Miner (Progressive Automation)

Miners are a machine in Progressive Automation. They use shovels and pickaxes to dig out the ground under them. To avoid creating holes in the world, they also consume Cobblestone to replace every block they break. The Miner will mine the world one column at a time, starting near itself and working out.

Usage
Like all Progressive Automation machines, Miners can consume any standard Furnace fuel, or Potatoes, to function. Alternatively, if Redstone Flux is available, the RF Engine can be placed in the Fuel slot to consume RF in stead of fuel. By default (configurable), Miners consume 40RF/t and can hold 40,000RF. In order to operate, Miners also require a Pickaxe and a Shovel of a tier equal to or below their own. (Wooden Miners can only use Wooden Pickaxes and Shovels; Diamond Miners can use any Pickaxe or Shovel.) These tools are used to break blocks as though a player had used them. Several behaviors result from this. First, the working speed of a Miner is dependent upon the tool it is using, and as such higher tier miners can operate more quickly and more fuel-efficiently. Second, Miners can only break blocks that their Pickaxes could break. Third, Miners can use enchanted tools, and the enchantments will be applied to blocks the Miner breaks. Tools from other mods can be used, so long as their material tier matches that of the Miner. Tools from Tinkers Construct will not be destroyed when their durability depletes, however a Miner using a broken tool will operate very slowly.

The GUI of the Miner contains 5 input slots (Cobblestone, Fuel, Pickaxe, Shovel, Upgrade), a 3x3 grid of output slots, a fuel burn indicator, and an information display area. Upgrades placed in the upgrade slot will be immediately consumed. When inactive, the display will show why the Miner is not currently active. When active, the display will show how many blocks the Miner has mined, out of how many are in range for it to mine. Additionally, the display area shows the current maximum range of the Miner, in blocks. If a Cobble Gen Upgrade has been installed, an additional wing will appear on the left side of the GUI, showing Lava and Water textures and an arrow pointing to the right.

Miners will attempt to automatically output any items in their output slots into adjacent inventories. This behavior can be changed on a side-by-side basis with the PA Wrench to allow sides to accept new Fuel or Tools, allowing the Miner to potentially be completely automated.

Two special upgrades can be used in the Miner: the Filler Upgrade and the Cobble Gen Upgrade. The Filler Upgrade causes the Miner to use Cobblestone to replace any fluid or air blocks it encounters. The Cobble Gen upgrade causes the Miner to automatically generate Cobblestone when necessary, consuming additional mining time and pickaxe durability to do so.