New mods, new rules, new journal

[lenscas]

I started playing today on a server with some people from the FTB forum. The modpack is custom made but there are also some fun rules to follow. The main one being "Don't craft stuff from mods you didn't pick". An explanation: We all picked 3 mods which we are going to use (add ons for said mods can be added for free) together with some small "quality of life" mods. Any items you need but aren't from a mod you picked thus needs to be acquired by trading.

So, with that out of the way lets take a look at the modpack.

Spoiler: modpack

That are indeed a good number of mods. The 3 (add-ons not counted) I have access to are
Computercraft: I'm sorry, I can't live without computers
IndustrialCraft2-classic: Its the ic2 from the 1.4.7 era and a lot of its add-ons build in. Some of which I didn't even know existed (looks at nuclear jetpack).
Inductive automation: It is an unknown mod with plenty of fun toys to play with. It also provides me with some endgame stuff and fills the gaps that ic2 can't automate and where CC would be too much of an pain to do so.

With that out out of the way, lets take a look at what I made so far.

Spoiler: basic ore processing

Generator+macerator+furnac=easy setup.
The wooden pipes connecting the machines are from inductive automation and are of course used to transport the items. Each pipe itself can hold 64 items of the same type as a buffer and transport 64 items per tick. You can also shift click on them to remove connections (As you can see I used this feature) and click on them with a block to disguise it as said block.

Spoiler: Ores need to come from somewhere

My mine, guess what I used to make this tunnel

Spoiler: But as always, we need to go deeper

Basic nether portal. Not much else to say

except of course for "watch your step"

Also, don't mind those waypoints. They are from an earlier map on this server while testing the mod pack a bit.

As for my goals this playthough: mainly focus on learning inductive automation and building big machines. If you came here for nice buildings then I suggest that you go to rhn's thread instead.

 

[lenscas]

This post is earlier then most will be, mostly because I finished the first inductive automation machine and the rest of the day will probably be spend mining so I can make the second thing.

If you know the mods I use then you know I am going to need power (obviously). However you also know that charcoal can be pretty effective, again so far its obvious. Now, I could make a tree farm using CC however I have only seen 1 endermen so far and he didn't drop an enderpearl and as the best tree farm script I know of is not yet reset proof that isn't exactly an option.
Thus, lets use the automatic farm from inductive automation. 1 problem though, fast leaf decay is a thing and that kind of makes it hard for this farm to harvest the leaves in time and as a result the sapling just drop on the ground. I also don't have a good way of extracting items, nor do the players that have had time so far. Luckily CC is a thing and it just so happens to be that I have access to that.
Now that you know all the main obstacles of this project, I think its time to show the result.

Spoiler: The front

Spoiler: The side

Spoiler: the back

Ok, this may look either very overwhelming or very obvious so lets break it down for those that have no clue what is going on.
Lets start with the front picture and some general Inductive automation knowledge.
The only way for inductive automation to make power is by using steam. To get steam you need water. This is why the turtle above the infinite water pool is here. It fills a bucket with water and drops it in the tank in front of it.

Above this tank is an steam boiler, this obviously creates steam using the charcoal and water. Said steam then goes into the block next to it (the one with the orange circle). This is a steam generator which turns steam into power and water. Note that in this process some water is lost. I guess the mod maker likes to be annoying like that. I configured it so that it accepts steam from the boiler and puts water back into the boiler to get "rid" of excess water.

I then use this power to obviously power the farm (green block next to it) and power an electric heated furnace (block in front of it).
The farm is configured to output everything that it doesn't need to the top. This so happens to be a turtle that when its inventory gets updated goes over all its slots to sort it. Saplings go back to the farmer (reason will be given later). Logs go to the chest in front of it and the rest to the chest on top.

From the top chest the items just go nice and easily into the needed barrels.
From the log chest, the items go into an hopper to then be smelted and distributed to steam boiler, charcoal output chest and the chest inside the farm itself. (picture back)

Thus we now have charcoal production and power production to get the farm going. That leaves us with one problem unresolved, the fast leaf decay mod.
As you can see in the picture of the side, there is a turtle also inside the farm, this every so often goes around inside it picking up every item that lays on the floor. Then when it gets back next to the farm (thus in between the chest and hopper) it puts all the items it gathered into the hopper and if needed grabs some more charcoal from the chest underneath it.
The hopper feeds into the sorting turtle and this is the reason the sorting turtle also needs to sort saplings.

