receiver. Be careful where you start building this since it cannot be moved.
1. Wrap a Copper Wire around a Short Shaft
2. Do that twice and combine to make Two Copper Coils
3. Add the Coherer to Boards
4. Add the Two Copper Coils
5. Add the Electromagnet
6. Add the Light Bulb
7. Add a pair of two Daniel Cells
8. Combine two Copper Wires to make a Short Antenna
9. Add the antenna to make a High Frequency Marconi Receiver
You can add more wire to the antenna to make a lower frequency. This basically gives you 3 different channels.
Now when you power the transmitter the receiver will light up anywhere in the server. You can use this to (roughly) communicate with other towns. Is it worth it? Maybe not now but we'll see in future updates! Let me know below if you've managed to make one.
I don’t know if there is a “proper” way to use this. It is a way to turn a light on and off remotely, but lag will probably make Morse code difficult. You could have an agreement between two villages like “if the light is on we are out of iron” or “blink the light if we should ring the bell tower” but if you can manage the outside communication then why not use that instead?
I think it is more of a novelty in its current form, but I am really looking forward to what new technology it brings.
Update: BTW this really is a massive update. Over 130 new objects! With resources like copper, glass, sand, zinc and salt peter added it opens up so many possibilities.
+1 on cursing twins together. Currently a player can use the twin system to escape donkey town even if they are cursed considerably. This makes the curse system pretty much useless against someone who's always twinning.
Thanks Jason! This update is looking awesome.
In case you missed it, two copper coils needs a transition. See: https://github.com/jasonrohrer/OneLifeData7/issues/138
Did you thought about adding decay time?
Decay time is a transition which shows up on the right side of the object. For example, basket shows it decays to a floppy basket in 10 hours.
This is awesome, thanks for laying out all of this info clearly! I have tried to interpret how the heat and insulation calculation works from the code but would always get a bit lost. I understand it much better now.
The sound effects are a big part of this game, and even though I don’t play often I still like to hear what sounds the new objects make. This is why I’ve added sounds to onetech. Hear it by pressing the speaker button on the object’s page. For example, you can hear the apocalypse chime.
https://onetech.info/2482-The-Apocalypse-monumentCall
Here are a few of my favorites.
https://onetech.info/1330-Shot-Boar-arrow
https://onetech.info/1554-East-Track-En … Wound-Cart
https://onetech.info/2347-Wick-Housing
https://onetech.info/160-Snare
It is interesting a half of a potato is a separate object so it helps with yum bonus, still not worth the shovel uses though.
Use hyphens as spaces and to make letters go onto the next line. There are no spaces. See this letter recipe generator on onetech.
It is possible to have multiple objects in one tile with containers. Perhaps Jason could use this system to make each animal a container which picks up the item it lands on and drops it when moving again. Quite a hack but it wouldn't require changes to the database engine.
Thank you for continually updating this! It is appreciated.
What about moving this compilation to the wiki? That way everyone can make contributions and keep it up to date.
Only thing I would add is to put the requirements for the car in the prerequisites, like the box and wheels.
I wanted to keep the focus on the diesel engine, so I just mention the car and water pump ingredients that are already part of the engine so they can make it in bulk.
The Diesel Engine is currently used to craft the Diesel Water Pump and Crude Car. It is expensive to craft, but the resulting objects are pretty powerful.
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Make sure you have the following:
• 17 Steel Ingots (+2 for the water pump)
• 1 Empty Fuel Tank
• 1 Raw Rubber Tire (+4 for car)
• a Multipurpose Newcomen Engine near a Forge
• at least 7 Baskets of Charcoal
• at least 4 Buckets of Water, I recommend a full Cistern nearby.
You will also need the 4 attachments that work with the multipurpose engine:
• Crude Piston on Flat Rock
• Roller Mechanism
• Bore Mechanism
• Lathe Mechanism
The Bore and Lathe can share the same Pully Drive Mechanism by swapping out the heads.
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First setup the Newcomen Roller. Like all newcomen engines, it only stays firing for 20 seconds. Since the forge lasts for 30 seconds so it is better to light the forge first. Once they are both firing, pick up a steel ingot in wooden tongs, heat it in the forge, then roll it into steel rods. Do a couple extra if you're making a water pump.
5 Hot Steel Ingots in Tongs
→ 5 Steel Rods (1 hit)
2 Hot Steel Ingots in Tongs (if doing water pump)
→ 2 Steel Rods (1 hit)
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With the Newcomen Hammer and forge, do the following:
12 Hot Steel Ingots in Tongs
→ 10 Steel Piston Blanks (1 hit)
→ 1 Small Pulley (2 hits)
→ 1 Large Pulley (3 hits)
It may take a few tries to get make all of these, but after that you're done with the hammer and forge.
