Anyone have some help for loading a ice SUC?

You could just wait for the redstone engine to warm up fully before starting things up... Then build the system around that timing.

Or use redpower filters/transposers instead, where you have much better control over the timing.

Quote from chc4

Is there any way to make redstone engine warm up without actually pulling the ice? Or else it would just quickly fill up the reactor....

I do have redPower insalled,also.

Well, I guess you could remove the wood pipe until the engine is warm. Or put some obsidian pipes under the reactor to recirculate dropped ice. You'd need a system like that if you use RedPower machines, anyway.

Quote from chc4

I don't think that the obsidian pipe would work =/ The ice is fired EVERYWHERE around the chamber. I also can't use the steam engine, since it pulls 64 ice at once...

The optimal speed is when it's green, which is also hard to get if it's trying to overheat all the time...

use a water flow so they all flow to a obsidian pipe.

I deal with "flying ejection" with extra hardware restricting where things can go.

Check out the map here http://forum.industrial-craft.…page=Thread&threadID=2699 to see how and where I placed obsidian vacuums. If you have questions I can step you through the logic in detail.

i just finished a 590 eu/t

ice powered ca/suc using pumps and compressors

i highly reccomend you drop buildcraft in your system for redpower it makes things a lot easier to set up and configure

Quote from urmamasllama

i just finished a 590 eu/t

ice powered ca/suc using pumps and compressors

i highly reccomend you drop buildcraft in your system for redpower it makes things a lot easier to set up and configure

Well, AFAIK, BuildCraft pipes are the only ones (with the proper addon) which are capable of doing a 8 BPS 1740 EU/t CASUC at the moment... Only when IC2 is updated to MC 1.0.0 and thus becomes RP2 PR4 compatible will we see true RedPower designs that are easier to set up.
In fact, it becomes so easy it makes me wonder why anyone would even want to set it up. They might as well install EE and use TMI to give themselves obs aggregators day one.

Well, since you're using an ICE CASUC, I would just switch to the RP tubes. No spillage and you just set a Transposer or Filter to stuff the tube with as much ice as you can per .2 seconds (on the RP timer). Should keep you're reactor SO supplied with ice you can potentially run OUT of ice and have to deal with increasing your production! I almost never see any leakage from RP tubes. If you stick too much in one, it just backstuffs the sending Trans/Filter, which is no big deal, since it'll just clear out when the Reactor has room for more ice.

I have been experimenting with the RP2-PR4 machines, and I must agree with the previous poster, it's going to become MUCH easier to set up CASUC designs. Unlike the last poster, I don't think this is a BAD thing at all! It feels MUCH more 'Reactor' like. I never did like the 'One Box to Power Them ALL' style reactors and making them work better with BC/RP pipes/tubes only brings the more complicated (and dangerous) designs into the realm of the conceivable for the rest of us!

Quote from Corbald

Well, since you're using an ICE CASUC, I would just switch to the RP tubes. No spillage and you just set a Transposer or Filter to stuff the tube with as much ice as you can per .2 seconds (on the RP timer). Should keep you're reactor SO supplied with ice you can potentially run OUT of ice and have to deal with increasing your production! I almost never see any leakage from RP tubes. If you stick too much in one, it just backstuffs the sending Trans/Filter, which is no big deal, since it'll just clear out when the Reactor has room for more ice.

I have been experimenting with the RP2-PR4 machines, and I must agree with the previous poster, it's going to become MUCH easier to set up CASUC designs. Unlike the last poster, I don't think this is a BAD thing at all! It feels MUCH more 'Reactor' like. I never did like the 'One Box to Power Them ALL' style reactors and making them work better with BC/RP pipes/tubes only brings the more complicated (and dangerous) designs into the realm of the conceivable for the rest of us!

What i am saying is that RP2's tubes are free to use. Whereas Buildcraft, unless you use redstone engines, cost resources to operate. And the Retriever (in my eyes) is a one does it all machine that is using no resources to operate. (I don't consider solar panels from RP2 to be a resource consuming process either)

As for leakage in BC pipes, there are many ways to stop leakage. There is even the great addon "additional pipes" that lets you have advanced insertion pipes to reduce the leakage.
Though you can't use the advanced insertion pipe on a 5 chamber, bucket cooled reactor, you instead need the advanced extraction pipe (configured to pull empty buckets) so there is going to be leakage at the reactor.
For any leaks we have the obsidian pipe, which can be powered by Buildcraft energy to suck leaked items in from up to 5 blocks away.

