Posts by MJEvans

Mostly agree with the last poster, but I feel buildcraft is already /deprecated/ It's the thing I use because there are missing features in RP2. Mostly it's useful for the filler (as documented above, but also as a general tool for setting/clearing area patterns. Honestly there are only two patterns I've ever used, and that's because the /third/ pattern was useless as my base is > 64x64.

I would actually either prefer that it accept any voltage; even if it just drained 1 eU/t.

Actually if it drains 1eU/t there should also be a mode for 'turning it off' which would be the redstone signal already high.

You /do/ know you could replace the control section with MVTFs right?

In 512 -> MVTF (stepdown) -> 128*4 -> MVTF (step up (redstoned))
+ another MVTF (redstoned on) from the 'middle' part leading over to the massfab.

When on it will 'step up' the 128 to feed the mass-fab up to 512.
When off it will try to 'step down' (nothing) and thus turn off flow to the MVTF.

There are various reasons for this proposal, but the most prominent two are: 1) the possibility of starting on a world where rubber is a very remote resource. 2) Other mods which have items that can be /extracted/ to make rubber (but you can't build an extractor without rubber).

I thus propose creating a Basic Circuit which would be composed of uninsulated wire of some kind (I'd favor tin, but copper or gold might feel better for balance), a wool block, one redstone dust, and one Refined Iron.

This basic circuit would substitute directly for the Electronic Circuit in the Extractor.
It would also substitute for the wire in a Battery.

With the three above additional recipes and one additional /item/ the initial set of generator and extractor could be built without using rubber.

This would allow any sticky sap/resin to be extracted at the more efficient rate instead of cooking; or if using a mod like Redpower2 which adds other potential extraction sources (but not direct sources) of rubber a way of unlocking the alternate flow.

It looks like your LV transformer isn't (wasn't) placed properly. If it's not working I suggest taking out the HV cable, wrenching the LV, re-placing the LV, and re-installing the HV cable.

Oh, much greater abuses are possible... There are yet many exploitable tricks with wiring.

Ah, good enough then.

Having toyed around with it, I think the trick is to stand just a bit over 1 block away from what you're working on, and use your own self to 'confine' the spread area to that single layer.

I can hardly wait for 1.33; IIRC sprayfoam /replacing/ placed scaffold blocks as a way of molding output is supposed to be in it.

Cables float in the air, however. The solution is, annoying but obvious.

Yes, but if you look at the server in this thread ( http://forum.industrial-craft.…page=Thread&threadID=2911 ) and go to about 783, 80, -50 you'll see something that Chronophaser dreamed up most of after we learned 1) about solar panels and tin, 2) I explained the 39 limit of glass fibre 4) our feedback of experiments with transformers and their reboosting ability 4) I finally helped him build since we wanted to test it before the next release and it was something that could stress-test a server within Minecraft.

Only when it was done I found it put far more load on the client than the server.

I'm actually quite glad it's been built on a test server. The effects this has on latency, blocking out that much sun, and everything else is something to behold. If you decide to see the ~12750 (approximate average EU reading on the last glass fiber to the massfab) solar panel array you'll want to move the Z direction last; easier access.

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Speaking about the reality of this project. Even I'll agree it's huge, over-powered, and aside from the symmetry ugly for the effects beneath it. As I said earlier, this was build to test the scale and prove both it was possible and what it would cost in terms of time, effort, and more or less everything besides material. The time involved in making this are NOT inexpensive, and that's without the even fractional build costs of the forerunners when we were building /much/ smaller versions because we thought cables had more real world limits. Even those took forever to mine for and construct. Building something this huge would be a complete nightmare (but it is possible).

I will stress entirely, however, that it is NOT the solar panels that make this overpowered. Nor is it the transmission distances of the involved cables. It's the network effect that is possible. The real issue is that wires are merely logical connections between source and destination without any consideration about the limits of using that connection.

