RC transportation - Uses

[Whovian]

Most things, even when out-done already, still have some use. For instance, BC Pipes are useful for their interaction with TE machines and Gates. And Factorization's craftpacket system can be used to package Tiny Dust into Dust more efficiently (at least, once one ignores the fact that they're made even more obselete by Electric Crafting Tables and Packagers.)

So. I have a feeling Railcraft is useful for transportation in *some* way; it's too good a mod for its initial purpose to die IMO. So this is sort of out of desperation, . So, does anyone have anything RC's transportation system is still useful in any way for?

 

[Elvanos]

Well I am using RC for tanks (soon to be replaced by Xycraft in any newer builds) and boilers... rest feels kinda useless.

 

[Peppe]

Most things, even when out-done already, still have some use. For instance, BC Pipes are useful for their interaction with TE machines and Gates. And Factorization's craftpacket system can be used to package Tiny Dust into Dust more efficiently (at least, once one ignores the fact that they're made even more obselete by Electric Crafting Tables and Packagers.)

So. I have a feeling Railcraft is useful for transportation in *some* way; it's too good a mod for its initial purpose to die IMO. So this is sort of out of desperation, . So, does anyone have anything RC's transportation system is still useful in any way for?

It makes a cheap and reliable inventory level manager. You can use loaders to fill a chest cart with specific amount of supplies and then unload them to target inventories in specific quantities. The filter settings for input/output all use ghost items. I used this to manage the fuel supply for some complex nuclear reactors. And just posted a similar system to supply the MFR Bio reactor with the max variety of fuels (9) without overstocking any one type.

Managers do the same job over a tube network. They do not use ghost items in their filters and require blutricity.

Clay golems do a similar job, but do not handle stocking levels for non stackables.

Most other transportation roles it has are rendered useless by enderchests and tesseracts.

 

[KirinDave]

One under-used aspect of railcraft transport is the IC2 carts. They are fairly inexpensive ways to move HV and LV current around.

Another big use is for moving things between systems within a single factory. Railcraft's item movement is entirely "safe" in that it'll never overflow, and it can do a lot of the things regulators do without the hassle of regulators. Of course, MFR conveyors share some of those features and are similarly cheap...

It's also worth noting that railcraft carts can use portal gun portals without any real problem. This combined with their sophisticated cart routing means that you can actually have distinct installations that share a LOT of things over single rail lines with minimal cost and no appreciable travel time. It's kinda neat that way.

Most people do not realize how crazy cheap rail stuff is once you get the infrastructure set up; Railcraft increases your yields extraordinarily.

 

[Bibble]

I'll typically leave the rail transport system to the side, as I rapidly get annoyed with the infrastructure complexity (you need 2 machines and a source of power to make the basic rails), and the transport cost (iron is relatively plentiful in the packs, but early game, nothing is particularly easy to spend).

I can see that the infrastructure has it's advantages, but I get far too annoyed with it to use it to it's full potential. Also, signaling is complex. As with most things, it'll be powerful when you understand it, but it's a lot of effort to go to when there are things that do it much easier (albeit slightly too easy, tesseracts, portals, ender chests, etc.).

 

[Entropy]

If you've been watching Etho's FTB series, you understand that cart functionality is horrifically spergy, not only in mods, but vanilla as well. As it stands, transportation using Railcraft breaks down rather quickly. Plus, it's rather expensive and difficult to set up, and there are far better and more interesting methods available. The MFE and MFSU carts are cool, but I've never found a time when I would actually have a real use for them, so they sorta just get waylayed.

 

[Abdiel]

On my server we have a rail network connecting people's bases (no Mystcraft). RC in combination with CC and some MiscPeripherals make for a very efficient system.

I also despise any means of long-distance teleportation (enderchests, tesseracts, ...), so I have carts hauling lava to my base.

 

[KirinDave]

On my server we have a rail network connecting people's bases (no Mystcraft). RC in combination with CC and some MiscPeripherals make for a very efficient system.

I also despise any means of long-distance teleportation (enderchests, tesseracts, ...), so I have carts hauling lava to my base.

I wish there was a version/config of enderchests that allowed chest-to-pouch, but not chest-to-chest. I'd much rather "play it straight" with respect to space and time save in the case of personal inventory.

 

[slay_mithos]

Rails have so many uses, with railcraft and Steve's carts, but most people see the change in recipe, think it costs more or that it is annoying, and never bother with it.

The thing is, rails can be used for a lot of really different purposes, ranging from transportation to farming.

Do you know any reliable way of transporting EU over long distances early game (before you get late game Greg Tech block that does it)?
Sure, you can charge energy crystals and use ender chests, but why not go for a nice MFE or MFSU cart?

High speed rails can make travelling both fast and entertaining, as you still see the landscape flying by as you go.

Tree and crops farming is also pretty much self sufficient if you make the correct carts (solar for crops, standard engine burning wood for wood).

They can make some really decent hallways and bridges with the correct cart (multiple possibilities here).


In SMP, you can setup transportation system based on them, but even better ones than what you usually see with Vanilla.
Signalling, when understood, can help you get the correct people to the correct places.
Embark and Eject tracks also make things much more user friendly when setup right.

Let's not forget that you can link carts together, and have the whole train powered by a cart in front (yes, not a cart just merely pushing other carts).


There is also metal fence posts that are really cool looking when used alongside with rails, but that is up to personal style.

 

[hotblack desiato]

I never used railcraft heavily, but there are a few things, which (in combination with extra recipes) are really neat. one point are those wooden rails, which (with some work in the base) could lead to a mostly self-sustaining railcraft-stevescart-mine.

and the addition, that rails can be made out of aluminium or tungsten on the rolling machine, it's a neat idea (although RC isn't fully responsible for that).

when i'm going to set up a mine to gather red rock, I'd use an RC-train to get the rock to my base.

item tesseracts and mystcraft portals for long distance intra-dimensional transportation seems a bit too cheaty to me.

 

[Juice57]

Like someone said before remove Tesseracts and Enderchest then youll see the potential of RC, these 2 mods(TE & EC) ruined a lot of the creativity, work, and thought you had to put into a build instead of chest goes here. Done.

 

[Iskandar]

Yeah, i keep wanting to use Railcraft for more than steam boilers and tanks. But, since I play mostly single player, well, a well developed rail network between all my various bits of my base might look cool, it isn't exactly useful compared to powered flight.

I really, really want to build cool rail system at some point, though. Just for the sheer hell of it.

 

[Chocorate]

I use them for my Jousting minigame I made on my 2-player server with my friend. it's a huge track that does a double helix, and gets wider, and sometimes varies in speed. Then it turns around until it no longer detects 2 carts. Then the cart is usually (still fails sometimes) put back on the starting track. The object is to hit the other player's cart and knock them off with a bow, while moving at super high speeds.

 

[Lambert2191]

Rails are really really cool but one needs a decent computer/net connection(if playing on a server) for them to reach their full potential, otherwise they're just laggy glitchy messes.