The problem with just BC and Additional Pipes is the flow rate. And without RP2 you need a good way to fill buckets (if you are doing a bucket CASUC) and for that we have a very good bucket filler addon for BC.
Another problem with just BC and those two mods is retrieving empty buckets from the reactor core at the rate we need them to be extracted. For that i am using power crystals power conversion addon since it's energy link is capable of sending Buildcraft energy once per tick. Thus allowing a flow rate of 20 buckets per second using a single wooden transport pipe.

The thing with Buildcraft though is that it's wooden pipes is very lossy, you can feed them up to 256 Buildcraft energy and they will consume it all! Since our smallest voltage in IC (after an energy storage) is 32 EU we need to be clever to split that power down into 1 EU packets. You do this by using cable intersections (8 of them makes the remaining power reach 1 EU) and this power is sent to the energy link to act on the wooden pipe. So you are extracting up to 20 items from a chest per second using 1 EU per item.

Either way, point is that i have designed a reactor that can reach 1740 EU/t using buckets as a cooling system. I don't need to use RP2 and i am consuming 14 EU/t for the bucket delivery system. I could make it using RP2 PR4 using retrievers and save myself that 14 EU/t but IMHO, any mechanical work should cost something. RP2's mechanical work is FREE in all intents and purposes.

As for an ICE CASUC, you don't need to worry about leakage at the reactor since you can just use the advanced insertion pipe and make a feedback loop at the reactor. And if the rate of ice arriving at the reactor is a problem then either use the energy linker from the addon i suggested or use a combustion engine since that will pull one ice stack every .625 seconds. Doubling the number of engines (and entrance pipes) obviously doubles the rate of delivery into the system.
For that one doesn't need to use RP2 either! And the delivery system has it's costs assigned to it. Thus you want to reduce said costs as much as you possibly can (which is part of the challenge, part of the fun) to give you an as high net gain as you possibly can.

As soon as Finite Liquid (water being finite, only replenished by rain) is updated to be forge compatible i am going to install it to make myself a CASUC. Not because finite liquid makes it easier to design a reactor or makes the net gain from such an reactor any higher... But because it makes it more challenging (and thus more fun) designing one.

Quote from chc4

I actually tried to use Additional Pipes (The best looking, balanced addon for what I need), but I got odd graphics glitchs taht replaces random textures with the pipe texture and gave the pipes just blank.

That isn't a problem with the addon but a problem with a texture pack?
There are many reasons as to why i am running without HD textures etc and one major one is that it is soo much work to get them to play nice with mods and especially addons.
Another reason is simply because i like the standard looks of Minecraft, gives me that "back in the days" feeling every time i think of it. (though some texture packs surely are beautiful)

I don't think any less of RP's solars than I do of IC's. Both require an investiture of resources and both supply free energy, but only during daylight. Should there be an addon to either IC or RP that allows the conversion of EU to RP current, I'll be installing it with the intention of using some portion of my Reactor's output to run the RP systems. If I have to be honest with myself though, I don't even think of Uranium as a finite resource... It's coming up in my quarries with ridiculous frequency. What's more, my quarries run off of a tree farm to charcoal energy system anyway. It's all about the renewable resources. We have solar panels IRL, and they work, why not in Minecraft? Just think of the RP machines as being very efficient.

You could, in all honesty, just set up a massive field of quarries, have the Uranium auto-processed, feed it into some 0-chamber Mark 1 reactors stuffed with plating and get the (much more complicated) equivalent of free solar energy.

Personally, I go with a Reactor setup because of the EU/t/block it supplies. Instead of 100+ solar panels lagging me out, I have one (or a few) Reactor outputing the same amount.

If you want to run your setup w/o 'free' energy, so be it, but if you are simply asking which (RP or BC) pipe system is superior for feeding coolant into a reactor, the answer (IMHO) is obviously RedPower. Remember, even if you aren't using the BC engines to supply the system with power, you still have to 'waste' space to collect solar energy, balance the energy grid so you use the minimum number of necessary panels/batteries to generate the needed power and last through a night (and any storms) and wire the whole damn thing, lol!

EDIT: Also, keep in mind that the RP solar panel is currently the only way to get power into the RP system. I'm expecting more energy generators in the future, and MANY more devices to use the energy ON!

