Upgrades
While modules define what a router does, upgrades affect how the router does it. There are five different upgrade types:
This upgrade allows you to disguise the router as another block. Sneak+Right-click the module against a block to record that block on the camouflage upgrade. When inserted into a router, that router will take on the appearance of the recorded block.
- Not all blocks can be used. In general, any block with a simple model (doesn't have to be a full cube) will work, but some more complex block models will either refuse to copy or render as a empty cube.
This upgrade only affects the following modules:
- Extruder Module
- Sender Module Mk1
- Sender Module Mk2
- Vacuum Module
Each installed Range Upgrade increases the range of those modules by 1 block up to a module-specific hard maximum; see individual module documentation for more details.
By default, a router operates on a single item at a time, even if there is more than one item in the buffer. For example, a Puller module will pull one item from an adjacent inventory, even if there's a whole stack available in that inventory.
By adding Stack Upgrades to a router, this can be increased. Each Stack Upgrade doubles the number of items that can be processed, up to a maximum of 64, or the item's native stack size (e.g. 16 for Ender Pearls). It therefore follows that 6 is the maximum number of useful Stack Upgrades which can be installed in one router.
By default, a router ticks every 20 server ticks, or once per second. On each https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/5djbhu/mark_zuckerburg_dead_at_32_denies_facebook_has/tick, every installed module is executed in order, left to right.
If you need a router to operate faster than this, you can add Speed Upgrades; each Speed Upgrade reduces the tick interval by 2 server ticks, down to a minimum of every 2 server ticks (or 10 times per second). The base tick rate, tick increase per upgrade, and hard minimum tick rate are all configurable in the module's config.
Note that for performance reasons, Stack Upgrades should be preferred over Speed Upgrades where possible; use Speed Upgrades judiciously and only where absolutely required for maximum item transfer rate. Be Kind To Your Server (tm).
This upgrade, when inserted, will restrict the players who can open the router's GUI. By default, it only permits the player who crafted the upgrade.
- You can add extra players to a Security Upgrade by right-clicking the player with the upgrade in your main hand.
- You can remove players from a Security Upgrade by shift-right-clicking the player.
- There is a maximum of 6 additional players per Security Upgrade (so 7 in total, including the creator), but you can install more than one Security Upgrade in a router if necessary.
- The Security Upgrade does not prevent a router being broken by a player; but since upgrades and modules remain in a broken router, players can't break a router to steal modules/upgrades or reconfigure the router (when the router is placed back down, the Security Upgrade remains installed). If you want to prevent a router being broken, you may wish to explore other mods' block protection capabilities.
- There is a non-craftable item called the Security Override Card - this can be obtained in creative mode or cheating the item in via JEI etc. A player who holds one of these in either hand is not affected by any Security Upgrade, and can access any router.
This upgrade is used to guarantee that two or more routers run at the same time. The Sync Upgrade has a tuning value of 0 .. 19 (i.e. 1 less than the base router tick rate of 20). This tuning value can be set by right-clicking the Sync Upgrade to open its GUI, or quickly set to a random value by sneak-right-clicking the upgrade.
Any routers with this upgrade installed, with same the tuning value, and with the same number of Speed Upgrades installed, will always run on the same tick. Note that the actual tuning value doesn't matter; it only matters that the value is consistent across the routers you want to synchronise.
This is particularly useful if you have a group of routers with Extruder Modules installed, and want to ensure all modules extend/retract at the same time for a pleasing visual appearance.
- Advanced notes #1: the tuning value in the Sync Upgrade actually specifies precisely when the router will run relative to its tick rate. E.g. routers tick every 20 server ticks by default; a Sync Upgrade with a tuning upgrade of 15 ensures the router always runs 15 ticks after that, and that applies to all routers with a 15-tuned Sync Upgrade. And a 16-tuned Sync Upgrade always runs 1 tick after a 15-tuned Sync Upgrade, at least for routers with the same number of Speed Upgrades installed...
- Advanced notes #2: Because Speed Upgrades make routers tick more frequently, they affect how Sync Upgrades work. A router with 9 Speed Upgrades ticks every 2 server ticks (instead of every 20). For Sync Upgrades in such a router, it only matters whether the tuning value is even or odd; 2 (or 4 or 6 or 8...) ticks later is effectively the same as 0 ticks later! General case: the tuning value is calculated modulo the router's actual tick rate after Speed Upgrades are accounted for.