Are peat bogs only supposed to generate one layer?

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Warpainter

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Jul 29, 2019
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Sorry for the newblet question. I read the wiki and it stated it maintains a 10 block deep area. But mine is only giving me one layer. Is that how it works or am I doing something wrong?
 

Antice

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Jul 29, 2019
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That is how it works.
What is meant by 10 block deep area, is that this is the size of area it clears when you first turn it on. it does not maintain multiple layers of peat.
A single trubary otoh can and will harvest multiple layers of peat if available.
All of the farms do this tho, so for some of the farms. like the pumpkin,melon, cactus, and reeds, you can manually build your farm, and then only use the appropriate harvesting machine to maximize your output without any further work on your part. you can even combine melon and pumpkin in a single multi level farm and get a huge output this way. Seedoil madness i tell ya. especially with melons.
 

Warpainter

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Jul 29, 2019
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Thanks for the quick answer! New to forestry but have to say it kicks ass. A follow-up question if I may trouble you. Which farm is the most efficient one in generating IC2 Gregtech EU? Mindcrack pack. I read somewhere you can use biogas or biofuel in some of the new machines
 

Rikki21

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Jul 29, 2019
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The Bio Generator. Takes biofuel and turns it into EU.
It produces 8000 EU at 8 EU/t when running on Biomass or 32,000 EU per bucket at 16 EU/t when running on Biofuel.

Make sure you read the Forestry wiki! It will help a bunch.

As for which farm is most efficient for EU...well saplings provide more per bucket, but I think I've heard people say sugarcane is better because it grows faster? I'm not 100% on that.
 

Bagman817

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Jul 29, 2019
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What Rikki said. However, go down the Biofuel path only if it sounds like an interesting to explore. There are MANY more efficient/effective methods to generate EU.
 

Antice

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Jul 29, 2019
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Fastest/easiest to set up EU production is the peat bog actually. since you only need one farm, and that one can supply it's own peat fired engine with fuel as well as a huge surplus of peat you can burn in a generator for eu's. the drawback is that it consumes a LOT of sand.
The most efficient EU producer is a farm/treefarm combo. use wheat from the farm to make the fertilizer for the treefarm. excess saplings for biofuel, and excess logs for charcoal.
It's a LOT more work to set up, and it takes 2 farms. but it makes additional products for you, like wood/charcoal, and food. you will never be short on bread again. i promise ;)

The treefarm also produces one block of sand per tree grown, so it effectively turns dirt into sand, you can revert this by adding a peat bog as well, but the bog will run at a low efficiency since there won't be enough sand made to run it full speed. (you might not want to run it full speed either... at full speed it makes tonnes of peat you might not need due to the productivity of the other setup)
the other way to get infinite dirt is to use excess wheat to make plantballs, and then macerate those into dirt. you get far too much wheat anyway, so this is actually a good way to just get rid of some of that excess.

I'm building this latter setup myself in my current mindcrack world, and it's a really good setup, albeit challenging to set up correctly due to not having logistics pipes as part of the pack... (lp pipes were expensive, but divine when it came to inventory management systems)
 

Zaik

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Jul 29, 2019
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If you're going to make a generator to run off of biofuel i'd recommend the gregtech diesel generator instead of the forestry one. It accepts biofuel and generates the same amount of energy per bucket(although it only generates 8 eu/t instead of 16), but it can also use buildcraft fuel to generate 384k eu/bucket once you've moved on to that. Holds 10 buckets, so that's kind of like sticking 38.4m worth of eu into one engine.(though again it's limited to 8 eu/t output).

They're also pretty cheap. 1 generator, 5 refined iron, and 2 electronic circuits per diesel generator.
 

Antice

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Jul 29, 2019
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If you're going to make a generator to run off of biofuel i'd recommend the gregtech diesel generator instead of the forestry one. It accepts biofuel and generates the same amount of energy per bucket(although it only generates 8 eu/t instead of 16), but it can also use buildcraft fuel to generate 384k eu/bucket once you've moved on to that. Holds 10 buckets, so that's kind of like sticking 38.4m worth of eu into one engine.(though again it's limited to 8 eu/t output).

They're also pretty cheap. 1 generator, 5 refined iron, and 2 electronic circuits per diesel generator.

