Getting started with rotarycraft

[GreenZombie]

So I gave myself the challenge. I put *all* my existing gear in a chest, made a boat, and travelled 2000 blocks and started "fresh" at a new site. The challenge - "do rotarycraft" with no other mods to ameliorate the experience. (Using a Monster derived pack)

With nothing but the ingame rotarycraft manual and no prior experience... so far, this has been a complete and utter failure. I have never felt so harried by a mod for a raw material before. The blast furnace was an easy, and logical starting point. And I have used it to make HLSA steel, and more HLSA steel and yet more HLSA steel. And ive figured out that a DC Engine can run, at most, a fermenter. And after much cursing (and explosions), I can get a steam engine to supply itself with water.

(Why does it use so much water though? With nowhere to go this thing keeps on slurping up water from the 3x3 pond necessary to keep).

And why exactly does something as "trivial" as a steam engine require a trip to the nether? (I speak here of the explosion caused by placing it over lava. It needs to run over a netherack fire).

Most of the rest of the mod gives dire warnings about the necessity of lubrication so I have a canola farm going. Operating the grinder, which seemed like it should be a tier-1 kind of device - actually required a Gas engine which runs on ethanol crystals - which are made via a complicated process in the fermenter

(ethanol crystals? really? for a mod that prides itself in its realisim?)

The "plant matter" requirement of the fermenter seems to be "Saplings" and not "wheat". Which means i've spent every waking hour with this mod cutting $*#&ing trees down.

At which point I said screw it. and built a TiC workshop with smeltery to get some kind of ore doubling going to recover the marginal supplies of iron I still had. Ironically I found that in the process of feeding enough iron into the maw of Rotarycraft that I incidentally had enough aluminium to make a full set of top tier TiC axes and hammers.

Which has turned my game around in terms of harvesting trees and harvesting iron.
So I have an industrial coil. A Boring machine that I can't seem to operate. It clanks a lot on low nM settings, or consumes "stacks" worth of ethanol crystal based charge on higher settings. (Not helped I suspect with all the geostrata worldgen adding extra hard rocks everywhere)

Ive made an extractor which seems to be the lamest "complete multistage ore processing pipeline in a single magic box" yet. Which again I can't seem to power.

And a hydrokinetic wheel that does't seem to work. It doesn't give a UI when right clicked. Does't rotate when I drop water on either side. And eats buckets of lube.

Does someone have a simple "shortest steps to getting a basic ore doubling and auto mining setup with boring machine" guide? I really need it.

 

[Giddimani]

It seems like a neat idea to only use RotaryCraft from start on, but if you never tested RC before not an easy task.

At first, I think using the Smeltery to make the tools is fine, RC provides no swords/tools, so you need some other mod to provide you with these.


You have touched a lot of topics, I try to answer some of them, but I am at work so some numbers can be a little of.


- Grinder/Lubrication

I would plant/harvest them manually in the beginning, you get 5 stacks of canola seeds of a single harvest of a normal 9x9 farm, which is about 40 buckets, which lasts a long time. For example, I have a grinder at minimum (4kW @128Nm) which is more than enough for 8 Hydrokinetic Engines, so a single grinder with a manual farm is plenty in the beginning.

The easiest way to power the grinder in the beginning is with 4 DC Engines, merge them with 3 Shaft Junctions (4kW @16Nm, 256rad/s) and bring them with a 8:1 Gearbox to 128Nm, 32rad/s. I think you can use stone shafts/gears, but not really sure (it's in the beginning of the manual), but it's powered by redstone which means you don't need to provide fuel.


- Ore processing

Because you decided to skip the ore processing of other mods you need to focus to get the Extractor running early.

The extractor needs minimum 512Nm, 8192rad/s and 65,536kW, but you can run each process on there to 5x your ores by switching between high torgue/high speed. It's not really nice to manage it manually, but to 5x your iron in the beginning is important, even if it's complicated to manage.

Because you said you got the steam engine to work, I would use 4 steam engines and shaft junctions to power the extractor, but you will need a CVT and 15 belts to get the correct speed/torgue, but then you can easily switch speed/torgue.

Supply the water with a steam engine.


Now that you can somewhat process your ore I would focus on getting the Extractor to run all phases at once, which means 4MW @8192rad/s, 512Nm. You can accomplish that i nseveral ways, but first get the Extractor running in manual mode, than you have the ressources to get in running in full mode.


RotaryCraft is not that easy in the beginning, but as soon as you have somewhat a hang of it, it's very cool to play with.

 

[GreenZombie]

That is super helpful and will help me getting v1 of my RC workshop going.

I do hope the extractor turns into 5 discreet machines (that can link inventories if adjacent).

