FTB Infinity Skyblock 1.7.10 Help, Venting and Discussion Thread

[missHPfan2]

Ooh, nice! I'll have to set those up then.
One more thing, though... I'm having trouble funneling the mobs in. MFR conveyors cause them to clip through the walls, and I just couldn't arrange some fans to push them properly. It looks like they push in a cone. I tested the pushing on myself. Other people have pulled it off, but just how do you get those things to work?

Edit: Hold up... I'm kinda in the wrong thread! I'm actually playing SkyFactory 2.5. Whoops! Well, if you can answer my question about my mob grinder, cool, if not, then I'll have to look somewhere else.
Yay, sleep deprivation.

 

[desht]

Ooh, nice! I'll have to set those up then.
One more thing, though... I'm having trouble funneling the mobs in. MFR conveyors cause them to clip through the walls, and I just couldn't arrange some fans to push them properly. It looks like they push in a cone. I tested the pushing on myself. Other people have pulled it off, but just how do you get those things to work?.

I use the Extra Utilities conveyor belts to move mobs into a diamond spike, which seems to function 100% reliably. I never liked the fans, although they are very cheap & easy to set up - it's just annoying being pushed around all the time, even outside the spawner room.

 

[GreenZombie]

So, Immersive Engineering Fluid Pipes cannot insert into, for example, Railcrafts Hobbyist Steam Engine.

 

[missHPfan2]

Transfer pipes or hardened fluiducts should work. You'll need a transfer node with said pipes, but those things are pretty fast. Especially with speed upgrades. And each slot can take a stack of them, which will all have an effect.

 

[GreenZombie]

Transfer pipes or hardened fluiducts should work. You'll need a transfer node with said pipes, but those things are pretty fast. Especially with speed upgrades. And each slot can take a stack of them, which will all have an effect.

The ExU power and item/fluid transfer items are lame in the extreme. I will not use them in any pack in which there are alternatives. The buildcraft fluid pipes work.

 

[missHPfan2]

Huh? I could've sworn the fluid ones were wicked fast after about 5 speed upgrades. We're talking multiple buckets per second here. Guess I'd better get testing to see if they've been nerfed from the 1.6.4 version. But I remember that I had a rig in Tekkit that pulled fluids from Mystcraft worlds, and it used an ender-thermic pump, ender tanks, and a fluid transfer node with some speed upgrades. I believe it took 5 or 6 to keep pace with the pump. But damn was that rig fast. It would fill four drums in a couple of minutes. I had been using fluiducts before, and I still use them for normal uses, but now I use those to move a lot of fluid really fast.

Edit: Oh yeah, it had a stacks upgrade too. That makes it move as much fluid per operation as it can handle. Imagine the above rig, but with a full stack of speed upgrades...
Holy hot damn that seems like it would move several buckets per tick. And pipes have no throughput limit.

 

[Inaeo]

Huh? I could've sworn the fluid ones were wicked fast after about 5 speed upgrades. We're talking multiple buckets per second here. Guess I'd better get testing to see if they've been nerfed from the 1.6.4 version. But I remember that I had a rig in Tekkit that pulled fluids from Mystcraft worlds, and it used an ender-thermic pump, ender tanks, and a fluid transfer node with some speed upgrades. I believe it took 5 or 6 to keep pace with the pump. But damn was that rig fast. It would fill four drums in a couple of minutes. I had been using fluiducts before, and I still use them for normal uses, but now I use those to move a lot of fluid really fast.

Edit: Oh yeah, it had a stacks upgrade too. That makes it move as much fluid per operation as it can handle. Imagine the above rig, but with a full stack of speed upgrades...
Holy hot damn that seems like it would move several buckets per tick. And pipes have no throughput limit.

I believe @Chris Becke was stating his belief that XU pipes are lame from a gameplay standpoint, rather than a technical one. They are indeed some very powerful pipes, but by being so powerful, they limit the imagination of the builder. Good engineering comes from working around obstacles, not just brute forcing your way through them.

 

[missHPfan2]

Yeah, they're pretty specialized. You can't really control what goes where. But if you're pumping a fuckton of something, that's the best way to use them. And making one hell of a cobble gen. But other than that, they're not as good. But where they are useful, boy oh boy are they great. Ik Infinity Skyblock is supposed to be a challenge, but SF 2.5 isn't. It's more about progressing fast early on so as to build, well, factories, which presents an engineering challenge in and of itself, even with the pack designed to not be "grindy". You still need to figure out the best power gen and machine setups with several mods to choose from. You need to figure out the best way to move that power. And it's great for those with a creative streak, because there's plenty of ways to build a really nice-looking island.