I prefer the higher EU/sec of the biofuel generator myself, and it is easier to craft since it is not a gregtech item. I strongly advice to use the build-craft refinery for the biomass to biofuel conversion however since that is way more efficient than using the forestry version for making biofuel. (as opposed to biomass witch is also burnable to eu's in the biogen)
the advantage of the biogen is that it allows for eu production from these farms even before you have invested in the rather expensive refinery for conversion. so it's a bit more easy to expand the operation without wasting the biogen from the early setup. you just change it's fuel input accordingly.

Now if you have plenty of oil otoh, and you can afford to shell out for the refinery early on, then the petrogen mod's generator is good to have. easy to craft, and cheap enough to not worry about wasting it if you want to upgrade to the gregtech one later. it's also a very mobile generator in that it can take wax based fuel cells. perfect for those remote mining op's with IC miners.
 

MilConDoin

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Jul 29, 2019
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I strongly advice to use the build-craft refinery for the biomass to biofuel conversion however since that is way more efficient than using the forestry version for making biofuel.
The last time I checked (granted, this was in FTB BETA A), the forestry version (the still) was more efficient than the refinery. The still produced 3 buckets of biofuel for 10 buckets of biomass. The refinery only produced 2.5 buckets per 10. The plus of the refinery was the speed though, since it was twice as fast (for twice the MJ/sec, meaning same total MJ cost per 10 buckets biomass).
So: Still for efficiency (20% more biofuel per biomass), refinery for speed (twice the speed).
 

Antice

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Jul 29, 2019
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The last time I checked (granted, this was in FTB BETA A), the forestry version (the still) was more efficient than the refinery. The still produced 3 buckets of biofuel for 10 buckets of biomass. The refinery only produced 2.5 buckets per 10. The plus of the refinery was the speed though, since it was twice as fast (for twice the MJ/sec, meaning same total MJ cost per 10 buckets biomass).
So: Still for efficiency (20% more biofuel per biomass), refinery for speed (twice the speed).

Got to do some testing then i guess.
the current ratios from the wiki is 10:3 for the still, and 4:1 for the refinery. So you are right.
I was still thinking with the old ratios it was 4:1 for the still, and then 2:1 for the refinery. It was changed quite a while ago too it seems, but I can't say i had really noticed.. I usually have such a huge surplus that it probably didn't matter to me. But looking at it. it got a rather severe output cut last summer. more than halving the output of fuel from the biomass... i suspect that the conversion might actually not be as worthwhile as it used to be anymore. Got to recalculate how much fuel is used up in the conversion, and how many MJ's that represent.

edit:
Ah. Why not just add the calcs here since i am at it and curious about the effect this change had on my old setup.

1 bucket of biofuel is equal to 200K MJ
1 bucket of biomass is worth 50k MJ
at the 4:1 ratio for the still, 4*50K=200K worth of biomass converted to a single 200k worth biofuel bucket.
MJ's got used int he process. so that is indeed a net loss. it's a wonder i didn't really notice such an enourmous hit on productivity.. altho i have to admit.. that still was fed by 4 fermenters, and the entire line tended to get backlogged a lot due to there always beign surplus fuel being made.... i never needed that much energy in the first place after all.

At the more favourable 10:3 ratio we consume 10*50=500K worth of biomass to make 3*200k=600K worth of biofuel. I suspect once you factor in the MJ's used up in the conversion, then it's probably a marginal gain or loss... So not really worth it either anymore. I guess the still is only for the convenience of using the less voluminous biofuel as a easier transportable liquid or as a higher output path to save on the number of biogenerators needed to power a given amount of machines.
 

MilConDoin

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Jul 29, 2019
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At the more favourable 10:3 ratio we consume 10*50=500K worth of biomass to make 3*200k=600K worth of biofuel. I suspect once you factor in the MJ's used up in the conversion, then it's probably a marginal gain or loss... So not really worth it either anymore. I guess the still is only for the convenience of using the less voluminous biofuel as a easier transportable liquid or as a higher output path to save on the number of biogenerators needed to power a given amount of machines.
Let's use the numbers from http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/what-does-your-power-room-look-like.2129/page-9#post-51099.
100k gain - ~26k usage = 74k gain from the conversion biomass->biofuel.
Also: Biomass uses a bit of lava on each restart of the engine, while biofuel always works. Biofuel is also usable in a RailCraft boiler.
 

