New to FTB

[GreatWhite000]

Hello,

I never played Tekkit, and I just started playing FTB last night. I have finally made myself a quarry and the needs to power it (a stirling engine), but when I went into a creative world to mess around, I couldn't figure out how to hook up my quarry to an MFSU or Ultimate Hybrid Solar Panel. Any help?

 

[Mikey_R]

The energy from the MFSU and Solar panels are different from the energy that the Quarry needs. For the record, the MFSU and other items from the IC2 mod use EU and Buildcraft uses MJ.

Now, you can convert between them, to go from EU to MJ you need to make an electrical engine. In general, all engines will produce MJ, so if you want MJ, just look up engines.

 

[SilvasRuin]

Generator is a keyword for IC2 power, or Electrical Units (EU). as Mikey_R pointed out, Engines is a keyword for Minecraft Joules (MJ). EU is used for "industrial machines", which are typically a standard light gray. MJ is used for the distinct appearance Forestry farms and devices (you'll get used to recognizing them), most of the various mining/construction machines (use gears in their recipes), the Thermal Expansion machines (darker gray with colored slots on all but their face sides, very distinct) and anything involving the pipes. The two major exceptions are the Electrical Engine which converts EU to MJ, and the Biofuel Generator, which uses plant (by)products (often produced in surplus by Forestry) to produce and burn a specific fuel for EU generation. For another conversion option, MJ can be used to power a Magma Crucible which can produce Lava for powering a Geothermal Generator, though this is normally very inefficient.

To make things a bit more odd, there's also the Steam Turbine structure added by Railcraft. The Steam Turbine supplies EU by consuming Steam produced by Railcraft's Boiler structure. The Boiler is a very powerful source of energy generation (it has three tiers of Steam Engines that feed off of it as well). The Turbine is very expensive, however, and its rotors will wear out and will need replacing occasionally.

I don't know if this comparison will help or hurt your understanding, but the Boiler roughly serves as the MJ equivalent to the Nuclear Reactor: powerful, easily generates in excess of your needs, and temperamental and explosive if you don't use sufficient caution. The Redstone Energy Storage block roughly equates to the EU MFSU but for MJ. In both cases, the MJ devices are much simpler to use but more complicated to automate than the EU counterparts.

EU has more uses than MJ, especially with the Electrical Engine being available, but IMO is less satisfying in the attempt to reach automated sustainability.

 

[Bibble]

It's also worth thinking about the fact that Buildcraft energy (MJ) tends to be instantaneous. If you don't use it when you generate it, you lose it (not always the case, but pretty much for early game). IC2 energy (EU) is more easily stored, all machine have their internal capacitor (including generators) and one of the first devices to build are the storage ones (Batbox>MFE>MFSU), which allow the machines to request as much energy as they need from the store.

This does make MJ more difficult to work with, typically.

 

[Vovk]

all MJ using machines actually do have an internal storage as well. pipes also store small amounts of energy (i think it's their transmission amount)

That being said, melting down redstone to make MJ storage is wonderful and can turn your steam boiler into your only required energy producer if you're not using 100% of its energy automating things (the excess gets stored in liquid redstone and that excess amount goes up really really fast)