Hello, I'd like to share with you all how storing energy in BuildCraft works.

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Algester

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Jul 29, 2019
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build craft alone has a few amount of choices for a renewable resource but the mot basic is the peat?/coal engine well that is renewable and if you have forestry or mine factory reloaded you have bio gas but essentially that is a moot point but meh... but I now like the fact that the energy net is now lossy compared to its earlier version where gates and active engine maintenance is a must else... BOOM (this was remedied by TE1-2 with the conduits and engines it added) despite its not CPu efficient but in terms of gameplay I like it for a change... but yeah... storing fuel as "energy" is up for debates...
 

Dodge34

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Somewhere over the rainbow.
What Builcraft engines can still explode, are you serious there, another reason why I hated them so much, I won't risk them anytime soon, I had a setup that was 100% full proof with 3 Combustion engines hooked to a Aqeuous accumulator via the liquiducts (it was in 1.5.2) and there was always an explosion, no matter what I was doing, chunkloader wasn't a problem at all, I was always around when it happened and I knew there was no problems with the engines, it was hooked to a gate system that turned them off if they were in red state so that shouldn't happened at all...
 

Algester

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I think the changes were made for 1.6 not 1.5 engines do still explode but not as freuently where you really have an active maintenance going I think in 1.6 engines explode when they really are just "wasting" energy to the air ideally when no MJ consuming machine is connected to the network
 

Dodge34

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Somewhere over the rainbow.
Won't take the risk anytime soon, if there was a way to teleport the power to my main base, I could place the engines into a safe location enclosed in obsidian to avoid problems but since we can't teleport the power from Buildcraft, I won't risk the engines anytime soon...
 

RedBoss

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Won't take the risk anytime soon, if there was a way to teleport the power to my main base, I could place the engines into a safe location enclosed in obsidian to avoid problems but since we can't teleport the power from Buildcraft, I won't risk the engines anytime soon...
EnderIO allows you to teleport MJ. But no, there's no teleportation in Vanilla Buildcraft
 

Algester

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Won't take the risk anytime soon, if there was a way to teleport the power to my main base, I could place the engines into a safe location enclosed in obsidian to avoid problems but since we can't teleport the power from Buildcraft, I won't risk the engines anytime soon...
teleport power... ender IO is your answer for that it has that universal cube like block like TE's tesseract
 

Dodge34

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Somewhere over the rainbow.
EnderIO allows you to teleport MJ

Saw this, but unless EnderIO appear in DW20 1.6.4 pack, I won't be able to use it anytime soon, we may reconsider this later but for now I'm trying to stick with what the modpack has to offer plus for now we added Binnie Extra Bee's and Tree's, we may add other mods later, but not until the summer or at the end of spring...
 

Maldroth

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Not sure if that was mentioned anywhere in this thread but the main problem with Buildcraft is it lacks a renewable resource to make the engine works, and also, when the engine works, if the machine doesn't need the energy, the energy the engine is creating is lost, it vanish in the MC universe and you loose the precious fuel you created for the engines for absolutely nothing. And the worst part is thoses engines require a preheat to be really effective, so starting and stopping them with gates with conditions can work but you loose a lot of potential power from your engines if they start and stop all the time rather than running at full speed to fill up a buffer and stopping when its full.

Combustion engines don't require a pre-heat and can save portions of a bucket of fuel rather than wasting the whole bucket at once. As for the exploding it is much kinder now but they are easy to deal with if you learn how to keep them cool. I have no problems slapping a lever on a combustion engine and turning it on as I need power and then flipping it as soon as I am done.
 
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accapulco

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Or you could just add Ender IO. It adds amongst a bunch of awesome stuff 2 blocks for energy manipulation the Capacitor Bank & Power Monitor. Basically the bank is a single block that joins with other banks if you place them together and the storage is cumulative. The monitor lets you configure it so that it emits a redstone signal depending on how full/empty a bank it's attached to is. So you can make an awesome looking energy storage chamber that can divert power around and do what ever you want. This mod is meant to be used with BC/TE, its fully compatible with both energy types.

Info displayed on the Monitor taken from the Ender IO Wiki:
  • Conduit Storage - How much MJs are stored in all conduits in the network.
  • Capacitor Bank Storage - How much MJs are stored in all Capacitor Banks in the network.
  • Machine Buffers - The current MJ stored in all machines on the network, belonging to any mod.
  • Average Input - The average input into the network over the last five seconds.
  • Average Output - The average output of the network over the last five seconds.
 

