Add option `enable_craft_anchors` to make anchors craftable

[ryvnf]

I think it would be nice to be able to craft world anchors (for forceloading things like factories and farms).

Currently the anchors are only possible to get through cheats using /giveme technic:admin_anchor 99. I think it would be nice to have them craftable.

It might not be a good idea to have it enabled by default (or at least make it possible to disable the feature), because too many anchors on multiplayer servers might cause lag. But I think having an option similar to enable_frames to conditionally enable or disable this feature would be nice. It can be named named enable_craft_anchors or something similar).

I think the crafting recipe should be quite expensive. Here are a couple of ideas (and their cost to produce):

G=Gold block
D=Diamond block
M=Mese block
m=Mithril block
L=Lead block
l=Lead ingot

GDG
mMm - 36 Gold, 18 Diamond, 18 Mithril, 9 Mese
GDG

LmL
DMD - 36 Lead, 18 Diamond, 18 Mithril, 9 Mese 
LmL   (this recipe is used on a multiplayer server I play on, which allows crafting anchors)

LLL
LML - 72 Lead, 9 Mese
LLL

lll
lMl - 8 Lead, 9 Mese
lll

I think it sort of makes sense to have the recipe involve Lead, as anchors are supposed to be heavy. Probably Mese too as that is a mystic and rare kind of material.

[style-nine]

I'm not sure whether world anchors are even necessary. Switching Stations keep the block they're in forceloaded, as well. If you don't mind building your farms around (or above/below) them, that can keep your farms going while you're off in another part of the world.

[numberZero]

Switching Stations keep the block they're in forceloaded

And they are cheap. So, you just need one SW and one cable (to let it work). That’s totally wrong IMO, but that’s how technic works currently.

[style-nine]

Switching Stations forceloading their mapchunks solves a couple of issues (as I understand it). Large networks can otherwise not be connected reliably and machines will otherwise not be active unless a player AFKs in that area. Whether it's the correct solution, it is what it is.

Without that feature, the whole idea of a Switching Station would have to be revisited, and likely the core concepts for machines would have to change in some drastic way. It would be interesting, to put it mildly, but that's likely a concept for a whole other mod.

[numberZero]

Switching station is a hack. It was necessary in ancient times when it was traversing the whole network each second. Nowadays, that’s unnecessary: networks are stored in memory anyway, so could be processed in globalstep instead (and loaded using a run-at-every-load LBM on machines).

[style-nine]

I agree that Switching Stations seem hacky in nature, but there's a lot more to automation than just making the logistics work. There's also the interaction between this mod and others (Mesecons and Pipeworks being the ones that spring to mind, among many others) that need to be factored into whatever processing your machine management does.

While I do welcome the attempted foray at such a concept, I don't envy the work involved for whoever undertakes such a venture. I may be wrong, but I think I prefer the Switching Station paradigm for doing all this.

[numberZero]

@style-nine #351 @ryvnf I like the server’s recipe. It reminds me “Survival in Ethereal,” isn’t that that server? Note that it limits number of anchors you can place.

[VanessaE]

I am absolutely against allowing crafting of anchors (by default anyway).