Fun With Archimedes Ships

[Dee_Twenty]

So, with Archimedes Ships being part of Horizons, let's explore how this lovely new toy works in conjunction with some of our favourite older toys in the toybox. For example, here's a good thing to know, you can build a T-Con smeltery aboard a ship, and the smeltery will remain fully functional, two important things to note, however. Always make sure you clear any basins or casting tables of their contents before activating the ship, otherwise you'll need to break and replace them after you park in order to be able to pour anything into them, if you don't clear them the smeltery will endlessly pour and never create a block or part.

Second thing to note, you have to make sure you always park facing the same cardinal direction that you were facing when you built the smeltery, so if your ship was facing north when you built it make sure you're facing north when you park, because the drains and smeltery controller will not rotate to match the rest structure, and you'll be unable to use them until you rotate the ship to face the proper direction.

 

[EnzymeA113]

I never particularly liked Archimede's Ships, mainly because it doesn't require any power to function, which is unrealistic, a boat (or airship) can be made within literally five minutes of spawning, and if your ship gets stuck in the air and you can't dock it, then there is no proper way to get out of it (at least in the version I played).

 

[jokermatt999]

I also ran into the rotation bug. I wanted to set up an automated Thermal Expansion setup, but was stymied by the changing rotations. My solution? Disable the sides, and automate on the top and the bottom with AE.

Weeell, that's my plan at least. It still needs some more testing, but we're almost there on the private server I play on. We want to get a mobile airship base going, because that's just awesome. We ran into the block limit quickly on our first design, so be sure to take that into account when making an airship. I believe it's 248 blocks. The admin was looking to see if that (and the # of balloons necessary) was configurable, but he couldn't find a way. He dug around a bit with some programming tools, but couldn't get it to work afterwards (he's a programmer, but not a modder.) Anyway, the point of is that I hope Archimede's Ships gets the rotation issue fixed and adds some config options.

 

[Dee_Twenty]

I also ran into the rotation bug. I wanted to set up an automated Thermal Expansion setup, but was stymied by the changing rotations. My solution? Disable the sides, and automate on the top and the bottom with AE.

Weeell, that's my plan at least. It still needs some more testing, but we're almost there on the private server I play on. We want to get a mobile airship base going, because that's just awesome. We ran into the block limit quickly on our first design, so be sure to take that into account when making an airship. I believe it's 248 blocks. The admin was looking to see if that (and the # of balloons necessary) was configurable, but he couldn't find a way. He dug around a bit with some programming tools, but couldn't get it to work afterwards (he's a programmer, but not a modder.) Anyway, the point of is that I hope Archimede's Ships gets the rotation issue fixed and adds some config options.

Well, the version I currently have installed there's options in the config to change both under the mobile chunk section, D:airship_balloon_ratio=0.4 sets the ratio of balloons to other blocks needed for an airship, so by default 40% of the blocks need to be balloons, I:max_chunk_blocks=2048 sets the maximum number of blocks a ship can contain, with the default being 2048.

 

[jokermatt999]

Snip

Awesome, thanks for letting me know! I'll be sure to pass that onto my admin. Giant airship base, here we come.

The only other thing I hope works well with it is Thaumcraft's stuff.

Also, for a solution to your TiCo rotation issue: you can pump liquids out of (and maybe into?) drains just like any other block. Also, faucets work on any other block as well I believe, acting like a tube set to extract on redstone if there's a valid container below it. I'm not sure about pumping liquids into or out of casting tables and basins, but that may work too. Anyway, if you set your drains facing up (or down, so you can hide automation), you should be able to pump out of them without worrying about rotation! Then you'd just have to figure out a nice looking setup to stick the faucet/casting table on. I have no clue for the bug with liquids in them, but my instinct says ComputerCraft and OpenPeripherals may be able to detect that. Be sure to show it off when you're done.

 

[budge]

On my server I have set the maximum ship size to 8192. I have an airship that is somewhere between that and 4096, and sometimes I am able to fly it. Other times I get a stack overflow error, so definitely be conservative with your mobile base design.

