[1.192.022] Exploit: Scrap can be used to create an infinite amount of Iron Ingots / Steelplates

Robb shared this bug 4 years ago
Outdated

Thinking about 2 current bugs that are still ingame:


- Thruster override does not consume energy at stations ( or without dampeners on to also reproduce for ships ) <-- This doesnt need to be abused as you can just use wind turbines to power the thrusters.

- Yield modules actually going over the estimate of 100% output <-- the numbers below should show that you are still producing more iron ingots even without any yield modules


i was able to create a mechanism that would create infinite amount of iron ingots.


Further testing did show that this is reproducable without using any yield modules at all:


Recreation:

Use 1 Steel plate to build one steel block and let any thruster damage it. It will explode and result in 16 scrap metal which can then be refined by an ore to ingot ratio of 80% resulting in 12.8 iron ingots.


This is all without yield modules meaning that you can damage one steel plate that costs 7 iron ingots and refine the scrap metal out of it to gain a + of 5.8 iron ingots.

Adding 4 yield modules with the current known bug will yield 25.6 iron ingots out of a 7 iron ingots expensive steel plate... and even if the bug would be fixed, it'd be still 16 iron ingots at 100% yield for the same 7 invested.


The idea I had did work and i set up a simple version and a more advanced version:


The simple version consists of one basic refinery, one basic assembler, a timer, a thruster, a collector and welder. The thruster is on override and damages the block. The welder is set to a timer block at 3 seconds to be turned off... and then on (in a loop). The basic assembler will produce steel plates in a loop that will be welded into the block and the gravity ( if on a planet) will make the scrap fall down into the collector.

This basic setup does work and multiplies steel plates but i didn't test it longer.


The advanced setup is with 4 yield modules and a big refinery, a basic assembler set to produce 1 steel plate repeatedly as well but adding 3 more thrusters on each side to damage the block faster. The block will never explode but apparently drops scrap metal into the collector, the welder will continue repairing the damage... a projector will spawn a blast door block as well if it happens to be damaged too much. Scrap metal will be generated on mass.


I got 900 iron ingots per minute with this method on full yield on realistic settings. Idling your way would result in 54000 iron ingots an hr with a one block setup... I don't even wanna test it further as im sure you can just magically produce iron ingots on mass this way.


Please look into how much scrap is dropped as 16 scrap seems too much per block destroyed.

at most at full yield (if the bug is fixed and it can't produce over 100%), you should not gain more than 7 scrap metal for a block that is built from 1 steel plate or scrap metal from other blocks (such as interior walls out of construction components or interior plates which are cheaper to produce).

Replies (3)

photo
2

Hello, Engineer!


Thank you for your feedback! Your topic has been added between considered issues.


Please keep voting for the issue as it will help us to identify the most serious bugs.


We really appreciate your patience.


Kind Regards

Keen Software House: QA Department

photo
1

Adding a bit to this, because it's even easier to exploit: a slightly damaged block will give scrap for repairing it, even if it doesn't need more resources to repair. So you can set up a system as above, but don't damage the block badly enough to need more steel plates. It will provide infinite scrap that can be refined back into iron ingots.

As noted above the problem is much worse with yield modules.

The solution might be to just reduce the amount of scrap that is produced and/or reduce the amount of iron you get from refining it again. A lot of other blocks (batteries!, reactors) will yield less scrap than you put in when damaged.

photo
1

Hi! This is still a bug in 2021.

photo
1

I hope it still works in 2022, i need a lot of steel fast.

photo
1

Still works. With the right module combination, you can even get a net gain on worlds with everything set to realistic. Just costs a ton of energy to run; the ions are thirstier than the average YT comment section of a female SE player's uploads after having been foolish enough to do a face reveal.

photo
1

As of 1.202.120, my test setup no longer exceeds break-even at 1-1. It just barely fails to reach it. Something appears to have been changed. (Higher assembler modifiers probably still do, but I cba to test.)

photo
1

i just tested it again and still works for me, without any modules

i used a block drill instead though cos i found this exploit independently before, idk if that changes anything though. with this method, you dont need a collector or timer block, as just leaving the drill and welder running works fine

photo
Leave a Comment
 
Attach a file