 

[Cronos988]

That is super helpful and will help me getting v1 of my RC workshop going.

I do hope the extractor turns into 5 discreet machines (that can link inventories if adjacent).

I think you could technically use it that way, though the inventories won't be linked. Just have every extractor only run one step. I have read that people do it with 2 extractors, one for stages 1 and 4, and the other for stages 2 and 3.

 

[Giddimani]

That is super helpful and will help me getting v1 of my RC workshop going.

I do hope the extractor turns into 5 discreet machines (that can link inventories if adjacent).

I hope it helps, the manual is a good documentation but not really a guide. I would advise you to test some of the more complicated builds in a test world in creative, blowing up a row of diamond shafts is not too funny.


You are right, the extractor in its state as a "one-in-all" block doesn't fit well with the "realistic" approach of the mod. If each of the 4 process would get it's own block, powering it would also be way more efficient than a "one for all" power.


I wrote this paragraph in a little hurry, I should explain it a little better:

The extractor needs minimum 512Nm, 8192rad/s and 65,536kW, but you can run each process on there to 5x your ores by switching between high torgue/high speed. It's not really nice to manage it manually, but to 5x your iron in the beginning is important, even if it's complicated to manage.

The extractor has 4 different processes, 2 need high torgue (512Nm max), 2 need high speed (8192rad/s) max and it needs at least 65kW. If you provide 65kW power and use a CVT in front of the Extractor, you can adjust the speed/torgue in a way that with 512Nm 2 process run and with 8192rad/s 2 of them run. A CVT isn't cheap but the most convenient way for a inconvenient process.

In the above example you need a 16:1 ratio which means 15 belts. The CVT needs one bucket of lubricant to run, but doesn't use it.


I forgot the question about the hydrokinetic. You need a free 3x3 space with the engine in the middle and the water needs to flow down on the left side from the view where the power goes. The water must flow down and it can not flow in the bottom row of the 3x3 space.

I try to show it here in view of the shaft where the power goes.

w is water, o is free space, x is engine, b is block

w b b
w b b
w o o
w x o
w o o
w b b

I think 4 blocks fall for water is minimum and 64 max, it's in the manual. Each engine has a large internal tank for lubricant (10+ bucket) but they don't use much.


The hydrokinetic are probably the easiest way to automate the extractor, although quite expensive, because they cost about a stack of iron and you need 8 (in 2 rows of 4 or the diamond shaft blows up like mentioned above), but if you have the extractor running in manual, that's less than 2 stacks of iron ore.

I think you could technically use it that way, though the inventories won't be linked. Just have every extractor only run one step. I have read that people do it with 2 extractors, one for stages 1 and 4, and the other for stages 2 and 3.

The problem is I think only vacuum can pull out the items between beginning and I have tried it also, but to be honest in the end I just plonked down 8 hydrokinetics at bedrock level and used a belt hub to get the energy to my base up, to run the extractor, because I don't want problems with ore processing, that should run fine.

For the other things I use Rotarycraft I like to experiment with turbines and all the other funny stuff.

 

[GreenZombie]

Given my desire to start rotarycraft as pure as possible, components that use diamonds or ender pearls could/should/would ideally be "phase 2". Plus, for better or worse my relocation put me on a tiny island. I have no access to leather

I'll try re placing the hydrokinetic so that it has more clear space around it and see if that allows the UI to pop ui. I have the RC that comes with Monster 1.0.7 I'm wondering if there is a more recent version that has the Hydrokinetic being more fully functional (I see a lot of the mod has items that are yet incomplete)

 

[Giddimani]

Given my desire to start rotarycraft as pure as possible, components that use diamonds or ender pearls could/should/would ideally be "phase 2". Plus, for better or worse my relocation put me on a tiny island. I have no access to leather

I'll try re placing the hydrokinetic so that it has more clear space around it and see if that allows the UI to pop ui. I have the RC that comes with Monster 1.0.7 I'm wondering if there is a more recent version that has the Hydrokinetic being more fully functional (I see a lot of the mod has items that are yet incomplete)

The "display" has a recipe with and without ender pearl, but the belts could be a problem. Can't you "import" 2 cows with golden lasso from another island?

Thy hydrokinetic engine doesn't have a UI.

 

[GreenZombie]

How do I know if its lubricated or not then? Simply add lube if/when it stops spinning?

The alternate recipe seems to be a TE3 compatibility recipe that uses an electrum ingot in place of gold.
Unless I build a TE3 workshop (which my 'conditions' do not allow) I don't have access to electrum.

