Blood Magic in 1.8+: Item Routing Network
The old item shuffle
The old item shuffle
Today we will be covering the item routing system implemented in Blood Magic 2. We will assume that you're already familiar with the basics so we don't have to go over everything many times.
What it is and what it isn't
- This is NOT Applied Energistics2/Refined Storage. It is strictly item routing. It can move stuff, but it cannot do all the crazy things these storage systems can do, and has no item storage in and of itself
- This IS a short-range wireless item routing system. No pipes, no ducts, no tubes, no wiring... as long as the crystals are in range, it just plain works.
- It CAN be used to do primitive sorting with inventories
- It CAN be used in the automation of certain tasks where you want items routed into or out of inventories.
- It CANNOT be used to both insert and extract from the same face
Creating your Routing Network
You're going to need a Master Routing Node for any item routing network, which means you will need a Tier 3 altar before you can begin, because no only does it require a minimum of 400 will in the Demon Altar (meaning Common Tartaric Gem, which needs an Imbued Slate), but it also requires an Imbued Slate as a component. JEI should be able to give you the recipe fairly easily.
Now you are going to need nodes, which are where the magic happens.
* A Routing Node doesn't do anything itself, but does allow a connection through it. This is useful if you are routing things a longer distance, and need intermediary nodes to bridge the gap. It is also the crafting component of the other two nodes.
* An Input Routing Node is just that: it pulls from the adjacent inventory and puts it in the item network. It can pull from ANY inventory it is adjacent to. So if it is in the middle of four chests, it can pull from all four of them.
* An Output Routing Node, as you might expect, does the opposite: it puts something from the item network to an adjacent inventory.
Filtering
There are several filters you can use to fine-tune your network. Filters are applied per facing. So if you had a node with four chests surrounding it, you could have each one filtering a different item or set of items if you so choose.
You can also set minimum/maximum numbers as well. For example, on an Output Routing Node, you can say 'keep x of this item in this inventory at all times', and it will do so. If there is more, it won't do anything, because it is an output node, not an input node.
* Specific Filter. It filters for that specific item only. For example, you only want to pull Blank Slates from an inventory. Put on the input filter, it can be used to pull out more than the requisite number, or can simply be used to pull any of them from the inventory. for output, you can either have it accept however many it has space for, or you can set a specific number of that item to keep filled in the inventory.
* Mod Filter. It will pull/push only items from that mod. So, for example, if you have a blank slate as the target, it will pull or push any item from Blood Magic, but not from Quark.
Putting it all together
Let's set up a basic system for automating runes, since this is a royal pain in the backside to do.
First, you have your Input Inventory. This can be a chest with Stone, or you can set up an ME Interface from AE2 or an Interface from RF to keep Stone supplied. This chest has an Input Routing Node set to only pull Stone, but as much as you like.
Then you have your Master Node set somewhere.
Then you have an output node adjacent to your Blood Altar, including underneath. Have it set to output exactly ONE stone to the blood altar. Because remember, the altar will accept tons of stone, but having more than one in there will cause... issues.
Now you have an input node on your blood altar, adjacent to it on a different facing. Have it set to pull Blank Slates, Reinforced Slates, and Imbued Slates. Have your 'output' chest with an Output Node with a specific filter set to output exactly... say 32 of each Blank Slates, Reinforced Slates, and Imbued Slates.
Now what will happen is the system will pull a stone into the Blood Altar. Assuming there is less than 32 Blank Slates, it will remove the blank slate immediately. If there is 32 blank slates already in the output chest, it will sit there, and begin the process of being turned into a Reinforced Slate. Now, if there are less than 32 Reinforced Slates, it will pull it out immediately, otherwise it will leave it alone, and will start the process of upgrading to an Imbued Slate.
This process can be continued as long as you have a steady blood supply (such as from a Well of Suffering ritual) to fully automate the production of slates of varying sizes. I simply used a half stack as an example, you can request as many or as little as you like. However, I do not believe the output node will recognize how many slates are in an ME or RS network, even if it is adjacent to the Interface, so you will need something like a chest (or series of storage drawers with a Drawer Controller) and a Storage Bus to get this to work properly.
In Conclusion
This was written because someone had requested it. The item routing system is simple, but effective, and wireless, but short ranged. This gives it limited usage for the automation of certain picky things like Blood Magic or Botania, but probably isn't going to be able to work as your primary sorting system for your main storage.