SandGrainOne

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Jul 29, 2019
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Not sure if that was mentioned anywhere in this thread but the main problem with Buildcraft is it lacks a renewable resource to make the engine works, and also, when the engine works, if the machine doesn't need the energy, the energy the engine is creating is lost, it vanish in the MC universe and you loose the precious fuel you created for the engines for absolutely nothing. And the worst part is thoses engines require a preheat to be really effective, so starting and stopping them with gates with conditions can work but you loose a lot of potential power from your engines if they start and stop all the time rather than running at full speed to fill up a buffer and stopping when its full.

This is actually some of the things that makes BuildCraft an interesting choice. It presents new problems you don't have with for example Thermal Expansoin. It means variation. BuildCraft has made power production and maintenance into a game play element while many alternatives like for example Thermal Expansion trivializes it.

Gates is a very important part of BuildCraft and they are essential for almost any BuildCraft system. If you can accept this you will also find solutions to most of the problems you present. One example is for example avoiding any form loss of power and fuel. Yes, it needs gates, and yes, you will need to place the wires and configure gates, but many of us find that rewarding. It is not a problem, it's what makes BuildCraft fun.
 

Loufmier

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This is actually some of the things that makes BuildCraft an interesting choice. It presents new problems you don't have with for example Thermal Expansoin. It means variation. BuildCraft has made power production and maintenance into a game play element while many alternatives like for example Thermal Expansion trivializes it.

Gates is a very important part of BuildCraft and they are essential for almost any BuildCraft system. If you can accept this you will also find solutions to most of the problems you present. One example is for example avoiding any form loss of power and fuel. Yes, it needs gates, and yes, you will need to place the wires and configure gates, but many of us find that rewarding. It is not a problem, it's what makes BuildCraft fun.
so basically you mean BuildCraft's power is something you do for lulz challange but not for actual setups?
 

SandGrainOne

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so basically you mean BuildCraft's power is something you do for lulz challange but not for actual setups?
I use it in actual setups because it is a "challenge". It's not really that hard, but BuildCraft does involve a few elements that you don't need to consider when using Thermal Expansion. It means I spend more time figuring things out while trying to get around and avoid elements like power loss. It essentially means using more time making systems and less time doing boring stuff like looking for resources.

I'm not in a hurry when playing games. There is no deadline on my new tree farm so when I start building it I want it to be a time consuming challenge. The more time it takes the better (within limits). I play game for the lulz and for me, BuildCraft means more lulz than Thermal Expansion.

This video shows one of the builds I'm the most proud of. I spent many days on it and it hit me with a ton of problems. But I won. I WON! (It's a long time ago now though. Building it is no longer possible.

Spruce Tree Harvester in BC 3.1.5
 

James_Grimm

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Jul 29, 2019
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My biggest complaint about Buildcraft is not that it lacks energy storage, but rather that some really important parts of the setup (Gates, Facades, and Pipe Plugs) are all locked behind one of the highest tier/late game systems: the assembly table & lasers.

It's really annoying to not be able to build a proper pipe setup with BC stuff, because I can't make any of the above, until after I've already built a large amount of BC systems since Lasers are pretty much the last part of BC I get to. I end up using TE pipes instead, which while easier to use, are FAR more expensive resource-wise for most setups compared to BC pipes.

Plugs are especially egregious in this regard, I have no clue why those must be laser crafted, when they are supposed to be used to make early game items (pipes) work properly, are very inexpensive resource-wise, but completely unavailable til late game. Facades are also a little weird being laser crafted, but less of a problem than plugs. Gates seem fine being made by lasers on the other hand, and also seem like a late-game item worth the investment.

I use both BC & TE both, and I actually like building the laser system, and feel like Gates/Chipsets/AE Chips, are fun to craft using it. I actually wish I could use it to craft Forestry electronic parts as well, some more late-game items to craft with it would be nice instead of things like plugs.

Still I think BC is mostly fine. It's a well written mod, and it's mostly okay that I don't want to use every last bit of it. I just wish a few things were not locked behind such high investment breakpoints, and then I would probably use parts of it more. I would be sad if it moved in a direction to specifically stop working with other mods like TE, but that's something I keep hearing people like the SandGrainOne & CJ mentioning repeatedly.

Edit: Not a complaint, but to be clear, the OP is misleading. RAILCRAFT provides BC storage by your example, not BC by itself. A small distinction, but a real one, as storing BC energy in BC glass tanks would be ... silly in large amounts with BC liquid tanks instead of Railcraft Iron/Steel tanks. Doable still, but certainly you would have to redesign your entire structure around it.
 
