[1.7.10][LISTED] InfiTech 2 Modpack v3.2.21 [HQM][GregTech balanced hard-mode modpack]

[asb3pe]

Yay, finally built my Advanced Miner II. The wiki page contradicts what the Enchiridion book says about mining non-GT ores. I'll find out when I actually run it. But I'm not really worried about non-GT ores like Electro-whatever and Yellorium. I want to multiply the good stuff, like the Scheelite vein I found.

Anyhow, my question for those of you running the Miner: Do you have some kind of plan or strategy for it? My first inclination is to map out a grid of 6x6 chunks and place the Miner pretty much at each intersection on that grid and just mine whatver it can. But is it important to be that precise with it? Do you just go out and plop it down whereever without much plan? Do you find an ore vein by hand, then bring the Miner above that location and run it? Do you run the Seismic Prospector and print out the book and go thru all that to figure out where to put the Miner?

How long can I expect this thing to run if I set it at the surface and feed it MV? Is it like the Oil Drilling Rig, and once I set it up it's gonna be there for days and days? 6x6 chunks could be a big region if it works slow, so I'm kind of expecting this thing to sit there for a while. And if so, that brings up the subject of chunk loading - how do you load all 6x6 chunks for the thing like the wiki says? I play on a server where our maximum chunk-load limit for each player is supposed to be 25 chunks (5x5 for our bases)! LOL Obviously the person running the server doesn't know GT5u. hahaha But that is a large area to keep chunk loaded for days when playing on a server. Is the wiki actually correct? I've been running my Oil Drilling Rig with only the one chunk it resides in being chunk-loaded and I think it's been running just fine. But the Oil Drilling Rig has to be kinda "fudging it" - meaning, it's working off of some imaginary math formula to pump that oil from "under the bedrock" that isn't really physically there. But the Advanced Miner II is probably going from block to block, physically checking each one to see what it is, and that would be why it needs all the chunks loaded. Is that accurate?

Finally, a rhetorical question (no need to answer it)... why would they make it so a machine that obviously will be run outside is still capable of blowing up in the rain? Does not compute.

 

[codewarrior0]

The wiki page is up to date for GT 5.09.26. I saw to that personally. The Miner was changed in 5.09.22 to work with any ore that is oredicted with the "ore" prefix. In Infitech, this mostly means it will also dig up Thaumcraft Shards, Amber, Yellorite, and Electrotine.

The Miner's 6x6 area is not aligned to chunks. You can make the 6x6 area aligned by placing it at a grid intersection, as you say. If you put it at a grid intersection that is exactly between four ore veins, it will mine those four ore veins. Or, you can put it directly above the center of an ore vein, and it will mine that ore vein, plus fractions of the eight neighboring veins.

There are a couple of ways to control what the Miner mines. It will only mine ores that are at the level of the Miner's controller block or below, so if for example you dig down and place it directly above the center of a deep vein like Limonite, you can skip mining any nearby shallow veins like Lignite, as well as skipping any small ores on the way down. The Miner does not load any of the chunks it is mining from, so if you place it above the center of a vein and only chunkload the 3x3 chunks around the Miner, it will only mine that vein. You can also take advantage of the "empty" ore veins and put it at a chunk intersection where some of the four nearest veins are empty, and it will only mine the non-empty ones.

At MV power, the miner will mine one ore every 24 seconds. This means it will take nearly fourteen hours to mine 2000 ores, which is about how many are in an average-sized vein. Personally, I power mine with EV power, provided by four Turbo Gas Turbines that are fed Naphtha through the same Dimensional Transceiver that also supplies Drilling Fluid and collects the Miner's output.

 

[codewarrior0]

Speaking of the Transceiver! Its RF/t requirement is greatly increased. You'll need 650 RF/t to maintain each endpoint of the link, and there is a 30% penalty to any RF sent through the link, so you'll need to send close to 1500 RF/t through the home endpoint to power both ends of the link. I ended up building twenty Stirling Engines with Octadic Capacitors, and burning all of the Coal Dust I'm getting from distilling and cracking oil. It's eating the dust a bit faster than it is being produced, so I might have to switch it over to Solid Super Fuel. Another option is to cook up Rocket Fuel and build ten Combustion Generators, but I'd rather not use Rocket Fuel for anything other than rockets due to a cost imbalance - it's way too cheap to make for the amount of power it provides.

 

[asb3pe]

Speaking of the Transceiver! Its RF/t requirement is greatly increased. You'll need 650 RF/t to maintain each endpoint of the link, and there is a 30% penalty to any RF sent through the link, so you'll need to send close to 1500 RF/t through the home endpoint to power both ends of the link. I ended up building twenty Stirling Engines with Octadic Capacitors, and burning all of the Coal Dust I'm getting from distilling and cracking oil. It's eating the dust a bit faster than it is being produced, so I might have to switch it over to Solid Super Fuel. Another option is to cook up Rocket Fuel and build eight or nine Combustion Generators, but I'd rather not use Rocket Fuel for anything other than rockets due to a cost imbalance - it's way too cheap to make for the amount of power it provides.

