Redpower Buildcraft Contraption

[Strokend]

I'm not a very clever redpower builder, but I was wondering if it's safe to build a flying redpower saucer (or cube) with buildpower mining wells attatched. The mining wells would have to be elevated slightly, so that you could pop away the mining pipes, but other than that I'm not entirely certain how it would work, or if it would even be compatible. Would trying to pull engines, pipes, and mining wells crash the game?

If it is safe, I would like to see how to build such a contraption; I'd love to just fly about striping the world of its resources :D

[disconsented]

Why mining wells?

[Strokend]

Because mining wells don't need to be stocked with frames which would make it even more complicated.

[DanielJin]

I still don't get it, what's a "flying redpower saucer" ?

[DoctorFedora]

I'm assuming he intends to use frames, although since I've personally never used them I can't say if it would be possible to. I don't know of any Tekkit-related materials other than frames which are able to move, however.

[Strokend]

I've seen a few videos where people use redpower frames covered in covers on the outside to move around and perform things. What I understand is that redpower frames can hold panels and covers INSIDE their own block, but psuedo blocks like torches and levers can't go onto them, so a panel is used to hold it. A cover on the other hand, prevents stuff from sticking to the frames.

There is a motor that can move a whole series of items stuck together by moving a frame directly, even if they're in the air, but I don't know how to get that to work, especially not efficiently.

As for a "Flying redpower saucer" I meant that it would have up and down capabilities in adition to left, right, forward, and backward. I personally like to have my structures actually look like something sensible, rather than a bunch of clusters of frames only added to support the wires, though it may not be very efficient, hence the "Or cube"

[Silent]

I know what you are talking about, a complex build but possible.

the only issue is the mining pipes that are left behind?

[Strokend]

Yes, that is why I said to leave the wells elevated. Two spaces of elevation allows you to pop the pipes out of the way so that you can fly again.

I can get the wells themselves to work, but I'm not so clever when it comes to the movement of the frames and such.

[The_DarthMoogle]

This is entirely possible, as when blocks from other mods are placed on frames that move, they are just put into 'packing crates' and shifted along. Even having buildcraft pipes to chests will move with the craft, provided they are at least all touching bare frames.

Lots of tutorials for six axis inchworm drives out there, especially on YouTube.

[joe5]

yes, we had one of these running on our server for a while. though we shut it down because frames do not move in chunckloaded areas. if you are in fact planning to construct a tier three frameship such as the one you have describedI would give you a few pieces of advice:

1. Do not use build craft. Red power has far greater functionality and is designed to work with frames natively. Furthermore the ability to use a retriever-based system means that you will have just enough available area around a single industrial craft mining machine to both supply and retrieve mining pipes. You will add approximately 4 min. to your mining cycle.however, the increased efficiency and saved iron should be more than worth it.
   
2. Do not connect ender chests directly to frames. Instead use a system of deployers and block breakers on a sliding type track to get around the frequent crashes that result from placing ender chests on frames.
   
3. Do not attempt to create a six axis frameship for this build. A mining machine such as this one functions best when it only moves in one direction. As a result the additional five axes would be wasted. It is also worth noting that you should construct your bills above the highest mountain is will ever encounter. Otherwise it will get stuck.
   
4. always use switches instead of Redstone torches the additional control they give will come in handy when but checking.
   
5. Use deployers to create columns of sand or gravel every eight blocks such that the mining machine sent its to down through the colum of sand. due to the nature of frames you will not have enough room to place a pump system near your mining machine and the mining machine will not mind to liquids. the columns of sand will allow the mining machineto continuous operations even when it is over an ocean or river. I would suggest that dropping one piece of sand every minute is about the right deployment frequency.
   
6. Your ship should move once for every 2000 to 3000 seconds the past. The exact timing system will have to depend on your construction. However, I would encourage you to leave approximately 2 min. to spare after the completion of both mining and attraction in order to ensure that you do not leave ugly duplicated pipes behind you.
   
7. Do not use wires. Create a straight line composed of one Mv solar array one mfe and one lv transformer directly abutting your mining machine. This will ensure constant reliable power with minimal chances of glinching.
   
8. do not attempt to use the same timer for all functions the very least you should have one timer initiating the movement cascade one timer sending the drill to the mining machine as one timer removing it.
   
9. do not stand in the vicinity of the machine while it is running. Frame-based mining machines have an annoying and unavoidable habit of crashing the clients of any players who happen to be in their general vicinity when the move. Generally speaking this is not a problem encountered with correctly built frame ships. however, for reasons we have been unable to determine vehicles which interact with the ground seem to encounter this problem even when they are built correctly. It has been hypothesized that this occurs when frames attempt to move into another block or entity which was not present in the previous tick. However, this has never been confirmed.
   

