MekaCannon

Create's Schematicannon, rebuilt as a Mekanism machine.

MekaCannon adds a turret that builds Create schematics using energy, with materials taken from the chests next to it or straight from a QIO frequency. Load a schematic and press Start. Then your build starts flying into place, block by block.

It does everything the Schematicannon does, and more: it builds fluids, never destroys the blocks in the way, and tells you exactly what is missing.

Features

• Builds any Create schematic. Blocks, Create belts (built whole), item frames and armor stands, with the same replace modes as the Schematicannon.
• Fluids too. Water, lava, waterlogged blocks and filled cauldrons. Fluids go in last, once the walls are up, so nothing floods. Fill its 16-bucket tank with pipes or buckets, place tanks next to it, or keep filled buckets in your storage.
• QIO-native. Bind a QIO frequency and build straight from your storage network, or use the chests and inventories touching the cannon.
• Never stalls for good. If a material runs out, the build pauses and carries on by itself as soon as it arrives. You can also skip missing blocks.
• Nothing gets destroyed. Blocks in the way go back to your storage, as if mined with Silk Touch. The cannon asks before replacing anything, and chests or machines in the way are protected by default.
• Exact missing-materials list. Items and fluids with their amounts, in a window you can pin to the screen. Put a book or a Create clipboard in its slot to write the list down, just like the Schematicannon.
• A real Mekanism machine. Energy, Speed and Muffling upgrades, side configuration, redstone control, security and a comparator output that follows the build progress.
• Light on the server. The material check is spread over time, so huge schematics do not freeze the tick, and builds start instantly.
• A turret worth watching. Iris hatch, telescopic barrel with recoil, status lights and its own sounds. Blocks fly along a real arc and are placed when they land.

Interface

The status screen shows the schematic, what the cannon is doing (and why it is waiting), the block count, energy, fluid tank and progress at all times.

The Missing tab opens the missing-materials window, with the checklist slot at the top.

Getting started

1. Craft the machine (recipe below).
2. Make a schematic at Create's Schematic Table and place it in the world with the schematic item, as you would for the Schematicannon.
3. Put the schematic in the MekaCannon and power it with any Mekanism cable or Forge Energy source.
4. Choose the material source: chests touching the cannon, or QIO. To use QIO, right-click the cannon with a Portable QIO Dashboard that has your frequency selected.
5. Press Start. If something is missing, open Missing, add those items and the build continues on its own.

Crafting recipe

Advanced tier: it upgrades Create's Schematicannon, so it arrives when you are ready to build big. The energy stored in the tablet carries over to the cannon.

Supported versions

New features (fluids, the new turret, block recovery, the checklist…) are only in the NeoForge 1.21.1 version.

• Required: Mekanism and Create.
• Sides: client and server, with the same version on both.

Configuration

• config/mekacannon-common.toml: energy per block, maximum build distance, maximum cannons building at once, and how many milliseconds per tick the material check may use.
• config/mekacannon-client.toml: maximum flying blocks drawn at once and camera shake strength.

Good to know

• Like the Schematicannon, the schematic must be placed in the world with Create's schematic tool before you load it into the cannon.
• In QIO mode only exact items count: oak logs are not oak planks.
• Breaking the cannon keeps its settings, energy and fluid in the item. The schematic drops on the ground.