Thermal Expansion in 1.12.1 for Newbies
(A Reference Guide for the Rest Of Us!)
(A Reference Guide for the Rest Of Us!)
So, Thermal Expansion. You may be familiar with it. Or you may not. It's been around a while, but has undergone significant changes in 1.10.2 and 1.12.1.
First off, it's a tech mod. Which means it's got a power system. Heck, it bloody well invented the RF system that the majority of mods uses (since it was the foundation of the Forge Energy system as well). Power transmission is the purview of the next mod we'll be discussing.
Second off, the Augment system has been completely overhauled. In addition to 'numerical' augments like 'speeds up at the cost of using more energy' type augments, there are now Specialization augments, which change the functionality of the machine in some manner. Only one Specialization augment may be inserted into any given machine.
Oh, there's now a difference between Machines and Devices. Machines consume RF, can take augments and can be upgraded. Devices are those things that don't need RF to perform their tasks, and will never be able to be upgraded or take augments.
Upgrades have also been significantly changed. The same tiers exist, Normal, Hardened, Reinforced, Signalum, and Resonant. However, you use an Upgrade to do it rather than crafting the machine itself, which is far more logical. They have to be applied in order, but there's also conversion kits, which are basically all of the previous tier upgrades crafted together, that can do the whole job in one shot.
Upgrading a Machine will increase its productivity. For example, the Redstone Furnace goes from consuming 20 RF/t to consuming 30RF/t and gets a 50% boost to production speed when it gets a Hardened ugrade. As you continue upgrading, it continues to improve. This helps keep 'introduction level' machiens relevant, even into the late game.
This works on Dynamos as well.
One last thing. Most people already familiar with these mods will already know this, but for those who are comming to it fresh, the various machines, devices, dynamos, and other blocks from these mods are pretty good at having customizable input/output siding. By default, there's a color coded system, but there's also a colorblind version. You can also toggle auto-input and auto-output as well.
Power Overwhelming
Let's talk about Dynamos. There's been some changes here, and there's some dynamo-specific Augments and Specializations that also deserve mention.
All of the Dynamos, without augments or upgrades, produce 40 RF/t. As you upgrade it, it increases the RF/t production, up to 120 RF/t at Resonant tier.
For the generally applicable Augments, there's four:
* Axillary Transmission Coil. Increases RF production but dramatically reduces fuel efficiency. I'd probably say a 25% increase in power production but burns through fuel roughly twice as fast. May be stacked, but bonus RF is additive.
* Fuel Catalyzer. Increases fuel efficiency. I'd probably say 25% more burn time. Yes, you can combine this with the Transmission Coil, however you're still going to end up burning through more fuel. Based on my limited testing, it burns through roughly 1.75x speed.
* Transmission Coil Ducting. Lets you input/output stuff on the same face it outputs energy to.
* Excitation Fuel Limiter: Permits the dynamo to throttle down and automatically turn off when energy buffer is full. Without this, it will still throttle down, but to a minimum of 10% fuel consumption.
So let's take a look at the dynamos and what they do!
* Steam Dynamo. Entry level dynamo. Consumes fuel and water. Yes, you need water to run it without specialization.
-- Specialization Augment: Boiler Conversion. Instead of producing RF, it produces Steam, like 4x the amount of steam that it was producing as RF for its relevant upgrade tier. Adding Transmission Coil will increase the amount of steam it produces. So a Resonant Steam Dynamo will go from producing 480 mB/t to 600. For a dramatic increase in fuel consumption.
-- Specialization Augment: Turbine Conversion. Cannot burn fuel on its own, needs steam piped into it, but produces more RF/t. Like 4x more RF/t. Transmission Coil does nothing, because it technically doesn't burn fuel. Fuel Catalyzer seems to also have no effect for the same reason.
For every Steam Boiler (without Transmission Coil), you can exactly run two Turbine of the same tier, and they produce 2 RF/t per mB/t of steam consumed. Therefore, one resonant steam dynamo with Boiler Conversion producing 480 mB/t of steam can fuel two resonant steam dynamos with Turbine Conversion, each consuming 240 mB/t steam for 480mB/t power each, or a total of 960 RF/t out of the three turbines, water, and something to burn. Not too shabby, even late-game.
* Magmatic Dynamo. Everybody's favorite. Runs on lava, so pump it out of the nether if you like. Requires Invar gears to make.
