The future of automation

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SatanicSanta

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Nah, don't be concerned. Just a little patience. Since he isn't following The Way and openly voicing blasphemic thoughts the Minecraft Mod Police is going to grab him soon. He'll be reeducated and love using AE for everything soon enough :)
I've tried using it many times in the past year and a half. Trust me, I'm not going to "come around" to liking it.
 

McJty

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I've tried using it many times in the past year and a half. Trust me, I'm not going to "come around" to liking it.

I'm awful at organizing chests and I hate having to open all of them to find what I need. So I *love* AE because then I just have one place where I can find all my stuff and search for it by name.

BTW, you can actually hook up an AE monitor to regular chests using the storage bus. A storage bus allows you to add a normal inventory (like chest) to the AE network as if it was part of it. That way you can have both worlds if you want :)
 

SatanicSanta

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I'm awful at organizing chests and I hate having to open all of them to find what I need. So I *love* AE because then I just have one place where I can find all my stuff and search for it by name.

BTW, you can actually hook up an AE monitor to regular chests using the storage bus. A storage bus allows you to add a normal inventory (like chest) to the AE network as if it was part of it. That way you can have both worlds if you want :)
See, this has been suggested to me many times in the past. I honestly don't see the point. If I'm gonna have chests, I'm gonna have chests. If I'm gonna have a network, I'm gonna have a network. I don't see the point in having both, unless I lived with people on a server. I usually don't, though, and when I do, it is typically someone who has a similar playstyle to me. :)
 
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McJty

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See, this has been suggested to me many times in the past. I honestly don't see the point. If I'm gonna have chests, I'm gonna have chests. If I'm gonna have a network, I'm gonna have a network. I don't see the point in having both, unless I lived with people on a server. I usually don't, though, and when I do, it is typically someone who has a similar playstyle to me. :)

Well you can connect those chests to machines. For example you can have an automatic animal farm producing meat which puts that in a chest and then connect that to the AE system to have easy access to all your chests. But yes, it is all a matter of taste.
 
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Padfoote

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Well you can connect those chests to machines. For example you can have an automatic animal farm producing meat which puts that in a chest and then connect that to the AE system to have easy access to all your chests. But yes, it is all a matter of taste.

All of that can be done with Logistics Pipes or carts, in a larger, and IMO cooler build. But yes, as you said, it's all a matter of taste.
 

Vazkii

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I don't get the concept of automating everything. Last I checked we are playing Minecraft, the creative sandbox game, not Minecraft, the glorified cookie clicker clone.
It seems people are obsessed with having hundreds of thousands of resources over the creation of the systems for the acquiring of these. Why would I ever want to build a cool design like this when I can pop down a few MFR blocks and go on my way?

This is what leads to the infamous "world restart syndrome". It's not the fact that you don't have enough things to do on large modpacks, it's just that the experience becomes so streamlined to a point that all you can do without forcefully handicapping yourself is build more "magic block" farms and hog more resources that you probably won't use for anything.

Same thing here, if a mod that allowed you to automate even the very simple creation of these automated mechanisms we have now, what point would there be to playing the game? It just removes even the smallest degree of thought required and puts it all on a neat package that plays the game for you. You're simply looking at it from the point of "how many things can I gather" and now "how will I automate this, I have to put some thought into it". It seems that the easier automation is, the more braindead the community is influenced to be. When there's blocks that do what you need a complex design for, and they do it faster, better and more efficient than the player ever could, it begs to ask what point is there to being creative.

/rant
 

Arouka

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See, this has been suggested to me many times in the past. I honestly don't see the point. If I'm gonna have chests, I'm gonna have chests. If I'm gonna have a network, I'm gonna have a network. I don't see the point in having both, unless I lived with people on a server. I usually don't, though, and when I do, it is typically someone who has a similar playstyle to me. :)

This is kinda why I love Logistics Pipes. Feels so much more satisfying to have a room full of diamond chests as my storage mainframe rather than a couple of dinky ME drives

That being said, AE has had so much power creep that ultimately whatever sorting system you male it will be lesser than it. That's the major problem here, developers can put in small mining systems like the mining bore from railcraft or the miner from IC2, because ultimately no one will use them and they'll ultimately be overshadowed by the BC quarry. This leads to more mods going for the spectacle route, trying to be the biggest or best at something to cement their place in modpacks and the players heart. This has become a dangerous mentality. Not all players play this way (Had one person on my last server build a gigantic MFFS forcefield to keep moonstone meteors out rather than just making the sigil) but ultimately almost all players will take the path of least resistance.
 

