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Modded Minecraft

Why ME Pattern Providers and not ME Interfaces?

TLDR:

What method is the best to use for MI or GT and why is it better?
How do you automate the crafting jobs using the pattern providers, since they are an on-demand crafting solution. Also, english isn't my first language so sorry of any weird grammar.
If this post gets taken down imma kms.

Now, I would say that I have gathered quite the knowledge about Applied Energistics 2. Subnetting, P2P and all the other stuff that comes with it, I am well aware of. In GT I reached the IV tier and MI I completed 2 times.

What I still don't quite understand is when to use what bus/interface to automate.

The main mods that comes to mind for me are Modern Industrialization and GregTech.
To keep it real, mods like Mekanism or Pneumaticcraft don't need that level of automation and can be automated on-demand.

I watch quite a bit of Youtube content regarding modded minecraft and have come to notice that, while some people still use interfaces, many people use pattern providers to automate. I have mostly seen pattern providers as a kind of quick to setup on-demand craft tool that doesn't need that much afterthought, but never to use it for automation.

It could also be that interfaces or busses (used with subnets) are the best option and my anecdotal evidence lies mainly on players that also aren't that experienced.
Also, my understanding for these kind of automations might be wrong. I mainly place the machines in a row and basically just export into a drawer and the import into the next machine as opposed to building a separated line of production for every item / fluid.

Now, to the pictures: The setups I noticed could basically be categorized in these three, maybe with a bit of a deviation. 1. Using an interface and then another way of transport from another mod or a subnet and basically letting it run until the drawers (or storage) are full.
2. Then the export bus method, which is obviously the worst one, since it uses a lot of channels and can't set exact item counts (which is a problem in many GT recipes). You can cascade them into subnets, but they are still quite tedious to set up.

  1. And the last way the pattern providers. For my understanding. You use the pattern provider to place the items in a (subnetted) interface which distributes the items via storage busses (since they have no other place to go). But, how do you manage to get them to round robin the recipes into every machine? Is this build-in or a function that I didn't see?
    Then to really automate I need something that triggeres the crafting jobs for the pattern providers. Regarding this I have another two questions: How is it done? Do you use crafting cards on export busses on drawer walls (or other mass storage) or do you use level emitters? And, wouldn't I need so many crafting cpus, since every craft needs one?
    For my understanding. I would make one pattern provider for steel, another one for steel rods and another one for steel plates. That would already be 3 jobs running constanty, no?

And since on-demand is quite bad in regards to GT or MI, that is also kinda out of the option.
For me this is more about trying to find the perfect solution.

If you have read the post to the bottom (and didn't just skip the text ￣へ￣) Then here, have a sweet and thank you! 🍡

by herzogfranko

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1 Comment

  1. Creepy-Signature8652 on

    There are many supplementary AE2 addon mods that lets you have thousands of CPUs easily. Advance AE has quantum crafting computer multiblock that gives you 8000+ CPU, Expanded AE gives you a way of crafting a single block equivalent CPU (immensly more expensive).

    As many others would point out, mods like MI and GregTech are not meant for on-demand crafts. However, it kinda works if you have ways to accelerate block tick rates. In ATM10, I am accelearting MI machines and it just works for me. But sometimes, you just want multiple machines or constant crafting. Here is an example of how I automated distillation tower separating crude oil. It will stop exporting crude oil when I somehow don’t have 1024 buckets of crude oil, or I have max Sulfur Napatha (Don’t care about other two biproducts).

    https://preview.redd.it/ndt89asd2hfg1.png?width=2456&format=png&auto=webp&s=cebaa2d5c3932435f310c80dc3465a690b57ac43

    Another powerful tool is AE2 memory card. You can shift + right click a pattern provider and right click another to copy the provider settings to another (it will even copy patterns if you have enough blank patterns in your inventory), letting your setup to be pretty much modular.

    For round robin recipes, I just used laserIO to limit insert card inserts.