-- Specialization Augment: Isentropic Reservoir: Requires coolant, but quadruples power output. For Resonant, that means 4080 RF/t. If you combine with Transmission Coil, it goes up to 600 RF/t. Gelled Cryotheum is consumed at a slower rate but does NOT provide an increase in RF production. With 3x Transmission Coils, that brings up the theoretical max to 840 RF/t
* Compression Dynamo. Hearkening back to the old Combustion Engine, it takes liquid fuel and liquid coolant to run. So far, it can accept water and Gelled Cryotheum, but using the latter brings no increase to RF/t generation, it only is consumed far slower.
-- Specialization Augment: Closed Loop Cooling: Prevents the consumption of coolant. STILL requires coolant to be present, however. Useful if you don't want to pipe in water as well as fuel, I suppose.
-- Specialization Augment: Ignition Plugs: May ONLY accept Refined Fuel as a fuel source, but quadruples RF/t output and doubles fuel efficiency. At Resonant tier, it produces 480 RF/t. Assuming you don't care about fuel consumption, this brings a theoretical maximum, assuming Resonant Compression Dynamo with 3x Transmission Coils, of 840 RF/t. Good luck keeping up with fuel demands at that rate, though.
* Reactant Dynamo. Significantly changed from its predecessor, it consumes mostly elemental essences to produce energy
The liquids it can take are all from the Magma Crucible, either Redstone, Glowstone, or one of the four elemental dusts (Blaze/Blizz/Basalz/Blitz). The solids are typically the opposite elemental dust (so Zepherean Aerotheum with Petrotheum Dust), or Destabilized Redstone/Energized Glowstone with Ghast Tear, Gunpowder, Sugar, or Netherwort. Sorry, the days of running it on mob juice and gunpowder are over.
Having said that, it will run on a small amount for a very long time. The elemental ones will produce a total of 400k RF.
-- Specialization Augment: Elemental Catalyzer. Can ONLY accept petrotheum/pyrotheum/cryotheum/aerotheum and liquid counterparts, and can only use opposing fuels (Gelled Cryotheum + Pyrotheum, Tectonic Petrotheum + Aerotheum, etc...). Unlike previous augments, this one gives 5x power output, so a Resonant tier will produce 600 RF/t. And with 3x Transmission Coils, it produces 960 RF/t, but will absolutely chew through your resources in no time.
* Nusmiatic Dynamo: Burns money. Literally! You have to mint coins to power it, or run it on Emeralds if you prefer.
Not my preferred dynamo, since you are either burning metals or burning gems for the purpose of generating RF/t. But hey, maybe you like the bling factor in being able to brag to your friends that you literally burn emeralds to create power.
-- Lapidary Calibration: So burning Enderium Coins isn't enough for you? This upgrade lets you burn diamonds, emeralds, prismarine shards, nether quartz or lapis. However, lapis and nether quartz will produce a very small amount of RF total (Quartz produces 40k and Lapis only 80k while Emeralds produce 200k and Diamonds 1.2 million total). Produces 5x multiplier, so 600 RF/t at Resonant tier, with a theoretical maximum of 960 with 3x Transmission Coils, if you have a dirt to diamonds mod you use to fuel it.
-- Specialization Augment: Boiler Conversion. Instead of producing RF, it produces Steam, like 4x the amount of steam that it was producing as RF for its relevant upgrade tier. Adding Transmission Coil will increase the amount of steam it produces. So a Resonant Steam Dynamo will go from producing 480 mB/t to 600. For a dramatic increase in fuel consumption.
-- Specialization Augment: Turbine Conversion. Cannot burn fuel on its own, needs steam piped into it, but produces more RF/t. Like 4x more RF/t. Transmission Coil does nothing, because it technically doesn't burn fuel. Fuel Catalyzer seems to also have no effect for the same reason.
For every Steam Boiler (without Transmission Coil), you can exactly run two Turbine of the same tier, and they produce 2 RF/t per mB/t of steam consumed. Therefore, one resonant steam dynamo with Boiler Conversion producing 480 mB/t of steam can fuel two resonant steam dynamos with Turbine Conversion, each consuming 240 mB/t steam for 480mB/t power each, or a total of 960 RF/t out of the three turbines, water, and something to burn. Not too shabby, even late-game.
* Magmatic Dynamo. Everybody's favorite. Runs on lava, so pump it out of the nether if you like. Requires Invar gears to make.
