pipe-subnet.md

navigation
parent title icon example-setups/example-setups-index.md Item/Fluid "Pipe" Subnet storage_bus

Item/Fluid "Pipe" Subnet

A simple method of emulating an item and/or fluid pipe with AE2 devices, useful for, well, anything you'd use an item or fluid pipe for. This includes returning the result of a craft to a .

There are generally two different methods of achieving this:

Import Bus -> Storage Bus

(1) Import Bus: Can be filtered. (2) Storage Bus: Can be filtered. This (and other storage busses you want to be a destination) must be the only storage on the network. Source Destination

The (1) on the source inventory imports the items or fluid, and attempts to store them in network storage. Since the only storage on the network is the (2) (which is why this is a subnet and not on your main network), the items or fluid are placed in the destination inventory, thus being transferred. Energy is provided through a . Both the import bus and storage bus can be filtered, but the setup will transfer everything it can access if no filters are applied. This setup also works with multiple import busses and multiple storage busses.

Storage Bus -> Export Bus

(1) Storage Bus: Can be filtered. This (and other storage busses you want to be a source) must be the only storage on the network. (2) Export Bus: Must be filtered. Source Destination

The on the destination inventory attempts to pull items in its filter from network storage. Since the only storage on the network is the (which is why this is a subnet and not on your main network), the items or fluid are pulled from the source inventory, thus being transferred. Energy is provided through a . Because export busses must be filtered to function, this setup only operates if you filter the export bus. This setup also works with multiple storage busses and multiple export busses.

A Setup That Does Not Work (Import Bus -> Export Bus)

Import Bus: Since the network has no storage, there is nowhere for it to import to. (2) Export Bus: Since the network has no storage, there is nothing for it to export. Source Destination

A setup with just an import and export bus will not work. The import bus will attempt to pull from the source inventory and store the items or fluid in network storage. The export bus will attempt to pull from network storage and put the items or fluid in the destination inventory. However since this network has no storage, the import bus can't import and the export bus can't export, so nothing happens.

Inputting And Outputting Through 1 Face

Say you have some machine that can receive input and have its output pulled through 1 face. (Like a ) You can both push in the ingredients and pull out the result, by combining the 2 pipe subnet methods:

(1) Import Bus: Can be filtered. (2) Storage Bus: Can be filtered. This (and other storage busses you want to push and pull items) must be the only storage on the network. (3) Thing You Want To Push To And Pull From: In this case a Charger. (4) Export Bus: Must be filtered. Source Destination

Interfaces

It turns out there are devices besides import busses and export busses that push items into and pull items out of network storage! Of relevance here is the . If an item is inserted that the interface is not set to stock, the interface will push it to network storage, which we can exploit similarly to the import bus -> storage bus pipe. Setting an interface to stock some item will pull it from network storage, similar to the storage bus -> export bus pipe. Interfaces can be set to stock some things and not stock others, allowing you to remotely push and pull through storage busses, if you for some reason want to do that.

Interface Storage Bus Storage Bus Interface

One-To-Many and Many-To One (and many-to-many)

Of course, you don't have to use just one or or

Providing To Multiple Places

From all this, we can derive a method to send ingredients from one face to many different locations, like an array of machines, or several different faces of one machine.

We don't want an import -> storage pipe or a storage -> export pipe because the never actually contains the ingredients. Instead, providers push the ingredients to adjacent inventories, so we need some adjacent inventory that can also import items.

This sounds like... an ! Make sure the provider is in directional or flat subpart mode and/or the interface is in flat subpart mode, so the two don't form a network connection.

Interface (must be flat, not fullblock) Storage Busses Places you want to pattern-provide to (multiple machines, or multiple faces of 1 machine)