Unrelated, the house you see is not mine but from someone on the server also don't mind the way points "b" and "s" again those are from another map. (The death points however are not, thanks to invisible mobs).

Next on the todo list is to make an automatic miner. This is either going to be another inductive automation build or I am going to use my good old farminer script again depending on how many enderpearls I can gather, (3 ender-chests and 2 chunkloaders are kind of hard to make when you don't have any enderpearls.)

 

[RJS]

Don' be so dismissive of my house! It may look fairly meh (and even more so inside) but it's still early days

 

[lenscas]

Don' be so dismissive of my house! It may look fairly meh (and even more so inside) but it's still early days

I never said anything about your house except that it is not mine. Why would I anyway, I am the one that still lives in a hole

 

[lenscas]

So, I am once again sick of manual mining even when being helped out by a turtle using the tunnel command. Its time for a nice automatic way of doing so.
I decided to use my self made turtle script as one of the other players was so nice to give me the 5 enderpearls that I need (I actually needed six but I told him 5, the last one I got from another player).
Thus, lets begin at step 1 some way to process the ores automatically.

Spoiler: Basic sorting 101

Enderchest on top of a hopper which feed into a dizzy turtle (turtle+compass). The turtle runs my sorting program and either puts stuff inside the chest for processing, destroys it using "trash" or puts it in the storage chest. This is an older picture from before I upgraded my ore processing plant, because clearly I need more ores.

As I already mentioned, I also upgraded the ore processing. Due to me using ic2-classic rather then experimental I don't have access to the machines from IC2 to get more then double out of your ores, thus I went for Inductive automation instead. This however only increases it a little bit but at least its more then double. It uses a total of 3 steps (counting smelting). The first step is inside an advanced furnace and uses water and ores. This produces 2 ore dust and steam.

Spoiler: advanced furnace

Advanced furnace above a tank which gains water from a fluid collector from Inductive automation. The fluid collector is like a pump except if can only do the block in front of it but doesn't require power. It can also be used to get Oxygen and Nitrogen. This obviously sits above an endless water source.

After you get the ore dust you purify it in an electrolyser. This gives you 3 pieces of dust for every 2 ore dust. It also creates Oxygen in the process but that is of no use right now. After that you simply smelt the pieces of dust to get your ingots.

Spoiler: the whole machine

Ender chest+ hopper feeds into steam boiler. The steam boiler feeds its steam into a steam generator which powers the various machines. The generator also gains some steam from the advanced furnace. Currently I am just voiding the oxygen the electrolyser uses as I have no use for it and Oxygen is easy to get anyway. The pipes you that go to the ceiling are coming from my sorting system or go towards the output chest.

I didn't take a picture of the turtle as it is just that, a turtle with a pickaxe and an chunkloading peripheral but here are the programms that I used.
This is the mine script.Note that I have never tested this script in combination with diamond-locked chests.

local chestName="EnderStorage:enderChest"
function editColors(become)
   --this contains the colors of your enderchests. Send are the colors it will use to send its ores from and fuel are the colors it uses to grab fuel from
   local colors={send={colors.lightBlue,colors.blue,colors.blue},fuel={colors.white,colors.blue,colors.blue}}
   peripheral.call("top","setColours",colors[become][1],colors[become][2],colors[become][3])
end  
function refuel()
   print(turtle.getFuelLevel())
   editColors("fuel")
   if turtle.getFuelLevel()<200 then
     turtle.select(15)
     turtle.suckUp()
     turtle.refuel()
     turtle.dropUp()
   end
  turtle.select(16)
   print(turtle.getFuelLevel())
  