Has anyone thought of a cool way to enter an overly large airship from the ground? Mine is too large to land, so I had to be creative about it. My first wish was for an inverted arcane levitator (pull me up from the ground), but that doesn't exist obviously. My second idea was to use drawbridges from TiCo, but they can't extend ladders. So I filled them with Spatial Pylons from Applied Energistics and set up a ladder on a disk. It became far too complex and failed if any pylon didn't extend to the right length (if obstructed for example). My ultimate, messy solution was to place a turtle near the bottom of the ship that places a water bucket underneath it, but since wireless redstone just vanishes when moved by the ship, I have no way to remotely control that.

Edit: I suppose since learning how to program computers to detect a specific item in an inventory, I could use an ender chest for remote control, but ever since dealing with all these problems, I've basically given up on the build.

 

[jokermatt999]

What about iron scaffolds? Would they extend downwards and be functional? I know some mod also adds rope ladders, as I've seen those in one of DW20's videos. That would definitely fit classic airship style too.

 

[Dee_Twenty]

On my server I have set the maximum ship size to 8192. I have an airship that is somewhere between that and 4096, and sometimes I am able to fly it. Other times I get a stack overflow error, so definitely be conservative with your mobile base design.

Has anyone thought of a cool way to enter an overly large airship from the ground? Mine is too large to land, so I had to be creative about it. My first wish was for an inverted arcane levitator (pull me up from the ground), but that doesn't exist obviously. My second idea was to use drawbridges from TiCo, but they can't extend ladders. So I filled them with Spatial Pylons from Applied Energistics and set up a ladder on a disk. It became far too complex and failed if any pylon didn't extend to the right length (if obstructed for example). My ultimate, messy solution was to place a turtle near the bottom of the ship that places a water bucket underneath it, but since wireless redstone just vanishes when moved by the ship, I have no way to remotely control that.

Edit: I suppose since learning how to program computers to detect a specific item in an inventory, I could use an ender chest for remote control, but ever since dealing with all these problems, I've basically given up on the build.

Well, if you don't mind using magic Witchery is also part of Horizons and includes the ability to craft flying brooms which could be used to board and disembark from an airship.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Well, if you don't mind using magic Witchery is also part of Horizons and includes the ability to craft flying brooms which could be used to board and disembark from an airship.

Using the flight from any of the mods that give it isn't entering "from the ground", it's "from the air".

 

[budge]

What about iron scaffolds? Would they extend downwards and be functional? I know some mod also adds rope ladders, as I've seen those in one of DW20's videos. That would definitely fit classic airship style too.

I didn't test them, but my initial thought is that they would fail to deploy since they need some kind of foundation to start with. Does anyone know which mod adds the rope ladders? Thanks for the heads up.

 

[jokermatt999]

I didn't test them, but my initial thought is that they would fail to deploy since they need some kind of foundation to start with. Does anyone know which mod adds the rope ladders? Thanks for the heads up.

OpenBlocks, it seems.

 

[jokermatt999]

Sorry for the double post, but I figured it'd be best to just make this the Archimede's Ships topic rather than post a new one. Anyway...

I was on the AS topic on the Minecraft forum, and someone mentioned making metarotation handling files for other mods. Does anyone here know anything about that? It seems like a really nice type of thing to work on for inclusion in FTB's Universal Configs if so, although I'm a tad rusty at programming. I'd really like to see this mod become a major feature in modpacks, even if it has some memory/lag issues at the moment.

 

[kaiomann]

How does Archimedes ships handle Tile Identities? Appearently is works with a smeltery, but how about, let's say, a basic me system? Would that stay functional? I'm thinking about making myself a zeppelin base in Horizons

 

[Democretes]

Since when has Archimedes's ships worked with machine blocks? Does it also keep contents in chests?

 

[Dee_Twenty]

How does Archimedes ships handle Tile Identities? Appearently is works with a smeltery, but how about, let's say, a basic me system? Would that stay functional? I'm thinking about making myself a zeppelin base in Horizons

Since when has Archimedes's ships worked with machine blocks? Does it also keep contents in chests?

Not entirely sure about machines, I know that it will keep the contents of chests though, I would assume machines would still work, though they may have the same issue as the smeltery and not rotate with the ship.

 

[Democretes]

Sweet! The rotation makes no difference. I'd just use an Transvector Interface to fix any problems I'd have.