P.S. For those thinking of conversion mods, please measure by RP/IC solar input conversion. One panel's output = one panel's output.

i still say drop buildcraft for redpower especially since you don't need to pull anything out it will make your life so much easier

go take a look at my ice queen thread and you'll see what can be done if you are crazy enough with ice

Quote from Corbald

... If I have to be honest with myself though, I don't even think of Uranium as a finite resource... It's coming up in my quarries with ridiculous frequency. What's more, my quarries run off of a tree farm to charcoal energy system anyway. It's all about the renewable resources. We have solar panels IRL, and they work, why not in Minecraft? Just think of the RP machines as being very efficient.

But that's the problem isn't it? Uranium is finite and you are breaking the balance by using BC with IC since you can find oodles of uranium with a quarry. Imagine how much uranium you would have had without using quarries instead and you realize that uranium IS finite.
It's like saying "I made a large hole in the map using WorldEdit and now i am finding 100 uranium ore!"
However, i too use quarries and as such i too used to get stupid amounts of ores (because as per usual, IC² and Minecraft in general isn't balanced for quarries) before i revived my OreVeins mod and thus had control of how often, and in what quantities ores spawn.
I made uranium about 1/2000th as rare as it is normally and when it does get generated it generates a vein of it that holds some uranium that leads to a mother lode. Finding it is the hardest part, then following the vein to the mother lode is the next difficulty (it's not a long strip, it twists and turns and even cuts out at times. You have to dig out a large area to find the mother lode, which can be several 100 blocks away from where you found the vein), finally you found the mother lode and you have enough uranium to last a day of constant playing or more.
But eventually you run out of uranium and then you have to find the next vein. That isn't easy because of the scarcity. Thus, once more. Uranium is finite and i have to be careful not to spend it needlessly.

Quote from Corbald

You could, in all honesty, just set up a massive field of quarries, have the Uranium auto-processed, feed it into some 0-chamber Mark 1 reactors stuffed with plating and get the (much more complicated) equivalent of free solar energy.

Yeah... With IC²'s balance in ore distribution you can
You can also use TMI...

Personally, I go with a Reactor setup because of the EU/t/block it supplies. Instead of 100+ solar panels lagging me out, I have one (or a few) Reactor outputing the same amount.

Quote from Corbald

If you want to run your setup w/o 'free' energy, so be it, but if you are simply asking which (RP or BC) pipe system is superior for feeding coolant into a reactor, the answer (IMHO) is obviously RedPower. Remember, even if you aren't using the BC engines to supply the system with power, you still have to 'waste' space to collect solar energy, balance the energy grid so you use the minimum number of necessary panels/batteries to generate the needed power and last through a night (and any storms) and wire the whole damn thing, lol!

True, but if you had to periodically maintain your solar panels then all would be good. As for the night/storm vs day ratio, building a few extra panels and using a batbox, MFE and/or MFSU you have enough power stored to last through several storms in a row...
By maintain i mean, clean them off grit using cloth and windex (lol), to make that work you need wool and chemicals of some sort. Which means you need to find minerals which means you need to mine for it.
Then solar panels would make more sense to me.

Quote from Corbald

EDIT: Also, keep in mind that the RP solar panel is currently the only way to get power into the RP system. I'm expecting more energy generators in the future, and MANY more devices to use the energy ON!

P.S. For those thinking of conversion mods, please measure by RP/IC solar input conversion. One panel's output = one panel's output.

Well, that's what bothers me even more... Why make the first and ONLY generator of bluetricity be "free" power?
Why not instead make it a resource based generator from the get go. Eloraam knows how!

And on the subject of "free" renewable energy. An automated tree farm with automated charcoal generation fed into generators is also free energy. Difference between that and solar panels is that building that automation at least requires more than putting some components in a crafting grid and placing a few cables and blocks.

Quote from chc4

I currently have a 45eu/t reactor, loaded with Ice. The problem is that the buildcraft engine that I am using to load the ice is redstone, so it gradually heats up and gets faster. This makes the timing go off, and it starts to overflow after 1 64 stack. This wouldn't be a problem if the excess went into another free slot, but it just pools on the ground...I can't have another stack started off since the reactor starts with the stack instead of the main one. Should I either 1)Switch to a steam engine (Requires maintence),2)Make the redstone engine 'plus' so it only loads every once in a while (Could I do this? The timing would have to be something like 5s uptime, 1s downtime, which I'm not sure how to wire )

If you're using Zeldo's additional pipes mod, make the pipe leading into the reactor an insertion pipe, and put a distribution pipe after that aims stuff back the way it came. If not, stick an iron pipe on the end that points back the way it came. That latter one has problems with ice going where it wants instead of reactor first, bounceback pipe second, though.