 

[Azzanine]

I don't know, ExtUtils item transport is pretty neat. You can filter a lot of specific stuff thanks to nested filter, things like the rationing pipes provide a lot of control. It's only TE and EIO outrank them and one of those has/had the same creator.

 

[GreenZombie]

I don't know, ExtUtils item transport is pretty neat. You can filter a lot of specific stuff thanks to nested filter, things like the rationing pipes provide a lot of control. It's only TE and EIO outrank them and one of those has/had the same creator.

"too neat".
At the moment I am using Buildcraft pipes for early automation of the forestry farms I am using for peat. But once I finally get automated crushing and sifting going, I want to use railcraft for all my item transport.
Because expert mode isn't hard enough apparently

 

[missHPfan2]

Ah, so you like a challenge. Me, not so much after a certain point. I don't want it to be a huge, tedious grind, but I don't want it to be super easy either (although deliberately OP packs are still fun).

 

[GreenZombie]

Ah, so you like a challenge. Me, not so much after a certain point. I don't want it to be a huge, tedious grind, but I don't want it to be super easy either (although deliberately OP packs are still fun).

There are early challenges to not using ExU for sure. All the alternative power sources and machines have far higher material costs for sure. But the production of rail can be automated, and once set up, chestcart based delivery systems are just as capable as conduits and look a lot more interesting. In a lot of cases, final step delivery is going to have to be via conduits (buildcraft pipes just MUST NOT be used in any situation where occasional item loss will be catastrophic).

The hurdle, still not quite met, is the provision of enough power to actually automate crushing and sifting. Once thats done I can finally relax as material costs, for things like iron at least, cease to be relevant.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

The ExU power and item/fluid transfer items are lame in the extreme. I will not use them in any pack in which there are alternatives. The buildcraft fluid pipes work.

I totally understand what you mean; that said, it did some really handy things before some of the other major mods did.

Also, the hyper-rationing pipe I think is a really handy facility, and I don't think it's been replicated anywhere else?

Finally the low-lag option for infinite water source and cobblestone generator is, while a little easy for some, very handy for those like me with really weak computers!

Just wanted to throw my tuppence onto the pile.

 

[missHPfan2]

I haven't looked at hyper-rationing pipes. What do those do?

 

[Inaeo]

There are early challenges to not using ExU for sure. All the alternative power sources and machines have far higher material costs for sure. But the production of rail can be automated, and once set up, chestcart based delivery systems are just as capable as conduits and look a lot more interesting. In a lot of cases, final step delivery is going to have to be via conduits (buildcraft pipes just MUST NOT be used in any situation where occasional item loss will be catastrophic).

The hurdle, still not quite met, is the provision of enough power to actually automate crushing and sifting. Once thats done I can finally relax as material costs, for things like iron at least, cease to be relevant.

I've been playing Inventions, which doesn't include XU, and I have to admit that we definitely miss features. Drums for massive fluid storage are being replaced by much more massive RC Iron/Steel Tanks. Cobble gen is handled by TE Igneous Extruder, although the ability to compress cobble/sand/dirt/gravel is one of the most missed features in the field. The good news is, it has forced us to seek new solutions to previously unproblematic situations, which continues to make us better players.

On the note of you using rails as a primary item transport system, good for you. I always think I'm going to do it this game, and there is always an easier way when I get there so I use it instead. @KingTriaxx would be so proud of you.

 

[missHPfan2]

Tbh, I've only used rails in vanilla. I had a little rig that involved a chest cart and a rail that spiralled down to my mine at diamond level. When I filled the chest cart and my inv, I'd place the normal cart I kept on me, get in, and push both carts onto the powered rails that took them up. I'd then unload, replace the normal cart behind the chest one to go back down, mine some more, and repeat. Worked quite nicely. Idk if I'll go for rails in modpacks though. Where are they usually used in that case? Most of the time, my base is compact enough to not need rails in it, and as for mining, I do a lot more caving than strip mining, and I save that as a last resort. And said caves will often be very far from my base, too far to make rails practical without chunkloading. And automating carts? Just how do you get a cart to automatically turn around, anyway?