-- Specialization Augment: Isentropic Reservoir: Requires coolant, but quadruples power output. For Resonant, that means 4080 RF/t. If you combine with Transmission Coil, it goes up to 600 RF/t. Gelled Cryotheum is consumed at a slower rate but does NOT provide an increase in RF production. With 3x Transmission Coils, that brings up the theoretical max to 840 RF/t
* Compression Dynamo. Hearkening back to the old Combustion Engine, it takes liquid fuel and liquid coolant to run. So far, it can accept water and Gelled Cryotheum, but using the latter brings no increase to RF/t generation, it only is consumed far slower.
-- Specialization Augment: Closed Loop Cooling: Prevents the consumption of coolant. STILL requires coolant to be present, however. Useful if you don't want to pipe in water as well as fuel, I suppose.
-- Specialization Augment: Ignition Plugs: May ONLY accept Refined Fuel as a fuel source, but quadruples RF/t output and doubles fuel efficiency. At Resonant tier, it produces 480 RF/t. Assuming you don't care about fuel consumption, this brings a theoretical maximum, assuming Resonant Compression Dynamo with 3x Transmission Coils, of 840 RF/t. Good luck keeping up with fuel demands at that rate, though.
* Reactant Dynamo. Significantly changed from its predecessor, it consumes mostly elemental essences to produce energy
The liquids it can take are all from the Magma Crucible, either Redstone, Glowstone, or one of the four elemental dusts (Blaze/Blizz/Basalz/Blitz). The solids are typically the opposite elemental dust (so Zepherean Aerotheum with Petrotheum Dust), or Destabilized Redstone/Energized Glowstone with Ghast Tear, Gunpowder, Sugar, or Netherwort. Sorry, the days of running it on mob juice and gunpowder are over.
Having said that, it will run on a small amount for a very long time. The elemental ones will produce a total of 400k RF.
-- Specialization Augment: Elemental Catalyzer. Can ONLY accept petrotheum/pyrotheum/cryotheum/aerotheum and liquid counterparts, and can only use opposing fuels (Gelled Cryotheum + Pyrotheum, Tectonic Petrotheum + Aerotheum, etc...). Unlike previous augments, this one gives 5x power output, so a Resonant tier will produce 600 RF/t. And with 3x Transmission Coils, it produces 960 RF/t, but will absolutely chew through your resources in no time.
* Nusmiatic Dynamo: Burns money. Literally! You have to mint coins to power it, or run it on Emeralds if you prefer.
Not my preferred dynamo, since you are either burning metals or burning gems for the purpose of generating RF/t. But hey, maybe you like the bling factor in being able to brag to your friends that you literally burn emeralds to create power.
-- Lapidary Calibration: So burning Enderium Coins isn't enough for you? This upgrade lets you burn diamonds, emeralds, prismarine shards, nether quartz or lapis. However, lapis and nether quartz will produce a very small amount of RF total (Quartz produces 40k and Lapis only 80k while Emeralds produce 200k and Diamonds 1.2 million total). Produces 5x multiplier, so 600 RF/t at Resonant tier, with a theoretical maximum of 960 with 3x Transmission Coils, if you have a dirt to diamonds mod you use to fuel it.
Deus Ex Machina
So, let's talk about the machines that consume all that RF we've been talking about producing.
* Redstone Furnace. Your bog-standard furnace that runs on energy instead of good ol' fashioned coal. As you upgrade it, the speed and RF consumption increase proportionally. Meaning even in the mid game, it's still a pretty good machine.
-- Specialization Augment: Trivection Chamber. Can ONLY cook food items, but it doubles output. So if you cook a potato into a baked potato, it'll produce two baked potatoes. Keep one for your kitchen, I suppose.
-- Specialization Augment: Flux Anodizers. Can ONLY process Ores, but does the ore doubling for you. No pulverizing or induction smelting needed. This only works with the actual ores themselves, not with anything else.
-- Specialization Augment: Pyrolitic Conversion. Turns it into a coking oven. Produces coal coke and creosote oil. Can also turn logs, compressed sawdust, and Hay Bales into charcoal, plus a smaller amount of creosote oil. Unlike most coking ovens, however, it requires energy to perform this action.
* Pulverizer. It pulverizes things. It provides your first source of ore-doubling, plus a small (10%) chance of providing a third pulverized metal. It also is a more efficient means of making bone meal, most dyes out of flowers, and has some other uses. Check out JEI for the complete list. As with the other machines, upgrading it makes it run faster for more RF/t.
