Chapter 161.1: Sickle

[Server announcement:

The outpost has obtained a Magnetic Confinement Plasma Machine Tool, with a durability of 99% and an industrial index of +100

]

[Remarks:

This machine tool can produce metal parts of any geometric shape. Players can now submit relevant drawings to the administrator’s assistant, explain the purpose, and obtain quotations as well as material requirements. Players can hand draw the drawings in the game, or submit electronic files through the personal page of the official website.

]

[Remarks:

The processing equipment can only change the geometric shape of the material, not the properties of the material itself, and the cutting process will generate waste. Therefore, to process ingots into steel tubes, please pre-process them into rods or near rod shape. If you want to process copper ingots into copper wire, please use a wire drawing bench instead of taking up valuable machine tool resources.

]

[Remarks:

The specification of the input processing material is limited to 1x1x1m, and the material beyond the specification cannot be processed.

]

The announcement was made at 6:00 in the evening.

That was the time when most players were going offline.

Whether it was brick movers who went to the northern towns to pick up trash, or hunter players who went hunting in the Elm District, the vast majority had returned to the operation camp.

Looking at the announcement that popped up on the VM, the faces of the little players invariably showed surprised expressions.

"Magnetic confinement plasma machine tool?"

"Something controlled by full electronics?"

"What kind of machine is this, why have I never heard of it before?"

"It would only be strange if you have heard of it. It's normally called

high confinement

and

long pulse

in reality. Do you understand what it means? Forget it, you won't understand."

"Wow, these guys actually used such knowledge in making games, they are so incredible!"

Although Chu Guang wanted to share the joy with them, everyone felt different emotions.

Most players didn't know how hard they worked to get the machine, nor did they know how much the players who couldn't go online due to bugs had sacrificed for this.

They only knew that Xia Yan had another workbench, and now they could not only punch holes in their weapons, but also inscribe patterns on them?

Anyway, it was all superfluous functions.

But some smarter players immediately thought of the Alpha 0.8 update.

The industrial index of the outpost has increased by 100 points, and now it has become 250 points... That is to say, an increase of 250%?

Doesn't that mean the weapon shop is getting some new weapons soon?!

Some players who were relatively creative and happened to be at the outpost, excitedly took out some giant steel ingots they had and went to the administrator assistant to inquire about the price according to the instructions on the announcement.

Some wanted to make an axe, and some wanted to make a steel ingot look like a rifle, but in the end, most of them walked away cursing.

Why?

Because it's not worth it at all!

The start-up fee of the machine tool was as high as 100 silver, and the processing fee of an axe was as high as 100 silver, which would add up to 200 silver.

With the amount of money required, it was enough to buy twenty axes! If they bought in bulk from Steel Plant 81, they would probably still have some money left.

As for the rifle, the price of processing a rifled barrel was 200 silver coins, and the player must provide the rod-shaped steel themselves.

If not, plasma thermal welding would be needed in the operation and the quote would be doubled.

They might as well buy 2 guns in the Weapon Store with that kind of money!

But after thinking about it, players also understood why it was so expensive. After all, it was simply a waste of resources to use such an advanced machine tool just to make an ordinary gun.

Inside Steel Plant 81.

Bathroom Goer, who was sitting on the small bench, stroked his chin with one hand and held the steel ingot with the other. "I guess that machine tool should be used to make production tools!"

His good friend, Athlete Foot, rolled his eyes. "Well duh! If you use CNC machine tools that cost tens of millions in the laboratory to mill seamless steel pipes in real life, your boss will definitely kill you."

Bathroom Goer quickly continued, "Uh... I think he will be more likely to call the police and ask them to arrest me."

Athlete Foot sighed, "The cost of using this machine is a bit high, but I don't think it's for the individual player at all. With a 100 silver coin start-up fee, unless it's a business sponsored by the shelter, any average self-employed person will not be able to afford it at all!"

Bathroom Goer couldn’t help but think of 1 rich asshole after hearing what was said. "That's not necessarily true. Brother Mosquito can definitely afford it!"

Athlete Foot frowned in response. "Forget about that guy, everyone knows that that guy is a greedy hoarder. By the way, how much money do we still have in our account?"

"4000 silver coins... We just had a batch of newbies who bought a lot of axes and arrows not long ago. Why? Are we going to share dividends?"

"Share my ass! I can't even wipe my butt with this money, how are we going to split it?! I want to make a hot hole punch machine. Those parts that could not be made before can be processed by this machine. When we have this machine, we will be able to make seamless steel pipes!" Athlete Foot couldn’t help but curse.