In case you hate the mods or whatever... (~1.9MB of teaser images)

Yes, that is a design I've posted before which I came up with entirely on my own. No clue if it's the first time someone posted it or not (These are more or less all solutions within a fixed and semi-limited scope problem domain, so there are only so many possible iterations). Also you can remember the other similar spec design more easily by thinking of a hull plate, then three in a stack and (nearly) everything else is craming in 3-flowers of IHD+cooling cells in a zig-zag pattern.

I tried to re-create that 2x2 dezu design... but couldn't remember it. Are sure it wasn't 50 eU/T instead?

Nevermind, it was already added above. However here's a slightly less (cooldown) time efficient version of it which can easily survive loosing (or be built with just 5 extra) a chamber:

http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.b…=1k10101001501521s1r11r10

As stated in a much earlier suggestion; bones will be in the /next/ update.

I couldn't place blocks at either 127 or 128 when doing a nuke test. It was a wool block too, so I doubt it was an added limit.

I do have a rather perfect test environment; effectively 'creative mode' built to see how much load it could induce; still took two users the better part of thanksgiving weekend to build (I don't even want to think about how many months of gathering and fabricating it would take for real). Enough solars to cause noticeable client lag at the moment. I very much look forward to the upgrade to see if that removes the bottleneck from client/server.

Also yes, Nukes are under-powered and short duration in comparison to the possible trickle energy offerings.

Maybe an even more temperamental integral fast flux (waste reducing) reactor that was good for breeding and a 40% chance that cells that would otherwise evaporate at the end of cycle instead become some 'weak isotope' in need of concentration instead of simple re-enrichment.

I don't like the idea of adding 'ruined' versions of objects /just/ for this (maybe if there's another reason to have them they'd be re-used).

Instead I suggest these have a few leftover pieces stashed in trunks; as if said machines had broken down and been set aside for repair before a creeper invasion struck.

'ruined' cables would be easiest to implement with cables that had mostly lost their insulation.

A few chests holding input/output of the workshop's normal results might also work.

Quote from FnordMan

Glass fibre runs 20 without loss. It's tin that does 40

No, really, test it your self. In at -least- 1.23 glass fibre does 39 without loss. Tin also only goes 39 without loss (not 40; it's on cable block 40 that it would tally the lost eU/packet).

Don't believe me? Wire a solar 39 away from anything that will reboost (batbox, LVFT + redstone signal etc) and then /that/ to a storage unit so you can watch the ticks. You'll get exactly the expected value at 39 tin + 39 glass fibre. If you only want to test the glass fibre things get easier.

Actually using an EU meter on a /transformer/ can be misleading because you'll get the total for input AND output during that period. In reality the average would be about half of that. If you're happy with your massfab getting 128eU/t then that's fine. (It's what the wire should say you're getting)

What I find super-special is the fact that in order to tear down something like a buildcraft filler, a power converter/coupler/etc wire and generator the proper tools are: drill, wrench, chainsaw, wrench. If you screw up with any one you're libel to break it. Probably the most innocent and painful of those switches is the wire. A wrench on that is instant and leaves you with what equals an insulated copper wire. That could be OK if you already had such things there, or it could suck if you were using glass-fibre.

I'm not sure if this would work. You'd need to experiment. First I'd suggest with MVTFs (I think it might work) as they're cheap, then with HVTFs.

MVTF route:

Use an MVTF to step down the power to 128. Unless you need fast-recharging MFEs you can just run the glass fibre directly to them from this* (presuming it's <39 you won't notice the difference aside from speed)

Use another MVTF redstoned so that it will 'step up' the flow back to 512 before sending that off to the MassFab.

HVTF route:

Step up the input to HV; use any lossless length of HV cable (4x for 1 block should work) and then another HV TF to step back down. Run the outputs off different faces just to be sure (you might try it from a single face as well; I don't think it matters, but one less variable).

While that is cool, it assumes things are running. I've just found it easier to build everything within lossless distances. With glass-fibre running 39 without loss going any further than that, /maybe/ one form of signal boost or another; the distance is impractical on SMP for other reasons.

Test it your self. Glass Fibre /and/ tin both have a lossless length of 39.

As for the packets; there are ways of making cables do crazy things with the right stuff on the endpoints. Throw all your logic out the window and try some insane experiments that you think would never work in the real world.