[Extra Utilities Pipes] How do I sanely use those?

[Pinkishu]

So yeah, they sound nice in concept but due to having some lacks like a better filter pipe or something that filter which things are allowed to be inserted or a filter pipe for liquids or a restrictive pipe that would only let certain types pass (so only energy or only liquids or only energy and liquids)

I tried making a testcase: 3 Portable tank stacks with steam, fuel and lava
a Steam Oven
a chest with pulverised dusts
another empty portable tank beyond the intersection to steam oven
and a chest beyond the steam oven to put the ingots into

so, first issue, filter pipes only allow one item per side, so I don't quite want to make a block of them to filter out the correct items..
Oh right, lets use MFR's Item Router.. oh wait now liquids can't go through the pipes so i have to run pipes under it...
ok, but now the items can not only go into the item router but since it searches the whole network and you can't say "only put stuff into here and stop going"

Ok, so lets put a filter pipe and just stick some unused item in all exits (since they dont seem to filter liquids or energy everything except items will pass through that then, and just the items through the router

And now the whole piping system is sooo large that it takes forever to get steam to the steam oven and such :/

My other idea would be running the pipes from the input to the output directly, putting an item router at the output chest which only accepts ingots and an item/liquid router on the sides of the pipes that route the dusts and steam to the steam oven, the issue here being, if it would e.g. be squeezer, it needs power, I can't only route power through the pipes though and making a RS/cell thingy just for that each time would be expensive

so my main issues are:

• Filter pipes dont seem to have enough slots to effectively filter items into one direction
• Can't effectively restrict which items are put into a thingy
• Can't filter liquids
• Can't restrict pipes to a specific usage (e.g. only let energy and liquids pass through, or only items and liquids, etc)
• Can't tell the system to stop searching and insert in first/nearest inventory only or such

(Disclaimer: I'm not whining, I really like the basic idea of these pipes, just there seem to be a few caveats that make them rather hard to use; or maybe i'm just doing something wrongly, but then you people can tell me )

 

[Redweevil]

I haven't gotten into using them properly just yet, just a quick test to see if it'd be possible to build a Block Smasher tunnel bore, but I believe there's a type of pipe that'll only insert items into an inventory where the item already exists, so no need for item routers.

I do wonder why you feel the new to sort your liquids as most tanks only accept one at a time, no split inventories. So I really don't see the worth in that

While I can't really see the use of restriction pipes as of now, that could be something to suggest to the modded as something like that exists within other pipe systems so it makes sense.

Hope that helps (at least a bit)

 

[BigBrother_]

1 ) you can put an item filter in the filter pipe, they can filter up to nine items
2 ) if you put a sorting pipe on the invetory you're aiming at, with specified item in sais inventory or use an filter pipe
3 ) machines only accept certain types of liquids( fermenter,ect) and tanks should always be filled with specified liquids
4 ) does it matter ?
5 ) put speed upgrades on transfer nodes should be fast enough

 

[Pinkishu]

Personally I find filter pipes rather useless except for a sorting room, because.. .well my machines will process items put into them, so items wont stay there to say "only allow me in here"

1) nope, item filters only go on the nodes that pull items out here EDIT: ok, just got what you mean, you can stick the item filter into the slot in the sorting pipe ^^ makes them more useful
2) true, but rather useless in case of processing machines, as items dont tend to stay there; can't use a buffer chest either because you can't tell the nodes to leave 1 item of any type when they pull stuff out
3) e.g. squeezers/engines accept multiple types of liquids
4) Well, yeah, as it doesn't allow me to use an item router and guarantee only liquids will be routed some way; also I may only want to connect a liquid up to an engine or such, even if it has an inventory for an item
But my main usage would be that i can only let power run though a sub-part of the network, to allow to pass on power even when i use liquid/item router. because else the liquids and items would go the way around with the power
then theres also the issue of the network becoming larger, slowing transfer times
5) well the network size is only part of the issue, sometimes i'd just only want an item to go to the nearest inventory


ATM my best solution is to run a long pipes that has all item and liquid and energy output going into it, then use liquid/item routers as needed below machines to filter out certain liquids or items and pass them on to the machines in a sub-network thats only connected between the routers and the machine; issue here is power, as i'd either have to run a separate power pipe or use lots of RS-cells

 

[Lathanael]

Extra Utilities pipes were never meant to replace the more sophisticated system like AE, LP or for some part even Buildcraft pipes just saying.

 

[Pinkishu]

Extra Utilities pipes were never meant to replace the more sophisticated system like AE, LP or for some part even Buildcraft pipes just saying.

Well, but thats their advertising point, the point of being able to run 1 pipe to a machine, not 3
and the point of being "less laggy" due to now visible stuff and such happening; which is a futile point if you were to still use other things


can AE transfer liquids and energy nowadays?

 

[Redweevil]

In regards to routing liquid without putting items into an engine why not fill the inventory? Or put a filter pipe there do no item can go into there. And I still don't understand your problem with energy

 

[Pinkishu]

In regards to routing liquid without putting items into an engine why not fill the inventory? Or put a filter pipe there do no item can go into there. And I still don't understand your problem with energy

Well the current plan is to have a long line where all the output go into and that goes near all machines and such, basically a "main routing line"
now on the side of it i'd put an item router + liquid router to e.g. only allow seed oil and seeds to go into the carpenter thats above it
issue now, the "sub network" behind the routers dont have energy in them; if you connect it up tot he main line however, liquids besides seed oil will be routed to the carpenter
only solution would be to connected the subnetwork by proxy-ing it with a RS-cell between the main-line and the subnetwork