Mob Wheel Drive
alaindustrial:mob_wheel_controller
Summary
The Mob Wheel is an upright wooden wheel, like a hamster's, only sized for a mob. Lead a creature inside, close the gate — and the running mob turns the wheel while the drive on the side feeds EU/FE into the network. It is the first generator that needs no fuel, no weather and no open sky: just a living runner and a little food.
Not every creature is willing to run: which ones make runners and what each of them can do, the player finds out alone — by experience, by watching the drive's screen, and later with an analyzer that will reveal a species' exact numbers.
The wheel is cheap and wooden, built at the very start of the game. The price is looking after the runner: it gets tired, and until it rests or eats, the wheel stands still.
Mini-example: a runner starts at the full power of its species, by the end of its run the output has dropped by about half, and it stops. A portion of suitable food in the feeder starts the next run at once; without food the runner rests on its own — slower, but for free.
Energy
The wheel only produces power. Output leaves through the drive, the one block of the structure with connectors: they sit on the drive's two outer faces — the side and the back — flush with the casing, so a cable meets them right up against it.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Internal buffer | none |
| Output | LV, offered straight to the network |
| Actual production | 0–12 EU/FE/t, depending on the runner, its stamina and the conditions around it |
There is no buffer. The drive holds at most one tick of output and offers it to the network right away. Whatever the network does not take is lost, and the runner still spends stamina: a wheel with no consumer runs its mob for nothing.
Even the strongest runner in the most favourable conditions stays within the throughput of a copper cable, so nothing is lost on copper.
Generation
The wheel produces power only while the mob is visibly running. A standing mob, a mob taking a pause, a distracted mob, an exhausted mob and an empty wheel all give 0. There is one occupant: a second mob in the passage adds nothing.
species power × condition boost × pace × (0.5 + 0.5 × stamina fraction), rounded down onceFull stamina gives full power; by the end of a run the output falls to about half. While the mob runs, the wheel never gives less than 1 EU/FE/t.
The runner's nature
There is one profile per species: every member of a species is the same, with no individual differences. Species differ in several traits:
- power — how many EU/FE/t the runner gives at full stamina;
- stamina — how many ticks it runs on a full reserve;
- rest speed — how fast an exhausted runner recovers on its own;
- pace — some run steadily, some in bursts (the output jumps around the average), some keep stopping for a breather, and some spin the wheel noticeably faster;
- trait — some species have a quirk of their own, useful or dangerous.
A strong runner usually tires fast, and an enduring one is weak. The wheel does not say which species is which: the drive's screen shows only what can be seen.
Condition boost
Some runners are suited to particular conditions — the time of day, the weather or the climate of the place where the wheel stands. In its own conditions such a runner gets a boost to its power; the rest of the time there is no boost. Pace and stamina do not change with the conditions.
Fatigue
Stamina is spent on every tick of running — whether or not the network took the energy. A new mob arrives with a full reserve, so its first run needs no food. When the reserve is empty the mob stops and the wheel stands still; the mob does not die and takes no damage. During a pause and while the runner is distracted no stamina is spent — and none comes back either.
Stamina belongs to that particular mob: let a runner out and catch the same one again, and it comes back just as tired. A new mob starts with a full reserve.
Rest
An exhausted mob rests on its own without leaving the wheel. A full reserve comes back in about one in-game day; species quick to rest manage it several times sooner, slow ones take longer than a day. Running resumes only at a full reserve.
Hay
A hay bale within 2 blocks of the structure speeds up rest 4 times. The hay is not consumed. It has no effect on stamina while running — only on rest.
Structure
The wheel is a 3×3×3 build made of four kinds of block. The player places 14 blocks; the other 13 cells of the cube must be free: air, grass, ferns, flowers, a snow layer and other small plants do not get in the way — assembly breaks them and their drops fall out. Water or lava in a cell stops the build. The running wheel can be placed facing any way: it turns towards the player like the drive, and the assembled wheel still stands across the run.