end
function sendItems()
    peripheral.call("top","condenseItems")
   local items   = peripheral.call("top","getAllStacks",false)
   editColors("send")
   while #items> 0 do
     sleep(#items)
     peripheral.call("top","condenseItems")
     items   = peripheral.call("top","getAllStacks",false)
   end
   for slot=1,16 do
     turtle.select(slot)
     turtle.dropUp()
   end
end
function startup()
   local sucess, itemData=nil
   turtle.select(16)
   if turtle.getItemCount()>0 then
     itemData=turtle.getItemDetail()
     if itemData['name']==chestName then
       turtle.digUp()
       turtle.placeUp()
     end
   end
   sucess ,itemData=turtle.inspectUp()
   if sucess then
     if itemData['name']==chestName then
       sendItems()
       refuel()
       turtle.select(16)
       turtle.digUp()
       turtle.select(1)
     else
       return false
     end
   else
     return false
   end
   return true
end
function mine()
   while turtle.detectUp() do
     turtle.select(1)
     turtle.digUp()
     sleep(0.5)
   end
   while turtle.detect() do
     turtle.select(1)
     turtle.dig()
     sleep(0.5)
   end
   turtle.select(1)
   turtle.digDown()
end
function forward()
   local sucess=false
   local counter=0
   while not turtle.forward() do
     mine()
     turtle.attack()
     counter=counter+1
     if counter>2 then
       turtle.select(16)
       turtle.placeUp()
       refuel()
       turtle.digUp()
     elseif counter>4 then
       stop()
     end
   end
end
function stop()
   while true do
     turtle.sleep(100)
   end
end

if not startup() then
   block()
end
while true do
   for times=1,15 do
     mine()
     forward()
   end
   mine()
   turtle.select(16)
   turtle.placeUp()
   sendItems()
   refuel()
   turtle.digUp()
end

This is the sorting script. The item list contains all the ID's that you want to sort exactly the way you want rather then a general rule like does it contain the word "ore". Its a table with functions, the key is the item ID and the function gains all the itemData. It returns the direction it should go to. Then there is the fallback function. This function also gains all the itemData but will only be used if the itemID couldn't be found in the itemList table. I use this function to setup very generic rules (Like does it contain the word "ore"). Output works the same. NOTE that this script currently can't send items to the top or bottom of the turtle.

--This table is used to have the turtle know where stuff needs to go. The keys are the itemIds and the valye needs to be a function acepting the itemData which returns the direction
local itemList={}
itemList['arsmagica2:itemOre']=function(data) return "north" end
itemList['ProjRed|Core:projectred.core.part']=function(data) return "north" end
itemList['Thaumcraft:blockCustomOre']=function(data) return "north" end
itemList['arsmagica2:vinteumOre']=function(data) return "north" end
itemList['IC2:item.itemOreUran']=function(data) return "north" end
itemList['TConstruct:ore.berries.one']=function(data) return "north" end
itemList['minecraft:cobblestone']=function(data) return "west" end
itemList['minecraft:flint']=function(data) return "west" end
itemList['minecraft:gravel']=function(data) return "west" end
itemList['minecraft:dirt']=function(data) return "west" end
itemList['NuclearCraft:blockOre']=function(data)
   if data.damage==9 or data.damage==7 then
     return "north"
   else
     return "north"
   end
end
itemList['ThermalFoundation:Ore']=function(data)
   print(table.concat(data," "))
   if data.damage==4 or data.damage==3 or data.damage==5 then
     return "north"
   else
     return "south"
   end
end
--This function is used if the item can't be found in the itemList. The itemList has priority over this function.
--You can use this function for example to make a default route or to have more general rules like every item containing "ore"
local function fallBack(itemData)
   if string.find(itemData.name,"ore") or string.find(itemData.name,"Ore") then
     return "south"
   end
   return "north"
end
local compass=peripheral.wrap("left")
--this is used to make the turtle always aware of where it is.
local at=nil

