Logic Motherboard

In Stationeers a computer is an empty case with a screen. What it can do depends on the motherboard in its slot. The logic motherboard is one of them, next to the IC Editor Motherboard for programs, the sorter and the communications motherboard. According to the game data it fits all four computer forms – including the Computer (Modern) – and the Laptop.

What the interface shows: according to the game code you build a list of states on it. Each state has a name and consists of

• conditions: a device from the computer's data network, a logic value, a comparison (Equals, Greater, Less, NotEquals) and a number,
• actions: a device, a logic value and the value that gets written into it,
• two selection fields: which state follows when all conditions are met, and which one otherwise.

Only the current state is checked; it is highlighted in yellow on the screen. When all its conditions are met, the board carries out the actions and jumps to the next state. When one is not met and “otherwise” points to a different state, it jumps there without writing anything. After every jump it waits half a second. That gives you a step sequence without code, such as “pump the chamber empty until pressure is below 1, then open the door”.

Two limits: actions write whole numbers – 0.5 becomes 0. Only a Logic Memory accepts one decimal place. And conditions only know a selection of logic values, among them Open, On, Mode, Setting, Pressure, Temperature, the gas ratios and Charge.

The board only works while the computer is switched on and has power, and it only sees devices on the same data network. It is made in the Electronics Printer at the first tier. For fixed controls an IC10 is usually the better choice: it can do more and needs 50 W in its housing instead of 200 W for the computer. The introduction is in IC10: your first chip.