Unify the gas pipes and storage blocks.

[dj3520]

So GalatiCraft is currently sporting a few gasses, 2 gas pipes, and 1 gas storage block. This is because everything is treated separately. Oxygen needs oxygen and hydrogen needs hydrogen. In order to simplify things and make it so I need to craft a different pipe for a different gas, why not just use a single Gas Transfer Pipe to move things around?

This solves a few issues. First, one pipe does everything. This means no new models or graphics for each pipe. This means simply adding a gas to be transferable via pipe, such as methane and nitrogen, instead of having to add a new pipe for each gas. I can already do this via Buildcraft pipes since Buildcraft doesn't care what I'm piping.

This could cause an issue since everything connects to itself. I'd like to throw in how Buildcraft and IC2 avoid this themselves. Buildcraft adds a pipe plug, and when placed on the side of a pipe, it "blocks" other pipes from connecting. IC2's glass fibre cable can be painted with a roller, and different colors do not connect. One of these or a completely different idea would be beneficial to keeping setups smaller.

Another thing is that there's no way to store a gas in a block except for oxygen. So I'm suggesting a Gas Storage Module. I'd personally call it a Pressurised Gas Storage block though.

 

[radfast]

not gonna happen guys, sorry. That's not the direction I see Galacticraft going.
* It's a space mod, not a pipes mod.
* The existing pipes work as they are for the purposes where pipes are needed
* The changes being proposed are huge changes, in coding terms, and would also break existing worlds
* I don't see inability to store hydrogen gas as a big deal. Its only use is in the Methane Synthesizer. It's also cheap to produce (assuming you have water and electricity). If you really want to store it, install a pipes + tanks mod alongside Galacticraft.
* I think it's a good thing that oxygen and hydrogen pipes do not connect to each other (IRL it would be crazy dangerous if they did)
* The current arrangement helps compatibility with Mekanism
* Personally I don't really like oxygen and hydrogen being Forge fluids because to me it doesn't feel right for them to be stored in Buildcraft or Thermal Expansion tanks - the tank graphics are for liquids, not gases. I have grudgingly made them Forge fluids for compatibility reasons only.

I have noted that on another thread a Methane pipe has been requested, and at some point I will probably add that the exact same way as the hydrogen pipe, as that's the quickest way for me to do it. I think it will be a nice cyan/blue colour.

 

[radfast]

I am also looking for a way to get water into the Water Electrolyzer without using pipes and pumps, but that's it - minimum changes just to get things working.

I'm sure you guys would really prefer to see cool space stuff and new planets in future, not new types of pipe.

 

[Ezer'Arch]

From player's point of view, the idea is sensible. One pipe to transport any type of gas, instead of one type of pipe for each type of gas. This is what Mekanism already does, but here is the "on the other hand" part comes in.

How to prevent 2 pipes built in parallel, transporting one type of gas in each, from interconnecting each other? I presume Mekanism flags each pipe block with a special datavalue to dedicate a sequence of pipes to a type of gas, and the game needs to check if there is any block update to reflag the pipe blocks. It may be a source of lag, Mekanism suffers a lot from it: https://github.com/aidancbrady/Mekanism/issues?q=is:issue ispen lag

I am also looking for a way to get water into the Water Electrolyzer without using pipes and pumps, but that's it - minimum changes just to get things working.

Water Electrolyzer could check if there's a water block on its left face, or it could convert ice into water since we can use silk touch pick to collect ice blocks and we could then use hoppers to transfer the ice block drops into the electrolyzer.

 

[dj3520]

* I don't see inability to store hydrogen gas as a big deal. Its only use is in the Methane Synthesizer. It's also cheap to produce (assuming you have water and electricity). If you really want to store it, install a pipes + tanks mod alongside Galacticraft.

1. I can also use hydrogen as a tool to convert water into ice blocks when in liquid form.
2. Imagine my setup works off a low power input. The water electrolyzer takes the most power. Running that and other machines causes a notable drain.
3. In my testing it takes 4 electrolyzers to consistently keep up with one synthesizer. I'm forced to keep them running non-stop if I can't store hydrogen. Perhaps I'm short on wire and can only connect one machine at a time. Realistically, I'd need 16 electrolyzers to keep 4 synthesizers running to feed one liquefier.
4. Multiple mods can eat resources. True, there's a lot of mod packs with piping and tank features, but there's also a lot of people that are working with only Galacticraft.
5. There is currently no Galacticraft way to automate the storage of hydrogen gas since the bottom of a machine is for electricity. You'd be forced to hopper batteries as well.

The changes being proposed are huge changes, in coding terms, and would also break existing worlds

Yes, it might be a pain in the beginning, but see the second paragraph in my first post. As for breaking, I hadn't put much thought into this. Perhaps GC could look for the old item and convert it to the new.

* I think it's a good thing that oxygen and hydrogen pipes do not connect to each other (IRL it would be crazy dangerous if they did)

Connecting the two could create a small explosion, like in IC2 with an overpowered machine.

I'll be honest and say you have swayed my opinion slightly about the pipes. But I still full heartedly support the gas storage blocks, though maybe not as much an all-in-one solution. As much as Galacticraft is geared to be partnered with other mods, I think it should still be comfortable to play in a stand-alone environment.