Buff the chemicompiler

[ihenn]

The ChemiCompiler definitely does need some buffs. It is way too slow, and very difficult to write a program for. You would expect that putting up with BrainFuck to write a program to compile chemicals would result in a easier and faster way to produce the chemicals you want, but it does not. Doing it by hand is the superior method, and I would like to see a buff to the ChemiCompiler to make it worth using.

Let me explain how the ChemiCompiler is hugely inefficient compared to mixing it by hand:

• The obvious drawback is you must spend a considerable amount of time making the program by hand. (If you enjoy a programming challenge, then this can be an advantage).
  
• You must load all the required chemicals for the recipe into the machine. Certain steps can combine some ingredients into the same beaker, saving a few clicks, but for each required beaker it takes 4 + n clicks, where n is the required amount of chemicals / 10. So for 5 beakers with 20 chemicals each, it would take 30 clicks to set the machine up. 
  
• The ChemiCompiler takes EONS to heat and cool beakers. 
  

Now, doing the process by hand:

• No need to create a disgusting string of characters to input into a machine.
  
• Can load all the required chemicals into one beaker, the reactions taking place as you go. This only takes 2 + n clicks. Add 6 clicks for each heating/ cooling process, and an extra 2 if needed to load the beaker back into the dispenser. Using the previous reaction with 100 chemicals, lets say there is a heating cycle in the middle of the process. That would be a total of 20 clicks.
  
• Heating by hand can be done rapidly, as we can see when the reaction has taken place and stop the heating, whereas the ChemiCompiler requires it to be fully hot or cold.
  

So as you can see, the time we saved by doing the process by hand was:

• No coding.
  
• 10 clicks.
  
• Heating and cooling time.
  

Improvements I'd like to see are:

• No change to the coding. It's like a puzzle, and should reward you when you've done it right.
  
• Make the ChemiCompiler have an internal access to chemicals, that can be used within the code. They could be the atomic numbers of elements, an ID for chemicals, or something that would allow you to write the code and automatically access basic chemicals.  An alternative could be spectroscopy, have it scan chemicals and store their ID in the chemicompiler. More complex chemicals could be too difficult to scan, so you couldn't replicate everything. Having this functionality would save a lot of time setting up beakers for the machine.
  
• Make heating up elements stop when a reaction has taken place. This would allow the user to do what they do by hand, in the machine.
  
• Make cooling much faster by having it internally cool at 0 and stop when it reaches the desired temperature.
  

These changes would make using the chemicompiler actually have an in-game use, in addition to being an interesting puzzle.