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Using the Newcomen Bore, apply the following:
2 Steel Piston Blanks
→ 2 Steel Cylinder Blanks (1 hit)
3 Steel Rods
→ 3 Steel Pipes (1 hit)
2 Steel Rods (if doing water pump)
→ 1 Steel Pipe (1 hit)
→ 1 Pump Valve Jacket (2 hits)
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Fire up the Newcomen Lathe and apply the following:
2 Steel Rods
→ 1 Cam Shaft (1 hit)
→ 1 Crank Shaft (2 hits)
2 Steel Cylinder Blanks
→ 2 Precision Cylinders (1 hit)
2 Steel Pipes
→ 2 Fuel Nozzle Body (1 hit)
8 Steel Piston Blanks
→ 2 Precision Pistons (1 hit)
→ 6 Steel Valves (2 hits)
That's it for the difficult timing part. Now you can craft everything together.
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1. Put the Large Pulley on a Long Straight Shaft, and then add the Small Pulley.
2. Apply the Raw Rubber Tire to get the Raw Rubber Belt and then cook that in a Hot Adobe Oven
3. Cut the belt with a Knife and add to the construction.
4. Add a Cam Shaft to complete your Cam Timing Assembly
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Make 2 of these:
1. Add two Steel Valves to a Precision Cylinder
2. Add Steel Valve to Fuel Nozzle Body and then add to the previous cylinder
3. Add Precision Piston to make the Diesel Piston Head
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1. Combine the two Diesel Piston Heads
2. Add the Crank Shaft and then the Cam Timing Assembly
3. Add a Steel Pipe to a Fuel Tank and combine with the previous construction
Pat yourself on the back, you just finished the Diesel Engine! Now what do you want to do with it?
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1. Combine the Steel Pipe with Pump Valve Jacket
2. Add that to a Dry Shallow Well
3. Add the Diesel Engine
4. Add Kerosone to start
The pump will give you 7 buckets of water and only uses 1 Kerosene to refill.
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1. Cook 4 Raw Rubber Tires in a Hot Adobe Oven
2. Combine with 4 Wooden Wheels (Butt Log + Bow Saw + Flint-tipped Bow Drill)
3. Combine wheels into sets of 2 and then all together
4. Make a Wooden Box (Butt Log + Froe + Mallet + Rope)
5. Add wheels and Diesel Engine to box
6. Add Kerosone to start
The car will run for two minutes and you will be invincible while driving. Minimum driving age is 16. You travel 3 times the walking speed while driving, it's fast!
I've added the ability to filter the crafting recipe on onetech. Just right-click on an ingredient or object in the recipe to show only the transitions which use that object.
For example, on the Running Crude Car recipe you can right click one of the Newcomen engines in the ingredient list to see what uses that engine. This way you can determine what to do when that engine is firing.
I plan to add a filter option to the recipe page soon. Basically you will be able to filter the recipe list by any object to see all the ways that object is used by that recipe.
For example, you could concisely see what you use the Newcomen Hammer for to craft a car.
Hopefully I will add this in the next day or two.
I recently made some improvements to the onetech recipe page. Here it is for the Running Crude Car:
https://onetech.info/2396-Running-Crude-Car/recipe
Once you learn how to use the recipe page, it can really help determine how many to make of each thing. First look over the ingredients at the top to determine what you don't have. Likely 16 iron and the Disconnected Pulley Drive Mechanism which is another 2 iron. So you will need to gather 18 iron assuming you have all of the other ingredients listed.
If you look at the recipe for the pulley drive you can see it crafts the two iron into a large/small pulley. The car recipe crafts the rest of the iron into:
5 x Steel Rods
10 x Steel Piston Blanks
1 x Fuel Tank
You take two of the steel rods to make 2 cam shafts, and 3 to make steel pipes. What you do with the piston blanks is more complicated but it all happens within the Diesel Crank Assembly recipe. It tells you how many precision pistons, injection nozzles, etc. to make and how to assemble it.
Another suggestion is to scan over the entire recipe (and sub recipes) for each "Firing" object to see how to use each one. This will help you optimize what you need to do for each and if you can do it all in one go.
Some of the numbers are off such as the number of charcoal baskets since it doesn't know you can split a big pile of charcoal into 3 little charcoal. However most of the numbers should be correct.
I've made a live version of onetech.info to show the latest unreleased changes:
Crude Car: https://edge.onetech.info/2396-Running-Crude-Car
Diesel Water Pump: https://edge.onetech.info/2390-Wet-Diesel-Water-Pump