Logistics Pipes and the weak supply pipe

[JPicasso]

I've got a tricky LP issue,

I'm trying to automate some Alvearys, and I'm not getting the frames to get requested correctly.
I've got four alvearys with three frame blocks each. Each frame block has an LP supply pipe attached, requesting frames.
Elsewhere on the network, I've got two crafting blocks, one for string, and one for frames.
Also I've got a centrifuge and squeezer doing their jobs, supplied by LP supply pipes and chest providing wax, drops, etc. So much of the network is working.

So the weird part: If I attach a request pipe to the system and request a frame to be built, string and sticks get sent to my crafting area, a frame is created, and the frame is routed not to the pipe, but to one (random) supply pipes attached to an alveary. WHAT?

At the supply pipe and at the crafting pipes, I can see the purple "fail" effects, so I'm sure they are talking.

Any suggestions (excepting "use AE" or "BC and gates FTW") would be appreciated.

 

[namae]

If your stuff going into random direction you probably did not put logistic pipe onto intersection. All intersections must be logistic pipes or direction will be chosen randomly.

 

[JPicasso]

Thanks for the response!

Yeah, I've been burned by the BC pipe on the intersection a couple times, frustrating when it's not obvious, or parked behind a furnace and wasn't an intersection before you just added one more.. anyways,
I've even tried disconnecting sections of the LP network, but no good.

And it's not that the stuff is going in a random direction, it's that somehow the system ignores the supply pipe's requests, then, fills them when a request pipe calls for a frame.
Crazy part is that is crafts just fine. I if I request two frames, two frames are created, but routed not to the request pipe, but to supply pipes on the empty frame housings. Why can't it fill the supply pipes on its own?

 

[namae]

Could it be you craft frames via AE network? Because logistic pipes can't craft stuff which is part of AE (AE can craft logistic pipes stuff though), or maybe something similar?

 

[JPicasso]

No AE network in this world. This is a separate mystcraft age I made for breeding bees (with a bunch of different Biomes).

I wanted the age to be self-sufficient, so I'm setting up a small LP network to handle the Forestry bee items.
Wish I could get these crazy frames to work.

 

[namae]

Have you tried setting supplier pipes on partial request?

 

[KingTriaxx]

Dump LP auto-crafting, and use BC Auto-crafting Tables, or TE Cyclic Assemblers?

 

[gchpaco]

Dump LP auto-crafting, and use BC Auto-crafting Tables, or TE Cyclic Assemblers?

Cyclics work very, very well but they do require power. This can sometimes be awkward in the tight builds one sometimes sees for LP crafting tables.

OP's problem appears to be LP routing; one of the things I don't really like about LP is that when it derps (which is fairly often) it can be nearly impossible to debug. Partially this is because the internal logic of LP is very complex.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Unless he's already using a Tesseract to provide power to his LP network, in which case you can butt the Assembler up against that and stay compact. Unless he's using on-site solar power.

Though it sounds like he's got supply pipes on either end. Shouldn't those be provider pipes on one end? Say on a chest full of frames, and then have the system set up to keep the chest full?

 

[angelnc]

My proposal would be to seperate the Frame distribution from production and bee routing.
Keep a chest filled with Frames of the main LP network. Put a Chassis Pipe with an Extractor Module on the chest. On the Frame Housings some Basic Logistics Pipes set to default route.
I think this should work.

 

[JPicasso]

So I got it working, similar to what angelnc and KingTriaxx suggested.

So for whatever reason, the alveary supply pipes (normal supply pipes attached to alvearys) were unable to ask for crafted items, well, once in a while one would work.
so I have one chest for supply and distribution. A chest that always requests 8 frames be stocked, and ALSO a frame provider. So when something is needed, the alvearies are
stocked from the chest, and the chest is stocked from crafting. Note, these are NOT separate networks, just a stopping point on the same network.
Why it doesn't cycle frames around and around the chest, I don't know. But there we go.
Problem solved, but it seems dumb. I still like LP, this is the first "gotcha" I've come across.

Now, to set up moar of these bees!

 

[angelnc]

I think they don't cycle because LP recognizes that it would be the same inventory requesting items as providing items.
As stated before, the algorithms are pretty complex and thus clever.

 

[Antice]

So I got it working, similar to what angelnc and KingTriaxx suggested.

So for whatever reason, the alveary supply pipes (normal supply pipes attached to alvearys) were unable to ask for crafted items, well, once in a while one would work.
so I have one chest for supply and distribution. A chest that always requests 8 frames be stocked, and ALSO a frame provider. So when something is needed, the alvearies are
stocked from the chest, and the chest is stocked from crafting. Note, these are NOT separate networks, just a stopping point on the same network.
Why it doesn't cycle frames around and around the chest, I don't know. But there we go.
Problem solved, but it seems dumb. I still like LP, this is the first "gotcha" I've come across.

Now, to set up moar of these bees!

I think they don't cycle because LP recognizes that it would be the same inventory requesting items as providing items.
As stated before, the algorithms are pretty complex and thus clever.

This was a function added even before LP got branched into this new version. it was a fix for preventing infinite loops caused by buffers.
the problem with pure on demand crafting in a LP network, is that it won't craft items if it has nowhere to store excess items in case it makes more of the item than requested. this bug is due to LP having to handle recipes where you get more than one of the item as output.
The fix is to just have a basic log pipe connected to a overflow chest set as a generic default route. put a supplier pipe on the other face of the chest and your network is good to go. no need to actually set up a buffer cycle, altho in case of things that takes time to craft that is not a bad policy to follow to ensure smoother operations.
All LP networks needs a default route tho, otherwise they will start acting strange.

the random alveary got the requested item thing is because provider pipes have higher priority than request pipes in the network. that means that as soon as a frame entered the network there would be a tug of war for that item. the request pipe will always loose such a tug of war, but with several provider pipes battling it out like this, a random one will win the war in the end.