Early/Mid game automated mining DW20 1.12.2 V1.6

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Plainy

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Jul 29, 2019
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So all weekend I've been looking, trying different things to see if there is still a nice way to get a easily automated mining setup going.
Sadly I just can't find the solution on this one, maybe because Buildcraft isn't there or that the Ender Quarry(or Quantum Quarry) is just way to expensive now requiring a nether star and all that schmuck.

I just have a hard time wrapping my head around it all, currently i have a RFTools Builder with a Quarry card in it.
Sadly this won't run efficient due to lack of power or RF generation.
So my question basically comes down to one and only one thing, what the hell is a good early to mid game automated mining system that doesn't completely destroy my RF gen.
 

GamerwithnoGame

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Jan 29, 2015
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So all weekend I've been looking, trying different things to see if there is still a nice way to get a easily automated mining setup going.
Sadly I just can't find the solution on this one, maybe because Buildcraft isn't there or that the Ender Quarry(or Quantum Quarry) is just way to expensive now requiring a nether star and all that schmuck.

I just have a hard time wrapping my head around it all, currently i have a RFTools Builder with a Quarry card in it.
Sadly this won't run efficient due to lack of power or RF generation.
So my question basically comes down to one and only one thing, what the hell is a good early to mid game automated mining system that doesn't completely destroy my RF gen.
The Actually Additions vertical digger is not bad - it only does a 5x5 I think without any phantom boosters, BUT you can set it to mine everything or just ores.
 

Plainy

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Jul 29, 2019
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The Actually Additions vertical digger is not bad - it only does a 5x5 I think without any phantom boosters, BUT you can set it to mine everything or just ores.
Had not found that one yet, the 33x33 area seems like a nice amount, bit annoying that it just removes everything leaving no platform.

Have to look into empowering stuff though, something i have yet to try with AA.
It doesn't look that expensive to set up luckily, i've got access to the nether and the End(though be it cheated).
However the phantomboosters seem to take up quite a bit of diamonds, something I do not have a lot of.

Though this does seem as the best option out there at the moment.
 
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Plainy

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Jul 29, 2019
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Sadly not worth it, at all.
It is soooooooooo slow.
I'd rather deplete my RF storage, i got a complete power gen separate for the RF tools builder.
While it uses so much more RF it is just way faster, also in the way it scans, not vertical but horizontal.
 

Brian Cherrick

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You might want to look at the void ore miner from environmental tech. The early ones aren't to resource-intensive mainly using some diamonds. As long as you have a few thousand RF per tick generation you should be able to use it with no problem as long as you don't put any modifiers on it.
 
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GamerwithnoGame

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Sadly not worth it, at all.
It is soooooooooo slow.
I'd rather deplete my RF storage, i got a complete power gen separate for the RF tools builder.
While it uses so much more RF it is just way faster, also in the way it scans, not vertical but horizontal.
Ah ok, I thought you wouldn’t mind the speed too much because of the selectivity for ores, and because it’s on the early side of the early/mid range you mentioned.
 

Inaeo

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Jul 29, 2019
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An option not discussed is to use the Builder you have, but use a Thermal Energy Cell to buffer the amount of power it can consume. If you set the max output if the cell to something sustainable, it should leave enough power for the rest of your grid. Then as infrastructure grows, you can increase the amount the Builder gets to use, thereby speeding up your mining. Once you've grown far enough that it's a nonfactor, you can either leave the valve wide open, or remove it entirely ( I like periodic buffers in my power grid, personally).

Just something else to consider.
 

Riddle78

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Nov 28, 2016
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Wanna get mineral ores? Do what I did. It uses the Lens of the Miner on the Atomic Reconstructor (Both Actually Additions) to turn Smoothstone into mineral ores. Here's my setup...

-Hardened Fluxduct (Thermal Mods) with an HV Wire Connector (Immersive Engineering) on it,connected to your power.
-Beneath the Fluxduct,the Atomic Reconstructor. Beside the Fluxduct,a Material StoneWorks Factory (Industrial Foregoing) in order to produce Cobblestone ex nihilo,then turn it into Smoothstone. It can hold two stacks.
-Attached to the StoneWorks Factory,pointed in the same direction the Atomic Reconstructor is pointed,is a Hopper (Minecraft). It can hold five stacks.
-Attached to the Hopper,pointed at the block space in front of the Atomic Reconstructor,is a Mechanical User (ExtraUtils 2),set to place blocks at all times. It can hold nine stacks,making your total Smoothstone buffer sixteen stacks.
-Opposite the Atomic Reconstructor is a Mechanical Miner (ExtraUtils 2),set to operate on Redstone pulses.
-A Button (Minecraft) on the Mechanical Miner,just in case the system needs a restart.
-Extract your gains from the Mechanical Miner in a way that most pleases you.
-A Logic Network,courtesy of Integrated Dynamics,to make it all run like clcokwork.
-Set the Mechanical Miner and Atomic Reconstructor to operate on Redstone pulses.

