Actually reminds me, need to revisit that idea of a Aerial Faith Plate(Portal mod) network. Could be awesome if used with various Bounce Pads/rubber Sheets/water/cobwebs/whatever connecting you from one plate to the next from base to base.
rhn's continued adventures: a build journal, guide collection etc.
- Thread starter rhn
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So I have been building stations and switchtracks (ok been doing a few other things on the side as a distraction, else I would have gone nuts), but started meeting some problems. Primarily the fact that the locations which I have planned to house stations have not actually been built yet 
So the minecart project is somewhat branching out:
Built this building to house my future bee breeding endeavours. I plan to use this and the nearby plateaus for the apiaries/alvearies.
The main floor:
Lots of room for some machines and stuff needed. Don't mind the Chunkloader, it was there before I built the building
OpenBlocks Elevators to the left to the lower floors.
As usual I prefer to keep backups of all my pure bee species in good old fashion chests. Easier that way IMO. Hybrids and unstable breeds are destroyed. Collected "wild" bees are stored in two Indexers(one for Ignoble, one for Pristine). These chests are purely for stabilized pure breeds with my chosen traits.
And what started the whole thing:
One more station and switch track
Experimented a bit with a Drawbridge door and managed to pull it off. Using RC detectors to detect when a cart enters the switchtrack/leaves the station and I use a Toggle switch to open and close the door as the cart passes. A Separate Drawbridge is placed under the door and set to place the track when the door opens up.
In this case it is a bit tight on space specially when coming toward the station(the track is not quite put into place before the cart arrives to its position), but it works. I think I will use this several other places, preferably where there is more space/time to open the door.
So the minecart project is somewhat branching out:
Built this building to house my future bee breeding endeavours. I plan to use this and the nearby plateaus for the apiaries/alvearies.
The main floor:
Lots of room for some machines and stuff needed. Don't mind the Chunkloader, it was there before I built the building
OpenBlocks Elevators to the left to the lower floors.
As usual I prefer to keep backups of all my pure bee species in good old fashion chests. Easier that way IMO. Hybrids and unstable breeds are destroyed. Collected "wild" bees are stored in two Indexers(one for Ignoble, one for Pristine). These chests are purely for stabilized pure breeds with my chosen traits.
And what started the whole thing:
One more station and switch track
Experimented a bit with a Drawbridge door and managed to pull it off. Using RC detectors to detect when a cart enters the switchtrack/leaves the station and I use a Toggle switch to open and close the door as the cart passes. A Separate Drawbridge is placed under the door and set to place the track when the door opens up.
In this case it is a bit tight on space specially when coming toward the station(the track is not quite put into place before the cart arrives to its position), but it works. I think I will use this several other places, preferably where there is more space/time to open the door.
Does the bottom draw bridge pass redstone signal enough so that if it's a booster track laid down it will power it?
Actually yes, but I have also powered the other Booster tracks(So they don't slow me before the drawbridge gets the track deployed) and simply connecting them to the others will cause it to be powered up.
Good. I was just thinking that an invisible track would look awesome, perhaps running along the top of my defensive wall, but if the boosters aren't powered, it would have to be a train, and that's not what I want. This would be awesome.
Btw the drawbridges can spawn an entire line of tracks:
Using an Advanced Drawbridge you can pick the specific order of different types of tracks. You could then just have the blocks be "pre charged" with redstone signal from below where the booster tracks are going to be. But this does require the drawbridges to be "above ground".
True, and it only goes 16 blocks. Of course doing it from below quickly spirals into a fairly excessive number of draw bridges.
Now I talked a little bit about this before, but I fear it is slightly a resource that is being overlooked: Forestry Backpacks.
They are IMO an amazing cheap way to extend your inventory with lots of cool features.
They are divided up in different categories that each hold different items. Notable backpacks are:
Now you might be thinking: What is the main difference between these backpacks and any other bags except these are limited to what they can store? The huge difference is that these backpacks will automatically hoover up and store any items of their respective categories whenever you loot them. So if you are mining and brought a Diggers and a Miners backpack, then all the cobble, dirt and gravel is automatically sucked into the Diggers backpack, while all the ore, gems etc. is sucked into the Miners backpack! Neat isn't it?
