Let’s discuss fuel, because this may be more relevant with the auto-crafter coming.
I’m team charcoal, specifically giant jungle trees. Does everything regular coal does except coal blocks, need a lot of charcoal and sticks anyway for torches and tools, giant trees consistently produce over a stack, and lumberjacking is just a relaxing way to pass the time.
I use a self-refueling auto-smelter, so cooking charcoal ain’t even a second of my time, therefor that 14% better quickly adds up to stacks more thus worth it.
Now the reason I’m sticking with charcoal instead of dried kelp for fuel is because you’d have to cook 9 kelp to produce a block, which cooks 20. That’s a net +11. Divided by 9 = net +1.222… per kelp.
Now… Sure, bamboo planks don’t cost any fuel, and bamboo grows twice as fast as kelp. 9 bamboo = 1 block = 2 planks = 3 cooktime. That’s +.333… per bamboo, less than half as efficent as kelp.
Blaze/wither farms? Skill issue on my part.
4 by 4 lava dripstone comes closest in my experiments, but would you really pull a lava bucket to cook 5 potatoes?
You didn’t state your side, so just putting all my math as I understand it on the table for you.