Smarter AE Crafting Questions

[CodaPDX]

So, are there ways to set up conditions so that my AE autocrafting system will automatically craft something when a condition is met? For instance, have it automatically craft more cells so that there is always at least a stack of cells in my system at any time, or have it automatically package tiny dusts together? The best way I've been able to figure out is having a level detector hooked up to an export bus feeding a packager or autocrafting table, but that just seems inelegant, considering I've already put the necessary recipes in my molecular assembly chamber.

On a somewhat related note, is there a way to set relative priorities among crafting recipes for the same thing? For instance, I'd like to have my system preferentially empty compressed air cells when I need new cells, but when those are exhausted, I'd like it to craft new cells with tin. From my experimentation, it looks like if I have more than one recipe for a particular recipe in the MAC, it will just craft using the one that's first in the list and ignore the subsequent ones.

 

[Chocorate]

You could probably use redpower to detect when there's 64 or whatever number of something and then craft as many as you can.

 

[CodaPDX]

That would be a level detector hooked up to an autocrafting table. What I'm trying to figure out is if there's a way to combine the level detector logic with the internal AE crafting system.

 

[Akamir]

I had some success using an export bus on a furnace set to always craft the dusts from the tiny piles, but this requires you to add the dusts to the assembly chamber. It'll also flood your crafting queue with these things so personally I removed this ability and just craft them manually every now and then.

I'll linger around here to see if anyone has a better option, a fabricator felt a bit overkill to me.

 

[Milaha]

Set an export bus to export straight into an interface (so it is exporting to the AE network). Set it to craft always (will ignore any in stock and just make them every time), and only on redstone signal. Now set up a level emitter pointing at the export bus. Set this to emit a signal when under a certain amount of the item. Voila!

EDIT: Depending on the item, you may also want to consider using xy fabricators for the job, they are much faster and can also be set up to respond to redstone signals. You provide them with materials via adjacent interfaces in export mode. Routers work great for pulling finished products out. I use some of both methods. Export busses for the rarer stuff, fabricators for the stuff that gets made constantly like fertilizer.

 

[Milaha]

I had some success using an export bus on a furnace set to always craft the dusts from the tiny piles, but this requires you to add the dusts to the assembly chamber. It'll also flood your crafting queue with these things so personally I removed this ability and just craft them manually every now and then.

I'll linger around here to see if anyone has a better option, a fabricator felt a bit overkill to me.

For dusts I strongly recomend the GT electric crafting table. They let you get 8 types of tiny dust into a single device, and do not suck up slots in your MAC. They also have the advantage of storing all your stacks of 1-3 tiny dust so they are not sitting in your AE network. IIRC it takes 2 (might be 3) electric crafting tables to cover all types of tiny dust.

 

[CodaPDX]

Set an export bus to export straight into an interface (so it is exporting to the AE network). Set it to craft always (will ignore any in stock and just make them every time), and only on redstone signal. Now set up a level emitter pointing at the export bus. Set this to emit a signal when under a certain amount of the item. Voila!

EDIT: Depending on the item, you may also want to consider using xy fabricators for the job, they are much faster and can also be set up to respond to redstone signals. You provide them with materials via adjacent interfaces in export mode. Routers work great for pulling finished products out. I use some of both methods. Export busses for the rarer stuff, fabricators for the stuff that gets made constantly like fertilizer.

Huh, that works pretty well. Speed isn't that big a factor, since tiny dusts are generated by the ones and twos. I kind of wish there was a "crafting control" block or somesuch that could handle all of that in a centralized location, but as is the level emitters controlling export buses does the job.

 

[snooder]

Hmm, have you tried a level emitter pointing at a dark cable that's connected to an export bus? You could then put a cell in the export bus, put a chest on the export bus, and then put an import bus on the chest.

 

[Milaha]

Hmm, have you tried a level emitter pointing at a dark cable that's connected to an export bus? You could then put a cell in the export bus, put a chest on the export bus, and then put an import bus on the chest.

How on earth is that a better option than the level emiter straight to the export bus and the export bus straight into an interface? Please provide me one advantage.

 

[snooder]

How on earth is that a better option than the level emiter straight to the export bus and the export bus straight into an interface? Please provide me one advantage.

There is none. I missed your post. Your design is better.