My final piece of advice you is this: frame ships up perhaps the single most difficult and complex builds in the tekkit world. well they are potentially very rewarding it is inadvisable to build them without expert knowledge both of each relevant mod as an individual expert knowladge of the interactions between mods.

if you are sure you wish to attempt this build that we will happily provide you what support we can. But it is advisable that you think very carefully about whether you are willing to put in the time and effort to understand not only the effects of each mod but also how they are coded and how those different coding styles interact.

Best of luck.

PS, I apologize for any grammatical errors which may appear in the above text. I'm currently using voice dictation software and it does have a tendency to switch words. If anything is unclear please feel free to ask for additional clarification.

[The_DarthMoogle]

There's nothing wrong with attaching a RedPower frame mining drill bit thing, to a six axis platform, meaning you have a fully mobile quarry.

Use toggle latches instead of switches, too.

Also, the aforementioned glitches are to do with an incorrect version of Java.

[joe5]

from a technical perspective, that is true. However, six axis systems are far more expensive to create and more difficult but check. If your objective is to create a functional mining system low investment and reliability are paramount. Single axes systems accomplish the exact same thing with a six axis system with lower investment and greater reliability.

If you are building in survival switches are cheaper.

Interesting, I was not aware of that. Thank you. Do you know why they only occur on mining systems? We have had no difficulty operating near our frameship

[The_DarthMoogle]

Who cares about expensive?

Or are you part of the dumb collective that are all about efficiency and shit?

Who cares about functional? A worthy investment is making something that everyone on the server will remember as being a) COOL, and YOURS.

[joe5]

those of us who wish to get a good return on our investments with which to continue constructing better more sophisticated systems. Not to mention those of us who would prefer to have one working reliable functional and productive resource source than still be mining by hand for the resources to build unnecessary components. I personally would prefer six mining machines or a combat active frame ship to one needlessly complex mining system with inferior or comparable functionality to one of the six mentioned above.

indeed, I'm a member of the enlightened collective which realizes that the two most valuable resources on any server are lag and time. Running needlessly complex or in efficient systems particularly where frames are involved Burns lag. Maintaining those systems Burns time.so yes, I believe efficiency matters.

I wholeheartedly agree, creating fascinating and impressive builds is the entire point of mine craft. However, I would contend that your time is far better point towards the creation of a comprehensive crafting system or self replicating storage system then towards adding glitter to a machine you will likely never see.

[The_DarthMoogle]

I do however agree that lag is something that needs to be taken into consideration, but I will always be about style over substance :D

[joe5]

in that case, let us agree to disagree about the best way to express that style.

[The_DarthMoogle]

I'm all about the visuals, to be frank. If it's not big, and it's not doing it's job, then I'm not interested.

I will plan my factories so that cables and pipes are as hidden as possible, but with any moving parts exposed, because that looks cool.

[Viktor_Berg]

Who cares about expensive?

Or are you part of the dumb collective that are all about efficiency and shit?

As a cybernetics engineer, I take offense in this statement. Efficiency and optimization are staples of technological advancement, and calling it "dumb" is about as offensive as you can be towards technology.

[Strokend]

Ah, but efficiency comes in several types. The question was geared towards single-"company" efficiency over time efficiency.

Mining wells might not have as much control as a redpower mining arm, but they only need their own block, the power of self operating engines (Works at night!), mine really fast, and don't need to be pulled back out. You'll be clunking a few things in that you have to personally reload after time (Just a single steam engine works a single mining well fast though, so that's not a big downer), but it means you don't have to wait for it to go down and up and left and forward and right and backward over and over.

Time efficiency over quality efficiency I'm often geared towards. I don't know the best machine set ups, but I do set them up in ways where there won't be much power loss, typically none whatsoever. Even if I do wind up with five batpacks always full of energy as a result, isn't that a good thing?

My houses are cubes to fit as much stuff inside as possible, even though it means difficulty getting around to areas, such as the roof, but the inside is where it matters. The saucer isn't quite a cube shape, but it leaves room for an observation dome up top, solar array around it, and you can even have the occasional windows looking down in the ring around the center to see just what land you're over.

[Viktor_Berg]

I wasn't really advocating either of the alternatives (even though I would personally prefer to make a RedPower-based miner), I was just replying to the statement about efficiency itself.