 

[jokermatt999]

Just be aware that Archimedes Ships doesn't handle Thermal Expansion's conduits/ducts too well unfortunately. That bit be earlier.

http://i.imgur.com/Gn1ez7L.png

 

[Democretes]

Just be aware that Archimedes Ships doesn't handle Thermal Expansion's conduits/ducts too well unfortunately. That bit be earlier.

http://i.imgur.com/Gn1ez7L.png

It's probably due to how they connect. Most other piping should be fine.

 

[jokermatt999]

It's probably due to how they connect. Most other piping should be fine.

I haven't had a chance to try Buildcraft piping yet since I've been testing in Horizons, but I'd assume they have the best chance of working. I did try a few others though.

Extra Utilities Transfer Pipes: These connect, but nodes on sides get improperly rotated. They appear to work if on top or bottom. Overall, the best thing I've tried so far.

AE: Breaks on compile. This sucks, because I was hoping that would be a good storage solution. Additionally, cables are not fixed on block update, even if placing another cable next to them. The controller also spit out a "Controller conflict" error to after compiling even though there was only one controller. Seems to be completely broken.

Tinker's Construct: Smelteries do still seem to work after compiling, as per OP. Draining downwards or upwards seems to be the best solution. Extra Utilities liquid transfer pipes should work quite nicely here. However, as I expected, the drawbridge doesn't have an mrot, so that doesn't work. It was suggested for placing TE pipes, but I guess that's out now...

I cross posted this to the FTB reddit, and KingLemming addressed it somewhat. "TE conduits work fine with things that properly validate/invalidate. In general, I have yet to see any sort of frame solution get it right, however."
I asked if he could expand on that in an edit to a post I made, but he didn't respond. If there's a better solution than the way AS is doing it, I'd love for the mod author to know about that. The system as it stands has frustrated me. There's theoretically user/mod author created .mrot files to add mod support, but they seem to be non-existent in the wild. I really want this mod to be as awesome and functional as it could be, but mostly it seems to only be able to do aesthetic ships.

Edit: Messaged KingLemming on IRC. He confirmed that really the only "proper" way to do it is loading/unloading tile entities on a case by case basis. Damn. Maybe Forge will have something for it in the future. In the meantime, I'll just try to organize the few mrot files I can find and submit them to the universal configs I guess.

 

[Democretes]

I haven't had a chance to try Buildcraft piping yet since I've been testing in Horizons, but I'd assume they have the best chance of working. I did try a few others though.

Extra Utilities Transfer Pipes: These connect, but nodes on sides get improperly rotated. They appear to work if on top or bottom. Overall, the best thing I've tried so far.

AE: Breaks on compile. This sucks, because I was hoping that would be a good storage solution. Additionally, cables are not fixed on block update, even if placing another cable next to them. The controller also spit out a "Controller conflict" error to after compiling even though there was only one controller. Seems to be completely broken.

Tinker's Construct: Smelteries do still seem to work after compiling, as per OP. Draining downwards or upwards seems to be the best solution. Extra Utilities liquid transfer pipes should work quite nicely here. However, as I expected, the drawbridge doesn't have an mrot, so that doesn't work. It was suggested for placing TE pipes, but I guess that's out now...

I cross posted this to the FTB reddit, and KingLemming addressed it somewhat. "TE conduits work fine with things that properly validate/invalidate. In general, I have yet to see any sort of frame solution get it right, however."
I asked if he could expand on that in an edit to a post I made, but he didn't respond. If there's a better solution than the way AS is doing it, I'd love for the mod author to know about that. The system as it stands has frustrated me. There's theoretically user/mod author created .mrot files to add mod support, but they seem to be non-existent in the wild. I really want this mod to be as awesome and functional as it could be, but mostly it seems to only be able to do aesthetic ships.

I recomend Dimensional Doors. The doors will still function properly so you can use them to go into pocket dimensions via doors on your ship that can be used to store most of your ore processing and ME systems. Chests will still hold their inventories and logistic pipes should still work so you can still use those on a ship. I currently plan on making a massive aircraft carrier/base so I'll be continuously testing what works and what doesn't.