Every machine in Ars Nouveau runs on Source, and the Source Calculator works out how much your Sourcelinks will make each minute against what your machines are going to use. It’s useful before you build a bigger farm, as you’ll be able to see straight away whether one 
Mycelial Sourcelink is enough or whether you’ll need a second one.
Which Sourcelink Makes the Most
The Mycelial Sourcelink is the one most players start with, as it runs on food and eats from every stack placed on the 
Arcane Pedestals around it, so a ring of pedestals full of 
Bread will keep it going for a long time. Magic food is worth a lot more though, as a 
Source Berry Pie gives 2,700 Source each, which is nearly three times what a 
Golden Carrot is able to give.
The 
Volcanic Sourcelink burns fuel instead, with a 
Lava Bucket giving 1,666 and handing the empty 
Bucket back, whereas the 
Alchemical Sourcelink drinks potions from a 
Potion Jar, which is where a Potion of the Turtle Master pays off at over 7,000 a bottle. The 
Vitalic Sourcelink and 
Agronomic Sourcelink don’t need feeding at all, as they’re paid by animals breeding and crops growing nearby.
Keeping Up With Your Machines
Most of the machines you’ll build take their Source from jars nearby, and some of them use a lot more than you might expect, like the 
Drygmy Henge, which takes 1,000 every time it makes a batch of drops. An 
Imbuement Chamber making Essences goes through 2,000 for each one, so a few chambers running at once can empty a 
Source Jar faster than a single Sourcelink is able to fill it.
Each Sourcelink is also only able to push up to 10,000 Source every five seconds, which means a very rich setup will sometimes be held back by the link rather than by the food or fuel. When that happens, adding a second Sourcelink next to the first one is usually the easiest way of getting more out of the same farm.
Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on what you’ve got plenty of, as the Mycelial Sourcelink is best if you have a food farm and the Alchemical Sourcelink is best once you’re brewing potions. A Source Berry Pie on a Mycelial Sourcelink gives 2,700 Source for each one eaten, which is one of the highest single values in the mod.
A Source Jar holds 10,000 Source, and it keeps whatever is inside when you break it and pick it back up. Most machines are able to draw from several jars at once, as long as they’re within range.
Making a 
Source Gem costs 500, and each of the Essences costs 2,000, with the chamber taking up to 200 a second from jars within two blocks. Augment Arrows cost 100, although every second one ends up free, as the chamber stores 200 at a time.
Bone Meal on crops won’t give any Source, as the Sourcelink only counts crops that grow on their own. Saplings are different though, as a tree grown with Bone Meal still pays 50, or 100 if it’s an Archwood tree.