I did find 5 enderlilly seeds in a chest in the abandoned mineshaft under my base. I'm going to declare the resulting 'pearls' legit but i am using Extra Utils as a crutch by using them.

 

[Giddimani]

I have a railcraft tank with lubricant which feeds all my rotary stuff, so I assume as long as some lubricant is in the tank all engines/gears are lubricated.

You don't want to use any other mod at all or just for the workshop?

 

[GreenZombie]

The goal of this experiment was to see how ... "complete" rotarycraft is, in isolation from other mods in monster. It would be easy to hook up a BC quarry, powered with the nearby oil well, and/or run the Boring machine off the engine that takes MJ or RF from a TE3 redstone energy cell.

This base is not about exploring intermod dynamics. It is about rotarycraft without going insane.

Instead of "starting new games", to explore mods, I simply dump my items, move a couple of km, and /setspawn at the new site. The challenge is twofold: make a new base concentrating on as much of a single new technology as possible from scratch, and explore the nether from the new site to hook up to my transportation hub and 'get back home' (as it were)

As it stands, RotaryCraft has its own vat, and liquid piping, so I hope to achieve the same effect as a railcraft tank, but, perhaps, on a smaller scale

 

[Giddimani]

It's your choice if Ender Lilys are ok in this case, I find getting Ender Pearls so annoying, i gladly would take them.

As a replacement for the CVT with belts, you can use gearboxes, but it could be possibly that you need different ratios (depends on the power source) or multiple boxes and if you need diamond gearboxes, these things are insanely expensive.

I would advise finding two cows and breed them like there is no tomorrow, because you can make two things:

CVT: see above
Belt hub: 2 belt hubs can transport energy up to 64 blocks through connecting them with belts (1 belt per block). A lot cheaper than say with diamond shafts

 

[Pyure]

I tried to do something similar a week ago: got extremely frustrated and gave up. Will try again some time this week.

My takeaways from the mod so far
1) From the standpoint of implementing its basic idea, its amazing.
2) It desperately needs some pacing tweaks here and there
3) I still hate "free" energy sources. I think the AC & DC blocks provide this. Granted the DC is reasonably useless.

With further regard to 3), I forget, do gearboxes require lubricant? And the boxes which join multiple sources into a combined one? You can argue they're the fuel if you need a bunch of them to get anything worthwhile out of these sources. (At work, don't recall block names). Otherwise could I theoretically create a lag-inducing array of hundreds of these to create free power?

Chris Becke, I'd like to hear more about how your experiment goes.

Edited: Misrepresented posting author.

 

[Giddimani]

My takeaways from the mod so far
1) From the standpoint of implementing its basic idea, its amazing.
2) It desperately needs some pacing tweaks here and there
3) I still hate "free" energy sources. I think the AC & DC blocks provide this. Granted the DC is reasonably useless.

With further regard to 3), I forget, do gearboxes require lubricant? And the boxes which join multiple sources into a combined one? You can argue they're the fuel if you need a bunch of them to get anything worthwhile out of these sources. (At work, don't recall block names). Otherwise could I theoretically create a lag-inducing array of hundreds of these to create free power?

Shaft junction joins/splits sources and it doesn't need lubrication, also bevel gears (direct force in another direction) and shafts don't need it. Only gearboxes (more rad/torgue) need lubrication.

Yes you could put down hundreds of these, but then it would be easier to just make a lot of hydrokinetic engines (512x the energy and don't cost that much).


The promise of the mod is awesome, but imo should just scrap the defensive things and concentrate on processing/farming/gathering machines with the new energy option.

Best example is the extractor, which is a nice idea but poorly implemented. I think if you split it up so you have 4 blocks and make each a own tier from beginning to endgame it would be better.
In this way you can make it easier to get into it with the first two tiers (2,25x ore, similar to other mods which double with two blocks like pulverizer/furnace) and can "level up" with the next tier later when you have better engines, because in the current state it's just form struggling without the extractor, to - snap - swimming in resources as soon as you get it to run fully.

 

[AlanEsh]

I pretty much gave on up on Rotarycraft -- it's just too convoluted for my brain. I too, initially, tried to use it stand-alone but failed to get steam engines working.

My biggest lust item in this mod is the hydrokinetic generator. This is exactly the kind of power generation I wish there was more of in minecraft. It's big, bulky, requires a very tall water drop, and simply turns a shaft. I'd like to see a giant windmill (not IC2's paltry little things) modeled similarly.

My next attempt at Rotarycraft will be to combine it with machines from other mods -- like using the Aqueous Accumulator and fluiducts to supply water, rather than native rotarycraft methods. Same goes for lubrication -- if I can use Thermal expansion fluiducts to transport it, I'll go that route.

