Without Pneumatic tubes, I'm going to have to create a new way to do a storage room. What are the best ways? I like to hook it up straight to my quarry so that my storage is automatically updated and I don't have to move anything around. I know that there are routers for barrels (which I use for my storage) but I have a few questions. Do the routers ever get backed up? Also, with the pneumatic tubes I'd just stick a few chests after all the barrels to catch the overflow of dungeon loot, but if I include chests with routers, the router alternates between the barrel and the chest. Any help or suggestions?
Unleashed Sorting Storage Room
- Thread starter TheBaconator
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Applied Energistics, my friend.
While a simple three blocks is enough to replace the entirety of your storage room, you can import functionality easily.
First, you're going to need an ME Controller. This costs you one diamond, plus some quartz, iron, and glass. By now, these shouldn't be a major challenge for you. This block will need power. Not a whole lot, but a steady power draw. But it can draw from MJ or EU, so if you want to think of it like a sorting machine with built in energy conversion, you can go ahead. By itself, it doesn't do anything, it's just required for the rest of the network to run.
Now then, I'm assuming you have barrels for those items which you have a whole boat-load, I'm guessing since you have routers already that you've got at least one extradimensional upgrade, and you don't want to deal with the hassle of moving all that crap around. This is not a problem. It's called a Storage Bus. It requires an ME Interface to craft, but it can pull from and store the item back in the barrel, no problem. AND the barrel is going to be the top priority automatically because the ME Network tries to put things in containers that already have them before putting them in containers without them.
For the chests... you can either use Storage Buses, or you can make a Disk Drive and store all that stuff on disk, with a huge savings in space. It would probably cost less to store it on disk, because you'd only need one Import Bus instead of a bunch of Storage Buses. But if you have an existing storage system you want to plug in, then you are quite capable of simply making the storage buses and hooking them directly up to the chests.
Then you'll want to build a Monitor, maybe even a Crafting Monitor (or perhaps both). Monitor just has to be hooked up to anything on the ME Network, so either the ME Controller directly or you can run cable to wherever you want to have access to everything. From the monitor, you can pull stuff out, insert stuff, sort... anything you'd really want to do with inventory. Fully searchable.
The Crafting Monitor is even better because it's got a crafting square. Now why is this so much better? Two synergistic reasons: 1) You can shift-? and automatically import a recipe, and 2) it will automatically draw from your ME Network. So you don't have to go hunting down a chest, pull out all the items you need, come back, and craft. You just shift-?, then click how many you want. Done.
A note about the storage: Higher size storage devices only increase the number of same items, not the number of different items. Each storage disk can store 63 unique items. However, you might end up with hundreds of each of those unique items, which is where the larger storage disks come in handy. It'll also store multiples of an item which doesn't normally stack. So you could have 64 (for example) 10k coolant cells, and it'll only take up one unique 'slot' (assuming none of them are damaged).
While a simple three blocks is enough to replace the entirety of your storage room, you can import functionality easily.
First, you're going to need an ME Controller. This costs you one diamond, plus some quartz, iron, and glass. By now, these shouldn't be a major challenge for you. This block will need power. Not a whole lot, but a steady power draw. But it can draw from MJ or EU, so if you want to think of it like a sorting machine with built in energy conversion, you can go ahead. By itself, it doesn't do anything, it's just required for the rest of the network to run.
Now then, I'm assuming you have barrels for those items which you have a whole boat-load, I'm guessing since you have routers already that you've got at least one extradimensional upgrade, and you don't want to deal with the hassle of moving all that crap around. This is not a problem. It's called a Storage Bus. It requires an ME Interface to craft, but it can pull from and store the item back in the barrel, no problem. AND the barrel is going to be the top priority automatically because the ME Network tries to put things in containers that already have them before putting them in containers without them.
For the chests... you can either use Storage Buses, or you can make a Disk Drive and store all that stuff on disk, with a huge savings in space. It would probably cost less to store it on disk, because you'd only need one Import Bus instead of a bunch of Storage Buses. But if you have an existing storage system you want to plug in, then you are quite capable of simply making the storage buses and hooking them directly up to the chests.
Then you'll want to build a Monitor, maybe even a Crafting Monitor (or perhaps both). Monitor just has to be hooked up to anything on the ME Network, so either the ME Controller directly or you can run cable to wherever you want to have access to everything. From the monitor, you can pull stuff out, insert stuff, sort... anything you'd really want to do with inventory. Fully searchable.
The Crafting Monitor is even better because it's got a crafting square. Now why is this so much better? Two synergistic reasons: 1) You can shift-? and automatically import a recipe, and 2) it will automatically draw from your ME Network. So you don't have to go hunting down a chest, pull out all the items you need, come back, and craft. You just shift-?, then click how many you want. Done.