Hearing his idea, Bathroom Goer’s eyes suddenly lit up.

"As expected of Brother! We are thinking the same thing!"

Athlete Foot rolled his eyes. "Cut this crap. Later, you go offline and upload the drawings. Let's make a simple one. I guess it shouldn't be too expensive."

Bathroom Goer revealed a wide grin. "Right. My graduation project was exactly this!"

...

Just when Athlete Foot and Bathroom Goer were negotiating plans, discussing how to make the seamless steel pipe industry bigger and stronger, and how to become a successful entrepreneur in the wasteland, on the third floor of the nursing home not far away, Little Seven raised its camera to look at Chu Guang who was standing beside it, and whispered, "Master, isn't the price you set too high?"

There were at least a dozen people inquiring just now, but when they heard that the start-up fee was 100 silver coins, they immediately turned around and left.

It would cost 100 silver coins to just start the machine! Many players felt that it was such a rip off.

Hearing Little Seven's suggestion, Chu Guang said indifferently, "It's not expensive at all, I even think it's cheap. They think it's expensive just because they don't understand the game's current version deeply enough, which means that they are not our target customers at all. If we don’t set the price as such, God knows what drawings they will upload. Do you want to use that thing to make a bunch of broken javelins and broken axes?"

They should go to Xia Yan if they wished to make shit like that!

With her two workbenches, one which was self-made and the other picked up from outside, she could easily build the garbage those noob players would throw at them!

Little Seven nodded its camera, but was still a little confused. From its point of view, if the machine tool was not allowed to be used to produce those things, couldn't they just directly stipulate that?

Why go around in a circle and limit it with a monetary requirement?

Chu Guang did not intend to explain to the AI his intentions for doing so, nor the difference between human behavioral logic and AI algorithms.

How am I supposed to put it?

Chu Guang didn't object to players being creative, but he needed to use rules to make players consider whether it was worth it before getting creative.

As Little Seven said, the machine was not made for crude stuff at all.

Taking the AK-47 he made earlier as an example, a block of steel that was 6 kilograms turned into something that was only 3 kilograms. Half of the material became scrap steel that had been cut into strange shapes, and most likely could only be sent to the steel plant for reheating.

In addition to this, there was power consumption and inert gas, which was naturally lost in use. Those were all visible costs, not to mention those invisible hidden costs.

The real use of the machine was to produce tools for production or to process some high-tech value-added high-precision equipment when materials were available.

The latter didn't need to be considered for the time being, while the former was the main goal at his current stage.

Chu Guang intended to go step by step; first let his players get a hot hole punch machine and solve the barrel problem.

𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

For the time being, without considering complicated technologies such as three-roller rolling technology and self-centering straightening technology, a punching machine was enough to produce seamless steel pipes.

Whether he could produce steel pipes efficiently in batches, and with high quality and quantity was something that would come later. He must first have the ability to produce it before he could find ways to optimize it.

For a long time to come, seamless steel pipes would become the most important pillar industry of Shelter 404.

As for the technology to make the receiver...

Chu Guang hesitated for a while between a milled receiver and a stamped receiver and finally chose the latter.

Although the milled casing was more modern and had higher precision, the disadvantages were also obvious. Not only was there excess material waste, it also had strict requirements for its personnel and equipment to produce, and the production efficiency was much lower.

For example, the AK-47 he previously made with the machine tool was strictly a milled receiver, and even the barrel and the rifling in the barrel were cut by a single atomic knife.

The stamped casing was different. Except for the more troublesome step of producing the molds, the entire production process had almost no technical content, and the efficiency for mass production was particularly high.

The only downside was its poor accuracy, but compared to how cheap and durable it was, the downside can't really be considered as a downside. At best, it was a minor flaw.

After all, in the wasteland, the average fighting distance would be less than 100 meters. Speed was always much more important than accuracy.

Based on the stamping method, Chu Guang intended to directly imitate the AK receiver to design a 7mm caliber rifle.

Compared with the upper and lower receiver designs of AR series rifles and their mechanism of seven locking lugs, AK's U-shaped receiver and two locking lugs directly cut the production difficulty to less than half. Once the mold was made, the gun could even be punched out from a whole piece of steel.

What was the implication of being able to punch out a gun from a whole piece of steel?

It meant that it could be mass-produced like ink paper under a printer, and could be used with a barrel and a solid wood stock, which perfectly met the combat needs in a wasteland environment.

It's not without reason that weapons like that sold well in third world countries.

Especially in places where human life was not valuable, the cheaper the gun, the better.

Otherwise, how wasteful would it be when they dropped it on the battlefield?

...