User blog comment:Sir Lazuli/Replacing Redstone/@comment-33763020-20180128143219/@comment-33185350-20180130012651

Ok a lot to think about there. I pretty much agree with your views on Mevans’ motives about major features of the mod. I know that redstone doesn’t exactly make sense in the world of Middle-earth, and removing it makes sense. But I think replacing it with a system that allows for the same good aspects of that gameplay would make sense as well. It would draw in players who like doing that to try out the mod, and players who don’t like that could stay away from it.

Regarding the types of farms you can build with redstone, I definitely agree. That kind of exploitation would be wrong in Lord of the Rings gameplay. I don’t think it’s a big concern however. Functionality of this system can be limited by what types of outputs are added into the mod, intentionally avoiding things that would make easy automatic farms. Even glitches or unintended exploitations wouldn’t be a problem for several reasons: I think the majority of the community is on servers, and most servers already have rules against that sort of thing and easily manage it. For singleplayer you can do whatever you like. So I’m not really worried about that issue.

Concerning binary circuits, I know it’s a more modern concept but I think it’s still the best way to go. It’s a simple logic system that would be easy to apply to any replacement. It’s the best way to handle different signals and would be straightforward for the game to handle. While my explanation may seem very modern, the idea really would be present in a real rope system (ropes moving or not moving, starting and stopping ropes from moving, etc) and implementing a system with that capability would make it very comprehensive.

Regarding your numbered points:

1. I agree with your system of energy sources, transfer, and outputs. In addition to other inputs, which may not be energy sources, this would be a pretty good way to handle any redstone replacement. These are the different components that I describe in the post. Logic occurs during transmission and is simply a means of converting signals from inputs into signals that cause useful outputs.

2. I also agree with your thoughts on energy supplies. The obvious choices are fuels, water mills, wind mills, etc. I think that redstone is pretty unrealistic in this area. It would be nice however to have something you could set up like a wind mill or water mill that would make sense in that time period as constantly harvesting energy without requiring tedious input.

3. I think it’s quite possible that the transmission medium would be able to handle logic fairly well. There are clear descriptions of mills in the Shire, even before Saruman came. Mills are complex devices harvesting energy from wind or water and transmitting it through shafts, pulleys, gears, cogs, chains, etc. to grind grain and transfer it throughout the building. With the technology required to make something like that one could easily make logic circuits as I described. Additionally we know that goblins loved machines, though The Hobbit is somewhat vague there. Saruman also developed more industrial systems. So I think it’s quite plausible that a logic system could easily be built up out of any redstone replacement. Obviously there wouldn’t be any small binary circuits like we have today but the logic could be built up in any system, it just needs to be implemented correctly. A water-wheel system could easily accomplish all of this with multiple wheels harvesting energy simultaneously. If they could open and close each other’s headraces, complex timing and clocks could easily be constructed, and with simple inputs like brakes and counterweights it would be easy to build up all the necessary logic.

4. I agree, kinetic energy makes sense. All I would add is inputs so that it can be turned on and off, and simple logic allowing systems that are on to turn other systems on or off. This is all that would be required.

Anyway, thank you again for your input! You are not a troll and I appreciate hearing your thoughts and concerns, both on the topic in general and specifically regarding what I brought forward.