The Logic Network had me stumped for ages. However,last nigh/early this morning,I got it to work,more or less,with some help from Reddit. Here's what your system needs.

-A Variable Store; This is where you'll be sticking some important Variable Cards.
-A Block Reader; Place it right up against the block space in front of the Atomic Reconstructor,facing that space,as well.
-Three Redstone Writers; One will be sending a pulse to the Atomic Reconstructor. Two will be sending a pulse to a Logic Gate (RFTools),which in turn sends a pulse to the Mechanical Miner.
-Eight Redstone Repeaters (Minecraft),set in sequence,each set to a four tick delay,leading to your Mechanical Miner.
-Logic Cables to connect all of the Integrated Dynamics components.
-A Materializer,not connected to the network.
-A Logic Programmer,either in block or item form. Again,it doesn't need to be connected to the network.

Here's how to make the logic program.

1) Open the Block Reader's interface,and scroll it down until you see the field where it outputs what block it's looking at. Place a Variable Card in this field's slot to write that Variable to it; This will be called "Dynamic Block Variable" henceforth.
2) Using your Logic Programmer,make Block Variables for Air and Smoothstone; To do this,you need to place the block in question in the top slot of the right side window. For Air,just leave it blank. After you place (Or don't place) the block,place a Variable Card in the lower right slot of the right side window. These will be called "Raw Stone Variable" and "Raw Air Variable" henceforth.
3) Take your Raw Stone Variable and Raw Air Variable to your Materializer. Place one of them in the top slot,then a Variable Card in the bottom left slot. This will make your chosen Variable static. Do this for both of your Raw Variables. The results will be referred to as "Static Stone Variable" and "Static Air Variable" henceforth.
3.5) If you're not going to be making anymore Static Variables from the Raw Variables,feel free to wipe the cards by placing them in your crafting grid.
4) Using your Logic Programmer,search for the Operator Variable "==". This is the "Relational Equals" Operator. In the right side window,place the Dynamic Block Variable in the left hand slot,and your Static Stone Variable in the right,with a blank Variable Card in the bottom right. This will create a Variable Card that reads, "If Dynamic Block EQUALS Stone,then 1." Place this resulting Variable Card in the Redstone Writer leading to the Atomic Reconstructor,in the "Redstone Pulse" slot; It's marked with blue,as it's a Boolean argument.
5) Next,search for the Operator Variable "!=". This is the "Does Not Equal" Operator. For each of your Static Variables,place the Dynamic Block Variable in the left hand slot of the right window,with the Static Variable in the right hand slot,with a blank Variable Card in the bottom right. Do this for both Static Variables. The resulting Variable Cards will read, "If Dynamic Block DOES NOT EQUAL Stone/Air,then 1." Since you can only assign one such definition to these Variable Cards,you had to make two; One for Air,and one for Stone. In the Redstone Writers leading to the Logic Gate,place them in the Redstone Pulse fields.
6) Place the Dynamic Block Variable,Static Stone Variable,and Static Air Variable in your Variable Store.

If done correctly,you now have a system that will produce ores for you,ex nihilo. It will occasionally scoop up the stone,which I've yet been unable to fix. However,once you get more advanced,you can use Refined Storage to replace the Mechanical User and Mechanical Miner,and use the Blacklist functions to only pick up ores. Complicated? Most certainly. But it's handsfree mining.
 
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Plainy

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Jul 29, 2019
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An option not discussed is to use the Builder you have, but use a Thermal Energy Cell to buffer the amount of power it can consume. If you set the max output if the cell to something sustainable, it should leave enough power for the rest of your grid. Then as infrastructure grows, you can increase the amount the Builder gets to use, thereby speeding up your mining. Once you've grown far enough that it's a nonfactor, you can either leave the valve wide open, or remove it entirely ( I like periodic buffers in my power grid, personally).

