Field Generator

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Field Generator
Generates fields to protect construction, provide air or alter gravity within a defined area.
Category tool
Rarity Common
Price 1
ID pilch_shieldgenerator

Field Generator can surround your base in tile protection, making it impervious to damaging weather (like Meteors), accidental misclicks with Master Manipulator or Mining Laser, damage from explosive weapons, etc. It also provides oxygen (for environments like Moons, which don't have any) and allows to increase/decrease gravity within the base.

It can be turned on/off at any time. It's also possible to turn on/off a single aspect of protection (for example, disable tile protection, but keep gravity adjustments ON, or vice versa).

When you interact (E) with a placed Field Generator.

Area of effect[edit]

Because Field Generator is not telepathic and doesn't know "what part of the map does the player want me to protect", the player must place Field Marker (one or several) and connect it to the Field Generator. Anything between these markers will be protected. For example, if your base is rectangular, and you have one Field Marker in the top-right corner of your base, and another Field Marker in bottom-left corner of your base, then your entire base will be protected.

Field Generator itself acts as a Field Marker (so it's possible to have Field Generator in top-left corner of your base, and only one Field Marker in the bottom-right corner, and your entire base will be protected).

If your base is too large (and Field Marker and Field Generator can't be wired directly, because the wire length is not unlimited), you can use Field Extender to connect them. If it's still not enough length, you can also connect Field Extenders to each other.

Appearance[edit]

By interacting with Field Generator, you can modify its appearance. The options include:

  1. Mounted on background wall (can walk through it) - default.
  2. Acts like solid blocks (of the same appearance as background blocks behind the Field Generator), similarly to closed Secret Door.
  3. Completely invisible. (If you choose this option, please don't forget where you placed it! You can't detect its location with Alt button)

Trivia[edit]

This alarm will sound if protection is OFF, and will be silent if it's ON.
  • Both Field Marker and Field Generator are affected by tile protection (assuming it's not disabled), so when the generator is ON, you don't have to worry about them being hit by meteors.
  • Being on a tile-protected base doesn't save you from a Meteor falling on your head. Buildings have a ceiling for a reason.
  • Less damaging weather (like Cosmic Blasts) can sometimes be resisted without Field Generator, but that greatly limits your choice of what blocks you can use. Some blocks (like Diamond Block) are exceptionally resilient (see List of blocks by durability), but the majority of blocks are not. Tile protection from Field Generator will protect even the most weak/fragile of blocks.
  • Don't connect your Field Generator to wires like Signal Emitter (which always outputs ON signal), because you won't be able to turn it off.
  • If you connect the output of Field Generator to NOT Gate, and that to an Alarm, then an alarm would yell at you whenever you disable the Field Generator. That will prevent you from forgetting to turn it back on (which is handy if you disabled the field temporarily to place something additional on your base).
  • Field Generator can be used as an extremely fast elevator, because setting the gravity to negative values (like -50 or -200) will propel you up into the air when you step into the affected area. That can be used to quickly ascend to the top of a very high building.
  • Modified gravity can be quite extreme, from "can barely jump" to zero gravity. Find a value that is most comfortable for you. Average gravity (80, which is the same as on the starting Garden planet) is good for bases.
  • Despite the rumors, it does protect your base from a Neutron Bomb explosion. Don't try it, though. Don't. Seriously, please don't...

Troubleshooting[edit]

  • If when clicking on Activate/Deactivate button you see the message "Error: failed to load field region", simply click the button again. This happens when you are protecting a very large area of the map (way outside the player's view), and the game doesn't have this part of the map loaded. After the first (failed) click this map will be loaded, so the second click will work.

See also[edit]

How to obtain

Matter Assembler