--used to more easily get the turtle to turn
local function turn(way,amount)
   if not amount then
     amount=1
   end
   for times=1,amount do
     if way=="left" then
       turtle.turnLeft()
     elseif way=="right" then
       turtle.turnRight()
     end
   end
end
--called during startup
local function reset()
   at=compass.getFacing()
end
--this will have the turtle turn to the direction it needs to face in
function doTurn(need)
   print(need," ",at)
   if need == at then
     return true
   elseif(at=="north"     and   need=="west") then
     turn("left")
   elseif(at=="north"     and   need=="south") then
     turn("left",2)
   elseif at=="north"     and   need=="east" then
     turn("right")
   elseif at == "west"     and   need =="north" then
     turn("right")
   elseif at =="west"     and   need=="south" then
     turn("left")
   elseif at =="west"     and   need=="east" then
     turn("left",2)
   elseif at == "south"   and   need=="west" then
     turn("right")
   elseif at == "south"   and   need == "east" then
     turn("left")
   elseif at =="south"     and   need=="north" then
     turn("left",2)
   elseif at == "east"     and   need =="west" then
     turn("left",2)
   elseif at =="east"     and need == "south" then
     turn("right")
   elseif at == "east"     and need == "north" then
     turn("left")
   end
   at =need
end

local function putAway()
   local stacks=0
   local inventorySize
   peripheral.call("front","condenseItems")
   stacks = peripheral.call("front","getAllStacks")
   inventorySize=peripheral.call("front","getInventorySize")
   if(#stacks) < inventorySize then
     turtle.drop()
   end
end

local function checkWhere()
   local itemData=nil
   local direction=nil
   itemData=turtle.getItemDetail()
   if itemData then
     if itemList[itemData.name] then
       direction=itemList[itemData.name](itemData)
       doTurn(direction)
       putAway()
     else
       print("fallBack")
       direction=fallBack(itemData)
       doTurn(direction)
       putAway()
     end
   end
end
reset()
while true do
   local where=nil
   turtle.suckUp()
   for slot = 1,16 do
     turtle.select(slot)
     where=checkWhere()
     if where then
       doTurn(where)
       putAway()
     end
   end
   sleep(1)
end

If there are other scripts I used that might interest you (maybe one from the tree farm) then feel free to ask. The next thing I need to work on is more steam/power generation. I think I am going to go the Inductive automation route and make an algae pool (and make my tree farm work with oak trees as well because of apples. Algae likes apples )

 

[Fortanono]

Question: Would if be possible for me to join this server? I have a few mods.

1. Forestry (+Binnie's)
   
2. Magneticraft
3. Aura Cascade

 

[lenscas]

Question: Would if be possible for me to join this server? I have a few mods.

1. Forestry (+Binnie's)
   
2. Magneticraft
3. Aura Cascade

The problem with accepting requests like that is that you kind of need to accept all of them after you accepted one, also adding mods will give more problems then its worth at this point. For some people its already almost too big to run adding mods is not going to help. So, sorry I don't think the others will accept you because of the problems listed above.

 

[lenscas]

Well, as promised I started work on the Algae pool. This meant that I had travel a bit to find an lily pad (Which means some nice loot thanks to ancientwarfare's dungeons). I also decided to give a certain player a bit of Electronite as he has project red to play with and I have tons of that stuff.
So, first thing first. During my travel I found a nice village created by ancient warfare

Spoiler: Village

Long story short, I now have 14 ender-lily seeds, a potato portal gun and a bacon portal gun among some other things. I will probably make a farm for those sooner rather then later.
Now, as for my gift, well pictures say more then a thousand words so see for yourself.

Spoiler: Gift

And before you ask, that is not even all that I placed. Also, for those that don't know he lives under that tree with a door inside that tree with the same texture as the bark and yes I made sure he can still get to his base.

 

[lenscas]

As my post had a lot of trouble with being too long I decided to splits it into 2. So here is part 2 of the post.
I started work on the algae pool. It isn't hooked up to the tree farm yet nor have I made the machine that will be used to process everything.Also, I am redoing the shape as I discovered the pools (the glass like blocks) can be placed on top of each other and still work

Spoiler: Pool

A few questions though: Should I also show some other bases at some point? (Keep in mind we started last Saturday thus don't expect huge builds yet. Though a certain player has started a nice build but it isn't done yet). Also, have I done a good job explaining how my machines work so far? I mostly focus on a mod that I suspect most people don't know about and as a result I fear I might miss details that for me are obvious but for others are not.
For example I never talked about the power system (but to be honest I only have a very basic understanding of that), nor how the pipes work. And so far I haven't shown one of its interfaces yet. That being said, everything you need to know about how the machines work is documented and all its recipes are in NEI. Should I just refer to the manual of the mod for singular machines and just explain how I use said machine or also explain each machine in detail that I use? Or a bit of both, explaining the general functionality of the machine and how I use it? (Which is what I do currently at least, I hope.) I am also kind of interested in feedback of the mod so far as again, its a pretty unknown mod for as far as I know.

