CRAM Tetris

## Overview

This page breaks down the design styles and processes for building CRAM cannons. Both 2D and 3D tetris will be discussed, along with images of each and a blueprint that showcases the builds.

## General Design Tips

No matter how you design your CRAM cannons there are a few tips that can help you with your build.

* Pellets are expensive, always try to maximize the number of packers that are connected to pellets. Maximizing the packers on pellets is one of the highest priorities in any CRAM design
* Packers have 3 connectors for pellets. Your goal should be to always have 3 pellets connected to every packet, but at minimum 2 pellets. If a packer has only one pellet then your design needs edited, or the packer should be replaced with a gauge increaser or some form of armor.
* Every guage increaser increases the diameter of the CRAM cannon by 50mm. This means 20 gauge increasers are needed for the maximum gauge increase to 2.000mm. Gauge increasers make great gap fills, and because they're relatively tough they are good on the top or front of a CRAM cannon, helping protect the more fragile parts.
* Most large CRAM cannons have more than one barrel. A cannon with one barrel is slightly more efficient, but a cannon with multiple barrels has multiple benefits, to include redundancy and multiple projectiles fired. Every situation is different, but in general you will benefit from multiple barrels in comparison to just one barrel.
* 3D tetris is not required to make a useful CRAM cannon. 2D tetris can create very capable cannons. However, 3D tetris (when built properly) will almost always outperform anything you can create with 2D tetris. 3D tetris is more complicated but will be better in every metric once you get the hang of it.

## 2D Tetris

2D CRAM tetris is pretty straightforward. Put as many packers and pellets as possible on a 2 dimensional plane that fits in the space you're filling, then copy that slice and stack it until your cannon is at the desired height. Depending on the 2D tetris you may require a layer of connectors on top to connect everything together. In general, all 2D (and to a lessser extent 3D) tetris will be based on a "connector diamond" which is a connector in the center with a packer on every side of the connecter, then pellets on every input of every packer. This has the pellets in the corners feeding two packers, but the pellets on the tips only feeding one packer. You then tile these diamonds inside the available space, overlapping it in ways to maximize pellet and packer usage and deleting parts as needed to make it fit in the space. An image of a "connector diamond" is below.

## 3D Tetris

3D tetris is the most efficient and most effective way to build a CRAM cannon. It takes the basic concepts from 2D tetris design and manipulates it so that the layers interact with the layers above and below it as well. It is a tough concept to grasp initially, but with practice it becomes much easier. Often a 3D tetris is built by taking a 2D tetris design as a base. Follow the below steps build a basic 3D tetris design:

1. Build a first layer using the "connector diamond" as a tile. This will be similar to the process used to build 2D tetris.
2. Place a connector on top of every connector on the first layer (called layer 1)
3. Place a packer on top of every pellet from layer 1, with the inputs pointing up and down (rotated 90\* from how you had them in the 2D tetris)
4. Analyze the connectors and packers on layer 2 and extend the connectors in such a way that you start to mimic the design of the "connector diamond" minus the pellets. Ideally you want 3 packers per connector, but sometimes you will only have 2 packers per connector.
5. Place your pellets in all the remaining spaces on layer 2.
6. Look at every packer on layer 2 and ensure all 3 inputs are conected to pellets (or are pointing upwards and would have a pellet on it if you added another layer). Rotate each packer as needed until you've ensured each packer has at least 2 pellets attached to it.
7. Inspect layer 1 for any packers that can be rotated to increase the number of attached pellets.
8. If you see any holes in your design, or pellets that are not being utilized, replace the pellets with gauge increasers or armor. Pellets are expensive and fragile, while gauge increasers are cheaper and fairly sturdy. Plues these gauge increasers enbedded in the design will prevent you having to add a bunch of them at the end of your build.
9. Optional: Any pellets that are connected to only 1 or 2 packers can be replaced with packers, which are much cheaper..
10. Build your CRAM cannon, alternating the layers between layer 1 and layer 2. As needed, top the cannon with connectors to join the "connector towers".

## 2D & 3D Tetris Examples (in progress)

Below are some examples of 2D and 3D tetris CRAM cannons. Note that there are multiple ways to create a CRAM cannon and these may not be the best way. Nonetheless, they are good starting points for anyone trying to learn CRAM tetris.