Ore Processing

[namiasdf]

The antics of ore processing is deeply imbedded in the personal attitudes of each FTB player. With so many choices, with so many advantage/disadvantages to one another, I find it interesting to understand why you have made your choices, regarding which ore processing method you have gone with.

For me:

TiCo Smeltery. Highest level of multitasking, does not require energy, provided you have a good storage of lava it is 100% reliable. Seeing all the liquid metals stack in a deep tank is awesome. Also, processing blocks of materials takes a lot of strain off the AE system.

It is ore doubling, but no extra byproducts.

 

[McJty]

For me the RotaryCraft extractor is the ultimate. Approx 5 times ore doubling and fun to get it to work with the RotaryCraft mechanics

 

[namiasdf]

For me the RotaryCraft extractor is the ultimate. Approx 5 times ore doubling and fun to get it to work with the RotaryCraft mechanics

How late into the game do you achieve 5x? In the early game, it would matter. Once you get a quarry going, etc. you stop caring about it. This is why I am having trouble opting for RoC.

 

[Golrith]

For myself my pack kinda forces me to start with the Smeltery, then I progress to TE3/Mek, with the ultimate goal (eventually) of building that 5x ore processing monster. Since my ore gen is roughly 4 times less normal and many recipes more expensive, getting to that point is a challenge, having to carefully plan what I built when, to avoid wastage.

 

[malicious_bloke]

How late into the game do you achieve 5x? In the early game, it would matter. Once you get a quarry going, etc. you stop caring about it. This is why I am having trouble opting for RoC.

Building it, easy. Powering a few of them at reasonable speed is not an early/mid-game thing.

But in the meantime you can use a grinder for easy 3x processing. Even that's better than anything other than some recipes in the induction smelter.

 

[YX33A]

How late into the game do you achieve 5x? In the early game, it would matter. Once you get a quarry going, etc. you stop caring about it. This is why I am having trouble opting for RoC.

All in all it's not that late in. It's not that expensive to build(hardest part to get for it is a single piece of netherrack), but powering it requires either a way to throw more power at it them you really need to, or to understand how to use gearboxes and CTV Units to their full potential. Even a smart usage of a shaft junction is a thing to think about here.

Crafting it takes less resources then a Quarry. Using it requires less resources then a quarry. But unlike the quarry, one has to think to benefit from it. Far too many people use BC for the Quarry. I'd be much happier if the BC Quarry just didn't exist in a usable way. Like how Ender Chests by default just doesn't let you even craft them, but if configured, you can craft them but placing them isn't possible for some reason.

 

[Tylor]

There are many options now to get more than two dusts per ore. Even TE and EnderIO machines gives you a little extra.
And Thaumcraft smelts stuff completely for free and even gives you exp.
TiCo smeltery can be built early (or you can even find it in a village), but is not very effective and sometimes bothersome to operate.

 

[YX33A]

There are many options now to get more than two dusts per ore. Even TE and EnderIO machines gives you little extra.
And Thaumcraft smelts stuff completely for free and even gives you exp.
TiCo smeltery can be build early (or you can even find it in a village), but is not very effective and sometimes bothersome to operate.

Too true. Ore Doubling was a unheard of concept when it was first released... during alpha in Industrial Craft. Now? It took the IC2 EX branch to make a way to triple them native to IC2 and it's still pretty unusable.

That said, a sign of progress is indeed getting more from your ores both in Minecraft and real life. I hate to say it, but for realistic sounding methods, Mek has RoC beat. True, I don't give RoC enough credit for that one, but seriously, roughly the same ore to ingot output, but one is insanely complex to just reach, and the other is limited by power input, not any other resources.

 

[Ieldra]

I find it hard to get a working knowledge of all the different options for ore processing. Almost every industry/tech mod adds its own mechanics.

Options I've explored:

(1) (ores*2) TInker's Construct smeltery. A good early-game option with the bonus of giving you great tools on top of it which stay useful basically forever. Disadvantages: it is somewhat awkward to automate and it needs a source of lava, which I found isn't always so easy to come by unless you go into the Nether.

(2) (ores*2, later 3) Thermal Expansion Pulverizer/Redstone Furnace/Induction smelter. Works reasonably well early to mid-game, but suffers from the fact you can't speed those machines up. They remain useful for specialized use and crafting of specific components, but are phased out of the processing chain at some point.