-- Specialization Augment: Tectonic Initiator. This gives you ore tripling, although it can now ONLY process ores. Only catch is that it also requires 100 mB of Tectonic Petrotheum per operation. This happy material is not the easiest thing to automate, since it requires Petrotheum Dust which requires Basalz Powder which can be difficult to automate the collection of. But hey, ore tripling. Don't expect it to be easy, this isn't Mekanism after all.
* Sawmill. It can carve up almost anything wooden and return it to its basic components, but don't expect 100% refund in most cases. It can also cut a log into 6 planks. It also produces a metric ton of sawdust. Compress it down and it can be smelted into charcoal, or craft four sawdust with a bucket of water to make two paper. Oh, Sawmill also can slice a Melon into nine slices instead of four-ish. Often overlooked, but pretty handy.
-- Specialization Augment: Resin Funnel. Only carves up logs, but also provides Resin or Sap, depending on what kind of logs you put in. Resin can be refined into Tree Oil that can be burned in a Compression Dynamo for only slightly less than what you'd get for an equal amount of Naptha, so you might be able to make a power-positive lumber mill if you do it right.
* Induction Smelter. Think of it as your Tier 2 furnace. It has two slots, typically one for a flux material such as Sand and one for whatever it is you are smelting. It ore-doubles and produces slag. Rarely, can produce rich slag. It can also make some alloys straight, such as Bronze and Invar. Also used in making Hardened Glass.
-- Specialization Augment: Pyro-Concentrator. Can only smelt ores, but gives you ore tripling. It requires 100 mB of Blazing Pyrotheum per operation, however. Like the Tectonic Initiator, this isn't going to be easy to automate, but hey... it's ore tripling.
* Phytogenic Insolator. Probably not sticking around much longer since there's now a Thermal Cultivation, so not really going to get into it too much. Basically used for growing stuff.
* Compactor. It compresses things. It has two modes. In Press mode, it makes plates out of ingots. In storage mode, it compresses nuggets into ingots and ingots into blocks.
-- Numismatic Press. Gives the Compactor the ability to strike coins out of metal. Yanno, if that's a thing.
* Magma Crucible. Melts down powders into liquids. Can also melt down Cobble and Netherrack into Lava. But typically, you are going to use it to melt down something like Redstone or Glowstone to make stuff with. Pretty important in unlocking what I consider 'tier three' materials.
-- Pyroconvective Loop. Basically, it can only produce lava, but does it much faster. Useful if you are using netherrack to feed your magmatic dynamos, assuming you aren't pumping lava straight from the lakes there.
* Fractionating Still. New to 1.10+, Thermal Expansion now has a burgeoning petrochemical industry. And the first step in that is cracking the crude down into more useful components. Which is what this lovely device does. If you plan on making fuel for those Compression Dynamos with Ignition Plugs, you're going to need these to do it.
It cracks Crude Oil and Liquefacted Coal (run coal dust through the Magma Crucible) into Naptha, with Tar being a byproduct. Tar can be used to make torches, sticky pistons and leads, and can be burned as fuel for about half the burn time as coal. Run Naptha back through again to make Refined Fuel and get some sulfur as a byproduct. It can also refine Resin down to Tree Oil with Rosin as a byproduct that has pretty much the same options as Tar, with the added benefit of being able to make Florbs.
It has no specialization augments. Yet.
* Fluid Transposer. Does what it says on the tin. It fills, or empties, containers of fluids. Certain higher-end ducts use it to fill the empty framework with the liquid needed to get it to run. There's also a few crafting recipes it has, like making Blizz Powder out of Destabilized Redstone and a snowball.
* Energetic Infuser. It charges things up with RF. More useful if you have modded equipment that requires RF to function.
-- Flux Linkage Concentrator: It charges things FASTER, however some items have a limit to how much they can accept, which might throttle this. The fact that they have to mention this gives you an idea of how fast this can charge things up... and drain your batteries.
* Centrifugal Separator. Think of it as an un-crafter. It can reverse the creation of alloy blends and elemental dusts.
* Glacial Precipator. Ever wanted some ice for your drinks? This is the device for you. It makes snowballs or blocks of snow too, for all kinds of fun.
-- Specialization Augment: Flurry Stratum. Instead of snow blocks, you get to make layers of snow.
-- Specialization Augment: Permafrost Compressor. Instead of regular ice, you can make Packed Ice. In case that matters. Which, for some mods, it does.
* Igneous Extruder. Now with RF consumption, this handy dandy device will turn lava and water into cobble, smooth stone, or even obsidian. Order yours today!
