20 Engines
"With these under your belt, you've already stepped into the world of flying machines. The knowledge that follows, broadly speaking, covers various engines, various mounts and extensions, and how to elegantly integrate multiple flying machines together. Keep it up!"
--- T's Slime Tech Tutorial Chapter 1 Section 3
In this chapter, we'll expand the definition of engines, no longer limiting ourselves to the few simple flying machines from the previous section. We'll take a deep dive into what makes engines tick, with the goal of going from mounting functional structures onto engines to making the functional structures themselves into engines.
"Agency" might sound like a plain, unsexy word, but it's the perfect way to describe engines. In my opinion, anything with agency is an engine. It can be a small core, or it can be an entire assembly. Whether it has agency is what determines if it's an engine.
Of course, dwelling on definitions is boring. Go ahead and start learning, and I wish you a pleasant study.