Tuning an Ecotone

The problem#

A working Ecotone is not a good one yet. The Ecotone page describes every mechanic; this guide says what to do with them. It assumes you have a pair of resource fish; if not, start at Your first fish farm and Breeding toward a resource.

Step 1: fill every slot#

Each row is one pair of fish, so four pairs is eight fish. Each fish adds 0.5 of waste to the tank and each crop that can grow takes up 1. A fully stocked Ecotone has 4 waste and 4 uptake: exactly in balance.

• Plant all four crop slots, even if you do not want the produce. A crop that grows keeps the water clean, and cheap seeds are enough. A slot left empty tips the tank towards rich water, which slows breeding.
• Keep every pair matched. A mixed row does not breed at all. Put a new fish in an empty slot of the same species as its partner.
• Move young fish into empty slots from the fish output until all eight are full. They also keep the tank balanced. After that, the extras are yours to grind or sell.

Step 2: set the balance for your goal#

Nutrients are the share of the tank's balance that comes from fish. They multiply crop growth by one plus 0.5 times (two times nutrients, minus one), and breeding by one minus the same amount. Every fish counts, paired or not.

Two things follow. A full Ecotone sits at the balanced point whatever you plant, so there is no clever stocking that beats it: removing fish loses breedings by more than the faster rate gains. And the only way to move far from balance is with modules.

Feeder or Filtration#

These two slide the Ecotone between fish and crops, up to 4 of each. The difference between the two counts is what matters, and equal numbers do nothing. They multiply on top of the nutrients.

For a resource farm, four Feeders are nearly free: the crops still grow and still keep the water balanced, so the only loss is produce you did not want. For a seed or sugar cane farm, use Filtration, and keep at least one pair so the Ecotone keeps running; it does not breed at four Filtration, but it does not need to. Remember what the module slots cost: each tier of kit opens two. Four Feeders take half of a Harmonic Ecotone's eight.

Step 3: keep it running#

• Lumen Module. Without one, the Ecotone stops with Dark: needs Lumen after sunset and in dimensions with no day. One module keeps it running through the night at double the FE. Place one before anything else if the Ecotone is underground.
• Void Module. A full fish or crop output pauses a row. A full resource output loses yields. A Void Module with a filter clears overflow so nothing stops. The alternative is a pipe on an Output port with Auto-output on, which is better when you want the items.
• Water and power. The tank holds only 8 s of water at the base rate. An Aquifer on an input port covers one base Ecotone with room to spare.

Step 4: Fish Meal, Infusion and Prized parents#

Fish Meal#

Put Fish Meal in the small slot. Each meal feeds 1.5 breedings, and while fed, each resource yield has a 50% chance of doubling. It is used on every breeding, so it is wasted on a pair of vanilla fish. Four pairs breeding use 16 meal a minute. A farm of plain cod, ground in a Triturator, makes 48 a minute, enough for 3 resource Ecotones of the same tier.

Infusion Module#

It makes each yield richer at the same chance: a nugget yield becomes 3 nuggets, or 9 some of the time, about 4.2× on average. Other yields are doubled 50% of the time. Put it on your best nugget fish, because that is where it multiplies the most. It is expensive, and one per Ecotone is the limit.

Prized parents#

Any fish an Ecotone breeds has a 1% chance of being Prized. A Prized parent gives each resource yield a 50% chance of doubling, and two double them every time. Its young are ordinary. A Prized fish can also be ground for triple the resource, once.

• Keep a Prized fish as a parent in a row that breeds often: it pays back more than a single triple grind within minutes.
• Pair it with an ordinary fish of the same species. When two Prized fish turn up, put both in one row.
• If the fish output has no room, a Prized fish falls to the resource output, or arrives ordinary. Keep a free output slot.

What stacking looks like#

Iron nuggets a minute from four pairs of Ferric Cod at the base tier, with the nutrients balanced. These are averages.

Fish Meal and Feeders each cost something small; Infusion costs a great deal. A tier kit multiplies all of it again, since it raises breeding speed and the FE and water it needs together.

Step 5: chaining several Ecotones#

Turn on Fill adjacent Ecotones in the Configuration tab and an Ecotone tops up any touching Ecotone that is emptier, with both FE and water, as long as it has more than half of its own store. Chains pass things along.

1. Build the Ecotones touching, in a row. Each needs its own chassis and glass; they cannot share parts, but they may touch.
2. On the first, set one port to Input and pipe in water from an Aquifer and power from an engine or cell.
3. Turn on Fill adjacent Ecotones on each Ecotone that has a neighbour to give to.
4. Set an Output port on every one for its resources, with Auto-output on.

Only an Ecotone with sharing on looks for neighbours, but a neighbour with it off still receives. The Ecotone nearest the supply gives away only what it has above half, so a long chain's far end fills last. For more than three or four, supply power by a Voltaic Cell with a Tesla module instead, which reaches every Ecotone inside its box with no sharing. The controller must be inside the box. Water still passes along the chain or comes from an Aquifer on a port.

Pitfalls#

• Mixed rows. A row of two different fish does nothing. The Ecotone has no catalyst slot; new species come from the Spawning Basin.
• Fish Meal on plain fish. It is wasted on vanilla fish and on fish with no resource yield.
• Eaten harvests are gone. With Feeders in, crops can read as growing but give nothing. That is the module working.
• A crop that does not suit the beds does not grow and does not count towards nutrients. With a Kelp Module only water crops grow; without it, kelp does not.
• Pulling the structure apart. Breaking any glass pane or the controller unforms the Ecotone; the rest turns back into plain blocks. It does not rotate once formed.

Related#

• Ecotone
• Breeding toward a resource
• Wireless power
• Troubleshooting