Automation

This page is a list of potential automation systems available in GTNH

= Hoppers = Primitive early game automation. Chests or other storage can be placed on top to extend buffer size. Can be placed beneath steam machines to pull contents. Output direction can be adjusted using GT wrench. Transfer rate is fairly slow, 1/s. Transfers until receiver is full. Can be disabled with redstone signal. Buggy with certain containers like drawers, may pull items even if the hopper is full.

= GT pipes and conveyors/pumps = More advanced automation. Conveyors and pumps pull or push items/fluids, with rates increasing by tier. Fluid pipes try to divide flows evenly, but can suffer from backflow issues. Multi-pipes available with fluid filter covers allowing specific fluids into or out of each pipe. Item pipes route item to nearest-allowed-destination based on distance. Smaller pipes are automatically given a longer distance. Simple filtering possible with locked barrels. Transfers until receiver is full. Can be used for dedicated setups, ie compressing and centrifuging air, oil desulfuring and mixing to max diesel, etc. Automation is a pull-based system - you pull something out at the end, and the ingredients slowly percolate to the start. Can be upgraded to be redstone controlled. GT item filters and chest buffers can be used with other systems to do type filtering or providing specified amounts of items.

= Translocators = Simple 1 block automation. Fast and can be upgraded with a glowstone dust for speed, and a diamond nugget for stocking. Easy to pull and sort items out of a mixed output into different destinations, including GT pipes. Multiple inputs/multiple outputs within the 1 block. Interface must touch another block. Item and fluid variants, however the fluid version is much worse than the item one, and is worse than a lot of GT pipes. Like an advanced, high-speed hopper. Good for compact setups like air centrifuging/water electrolyzing or simple sorting into destination pipes. The item versions are some of the fastest item transport you have available, especially in MV.

= Enderio item/fluid conduits = Automation level similar to GT pipes but without sloshing, and with better filtering. Can store small amounts of fluid within the conduit itself. Can be redstone controlled. Supports basic filtering. Transfer rate isn't upgradeable on fluid conduits, but item conduits can get up to 64items/cycle instead of the base 4. You can also downgrade item speed to 1/cycle which plays well with round robin mode. They also pull by themselves, and don't need a pump/conveyor like GT.

Item conduits shine when their existing item filter is used. It essentially is an infinite filter, which also has the abilities of normal eio filtering. This is many people's go to for separating siftable ores from thermal centrifuge ores. It can also be used in conjunction with automated assemblers that use more than 1 type of fluid. Can be used to automate an assline and act as an interface from AE2 to an assline. AE2 would dump parts into a chest, then EIO would filter them into the correct assline locations.

Fluid conduits are some of the best fluid transfer in the game. They're instant, have what can be a really high throughput, and can have every fluid move through one conduit. They have instant transport, but a slow input of 500L/t. So if you want to do more than that, you need something pushing into the conduit. This makes their pull speed reliant on the output rather than their listed rate. Not the fastest thing overall, but great for systems that use a lot of fluids. As simple move 1 fluid a few blocks, they aren't great.

= Extra Utilities transfer nodes = Automation level similar to GT pipes. Supports simple autocrafting with World Interaction Upgrades. Crafting table recipes, requires items in 3x3 inventory shape in front of the item transfer node. Crafting speed is slow but can be upgraded. Transport speed is slow but can be upgraded. WIU can mine or collect items, including liquid blocks or cobblestone generators. Various pipe options to support rationing and inherently has round-robin distribution at intersections. Perhaps better for lag since pipes don't show contents. Liquid pipes cannot transfer lava. Possible infinite water source?

= Thaumcraft golems = Low tier transport and mid-tier player actions emulation. Golems can do specific actions, such as planting, harvesting crops, lumberjacking, fishing, etc. Transport golems can move items from inventory to inventory. Not particularly fast, and pretty pricey to make. OK for low-speed player emulation needs. Solution for alchemy automation.

= ProjectRed (link to comprehensive guide) = Mid-tier on-demand automation. No support for fluids. Fluids must be placed into a tank and transported using cells. Supports automated extraction and stock-keeping (keep XX of YY in this slot). Items can be extracted from general purpose storage and provided on demand. Items can be crafted on-demand. Using setups for multiple roles is difficult but doable. Works best when a setup's outputs is used in multiple locations - think Oxygen and sending it to a polyethylene setup, polyvinyl chloride setup, and nitric acid setup. Automation is pull-based - you pull something out, and the ingredients slowly bubble back to the starting requirements. Has special requirements for pipe intersections. Can be expensive with circuits, not recommended until LV circuit assembler is available. Perhaps worse for lag since pipes show contents.

= SFM = Steve's Factory Manager is a high-tier, versatile automation helper. It excels in last-mile item and fluid routing and can eliminate almost all cable clutter. Setup and control is done through a drag and drop GUI interface.

There are two main blocks, the Machine Inventory Manager and the Inventory Cable. Only blocks directly adjacent to either the manager block or a cable block are able to be controlled by SFM.

Allows for complex item and fluid routing in a compact space. Does not require power, and most operations occur around a trigger, either time-based (a timer) or event based (on redstone signal). Can move an infinite amount of items and fluids per trigger, provided that the storage medium it is interfacing with does not limit it, ex: Storage Drawers prevent removal of more than 1 stack per operation. Operations do not take additional time based on distance. SFM's internal timer trigger has a minimum tick time of 1 second and any work-arounds are relatively unreliable. SFM's price when it becomes available is relatively expensive compared to other automation systems, but its price is justified by its features.

A huge benefit of SFM is it's ability to read inventories. This allows you to have certain things happen depending on what items are in a given inventory. Using this mechanic, automation of the assembly line, as well as less complex GT machines is incredibly simple.

= Open Computers = High-tier on-demand automation, including in-world manipulation. Drones and robots can emulate most player actions, including Thaumcraft infusion (with Gadomancy Infusion Claw). Requires learning Lua. Not inherently a transport system, but drones/robots can be upgraded to handle transporting items and fluids. Not sure on TPS/FPS implications for servers/clients with large setups, or for potential speed. Standing blocks can substitute for a redstone control system. Requires significant infrastructure before useful operations, including power. Can be used to automate assembly line and infusion, but that will require quite a bit of coding. Basically advanced, technology based golems you have to program yourself. Could be push or pull based on your level of programming ability? May be regarded as meta-automation, that is - a system to control and interface with AE and redstone based automation setups.

= Applied_Energistics_2 (link to comprehensive guide) = Ferrari of automation and autocrafting systems. Near-essential in some form by LuV. Very complex setup requirements, and large power draws. Storage, transport, and automated crafting. Supports interfaces to Thaumcraft essentia for automated alchemy. May require secondary systems to craft items dumped into an intermediate location, or small pull systems to keep items stocked. Supports Push-based system - you request X, and it will figure out and build/push the minimal basic ingredients it is missing to get to X.