 

[Inaeo]

Tbh, I've only used rails in vanilla. I had a little rig that involved a chest cart and a rail that spiralled down to my mine at diamond level. When I filled the chest cart and my inv, I'd place the normal cart I kept on me, get in, and push both carts onto the powered rails that took them up. I'd then unload, replace the normal cart behind the chest one to go back down, mine some more, and repeat. Worked quite nicely. Idk if I'll go for rails in modpacks though. Where are they usually used in that case? Most of the time, my base is compact enough to not need rails in it, and as for mining, I do a lot more caving than strip mining, and I save that as a last resort. And said caves will often be very far from my base, too far to make rails practical without chunkloading. And automating carts? Just how do you get a cart to automatically turn around, anyway?

The short answer is to use a Locomotive and make an actual train system using RailCraft. Amazing things can be done with rails, but unfortunately they are less practical in most cases than other forms of transportation. That said, RailCraft allows for the transportation of items, fluids, power, mana, and more along a predetermined route, which can help tremendously if you tend to build several small settlements rather than one bunker to rule them all.

You can even use RailCraft as a form of automining, if you were so inclined. It has an answer for most things that other mods cover, which has tempted me to make a world with just Vanilla and RC to fully delve into it, but I just don't have the time for that.

 

[KingTriaxx]

I do indeed approve of rail use.

For the system you describe of a cart having to work it's way down to diamond level, I'd say go with Elevator tracks. They're very interesting blocks, because they stick to the wall like ladders, and can be climbed like them. A redstone signal at the top of the track, will run down the entire track, and I don't think there's a distance limit, so one lever at the top will power the entire thing. A cart pushed into a powered elevator track will rise all the way to the top and onto a piece of rail at the top. You can change the modes of locking tracks by right clicking with a crowbar and have it sit on that until the cart is full and send it up with a button press for a redstone signal and have it loop around and drop back onto the track.

If you want a cart to just run backwards and forwards between two points, those same locking tracks can send a cart automatically, with loaders and unloaders moving items out. For example a tank cart could be filled with water, and then sent to an unloader on the other end and dump all it's water into that. Same with Chest carts.

Railcraft's auto-mining is a bit odd. It's designed to automatically bore tunnels for trains, laying down track and leaving a 3x3 tunnel as it goes. It can even cross gaps that are less than 10 blocks deep if given gravel to use for filler. It's one of those awesome machines no one ever seems to remember exists. I'm using it extensively in my LP world. Admittedly the entire thing is based around using Railcraft for anything I can.

And in the last couple of versions, @CovertJaguar who doesn't get enough love for his effort, has added Flux Carts, which are the missing link we've so deserved. 2 million RF per cart, at a pretty good transfer rate on the loader/unloader. (Each of which hold 4 million, so you can send two carts per loader/unloader.) Now I no longer have to build boilers every time I move my quarry.

 

[missHPfan2]

I think I'm gonna have to look this stuff up. I've never used Railcraft, so all of these different tracks and carts are new to me.

 

[GreenZombie]

And automating carts? Just how do you get a cart to automatically turn around, anyway?

In vanilla, the simplest thing to do is to have the ends of the rail but up against a solid block, with an (unpowered) redstone track. A button on the block will power the redstone and, as the cart has only one way to go it will zoom off correctly. This can be used to build simple point to point rails, and you can use hoppers over and under the rail to automatically empty and fill carts.

If you get more advanced there are tricks where you dig a 2 block long ditch and run the tracks into that forming a V. Railcarts will stop in the ditch if there is unpowered rail, and then when power is applied, they will choose the direction defined by gravity to continue. You can't really (afaik) combine this with loaders or unloaders however.

Railcraft solves a lot of railcart routing problems by simply adding additional variants of powered rail that have preferred directions and will accelerate a railcart in that direction only. They are also inventory sensitive and will only power the cart once the loading / unloading work is done, which is all but impossible to do with vanilla redstone mechanics.

Understand that Railcraft is two mods in one:
* It adds a bunch of redstone integrated rail options including item and liquid loaders and unloaders and track switches that allow you to use single chest and tank carts running over a redstone rail powered network to route and sort items.
* It adds steam engines (And electric) that run on plain rails, link and pull many carts, and is more suitable for building model railways for their aesthetic.

I have never delved into the steam engine side of railcraft. You can ignore that if all you want to do is move items around in chest carts.