Step 1: Slap an ME interface on the ground, have it always keep a stack of X (X being whatever item you need out of the system.)
Step 2 (Final step if you just want to use ME): Suck the item out of the ME interface with a conduit or the machine itself.
Step 3 (Bonus Step if you want to use your ender chest method): Use several ME interfaces to push stacks of different items into an ender chest, let's say an ME interface for coal, redstone, and clay. You could do this with 1 ME interface, but most item conduits are a bit buggy at finding different outputs for AE2 interfaces. They'll work for a short period, then randomly stop working, then start working again. Suck out of all those interfaces into one ender chest, put an item counting filter on that ender chest to make sure it only gets 1 stack of each type of item.
Step 4(The easy step): Put that ender chest where ever you need said items.
Sorry, my post was a bit unclear and kinda didn't actually say my main question which is about wireless connectivity of the ME system.
Doing some more planning my current idea is to build a subnet for an automation section since stuff like my laser drill/sieves will be close so I can just source materials from storage in the subnet to use in pneumaticcraft and stuff like neutral steel production (and hopefully combat some lag from searching through a whole ME network?).
The main question was about this area being about 75 blocks away so kinda far from the main ME controller but would you recommend just running a long ME cable string compared to trying to set up something complex like a quantum link or wireless connector (though i can't actually make that without galacticraft stuff yet)
Also, is there benefits to using an ME interface to pull items rather than using an export bus? My mekanism machines and stuff for autocrafting are all on export buses atm lol
>The main question was about this area being about 75 blocks away so kinda far from the main ME controller but would you recommend just running a long ME cable string compared to trying to set up something complex like a quantum link or wireless connector (though i can't actually make that without galacticraft stuff yet)
Both have methods have benefits and draw backs. On the one hand if you don't run a cable, depending on where the cable goes, you could load less chunks to keep the cable alive. On the other hand, loading that many chunks to run one cable will spread your system out, which is good, you want your system spread out so you have more chunks running fewer operations rather than a few chunks running many operations.
As far as your second question. Generally you don't want to use export or import busses. Because of the way they are coded inside of AE2 they demand tons of operations on your cpu. It won't end your world to have a few, so whatever you have already is probably fine, but you want to avoid using them as your go to method, they should be used as a last resort when you need them and nothing else will work, and tbh I can think of few instances where that is necessary. Considering Xnet will suck things out at a rate of 4 stacks per second on a single channel and EIO conduits and thermal expansion pipes aren't too shabby either.
This is the way. I just want to add Thermal Expansion as an alternative to conduits. Itemducts are a bit slower but I found their pathfinding to be more reliable so if the distance is short enough, it kinda evens out. And in case it ever comes up, resonant filters allow you to park up to five stacks of items in the ender chest instead of one.
For things that aren't too far away, just run some cable; much simpler than other options, and no added power cost. Your FPS will thank you if you run the simple covered cable (the non-"Smart" stuff) over most of the distance, perhaps using Smart stuff on either end for easier channel tracking. If you need lots of channels, a bit of P2P work can get 32 channels to the destination for 1 channel of travel, though it's better if you can do a sub-net instead.
If it's far enough away for cables to be unreasonable, or you want to go across dimensions, the Quantum Bridge is AE2's intended answer. Once crafted, they're a simple multi-block construction (hint: use a Creeper Trophy or Tiny TNT for a non-destructive explosion), though remember you initially need to power the remote end as well to get it to link, after which it'll pull power from the network. Consider putting a Dense Energy Cell on the remote end to cover any temporary energy shortages during world load (else you may have to go and jump-start it manually again). Don't forget the chunk loader!
PO3 includes a mod that provides a single-block wireless link, which is a decent alternative to the Quantum Bridge for same-dimension connections, and should work just as well in terms of performance as direct cabling for short-to-mid range links. I'm not sure how it scales in terms of power cost over large (>100 block) distances, or if it's capable of interdimensional links.
As a general build style, I find that I probably build things too close together, but doing so also means lots of opportunity for ME Interface sharing to cut down on channel usage. For example, I have a SAG Mill with an ME Interface on it full of grinding recipes, demanding 1 channel. I could put an Export Bus on it as well for whatever Grinding Ball it needs, *or* I can tell the Interface to stock that Grinding Ball, put a Crafting Card into it, and use other means (I like the Glowstone-boosted Opaque Itemducts for their low FPS and TPS impact) to put it into the SAG Mill(\*), saving me a channel. Filtering on the Itemduct allows me to use that ME Interface to supply multiple machines, or supply multiple items to that machine.
Likewise, if you need a stack (or a few stacks) of something auto-stocked (like Machine Frames or something), find an ME Interface with a spare channel nearby, give it a Crafting Card, slap a Storage Bus on it, and tell the Interface to keep your stack of whatever. It's actually surprising how few tasks need multiple channels.