But we are not done there. The backpacks have more cool features. When you shift+rightclick with the Backpack it will toggle through different modes:
Now the main drawback to the default Backpacks is that they only have 15 slots of space. Don't get me wrong, they are still immensely useful, but the upgraded versions are even more so with their 45 slots. But I think this is where most people jump ship as upgrading the backpacks require a little bit of beekeeping(Hang on, just beekeeping, no breeding required!).
Upgrading the backpacks is relatively simple. It might take some time but it can manage itself most of the way and the setup is quickly done. First thing you need is some Tropical bees. They are found in Jungle type biomes, usually in the trees:
Hit the hive with a Scoop(don't try to break it with a pick, you will not get any bees).
Next you will need an Apiary or several. You can craft them or get them from villagers/villages. Crafting them requires seedoil or creosote, but that is relatively simple to get hold of. Creosote can usually be found in mineshaft chests in bottles too.
Now you need to find a suitable biome. A jungle biome is obvious, but any biome that is Normal-Warm/Normal-Damp will do. You can put down a Apiary and look in the little tab on the right to see the biome stats.
Now to automate the Apiaries I prefer Itemducts(if you are on 1.7, I would suggest trying EnderIO conduits or just use BC pipes(wooden, diamond and whatever)).
Apply Servo to the input itemduct and configure like this:
(You can use any Princess and drone species to configure as long as they are not Analysed).
WARNING!
Now before you place the Tropical bees into the Apiaries, I need to warn you that they will sting you and cause poison effect. So if you do not have any protection against that, be sure to have some buckets of milk handy. This is also the reason why I placed the Produce chest so far from the Apiaries as I did, so it is possible to go collect the produce without getting stung.
Now just go do your regular stuff and eventually you will find a good amount of Silky Combs in the chest. These can then be put into a Centrifuge to make Silky Propolis which can be Centrifuged again to make Silk Wisps. The Silk Wisps can then be made into Woven silk in a Carpenter and then be used to upgrade your Forestry Backpacks!
Oh btw, once you have upgraded your Backpacks, the Silk wisps can be used as a source of string. And the Woven Silk can be used to make a suit to protect you against the poison effect of the bees
They are IMO an amazing cheap way to extend your inventory with lots of cool features.
They are divided up in different categories that each hold different items. Notable backpacks are:
- Miners Backpack: Holds all kinds of valuable stuff that you mine, such as ore, gems, coal, redstone, glowstone etc. Generally everything you go mining to get.
- Diggers Backpack: Holds cobblestone, dirt, gravel, sand and all kinds of other things you excavate from the terrain. Typically all the less valuable stuff.
- Builders Backpack: Holds all kinds of processed building materials such as smooth Stone, Glass, Bricks, Planks, Fence, Torches, Chests etc.
- Hunters Backpack: Holds all kinds of drops from mobs like Arrows, Rotten Flesh, Ender Pearls, Wool, Raw meat etc.
Now you might be thinking: What is the main difference between these backpacks and any other bags except these are limited to what they can store? The huge difference is that these backpacks will automatically hoover up and store any items of their respective categories whenever you loot them. So if you are mining and brought a Diggers and a Miners backpack, then all the cobble, dirt and gravel is automatically sucked into the Diggers backpack, while all the ore, gems etc. is sucked into the Miners backpack! Neat isn't it?
But we are not done there. The backpacks have more cool features. When you shift+rightclick with the Backpack it will toggle through different modes:
- Locked mode: The backpack will not suck up any items and you can use it purely as a manual bag.
- Receiving Mode: If you shift+rightclick with the backpack in this mode on a chest or other inventory, it will attempt to fill itself with items from that inventory. This can be handy as shift+rightclicking an inventory in any other mode will empty the backpack out into the inventory(easy way to move large amounts of material from one place to another for example).
- Resupply mode: This mode will will fill up any stacks in the main inventory with items from the backpack. So if you are out building for example you can have one stack of material in the hotbar which is constantly refilled with the many stacks in your backpack(s). Or when mining you can have one stack of cobble in your hotbar ready to plug lava cave-ins while rest is sucked into your backpack.
Now the main drawback to the default Backpacks is that they only have 15 slots of space. Don't get me wrong, they are still immensely useful, but the upgraded versions are even more so with their 45 slots. But I think this is where most people jump ship as upgrading the backpacks require a little bit of beekeeping(Hang on, just beekeeping, no breeding required!).
Upgrading the backpacks is relatively simple. It might take some time but it can manage itself most of the way and the setup is quickly done. First thing you need is some Tropical bees. They are found in Jungle type biomes, usually in the trees:
Hit the hive with a Scoop(don't try to break it with a pick, you will not get any bees).
