Ender Chest Ultimate Sorting System

[trunksbomb]

it's an enderchest, so to access that chest, you just need to access any other enderchest of the same colour combination

I agree, which is why I said 6 enderchests + 6 sorting machines.

Right, only reason to access it is if you want to change the color, no argument there.

You would have him build 5 extra ender chests instead of 1 router and 1 relay? Even then, removing unsorted items becomes either a manual chore or some tedious workaround involving a delayed filter/sorting machine.

Can you explain why you're opposed to the router idea?

 

[Lambert2191]

I'm not opposed to it, I've just never used them, and therefore cannot give advice about anything to do with them. I can only give advice on what I know about, and enderchests/sorting machines is something I know about.

 

[trunksbomb]

I wasn't sure that you were as I didn't recall you saying anything against them previously.

Personally- and not because this was my suggestion but rather because it makes sense- I would go with the router/relay combo as expanding the system only requires you to add an extra sorting machine as opposed to a sorting machine and another ender chest. That and it allows me to have everything drawn out of the chest and put in tubes before deciding where it should go, rather than leaving unsorted items in the chest to be dealt with in whatever other way.

Given that information, what would be the advantages to using your proposal?

 

[Lambert2191]

well, the advantages over the OP's system is that it looks better, is easier to power, and also able to access the chest directly. Over the routers... well, not sure yet, I'll have to have more than just a paragraph, I'll have to play around with them first.

 

[PhilHibbs]

And if we're talking aesthetics, 6 sorting machines on one chest plus the wiring to power each one would be ugly, in my opinion.

Aesthetics are a matter of taste. I like it. Here's a view from the corner of my sorting and processing basement, apologies for the Quake Pro view but that seems best to get the most into the picture:

Spoiler

The Marble Brick ring is both a standing platform and a wiring conduit. I like the 4 glass-encased Thermopiles, even if they produce trivial amounts of power.
Here's a closer look up past the Sorting Machines and into my main base:

Spoiler

That's a Marble Brick Jacketed Bluewire going up to the solar panels on the ceiling.

As I can't daisy-chain them, I'm stuck with 5 Sorting Machines. Oh well. I'll see if I can build something better in my multiplayer game. I suppose designing an "ultimate" in my first attempt was overly ambitious! Thanks for all the help.

 

[trunksbomb]

It is very much a matter of taste, which is why I'm not particularly concerned with arguing about the looks of a system in a comparison.

Here's what my sorting system looks like, for the most part: http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/sorting-techniques.10410/#post-119278. It's an older post from here but you get the idea of it. I didn't add the ender chest->router->relay until I made my most recent tunnel bore, so it's not pictured.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Oh boy, have I discovered a great advantage of not having automatic handling of "other" items. I throw my empty Tin Cans into the Ender Chest, and a few seconds later they re-appear filled. Instant canned food refills on the go!

 

[KirinDave]

This is good work an all, but aren't you guys incredibly bored of RP2 multi-sort systems by now? They're the ez-mode of sort systems in terms of resource costs and difficulty, and have very middle-of-the-road characteristics.

 

[Lambert2191]

This is good work an all, but aren't you guys incredibly bored of RP2 multi-sort systems by now? They're the ez-mode of sort systems in terms of resource costs and difficulty, and have very middle-of-the-road characteristics.

short answer? no.

 

[DZCreeper]

My system is basically a messed up hybrid of Logistics Pipes and Redpower2. RedPower2 has 3 filters pulling from enderchest. I have 4 walls with 15 barrels each. If any of the barrels fills up past 1024 stacks I assume the items are worthless and they get voided using transposer to obsidian pipe, finally to void pipe. Because thats only 60 barrels, I use 2 sorting machines to grab all the items from the tubes near the input. I even have 20 slots in 1 machine left so I can do a small expansion if I need. Anything not set in said machines is sent to a chest with quicksort, default route, and provider modules. From there the various systems are fed by that chest, the barrels, and the chests which the quicksort chest empties into.

 

[KirinDave]

short answer? no.

I can't do the same thing even twice before crushing ennui sets in. I genuinely envy you.

 

[trunksbomb]

This is good work an all, but aren't you guys incredibly bored of RP2 multi-sort systems by now? They're the ez-mode of sort systems in terms of resource costs and difficulty, and have very middle-of-the-road characteristics.

For survival instances, no. I'm gonna go with a cheap, simple, and effective system with RP.

