A few (well, a lot of) questions about RotaryCraft/ReactorCraft

[Ieldra]

So now I've installed this on top of my DW20 pack, browsed the in-game manual, watched a few videos. This is definitely cool. It's really nice to see things happening, and as opposed to what I was led to believe, the concepts are easy to understand. I'm not sure how its down-to-earth style will into the somewhat futuristic "crystal towers and togas" architecture of my current base, but I'm going to explore stuff and find out.

There are, however, the inevitable questions:

(1) Is there a way to make ethanol crystals from, well, ethanol, i.e. the stuff the Foresty Fermenter/Still and a few other machines from other mods might produce? Or vice versa? I already have an ethanol production line and it's making more than I need. I wouldn't mind having to switch to the RoC production line, but I need the liquid ethanol, and I refuse to maintain two lines for what amounts to the same thing.

(2) Is there a way to turn Railcraft steel into RotaryCraft steel or vice versa? Why aren't they compatible btw? Yet again, I wouldn't mind switching to the RoC production line (it appears to be faster anyway) but I need some Railcraft steel and I refuse to maintain two production lines for the same thing.

(3) Do RoC machines attach to BC pipes or TE itemducts/liquiducts?

(4) Can the worktable be integrated into an Applied Energistics ME network (controlled by an ME interface through which I can send crafting requests to it from the ME crafting terminal)? I've just spent a considerable amount of time and resources integrating my multi-mod workshop, and being forced to use an external machine for a standard crafting mechanic now would be thoroughly unsatisfying.

(5) I've found an option for retroactive worldgen in the ReactorCraft config file, which I set to true, expecting the new ores to be added to my existing world. However, that does not appear to happen. Am I doing something wrong or does that feature not work? It's not the end of the world, but I'd rather have something a little nearer to my base than 1300 blocks, even though it's not a big thing getting there with AM2 gates. While I'm at it, will the new ores spawn in the Deep Dark (Extra Utilities)? I'll be going there anyway as soon as I find one of those damned sigils. RoC cave scanner, I expect you to help me in this!

(6) The boring machine - the spotlight said it will go on mining in the same direction as long as it has power. What will it do when it reaches the boundary of a chunk that wouldn't normally be loaded? Also, will those mining pipes eventually vanish on their own or will I need to remove them if I want a clear tunnel?

(7) How automation-friendly are the RoC machines in general? I haven't seen much in the videos.

(8) The description says Pitchblende spawns on mushroom islands. What's that?

 

[Xarlas]

1 I dont think so
2 Yes there is a RoC Machine that turns normal steel into HSLA steel, also you could enable in the config that RoC steel can be used in other mods
3 Yes
4 I dont think this is possible ... MAYBE with Factorization Routers if you say Block 1 into slot 1 etc
5 Im not sure what the question is
6 yes it will mine through unloaded chunks. The pipes wont vanish BUT if you left klick one alle pipes in the chunk (maybe a bit less) are cleared out
7 In general: good
8 I havent it found there (Playing Monster) but you get it when extracting coal ore. you need it for Reactorcraft

 

[Wagon153]

1. I believe the ethanol crystals can be put in a magma crucible to make ethanol. Maybe in the squeezer as well.
4: There is a config option in the rotary craft config to allow crafting of rotary craft machines in regular crafting tables, which will allow for use of it in the MAC.
8: It is uranium

 

[pderuiter]

6. technically it will load the chunk it is mining, so when finished it will load the next chunk over.

 

[Padfoote]

For retrogen, use CoFH. I've noticed that all other attempts didn't work for me.

 

[Ieldra]

Wow, fast answers for quite a few things. Thanks.

@Padfoote
I would try that....if I knew what "CoFH" was. What is it?

@Wagon153:
I know what pitchblende is. I don't know what mushroom islands are. What are they? If this is something I should know - well, I was absent from Minecraft for a considerable time and only came back a month ago. Many features added since MC's late beta phase are still unfamiliar to me.

@Xarlas:
The info on Reika's website says pitchblende spawns in the End, on mushroom islands and in the Twilight Forest. Is that information outdated?

 

[Padfoote]

Wow, fast answers for quite a few things. Thanks.

@Padfoote
I would try that....if I knew what "CoFH" was. What is it?

@Wagon153:
I know what pitchblende is. I don't know what mushroom islands are. What are they? If this is something I should know - well, I was absent from Minecraft for a considerable time and only came back a month ago. Many features added since MC's late beta phase are still unfamiliar to me.

@Xarlas:
The info on Reika's website says pitchblende spawns in the End, on mushroom islands and in the Twilight Forest. Is that information outdated?