SatanicSanta

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This is kinda why I love Logistics Pipes. Feels so much more satisfying to have a room full of diamond chests as my storage mainframe rather than a couple of dinky ME drives

That being said, AE has had so much power creep that ultimately whatever sorting system you male it will be lesser than it. That's the major problem here, developers can put in small mining systems like the mining bore from railcraft or the miner from IC2, because ultimately no one will use them and they'll ultimately be overshadowed by the BC quarry.
I use the Tunnel Bore...

But yeah, I definitely agree with your post (except the part about AE being more powerful than my systems. It's not a matter of how powerful it is, just which one you prefer ;) )
 
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Arouka

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I use the Tunnel Bore...

But yeah, I definitely agree with your post (except the part about AE being more powerful than my systems. It's not a matter of how powerful it is, just which one you prefer ;) )

Yeah, mostly stating the majority there. Personally I've even thrown out the arguably cheap angel wings and used the enchanted broom instead, it's just so much more fun.

And about AE...When I tried to reach endgame AE levels of ludricous storage with logi pipes, it kind of resulted in the lag death of the server. Just kind of feels like no matter how hard you work on your alternative sorting system, someone with an AE setup will always have the upper hand on you. May not be the most entertaining system (That would go to my barrel x red power sorting system) but it certainly is the most "powerful" system.
 

SatanicSanta

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Yeah, mostly stating the majority there. Personally I've even thrown out the arguably cheap angel wings and used the enchanted broom instead, it's just so much more fun.

And about AE...When I tried to reach endgame AE levels of ludricous storage with logi pipes, it kind of resulted in the lag death of the server. Just kind of feels like no matter how hard you work on your alternative sorting system, someone with an AE setup will always have the upper hand on you. May not be the most entertaining system (That would go to my barrel x red power sorting system) but it certainly is the most "powerful" system.
I LOVE the Enchanted Broom. What are these Angel Wings you speak of?

AE: I still disagree though. Not really on it being more powerful, but a sorting system being able to be powerful at all. It is just a way to keep your items where you want them.
 

Arouka

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I LOVE the Enchanted Broom. What are these Angel Wings you speak of?

AE: I still disagree though. Not really on it being more powerful, but a sorting system being able to be powerful at all. It is just a way to keep your items where you want them.

Angel wings are from extra utilities 1.7.2 They provide creative mode flight for the (arguably) small cost of a nether star and slightly quickened hunger loss. Its almost as bad as the bat morph IMHO.

AE: I suppose that power is kinda questionable on a utility like a sorting system, but when talking of automation and the like, AE has a huge presence in helping to automate the production of almost anything you could imagine.
 

SatanicSanta

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Angel wings are from extra utilities 1.7.2 They provide creative mode flight for the (arguably) small cost of a nether star and slightly quickened hunger loss. Its almost as bad as the bat morph IMHO.

AE: I suppose that power is kinda questionable on a utility like a sorting system, but when talking of automation and the like, AE has a huge presence in helping to automate the production of almost anything you could imagine.
Eh, that item seems very uncreative.

AE: Oh yeah, AE is super quick. Though, I can make a crafting system that is almost as quick (if I wanted to), without using AE.
 

RealSketch

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I don't get the concept of automating everything. Last I checked we are playing Minecraft, the creative sandbox game, not Minecraft, the glorified cookie clicker clone.
It seems people are obsessed with having hundreds of thousands of resources over the creation of the systems for the acquiring of these. Why would I ever want to build a cool design like this when I can pop down a few MFR blocks and go on my way?

This is what leads to the infamous "world restart syndrome". It's not the fact that you don't have enough things to do on large modpacks, it's just that the experience becomes so streamlined to a point that all you can do without forcefully handicapping yourself is build more "magic block" farms and hog more resources that you probably won't use for anything.

Same thing here, if a mod that allowed you to automate even the very simple creation of these automated mechanisms we have now, what point would there be to playing the game? It just removes even the smallest degree of thought required and puts it all on a neat package that plays the game for you. You're simply looking at it from the point of "how many things can I gather" and now "how will I automate this, I have to put some thought into it". It seems that the easier automation is, the more braindead the community is influenced to be. When there's blocks that do what you need a complex design for, and they do it faster, better and more efficient than the player ever could, it begs to ask what point is there to being creative.

