Does anyone know an alternative to the miner/geotherm?

[Ellegon]

Hi all,

I just switched my server from Tekkit Lite to BigDig and like it a lot so far. However, since IC2 is not in there I have to re-learn some basic things now So maybe you guys can give me a hint or two on some alternatives for specific machines?

Miner: I loved the possibility to mine an area (even when it's only 9x9) and just mine out the stuff I want (no cobblestone etc.). Not only have I less "scrap" but also the landscape doesn't look that devastated (only a small 1x1 hole instead of a whole crate with a quarry). Is there an alternative in BigDig for the miner?

Geothermal Generator: Together with the EnderTanks this was a great way of producing cheap energy relatively quick. What would I use with Big Dig? Stirling Enginges? Solar Panels?

Any help is appreciated ;)

[Shadow Panther]

Geothermal: Thermal Expansion's Magmatic Engine works off lava too, so you could try it with nether pump and ender tanks. Also, Mekanism's geothermals are not powerful, but they don't spend lava at all (well, placing additional lava inside gives you more power, if passive generation isn't enough for you).

[cantorsdust]

You could always use a 3x3 buildcraft quarry with landmarks and just void pipe the blocks you don't want. But with applied Energistics and deep storage units from MFR, it's pretty effortless to store everything coming in. Set quarry to max size, hook it to an item tesseract connected to your AE system, and handle everything. Just hook an AE storage bus to a cobble DSU and never think about it again.

[Shadow Panther]

You could always use a 3x3 buildcraft quarry with landmarks and just void pipe the blocks you don't want. But with applied Energistics and deep storage units from MFR, it's pretty effortless to store everything coming in. Set quarry to max size, hook it to an item tesseract connected to your AE system, and handle everything. Just hook an AE storage bus to a cobble DSU and never think about it again.

That still leaves the problem of undisturbed landscape, but for that you can just start your quarry underground.

[Melynxis]

One little thing I found.. since we do have computer craft is the following Turtle Script.

http://pastebin.com/3mkeUzby

Its designed to mine every third level and to check above it and below it for Ores.. If it sees one of the items you whitelist on it.. it ignores it and continues to the next.. I mined out a 15x15 grid with very little surface disturbance.. and what was there i was able to fill back in with a stack of dirt... Yes.. Albeit the ground underneath looks like swiss cheese.. it seemed to work really well.

[firstdeathmaker]

I usually use quarries, but I always place them underground to keep the surface landscape intact. I recommend 60x60 ones, so you don't need to babysit them all the time.

[Calvariae]

Starting up quarries in the middle of the ocean keeps the landscape looking good too.

[Maddawg5450]

Another alternative is to use the MFR mining laser. From what I remember, it doesn't directly affect the landscape in any way, but will automatically mine all ores underneath it. It takes some time, but it won't mine anything useless (to a degree) like cobblestone or dirt. You should look into them, they're pretty damn neat.

As for the geothermal replacement, Magmatic engines are your best bet. A whole bank of them with 1 pump/magmatic engine tesseract in the nether can easily quench your power needs. There's even an infinite loop of energy using the magma crucibles and magmatic engines.

((IF YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW HOW TO MAKE INFINITE ENERGY AND/OR INFINITE ITEMS, DO NOT CONTINUE READING))

So there's 2 infinite loops of energy using the magma crucible and the magmatic engines. First is using netherrack inside the magma crucible. Every piece of netherrack generates 1 bucket of lava after 12,000 MJ of energy. However, the magmatic engine produces 18,000 MJ per bucket of lava. For the most part, netherrack is easier to use because it takes less per bucket, but, if you want more energy efficiency, you can set up an infinite loop to pulverize blaze rods, which give you 4 blaze powder, then craft them back into blaze rods (2 dust = 1 rod). So your overall efficiency when crafting the blaze rods is doubling every process, however, when placed in a magma crucible (blaze rods, not powder) it only takes 10,000 MJ to make one bucket, however it takes 4 blaze rods for that same bucket. More energy efficient, and can be auto-looped, but potentially more demanding in terms of personal interaction.