 

[Lathanael]

Best example is the extractor, which is a nice idea but poorly implemented. I think if you split it up so you have 4 blocks and make each a own tier from beginning to endgame it would be better.
In this way you can make it easier to get into it with the first two tiers (2,25x ore, similar to other mods which double with two blocks like pulverizer/furnace) and can "level up" with the next tier later when you have better engines, because in the current state it's just form struggling without the extractor, to - snap - swimming in resources as soon as you get it to run fully.

IIRC either in v13 or v14 the grinder can be used to double ores

 

[Pyure]

My biggest lust item in this mod is the hydrokinetic generator. This is exactly the kind of power generation I wish there was more of in minecraft. It's big, bulky, requires a very tall water drop, and simply turns a shaft.

I'd be so into this if the water-drop itself wasn't feasible from infinite-via-bucket. I'd love to go roaming around the world, find a huge natural waterfall, and say "jebus, I could get SO MUCH ROTORYJUICE from that"

Its all well and good that I don't NEED to use a bucket, but knowing the loophole is there kills my buzz.

 

[Kotaro]

With nothing but the ingame rotarycraft manual and no prior experience... so far, this has been a complete and utter failure. I have never felt so harried by a mod for a raw material before. The blast furnace was an easy, and logical starting point. And I have used it to make HLSA steel, and more HLSA steel and yet more HLSA steel. And ive figured out that a DC Engine can run, at most, a fermenter. And after much cursing (and explosions), I can get a steam engine to supply itself with water.

(Why does it use so much water though? With nowhere to go this thing keeps on slurping up water from the 3x3 pond necessary to keep).

And why exactly does something as "trivial" as a steam engine require a trip to the nether? (I speak here of the explosion caused by placing it over lava. It needs to run over a netherack fire).

I made the same mistake at first making a Steam engine run above lava, but there's a pretty cheap solution to make sure this doesn't happen. Create Cooling Fins and place one on top of the steam engine, it takes 9 steel to make a batch of 3 and you only need 1 per engine. This will regulate the temperature so it doesn't spike and explode.

The mod seems to have a steady curve if you follow it on its own, but it seems like you can skip a large part of it and go directly to jet fuel after getting some infrastructure with other mods. I end up just using a gas turbine with a drum full of jet fuel (45 min worth of burn at about 64(?) MW of power) on an industrial coil and power things that way rather than attempt to go through a chain of gearboxes.

 

[Giddimani]

IIRC either in v13 or v14 the grinder can be used to double ores

You are correct, the grinder grinds ores into 3 flakes/3 ingots (v14). You just made me feel pretty silly, but a good advise for op.

 

[GreenZombie]

@Pyure - one of my meta-rules is to never move water for the sake of industry. It makes tech projects far more interesting if you can't just create an infinite water pool, but must pipe in water from elsewhere.

In the case of this project I found a natural water source to be my waterfall (I drilled a hole in the roof - im in a cave under the sea ) to drive my hydrokinetic generator. At the base of the hydrokinetic generator i DID create an infinite water source for my pump - but it was having a waterfall into it, so fair enough

Taking the advice from this thread, I have advanced...

I got the hydrokinetic generator placed correctly, and with a bucket of lubrication it finally started turning. Its generating enough torque to break wooden and stone shafts. I have it charging the industrial coil I have. Without gearboxes this seems like it might be the most efficient early game power source as the industrial coil seems to have no upper limit on how much power it stores, but you can deploy that power at any particular torque and speed.

Knowing earlier about the grinders ability to ore-triple? would have made this whole process a lot more tolerable.

I created a reservoir - the 'fluid' system is odd - but workable. The grinder will directly output lubrication into lube pipe, which can carry it to a reservoir (connect to the side). A pipe attached to the *bottom* of the reservoir will then automatically drain the reservoir so no need for pumps - the system seems to treat fluids like lubrication as a kind of gas, and share the available quantity amongst each connected reservoir and pipe block.

The only problem was, my fps started to glitch every 4-6 seconds after starting this up, which resolved only after I tore it all down. Ill try again but this isn't a good start to piping :/

 

[jokermatt999]

One area I know is lacking is item transport. Reika himself recommends using other mods for that. Personally, I find the liquid system it uses a little clunky, but it is functional.

I also made a guide to starting Rotary Craft a while ago. I can't easily link it from mobile, but it is in my post history.

Edit: I linked this thread and mentioned the excellent multi-part Extractor idea in the official thread on MCF. Hopefully it's well received. Also, link to that guide I mentioned, although you seem past it now: http://www.reddit.com/r/feedthebeas...a_beginners_guide_or_oh_god_where_do/.compact