-- Pyroclastic Injection. No longer needs water to function, just add lava! I guess it saves you the trouble of having to hook up a water source, which means you can run something like an obsidian factory in the nether.
-- Granite/Diorite/Andesite Substrate. Instead of smooth stone, it produces one of these stones. I don't know why you would want to, but there you go.
-- Specialization Augment: Trivection Chamber. Can ONLY cook food items, but it doubles output. So if you cook a potato into a baked potato, it'll produce two baked potatoes. Keep one for your kitchen, I suppose.
-- Specialization Augment: Flux Anodizers. Can ONLY process Ores, but does the ore doubling for you. No pulverizing or induction smelting needed. This only works with the actual ores themselves, not with anything else.
-- Specialization Augment: Pyrolitic Conversion. Turns it into a coking oven. Produces coal coke and creosote oil. Can also turn logs, compressed sawdust, and Hay Bales into charcoal, plus a smaller amount of creosote oil. Unlike most coking ovens, however, it requires energy to perform this action.
* Pulverizer. It pulverizes things. It provides your first source of ore-doubling, plus a small (10%) chance of providing a third pulverized metal. It also is a more efficient means of making bone meal, most dyes out of flowers, and has some other uses. Check out JEI for the complete list. As with the other machines, upgrading it makes it run faster for more RF/t.
-- Specialization Augment: Tectonic Initiator. This gives you ore tripling, although it can now ONLY process ores. Only catch is that it also requires 100 mB of Tectonic Petrotheum per operation. This happy material is not the easiest thing to automate, since it requires Petrotheum Dust which requires Basalz Powder which can be difficult to automate the collection of. But hey, ore tripling. Don't expect it to be easy, this isn't Mekanism after all.
* Sawmill. It can carve up almost anything wooden and return it to its basic components, but don't expect 100% refund in most cases. It can also cut a log into 6 planks. It also produces a metric ton of sawdust. Compress it down and it can be smelted into charcoal, or craft four sawdust with a bucket of water to make two paper. Oh, Sawmill also can slice a Melon into nine slices instead of four-ish. Often overlooked, but pretty handy.
-- Specialization Augment: Resin Funnel. Only carves up logs, but also provides Resin or Sap, depending on what kind of logs you put in. Resin can be refined into Tree Oil that can be burned in a Compression Dynamo for only slightly less than what you'd get for an equal amount of Naptha, so you might be able to make a power-positive lumber mill if you do it right.
* Induction Smelter. Think of it as your Tier 2 furnace. It has two slots, typically one for a flux material such as Sand and one for whatever it is you are smelting. It ore-doubles and produces slag. Rarely, can produce rich slag. It can also make some alloys straight, such as Bronze and Invar. Also used in making Hardened Glass.
-- Specialization Augment: Pyro-Concentrator. Can only smelt ores, but gives you ore tripling. It requires 100 mB of Blazing Pyrotheum per operation, however. Like the Tectonic Initiator, this isn't going to be easy to automate, but hey... it's ore tripling.
* Phytogenic Insolator. Probably not sticking around much longer since there's now a Thermal Cultivation, so not really going to get into it too much. Basically used for growing stuff.
* Compactor. It compresses things. It has two modes. In Press mode, it makes plates out of ingots. In storage mode, it compresses nuggets into ingots and ingots into blocks.
-- Numismatic Press. Gives the Compactor the ability to strike coins out of metal. Yanno, if that's a thing.
* Magma Crucible. Melts down powders into liquids. Can also melt down Cobble and Netherrack into Lava. But typically, you are going to use it to melt down something like Redstone or Glowstone to make stuff with. Pretty important in unlocking what I consider 'tier three' materials.
-- Pyroconvective Loop. Basically, it can only produce lava, but does it much faster. Useful if you are using netherrack to feed your magmatic dynamos, assuming you aren't pumping lava straight from the lakes there.
* Fractionating Still. New to 1.10+, Thermal Expansion now has a burgeoning petrochemical industry. And the first step in that is cracking the crude down into more useful components. Which is what this lovely device does. If you plan on making fuel for those Compression Dynamos with Ignition Plugs, you're going to need these to do it.
It cracks Crude Oil and Liquefacted Coal (run coal dust through the Magma Crucible) into Naptha, with Tar being a byproduct. Tar can be used to make torches, sticky pistons and leads, and can be burned as fuel for about half the burn time as coal. Run Naptha back through again to make Refined Fuel and get some sulfur as a byproduct. It can also refine Resin down to Tree Oil with Rosin as a byproduct that has pretty much the same options as Tar, with the added benefit of being able to make Florbs.
