What would YOU change about BuildCraft?

[sgbros1]

This is the exact reason for all of what we've done. There are more interesting aesthetic means to make BC pipes look good, however their ugly look is highly symbolic to us and we're reluctant to get rid of it.

You're really just waiting for CyanideX's Unity texture pack, aren't ya...?

 

[asiekierka]

You're really just waiting for CyanideX's Unity texture pack, aren't ya...?

We already integrated CyanideX's textures ("Essence", though, as I wanted something closer to my taste) into BC7.0. The pipes are the ones I left out due to the reason I pointed out.

 

[lenscas]

Redstone pipe? Any pipe + Basic Gate [Item Travelling -> Redstone Signal]. With a gold/quartz/emerald/diamond gate, you can even filter by item type!

I was talking back in the 1.2.5 erra back then tekkit had an item called redstone pipe and that was from an add-on.

 

[asiekierka]

I was talking back in the 1.2.5 erra back then tekkit had an item called redstone pipe and that was from an add-on.

Yes, and that addon disappeared as now BC (3.0.0+) has a way to do it inside the mod itself.

 

[WildWinni]

You use projectred pipes? Not that they suck but they are certainly the poor mans logistics pipes.
Most folks go for Thermal Dynamics or EnderIO.

I dunno, I kinda want BC to keep their dumb item dropping pipes. However I am seeing BC's place in big packs slowly diminishing only included for token reasons.
I am giving buildcraft a propper try in my most recent private pack. And I am finding it manageable, although yoy do get some nifty things like gates a little late.
And the multitude of different transport pipe materials needs to change.

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Yeah, I encountered projectred while I was paying tekkit, and only encountered energistics and buildcraft later. The advantage that projectred's piping system has is they are about as cheep and simple to make as buildcraft pipes, but include some of the functionality you find in energistics. Where Energistics requires you to build through several different levels of tech, is costly in terms of resources and power and is not easily compatible with early game systems. For a lot of quest-based modpacks this often means a double up between buildcraft and energistics, where once you get to energistics it's more cost effective to completely remove the older system. Especially if the older system is buildcraft.

With the number of times my game hit massive lagspikes or crashes cause something went weird in the buildcraft piping I found myself swearing "As soon as I hit Energistics, these things are coming out!"

Saying that, this comes back to my earlier post. There are plenty of alternatives for logistics pipes already out there. Which is why these robots seam so adorable. I would totally accept robot based logistics over pipe based, it could easily be just as fast, would take up less space and doesn't result in a bunch of 'items' flying loose around the world individually (just a handful of bots instead)

I also thought of another use for the robots. This is meant to be Build Craft right? How about adding in less OP variation of worldedit. Give us a means to create templates of oblongs, cylanders, spheres and other regular shapes at any size, define it as "Hollow" or "x block" then place that on a landmark to tell the robots to mine/dig/build as required. I mean the blueprints as they currently work are essentially cut and paste, the only other parts of worldedit are shape generation, brushes and block swapping.

 

[asiekierka]

Yeah, I encountered projectred while I was paying tekkit, and only encountered energistics and buildcraft later. The advantage that projectred's piping system has is they are about as cheep and simple to make as buildcraft pipes, but include some of the functionality you find in energistics. Where Energistics requires you to build through several different levels of tech, is costly in terms of resources and power and is not easily compatible with early game systems. For a lot of quest-based modpacks this often means a double up between buildcraft and energistics, where once you get to energistics it's more cost effective to completely remove the older system. Especially if the older system is buildcraft.

With the number of times my game hit massive lagspikes or crashes cause something went weird in the buildcraft piping I found myself swearing "As soon as I hit Energistics, these things are coming out!"

Saying that, this comes back to my earlier post. There are plenty of alternatives for logistics pipes already out there. Which is why these robots seam so adorable. I would totally accept robot based logistics over pipe based, it could easily be just as fast, would take up less space and doesn't result in a bunch of 'items' flying loose around the world individually (just a handful of bots instead)

I also thought of another use for the robots. This is meant to be Build Craft right? How about adding in less OP variation of worldedit. Give us a means to create templates of oblongs, cylanders, spheres and other regular shapes at any size, define it as "Hollow" or "x block" then place that on a landmark to tell the robots to mine/dig/build as required. I mean the blueprints as they currently work are essentially cut and paste, the only other parts of worldedit are shape generation, brushes and block swapping.

Paragraph 1. That's true. However, not all mods are meant to be played together. There's different visions of gameplay among us: why not try NOT to use AE2?

Paragraph 2. Weird? Think when placing the pipes.

Paragraph 3. Carrier/Delivery Robots.

Paragraph 4. Meh. This is considered, but I'm not sure of a good way to do it. (Also, the Filler?)

 

[Golrith]

Almost. Some of the pipes are useless, like the quartz pipe or the old lapis/daizuli color sorting system (where their only edge over lenses and filters is being dynamically configurable with gates - something almost nobody uses).