Antice

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Let's use the numbers from http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/what-does-your-power-room-look-like.2129/page-9#post-51099.
100k gain - ~26k usage = 74k gain from the conversion biomass->biofuel.
Also: Biomass uses a bit of lava on each restart of the engine, while biofuel always works. Biofuel is also usable in a RailCraft boiler.

And combustion engines. don't forget those. so yeah. it can be worth it on the higher energy density alone. the non renewable resources needed for the extra machinery for getting the same amount of mj's from the less dense biomass. but there is no longer any worthwhile energy gain to talk about anymore. (relatively speaking. 74k gain is not nothing, but compared to what it used to be it's just peanuts).
 

TruculentMC

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Jul 29, 2019
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To get the most EUs out of any fuel, it's pretty much always best to burn it in a Railcraft Boiler, then turn the MJ into EU via Magma Crucible to make lava to power Thermal Generator. Of course, it takes a not-insubstantial amount of infrastructure to do this, but once the up-front cost is paid there's practically no operating cost other than the fuel input.
 

KriiEiter

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Jul 29, 2019
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Fastest/easiest to set up EU production is the peat bog actually. since you only need one farm, and that one can supply it's own peat fired engine with fuel as well as a huge surplus of peat you can burn in a generator for eu's. the drawback is that it consumes a LOT of sand.
The most efficient EU producer is a farm/treefarm combo. use wheat from the farm to make the fertilizer for the treefarm. excess saplings for biofuel, and excess logs for charcoal.
It's a LOT more work to set up, and it takes 2 farms. but it makes additional products for you, like wood/charcoal, and food. you will never be short on bread again. i promise ;)

The treefarm also produces one block of sand per tree grown, so it effectively turns dirt into sand, you can revert this by adding a peat bog as well, but the bog will run at a low efficiency since there won't be enough sand made to run it full speed. (you might not want to run it full speed either... at full speed it makes tonnes of peat you might not need due to the productivity of the other setup)
the other way to get infinite dirt is to use excess wheat to make plantballs, and then macerate those into dirt. you get far too much wheat anyway, so this is actually a good way to just get rid of some of that excess.

I'm building this latter setup myself in my current mindcrack world, and it's a really good setup, albeit challenging to set up correctly due to not having logistics pipes as part of the pack... (lp pipes were expensive, but divine when it came to inventory management systems)

All you need is an igneous extruder (infinite cobble gen) and a pulverizer accepting that cobble (sand). Set it up with a peat fired engine running off your peat bog and you get free sand (more than you need for the bog actually), and you can set up an auto-crafting table with a dispenser under it with a bucket in it and infinite water supply in front of it, and it's SUPER easy to make an auto peat farm then since you can auto-make bog earth.
 

Antice

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Jul 29, 2019
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All you need is an igneous extruder (infinite cobble gen) and a pulverizer accepting that cobble (sand). Set it up with a peat fired engine running off your peat bog and you get free sand (more than you need for the bog actually), and you can set up an auto-crafting table with a dispenser under it with a bucket in it and infinite water supply in front of it, and it's SUPER easy to make an auto peat farm then since you can auto-make bog earth.

A vanilla cobble gen with a block breaker from RP2 does the exact same thing as the extruder. and it's cheaper to boot.
A macerator can easily stand in for the pulverizer, and so can the railcraft rock crusher. altho the crusher is more expensive to build, and it has a slightly different processing path.
namely cobble to gravel(and flint) and then onto sand by putting it back into the grinder. (with a 1% chance to get diamonds as a byproduct).

All of these paths are equally valid if you want to be cheaty and use cobble gens.
Now consider this. why would you want to use a cobblegen on a normal map? you are going to be practically drowning in it anyhow. Trefarms already turn dirt into sand, and you are likely to want one anyway since you are going to want wood and charcoal at any rate. Peat was never meant to be a end all energy source.
 

Whovian

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Jul 29, 2019
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All you need is an igneous extruder (infinite cobble gen) and a pulverizer accepting that cobble (sand). Set it up with a peat fired engine running off your peat bog and you get free sand (more than you need for the bog actually), and you can set up an auto-crafting table with a dispenser under it with a bucket in it and infinite water supply in front of it, and it's SUPER easy to make an auto peat farm then since you can auto-make bog earth.

