MFR biofuel experiment

[Drawde]

I wanted to check how much crossbreeding I would have to do with IC2's Crops to run a Bioreactor without running out of fuels. It turns out none at all.

There are eight different IC2 plants that can power a Reactor, though one has a duplicate and one requires outside processing. Six of those produce dye (red, yellow, cyan[2], brown, black, and purple), one netherwart, and the one that requires processing is pumpkins. Melon seeds might also be used, but I have no idea how to automate processing those. Only the cyan, black, and purple dyes require crossbreeding to produce.

It turns out that, using 5x5 farms with water in the middle (Crops require tilled soil) and an upgraded Harvester each, seven farms can easily fuel a reactor feeding two Biofuel Generators. You could probably get away with fewer farms as well.

I expected to have to crossbreed the plants to produce quicker in order to feed the Reactor, so didn't try with fewer farms. Though at least I now know that you can feed them without Planters and Fertilizers.

I also learned that Biofuel Generators do NOT work with Buildcraft pipes

 

[Brilliance]

Melon seeds might also be used, but I have no idea how to automate processing those.

Nice job there, it hadn't occurred to me to use IC2 crops (I gave up on those a long time ago ). The melon seeds, well - It's a straight crafting recipe, so surely any type of autocrafting table or similar machines would do the job?

 

[PierceSG]

Nope. IC2 crops sometimes yield a whole melon which can't be crafted into anything. Better bet would be using pumpkins instead.

 

[Brilliance]

Nope. IC2 crops sometimes yield a whole melon which can't be crafted into anything. Better bet would be using pumpkins instead.

Oh I see, so in that case you'd need some sort of block placer / breaker functionality to deal with it. If it's only a low percentage one might simply dump the full melon blocks in a recycler. Or filter them off to storage and build a melon castle.

 

[Hazardous]

I would just use a skeleton farm and use bonemeal That's just me though lol

 

[PierceSG]

The percentage of getting a whole melon is pretty high in my own experience. Maybe just use the regular way of planting melon instead of crops then.

 

[Hazardous]

^ at that, this is far more complicated but you could do this, diamond pipe that moves the melon (whole) different area, go into a turtle have it place the item, then have a block breaker from MFR break the melon, spit the melons into a pipe back into the biofuel generator xD

 

[Drawde]

I originally used crops to get redstone. When that didn't work (the plants usually give no crop when harvested, without breeding, and are extremely difficult to get) I started using them for stickweed. Renewable sticky resin without resorting to tapping trees? Yes please. And it's now compatable with MFR.

I then used some to get ink sacs. And just recently it occured to me that there's seven easily used plants (pumpkins require processesing into seeds),dyes and netherwart, that don't require messing with MFR Fertilizer to get. They just take a while to get them if you're not using a recycler to make IC2 Fertilizer.

I'm going to see how many Biofuel Generators my current setup (I added a pumpkin processer) can power.

 

[PierceSG]

Pumpkins do not need an additional external processor if you have DartCraft. Just replace one of the pipes the pumpkins will pass through with a Force Pipe and an Item Card (crafting) in it to autocraft pumpkins into seeds.

 

[Drawde]

I managed to get eight Generators working without running out of plants with just the unbred plants.

The biggest surplus was pumpkin seeds. By a huge amount. I had more than a stack of seeds in my AE storage while having the two stacks in the Reactor. While having less than a stack of everything else in the Reactor.

The lowest amount was the cocoa beans. They started running out after I added a ninth Generator, though it was close. With just a little breeding I'd have been able to add more.

It's an interesting method.

 

[PhilHibbs]

I used a Felling Turtle to place and break the melon. I'll post my code tonight if I remember.

 

[etb845]

use a block smasher from mfr to smash the melons when they are set to lvl 0 fortune they dont need any mob essence also.

 

[AlanEsh]

Nope. IC2 crops sometimes yield a whole melon which can't be crafted into anything. Better bet would be using pumpkins instead.

How does that happen? I mean, where does the melon show up, on an open block next to the Crop? Or does it break the Crop it is growing on?

 

[PhilHibbs]

How does that happen? I mean, where does the melon show up, on an open block next to the Crop? Or does it break the Crop it is growing on?

No, it just grows as a little green blob in among the sticks. You right-click it and you get a couple of melons or a few slices.

 

[PierceSG]

use a block smasher from mfr to smash the melons when they are set to lvl 0 fortune they dont need any mob essence also.

Oooo nice to know!

How does that happen? I mean, where does the melon show up, on an open block next to the Crop? Or does it break the Crop it is growing on?

IC2 crops have their produce growing inside the same block. MFR Harvester will only harvest the produce leaving the crop intact (plant included). They (crop) can handle cocoa too. They save a lot of space and that is the main reason I'm recommending it.

Of course, there is the whole breeding and crossbreeding which can increase the growth speed of the crops but that is another topic. And I do believe there is a guide to ic2 crop post floating somewhere in this forum.

 

[Siro]

use a block smasher from mfr to smash the melons when they are set to lvl 0 fortune they dont need any mob essence also.

A piston from below also works. That's how melon machines work in vanilla.

 

[PhilHibbs]

They (crop) can handle cocoa too.

Oooo nice to know!

 

[PierceSG]

Oooo nice to know!

To note, you need at least 3 more dirt blocks under the dirt block where you want to plant the cocoa crop.

Also, for flowers and roses, you will need 4 per crop sticks.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Here's my Felling Turtle code:
http://pastebin.com/vAqdjhVn

Either save it as startup, or like I do save it as melonfarmer and make a startup that just does shell.run("melonfarmer") just because of the name. Point an Export Bus at it to feed it melons, and put an interface on top of it. Or under it and change dropUp to dropDown.

 

[Drawde]

Roses and dandilions (four each), cocoa, netherwart, pumpkins (requires autocrafting for seeds), and melons (requires finding the seeds, then placing and breaking melons, then autocrafting for seeds) are the base plants that work here. Though placing two Crops between plants crossbreeds them, sometimes producing new plants (including other base ones). Crossbreeding is random.

You can get cyan (two sources), purple, and black dye (ink sacs) through crossbreeding. So there are seven sources in all for biofuel that require no processing, one that requires simple processing, and one that requires lots of processing. And as I mentioned above eight sources is enough to fuel eight Generators from 5x5 farms (water in the middle) with no further crossbreeding required.

So as long as you have the time and wood, crops can provide a source of power that doesn't require Fertilizer or using resources to replant.

While there are other plants that can be produced, none of them are useful biofuel production. Most other plants are basically worthless, with most requiring extensive breeding to reliably produce resources. Other than terrawart (rare plant, blue netherwart that's a stackable cure), reeds, and stickreeds.

Reeds are a base plant, but neither they nor suger can be used for biofuel. Which is funny since sugercane is one of the best real life sources. And stickreed produces sticky resin as well, though that doesn't work in a Reactor either.