[Spoilers] Dragon Orb Discussion

[TaterBoy]

I thought it'd be best to move this to its own thread, especially since some people might be looking for spoilers about SFS, but still want to figure out Dragon Orbs on their own.

I was up fairly late just setting up the beginnings of automation on yet another new world when I decided I'd check the forum one last time before bed, and lo, there was this update of huge significance...Needless to say, I was up til about 3 am toying with it, trying to figure out Dragon Orbs.

I have to say I'm stumped and I'm at the point that I would love to have a teensy spoiler/hint, I don't think outside of the box as well as some people do.

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I've tried the following methods of collecting Orbs:
Powered Hopper with every filter, including Iron Bars.
Stoked Stewing Pot/Crucible.

Orbs were sucked into a powered filter with a Soul Sand filter, but did not deposit anything in the chest below which led me to believe I would need to use an Urn to collect them, however, with or without any of the other filters the Orbs just pass over the Hopper, and from what I understand using a Soul Sand filter gives you normal XP orbs, not the new Dragon Orbs for further processing.

I'd love to see what others are finding out, especially failed attempts that aren't listed above.

[embirrim]

FC did say it wasn't fully automatable it. Maybe try putting a brewery underneath the soul sand hopper?

[thekyz]

Have you tried with a vase ?

[Thalarctia]

I believe FC said in another thread that we only got semi-automation in this version, in that we would be able to get xp from mobs being auto-killed, but the storage system was not yet in place.

[Sarudak]

Did you try filtering the dragon orbs through a powered soulsand hopper and then dropping them into an unpowered soulsand hopper?

[MoRmEnGiL]

Did you try filtering the dragon orbs through a powered soulsand hopper and then dropping them into an unpowered soulsand hopper?

I did some quick testing, if you power the ss hopper normal xp orbs drop from the bottom.

Fc stated this himself:

-Added the ability to filter Dragon Orbs using a soul sand filter in the Hopper, which will convert them into regular XP orbs. Note that regular XP orbs can also be collected by a Hopper containing a soul sand filter.

[Sarudak]

Right. From what he said I figured that another souls sand hopper beneath would somehow pick up and hold the processed xp orbs...

[TaterBoy]

I did some quick testing, if you power the ss hopper normal xp orbs drop from the bottom.

Yes, I've just had this result myself.

The real problem I am having is that unless I use Soul Sand, the Dragon Orbs just sit on whatever collection device I try. So at this point Automation isn't my concern, it's collecting the stuff at all, you can't pick them up by hand or by any of the devices that I know of.

Since my first post I've tried:
Brewing stand with Empty Bottles and Bottles of Water
Vases and Urns
An Empty Planter and a Planter with Soul Sand
A Crucible and a Stewing Pot without a Hopper above them.

I know I'm missing something and it just isn't coming to me.

[Itamarcu]

I'll summarize:
Whenever a Dragon Orb (or a regular EXP orb) enters the soul-sand-filtered hopper, it will stay inside*. To get it out, mechanically power it when nothing is below it and it will just eject experience orbs. That's why it is only semi-automated - You still need to come, mechanically power the hopper (or destroy the block underneath it), and claim the EXP.

*I think. I tried it a lot when I was playing and I am pretty sure it stays in the hopper, but check it before you make assumptions.

[Twitch]

Maybe i'm missing something, but it seems like you're wanting to stockpile the dragon orbs?

I could very well be mistaken (I do that a lot) But I believe for the moment the only purpose of the dragon orbs is to process them into normal XP Orbs, which means you can't really store them as dragon orbs.

The only way to get them is to have them pass over a Soul-sand filtered hopper, which converts them to normal XP for you to om-nom and get delicious soul-levels, you can't shove them in a chest or anything.

[TaterBoy]

Maybe i'm missing something, but it seems like you're wanting to stockpile the dragon orbs?

I could very well be mistaken (I do that a lot) But I believe for the moment the only purpose of the dragon orbs is to process them into normal XP Orbs, which means you can't really store them as dragon orbs.
The only way to get them is to have them pass over a Soul-sand filtered hopper, which converts them to normal XP for you to om-nom and get delicious soul-levels, you can't shove them in a chest or anything.

No, I think you may be exactly right, I very well could have misread the Release Notes in my excitement about the new features. I took them to mean that there were two options with Exp collection:
1. That you could opt to convert the Dragon Orbs into Exp in the above mentioned way.
2. That you could somehow collect and process the Dragon Orbs so that they would provide a different result from standard Exp Orbs.

So this is most likely a case of getting my cart before my horse. I have a feeling this auspicious new system is going to be much more in-depth than simply harvesting XP. From what I've read in other speculation posts, I believe there will be items or recipes that can only be made if infused with the power of raw Dragon Orbs. About that I could be wrong, but to me it seems like it'd be a very neat usage of this unique and phenomenally powerful Orb.