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King Lemming

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Jul 29, 2019
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Just pointing out - the OP is absolutely right. That *is* energy storage. It's a bit inconvenient, but that's part of the intent of Buildcraft (that is not meant as a slight). Energy is part of the puzzle, as SandGrainOne has pointed out.

The justification in TE 2.x was this - you hit redstone ore with a pickaxe, it glows. It is piezoelectric and therefore enabled kinetic storage. And, say what you will, but when TE 2 came out, BC went from being on the way out to being a viable mod again. And I'm not saying that to be mean - I'd wager even a lot of the current BC devs would agree with that assessment. That was a major purpose of TE 2 - I liked BC a lot and it kinda saddened me to see people abandoning it since the power system sucked.

We had this discussion to death last night, but the fact is that BC is a very viable mod and it's improved quite a bit from those 3.0 transition days. Absolutely worth using.
 

SynfulChaot

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Jul 29, 2019
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Just pointing out - the OP is absolutely right. That *is* energy storage. It's a bit inconvenient, but that's part of the intent of Buildcraft (that is not meant as a slight). Energy is part of the puzzle, as SandGrainOne has pointed out.

I'm still not sure that I'd call it energy storage. You're storing the potential to create energy, but not the energy itself. It's no different than a hopper of coal next to a engine, dynamo, or generator. You can create energy from it but it, in and of itself, is not yet energy. Unless you're talking about potential energy, then any chest of any burnable material is 'energy storage'.

But that's part of the BC power paradigm. No real 'storable' energy as it's more about sustained constant systems (especially with Railcraft steam boilers) or complex gate systems to isolate and power systems on demand, which are very late game (for BuildCraft, that is) and proclude boilers as an option.

We had this discussion to death last night, but the fact is that BC is a very viable mod and it's improved quite a bit from those 3.0 transition days. Absolutely worth using.

Agreed. The power system is actually worth using now if you like it's operational paradigm. And the gate system is near unparalleled for it's usefulness and ease-of-use. I just wish there was more to differentiate it outside of gates, quarries, and fillers.
 
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frederic

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Jul 29, 2019
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you could also make a giant powerloop with 12 or so stacks of conductive pipes and make it look really cool ^.^
 

SlightlyVisible

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Jul 29, 2019
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and they do, believe it or not. and they've been doing it since TE introduced RF flux with native support for BC machinery, but then you come in and start pointing out how silly they are for not misunderstanding fuel storage as energy storage.
Thankfully some do, but others who misunderstand Build-Craft are continuously attacking its devs. That's why I made this topic. To educate those who don't understand :) . They may choose to not use build-craft but at-least they'll know why it operates the way it does.
 
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SynfulChaot

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Jul 29, 2019
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Thankfully some do, but others who misunderstand Build-Craft are continuously attacking its devs. That's why I made topic. To educate those who don't understand :) . They may choose to not use build-craft but at-least they'll know why it operates the way it does.

I've actually seen very few, if any, attacking the devs.

And for educating others, I'd not phrase it as 'energy storage' but instead explain more directly why BuildCraft doesn't have energy storage. That's a better method than trying to convince people that fuel tanks are energy storage and that everyone is just doing it wrong. We all know about tanks, after all. The post does come off a bit condescending, even if you don't mean it to be so. I understand what you're getting at, but it seems incendiary.
 

Skyqula

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Jul 29, 2019
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I'm still not sure that I'd call it energy storage. You're storing the potential to create energy, but not the energy itself. It's no different than a hopper of coal next to a engine, dynamo, or generator. You can create energy from it but it, in and of itself, is not yet energy. Unless you're talking about potential energy, then any chest of any burnable material is 'energy storage'.

Pretty much this. But wasnt there an actual way to store MJ with kenesis pipe loops? Or was that a bug and fixed? (I was kinda hoping the OP found some cool way to use that in an actual energy storage system)
 

SynfulChaot

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Pretty much this. But wasnt there an actual way to store MJ with kenesis pipe loops? Or was that a bug and fixed? (I was kinda hoping the OP found some cool way to use that in an actual energy storage system)

No. I believe this is still in as Covert mentioned it yesterday in the SpaceToad thread. Not the most useful though, I don't think, as there is still perdition and you still can't reduce the energy output from said loop to zero as the Iron Kinesis Pipes can only filter to 2MJ/t.