It has no specialization augments. Yet.
* Fluid Transposer. Does what it says on the tin. It fills, or empties, containers of fluids. Certain higher-end ducts use it to fill the empty framework with the liquid needed to get it to run. There's also a few crafting recipes it has, like making Blizz Powder out of Destabilized Redstone and a snowball.
* Energetic Infuser. It charges things up with RF. More useful if you have modded equipment that requires RF to function.
-- Flux Linkage Concentrator: It charges things FASTER, however some items have a limit to how much they can accept, which might throttle this. The fact that they have to mention this gives you an idea of how fast this can charge things up... and drain your batteries.
* Centrifugal Separator. Think of it as an un-crafter. It can reverse the creation of alloy blends and elemental dusts.
* Glacial Precipator. Ever wanted some ice for your drinks? This is the device for you. It makes snowballs or blocks of snow too, for all kinds of fun.
-- Specialization Augment: Flurry Stratum. Instead of snow blocks, you get to make layers of snow.
-- Specialization Augment: Permafrost Compressor. Instead of regular ice, you can make Packed Ice. In case that matters. Which, for some mods, it does.
* Igneous Extruder. Now with RF consumption, this handy dandy device will turn lava and water into cobble, smooth stone, or even obsidian. Order yours today!
-- Pyroclastic Injection. No longer needs water to function, just add lava! I guess it saves you the trouble of having to hook up a water source, which means you can run something like an obsidian factory in the nether.
-- Granite/Diorite/Andesite Substrate. Instead of smooth stone, it produces one of these stones. I don't know why you would want to, but there you go.
Immobile Devices
These don't consume RF, and typically produce functions that happen normally in 'vanilla'.
Aqueous Accumulator: Good ol' fashioned infinite water source. However, there's a new change from 1.10+. Unlike previously, where you only needed two water source blocks for maximum capacity, it now requires 2-4 source blocks, producing more water the more source blocks are adjacent to it. Other than that, it's a water source you can pump out of. Have fun.
Nullifier: It's a trash can. Not much else to say. Anything that goes in is gone. You can pipe in solids or liquids and it'll delete them permanently.
Thermal Mediator: Apparently, it speeds up adjacent machines, but requires coolant to do so.
Arboreal Extractor: Place it adjacent to a still living tree, it will very slowly extract sap or resin, depending on the tree. Some are more productive than others. Not sure about what exactly it considers a 'tree', but leaves are at least a part of it, because removing the leaves from the tree trunk turns it off. It also doesn't like being adjacent to more than one tree.
Item Allocator: Ever had that time when some machine from a mod just didn't want to be automated? Yea, this will take care of that. It automatically pulls from adjacent inventories, and pushes them into whatever direction you'd like. This includes, by the way, the Presses from Pam's Harvestcraft, which usually requires hoppers to pull out with. it can automatically insert into a given side as well.
Nullifier: It's a trash can. Not much else to say. Anything that goes in is gone. You can pipe in solids or liquids and it'll delete them permanently.
Thermal Mediator: Apparently, it speeds up adjacent machines, but requires coolant to do so.
Arboreal Extractor: Place it adjacent to a still living tree, it will very slowly extract sap or resin, depending on the tree. Some are more productive than others. Not sure about what exactly it considers a 'tree', but leaves are at least a part of it, because removing the leaves from the tree trunk turns it off. It also doesn't like being adjacent to more than one tree.
Item Allocator: Ever had that time when some machine from a mod just didn't want to be automated? Yea, this will take care of that. It automatically pulls from adjacent inventories, and pushes them into whatever direction you'd like. This includes, by the way, the Presses from Pam's Harvestcraft, which usually requires hoppers to pull out with. it can automatically insert into a given side as well.
Conclusion
So, lots of changes here, and lots of good solid tech. Sure, lots of other mods have lots of ways of doing this, but I really like the fact that none of the 'low tier' stuff becomes completely obsolete even in the late game. Your old Redstone Furnace can get upgraded and can still 'keep up with the Jonses', or you can just put a Trivection augment into it and use it to cook baked potatoes at double output. Your old steam dynamo can be set up as a steam system cranking out almost a thousand RF/t. And that's nothing to sneeze at.
I'm looking at you, every other 'coal generator variant' in existence...
