DW20 1.10 pack (latest update) Can't find Lapis.. anywhere :(

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Well, technically speaking.. EnderIO Farm stations require a little bit of management, the really simple farming block is the one from 'Actually Additions'... it just 'works', all on its own, smart enough to not overfarm seeds, whilst leaving enough room to harvest canola. Mine's been running for a fortnight now (chunkloaded) and i've never had to fiddle with it.

I think the farming block in 'Actually Addition's actually meets the definition of 'magic block' nicely.

Personally, i'm fine with it, mine just farms canola for power.

More complex farms might present a challenge to it.

-Wuffle!

Interface (either IC2 or RS) with crafting upgrade set up to provide and auto-crafting of hoes elsewhere in your network will solve that problem. It'll take all the produce and extra seeds at the same time.

 

[Inaeo]

Well, technically speaking.. EnderIO Farm stations require a little bit of management, the really simple farming block is the one from 'Actually Additions'... it just 'works', all on its own, smart enough to not overfarm seeds, whilst leaving enough room to harvest canola. Mine's been running for a fortnight now (chunkloaded) and i've never had to fiddle with it.

I think the farming block in 'Actually Addition's actually meets the definition of 'magic block' nicely.

Personally, i'm fine with it, mine just farms canola for power.

More complex farms might present a challenge to it.

-Wuffle!

The one balancing factor of the AA Farmer I power consumption. From there numbers I've seen so far, the AA Farmer uses considerably more power per operation than its competitors. The benefits are obvious if you have the power to spare, and since AA offers ways to make power using the Farmer to provide fuel, it usually solves itself

 

[Vaeliorin]

But it doesn't have a constant power draw like the Ender IO farming station. Granted, you can have it harvesting so fast it doesn't really make a difference (I grew 1000 potatoes from a 9X9 farm in about half an hour the other day because I needed 10 poison potatoes) but without some significant growth increasers I'd say it's generally cheaper to run per time period than a farming station (but can't farm as large an area or handle multiple crops...and I have no idea if it will handle trees...)

 

[WTFFFS]

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?

Yeah I enjoy creating a complex system to perform a task, have to admit that some of the time I do just want a metric fuckton of X item so the less complex option is welcome. I was incorrect about IE though as you pointed out, however what is your definition of a "magic block" since there is clearly a very different definition on your side, fairly sure I've had this discussion on this board before, heh might even have been with you?
I mean to me if I have a single block here that is breaking an entire tree, collecting all the drops, putting them into some method of storage and replanting 12 blocks away with no physical connection at all, that seems to be almost the textbook definition of magic to me.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Yeah I enjoy creating a complex system to perform a task, have to admit that some of the time I do just want a metric fuckton of X item so the less complex option is welcome. I was incorrect about IE though as you pointed out, however what is your definition of a "magic block" since there is clearly a very different definition on your side, fairly sure I've had this discussion on this board before, heh might even have been with you?
I mean to me if I have a single block here that is breaking an entire tree, collecting all the drops, putting them into some method of storage and replanting 12 blocks away with no physical connection at all, that seems to be almost the textbook definition of magic to me.

I don't really use the term 'magic block', because it means so many different things to different people, and has been so misused in so many ways that it's just not accurate terminology, regardless of how you use it.

Having said that, I tend to use phrases like 'all in one block' or 'do what you want and get away with it', if I'm being snarky. It gets the same message across in a much clearer manner. It does too much for what one block should.

This is actually getting me tempted to pull up Eclipse and see if I can figure out Java with the help of a few tutorials. Probably start small and work up to a basic machines mod. Very similar in concept to the RP2 machines. Instead of doing everything, they each perform a single action in a consistent and predictable manner. Use an item on adjacent block, pull item out of adjacent inventory, push item to adjacent inventory, upgraded block to do so only for specific items (whitelist or blacklist), place block into adjacent square, break block in adjacent square. I probably won't be able to do the sorting machine functionality because that would mean re-creating the tube system which is going to be beyond my capabilities.

And actually, when I look at the mod, the more I realize that Thermal Dynamics did exactly this. I knew there was a reason I really liked that mod, but I didn't understand really why until just now. Think about it. A servo is basically your Transposer, it pulls items out of the adjacent inventory. Higher tier servos act like a Filter, same thing but more of them and you can tell it which ones. Retrievers functioned as the machine of the same name, with the added advantage of Supply Pipe functionality with Signalum or Enderium quality. You'd only really need a Block Placer (with potentially a 'filter' upgrade to turn it into an Assembler), and Block Breaker and you'd have the functionality of all the machines in RP2.