/rant
Now we see where you get the inspiration for Botania from! :p
 

belgabor

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I've tried using it many times in the past year and a half. Trust me, I'm not going to "come around" to liking it.
And you absolutely don't need to. I hope it was making it obvious enough that I'm not serious =)
With the gazillion of mods out there, why should anyone be forced to use any mod? To each his own. For me it's a matter of focus. Do I want to focus on building an interesting storage/inventory system or focus on something else? Usually I want my inventory system to "just work" to be able to focus on different things, but that doesn't mean it will be always like that. Heck, I'm only on my third world, who's gonna say by my tenth I won't be thinking like you =)
 
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Captain_Oats

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It's funny really, take away the bloat of mods that accompany most mod packs, and the need for an all-in-one super automated base dwindles quickly. While I certainly have enjoyed the convenience of mods such as Applied Energestics, and before that Logistics Pipes, as well as Thermal Expansion Ducts and Servos, I had enough of the grind and nuances that accompany large modpacks. I played vanilla 1.8 for quite a bit and enjoyed the hell out of it. Focused on building things I like that were primarily based on personal desires rather than a tier based system employed by most mods. Then I began to crave more of the options provided by mods, and moved to the Next Generation Buildcraft modpack, which is basically vanilla, Railcraft, Buildcraft, and Forestry, and have been quite contempt with the content it provides. Automating things with Buildcraft and Railcraft adds a great deal of control, and personalization to builds that simply isn't typically accompanied by more convenient automation systems.

Honestly I can't see automation becoming too much more convenient, flexible, or expansive than what AE and Steve's Factory Manager already provide. I haven't come across any situation involving automation that can't be solved with the combination of TE, AE, Redstone and the odd time computercraft. I would hope that "the future of automation" involves more than just a new block that combines 2 functions of other blocks, or adds more compactness, one could already house the majority of techmod machines (including Gregtech and excluding multiblocks) in a 20x20 room including complete automation without much hassle. Honestly lately I'd rather mods encourage players to build more (not necessarily expand a single infrastructure), and play cooperatively towards larger projects.
 

Narc

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Okay, I don't know why I'm chiming in here, but here I go.

With the gazillion of mods out there, why should anyone be forced to use any mod? To each his own. For me it's a matter of focus. Do I want to focus on building an interesting storage/inventory system or focus on something else? Usually I want my inventory system to "just work" to be able to focus on different things, but that doesn't mean it will be always like that. Heck, I'm only on my third world, who's gonna say by my tenth I won't be thinking like you =)
Let me give you the perspective of the, um... hundredth? Two hundredth? Anyway, after very many worlds over the course of nearly four years (my Minecraft payment receipt email is dated 2010-09-09), and having done just about everything with and without friends, I'm with you. I don't want to think about my storage system anymore. I've done poorly-sorted chests in warehouses, well-sorted chests in warehouses, logistics sorting, redpower sorting, AE, and possibly one or two others I can't think of right now, and I had *tons* of fun doing it all. But I've also done it enough times I really don't need to repeat the experience. Recently I read about a mod that let you use ComputerCraft for sorting by giving the computers inventories and letting them pull and push to and from peripherals. All I could think was "boy, that might've been fun a couple of years ago".


In passing I'd like to mention I keep hearing (err, reading) in this thread echoes of the old "magic blocks" versus "simple blocks" discussions that I can remember from a couple of years back, and I'm not sure it's really worth wasting everyone's time rehashing it. I'll just say "RP2 frame quarry" and leave it at that.


Ultimately, the challenges you choose to meet in Minecraft are your own choice. Do you want to make an incredible sorting system from really simple tools? Or do you instead want to see how quickly you can acquire resources? Kill thousands of mobs per minute? Build awesome-looking structures? It's all yours. Choose the parts that interest you, lose the ones that don't.
 

Nfrance

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In my own play style I find I dislike major automation, I've tried AE but it just bothers me, the entire stream lined process it provides. And what Vazkii said about the world restart syndrome, I used to have that really bad with out easy some mods make the game, which is why now I myself play minecraft in combat centric idea with bosses to fight and everything, so mods like Hard Core Ender Expansion I love. To each there own though.
 
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Frontrider

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I'm awful at organizing chests and I hate having to open all of them to find what I need. So I *love* AE because then I just have one place where I can find all my stuff and search for it by name.

BTW, you can actually hook up an AE monitor to regular chests using the storage bus. A storage bus allows you to add a normal inventory (like chest) to the AE network as if it was part of it. That way you can have both worlds if you want :)

I thinked about a redstone storage system to do that in the past (1-2 button for each item). But, has no reason to do. i don't have that mutch items in vanilla.


Gived me an idea.