Redstone pipe? Any pipe + Basic Gate [Item Travelling -> Redstone Signal]. With a gold/quartz/emerald/diamond gate, you can even filter by item type!

Wise words. There are a few other pipes out there, but the thing really does need a cleanup.

Check out Lenses and Filters.

Thought I'd just quote the relevant bits.

I'd say that the pipes do need a review and trim down the pipes that don't really get used. Key thing with the pipes as you've mentioned is their basic simplicity, adding in all those extra advanced pipes just adds confusion and attempts to reinvents the "wheel" for some of the more advanced pipe mechanics that are handled somewhat more "elegantly" by other mods. Sure players don't have to use them, but if a new player was to search NEI for pipe and see such a long list, they could easily get turned off using them and look for something that "appears" to be more straightforward.

Nice to know about the gate, I've only used them on occasion, mainly the "has work" condition on a laser table to turn on/off power going to the table.

It does show though that a lot of people like to use the pipes (based on the amount of posts about it) but there's just some things that can turn people off, be it texture, implementation, mechanics, recipes. A review of them to bring them back to feeling like "old buildcraft" would be appreciated by many.

One thought, instead of having a pipe that doesn't connect to inventories (sandstone?) and other connection types, can the BC pipes be reworked like most other piping systems so clicking a connection with a tool opens/closes that connection? That to many people makes more sense then having different material pipes. I did appreciate sandstone pipes when they turned up, the horrors I had using iron pipes to ensure pipes didn't connect to the wrong things (long before the days of pipe plugs)

 

[asiekierka]

I'd say that the pipes do need a review and trim down the pipes that don't really get used. Key thing with the pipes as you've mentioned is their basic simplicity, adding in all those extra advanced pipes just adds confusion and attempts to reinvents the "wheel" for some of the more advanced pipe mechanics that are handled somewhat more "elegantly" by other mods. Sure players don't have to use them, but if a new player was to search NEI for pipe and see such a long list, they could easily get turned off using them and look for something that "appears" to be more straightforward.

Nice to know about the gate, I've only used them on occasion, mainly the "has work" condition on a laser table to turn on/off power going to the table.

It does show though that a lot of people like to use the pipes (based on the amount of posts about it) but there's just some things that can turn people off, be it texture, implementation, mechanics, recipes. A review of them to bring them back to feeling like "old buildcraft" would be appreciated by many.

One thought, instead of having a pipe that doesn't connect to inventories (sandstone?) and other connection types, can the BC pipes be reworked like most other piping systems so clicking a connection with a tool opens/closes that connection? That to many people makes more sense then having different material pipes. I did appreciate sandstone pipes when they turned up, the horrors I had using iron pipes to ensure pipes didn't connect to the wrong things (long before the days of pipe plugs)

1. It's all true, however I'm not going to remove advanced pipes if their functionality cannot be replicated in another manner. They all have their uses.

2. The gates have tons of uses.

3. Texture, implementation, mechanics, recipes? Review? Feeling like "old BuildCraft"? I think we have that direction down very well, but that's not what many people want.

4. I never liked that, as it's not easily visually visible as to where what is blocked. Pipe Plugs are cheap now, and Sandstone Pipes are more for decor.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Way back in Ultimate, I made this: Bauxite Processing And as hard as it was to do with BC, I can imagine it would be much easier with any other mod.

Quartz isn't redundant. It's faster than cobble or stone isn't it? If you don't like the way it is, my suggestion would actually be to make it the opposite of gold. Gold accelerates items, while quartz slows them down significantly. And while it sounds insane, instead of having to make long traveling loops so things don't backlog in a pipe system, having them run through three or four quartz pipes would make them traverse much slower, so they're not arriving all in one big lump and overwhelming a sorting system or item extraction pipes. Such as from a tree farm for example?

One other thing Buildcraft does better than any other mod I've seen. It unloads trains incredibly quickly. Extraction pipes don't buffer the same as Transfer Nodes or ducts do. They allow multiple stacks in a single block of pipe, unlike the others which seem to have issues if you pull too much at the same time. Even AE has issues since it can only pull one stack at a time. I'm not sure wooden extraction pipes have an upper speed limit. Do they?

 

[Golrith]

Just a quick note, Direwolf20 has started playing with BC robots, gives a nice overview for those not familiar with them (like me)

 

[Azzanine]

I don't think BC pipes need to have the ability to disable connectivity, as pipe plugs have been untied from the assembly table. That being said pipe plugs do feel like a archaic solution to disableling connections.
It also seems odd considering that we have that stone / cobble option.

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[Fortanono]

Does it have to be something I consider a problem per se, or can it just be a random suggestion for the game? Because IMO, something like Stone Brick Pipes would fit better than Quartz Pipes just judging by the fact the other two pipes of that category are stone-related too. And that would mean Quartz could be replaced with another interesting pipe, maybe one that smelts things that go through if the items are at a certain speed? No fuel required, and there is one less stop along the way to your chests. And since Quartz is from the Nether, I think it could work.