Next you will need an Apiary or several. You can craft them or get them from villagers/villages. Crafting them requires seedoil or creosote, but that is relatively simple to get hold of. Creosote can usually be found in mineshaft chests in bottles too.
Now you need to find a suitable biome. A jungle biome is obvious, but any biome that is Normal-Warm/Normal-Damp will do. You can put down a Apiary and look in the little tab on the right to see the biome stats.
Now to automate the Apiaries I prefer Itemducts(if you are on 1.7, I would suggest trying EnderIO conduits or just use BC pipes(wooden, diamond and whatever)).
Apply Servo to the input itemduct and configure like this:
(You can use any Princess and drone species to configure as long as they are not Analysed).
WARNING!
Now before you place the Tropical bees into the Apiaries, I need to warn you that they will sting you and cause poison effect. So if you do not have any protection against that, be sure to have some buckets of milk handy. This is also the reason why I placed the Produce chest so far from the Apiaries as I did, so it is possible to go collect the produce without getting stung.
Now just go do your regular stuff and eventually you will find a good amount of Silky Combs in the chest. These can then be put into a Centrifuge to make Silky Propolis which can be Centrifuged again to make Silk Wisps. The Silk Wisps can then be made into Woven silk in a Carpenter and then be used to upgrade your Forestry Backpacks!
Oh btw, once you have upgraded your Backpacks, the Silk wisps can be used as a source of string. And the Woven Silk can be used to make a suit to protect you against the poison effect of the bees
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I actually prefer Extra Utilities pipes over anything else for beekeeping. Very simple to set up, you don't even need a filter.
I don't have pictures of my setup to hand, but it's very similar in layout to the pictured itemducts.
I'd also keep in mind that only Pristine Stock Princess are guaranteed to produce a princess in their offspring. Ignoble Bees will eventually die out, so while less useful for automatic produce, are ok for things like tree breeding, or just getting extra drones.
Most Bees are actually perfectly fine working in a Normal/Normal biome, including the Tropicals. The one main exception is bees bred in the nether, or found in the nether.
For me the most useful backpack is actually the Apairst's one, as bees tend to eat up a LOT of inventory space if you gathering them in bulk. At the point I am in my game, I don't really need backpacks, as awesome as they are.
On the subject of backpacks, I think you can sneak-right click to empty them into an inventory, a useful feature for dumping a bunch of mined goodies into a sorting/me system.
Also you don't have to do beekeeping at all, all you need is one Tropical bee and an escritoire (I think I've spelt that wrong). It looks like an exam table, you can put bees in it to try and learn how they mutate. It's a one chance conentration game with bees. If you mess up, you don't lose the bee, and can just take it out and back in. Succeed and you get some bee produce and possibly a note saying how that bee can breed with another. Arguably this is more annoying than bee breeding in itself though.
EDIT: One last thing for those budding thaumatarges, the wand focus of excavation works as a scoop too.
I don't have pictures of my setup to hand, but it's very similar in layout to the pictured itemducts.
I'd also keep in mind that only Pristine Stock Princess are guaranteed to produce a princess in their offspring. Ignoble Bees will eventually die out, so while less useful for automatic produce, are ok for things like tree breeding, or just getting extra drones.
Most Bees are actually perfectly fine working in a Normal/Normal biome, including the Tropicals. The one main exception is bees bred in the nether, or found in the nether.
For me the most useful backpack is actually the Apairst's one, as bees tend to eat up a LOT of inventory space if you gathering them in bulk. At the point I am in my game, I don't really need backpacks, as awesome as they are.
On the subject of backpacks, I think you can sneak-right click to empty them into an inventory, a useful feature for dumping a bunch of mined goodies into a sorting/me system.
Also you don't have to do beekeeping at all, all you need is one Tropical bee and an escritoire (I think I've spelt that wrong). It looks like an exam table, you can put bees in it to try and learn how they mutate. It's a one chance conentration game with bees. If you mess up, you don't lose the bee, and can just take it out and back in. Succeed and you get some bee produce and possibly a note saying how that bee can breed with another. Arguably this is more annoying than bee breeding in itself though.
EDIT: One last thing for those budding thaumatarges, the wand focus of excavation works as a scoop too.