You are always answering the next question in my head, the one I haven't had enough time to post yet. Very efficient, sir. Thx a bunch.

Why not go the Big Reactor route to generate RF? Same as with the Rocket Fuel, too easy? I'm sure glad you mentioned needing RF, it sounds like just plopping some Ender IO capacitors onto a GT cable like I've been doing isn't gonna be nearly sufficent? Guess I'd better get planning then, and have a look at some recipes.

 

[codewarrior0]

Why not go the Big Reactor route to generate RF? Same as with the Rocket Fuel, too easy? I'm sure glad you mentioned needing RF, it sounds like just plopping some Ender IO capacitors onto a GT cable like I've been doing isn't gonna be nearly sufficent? Guess I'd better get planning then, and have a look at some recipes.

I haven't tried it for two reasons, mainly. One, Big Reactors don't have an RF output. The only way to get RF is to build a Big Turbine, which is a bit expensive. (Also, the only way to get the needed Cyanite is to run a Big Reactor for a while and burn up some fuel, so there's a kind of time-gate involved too.) Two, the fuel value for Big Reactor fuels is nerfed by 90%, so I'm afraid running the reactor off the Yellorite mined by the Miner will not be sustainable.

 

[asb3pe]

I haven't tried it for two reasons, mainly. One, Big Reactors don't have an RF output. The only way to get RF is to build a Big Turbine, which is a bit expensive. Two, the fuel value for Big Reactor fuels is nerfed by 90%, so I'm afraid running the reactor off the Yellorite mined by the Miner will not be sustainable.

Hmmm wow now that's why this forum is so valuable. I might have spent a good deal of time and materials making my Big Reactor Turbine only to then realize it wasn't worth it. Thanks for the info.

 

[asb3pe]

At MV power, the miner will mine one ore every 24 seconds. This means it will take nearly fourteen hours to mine 2000 ores, which is about how many are in an average-sized vein. Personally, I power mine with EV power, provided by four Turbo Gas Turbines that are fed Naphtha through the same Dimensional Transceiver that also supplies Drilling Fluid and collects the Miner's output.

What speed does your Miner run at then? One ore every 6 seconds, or about 3.5 hours for an average vein? This is a good example of where GT electricity confuses me so maybe we can clarify it.

According to my Guide Book (Edit: Check your book too please, just in case they changed it since I'm not up-to-date with pack updates), the Advanced Miner II uses 48 EU/t at it's base MV level. If we bump up to HV, we get double the speed but quadruple the energy cost, so 48*4=192 EU/t. And if we bump up one more tier to EV, then it's an energy cost of 192*4=768 EU/t, or just barely into the EV range, really (which is 513-2048 EU/t). Two Turbo Turbines into a Transformer will output half of EV's 2048 EU/t, or 1024 EU/t (since 4 amps of HV are required for "full" EV, but we're only providing 2 amps, or half), which is safely over the required 768 EU/t even accounting for line losses and Transformer loss and such. Right? Or wrong? If I'm right with this math, then 2 of your Turbo Turbines are sitting there and doing nothing, because you only need 2 to run at an EV requirement of 768 EU/t (and even then, one of the two will be running at around half-capacity). But it's quite possible I'm totally wrong with all of this, and if so, I'll learn when I am corrected. For me, it would be a big difference if I can run the Miner using just 2 Turbos because yeah, the EV speed is certainly desireable, and this is exactly why I made my Nitro Diesel, to run this puppy. The faster the better.

And yeah, now I see why it might be important to be a bit more selective with the Miner, focus on specific ores and veins until I am flush with energy. This thing is probably gonna hurt if I run it at EV, but it will feel so good. hahaha

 

[codewarrior0]

the Advanced Miner II uses 48 EU/t at it's base MV level.

This seems far too low, let me double-check...

Huh. You're right! The base usage is 48 EU/t. I guess I thought it was 96 EU/t at MV, the same as the Oil Drill (and the same as a lot of other machines, too!). So I have two extra turbines running... or not running, as the case may be. If I wanted to go up to IV, I'd just need to add three more turbines. (Six turbines to get the 3k EU/t, and one more turbine to account for the line loss and transformer loss.)

 

[asb3pe]

This seems far too low, let me double-check...

Huh. You're right! The base usage is 48 EU/t. I guess I thought it was 96 EU/t at MV, the same as the Oil Drill (and the same as a lot of other machines, too!). So I have two extra turbines running... or not running, as the case may be. If I wanted to go up to IV, I'd just need to add three more turbines. (Six turbines to get the 3k EU/t, and one more turbine to account for the line loss and transformer loss.)