 

[Azzanine]

Nifty idea but id add a energy/ fuel requirement. Maybe a heat source applied to the pipe.

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[Fortanono]

Nifty idea but id add a energy/ fuel requirement. Maybe a heat source applied to the pipe.

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That'd probably be for the better.

EDIT: Probably make it a "Glowstone Pipe" if the Quartz Pipe isn't to be changed.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Cooked Netherrack pipe. Netherrack doesn't stop burning so a cooked netherrack pipe should be permanently hot.

 

[unknown zombie]

Buildcraft is just one of those mods that I absolutely love, and will always be in my mod packs. It is just fun and inspires my creativity. I don't think "well, I shouldn't put this mod in my pack because it would make BC irrelevant" either. BC is always the centerpiece of my builds and I try to find a way to tailor other mods to complement BC.

The fact that you have to thoughtfully place your pipes so that they don't interfere with each other, the giant tanks of Oil being refined into giant tanks of Fuel, watching a room full of combustion engines piston-pumping away, the way power pipes have a bad-ass thick line of power visible in them once you've built up your infrastructure and the juice is really flowing, the way the quarry slowly and meticulously removes layer after layer of earth, watching items from that quarry flying through your pipe system into your storage... Everything about this mod just oozes cool.

Yes, BC takes more time to do things that other mods can do much faster and easier. Because of that, I've always thought that BuildCraft is meant to cater to a different type of personality. The kind of personality that enjoys the journey and doesn't necessarily have a destination in mind; the person who doesn't think "are we there yet?"

Let ExtraUtilities and stuff continue to cater to the "Are we there yet?" guys; I like BuildCraft exactly how it is. If someone doesn't have the creativity to look at an AE drive and think "How can this fit into my BC system?" instead of thinking "This AE system will completely replace my BC system because the transportation is instant!" then that's their loss.

 

[WildWinni]

:: ME :: Robots as worldedit

Paragraph 4. Meh. This is considered, but I'm not sure of a good way to do it. (Also, the Filler?)

In answer, the easiest way is to directly mimic the method with worldedit, only using the existing blueprint section. You would have a device that allows the player to select the size, shape and material (only one type of block per template). The script then builds the template as though it were copying from the world with the existing system. Basically as though the player had built it themselves and the script was copying this. The only special requirement I can see that if you told the machine to build it out of "air" then instead of builder bots building it would use a miner or a shovel bot to dig the space out instead but this is an alteration that could be added to the existing blueprint mechanics, where if you tell the system to build a building "here" and there are blocks in the way, they can be mined out first before construction.
The rest of the mechanics work essentially the same (I think).
(of course I'm not a coder and I'm probably over-simplifying things) ^_^

Also I sortof like kingtriax idea of a slowdown pipe, but what I would recommend instead is not a 'slow down' pipe but a buffer pipe. Something that does the same job as dropping them all into a chest and then pipeing them out again, without the need for three or four items just to accomplish this... I know in a current map of mine I'm force to do this at regular intervals with some of my piping and it is a little annoying.

And re:smelting pipes. I don't think those are relevent, I would be happy just for the extraction pipe to simulate side action. So that it isn't pulling the coal out of a furnace just as I'm putting it in, or other things that require me to go back to old school hopper networks.

 

[WildWinni]

Let ExtraUtilities and stuff continue to cater to the "Are we there yet?" guys; I like BuildCraft exactly how it is. If someone doesn't have the creativity to look at an AE drive and think "How can this fit into my BC system?" instead of thinking "This AE system will completely replace my BC system because the transportation is instant!" then that's their loss.

Actually my main gripe with Energistics is that the parts are so resource hungry, that I find it cheaper to replace all my vanilla storage etc with memory chips. And once you do that you may as well pull out the pipes that were feeding into the storage and connect the furnaces, smelteries, crafting workbenches and tables... Until the only place you have pipes is from the farm/quarry to an input adapter that goes into Energistics.

And this isn't Buildcraft's fault. I'll agree with someone else above, Buildcraft is really cool to watch in action when everything is running smoothely. It's just that, Energistics doesn't play well with others.

edit :: Ooh, I have an idea. How about a 'heater'. Something that when fed energy will generate "heat" in world. For example when placed next to a furnace, bloomery furnace, crucable furnace it will trick the item into cooking items as though fuel were being added to it regularly

That would be something different

 

[asiekierka]

edit :: Ooh, I have an idea. How about a 'heater'. Something that when fed energy will generate "heat" in world. For example when placed next to a furnace, bloomery furnace, crucable furnace it will trick the item into cooking items as though fuel were being added to it regularly

That would be something different

Factorization has had one for years. I'm not very fine with ripping off Factorization, but I had been thinking about it.

 

[lenscas]

edit :: Ooh, I have an idea. How about a 'heater'. Something that when fed energy will generate "heat" in world. For example when placed next to a furnace, bloomery furnace, crucable furnace it will trick the item into cooking items as though fuel were being added to it regularly

buildcraft additions has a similar mechanic with its own furnace