Item transport/storage management mod suggestions

[Sigma85]

Modded minecraft today has a plethora of options and different systems and an insane amount of mods to choose from. I keep finding myself on here over and over asking these sort of questions, but no one seems to mind so have a new one...If only I could articulate a simple question out of it...

I am looking at Applied Energistics, Steve's Factory Manager, Logistics Pipes, Ender IO, and Refined Relocation, probably alot more. I am just wondering which is the best overall, which does other things better, which ones do exactly what, etc. There's of course also BC Pipes, TE conduits, Project Red's pipes, Extra Utilites' Nodes system etc; but these aren't solely dedicated to item management. I am wanting easy storage and sorting and easy machine queues without the need for feedback loops and such. Maybe autocrafting someday...Can we compare features here ?

 

[Racemol]

AE is usually my "base" system. The root of it all if you will.

Then I supplement it with sub-networks that do different things. Autocrafting tesseracts for example, I usually make a setup that starts with a chest which is filled from my AE/ME network. From the chest I use itemducts with the whitelist options to deliver every item to where it's supposed to go. Import the product back into my AE network. Sometimes I don't use ducts but plain old BC pipes. I like the looks of them. And with the extra pipes some mods add, like the insertion pipe, it's really not that hard to make a nice system.

Tesseracts, everywhere! I use them, loads of them, a lot! Sometimes I even supply every block that needs power or transport with a tesseract, usually end-game though.

Enderchests are sweet too when you work with pipes / automation of that kind.

When I have EnderIO, I use it. It's that good to me. The pipes and conduits are so sexy, all in one block. Facades for everything too so you can make stuff really fancy. I do miss an round-robin mode though, I have to give TE credits here!

I don't work with Logistic Pipes enough though, getting lazy with AE. Usually I use the remote order pipe combined with an ender chest and ME interface, to have unlimited range of wireless ordering system, right out of my AE system.

The extra utils pipes I don't use much. Transfer nodes for a quick way to pump water or generate cobblestone. I use bits and pieces of it, like the modname suggests

Mekanism I use - apart from the awesome machines - for the universal cables. Nice and easy way to power IC2 / GT stuff, if I don't feel like getting into power-gen with IC2.

 

[rhn]

I am going to join the wagon of AE. The backbone of my entire base(bases actually) is the ME network.
The storage is great and allows great control in form of its priority and filtering systems. You can if you want just make a ton of large disks and dump stuff blindly onto them, but you can gain SO much control and awareness if you preformat your storage(which items are allowed where) and use priority to dictate which storage gets filled first.
It also allows me great control over things with the ME level emitters so I can turn things on and off depending on how many items of a certain kind are in the system. With Extra Cells you can do these things for fluids as well which is rather nice as well. So I can for example automate putting honey drops into a squeezer to make liquid honey once liquid honey levels in the system drops below a certain level. But I can at the same time set it so that it only do it if there is more than a certain amount of Honey drops in the system, making sure I never run out of them.
The Autocrafting is top notch. Specially how it allows you to not just craft normal items, but also outsource jobs to machines etc. and it will do so automatically as part of long crafting chains. For example crafting an item, then exporting it to smelt it, then using it to craft another item.
All in all I think AE is in a class of its own.

Despite how much I like AE, it is still important to know that it cant do everything. And in some situations other stuff are better suited. But luckily you can interface many of these solutions seamlessly with AE. Logistic Pipes is designed(actually the other way around) to interact directly with AE, so you can enjoy the best of both. And you gain so much by using AE in clever ways with all the other kinds of item transport systems like Itemducts, Factorization Routers, LP pipes, Ender Chests, Tesseracts, etc.

 

[Qazplm601]

Hoppers. lots and lots of hoppers.

 

[rhn]

Hoppers. lots and lots of hoppers.

Don't underestimate what you can do with them and the mod Hopperducts!

Ok there is still a problem with pulling stuff out of top or side of things, but still!

 

[Qazplm601]

The tower of hoppers!

 

[Sigma85]

What i used to do back in 1.2.5 is use redpower's filters with chests as a Queue with painted pipes on IC2 machines, one for each process type (macerator, e. furnace, compressor...etc). And when then was free space, they'd automatically send the next item, but never spit items out or send them where they couldnt fit. Whats the best way to do something like that ? I see Steve's Factory Manager has some very complex possibilities, but is it good for an all-in-one system ? AE seems pretty promising too. Im just not sure yet. I'll wait for a few more opinions I think. Thanks for replies gang !

 

[belgabor]

There is no best system, each has it's own application. Basically what you're asking is "What is the best way to get from A to B, plane, car, bus, truck or by foot?", depends on a lot of factors, most prominently the distance between A and B =)
I'm using AE, Logistics Pipes, Ender IO, TE and SFM. Each one has a specific application. Usually I don't like TE item conduits, but for my farm setups (imo) they are the best option. Large scale transport, AE is your friend. Need to regulate, use logistics pipe. Local item shuffling in tight setups, Ender IO. Complex interdependent item and fluid transport, possibly with crafting, SFM.

What i used to do back in 1.2.5 is use redpower's filters with chests as a Queue with painted pipes on IC2 machines, one for each process type (macerator, e. furnace, compressor...etc). And when then was free space, they'd automatically send the next item, but never spit items out or send them where they couldnt fit.

Basically any modern item transport system can do that. Your best bet is indeed AE (imo), but that's not the only option.