(3) (ores*2, later 3) IC2: It's basically impossible to speed the Macerator up to tolerable levels - once you have the power to do so, you'll be better off with other options. However, the Induction Furnace is one of the fastest ways to smelt things and remains a good option even in a high-end processing chain.

(4) (ores *3, later 5) RotaryCraft: I haven't used the low-tier processing chains, but the Extractor gives you the best output per block of ore I know - including some of the byproducts you'd get from TE's Induction Smelter. It is also very easy to build and to set up, but rather tricky to power, and getting it to work fast takes a lot of power.

(5) (ores *2, later 3) Factorization: Critical Failure for being incompatible with the major power systems, and incredibly finicky to get to work in my experience as well an extremely slow (add 10x "extremely") late process. I try to forget it.

Options I haven't explored:

(1) Engineer's Toolbox Grinder/Multi-Smelter. This provides possibly the most compact way to process ores, as well as ore-tripling plus byproducts. Any system based on modular sockets is intrinsically scalable, but unfortunately, it does not appear to be possible to speed the process up except by building more machines.

(2) Mekanism: don't know anything about this except that it has the digital miner.

(3) Thaumcraft: haven't used TV for ore-processing because it appears very awkward to automate.

(4) Mariculture: offers ore-doubling, later a 4.66 multiplier when fully upgraded. Unsurprisingly you need maritime resources added by the mod for the upgrades, so that might be a playstyle alternative for those who play ocean-themed games.

I'm sure there are more option....[DOUBLEPOST=1403524853][/DOUBLEPOST]

Too true. Ore Doubling was a unheard of concept when it was first released... during alpha in Industrial Craft. Now? It took the IC2 EX branch to make a way to triple them native to IC2 and it's still pretty unusable.

That said, a sign of progress is indeed getting more from your ores both in Minecraft and real life. I hate to say it, but for realistic sounding methods, Mek has RoC beat. True, I don't give RoC enough credit for that one, but seriously, roughly the same ore to ingot output, but one is insanely complex to just reach, and the other is limited by power input, not any other resources.

How does Mekanism's ore processing work? I haven't explored it since it was in one of the modpacks I was playing, but what I have heard sounds intriguing.

 

[Golrith]

Best option is to show this wiki page for Mekanism Ore processing: http://wiki.aidancbrady.com/wiki/Ore_Processing

Once you hit Tier 3 and 4, you'll be using a lot of resources, power and space, combined with a lot of head scratching plumping it all up

 

[McJty]

(4) (ores *2, later 5) RotaryCraft: I haven't used the low-tier processing chains, but the Extractor gives you the best output per block of ore I know - including some of the byproducts you'd get from TE's Induction Smelter. It is also very easy to build and to set up, but rather tricky to power, and getting it to work fast takes a lot of power.

Small correction. RotaryCraft has *3 early ore doubling (grinder) instead of *2.

 

[malicious_bloke]

I find it hard to get a working knowledge of all the different options for ore processing. Almost every industry/tech mod adds its own mechanics.

Options I've explored:

(1) (ores*2) TInker's Construct smeltery. A good early-game option with the bonus of giving you great tools on top of it which stay useful basically forever. Disadvantages: it is somewhat awkward to automate and it needs a source of lava, which I found isn't always so easy to come by unless you go into the Nether.

(2) (ores*2, later 3) Thermal Expansion Pulverizer/Redstone Furnace/Induction smelter. Works reasonably well early to mid-game, but suffers from the fact you can't speed those machines up. They remain useful for specialized use and crafting of specific components, but are phased out of the processing chain at some point.

(3) (ores*2, later 3) IC2: It's basically impossible to speed the Macerator up to tolerable levels - once you have the power to do so, you'll be better off with other options. However, the Induction Furnace is one of the fastest ways to smelt things and remains a good option even in a high-end processing chain.

(4) (ores *2, later 5) RotaryCraft: I haven't used the low-tier processing chains, but the Extractor gives you the best output per block of ore I know - including some of the byproducts you'd get from TE's Induction Smelter. It is also very easy to build and to set up, but rather tricky to power, and getting it to work fast takes a lot of power.

(5) (ores *2, later 3) Factorization: Critical Failure for being incompatible with the major power systems, and incredibly finicky to get to work in my experience as well an extremely slow (add 10x "extremely") late process. I try to forget it.

