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Which liquids are there?
Water, oil, lava, wet concrete, milk and kerosene exist in the world as voxels you can see, take and pour. Petrol and diesel, cut from oil in the refinery, exist only in machine tanks and pipes and are never poured into the world. Gases (methane, hydrogen, oxygen, natural gas) never go into the world either: they live in gas cylinders and machine tanks.
| Liquid | Runs from a source | One voxel every | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Water | 7 voxels (1.75 m) | 0.1 s | The fastest and farthest. |
| Kerosene | 5 voxels (1.25 m) | 0.1 s | Runs like water. |
| Oil | 5 voxels (1.25 m) | 0.2 s | Thick. |
| Milk | 5 voxels (1.25 m) | 0.2 s | Runs like oil. You drink it from the bucket. |
| Lava | 3 voxels (0.75 m) | 0.4 s | Hurts: 15 points a hit, about 3 s to die. |
| Wet concrete | 2 voxels (0.5 m) | 1.5 s | Creeps, then sets. |
How does a bucket work?
- 1
Fill it: left click
Aim at a still liquid. Standing, you take every source of the aligned 1 m cube you aim at, up to 64 voxels, the top layer first. Crouching, you take only the voxel you aim at. An empty bucket takes any liquid; a bucket that holds something takes only the same one.
- 2
Pour it: right click
Aim at the face where the liquid should go. Standing, all of it goes into the aligned 1 m cube, bottom layer first. Crouching, one voxel at a time. It pours into air, into plants, or into a flow of the same liquid. An empty bucket still scoops on a right click.
- 3
Use it on a machine
Standing, right click a machine with tanks, such as a tank, the concrete mixer or the refinery. The bucket empties into the tank that takes its liquid, or fills from the machine's tanks.
- 4
Read the level
The icon and the name give the fill in percent. A bucket of milk with at least 16 voxels in it is drunk with a held right click, one draught of 16 voxels, and keeps the rest.
What are the rules of liquids?
- Only sources can be taken. A flowing liquid cannot: the game tells you Only still liquid can be taken.
- One liquid per bucket. A bucket of water refuses oil: This bucket holds Water: it does not take Oil.
- No infinite source, ever. The liquid around a hole runs in as a flow, but a flow is not a source. A cubic metre taken from a lake is gone from the lake.
- Water on lava. Water touching a lava source turns it to obsidian; touching flowing lava, to stone.
- Wet concrete sets after 60 s and hardens in 5 min in all. Hard concrete is 4 times harder than stone (8 times reinforced with a steel ingot in the mixer), withstands explosions, and gives gravel back when broken.
- Fuel. A full bucket in a fuel slot burns for 100 s of lava, 40 s of kerosene or 20 s of oil. A partly filled bucket burns for its share. The bucket stays, empty.
- Currents. A running liquid carries you downstream: water at about 1.4 m/s, oil and lava far less. Still water pushes nothing.
Where do I find them?
- Water: seas, rivers, lakes, and underground pools (aquifers, 12 to 80 m down, in limestone on a bed of gravel and clay).
- Lava: lava lakes, domed chambers whose lava floor lies 6 to 30 m above the bedrock and at least 40 m under the surface, and flooded cave regions, which hold lava (three times in four) when the flood level lies below 94 m of altitude and water otherwise.
- Oil: lenses in the plains, 30 m and more down. See how to find oil.
- Milk: from cows and goats, with an empty bucket.
- Wet concrete: the concrete mixer gives it out in buckets.
- Kerosene: one of the cuts of crude oil in the refinery.
Questions
How much does a bucket hold?
64 voxels, which is one cubic metre, of one liquid.
Why won't my bucket take water from a river?
Only still source voxels can be taken. If you aim at running water the game says so. Aim at a still pool, a lake or the sea.
Can I build an endless water supply?
No. A source is never created by the simulation, and taking a cubic metre removes 64 voxels. Carry a few full buckets instead.
What happens when water meets lava?
A lava source touched by water becomes obsidian, running lava becomes stone.
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