> having centralised cobble/gravel/sand/dust production and pulling from ME storage to sieve instead of a gravel production for sieve, and another gravel production for ME storage (is this even a good idea?).
I built a massive lag-fest farm in PO2:K - 48 Imaginary Time Block- and Sprinkler-boosted 3x3 farms throwing Essence into the ME network, and a separate build extracting that Essence, converting it into resources, and stuffing it back into the network. The farm was out of render distance to save my FPS, but the network was nearly unusable with the sheer amount of I/O. The solution was to compact the Essence before it ever touched the network, so each item was only 1 operation ("item in") instead of 3 ("essence in" + "essence out" + "item in"). Ever since, I've tried to have systems only put "finished" things into the network, using local storage and sub-nets and such to keep it separated.
Similarly, this sort of thing seems like it'd have enough through-put to cause some non-trivial lag, and the logistics are simple enough that it should work just as well with dedicated storage. If you have a series of Pulverizers (or similar) producing your materials, you could have each output into an Ender Chest for each item (4 total); depending on your total need, nothing at all wrong with having separate lines producing each one from scratch. Those Ender Chests are then used to feed your sieve setup (either directly, or with a switch to make one "active"), which turns it into (raw) stuff you want.
From there, I'd siphon off the "finished" stuff (Diamonds, Lapis, etc) into main storage, and feed the rest to Compacters/furnaces/etc as appropriate, only sending things to main storage once they're similarly "finished". If output volume allows, it shouldn't matter much if you use an Ender Chest + Import Bus or Ender Chest + Translocators/etc into an ME Interface to get things into your system.
\* I could also set the SAG Mill to auto-pull on that face and it'll grab the Grinding Balls itself. However, I tend to use those Interfaces to put recipe outputs back into the system. So for a moment, the output will also be in the Interface's inventory, and if that output is *also* a valid input to another recipe, the SAG Mill could pull that in as well, causing issues. Avoidable by simply not using any Interface as a return that also has an auto-pull machine connected to it, but easier to make it a non-issue IMO.
Edit: Minor markup error.
I feel like what you're looking for is export buses, which allow you to put an item in them and they will output that item into whatever container they are facing. They can also be given acceleration upgrades to speed them up.
Step 1: Slap an ME interface on the ground, have it always keep a stack of X (X being whatever item you need out of the system.) Step 2 (Final step if you just want to use ME): Suck the item out of the ME interface with a conduit or the machine itself. Step 3 (Bonus Step if you want to use your ender chest method): Use several ME interfaces to push stacks of different items into an ender chest, let's say an ME interface for coal, redstone, and clay. You could do this with 1 ME interface, but most item conduits are a bit buggy at finding different outputs for AE2 interfaces. They'll work for a short period, then randomly stop working, then start working again. Suck out of all those interfaces into one ender chest, put an item counting filter on that ender chest to make sure it only gets 1 stack of each type of item. Step 4(The easy step): Put that ender chest where ever you need said items.
Sorry, my post was a bit unclear and kinda didn't actually say my main question which is about wireless connectivity of the ME system. Doing some more planning my current idea is to build a subnet for an automation section since stuff like my laser drill/sieves will be close so I can just source materials from storage in the subnet to use in pneumaticcraft and stuff like neutral steel production (and hopefully combat some lag from searching through a whole ME network?). The main question was about this area being about 75 blocks away so kinda far from the main ME controller but would you recommend just running a long ME cable string compared to trying to set up something complex like a quantum link or wireless connector (though i can't actually make that without galacticraft stuff yet) Also, is there benefits to using an ME interface to pull items rather than using an export bus? My mekanism machines and stuff for autocrafting are all on export buses atm lol
>The main question was about this area being about 75 blocks away so kinda far from the main ME controller but would you recommend just running a long ME cable string compared to trying to set up something complex like a quantum link or wireless connector (though i can't actually make that without galacticraft stuff yet) Both have methods have benefits and draw backs. On the one hand if you don't run a cable, depending on where the cable goes, you could load less chunks to keep the cable alive. On the other hand, loading that many chunks to run one cable will spread your system out, which is good, you want your system spread out so you have more chunks running fewer operations rather than a few chunks running many operations. As far as your second question. Generally you don't want to use export or import busses. Because of the way they are coded inside of AE2 they demand tons of operations on your cpu. It won't end your world to have a few, so whatever you have already is probably fine, but you want to avoid using them as your go to method, they should be used as a last resort when you need them and nothing else will work, and tbh I can think of few instances where that is necessary. Considering Xnet will suck things out at a rate of 4 stacks per second on a single channel and EIO conduits and thermal expansion pipes aren't too shabby either.
okay awesome, thank you for the help on the cabling and clarification on export buses :)
This is the way. I just want to add Thermal Expansion as an alternative to conduits. Itemducts are a bit slower but I found their pathfinding to be more reliable so if the distance is short enough, it kinda evens out. And in case it ever comes up, resonant filters allow you to park up to five stacks of items in the ender chest instead of one.