However, I did start messing around with Railcraft item transportation while waiting for RP to be released in the FTB packs.. and that's a lot of fun. Railcraft approaches the level of precision you can get with Redpower, and surpasses it in some cases. Plus, it's super cool to watch carts whizzing around. However, the footprint of a rail based system can be many times larger, and will ultimately be slower than a similar RP system. It's also pretty tricky trying to debug large, compact rail systems.

 

[Lambert2191]

I can't do the same thing even twice before crushing ennui sets in. I genuinely envy you.

well I've only ever done it once, and I'm still playing that world

 

[Saice]

This is good work an all, but aren't you guys incredibly bored of RP2 multi-sort systems by now? They're the ez-mode of sort systems in terms of resource costs and difficulty, and have very middle-of-the-road characteristics.

Nope. I enjoy RP sorting a lot.

Techincaly you can make a cheaper eayer system with BC pipes that is easyer once setup and if you never have to change anything. Since Diamond pipes take no power.

What I like about RP sorting over others is I can centrlize the sorting system and change its confrig all in one place. Also I never worry about spillage of items anywhere along the line.

But RP is not easy mode it has its own issues with the sorting system costing you actual items. Want to sort diamonds well you have basicly keep one in the system at all times. It also has a more complex system for routing that confuses some people. The painted tubes and the fact that when sorting fails it can look like nothing is working as nothing gets sent it just stays backed up in one the the machines somewhere.

This is all why RP and BC are alwasy compared to each other. They are about the same over all cost/complex wise just in diffrent areas for diffrent reasons. And why many people use hybrid systems they use both not just one.

 

[KirinDave]

Nope. I enjoy RP sorting a lot.

Techincaly you can make a cheaper eayer system with BC pipes that is easyer once setup and if you never have to change anything. Since Diamond pipes take no power.

What I like about RP sorting over others is I can centrlize the sorting system and change its confrig all in one place. Also I never worry about spillage of items anywhere along the line.

They just seem so homogenous at this point. Once I saw one with more than one sorter, the only new things I see involve sortrons and no one is cowboy enough to actually use that amazing machine.

P.S., pretty sure spillage is a problem for both systems; it's just got different expressions.

 

[Saice]

spillage as in items poping out of the transit system and on to the floor.

I have never had that happen with RP system anywhere.

but Ive had ti hapen multiple times with BC

 

[KirinDave]

spillage as in items poping out of the transit system and on to the floor.

I have never had that happen with RP system anywhere.

but Ive had ti hapen multiple times with BC

Except over at the quarry or arcane bore.

 

[ajskuce]

Our setup has 2 sorting machines pulling from our ender chest (only way to keep up with quarry at max speed) these 2 sorters send anything that needs to me macerated or extracted to the right color pipe and anything else to the miscellaneous color that leads to a second sorting machine that has furnaces and compressors. we have 5 or 6 sorting machines in line leading off to different wings like this, each with 2/3 different machine types and each wing ends with the same ender chest as the start of the system so items that need to cycle though multiple wings go through. The system ends with a ender chest that is linked to our logistics pipe storage/crafting network. Most of the system is run by RP machines but some of it uses logistics pipes. (some of the gregtech machines would have been too much work to supply with RP) I can post SS if you want.

 

[Saice]

Except over at the quarry or arcane bore.

Never had it happen.

I dont do to much with quarrys anymore. But when i did I would dump the output into a couple of double chests and then have them act as buffers to my sorting system. Never had any over spill once I started using RP instead of BC systems.

 

[KirinDave]

Never had it happen.

I dont do to much with quarrys anymore. But when i did I would dump the output into a couple of double chests and then have them act as buffers to my sorting system. Never had any over spill once I started using RP instead of BC systems.

The only reason you have spillage in any system is that the input speed exceeds the processing speed or capacity of the system in question. BC systems fail in a distributed, piecewise manner: the items fall at the point of failure. RP systems tend to cause a sort of cascade of failure that starts firstly with the system's throughput being reduced substantially (and sometimes unexpected results like things ending up in overflow chests where you would not expect them to pass through restriction tubes) which gradually compounds into the entire system halting and requiring manual intervention; with the input ends probably blurghing their contents everywhere unless you're using a frame bore (which has its own special mode of failure).

Neither is uniformly "better" than the other. I think people like RP2 because some common star-diagram patterns are easier (particularly when combined with barrels) and they equate that easy correct RP2 design with the incorrect BP design and say "BP spills randomly." Which is exactly as wrong as saying, "RP2 systems jam inexplicably." If you design them improperly then of course they fail.