Cadde, I really DO see your point. If I were playing Dwarf Fortress and had a team of little guys to share the workload, I would also ask for more balance from the system (mods and all). But it's just me, by myself. I'm really more interested in making complex systems of automations. I think we share the same general goals, it's just that I'm willing to fudge a bit, here and there, to keep it seeming like a game, and less like work. I, for example, will be replacing my quarries with frames once they are supported. Sure, quarries do the same job, for less resources, and are MUCH easier to set up. Frames, though, are just more FUN! I'll have so spend HOURS constructing the initial gantries and logic systems that move them. I guess I just see Initial Time Invested as a more valuable resource, and Maintenance as a detriment to be avoided where you can. I actually LIKE the idea of having to clean the solars with mineral oil based cleansers, so long as my giant, convoluted, multi-part machines can do it for me!

IRL we build dams, employ hundreds or even thousands of people to maintain and operate them. We build solar fields and again, employ hosts of people. All in the name of renewable resources. I don't have hundreds or thousands to keep my systems running, but they DO require maintaining. Various bugs plague them. RP tubes don't work with BC Auto-Crafters. BC wood pipes keep flipping around on me (ERGH I hate that). I'm CONSTANTLY worried about my bucket feeder CASUC (590 EU/t off a 0-chamber FTW!). Worst of all, I'm running on an old laptop. I have to keep everything in separately loading areas or it KILLS my FPS. I can't even get above 15fps if my tree farm is loaded! GODS FORBID I watch my quarry fields! It's for that reason that I finally, after fighting it for so long, had to abandon my over-large BC power plant and install (ugh....) Power Converters! It really was a sight to see, too...

Anyway, I'm not sure where I was going with this... suffice to say "To Each His Own" and all that rot. I think I would like working with you, so long as YOU do the mining!

P.S. I always rooted for the machines in the John Henry / Paul Bunion stories... A man isn't a man without his tools!

BTW... Any chance that that Veins mod is public?

Quote from Corbald

... BTW... Any chance that that Veins mod is public?

I am still working out some of the kinks... Or at least trying to.
If you wanna help me alpha test i can give you the files, configs and even source code. I intend on releasing my source later anyways with "It's your stuff" license. (That's how i roll man)
But like i said, not making it public until i can be somewhat proud of the release. What remains to be tested right now is the balance between mining for hours on end just to find a vein and mining for 2 minutes and find all the resources you would ever need.
On a side note, if your PC is slow then using my mod will force you to take long breaks as new ore veins are generated. Each vein is generated across several chunks on demand. I could try and the veins load gradually per chunk but the problem with that is that F.E IC² is creating new WorldGenMinable objects every time it intends to create an ore. I tried to remedy this by altering the way IC2 generates ores but couldn't get the recompiled class to play nice.

Send me a PM if you want to test.

As for the rest, i understand you perfectly. I don't want to run around all over the place just to keep things running either. I want to have some "me" time in the game but i just consider certain energy sources cheap and if for example solar panels had to have some supporting machinery to operate then i wouldn't mind them so much. But as it stands now they just feel like another way of placing an MFSU with a TMI'd lapo crystal... minus the manual refilling every once in a while.

Sad to hear about your laptop not being able to handle large quantities of machines. For that there is nothing i can do... Get an upgrade sometime soon?
Nothing beats a fully featured factory!

Yeah, it's hard to get around the feeling that something is very much like cheating. I try to remember all the time/mental energy I had to spend to create the ridiculous Reinforced Stone production facility when I design a 6 meter thick reactor chamber just for testing ideas!


I think I'll hold off on helping you test for the time being... I'm not looking to start up a new world until IC is in 1.0 and it really sounds like that's exactly what I'd want to do to really be of any help. That and I don't think I can handle any more chunk loading lag! TBH though, you DO have me a little excited (oh my!). I'm already mentally designing a RP Frames machine which would check blocks-harvested each mining action and try to trace veins of ore! I always did think the even distribution of ores was a bit silly. I'll PM you my e-mail anyway. When you get the chunkloading issue resolved, drop me a line and I'll at least take a look and let you know what I think!