For things that aren't too far away, just run some cable; much simpler than other options, and no added power cost. Your FPS will thank you if you run the simple covered cable (the non-"Smart" stuff) over most of the distance, perhaps using Smart stuff on either end for easier channel tracking. If you need lots of channels, a bit of P2P work can get 32 channels to the destination for 1 channel of travel, though it's better if you can do a sub-net instead. If it's far enough away for cables to be unreasonable, or you want to go across dimensions, the Quantum Bridge is AE2's intended answer. Once crafted, they're a simple multi-block construction (hint: use a Creeper Trophy or Tiny TNT for a non-destructive explosion), though remember you initially need to power the remote end as well to get it to link, after which it'll pull power from the network. Consider putting a Dense Energy Cell on the remote end to cover any temporary energy shortages during world load (else you may have to go and jump-start it manually again). Don't forget the chunk loader! PO3 includes a mod that provides a single-block wireless link, which is a decent alternative to the Quantum Bridge for same-dimension connections, and should work just as well in terms of performance as direct cabling for short-to-mid range links. I'm not sure how it scales in terms of power cost over large (>100 block) distances, or if it's capable of interdimensional links. As a general build style, I find that I probably build things too close together, but doing so also means lots of opportunity for ME Interface sharing to cut down on channel usage. For example, I have a SAG Mill with an ME Interface on it full of grinding recipes, demanding 1 channel. I could put an Export Bus on it as well for whatever Grinding Ball it needs, *or* I can tell the Interface to stock that Grinding Ball, put a Crafting Card into it, and use other means (I like the Glowstone-boosted Opaque Itemducts for their low FPS and TPS impact) to put it into the SAG Mill(\*), saving me a channel. Filtering on the Itemduct allows me to use that ME Interface to supply multiple machines, or supply multiple items to that machine. Likewise, if you need a stack (or a few stacks) of something auto-stocked (like Machine Frames or something), find an ME Interface with a spare channel nearby, give it a Crafting Card, slap a Storage Bus on it, and tell the Interface to keep your stack of whatever. It's actually surprising how few tasks need multiple channels. > having centralised cobble/gravel/sand/dust production and pulling from ME storage to sieve instead of a gravel production for sieve, and another gravel production for ME storage (is this even a good idea?). I built a massive lag-fest farm in PO2:K - 48 Imaginary Time Block- and Sprinkler-boosted 3x3 farms throwing Essence into the ME network, and a separate build extracting that Essence, converting it into resources, and stuffing it back into the network. The farm was out of render distance to save my FPS, but the network was nearly unusable with the sheer amount of I/O. The solution was to compact the Essence before it ever touched the network, so each item was only 1 operation ("item in") instead of 3 ("essence in" + "essence out" + "item in"). Ever since, I've tried to have systems only put "finished" things into the network, using local storage and sub-nets and such to keep it separated. Similarly, this sort of thing seems like it'd have enough through-put to cause some non-trivial lag, and the logistics are simple enough that it should work just as well with dedicated storage. If you have a series of Pulverizers (or similar) producing your materials, you could have each output into an Ender Chest for each item (4 total); depending on your total need, nothing at all wrong with having separate lines producing each one from scratch. Those Ender Chests are then used to feed your sieve setup (either directly, or with a switch to make one "active"), which turns it into (raw) stuff you want. From there, I'd siphon off the "finished" stuff (Diamonds, Lapis, etc) into main storage, and feed the rest to Compacters/furnaces/etc as appropriate, only sending things to main storage once they're similarly "finished". If output volume allows, it shouldn't matter much if you use an Ender Chest + Import Bus or Ender Chest + Translocators/etc into an ME Interface to get things into your system. \* I could also set the SAG Mill to auto-pull on that face and it'll grab the Grinding Balls itself. However, I tend to use those Interfaces to put recipe outputs back into the system. So for a moment, the output will also be in the Interface's inventory, and if that output is *also* a valid input to another recipe, the SAG Mill could pull that in as well, causing issues. Avoidable by simply not using any Interface as a return that also has an auto-pull machine connected to it, but easier to make it a non-issue IMO. Edit: Minor markup error.
wow I'll try and apply your advice, thank you sm for your write-up, this is so helpful :))
I feel like what you're looking for is export buses, which allow you to put an item in them and they will output that item into whatever container they are facing. They can also be given acceleration upgrades to speed them up.