Options I haven't explored:

(1) Engineer's Toolbox Grinder/Multi-Smelter. This provides possibly the most compact way to process ores, as well as ore-tripling plus byproducts. Any system based on modular sockets is intrinsically scalable, but unfortunately, it does not appear to be possible to speed the process up except by building more machines.

(2) Mekanism: don't know anything about this except that it has the digital miner.

(3) Thaumcraft: haven't used TV for ore-processing because it appears very awkward to automate.

(4) Mariculture: offers ore-doubling, which isn't all that impressive these days. Might still be good early option especially if you play an ocean-themed game.

I'm sure there are more option....[DOUBLEPOST=1403524853][/DOUBLEPOST]
How does Mekanism's ore processing work? I haven't explored it since it was in one of the modpacks I was playing, but what I have heard sounds intriguing.

You missed out the grinder thingy from Applied energistics, too. Ore doubling for no power overhead, but totally manual.

Mekanism has 5 tiers of increasingly complex machinery to go through the levels of 2-3-4-5x ore multiplication. It's neatly done since very little of the prior levels of machine become obsolete when you build the next level. And it's complex to automate but not utterly retarded.

EDIT: what Golrith said

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

TiC to start with x2
TE next with x2 and a bit with by products
IC2 next with x3(I think)

Suggestions for projects to get x4 and x5 plse

 

[malicious_bloke]

TiC to start with x2
TE next with x2 and a bit with by products
IC2 next with x3(I think)

Suggestions for projects to get x4 and x5 plse

Read comments above

 

[ScottulusMaximus]

Read comments above

Damn was gonna ninja edit, think mekanism for x4 and rotarycraft for x5... However also wanna try engineers toolbox but I have NO idea how those 3 work, time to google

 

[Ieldra]

Best option is to show this wiki page for Mekanism Ore processing: http://wiki.aidancbrady.com/wiki/Ore_Processing

Once you hit Tier 3 and 4, you'll be using a lot of resources, power and space, combined with a lot of head scratching plumping it all up

Hmm....I wouldn't mind the complexity if this system used less energy than a RotaryCraft setup. However, the opposite appears to be the case and it seems it's even slower than a RotaryCraft extractor run at minimum power. I'll probably pass this by.

 

[Ieldra]

Damn was gonna ninja edit, think mekanism for x4 and rotarycraft for x5... However also wanna try engineers toolbox but I have NO idea how those 3 work, time to google

Engineer's Toolbox is a *very* neat mod. I was rarely as impressed by any mod concept. Ore processing returns might only be mid-tier compared to RoC and Mek, but ET setups adapt to your requirements and favorite building style like no other mod I know. I've only used it for a week or so, but it's become one of my favorite mods. One example: if I wanted, I could integrate my ore processing into the one-block thick walls of my house and make it completely invisible apart from the input chest, including redstone logic and all.

 

[McJty]

Engineer's Toolbox is a *very* neat mod. I was rarely as impressed by any mod concept. Ore processing returns might only be mid-tier compared to RoC and Mek, but ET setups adapt to your requirements and favorite building style like no other mod I know. I've only used it for a week or so, but it's become one of my favorite mods. One example: if I wanted, I could integrate my ore processing into the one-block thick walls of my house and make it completely invisible apart from the input chest, including redstone logic and all.

I must admit I never really got into this mod and it appears to be rather weird to me. I may have to watch a few spotlights or videos on it though. However, with regards to hding your equipment in the rooms I actually like to have my machines visible as I like the 'machine room' look to things

 

[Ieldra]

I must admit I never really got into this mod and it appears to be rather weird to me. I may have to watch a few spotlights or videos on it though. However, with regards to hding your equipment in the rooms I actually like to have my machines visible as I like the 'machine room' look to things

All right, modular sockets tend to look somewhat similar to each other. Nonetheless, with ET you can do things you can't with any other mod. Another example: redstone logic gates in one block which - as opposed to their Project Red versions - let you configure the input and output side. It's even possible to put two gates into one socket as long as their output and input sides are different.

Hmm, thinking of it, you can use BC facades to give the sockets an industrial look.

All right, this is getting somewhat OT. I'll stop now.

 

[GreenZombie]

...
One example: if I wanted, I could integrate my ore processing into the one-block thick walls of my house and make it completely invisible apart from the input chest, including redstone logic and all.

This is exactly why I don't use Engineers Toolbox.