Reactor with IC2+RP2

  • I had a simple setup running with buildcraft (buckets&stuff), but it seems the server im playing on will remove buildcraft in a couple days. The server will be using IC2 with just Red Power 2 after that. Im kinda at loss now on how should I build a reactor now to run my fabricator.


    I scrapped my reactors now and plan to rebuild them before they remove buildcraft. I only have materials for 2 reactorswith max chambers right now, and about 50 uranium cells.


    Any insights on a good design? Im hoping to keep my two fabricators running, I can't seem to figure out buildcraftless reactors that would even run one. Im trying to plan out safe reactors, and I have never made or worked with reactors that need cooldown periods. I have a lot to do so constant baby sitting of reactors isn't a option.

  • Redpower machines? I was under the impression RP2 only gives you the insulated circuits, ability to place them on walls and ceiling, and the different logic gates..

  • Yeah, that's fun stuff that should be in the (imminent) release pf RP2pr4. Still, as the EAQ / FAQ has links to useful things, the recipes and world items offered by it are wonderful additions.

  • I wonder if the redpower world works with industrial... Doesn't work, works with industrials tin, or two different tin ores? (tin for example)


    Also wondering what is the ball at bottom middle in this recipe:

  • I wonder if the redpower world works with industrial... Doesn't work, works with industrials tin, or two different tin ores? (tin for example)


    Also wondering what is the ball at bottom middle in this recipe:

    not sure what yur saying at the begging w/ redpower working w/ Ic2(if its compatiable? yes it is, does it work w/ tin ore from Ic2 idk) and for the red ball i dont remember what its called

  • Well, there is tin and copper ore in industrial craft, and in redpower world. Im just wondering will the world then have two different types of tin and copper, or will it recognize one type of tin/copper in both mods. (Not assuming it does, but there might be a compatibility patch for it or something)

  • From what I've read RedPower recognises if/when IC² is present, and adjusts ores accordingly, the ores are interchangeable between the mods.

  • Redpower will still generate its copper and tin alongside IC2 by default, but you can configure it not to (which you should, since it's EVERYWHERE otherwise!).


    As of IC2 1.23 and RP2 pr3b, the copper/tin are completely interchangeable between the two, even though the ingots have slightly different names.


    Regarding RP2 and CASUC reactors... Eloraam just posted a video of a "retriever" block. Basically it sucks the selected item out of a remote inventory connected to the tube network. This might mean we no longer need filters adjacent to the reactor hull, and can have a single tube for full buckets in, and empties out... It looks like as of RP pr4, a redpower-powered CASUC might be able to use 5 chambers! :D

  • Oh my goodness. I had /not/ considered that. Sufficiently awesome point. Still I wonder how twitchy it will be about drawing buckets out.


    The last 4 bucket, 5 chamber design I speced up more or less needed 4 buckets a second average (it was /slightly/ positive in this regard, but anything less than 3 ticks a second out and you'd better kill it as fast as you can).

  • I guess we'll have to wait and see how they deal with the reactor's inventory, since it's always been kind of funny...


    If you were sufficiently crazy, you could set up 20 desynchronized retrievers and guarantee that an empty bucket won't stay in for more than one tick. :P


    I'm sure it won't be long until someone has a 5 chamber reactor running entirely full of u-cells except for one slot for a bucket...
    EDIT: now that I think about it, that wouldn't work... the reactor would
    only be sending heat to the buckets every 20 game ticks, so you'd still
    need more than one.

  • Regarding RP2 and CASUC reactors... Eloraam just posted a video of a "retriever" block. Basically it sucks the selected item out of a remote inventory connected to the tube network. This might mean we no longer need filters adjacent to the reactor hull, and can have a single tube for full buckets in, and empties out... It looks like as of RP pr4, a redpower-powered CASUC might be able to use 5 chambers! :D

    Nice find, I didn't think we'd ever get anything like this. Yay for 5 chamber CASUC reactors :) I know I'll have one right off the bat.


    And who knows, maybe it will help to make the systems more stable (guess it depends on how well the retrievers work).

  • Not just the retrievers; we can hope that the fix for 'overflowing' items is in 1.337 as well. In that case all we need to do is rapidly tick the retriever for empty buckets, and use a detector to trigger the refill. The question is, can that setup do a full 4 buckets/sec? (Actually dual injectors (filters driving buckets in) and retrievers could be setup with a tiny bit more work... quad if necessary).

