Journal Entry:
Well, while this base may be a bit temporary, but the nether portal isn't. And getting up and down is going to happen fairly regularly. So, I tried to set up a simple rail system. Unfortunately, I ran into a kind of a hitch. Elevator Rails pull up when powered and push down when un-powered. And it has to be powered up at the top. Now, I could set up a PRC and rednet cable to deal with this problem, but my diamonds are reserved for another project. So for now, I'm going to do a bit of blunt-force-engineering. Two rails. One powered, one not powered.
I also don't want to have to set up a coke oven to make creosote oil, so I'll use Reinforced Rails. It's not like I don't have tons of obsidian anyways. The rebar for the railbeds was a bit of a rude awakening, but at least I've got the iron. Besides, reinforced rails move faster.
Now, going up the incline to the elevator rails is fairly simple, that's just reinforced booster rails. And on the flat, that's just regular reinforced rails. But if I am going to be routing some rails, and two sets of elevator tracks, then I'm going to need a way to make sure the rails go to the right place.
I'm more than a bit embarassed at how long it took me to figure it out, but there's a Reinforced Wye Track which does exactly what I want it to do. I also set up some Boarding Tracks at either end, and even set up a very basic on and offloading station at my current temporary base. I had found some Creosote Oil in the chest minecarts in that abandoned mine to make the boarding tracks with. That place still gives me the creeps.
I'm still working on replacing all the cobble with brick, but at least the project is coming along nicely. However, I've got a kind of a problem...
It's power. All I've got are those four heat generators, and it just isn't cutting it anymore. So now it's time to kick it up a notch. Actually, several notches.
There's a device known as an Ocean Generator. While normally useless, it is ironically and ideally suited for my current situation, since it generates power based on a large volume of water. It isn't cheap, though. It's going to pretty much run through all of my diamonds, and it's also going to chew through most of my copper. I did a bit of mining at a higher level and came back with a half stack. All that is probably going to be used in this project.
It requires three Elite Circuits. Each one of those requires two Advanced Circuits. Each of those requires a diamond and two Basic Circuits. Each of those requires four wire and a bronze plate. So yea, all that copper? Gone. Fortunately, my Copper Oreberry Bushes have been producing a bit of copper for me. Not much, but it's something.
Then I realize that copper wiring probably isn't going to cut it here. So I looked into higher quality wires. Since I didn't want to make a Wire Mill for Superconductors (the electrum wasn't a problem, but nearly a stack of copper in parts was), I went with Silver. And I also decided that I didn't want to spend that much time at my spider nest to get all the wool, so I made an Insulation Refiner. Now I can take all that unappealing rotten flesh and turn them into insulation! Reduce, reuse, recycle, reanimate?
The wire goes straight down to my Power Cube, which I upgraded to Advanced to be able to handle the current. Since the output is Red Energy Conduit anyways, it's not going to over-amp anything.
Well, while this base may be a bit temporary, but the nether portal isn't. And getting up and down is going to happen fairly regularly. So, I tried to set up a simple rail system. Unfortunately, I ran into a kind of a hitch. Elevator Rails pull up when powered and push down when un-powered. And it has to be powered up at the top. Now, I could set up a PRC and rednet cable to deal with this problem, but my diamonds are reserved for another project. So for now, I'm going to do a bit of blunt-force-engineering. Two rails. One powered, one not powered.
I also don't want to have to set up a coke oven to make creosote oil, so I'll use Reinforced Rails. It's not like I don't have tons of obsidian anyways. The rebar for the railbeds was a bit of a rude awakening, but at least I've got the iron. Besides, reinforced rails move faster.
Now, going up the incline to the elevator rails is fairly simple, that's just reinforced booster rails. And on the flat, that's just regular reinforced rails. But if I am going to be routing some rails, and two sets of elevator tracks, then I'm going to need a way to make sure the rails go to the right place.
I'm more than a bit embarassed at how long it took me to figure it out, but there's a Reinforced Wye Track which does exactly what I want it to do. I also set up some Boarding Tracks at either end, and even set up a very basic on and offloading station at my current temporary base. I had found some Creosote Oil in the chest minecarts in that abandoned mine to make the boarding tracks with. That place still gives me the creeps.
I'm still working on replacing all the cobble with brick, but at least the project is coming along nicely. However, I've got a kind of a problem...
It's power. All I've got are those four heat generators, and it just isn't cutting it anymore. So now it's time to kick it up a notch. Actually, several notches.
There's a device known as an Ocean Generator. While normally useless, it is ironically and ideally suited for my current situation, since it generates power based on a large volume of water. It isn't cheap, though. It's going to pretty much run through all of my diamonds, and it's also going to chew through most of my copper. I did a bit of mining at a higher level and came back with a half stack. All that is probably going to be used in this project.
It requires three Elite Circuits. Each one of those requires two Advanced Circuits. Each of those requires a diamond and two Basic Circuits. Each of those requires four wire and a bronze plate. So yea, all that copper? Gone. Fortunately, my Copper Oreberry Bushes have been producing a bit of copper for me. Not much, but it's something.
Then I realize that copper wiring probably isn't going to cut it here. So I looked into higher quality wires. Since I didn't want to make a Wire Mill for Superconductors (the electrum wasn't a problem, but nearly a stack of copper in parts was), I went with Silver. And I also decided that I didn't want to spend that much time at my spider nest to get all the wool, so I made an Insulation Refiner. Now I can take all that unappealing rotten flesh and turn them into insulation! Reduce, reuse, recycle, reanimate?
The wire goes straight down to my Power Cube, which I upgraded to Advanced to be able to handle the current. Since the output is Red Energy Conduit anyways, it's not going to over-amp anything.