Coordinates below are canonical: X/Y/Z from 0 to 2, the wheel's axle runs along Z, the gate faces +Z, the drive sits at the back on the right. The structure can be turned to face any of the four compass directions; a mirrored build is not accepted.
| Block | What it is | Where | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mob Wheel Drive | wooden casing with the LV connector, the feeder and all the logic | (2,0,0) | 1 |
| Mob Wheel Frame | a post of the frame | four corner columns three high, except the drive's cell | 11 |
| Running Wheel | the rotor itself, placed at the centre of the cube | (1,1,1) | 1 |
| Mob Wheel Gate | the only way in and out | (1,0,2) | 1 |
| Mob Wheel Cell | invisible filler of the assembled structure; never given to the player | every other cell | — |
Assembly and disassembly
The structure assembles by itself as soon as all 14 blocks are in place: the drive runs the check whenever any part is placed and whenever a neighbouring block changes. The assembled structure fills the empty cells with invisible wheel cells and is drawn as a whole — frame, spinning rotor, gate.
If any part goes missing, the structure falls apart: the cells vanish, the parts return to their unassembled look and the occupant free. Nothing drops from the cells.
Right-clicking an unassembled drive with an empty hand shows above the hotbar what is missing: which part to place, which block to clear or where to drain a fluid.
Collision
The posts and cells of the assembled structure are full cubes, except for the mob's passage:
| Cell | Collision |
|---|---|
(1,0,1) — wheel floor | a floor up to the drawn wheel's running surface |
(1,1,1) — rotor | none |
(1,1,2) — above the gate | none |
(1,2,1), (1,2,2) — above the floor and above the gate | none: a creature about two blocks tall fits on the raised floor |
(1,0,2) — gate | closed — 1.5 blocks, like a vanilla fence gate; open — none |
Occupant
Who can run
Only some creatures can run in the wheel, and only adults. The first condition is size: the creature has to get through the gate and stand upright in the passage, so wide and tall ones do not fit. The second is temperament: which of the creatures that fit will agree to run, the wheel does not tell. A creature that cannot run is simply not caught when the gate closes and stays an ordinary mob.
The drive's screen names the captured runner by its species.
Capture
While the gate is open the mob is free. Bring it in any vanilla way: lure it with food, lead it on a lead, draw it after yourself.
The passage is the wheel floor's column (the floor and the rotor cell) and the gate cell up to the inner side of the closed panel. A suitable mob whose box touches the passage is caught when the gate closes and for as long as the gate stays closed and the wheel is empty (checked every 5 ticks): push or let the mob in and close the gate after it, or close the gate first and drive the mob in later. The one nearest the centre is taken and set straight onto the middle of the floor. A mob outside the closed panel is not caught. There is one occupant; any other mobs in the passage stay ordinary mobs.
Lead. A player leading a suitable mob right-clicks any part of the assembled wheel: the mob is put inside, the gate closes and the lead goes back to the player (not in creative). If the wheel is taken, a hint appears above the hotbar.
Holding
While the gate is closed, the wheel holds the mob on its floor: its feet exactly on the running surface, with no motion, fall or path. While the mob runs, its body, head and gaze face strictly along the wheel's travel. It no longer despawns on its own (like a name-tagged mob). Its own behaviour is not switched off: the wheel holds only its position, and once the gate opens the wheel simply stops holding it.
Opening the gate is the only way to stop the wheel. There is no separate brake, lever or switch.
Dangerous runners
A hostile creature stays hostile inside the wheel. If there is a player it treats as a target within 6 blocks, it gets distracted: running and output stop, no stamina is spent, and the runner turns to the player by itself and attacks. In melee it reaches only someone standing right against the bars; archers and spellcasters strike from a distance straight out of the wheel. Once the target is gone, the runner runs again. Meanwhile the drive's screen shows the status "Distracted".
The wheel does not suppress spells the runner can cast on its own — creatures it summons are as dangerous as ever.
Some runners are more dangerous than others when they stop: while such a runner runs it stays calm, but once it runs out of stamina, gets distracted or stands still with a player nearby, it may explode and break the wheel. A restless runner is safest fed through a hopper, without walking up to the wheel.
Death and chunk unloading
- The mob dies — the wheel is left without an occupant at once and stops. The structure stays intact.