  • Not just the retrievers; we can hope that the fix for 'overflowing' items is in 1.337 as well. In that case all we need to do is rapidly tick the retriever for empty buckets, and use a detector to trigger the refill. The question is, can that setup do a full 4 buckets/sec? (Actually dual injectors (filters driving buckets in) and retrievers could be setup with a tiny bit more work... quad if necessary).

    Regardless of how it works, I'm pretty sure it will work. Seems like how the retrievers work will be the biggest factor, so if they're crap then everything falls apart, though I'm sure that could be fixable (through design) as well.


    Are they actually working on a fix for the reactor overflow?
    I'd still try to rapidly force the filled buckets in even so, since RP2 would just cause them to bounce back if they hit a full inventory (or not get sent to begin with if the inventory is full). Not to mention overflow collection is pretty easy to accomplish with RP2 anyways.

  • The overflow issue is entirely in IC2.


    From another discussion I remember that IC2 specifies a 'chest' size of X for the reactor core. This is tied to the block ID, irrespective of damage value/etc. It just happens to /show/ us only the number of columns for the chambers we have installed. Every so often (every reactor tick?) it ejects the things stuffed in to the spaces that are unseen by automated insertions (which just take the next numerically open slot).


    The easiest way of fixing this would actually be to just have the reactor stuff it's self with some (near) useless item. Wooden shovels for example. However I guess even those /burn/ which is exploitable... so something even /less/ valuable. Maybe a stone shovel with 1 HP of damage left.


    Second easiest is a variant on the above, but simply not process the items in the hidden slots (leaving them to fill up until the unit is removed or something else empties them).


    Third easiest is to, on each tick, have a 'pre tick' that goes through the 'hidden' spaces and stuffs whatever was in them in to the open slots within the reactor... before evicting the rest.


    I -suspect- option #3 is what was chosen.

  • I almost kind of hope they *don't* fix the reactor overflow... most of the RP CASUC designs depend on the reactor always being a valid target for stuff. If it gets truly fixed, you'd have a 1-3 second delay between when an empty is removed, and the next full one can get to the reactor (and that's if you cram everything as close as possible to the reactor hull). On the other hand, then the BC advanced insertion pipes would work properly, too, so that would be another option.

  • AFAIK at this current stage you can only do at most 3 buckets/s (some reactor ticks will only suck 2) with RP2 unless you drop to a 3 chamber to add another filter to suck empty buckets out. I am using a combination of BC and RP2 to get 4 buckets/s which is enough cooling for a 5 chamber full of uranium cells minus the 4 slots for buckets. It cools 2,000 heat every second and accumulates 1,631 heat every second.


    For those interested i am sending 4 buckets with RP2 into a pneumatic pipe in a way that makes all 4 buckets share the exact same spot in the pipe.


    Code
    # #
    #---#
      |
      |
      R


    That's what the pneumatic piping looks like. # are filters (who have chests full of water buckets as a buffer) and -| are pipes and R is the reactor.
    This way two buckets join at the exact same time and then those two join with the other two from the other side. Making 4 buckets arrive at the reactor at the EXACT same time.
    I also have a sensor right before the reactor that is wired to a counter already pre-counted to 3. The delay would be too large if it had to wait for the 4 count. The counter is self resetting and the signal is carried to a repeater series that triggers 4 combustion engines in a staggered cycle. So it takes slightly longer to pull the buckets out but 80% of the time the reactor has 4 fresh buckets. It's just a matter of timing the refill so it doesn't happen during a reactor tick.


    I am still in the process of building and stress testing but once done this design will be able to produce the maximum 820 EU/t on a water bucket CASUC.
    Doing that with just RP2 without any way to pull 4 buckets per second reliably means you will have to stick to 490 EU/t designs to be 100% safe with a 4 chamber or 680 EU/t on a 3 chamber reactor.
    Anything above those values means your reactor is unstable (for instance, assuming you have a steady 3 bucket/s and having a "hiccup" at just the wrong time to make your reactor critical for just a second and melting something vitally important.


    EDIT: Oh btw, don't use timers to clock your reactors vital components. Timers are unreliable! Instead use sequencers and attach a pulser to 2 of the outputs on the sequencer and set your sequencer to half the time you wanted. (This excludes 200 ms timingsbut there are ways to fix that too, just use two pulsers going into 1 wire. Either way works just fine.