So, more fun with math then! You said 2000 ores at 24 seconds per, but we halve that speed twice for EV, so 6 seconds per ore, which is around 3.5 hours or so. If we run at 768 EU/t for 3.5 hrs, that's around 200 million total EU. Since one cell of Nitro Diesel contains 512K EU, that means we need (by my calcs) 378 cells, or about 1.5 drums of Nitro-Diesel - let's just call it 2 drums for losses or whatever. Just dabbling and experimenting and getting my oil production lines fleshed out, I've already made 10 drums of it! So it looks like, if the numbers are accurate, I can definitely run it at EV speed. And boy does that make me glad I asked my question, and that you were around to answer it with helpful information. Thx code!

And of course we can multiply that by 4 if we go to IV level, so it would be 6 to 8 drums of Nitro-diesel required. That's a lot for me right now, but perhaps not for you (with your conversion for your Naphtha I think it would be 12 to 16 drums). Once I get oil production really rolling, that's probably where I'd be heading too, faster is better even with the power cost penalties. But EV is the perfect spot for me I think, so time to go build an Energy Hatch and get to work!

 

[codewarrior0]

or about 1.5 drums of Nitro-Diesel - let's just call it 2 drums for losses or whatever.

Sounds about right. The first time I set up my Miner, it was on a Tungstate vein in the End and was running on Nitro-Diesel, with no Transceiver to teleport stuff back and forth. I only had to replace the drum once before the vein was exhausted.

Though even at EV power, you'll need a lot of ore processing infrastructure to keep up. 6 seconds per ore means, with the Miner's yield bonus, one Crushed Ore every second. That means you'll need twenty LV Ore Washers (at one Crushed/20sec each) to keep up. And that's just for the ores that Macerate to 2 crushed - a handful of them like Redstone, Lazurite, Cassiterite, even Tungstate and Scheelite IIRC will Macerate to 4 or more crushed ores. And then you'll need even more Centrifuges, Macerators, Chemical Baths, Sifters, etc to keep up with those.

 

[asb3pe]

Sounds about right. The first time I set up my Miner, it was on a Tungstate vein in the End and was running on Nitro-Diesel, with no Transceiver to teleport stuff back and forth. I only had to replace the drum once before the vein was exhausted.

Though even at EV power, you'll need a lot of ore processing infrastructure to keep up. 6 seconds per ore means, with the Miner's yield bonus, one Crushed Ore every second. That means you'll need twenty LV Ore Washers (at one Crushed/20sec each) to keep up. And that's just for the ores that Macerate to 2 crushed - a handful of them like Redstone, Lazurite, Cassiterite, even Tungstate and Scheelite IIRC will Macerate to 4 or more crushed ores. And then you'll need even more Centrifuges, Macerators, Chemical Baths, Sifters, etc to keep up with those.

Thanks, yeah, it's gonna overwhelm me I'm sure. But I need to run it once to see what sorts of oddball stuff I'm gonna get rolling in, so I can prepare for it. So basically, that means I already resigned myself to the first run being a total nightmare. I have visions of overflowing chests, backup up barrels, etc etc. LOL In my life, I've realized I only learn things the hard way - by screwing up and making mistakes, then correcting them. I'll just let the stuff flow in and then try and store it all, then sort thru it and figure out a process for it all - it's a fun game I like to play, organized chaos. hahaha

But before I do anything, I think the first thing I need to do is convince the server to update to the current modpack version. I'd like to see that Diesel Engine cost, but more importantly, if I'm gonna be Mining, I might as well be collecting all the stuff in the ground, since a recent update changed that feature of the Miner.

 

[Pyure]

(Also, the only way to get the needed Cyanite is to run a Big Reactor for a while and burn up some fuel, so there's a kind of time-gate involved too.) Two, the fuel value for Big Reactor fuels is nerfed by 90%, so I'm afraid running the reactor off the Yellorite mined by the Miner will not be sustainable.

Regarding cyanite, I've never had to burn a reactor to get cyanite. I just wait until I can process that yellorite with a SAG mill so that I can get the cyanite byproduct.

The % is super low, so you absolutely must do it with the best grinding balls you can get. And at this stage of the game you tend to have stacks of yellorite ore ready to process anyway.

Regarding sustainability: it doesn't really need to be sustainable so long as you're not mining purely to get yellorite. If you're getting that ore anyway you might as well burn it in something.

 

[codewarrior0]

Yeah, I kind of counted that method out, both because you'll need to use high tier grinding balls to get a usable amount of Cyanite, and because the Advanced Miner II spits out Yellorite Dust instead of Ores.

 

[Pyure]

and because the Advanced Miner II spits out Yellorite Dust instead of Ores.