CoFH is a mod (core mod I think) that has a world gen control built in, and that's what the packs use to control ore spawning as well as ore retro-gen. You'll need to find a config file for it (called CoFH World I believe) and add fluorite and pitchblende to its retro-gen section.

Mushroom islands are a vMC biome that spawn mooshrooms, giants mushrooms, and mycelium instead of grass.

I don't think that information will be outdated.

 

[McJty]

@Xarlas:
The info on Reika's website says pitchblende spawns in the End, on mushroom islands and in the Twilight Forest. Is that information outdated?

I have two automatic borer machines from RoC set up in the overworld and so far they have mined about 300000 smoothstone and 3 pitchblende so that gives an idea of how rare it is
But it does spawn in the overworld somewhere at least.

 

[Padfoote]

I have two automatic borer machines from RoC set up in the overworld and so far they have mined about 300000 smoothstone and 3 pitchblende so that gives an idea of how rare it is
But it does spawn in the overworld somewhere at least.

I'm pretty sure it depends on the y-value you're mining at. I went manually mining for about 20 minutes and came back with about 2 1/2 stacks of pitchblende.

 

[Pyure]

fwiw, if you mine in the twilight forest, chances are you'll get more pitchblende than you know what to do with. Unless the rarity has been modified in the last version or two.

I believe you're supposed to be able to rarely get it as a byproduct of extracting coal as well, but I could be wrong.

 

[Kirameki]

I can verify that RoC machines work with LogsticsPipes, TE ducts, and ExtraUtils. I currently have a workshop automating ore extraction, jet fuel production (incl. all components), and uranium processing. In the next few days I'll see how it works automating a pebble bed reactor.
The only trouble I've run into is that LP will on occasion forget to refill an engine until I return to the area, even though it's chunkloaded. I found this out the hard way when I tried using fluid supply to keep performance engines filled with water and came back to a nice hole in the floor and a bunch of machines missing. Generally this only happens in conjunction with BC pipe gates, though (I have it set up to turn off and not refuel an engine if the machine it's powering is empty.) My current setup has been running flawlessly for a few days, though, 12K+ buckets of jet fuel stored up.

 

[Ieldra]

Oh my....I had a look into the worldgen config files. There is no entry for pitchblende in the Reactorcraft file, only in the files for Gregtech and Meteorcraft (which I have no intention of installing). I haven't even found the block id definitions. Reactorcraft only has an entry for "rainbow fluorite". I'm in over my head trying to get retroactive worldgen to work. Maybe I should go exploring and see if the new ores generate at all.

@Kirameki:
Thanks, that's good to hear. Automated jet fuel production is a daunting proposition, however. How are you doing it? I don't even know how to get quantities of soul sand without continually moving "mining sites" in the Nether.

 

[McJty]

Oh my....I had a look into the worldgen config files. There is no entry for pitchblende in the Reactorcraft file, only in the files for Gregtech and Meteorcraft (which I have no intention of installing). I haven't even found the block id definitions. Reactorcraft only has an entry for "rainbow fluorite". I'm in over my head trying to get retroactive worldgen to work. Maybe I should go exploring and see if the new ores generate at all.

@Kirameki:
Thanks, that's good to hear. Automated jet fuel production is a daunting proposition, however. How are you doing it? I don't even know how to get quantities of soul sand without continually moving "mining sites" in the Nether.

With magical crops you can actually 'grow' a lot of the ingredients needed for jet fuel production. I haven't done it yet but it is in my todo.

 

[Kirameki]

Oh my....I had a look into the worldgen config files. There is no entry for pitchblende in the Reactorcraft file, only in the files for Gregtech and Meteorcraft (which I have no intention of installing). I haven't even found the block id definitions. Reactorcraft only has an entry for "rainbow fluorite". I'm in over my head trying to get retroactive worldgen to work. Maybe I should go exploring and see if the new ores generate at all.

@Kirameki:
Thanks, that's good to hear. Automated jet fuel production is a daunting proposition, however. How are you doing it? I don't even know how to get quantities of soul sand without continually moving "mining sites" in the Nether.

(This is Monster 1.1.1 btw.)
Ethanol Components:
Sugar: MFR sugarcane farm, currently I manually convert to sugar, this needs automating.
Dirt: Sludge>Dirt, also remnants from quarrying in TF for mazestone
Vegetable matter: Tons of leftover leaves (100k+) from another TF quarry. Could probably get this via other means if necessary.

