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

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immibis

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Jul 29, 2019
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That said, totally agree. I understand that I'm trading "phantom lossiness" for "magical storage", but its more appealing to my own style of play: If my suite of machines requires 20 units of energy, I want to produce just that 20 units and not guess at how much extra I need to cover loss*

Previously, BC machines didn't tell you how much power they needed, and BC engines didn't tell you how much power they made. Would that fix the problem?
 

SandGrainOne

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Jul 29, 2019
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yup. but some disagree, for some reason...
If you read my last two or so posts I do actually apologize for the miss communication...

I simply tried to say that while gates and wires is an integral part of BuildCraft piping and therefore do not take up any extra block space or machine surfaces, Thermal Expansion would require more space if you want to build the same mechanism.
 

Loufmier

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Jul 29, 2019
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If you read my last two or so posts I do actually apologize for the miss communication...

I simply tried to say that while gates and wires is an integral part of BuildCraft piping and therefore do not take up any extra block space or machine surfaces, Thermal Expansion would require more space if you want to build the same mechanism.

somehow i missed that, sorry.

well without pipewire and gates it requires more space but you can do it without assembly table and other stuff.
 

SynfulChaot

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Jul 29, 2019
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If you read my last two or so posts I do actually apologize for the miss communication...

I simply tried to say that while gates and wires is an integral part of BuildCraft piping and therefore do not take up any extra block space or machine surfaces, Thermal Expansion would require more space if you want to build the same mechanism.

Yes and no. Yes, TE will take up more space for metering/stopping your dynamos than an equivalent BC system, though only for that section of your power system. But. To get an equally lossless BC system you'll take up much more space due to needing to separate out each machine to it's own power 'sub-net', which would require a greater number of engines and the requisite piping for each. Now if the iron kinesis pipe, or any equivalent, could turn down to 0 MJ/t then you could create a more compact entire BC system than TE system, but as that goes against the BC power paradigm then TE will remain the more compact system.
 

SandGrainOne

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Jul 29, 2019
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Yes and no. Yes, TE will take up more space for metering/stopping your dynamos than an equivalent BC system, though only for that section of your power system. But. To get an equally lossless BC system you'll take up much more space due to needing to separate out each machine to it's own power 'sub-net', which would require a greater number of engines and the requisite piping for each. Now if the iron kinesis pipe, or any equivalent, could turn down to 0 MJ/t then you could create a more compact entire BC system than TE system, but as that goes against the BC power paradigm then TE will remain the more compact system.
Longer lines of conduits are more compact than 1-2 extra engines at each location? ;)

No, I'm not really serious anymore. I understand what you mean.
 

Algester

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Jul 29, 2019
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Just joined the thread so I dont think I keep doing anything :). Just making an observation. However, I would conceed if the engines were renamed as compressors. Until then they are kinetic in nature IMO. I could make an argument that its electrical as well if I wanted.
if you want to understand more the reason why BC power producers are called engines is for simplicity sake I'm sure you dont want to call redstone pneumatic engine, stirling pneumatic engine, industrial steam pneumatic engine, Tl;DR they are called pneumatic engines and they exist in the real world if your going to be more specific with the usage its called a pneumatic motor...
Pneumatic motors generally convert the compressed air energy to mechanical work through either linear or rotary motion. Linear motion can come from either a diaphragm or piston actuator.
PS: BC engines are linear motion engines... bleh I guess that clears out when you think of engines... if you play with lego blocks you will understand where this is coming from but lego pneumatic pumps are more versatile depending on the blocks you use as they can convert linear motion to rotary motion this goes to my way way early statements with lego and air tanks
 

Sidorion

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Jul 29, 2019
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Yeah, that's why the energy pipes are called 'kinesis pipe' - because they transfer air pressure. Not!;)
Imho MJ is not rotation or motion either, it's more like vibration. The more energy a pipe transfers the bigger gets the blue line because the amplitude of the vibration rises. Engines produce waves of vibrations which carry forward in the pipes.
Vibration explains best why you can't store MJ and the system looses power over time and the power pipes initially were lossy per section and could explode on overload. You simply cannot store vibrations (try keeping a triangle sound).

Also, the sterling engines do not overheat, the vibrations get too strong if they can't output their energy and its casing bursts.

The only thing I could imagine as a MJ storage is a kind of tube that stores the vibrations and is stimulated in its resonant frequency (which itself would cost energy but far less than stored in the tube). Much like the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delay_line_memory in the older days. That would also fit into the philosophy of loss in BC energy - a powered energy storage device.
 

casilleroatr

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Jul 29, 2019
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You're all wrong about the nature of MJ. Truth is that MJ machines are powered by tiny elves that run through the pipes using bluey magic to make machines go. They are related to the EU dwarves. And the reason that we get power loss over time is because even if the elves aren't doing anything, they still get hungry.
 

Yusunoha

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Jul 29, 2019
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You're all wrong about the nature of MJ. Truth is that MJ machines are powered by tiny elves that run through the pipes using bluey magic to make machines go. They are related to the EU dwarves. And the reason that we get power loss over time is because even if the elves aren't doing anything, they still get hungry.

and here I was thinking MJ actually meant Michael Jackons and the power was a whole bunch of tiny Michael Jackons doing the moonwalk on treadmills...
 

ThatOneSlowking

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Jul 29, 2019
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and here I was thinking MJ actually meant Michael Jackons and the power was a whole bunch of tiny Michael Jackons doing the moonwalk on treadmills...
image.jpg

Its Michael's elf clones! They were copies of MJ so that he could power all our machines! And if he goes into the energy storage or a machine he gets used up, moonwalks out, and dies!
 

MoosyDoosy

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Jul 29, 2019
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Does it really matter at all whether it's vibrations or air pressure or elves (which seems most likely) or Michael Jackson's. Long story short, there is no MJ storage. There is storage for the fuel to make MJ. Some people don't like this because it's a pain in the ass. Some people like it because it's similar to real life. Reading through the last couple of pages made me feel like I was trying to take a course in engineering or somewhat rather than a forum about modded minecraft.
 

ThatOneSlowking

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Jul 29, 2019
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Does it really matter at all whether it's vibrations or air pressure or elves (which seems most likely) or Michael Jackson's. Long story short, there is no MJ storage. There is storage for the fuel to make MJ. Some people don't like this because it's a pain in the ass. Some people like it because it's similar to real life. Reading through the last couple of pages made me feel like I was trying to take a course in engineering or somewhat rather than a forum about modded minecraft.
Michael Jackson has nothing to do with engineering...
in all seriousness yes, there isnt any MJ storage, but IMO it is an on-demand system...what am I talking about, I only used BC for forestry machine, rolling machine, TE2 machines, the quarry, and pipes. Most of the forestry machines IIRC had an internal buffer anyways.
 

Pyure

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Aug 14, 2013
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Long story short, there is no MJ storage. There is storage for the fuel to make MJ. Some people don't like this because it's a pain in the ass. Some people like it because it's similar to real life.
Yep, except don't forget the third crowd: some people don't care because the distinction is irrelevant in many cases. Battery -> Wire -> Machine is the same as Fueltank -> Generator -> Machine, mod-specific bottlenecks notwithstanding. This is even more true if the fueltank is a single block capable of holding absurd amounts of fluid (such as the resonant portable tank thingies from TE I think?)

I suppose its less true if you have to do anything special to move the fuel from tank to generator. Wooden pipe+redstone engine is messy and annoying.