Another weird question, and it's pretty much a "Yes" or "No" answer I hope for (trying to avoid spoilering me too much, heh):
For base-planning and especially the planning of the main-repeater-line to connect everything you need:
- Are there more than 4 structures (including a possible connection of relays, still don't understand this system very well) which need a clear powerline for Lumen?
(trying to make the whole thing nice, but worried that in the end I have repeaters scattered everywhere to get the power to the places which need them x.x)
From where i am now, i would suggest having all 16 Colors entering your base from one side, so that you have one point (one or two multi repeaters maybe) where the colors are joined right before it goes to your constructs, so you can add a buffer at this point. As for them, they are quite a few of them, so you might want to plan a central "powerline" running into several rooms. Also, you might want an area dedicated to constructs which use the alternate power systems. However, i have not completely progressed the endgame as well, so no warranty to that.
Also remember that you can transmit relay power without a line of sight...need something special to manage it, but I'll leave that to your imagination.
From where i am now, i would suggest having all 16 Colors entering your base from one side, so that you have one point (one or two multi repeaters maybe) where the colors are joined right before it goes to your constructs, so you can add a buffer at this point. As for them, they are quite a few of them, so you might want to plan a central "powerline" running into several rooms. Also, you might want an area dedicated to constructs which use the alternate power systems. However, i have not completely progressed the endgame as well, so no warranty to that.
As far as I know (though I'm just about to get to the endgame myself), Multi-Aura Repeaters have a lot more loss than single ones, so this may not be the best solution efficiency wise.
I don't think you will ever notice a difference when using only one or two, and the main concern with them is that using then too often will cripple performance.
I've built the pylon casting complex, but I don't think my table is sufficiently leveled up to be able to use the new structure. What should I craft for it to level up and let me craft with lumen energy?
I'm amazed how people manage to not get their tables leveled way before they get the next casting complex tier.
Just craft all that small, quite usefull stuff you can.
Heh, I've actually never had this problem, although this is the first time I've actually gotten this far.
I originally picked up Chromaticraft because Dye Trees and Ender Forest got discontinued and absorbed into it, and I had those two for cheap and plentiful lapis, bone meal, and resonate ender, because I'm lazy. It's fun though, and I'm excited to keep moving forward, and see this Dimension people keep talking about.
From where i am now, i would suggest having all 16 Colors entering your base from one side, so that you have one point (one or two multi repeaters maybe) where the colors are joined right before it goes to your constructs, so you can add a buffer at this point. As for them, they are quite a few of them, so you might want to plan a central "powerline" running into several rooms. Also, you might want an area dedicated to constructs which use the alternate power systems. However, i have not completely progressed the endgame as well, so no warranty to that.
That about "one powerline that enters my chromaticraft area" was actually my plan, just I fear that splitting this line up for the different machines will make a huge mess of scattered repeaters.
Another question in this matter:
- Is the crafting-complex the only structure that needs repeaters on all four sides to work, so are most like the ritual-altar that you have one block that all repeaters aim at?
And I already try to avoid multirepeaters as much as possible, after hearing that they can draw on performance alot more than the one colored one ( might try some of these "stacked" repeaters I saw in Reika's base-tour, if they still work. So like two or three repeaters just built on top of each other)
Guess in the end I just have to play it more and see what I end up with structure-wise and then have to change the layout all over again. Have to build most things anyways just to see how they work and then decide where to put them. (hope there is none that you build and cannot move again...)
The one time I tried to automate crystal seeds, the elemental farmer worked quite well, although its fan-shape area of effect was a bit unusual to work with. For gathering I just used a hopperhock from botania hooked up to a chest (which was itself hooked up to a extra utilities trash can with a filter to only void excess seeds). It worked pretty well, but I only automated a single seed color.
This time through I did get stuck at the casting complex for a little while, but the altar eventually upgraded while making the crystal repeaters cause you need quite a few of those to connect all 16 colors.
Regarding connecting the complex, ritual table, etc, I use multi-aura repeaters at 2 corners of the casting complex. This way I don't have to worry about which direction a color comes in on to be able to reach its corresponding repeater that's in the complex, and as long as the other structures are reasonably close to the complex, everything is good.
@Brian_E
Ah thanks alot for the advice about the multi-aura repeaters in this situation.
Was so focused on "Don't use them too much cause it's bad for the performance" that I already thought about not using a single one ^^" but I guess one or two should be fine (unless I find a nice way to just push the 16 color-repeaters around so they look good in the base, heh).
One more question to this:
I guess it's best to put the lumen-tree... or how the giant battery for Lumen is called again (I always mess up names, ugh) somewhere inside the main-powerline of repeaters or is it better to put it somewhere at the side that it's kinda like a back-up-battery?
(so pretty much: should the main powerline go 'through' the tree or better keep it clear)
I'm actually not sure on that. I'd thought the lumen tree worked as a battery, but last time I set it up (which was just like everything else; connected to the multi-aura relays on the casting complex), things didn't quite work how I thought they would. You can't really tell 'direction' when your lumens are flowing, so I couldn't be sure what was happening when I tried to 'use' lumens (if they were flowing from pylons into both complex AND tree, or what)
From what i have gathered, the Lumen tree needs to be put bewtween the pyloons and the devices. it Draws from the Pylon and acts as new source. You see that in the number popping up when right-clicking a Repeater.
Alright, thank you!