Hmm, can't buckets not stack, meaning they're useless for Autocrafting Tables? Oh. Wait. Autocrafting tables can draw from adjacent inventories.

But then how do you get rid of the empty buckets so they don't clog up your space? And only the empty ones, you don't want to eject the full ones. RP2 ... whatever those things that eject different stuff depending on what colour Redstone signal they get?
 

TheLoneWolfling

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Jul 29, 2019
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Trefarms already turn dirt into sand, and you are likely to want one anyway since you are going to want wood and charcoal at any rate.

Agreed on the second point, but I disagree with the first point. A steve's carts woodcutter is cheaper to build infastructure-wise and doesn't require any inputs once it gets going.

Also, it is currently more efficient to run wood through a sawmill than it is to turn it into charcoal.
 

danidas

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Jul 29, 2019
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Hmm, can't buckets not stack, meaning they're useless for Autocrafting Tables? Oh. Wait. Autocrafting tables can draw from adjacent inventories.

But then how do you get rid of the empty buckets so they don't clog up your space? And only the empty ones, you don't want to eject the full ones. RP2 ... whatever those things that eject different stuff depending on what colour Redstone signal they get?

The auto crafting table will treat the bucket of water the same as any other non stacking item and auto draw them from a adjacent inventory. Which would be the deployer in his setup and once it is done with the bucket it will eject it back into the adjacent inventory to be refilled. All that is needed is a redstone signal to trigger the deployer to refill it which can easily be supplied by a timer.
 

KriiEiter

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Jul 29, 2019
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A vanilla cobble gen with a block breaker from RP2 does the exact same thing as the extruder. and it's cheaper to boot.
A macerator can easily stand in for the pulverizer, and so can the railcraft rock crusher. altho the crusher is more expensive to build, and it has a slightly different processing path.
namely cobble to gravel(and flint) and then onto sand by putting it back into the grinder. (with a 1% chance to get diamonds as a byproduct).

All of these paths are equally valid if you want to be cheaty and use cobble gens.
Now consider this. why would you want to use a cobblegen on a normal map? you are going to be practically drowning in it anyhow. Trefarms already turn dirt into sand, and you are likely to want one anyway since you are going to want wood and charcoal at any rate. Peat was never meant to be a end all energy source.

I was meaning it in the pack I use (which includes Gregtech), so the macerator is more expensive and you'd have to have EU and MJ energy for the one system then, and pulverizers auto-output their blocks which is also nice.

And I don't consider a cobble gen to be cheaty since it's a game mechanic they purposely added to vanilla anyways. Yes the igneous extruder is easier, since it does it automatically, but isn't that what tech mods are about?
 

Antice

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Jul 29, 2019
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I was meaning it in the pack I use (which includes Gregtech), so the macerator is more expensive and you'd have to have EU and MJ energy for the one system then, and pulverizers auto-output their blocks which is also nice.

And I don't consider a cobble gen to be cheaty since it's a game mechanic they purposely added to vanilla anyways. Yes the igneous extruder is easier, since it does it automatically, but isn't that what tech mods are about?

It's more expensive when gretech is enabled in hardmode, and TE isn't. but they have similar costs when gregtech and TE are both on/off hardmode.
At least the infinite sand exploit where you compressed a single sand block into a sandstone block and got 2 sand and a chance at niter out when you pulverized the sandstone block has been removed.

Just because something was added by notch himself back in alpha days doesn't mean that it cannot be seen as a cheaty mechanic. it's a sandbox game after all. YMMV. I consider a lot of things cheaty that most others might not. It also varies by circumstance. I never use cobble-gens in normal survival gameplay. It feels cheaty to me.
If you have a sky-block survival map type of thing going, then ofc. it becomes a necessary mechanic in order to allow you to grow your little sky-block island into something bigger. It doesn't feel cheaty then. It becomes a part of how it is supposed to be played.

Cobble gen's is only one of several ways you can make new blocks from nothing in FTB (or vanilla mc for that matter).
basically all of the basic ground type blocks except marble and basalt are renewable with the help of the ol macerator and a couple of farms and a cobble gen. (clay requires a centrifuge, but still doable)