- The chunk unloads — the wheel stops along with it. After loading, the wheel looks for its mob; if it has not turned up within 100 ticks it counts as lost. The structure stays intact in this case too.
Feeder
One slot in the drive. Food goes in by hand or through a hopper.
- Food has to suit the runner: each species has its own diet, and the same product is food to one runner and not to another. Which food suits which species is part of what the player finds out.
- Food is used only when the runner is fully exhausted — exactly one full portion, and stamina returns to maximum at once. Nothing is eaten in advance and the effect does not stack.
- Food the current occupant does not eat is not used and waits in the slot. An empty wheel accepts any food that at least one runner eats.
- Each product has its own full portion — from one rare item to several plain ones — but every full portion does the same thing: a full stamina reserve.
A hay bale in the feeder is food; for rest, what counts is hay placed next to the structure.
Wood type
The wheel can be made from any wood in the game and recolours to match it. The default is oak.
Right-clicking any part of the assembled structure with planks of any wood recolours every wooden area: the frame, the rims, the running slats, the gate and the drive's casing. One plank is used (in Creative, nothing). Copper, iron, the axle, the rope and the connector keep their colour.
Every wood family of Minecraft 26.3 is supported — thirteen of them, poplar included. The wood type is stored in the drive and survives a world reload.
Inventory
| Slot | Accepts | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Feeder | food that at least one runner eats | a stack |
There are no other slots: no fuel, no upgrades, no chips.
Interface
Opened by right-clicking the drive or any other part of an assembled structure except the gate: a right-click opens and closes the gate. The screen shows what can be seen — not a reference on species:
- the feeder slot;
- the species name of the current runner;
- a stamina bar for the current occupant;
- the running speed and the current output in EU/FE/t;
- a status line — running, short pause, distracted, exhausted, resting on hay, no mob inside, mob lost or not assembled.
There are no settings: the drive is deliberately primitive, with no modes and no upgrades. A species' exact numbers — power, stamina, rest, pace, food and trait — will be revealed by a future analyzer.
Block Properties
Every part is wooden and is broken with an axe.
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Shape of the unassembled parts | each follows its model: the drive is a cube one pixel short of full height, the frame a slim 4×4-pixel post, the running wheel a 14×14×14-pixel cube, and the gate a panel across the passage, 1.5 blocks high when closed, like a vanilla fence gate |
| Shape of the assembled structure | see "Collision" above |
| Transparency | on every part — the assembled structure is drawn whole by the drive |
| Hardness | 2.0 |
| Pistons | move none of the parts |
| Tool | axe; a pickaxe works too |
| Drop | the parts drop themselves; wheel cells drop nothing |
Visual
An open mill frame: a ten-sided upright wheel with two side rims and a wooden running deck, a visible axle with a crossbeam at the back, four corner columns of the frame, a low fence on both sides of the gate at the front and a simple drive in the back corner with copper connectors flush with its casing. The wheel turns while the mob runs and stops with it; a fast runner spins it noticeably faster. The model and textures are original, made for this mod.
Sound
The wheel's drive gives off a soft rolling sound (while the wheel turns under its runner; when the runner stands, rests or is distracted, it is silent. Its volume is 0.5 — louder than the mills, so the drive is heard over the runner itself. The gate opens and closes with the vanilla fence gate sounds.
Recipes
| Item | Grid | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|
| Mob Wheel Drive | P G P / P C P / P U P | P — planks, G — wooden gear, C — copper cable, U — copper ingot |
| Mob Wheel Frame ×6 | S P S / S P S / S P S | S — stick, P — planks |
| Running Wheel | P S P / S G S / P S P | P — planks, S — stick, G — wooden gear |
| Mob Wheel Gate | shapeless | a vanilla fence gate of any wood + 2 sticks |
A whole wheel takes the drive, two frame crafts (12 posts, 11 needed), one running wheel and one gate.
Related
- Water Mill — another early generator with no fuel, but driven by flowing water.
- Generator — steadier and with a buffer, but it burns fuel.
- Copper Cable — the simplest wire from the drive to the consumers.
Crafting
Shaped Crafting
▶
Mob Wheel Drive