A note about the storage: Higher size storage devices only increase the number of same items, not the number of different items. Each storage disk can store 63 unique items. However, you might end up with hundreds of each of those unique items, which is where the larger storage disks come in handy. It'll also store multiples of an item which doesn't normally stack. So you could have 64 (for example) 10k coolant cells, and it'll only take up one unique 'slot' (assuming none of them are damaged).
Use some of the new swag added by logistics pipes. Trust me, it'll give you a new view on things.
Applied Energistics is very easy to recommend. Once you get a handle on the different blocks (already explained will by Shneekey) then it is very intuitive and it is easy to expand your network to do more an more around your base. Also, if you have buildcraft systems or any system where overflow is a concern, AE is brilliant as an item sink of last resort short of an incinerator.
Also extra utilities has a really interesting pipe system. It is unique because it has a single pipe that can transmit items, liquid and minecraft joules! You add stuff to the pipe network by using transfer nodes which will pull from inventories like vanilla hoppers and then they search for valid inventories. They have sorting pipes to which are similar to diamond pipes from Buildcraft. Direwolf20 did an excellent 2 part spotlight on extra utilities recently. He showcases the pipes towards the end of part one. I recommend watching that too.
Minefactory reloaded might be fun although it is probably the least space efficient option. MFR adds item routers which are again similar to diamond pipes and the conveyor belts can run over the item collectors and if say cobble is running over the conveyor then and the item router was configured to route cobble it will pull it from the conveyor belt above. Also, buildcraft pipes work really well with conveyor belts. Pipes can drop items directly onto the belt (don't worry, "drop" in the good way
) and item routers can eject into pipes. As some one whose automation was dominated by Redpower in 1.4.7, I have grown to love buildcraft in 1.5.2. The diamond pipes and insertion pipes (added by thermal expansion) are good with barrel systems. There are definately alot of good options to choose from. Applied energistics might be the easiest to get into though and it has excellent storage (to the point where sorting is less important).
Also extra utilities has a really interesting pipe system. It is unique because it has a single pipe that can transmit items, liquid and minecraft joules! You add stuff to the pipe network by using transfer nodes which will pull from inventories like vanilla hoppers and then they search for valid inventories. They have sorting pipes to which are similar to diamond pipes from Buildcraft. Direwolf20 did an excellent 2 part spotlight on extra utilities recently. He showcases the pipes towards the end of part one. I recommend watching that too.
Minefactory reloaded might be fun although it is probably the least space efficient option. MFR adds item routers which are again similar to diamond pipes and the conveyor belts can run over the item collectors and if say cobble is running over the conveyor then and the item router was configured to route cobble it will pull it from the conveyor belt above. Also, buildcraft pipes work really well with conveyor belts. Pipes can drop items directly onto the belt (don't worry, "drop" in the good way
) and item routers can eject into pipes. As some one whose automation was dominated by Redpower in 1.4.7, I have grown to love buildcraft in 1.5.2. The diamond pipes and insertion pipes (added by thermal expansion) are good with barrel systems. There are definately alot of good options to choose from. Applied energistics might be the easiest to get into though and it has excellent storage (to the point where sorting is less important).I havent used ME yet but want to. Trouble is they release a new pack before I get thereI think it's funny that there is still people who haven't used AE. That's one mighty big rock you've been living under
I'm old and Slow!Well, using it is only part of the experience to be had.I think it's funny that there is still people who haven't used AE. That's one mighty big rock you've been living under
AE is insanely efficient, but takes away a lot of the fun you could have with building a logistic system out of pipes (or RP2 if that ever gets updated).
AE feels too much like creative mode.
I think this is a silly statement. The difference between creative and survival is that stuff is free in creative. AE doesn't give anything for 'free', far from that.
True and I also think, the statement was somewhat strangely worded, but I also feel that AE takes away part of the fun with storing huge amounts of stuff on disks and teleporting everything around. It isn't about realism either, but I prefer if stuff is actually moving around and I can see how it works, like with pipes and traincarts etc.
I like that bit too. But AE is much more server-friendly than loads of stuff bouncing around in tubes. Aside from that, it's an ideal automation tool. Unfortunately both RP and BC tubes have issues with getting stuff into machines reliably.
I've tried it, I have made extensive use of it in my 1.4.7 world, and I don't really like it. It's too good. It takes all the fun out of item storage. I've been thinking about using it with a "no disks" approach in 1.5, maybe that will be more appealing to me.I think it's funny that there is still people who haven't used AE. That's one mighty big rock you've been living under
I do like the processing, I sett up a bank of pulverizers fed by a Router to process my ores into dusts. The autocrafting is cool, when it doesn't just stop working for no good reason (breaking and fixing the MAC usually fixes it). So yes, it's got a lot going for it, but I'm not in love with it the way I am with my RP2 sorting system (which I still have in parallel, 50% of my frame quarry output goes into AE, 50% into RP2).
Not saying you should like it. I was just surprised that there were people who haven't tried it.
I can understand you like to have actual storage instead of disks but that kind of stuff I've done to death already.
But to each his own. Some people like to store stuff in chests manually and that's perfectly fine too.