I realize I’m resurrecting’s an old thread, but adolfo brought up an interesting point that I agree with. Beekeeping shouldn’t just be for mid game and later. Beekeeping was a low-tech artform for millennia before electricity was invented. Honey extractors are a very recent invention. But basic beehive tech is fundamentally low tech. It also helps address the lighting issue.
The empty frames displayed are “foundationless frames”. This makes good sense, but it also indicates that these frames are designed for low-tech, artisanal use, not high tech honey extractors. Even with a dull wooden knife, you can easily cut the honeycomb off of the frame. And wax is typically made (artisanally) by rendering it — aka, boiling comb in water. Honey can be extracted by pressing and filtering through a cloth.
I think that the honey extractor should be the easiest and fastest way to extract honey and wax. I don’t think it should be cut from the game. But I do think that other recipes for wax and honeycomb should be included. I would propose something akin to:
(Please note that I have not verified item names. I’m guessing wildly; they’re definitely wrong. Syntax typos likely.)
- Recipe for honeycomb:
full frame ==> empty frame + honey comb
{ type = “shapeless”, output = “bees:comb”, recipe = { “bees:full_frame”, },replacements = {“bees:full_frame”, “bees:empty_frame”}, } - Recipes for wax:
water bucket + honey comb ==> wax in water
wax in water -> in a furnace ==> wax + empty bucket
{ type = “shapeless”, output = “bees:wax_in_water”, recipe = { “default:water_bucket”, “bees:comb”, }}
{ type = “cooking”, output = “bees:wax”, recipe = “bees:wax_in_water”, cooktime = 15.0, replacements = {“bees:wax_in_water”, “default:empty_bucket”}} - (I’m not including a recipe for honey from a juice press because I haven’t looked into the juice press yet… and I suspect that might be a bit of a headache to implement or maintain.)
This should be easy enough to use to provide some early wax, but finicky enough to encourage players to invest in an extractor, or look to other sources of lighting.
If there’s any interest, I may tinker with this at some point. I haven’t written any replacement style recipes yet, so I don’t know where the pitfalls are. But the API document indicates that you can do replacements when cooking… so… if furnaces support the feature, it should work. [fingers crossed]
Also, candles should burn out. I personally don’t like the idea. I don’t like that torches burn out… or that they burn out so fast. But if torches do, then candles should too. Candles seem expensive (2 wax+cotton), Maybe candles should last longer than torches? Or you should get more of them per recipe? [shrug]