Magic block mods are things like farmers or the builder from rftools, a single block that does multiple actions as a single block effectively the IE multi-blocks are sort of still magic blocks they are just much larger magic blocks you still don't have any control over where or how they do the job internally that is all handled in the mod code. With redpower for say a tree farm you had to create an entire system with deployers\block breakers and I vaguely recall the best version used recycling sand to force the tree blocks where you wanted them to do the same as the farmer does when just provided with enough power, A RP frame quarry versus the RF builder, Frame Quarry - massive build project that you had to create systems for drive and for gathering, RF builder - plonk down block, set parameters, add power. As I said some do and do not like having to build systems, some prefer the plonk n' power ease I always preferred screwing around for a few hours usually mostly going... Oh FFS Y U NO WORK?? System building now seems to be more in the line of automating things, like the Botania production methods.
I think we have very different definitions of 'magic block mods'. VERY different. And I really feel that your definition is not really applicable to the things you are applying it to.
For example, IE multiblock machines don't have multiple actions as a single machine. Each machine has a single purpose. Often you need multiple machines working in tandem to achieve a goal. For example, you need the Fermentor, the Press, and the Refinery to make biodiesel, which is two 3 x 3 x 3 machines and a 3 x 5 x 3 machine, which need to get tied together somehow. That's precisely what you are touting is good about RP2, only with a larger footprint.
But if I understand what you are trying to say, you want a block that initiates a particular task, such as the Transposer or Filter pushing stuff into/out of inventories, or the Retriever which does the opposite and pulls stuff from things connected to the tubes into the inventory, or a block breaker and deployer which either places or picks up blocks; instead of a block that conducts a particular action, like chopping down a whole tree.
You want to break down what machines do by task, so it requires multiple machines working in tandem to perform a certain action. Correct?
The term 'magic block' has been bantered around quite a bit, and I think it is getting misused more and more as it becomes 'the thing to complain about' when it really isn't applicable in some of the situation it is getting used in. The definition of 'magic block' has also been shifting around to mean 'whatever I want to complain about' lately, which I don't really care for.
As a suggestion for an alternative term, try 'all-in-one machine'. For example, the Farmer machine does it all: it plants, it harvests, it politely outputs to adjacent inventory/conduit/pipe without needing to get actively pulled from and accepts input of materials similarly. It requires no planning or setup, plug and play. It doesn't just perform a single task, it effectively automates an entire action, several of them, simultaneously, with no thought or creativity on the part of the player. Which is what you dislike about EnderIO and RFTools. Am I correct?