Just something else to consider.

Holy shit, i did not even think of this at all.
And currently im only producing 480 RF/t with 2 compression dynamo's to handle the Tree Oil setup i've got going.
I've been meaning to expand on my Tree Oil setup for some time now, to also increase the output RF/t.

Already have my energy storing into a Reinforced cell(18mil max) which is linked to another 4 Powercell setup(RFTools multiblock-ish).
Now to lookinto to produce more Tree Oil... I mean ALOT more, as in stupid amounts that are impossible to keep up with...
 

Riddle78

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Nov 28, 2016
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Hmm... You might wanna step up your power production first,before you get into handsfree mining. Making Refined Fuel from whichever source you choose (I chose Pulverized Coal) would be a good start; Four Compression Dynamos with the Ignition Plugs upgrade will prove sufficient,until you can,say... Make an Advanced Generator,and stick it with fifty Manyullyn/Resonant Turbines. However,before making Das Uber Generator,you'd probably want to get automated mining down. So,I suggest you first pursue a means to expand your power production,followed by automated mining,before finally getting your endgame power supply situated.
 

GamerwithnoGame

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Speaking of that, I'm wondering whether it would ever be worth doing a phyto-gro setup to speed up tree oil extraction? So an induction smelter for getting slag (100% byproduct of 2 cobble and 1 sand, manageable with some sort of cobble works), a small tree farm with furnace and pulversier for charcoal, and a niter setup (pulverising sandstone). Then a arboreal extractor getting sap + fluid transposer to upgrade it to Rich Phyto-gro. Its a lot of machines, so probably not worth it, but its possible.
 

Plainy

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Jul 29, 2019
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Speaking of that, I'm wondering whether it would ever be worth doing a phyto-gro setup to speed up tree oil extraction? So an induction smelter for getting slag (100% byproduct of 2 cobble and 1 sand, manageable with some sort of cobble works), a small tree farm with furnace and pulversier for charcoal, and a niter setup (pulverising sandstone). Then a arboreal extractor getting sap + fluid transposer to upgrade it to Rich Phyto-gro. Its a lot of machines, so probably not worth it, but its possible.

Im pretty sure that this is actually viable, depending on which level of phyto you use.
I tested a little bit with the most basic form of it and production of resin rose significant with just the basic stuff.
I'd have to look into it to automate the process of the Phyto, and probably add a few more Fractionating stills to keep up with it all.
Currently the only buffer I have is for the Tree oil after the Fractionating Stills are done with it.

Maybe time to look into a tank for the resin as well.
 
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GamerwithnoGame

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Im pretty sure that this is actually viable, depending on which level of phyto you use.
I tested a little bit with the most basic form of it and production of resin rose significant with just the basic stuff.
I'd have to look into it to automate the process of the Phyto, and probably add a few more Fractionating stills to keep up with it all.
Currently the only buffer I have is for the Tree oil after the Fractionating Stills are done with it.

Maybe time to look into a tank for the resin as well.
Oh, wow, really? Awesome! I always find myself surprised when I make a useful suggestion, don't know why - but that's good to know that I wasn't going a crazy route with that train of thought! I'd been thinking about that sort of setup myself - I'm still fairly early game - so I think that may give just the sort of boost to my power I've been needing!
 

Psychicash

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What I did, and granted it's not hands free but super easy, was to dig a 1x2 tunnel straight down to y level 11 (feet at 11). Then I dug a 2 high x 3 wide tunnel straight using MeeCreeps. Then I just started branch mining from there with the mee creeps. They pick up the ore, leave the stone and what not and bring it too you. I keep about 4 active at a time. With a few actually additions sacks and filters plus the dank null, my inventory stays clear and I can gather a ton of ore and gems. I also do this for level 40 something.. got to cover copper and tin. :D
 

Drbretto

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Mar 5, 2016
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Now, I know this isn't what you were asking for, and luckily everyone got you covered there...

But, you have AA, and I'd seriously just recommend loading up a drill with 3x3 or 5x5 with fortune upgrades and mine as you need it. I didn't feel any pressure to have a quarry until I had a tier 7 energy multiblock. I mined out my own basement evil lair batcave thing as I went along, never felt like I was mining at all.

By the time you get some decent power going, you can just hook up that builder full-time, or killing the wither will be trivial.
 
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