 

[Eruantien]

Well, as promised I started work on the Algae pool. This meant that I had travel a bit to find an lily pad (Which means some nice loot thanks to ancientwarfare's dungeons). I also decided to give a certain player a bit of Electronite as he has project red to play with and I have tons of that stuff.

So kind. ^^
Wait, what are you using algae for? I know I'll need it eventually, but of course it grows like a weed...

 

[lenscas]

So kind. ^^
Wait, what are you using algae for? I know I'll need it eventually, but of course it grows like a weed...

I'm talking about the algae from Inductive automation. It can be used as either an automatic food source (as in something you just keep in your inventory and you eat it automatically.) Or you can wait until the Algae die and dry it which gives you an item that lasts 4 time as long as charcoal, though the drying process takes some power. However this item has some other uses which is what I am aiming for. Currently I am waiting for my supply of algae to grow as I don't even have a thousand liters of the stuff and I kind of want to fill a bottle of the stuff ASAP so I can more easily jump start the process may I need to start again. (The more you have the quicker you get more and lilypads give only 1 liter or something like that.)

For those wondering, 1 liter = 1 milibucket.

 

[lenscas]

So, I did some stuff, mainly setting up a real place where I can craft using inductive automation machines.

Spoiler: The workshop

So, lets break it down. To the left you see the machines that I can currently use to make things. The closest is your normal electric furnace. Well, its normal except that as with all machines from Inductive automation the more power you give it the faster it works at a max speed of 1 operation a tick. I am pretty darn close to that already if no other machines are running and I am planning to improve that .
The machine next to it is an advanced furnace. This machines can do all sorts of things, from doubling ores to melting stone into lava to make alloys. Its a MUST have for inductive automation. In fact it has so many uses I even use one in my power creation setup (more on that later)
After that its the compressor. This can smash ingots into dusts thus allowing you to alloy things. It is also used to make plates and other items. The steam version is probably the first machine you make from this mod but of course this is the electric version.

The other side is my power generation.

Spoiler: Power

I create power using biomass (biomass is a liquid that you get when algae inside an algae pool die). The biomass first need to processed this happens inside an advanced furnace (most right machine) and creates steam and dry biomass. The steam goes into an steam generator (the machine on the left).
As I already mentioned in this thread, dry biomass lasts 4 times as long as charcoal when burned, however a steam boiler doesn't exactly give much steam (2 steam boilers can't keep up with 1 steam generator which is only the second tier of generators of this mod). Thus, I am going to do things differently.
The dry biomass is going into an electrolyser (machine on the right). This together with some power creates charcoal and hydrogen. Now, I know that that sounds counter productive to use power to get less out of your item however its the hydrogen I am after. The charcoal is just a nice by-product that goes straight into the steam boiler for just that little bit extra steam. (If you haven't noticed by now, this mod likes its steam)

The Hydrogen goes into the Hydrogen fuel cell. This machine uses oxygen and hydrogen to create power and steam. As you can probably already guess at this point, the steam goes into the steam generator. The steam comes from an fluid collector underneath the fuel cell which is set to suck oxygen.
So, how much power does this setup create?
Well, the steam generator is now finally maxed out and generates 24 kW (I should probably upgrade it as there is now some steam build up)
The hydrogen fuel cell on the other hand creates power depending on the amount of energy stored. However if no power is stored it creates a nice 144kW

Well, how much is that in this mod? The best tier of steam generator, which is the steam turbine only produces 120kW. Thus the hydrogen fuel cell alone produces 24 kw more or in other words an entire steam generator more then the steam turbine and also produces steam that can be used for power.