Jet Fuel Components:
Netherrack: Sludge, tons of leftovers from nether exploration, magical crops (not automated yet)
Soul Sand: Sludge, and magical crops (not automated yet)
Magma Cream: 2xMagma Slime spawners carried over from a roguelike dungeon (I have a chamber with 27 spawners of different kinds in it and a MFR grinder. Hooray Diamond Dollies!) I just AFK there overnight sometimes.
Blaze Powder: See above (Not automated yet, since LP can't access ME's autocrafting unfortunately.)
Coal: Ore processing

Our farm is also boosted by lamps of growth (supplied by vines from said farm's jungle trees), lilypads of fertility, and blooming bees in an industrial apiary with max range/flowering (I could boost it further w/RoC but the 2 harvesters can't keep up as is! I'd try fans but I need the sludge...) The processing automation is all done via LP in a mystcraft age, linked to the overworld base's ME system (farm/spawner output) by a LP inventory connector. I use another ME in the age with fluid storage that recently hit capacity...thus why only 12K buckets, I also have 3K lubricant if I need it, but since we have the resources I just build CVTs so I don't have to constantly refill them.

 

[Xarlas]

@Ieldra
I had 2 chunks compleatly mined and got 0 Pitchblende ...
So i assumed that they dont spawn ...
maybe they dont spawn in Mystcraft worlds

 

[Ieldra]

@Kirameki:
I read only "sludge". How can you use that to get Soul Sand? Besides, is that RotaryCraft Sludge, MFR Sludge or Factorization Sludge? Can you have Blaze Spawners in the overworld? Last time I tried to bring one over it destroyed itself as soon as I set it down. As for your problem with Blaze Powder, I've been writing a ComputerCraft script that tells the ME network (via OpenPeripherals) to autocraft stuff if the stores get low - and LP can access the store. LP not being able to access AE autocrafting won't be a problem any longer. I don't have it finished yet, but I posted a piece of proof-of-concept code yesterday.

@all:
As for my worldgen, the ores do spawn in new chunks and other dimensions where applicable - I'm getting a pitchblende in the Twilight Forest and Cadmium ore and tons of fluorite in the overworld, but I don't dare change any worldgen file entries I don't understand to get the retrogen. I would try to put the new ores in the COFH custom worldgen list, but since I can't find the original definition for them I don't know how to do that.

 

[Kirameki]

@Ieldra: Sorry, I should have clarified. That's MFR sludge in the sludge boiler, it has a chance to generate things like dirt, netherrack, soul sand, and more. The sludge is generated by the MFR Harvester as a byproduct. Though, I wouldn't rely on it as a primary source since it's random and doesn't generate *that* much. Maybe if you can run a bunch for sheer volume it would work, though.
I used the blaze spawners from a roguelike dungeon, not sure about the ones from the nether though. I'll have to try transporting one to see if it survives the trip. Honestly I've yet to play with CC/OP yet, if you can do that that's pretty awesome!

 

[Ieldra]

Well....I think I'm going to need more sound mufflers. I like that these machines come with sound effects, but hearing them constantly gets on one's nerves. Does anyone know if canola seeds can be harvested and replanted by Thaumcraft golems? MFR machines don't work, RoC machines might (fan+item vacuum I think) but while I don't mind a somewhat loud workshop, I want a silent farm.

 

[Padfoote]

Well....I think I'm going to need more sound mufflers. I like that these machines come with sound effects, but hearing them constantly gets on one's nerves. Does anyone know if canola seeds can be harvested and replanted by Thaumcraft golems? MFR machines don't work, RoC machines might (fan+item vacuum I think) but while I don't mind a somewhat loud workshop, I want a silent farm.

Golems might work, but I know for a fact the fan from RotaryCraft will work. It isn't the most quiet setup though.

 

[Poupouc]

(1) I don't know but the ethanol production line is quite simple/cheap to make (requires stable supply of sugar & sapplings) :



(2) Don't think so. The Roc blast furnace is cheap as well but you'll need routers to optimize its load :



(3) Yes, also they work great with fluid & item / import & export busses from AE & ExtraCells

(4) Yes and No. No because AE does not provide external shaped crafting capability (at least not in FTB monster), No because trying to integrate these with AE through factorization routers is a pain in the ass (if someone has a working setup I'd love to see it), Yes because you can modify the config to allow any worktable receipe in the crafting table (it works in AE MAC as well), and NO because modifying this setting creates conflicts with some receipes (like Roc steel block that you'll need to build the outer shell of a ReactorCraft fission engine).

(5) Can't help you with this one

(6) Can't help you with this one

(7) Can be fully automated with AE. Works like a charm

(8) It's a rare Biome. I have a quarry in the twilight forrest : 256 x 256 => 10k pitchblend.