Didnt want to get into too much detail about bee keeping, but yeah Ignoble bees will eventually die off(Queen will eventually not produce a new princess, drones are safe to use for further breeding/production). But for the sole purpose of upgrading backpacks you can easily use Ignoble Princesses as they will last for a VERY long time. I am using Ignoble tropical bees myself and upgraded 4 backpacks and all bees are still alive.
You are absolutely right. I was incorrectly recollecting that the tropical bee had no tolerances. It will work fine in Normal/normal. Will edit post with this information.
Same goes for the IC2 Mining Laser.
You can also make the Thaumium Scoop with Thaumcraft. It can be enchanted with Unbreaking and/or Repair.
Personally I use them constantly throughout the game. I might not use the same kinds of bags(I for example rarely use the Miners backpack anymore), but I still use them to great extend. For example when building I always use the Diggers(For Cobble, Dirt, Marble etc.), Builders(for Glass, Quarried Stone, Smooth Sandstone etc.) and recently the Trackmans(for all the tracks, carts and related items). I can hereby carry lots of stacks(In backpacks in Resupply mode) to extend my building time and keep my main inventory clear for microblocks, tools and other stuff.
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Bees seem so dull to me although sometimes I wonder what the fuss is about. Ive stopped including Forestry in my packs, I just never use it. I like setting up an enderchest to be stocked with certain item instead of using backpacks. I love the crafting bag that comes with the "Backpacks" mod though. A portable crafting table with built in storage.
I'm normally violently anti-bee myself, but a few months ago I came up with some minetweaker scripting to change their mechanics a bit to suit my liking. Its strictly GT-specific sadly or I'd share it around, but basically the bee produce combined with ores (in smelters or whatever) to produce X crushed ore instead of 2 crushed ore, making bees into an ore-multiplier rather than an infinite resource supply. So iron ore + bee-iron = 4 crushed ore, etc.
Never did get it working 100% sadly.
I actually do both. I set up a Enderchest restocked with LP with a couple of stacks of the most common items I might need on the go. But I use it to restock the backpacks(shift+click stacks into inventory, alt+click items onto ground which is then picked up by backpacks).
I now retired the Enderchest as I have set up my LP Remote Orderer + Random Things Player Interface setup so I can order anything from anywhere directly into my inventory.
I generally don't go for bees as a source of metals and other common resources. Only for stuff that is hard/impossible to automatically come by in other ways. And then it is important for me to not go nuts and set up 20 alvearies or something crazy with each species. It is just a small trickle of resources so that I am still motivated to find them through other means.
Edit: Dont know if this is possible, but it would be amazing if the bee produce would for example be used in something like the Alloy smelter/Induction Smelter along with the Purified Crushed ore/dust to double the output.
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Hmm filling the reactor pit with BoP Spring Water might not be such a big problem after all:
Not nearly enough I would think, but this is after one max sized QuarryPlus Quarry with Pump attached.
Not nearly enough I would think, but this is after one max sized QuarryPlus Quarry with Pump attached.
Don't forget to use the Buildcraft Floodgate to fill the tank instead of doing it by hand.
Even in 1.6.4, EnderIO conduits have a self feed option that will keep bees going as long as there are bees to put in. Just make sure it's set to In/Out mode and the option is there.
Currently, I'm using a rather gratuitous number of Sorcerous drones since I'm in a hot/arid Savannah biome, and they're the only ones that will survive.
Even in 1.6.4, EnderIO conduits have a self feed option that will keep bees going as long as there are bees to put in. Just make sure it's set to In/Out mode and the option is there.
Currently, I'm using a rather gratuitous number of Sorcerous drones since I'm in a hot/arid Savannah biome, and they're the only ones that will survive.
Hehe yeah I will. Not going to attempt it with Ametyst bucketsDon't forget to use the Buildcraft Floodgate to fill the tank instead of doing it by hand.
Even in 1.6.4, EnderIO conduits have a self feed option that will keep bees going as long as there are bees to put in. Just make sure it's set to In/Out mode and the option is there.
Currently, I'm using a rather gratuitous number of Sorcerous drones since I'm in a hot/arid Savannah biome, and they're the only ones that will survive.
I might try it out with EnderIO. I am very picky on how my bees are automated and stuff though
Yeah doing bees in anything other than a Normal/Normal biome can be a major PITA. At least up until you get the Extra Bees machines and a heated/cooled Alveary for mutating. All that travelling around to "satellite bee bases" takes a lot of time.