Tier-1 Machines (Earth)
NeroTech's first machines run on Earth ores and Nero Energy (NE) stored in each machine's internal buffer. They are built on Neroland Core's machine/energy/upgrade framework, so energy and upgrade modules behave identically across the ecosystem. Every machine is directional, opens a GUI on right-click, and survives relog (state is saved server-side).
A working Earth-tier chain is generator → ore processor → fabricator: a Nero Generator (or Solar Array) powers the processing machines, which it feeds via Core's shared energy network.
Power & energy
Machines store NE in a Core EnergyBuffer. Generators produce NE and push it to adjacent
machines/storage through Core's loader-neutral energy lookup; consumers pull from their own buffer as
they work. Generation talks only to Core's energy surface, never to NeroTech-internal classes, so it
interoperates across the ecosystem by default; NE bridges to Forge Energy (FE) at I/O boundaries via
Core's conversion ratio. Power lives in NeroTech permanently — the once-planned NeroPower split was
retired on 2026-07-31.
All throughput, capacities and rates are server-config (config/nerotech.properties, managed by
Core; server-authoritative and synced to clients).
Generators
The two starter generators are below; the Wind Turbine, Geothermal Generator, Bio Generator and the grid blocks that go with them are on Power Generation.
Nero Generator
The entry-level power source. Burns a solid fuel (coal, charcoal, coal block, blaze rod, dried kelp block) into NE, then pushes it to neighbours. One fuel slot; four upgrade slots.
Solar Array
Daytime, fuel-free generation. Output scales with daylight and requires sky access (it stops at night or when roofed over — watch the panel deck track the sun and fold flat at night). On Earth it runs fully standalone; on other worlds output follows planet traits or per-dimension config.
Niche: the Solar Array is NeroTech's basic single-block panel — low output, but it takes upgrade modules and side config like every Tier-1 machine. It is deliberately not the same product as Nerospace's Solar Panels (three tiers, adjacent-panel array pooling, airless-dimension 2× bonus): those are the scalable solar line. Both generate onto the same Core energy network, so they complement rather than duplicate each other.
Processing machines
Ore Processor
Turns raw Earth ore into 2 dust — the core of the material economy (iron/copper/gold ore, deepslate
ore, and raw metal all yield the matching c:dusts/<metal>). One input slot, one output slot. Consumes
NE per tick while working; stalls cleanly when unpowered.
Fabricator
Converts refined materials into NeroTech components (e.g. iron ingot → Machine Frame, copper dust → Nero Coil, gold dust → Circuit Board). Same powered, recipe-driven behaviour as the Ore Processor.
Since 0.1.0-beta.1, machine recipes are real datapack recipes — types
nerotech:ore_processing,nerotech:fabricatingandnerotech:advanced_fabricating— so packs can add, replace or remove them like any other recipe JSON.
Processing chains
The dust economy now closes back into vanilla. Every NeroTech dust smelts or blasts into its ingot (Iron, Gold and Copper Dust → the matching vanilla ingot, at vanilla furnace times and XP), so the full loop is ore → Ore Processor → 2 dust → furnace → 2 ingots: double yield for the cost of a second smelt.
Machines are also deliberately better than the workbench, not just faster. Where a component has both a crafting recipe and a Fabricator recipe, the Fabricator wins: a Machine Frame costs eight iron ingots by hand but a single ingot in the Fabricator, and one Gold or Copper Dust yields two Circuit Boards / Nero Coils instead of one. Building the machine pays for itself.
Some recipes are machine-only: Fusion Cells no longer have a crafting recipe and come solely from the Advanced Fabricator. Both ore processors also take whole raw ore blocks (raw iron/gold/copper block → 18 dust); the Advanced Ore Processor adds its yield bonus on top.
Nothing in the Tier-1 line needs dust before you have power: the Nero Coil and Circuit Board have hand recipes from vanilla ingots (Copper Ingot + Iron Ingot + Copper Ingot; Redstone + Gold Ingot + Redstone), so the first generator is always craftable. The dust recipes and the Fabricator are the cheaper routes once the processor is running. See Standalone Progression.
Upgrade modules
Machines have four upgrade-module slots. Modules are Core upgrade types — Speed (more work per cycle / faster processing), Efficiency (less NE per unit of work), Capacity (larger buffer), and Range — read as aggregate modifiers each tick. NeroTech invents no bespoke upgrade system; modules are interchangeable with any machine built on Core's framework. Modules stack with the machine's overclock preset, and every machine GUI also carries an Analytics tab and a Side Config tab.
Progression
Placing your first NeroTech machine opens Core's industrial_power progression gate — NeroTech is
the canonical opener of that milestone. That gate is a milestone other Neroland mods may read; it never
locks anything in NeroTech. The Advanced Tier is paced purely by materials
(Starsteel/Void Crystal possession) — no use-lock, fully standalone-friendly.