Redpower vs IC2 vs buildcraft

If you know, how to use BC pipes, they are not useless, you can always use mod with additional pipes, but simple well placed diamond pipe won't drop items on the floor. They are better in systems, which doesn't need to cope with changing demand, but to produce output from given input. Of course with gates or logistic pipes you can make BC system suitable for changing and constant demand, but it is more natural for simpler systems of this kind to use RP, maybe adding some dummy pipes with gates for finer control (it seems more natural, then item detector feedback, constantly working timer is bad engineering in my book). If you use logistic pipes recipes with chipsets, not with gears, they don't feel so OP for crafting on demand, however I tend not to use it in systems, because it feels cheap. Great addition for BC to work well with IC2 machines are hoppers, unfortunately they are not yet in stable build, in my world I use relays instead (it's like using autocrafting tables in RP systems), with simple BC gates it works great. BC pipes are not laggy when you treat your overflow well (looping pipes is BAD).

Well, in any case Redpower tubes are faster. The normal pneumatic tubes are much faster than plain BC pipes, and magtubes are much faster even that pure gold pipes.

As for sorting, with filters you can get up to 9 different items in any direction. It's only one way, but still works.

I use RedPower for things like my auto sorting system which is in charge of sorting incoming items, macerating ores and cooking dusts. For factories I still prefer Buildcraft, its much nicer with advanced pipes to say "send 2 iron to the circuit machine and 8 to the machine block crafter" than to have everything done constantly. I don't want 8 circuits for each generator, I want 2 :).

Quote from bbqroast

I use RedPower for things like my auto sorting system which is in charge of sorting incoming items, macerating ores and cooking dusts. For factories I still prefer Buildcraft, its much nicer with advanced pipes to say "send 2 iron to the circuit machine and 8 to the machine block crafter" than to have everything done constantly. I don't want 8 circuits for each generator, I want 2 :).

that's actually the default mode of the sorting machine no one seems to use

Actually my first solar power factory (while I was learning RP) used retriver connected from the sides with filter/chest loop and from the output to feedback item detector. Item detector pulse moved needed items from retriver inventory to chests and after short delay pulsed retriver. This way you can simulate first mode of sorting machine with many input chests. It needed manual restart if some items were lacking, but overall it was quite foolproof.

I think a mixture of Redpower and Logistics Pipes is the best method. A proper Logistics Pipes sorting system isn't cheap... You need multiple diamonds - I'd say an absolute minimum of 10 if you want to have any efficiency. TONS of iron is required for the various chassis and then the gears used to craft the modules take a couple dozen gold and iron on top of that - not to mention a sugar cane farm to craft all the paper for the blank modules. On the other hand, Redpower isn't too hard, you need a good handful of materials but beyond a few pieces of gold, a few ender pearls, and a diamond or two to craft the handsaw everything is very common (Nikolite, Copper, Tin, and only 1 - 3 iron per machine). Both need a bunch of dyes... Logistics pipe to color the modules and Redpower to paint the pipes but that's easy.

Usually I start off with a simple Redpower Sorting system and slowly upgrade it throughout the game. Upgrading usually just entails adding a second sorter, a couple of extra filters to recolor things coming out of the machines, and maybe a relay or two to act as buffers to stop any clogging of machines. When the time comes when I want AutoCrafting and Requesting, adding a Logistics system is suddenly alot easier and cheaper. Since the actual sorting is already taken care of I just throw a bunch of Provider pipes on the back of my chests, the usual array of AutoCrafting Tables/Crafting Pipes, a Requester pipe somewhere, and a Default Route onto my already existing input chest. From there the two systems are merged.

That being said, I use Logistics exclusively for my Forestry farms, as setting up a bunch of Supplier Pipes is a lot easier than setting up multiple Retriever and Regulators. Unless I'm using Teleport Pipes though (not on servers at the moment, at least not the Bukkit one I'm maintaining) I transfer all the items into Redpower Mag Tubes with a Relay to pipe it back into my main Sorting System at the base.

Redpower+IC2 all the way.

And Greg, why not use retrievulators ?

I usually start out with mass wind. Then a simple massfab, then start working to a frame miner, gathering materials with normal miners in the meantime, then work to a nuclear gen. Rinse n repeat.
Expand, Expand, Expand.

And Zjarek, Redpower has never caused issues for me if you know what to do.
Timers on <6 are usually unneeded. There are clockless cobblegens, there are clockless sorters. Etc.
And Redpower, with all the machinery, feels more legit than BC's magic blocks or Magicly Moving Materials.

Quote from GregoriusT

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Off topic yet ever so slightly related to the topic at hand: How do you make a system with RP2 only that can mimic/do better than the functionality of the Request pipe from the Logistics Pipe BC3 add on?

that does not make sense. Logisticspipe is an addon.
Therefore I feel myself elligible to use one too.
I would take Immibis retrievulators and a redpower computer.
Might not have the fancy GUI but again, no magic blocks/stuff.

I'm tempted, but will I have to install Redpower World if I want to use Redpower Tubes, and have to deal with all that mineral junk it adds?

Quote from baturinsky

I'm tempted, but will I have to install Redpower World if I want to use Redpower Tubes, and have to deal with all that mineral junk it adds?

Unfortunately yes, the other features are pretty much useless without the machines which require the world part. I'm just waiting for a feature that allows me to drop the spawn rates of gems and nikolite to a tenth of the normal spawn rates. If you do install it remember to disable RP2 tin and copper spawning.

I'm sorry, I'm not very familiar with tubestuff, what exactly does a retrievulator do?

Oh thanks, was pretty helpful.

I think buildcraft should be just be banned from servers. My completely uneducated guess is that 90% of worldwide laggs are cause by items spilled out of BC pipes. And that can happen even with completely valid designs if they are cutted up with chunkload.

Well, if you guys hate BC that much, then just dont use it... I also prefer RP2 in that part more. So stop yelling about it...