getting started with Thermal Expansion?

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Vovk

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Jul 29, 2019
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meh. I plan on running universal pack :D If I decided to start a magic world game I would probably just add IC2, Factorization and Gregtech meself as well. Assuming they were 1.4.5 ready.

Hmm... doing some more thinking, 20% of the iron, gold and tin from a quarry is still a sizeable chunk of ore. Assuming constant quarrying I don't think you could USE enough copper, silver and lead to ever worry about the fact that they aren't technically renewable (not going to bring mystcraft into this)
 

Hawk Weisman

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Jul 29, 2019
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It appears pulverizing gold ore has no bonus yield. Therefore, shouldn't gold always be sand-smelted for Rich Slag?
 

JezuitX

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This thread has just been a nice read. Thanks for all the sharing about TE and Factorization. I now have a burning desire to forgo the normal IC2 startup.
 

whythisname

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This thread has just been a nice read. Thanks for all the sharing about TE and Factorization. I now have a burning desire to forgo the normal IC2 startup.
Same here. I'm no fan of Factorization though, but TE looks like enough of an improvement over the regular IC2 approach that it's well worth going for.
 

ShneekeyTheLost

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This thread has just been a nice read. Thanks for all the sharing about TE and Factorization. I now have a burning desire to forgo the normal IC2 startup.
Oh, I'll probably have an IC2 setup for a couple of utility things, mostly stuff like making nether brick or recharging my electric tools.

Honestly, if some mod came out with MJ compatible electric tools, I'd probably just disable IC2 and be done with it. In fact, that gives me an idea...
 
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noah_wolfe

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Oh, I'll probably have an IC2 setup for a couple of utility things, mostly stuff like making nether brick or recharging my electric tools.

Honestly, if some mod came out with MJ compatible electric tools, I'd probably just disable IC2 and be done with it. In fact, that gives me an idea...

1 Soul Sand + 4 Netherrack = 2 Nether Brick (TE Induction Smelter). Just helping you along toward your goal :p
 

SilvasRuin

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IC2 is still much more preferable for making Netherbrick depending on the mods one uses. Even ignoring that it only takes 3 Netherrack, Soulsand is very valuable for a Railcraft Blast Furnace, Soul Shards, a rare essence for Thaumcraft, etc.

IC2 also gets more mileage out of Blaze Rods and I think Bones as well.
 

noah_wolfe

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I agree and do the same (though I always use the TE smelter recipe at least once to bootstrap the Magma Crucible on my maps, prior to establishing an IC2 net) - but I'm not trying to exist in an IC2-free world as he is :cool:

Blaze rods in a Macerator: 5 powder | Pulverizer: 4 powder + 50% sulfur chance.
Bones in a Macerator: 5 bonemeal | Pulverizer: 6 bonemal.
 

Lathanael

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From the looks of it a combination of TE and Factorization plus a "sorting" system gives the best possible output, is that correct?

Now i need to make myself such a ore production system :)
 

ShneekeyTheLost

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From the looks of it a combination of TE and Factorization plus a "sorting" system gives the best possible output, is that correct?

Now i need to make myself such a ore production system :)
TE, not necessarily factorization. Check NEI for the various ore recipes for pulverizer. If there's an ore that produces something you don't need (iron and the resultant ferruous ore that has no current use, or gold that has no secondary output), then throw that ore straight into your smelter for a 20-30% chance of Rich Slag which will be used instead of sand in your smelter plus two ores to net three ingots.

Much easier than the convoluted setup Factorization requires, IMO.
 

SilvasRuin

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It's worth saying as this is new information on the subject:
Currently Pulverizing the new Thermal Expansion Ferrous Ore is the only source of Shiny Dust, which the ore dictionary seems to recognize as Platinum. The interesting thing is that, as it's only a 5% chance of the Shiny Dust, once you manage to obtain two such dusts, it then becomes better to run them through the Induction Smelter for the 20% chance of Rich Slag. You can then combine the two bits of Shiny Dust with the Rich Slag as needed. If you want to keep up your supply after it's given a use, save at least two Shiny Ingots at all times to recombine with Rich Slag. For it to be this bothersome to get obtain and accumulate, I'm very curious as to what it will be used for.

Depending on how demanding future features of Thermal Expansion are of this "Shiny Ingot," it might wind up better to run everything you possibly can through Thermal Expansion just to get the Rich Slag needed for producing more of the elusive metal.
 
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Lathanael

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TE, not necessarily factorization. Check NEI for the various ore recipes for pulverizer. If there's an ore that produces something you don't need (iron and the resultant ferruous ore that has no current use, or gold that has no secondary output), then throw that ore straight into your smelter for a 20-30% chance of Rich Slag which will be used instead of sand in your smelter plus two ores to net three ingots.

Much easier than the convoluted setup Factorization requires, IMO.

I am not looking for an easy setup, sorry. For me the combination of both systems seems to be a nice way to handle different ores and their outcomes to what is needed at that moment in time.
 

Daemonblue

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The only problem with factorization's "tripling" is that it really isn't and it takes 20 minutes for the last part of the process. The reason it's not actually tripling is that it works on a system of averages, where several of the machines give you 140% or 160% or 150% of your input as output. These stack in a way that your average output will be somewhere around 300% of your input, but would most likely either be higher or lower. As an example, using a stack of iron and 5 crystallizers and a few hours, I ended up with 3 stacks of ingots with an extra 9, making it slightly higher than 300% output. That said, this took hours to process this one stack with 5 crystallizers. While that might not be as big a deal for servers, for single player it kinda makes it useless unless you're at the point where you don't really need the extra ore that you're making.
 

ShneekeyTheLost

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I am not looking for an easy setup, sorry. For me the combination of both systems seems to be a nice way to handle different ores and their outcomes to what is needed at that moment in time.
I don't see how Factorization can contribute to this when you get the ore tripling with TE, which also handles the automation in-house. It's not just a matter of easy setup, it's also a matter of needing to setup an entire infrastructure to support a non-compatible system which can only work in tandem rather than synergistically. This duplication of effort simply slows down the ore refining process and increases the cost of the installation for no significant gains.
 

SilvasRuin

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Thermal Expansion only manages 220% at most. Factorization manages anywhere from 100% to 800% with an average of 300%. If Lathanael or anyone else wants to maximize yields, Factorization can only be beat by GregTech's Industrial Grinder.
 

Lathanael

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I don't see how Factorization can contribute to this when you get the ore tripling with TE, which also handles the automation in-house. It's not just a matter of easy setup, it's also a matter of needing to setup an entire infrastructure to support a non-compatible system which can only work in tandem rather than synergistically. This duplication of effort simply slows down the ore refining process and increases the cost of the installation for no significant gains.

Ok will you please stop telling people what to do? I know you are against Factorization with a devotion, but i don't care. I will use whatever i think is best and suits my needs!
 
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DanteGalileo

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Jul 29, 2019
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A tick is 20 seconds.

I know this post is almost a month old and I wish I'd seen it then as this is my first foray into TE (and I'm really loving it). I thought I'd point out, though, for beginners that, as I understand it, a tick is actually 1/20 of a second rather than 20 seconds.

So now I am making a ton of power. What do people typically do with it. I am mostly just charging Redstone Energy Cells and having those power quarries and such.