At this point I have 2 options, I either can try and delve deeper into the mod. Decompression coolers come into mind. If I have them setup (yes, I need multiple) I can make super conductive hydrogen ingots which will allow me to make wires that have no Resistance (thus no energy loss). Once I have done this I can hook up my tree farm and ore processing plant to my main power gen and I will be a step closer to making anti-matter.

I can also do a bit more ridiculous. You see, my biomass production can't keep up if the machines that are connected to it would run 24/7. This is obvious a problem. To solve this I am planning an rather ridiculous build which is a 3 chunk by 3 chunk cactus farm which would allow me to show off the builder and the miner from Inductive automation along with some of its CC integration (don't worry OC fans, the same functions are available for Open computers). I actually never used the builder before and especially not in combination with CC. It also means that I am going to need some auto crafting for the algae pools, something I also have not done with this mod so far.

So, my question is simple. Delve deeper in the mod or have a bit of fun automatically clearing terrain and doing an build that frankly doesn't have to be this big? Do note though that the chunks probably won't be cleared in time so I may spend some time showing the bases from other people or doing other things while waiting on that to be done.

 

[Someone Else 37]

Would the higher tier machines require more power than you're currently producing? If so, I'd say go for more powergen.

 

[lenscas]

so...as it turns out, digging a hole that is 3 chunks by 3 chunks can take a while, especially when you are not replacing the drills fast enough and when using the lowest tier of power gen. However, it is finally done

Spoiler: Hole of emptiness

Still a lot of work to do before it becomes an tower of cacti but at least the hole is now made. However waiting on this thing and supplying it with the needed drills is not the only thing I did. I also made 2 tools from Inductive automation, these being the electric chisel (pickaxe, shovel and axe). It is a bit faster then diamond tools and uses power instead of durability. Though this item is defiantly nice, I am going to search for an replacement this is mostly due to me not really needing the shovel and axe part of it and rather have a faster pickaxe. The reason that I won't need it is because of an oversight(at least, I think its an oversight) on the second tool that I made.
This tool is the electric cutter. It is said to be only a sword and a shear, however it also speeds up everything that can be broken by hand and slowing everything else down. This means it is also a very effective tool for wood and dirt. In fact its as good at those things as my electric chisel. Sure, it can't break snow but who cares about that. When you make it it also comes with silk touch and it allows you to hit faster then with swords while also dealing an nice 8 damage (a diamond sword deals 7). I managed to kill an enderman with it before it even hit the ground and I may try to get an autoclicker going just to see how ridiculous it can get.

However, this are not all the items I made. I also made an Portable Inventory remote. This can be linked to a good amount of items that have an inventory and it allows you to interact with said inventory remotely. I was planning to use it on my mass storage chest that holds my ingots and ores however it seem to not work with blocks from the same mod (Which I really did not expect). Thus instead I made a new diamond chest and linked it to that, as a result I now have a "backpack" the size of a diamond chest that I won't loose the content of if I die. I would say that it is still good value. I can also make it automatically interact with the chest but I have no need for that as of yet.

I also made an Octa-Cell Storage Unit. This is basically an battery and it holds 128000 kJ I primarily made it to charge my new tools. I don't think a picture is necessary as it isn't exactly pleasing to look at or anything special.

One other thing happened though, which involves the thaumcraft player screwing up with one of the add-ons from thaumcraft. Can't guess what it is? Here is an hint, It involves magical fires. Lets just say that some chunks had to be reset. However a good thing about it was that it gave me a reason to make nukes sadly enough the radiation of the second one killed me
Here is a picture of the damage before we decided to reset it, apparently the thaumcraft player made some more pictures but he is currently offline.

Spoiler: WHY?!