Ah, that makes tons of sense.

Still, even just casually mining into the early MV age I've accumulated nearly 8 stacks of the ore. I should have tons of the stuff if and when I choose to pursue that route. Alternatively you can just do BR Reactor -> GT Steam Turbine if you can manage to feed it enough water (can't do a closed loop with BR unless it just BR)

 

[codewarrior0]

Ah, that makes tons of sense.

Still, even just casually mining into the early MV age I've accumulated nearly 8 stacks of the ore. I should have tons of the stuff if and when I choose to pursue that route. Alternatively you can just do BR Reactor -> GT Steam Turbine if you can manage to feed it enough water (can't do a closed loop with BR unless it just BR)

Alas, I started my auto-mining early, and I have less than three stacks of Yellorite ore. If I used the best grinding balls I can make (Naquadah Alloy), I'd get maybe eighteen ingots of Cyanite that way.

I did the BR -> Turbo Steam Turbine thing on a previous playthrough. It was totally, obscenely not worth it. I needed to attach sixteen reservoirs to a reactor containing twelve fuel rods and burn something like two Yellorium ingots per minute to just barely, barely run a single Turbo Steam Turbine at full capacity.

 

[asb3pe]

The Large Gas Turbine, when you're first able to build it, produces between 2k and 3k EU/t. And to get it to produce that much, you'll need to spend another 75 ingots on a Large Turbine Rotor item. (Someday I'll have to add a proper table of turbine materials to the wiki, but According to this table I just made, Fluxed Electrum is a decent early choice, Thaumium or Black Bronze will do in a pinch, and HSS-S or TungstenCarbide are pretty good if you can spare them.) The Turbine Rotor item eventually wears down over hours or days and will have to be replaced - a Needs Maintenance cover will help you to automate replacing the turbines. Also, the Gas Turbine will greedily eat up to 25% more fuel without producing any more energy, unless you fit the input hatch with a Fluid Regulator cover.

EDIT: Turbine materials table is done!

Your table is awesome, and it's use-able, however either it got left out or else it got deleted during an edit - there's no column headers. You could even just add a legend at the top, such as "Durability/Efficiency/Optimal Steam Flow" but I have a feeling the intent was for row #2 to be column headers and they've gone missing.

Also, I had no clue Yellorite was nerfed so hard in this pack, so I was just macerating it without much thought as I collected it along the way, and also I wasn't going out of my way to collect it, I left a lot of it in the ground because I couldn't be bothered with it. Oh well. I have 14 stacks of Ingots sitting in a Barrel, where they will likely stay. haha

 

[codewarrior0]

Yeah, it looked fine on the first revision, but the wiki admins decided to collapse it and ran into a bug in their table code. They've called an expert to take a look at it. You can go back a few revisions to see how it looked before.

 

[asb3pe]

Yeah, it looked fine on the first revision, but the wiki admins decided to collapse it and ran into a bug in their table code. They've called an expert to take a look at it. You can go back a few revisions to see how it looked before.

It's quite helpful because rather than go for the somewhat obvious Fluxed Electrum which would give me something like 2760 EU/t out of a Gas Turbine in Large Rotor config, I think I'm better off scaling the output down some because I'm really not ready for Insane Voltage level. Yeah I know I can just make a Transformer and step it down right out of the Turbine, but look at all those materials on that list, it seems a shame to just focus on one or two or three entries and forget about all the rest of em. So I'm trying to find a material and size that will give me just under 2048 EU/t which is EV but would basically mean I could get a full 4 amps of HV power. Scrolling thru NEI pages is agony, but scrolling up and down your handy table is a pleasure. Also, a smaller or less powerful Turbine means less fuel input required, which will be important to me for a while still until I really get ramped up. Right now I'm still processing everything except my oil by hand, and that's not gonna do for very much longer obv.

 

[targetingyou78]

Oh yeah trying to find turbine information is a disaster in NEI. I about shot myself trying to figure out aluminum was my best option at first. Also, I just made my first Platinum tonight. First one went to making a large Turbine, next 5 are going into MV Mining Drill. I'm so excited I might die. Please- Please, hold your applause. Seriously though, I've never made it into the MV Era before this play through. I'm feeling on top of the world.

Edit: Just finished the MV Drill with a Thaumium drill head. It's amazing. Time to finish tearing out that Redstone Vein so I can properly move on through the HV era. I'll tell yah, chrome is a tough cookie!

 

[codewarrior0]

I'm pretty sure now that the materials table doesn't give the whole story. As I mentioned a few pages ago, the actual fuel usage for the turbine is always a whole number of L/t, which often turns out to be less EU/t than you'd figure out just from the flow rate in EU/t. It might be that some of the materials have a stated flow rate and efficiency that seems like it is above 2048, but the whole number of L/t puts it exactly at 2048 EU/t.