[Katalliaan]

It seems that hoppers can hold a certain amount of XP, and any extra will just sit on top of the hopper until room is made, similar to how items behave.

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Input is from two zombie spawners. First hopper has iron bars for a filter, and collects iron ingots and rotten flesh. Second doesn't have a filter, and the crucible is a placeholder for a drop to a stoked crucible. The final hopper has a soul sand filter and is powered when the lever below is pulled.

[Sarudak]

This means you could have a long row of unpowered soulsand hoppers that can be powered via a lever to release a marvelous xp shower!

[darahalian]

I built a huge mob tower in creative to play with this, and have gotten a pretty good understanding of the system as it is now.

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When Dragon orbs (or normal XP orbs) go over a hopper with a soul sand filter, they are stored in the hopper. A hopper can only hold so much XP, so if the hopper is unpowered, it will eventually fill up and any more orbs will just pass over it. The orbs are still in it though, and will be dispensed if you power the hopper.
If the hopper is powered, it will drop a large XP orb as soon as enough small orbs have been collected. I think this is what has been causing confusion. It doesn't convert each dragon orb directly into an XP orb of the same size, it accumulates them until there are enough to equal the larger orb, which is then dropped from the hopper if it is powered. (kind of like water droplets forming in a raincloud, and not dropping until a large enough raindrop has been formed)
As it is now, you can store XP by leaving it in unpowered soulsand hoppers and powering them when you want the XP.

I realize I've repeated some discoveries in this description that have already been made in this thread, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have it reiterated.

[FlowerChild]

I realize I've repeated some discoveries in this description that have already been made in this thread, but I guess it doesn't hurt to have it reiterated.

I think you have it covered :)

And I like the rain-cloud description actually. That was largely what I was going for, although I was thinking of the Soul Sand kinda like a soul-sponge that starts to drip when it becomes saturated beyond a certain point :)

[TaterBoy]

And I like the rain-cloud description actually. That was largely what I was going for, although I was thinking of the Soul Sand kinda like a soul-sponge that starts to drip when it becomes saturated beyond a certain point :)

Mmm, I love to bathe in the warm waters of tortured souls, it's so refreshing.

I can already see a pretty cool setup for this, a long waterway under a number of hoppers all being fed Orbs, powered by the flip of a switch, and just standing near the flow output,waiting to be drenched in decadent power. :)

[FlowerChild]

I can already see a pretty cool setup for this, a long waterway under a number of hoppers all being fed Orbs, powered by the flip of a switch, and just standing near the flow output,waiting to be drenched in decadent power. :)

I already have such a "shower room" in my own world that I built while working on these features ;)

This was actually one of the reasons I decided to postpone including mass-storage of XP in this release. The shower room was very cool in itself, and I wanted to give it some space in the tech-tree so that people are motivated to build them.

[ThatOneDude]

Sorry if I sound stupid here, but, do dragon orbs look any different than regular Vanilla XP orbs? Because I've been running around my base killing a lot of mobs, but I haven't gotten any to drop yet :/

[FlowerChild]

Sorry if I sound stupid here, but, do dragon orbs look any different than regular Vanilla XP orbs? Because I've been running around my base killing a lot of mobs, but I haven't gotten any to drop yet :/

If you're killing them yourself, they don't drop :)

[ThatOneDude]

Sorry if I sound stupid here, but, do dragon orbs look any different than regular Vanilla XP orbs? Because I've been running around my base killing a lot of mobs, but I haven't gotten any to drop yet :/

If you're killing them yourself, they don't drop :)

Ohhhh... clever :)

[HighMongrel]

I've found an interesting exploit/bug that I'm unsure if it belongs in the bug thread seeing as it relies on another mod to even happen. It seems the wisdom rune from the dust mod, which can collect and store xp orbs and levels, seems convert dragon orbs into xp as well.

[FlowerChild]

I've found an interesting exploit/bug that I'm unsure if it belongs in the bug thread seeing as it relies on another mod to even happen. It seems the wisdom rune from the dust mod, which can collect and store xp orbs and levels, seems convert dragon orbs into xp as well.

Don't care :)

[Sarudak]

I've found an interesting exploit/bug that I'm unsure if it belongs in the bug thread seeing as it relies on another mod to even happen. It seems the wisdom rune from the dust mod, which can collect and store xp orbs and levels, seems convert dragon orbs into xp as well.

It's called prescient compatibility and only btw has it! ;)

[Norren]

Dragon orbs just solved a mystery. I noticed villagers weren't using certain houses anymore. I then noticed a mess of dragon orbs next to a cactus. Time to clear out some cacti...

[FlowerChild]

Dragon orbs just solved a mystery. I noticed villagers weren't using certain houses anymore. I then noticed a mess of dragon orbs next to a cactus. Time to clear out some cacti...

Hehe...I was actually wondering earlier if they might serve as somewhat of a post-mortem tool. Cool :)