I know, not the best picture but the best I have

 

[lenscas]

Today was mostly preparing stuff for the creation of the cactus farm. I am planning to have the items get to one point using water, this means I need ice and signs and loads of it. Well, auto crafting signs is easy, especially as I already had a tree farm

Spoiler: barrel of signs

They are not the nicest blocks to look at but these autocrafter's are as it turns out rather nice. Though, its gui is not the most intuitive one to use. So, lets focus on that first.

most left is how it behaves with its in/outputs. Every IA machine has it. In short, it is told to get items from the top and place it in the green input slot and sends it output (in this case cyan) to both the block underneath it and the block to the north of it. The rest of its side have no interaction (default)

Then now the automatic crafter specific part. The numeric grid is how you tell it to craft items. In this case I say that t should place all items from the green input slot (notice the matching numbers) in the middle of the upper row from its crafting grid. The rest of the grid has no items as the corresponding inputs have no items. Thus it makes planks.

The rest of the machine is pretty straight forward. Crafter on the left makes sticks and puts it in the chest below it and the lowest crafter uses the sticks and planks it get to make signs and puts them in the barrel bellow. This process does not require power and it is pretty much done in an instant. Considering they are also pretty cheap to make, I would say they are defiantly worth the maybe not so intuitive interface.
One other thing to mention though, unlike most autocrafters where you specify a recipe and an output this is not strikt like that and as a result you can use 1 crafter to make for example normal sticks and stone sticks. The only thing you need to change is what it has access to. This might result in unintended behavior of your machines but might also be used to reduce the amount of crafters you need.

So, that are the signs, and now its time to get ice. It so happens to be that IC2-Classic has a way to make ice out of snowballs using a compressor (1 snowball=1 ice block). So, lets make a lot of ice this way.

Spoiler: The quest for a barrel of ice

First, we need snow. Lets make a snowman and some shoveling turtles

The pipes origianlly connected to a barrel but once it was full I used a dolly to place it on top of a hopper that feeds into an compressor.

Underneath the compressor is another hopper and barrel to collect the ice.

As cactus needs sand to stand on and I have not at all enough sand, lets make some sand as well. Same concept as before but this time including some pipes due to lack of space.

Spoiler: cobble to sand

The reason why I am not using IA machines for this (despite being a lot faster) is because it will grind cobble first to gravel and it needs water to do so (advanced furnace recipe). This also makes steam and I am just not in the mood to set that all up, especially as the sand won't be needed for a while anyway.

As for the hole itself. I now flattened the bottom using stone. Why didn't I go for cobble stone you ask? because weirdly enough I have more stone then cobble and I will need a lot of cobble to make sand already.

Spoiler: flat hole

I made this nice hole using the automatic builder. The automatic builder is basically an better buildcraft filler except that it can't destroy blocks (You can however have it work together with a miner using a machine co-op synchronizer. Yes, you read that right, some machines can work together in a slave/master configuration. Read IA's documentation on how that works)
So, why do I say its better if it needs another machine to break blocks? Well, lets give its gui a look. Again, complicated looking gui ahead

First thing first, thing on the left is inventory management and as this uses power you can also control that. For power it defaults to both give and take from all sides. As for the builder specific stuff.
The frames part is used so you can have the different frame beams being different blocks, they are grouped in what direction they go. (up and down=Y for Z and X I think you can see those using the Area configuration tool). Then the walls part is simple, they are used to have the walls be certain blocks. B=bottom, T=top and N,S,W and E= are North, South, West and East.

Then underneath that are the layers. the numbers refer to how big a layer needs to be. After the frame and walls are done, these are used to fill in the area. The XZ button decides is used to configure how the layers need to be placed and the inactive button is used to shut it down and while building it shows what it is currently working on. However, this is not all the builder can do but for that please read the documentation as I have not used those as of yet thus my knowledge is limited to what is written there.

And one thing you might have noticed is that my electric furnace from IC2-Classic is not connected to power anymore. This is because I couldn't find space to connect it without having the cable be on the front and as I also don't have a use for it anymore due to IA's furnace being superior due to me being able to pump 82.9 kW in it (thus 82.9 kJ/tick) and its operations only needing 200kJ. This means it is done in about 4 game ticks. (IA machines are done with their operation as soon as they have had enough kJ for it + compensation for their own resistance. With a minimum of 1 operation/ tick)

 

[dragon_fang101]

Looks nice so far! I'll be watching this.