How do you/can you use multiple ME interfaces for the same action?

[Catfish]

Background:

Currently I use a network of pneumatic tubes and other redpower items to process the output of quarries. For example, this factory processes the output from 12 quarries and can likely handle many more.

I imagine having that many items spawned in the pipes creates a fair amount of lag but this setup is capable of processing large amounts of ores and items quickly. So, I have tried to essentially replicate the same thing only using Applied Energistics. The problem I run into though is when I call for an item, for example refined iron, only one machine of the many capable of processing(smelting iron ingots) will do so. Is there any way to get AE to do this in an on-demand basis while using multiple machines?

I'm looking for a way to do this besides placing an ME interface on top of a chest which will export raw materials to another system which will then automatically(using export buses) process items. And place them into a separate chest which imports into the first system.

[CreeperGoBoom]

a regular or electric smelter cannot keep up with the high demand of an ME network, you need something more high power, like a set of Powered Furnaces and induction furnaces

sorry if you already know this but i cant see what your using for smelting from this screenshot, though i did notice the huge setup of pulverizers(edit: wait.. what are those, electric or their upgraded counterpart??)

The only problem with ME networks is that they can only do things one task at a time when it comes to on-demand, (ok, smelt this then craft that) you may be able to boost this operation using a Molecular Assembler Chamber filled with Crafting CPUs, i would reccommend building a MAC which uses a 5x5x5 set of crafting cpus which brings the space construction requirement to 9x9x9 minimum for your setup, if you can make it bigger than do so

otherwise if you just have export buses set to for everything it will quite happily fill all your machines and continue to do so until it runs out of resources to process

while this is expensive quartz wise, since you have 12 quarries running, quartz and quartz dust isnt an issue(i hope you didnt see these items as junk and uhh....recycled em!!) by the time your 12 quarries are finished youd have enough quartz and quartz dust to make a huge MAC, im guessing you already know about the encoded patterns in the interface?

edit: also keep in mind that the ME interface will only work from the top of something and you cannot use multiple ME interfaces for one furnace for example, also if the ME furnace is touching something on the side as well as on the top it can become...confused and hung up)

i have tested this with one ME interface on a side of a powered furnace and it didnt work

[Michael101]

You can use the interface as a bridge between the ME drives and a logistics pipe network hooked up to the pulverizers/furnaces. The logistics pipes will pull raw materials from the ME drive whenever the processing machines have space for it.

That way you can set the pulverizer as the default route for ores, furnaces for dusts, and the ME drives as the default route for ingots. As raw mats enter the system from the quarries they get routed and processed as soon as possible.

This system also allows me to use my remote orderer and ender pouch to access anything in my home network from anywhere in the game world.

[CreeperGoBoom]

sweet ill keep that in mind, thanks :D

[CreeperGoBoom]

your gonna love this, i got some very good news

in order to use multiple ME interfaces for the same action you need to build another MAC for each set of machines, so if you want say 10 sets of machines going off at once you will need 10 small Macs, making them bigger is a waste of time unless you plan on bulk building HV solar arrays or something

what you do is and i just tested this, make sure that each MAC is connected Directly by cable, if theres a MAC in front of it it wont work, even if you have to put cable around your first mac to connect to the next

what wont work:

ME controller>cable>Mac>Cable>Mac

what will work:

ME controller>cable>Mac

                  /cable>Mac

have that going and what will happen is, the machines will share the work, i just set up two Macs in my test and asked for 128 tin ingots be process from their ores, i had 2 induction furnaces set up and both took 64 at the same time

make sure that the Macs arent touching any other macs or machines or the mac wont work, youll see why :-)

from my tests. each mac can only handle one action at any given time. Having multiple macs effectively spreads the work that one mac cant do by itself. Bulk processing of ores is one of those.

[sepherym]

CreeperGoBoom, is there any way you could post a pic of the configuration that you got to work?

[CreeperGoBoom]

CreeperGoBoom, is there any way you could post a pic of the configuration that you got to work?

here you go

here's a Top Down view

edit: Don't Mind the size of the larger MAC, i was testing the theory that a bigger chamber can do multiple tasks, that theory is false, your better with sticking with the smaller sized ones like the one at the bottom