Guess need to plan this into the line, too then... or stop the line a bit early to have space for the tree.
Ugh, hate planning when I don't know 'what' I need to plan into the planning, hehe.
Crystal repeaters, be they regular, multi-aura, beacons, or their turbo-charged flavours, should treat lumen trees as a source of power much like a pylon. I don't know if any preference is given to one or the other in the network, but it might not be a terrible idea to build your tree somewhere where you can cut off its power supply, if need be. In the earlier parts after you unlock it, the tree can be something of a hungry beast; once you get the point of producing the power crystals needed to boost all your pylons (and, for various reasons, you will want to boost all of them), you can leave it as an always-on part of your network. Til then, its best to treat them kinda like RoC hydrokinetic engines: only keep it on when you need/want to buffer power and don't mind your pylons dipping low in their power reserves.
Guess I will just wait with buiilding the tree then until the pylons are charged (still a long way to go). Unless I need to build it first to progress... in that case I just build it to progress and disassmble it then until I need it, heh.
This is really not needed. If you play on a server, just build the tree and let it charge overnight. If not, nuilt it and go do something else. While the tree of course drains the pylons, the energy is stored, so if you need Lumen for Crafting or something else, just use the tree. Of course, if would be better if it was possible to limit the Pylon drain of the Tree (I asked about a Pylon Capacity readout some time ago), but it works like it is.
I have a feature request. When looking at the recipe for an item in the lexicon, if one of the crafting materials is also known in the lexicon, clicking on it should bring you to that item's recipe. For example, when looking at the recipe for a crystal repeater, you could click the crystal core it needs to open the crafting recipe for the crystal core.
Nope. At the bottom is a layer of Shielding rock, or whatever it's called. Digging down into it reveals a layer of Lifewater, and below that, another layer of Shielding rock, only this layer is unbreakable. Digging around it only leads to bedrock.
You were on the right track earlier with blowing things up. The exit is at the very deepest point you can reach.
And don't worry if you think you're about to do something stupid; if you die in the Chroma dimension, you will not lose any of your items, research, or stored lumens.
I've built the pylon casting complex, but I don't think my table is sufficiently leveled up to be able to use the new structure. What should I craft for it to level up and let me craft with lumen energy?
You'll want to craft "core" items, such as crystalline stone, runes, and crystal groups. Other items have diminishing returns where crafting them repeatedly gives less XP each time; the core items do not do that.
If you have no shortage of crystal shards, make a bunch of crystal clusters. That's always worked well for me, when I accidentally break my casting table in Creative mode.
That about "one powerline that enters my chromaticraft area" was actually my plan, just I fear that splitting this line up for the different machines will make a huge mess of scattered repeaters.
Another question in this matter:
- Is the crafting-complex the only structure that needs repeaters on all four sides to work, so are most like the ritual-altar that you have one block that all repeaters aim at?
And I already try to avoid multirepeaters as much as possible, after hearing that they can draw on performance alot more than the one colored one ( might try some of these "stacked" repeaters I saw in Reika's base-tour, if they still work. So like two or three repeaters just built on top of each other)
Guess in the end I just have to play it more and see what I end up with structure-wise and then have to change the layout all over again. Have to build most things anyways just to see how they work and then decide where to put them. (hope there is none that you build and cannot move again...)
There are only a few large constructs that need lumen energy (discounting the energy foci that come in 16 flavors, although they are not required for progression AFAIK), although there are quite a few single blocks that use it as well. If you hold Shift in your inventory (or in NEI), ChC blocks that use lumens will show an icon depicting how they must be powered, whether from the repeater network directly, by the relay system, with the Atmospheric Lumen Distributor doohickey, or using a storage crystal.
Also, just an FYI, multi-aura repeaters only cause a performance penalty in case of a branching network, as the network manager must go down each branch until it finds a source. A long, unbranching line of multi-aura repeaters will not cause performance issues, although it will cause more attenuation than a line of normal repeaters. Most of the time, you're best off with a few multi-auras near your base and lines of ordinary, colored repeaters reaching out to your pylons. If you've got many colors that must travel in parallel a very long distance, such as if your base is set up on an island in a large ocean, your best bet may be to build a pair of lumen beacons. I don't know how much attenuation those things have, but in any case, they sure are expensive.
Thank you for the hints
I always only noticed the little color-symbols when pressing... ctrl I think and never the "what powers them" symbols until now.
About the multi-aura-repeaters - this is still a bit confusing, my mind blows up every few new items I test in the mod *laughs*:
- Getting all 16 colors into one "Gathering"-place, e.g. like 60 blocks away from my base, and then use one line of multi-aura-repeaters to bring them all together into the base, would that already count as "unbranched" network?
I'm still not really plan to use them too much, but knowing about this (un)branch difference sure helps alot. Not that the 32 blocks range is a problem with powering machines, just still working out a nice layout for the casting complex, where the "line of sight"-aspect of the network can be tricky, heh. Especially when I still not really know how "Multiblock besides Multiblock" resistent the multiblocks are.
Like, I already have seen that you can stack the repeaters on top of each other (unless that was changed) but putting two right beside each other, so they touch in their full height, does that break the network or is it fine... so much to test.
Is there a way to completely copy over progression from one world to another? I play on a server, and I'd like to be able to test things in a single player world upto my current research level, without spoiling the rest of the mod. Would it be as simple as just copying the world save?
