Applied Energistics 2 - Advanced Channels Tutorial

This is a tutorial focusing on AE2's channels, the ME Controller, and P2P Tunnels. This isn't an introduction to AE2, but is geared more towards managing your channels at different stages of the game.
Hopefully this can help anyone struggling with channels, or anyone that has wondered how to use the P2P Tunnels to better organize their AE2 systems.
Part 2 of the tutorial, storage: • Applied Energistics 2 ...
My Let's Play series: • Modsauce Let's Play

[@teleclast]

After 3-4 hours earlier watching people explain P2P tunnels, yours is the absolute best one by miles. Thank you.

[@Nonsanity]

Glad it all made sense! :) After five takes, I could only hope it turned out. :)

[@BladesofElysian]

Definitely agree. I'm dealing with a odd obscure set up, mostly because I had no idea how the p2p channels worked. I was using the p2p light as auto flip switches and had a really cool underground lab. The issue... I used up a lot of channels, After watching this, I cleaned it up really well and have hundreds of separate branches going off to different places of my base of operations. The whole system behind the walls looks really complex, but it's really clean and modular, meaning if for some reason I need more space I can add it without tearing down my network. I have priority on an auto storage system and all my drives just take care of the random junk items. All stacks are routed through a logistical sorting system into barrels. Thank you dearly!

[@TheGreatSeraphim]

Can't believe being ridiculously more complex actually made it seem significantly more simple.

[@Nonsanity]

Just like any subject in school, seeing what a piece of knowledge is good for makes learning it so much easier. :)

[@cheeseman9072]

9 years and it is still the easiest-to-follow tutorial i’ve found for AE2. Nice work!

[@turtley8581]

8 years later and this is still the best ae2 tutorial ive seen

[@pcb5135]

Id could argue. Long video and he just show his builds more than its a tutorial. This could be explained in less than 10 minutes if you go straight to point.

[@turtley8581]

@@pcb5135 i haven't seen one that explains it thoroughly while also being under ten minutes

[@Nonsanity]

One clarification: When you crouch-right-click a source Tunnel with a Memory Card, you CAN right-click on as many destination Tunnels as you like, not just four. The number four comes from how many fully loaded basic cables can use the 32 channels the source Tunnel provides (8 each). But if each destination Tunnel is only being used for a single channel, there could be 32 separate destination Tunnels attached to the same source Tunnel. (Trying to associate more than 32 would be pointless, since there are at max 32 channels available.) Of course, using only one channel per Tunnel will use up all the channels a Dense Cable provides-for only one source Tunnel. It's not recommended to do this sort of extreme over-use.

[@TallinuTV]

Not only because you'll use up as much transport network capacity as you're using individual tunnel adapters, but also because those adapters cost diamonds. Maybe in late game that's not as much of an issue though!

[@andreasbienert306]

Nonsanity Hmm... If you have multiple 'transport' dense cables, why not package those into another transport network so it's like data->transport layer 1->transport layer 2 and so on. I just had to ask as I believe my brain is making some fatal error in my reasoning, maybe you can correct me on this.

[@TallinuTV]

I don't believe AE allows you to tunnel through a tunnel. Would be nice if you could do that. (Though it's been a while and I haven't used the current version.)

[@bobosims1848]

Ah, I had already been wondering where that maximum of four destinations came from... I thought that it wasn't right...

[@alexyaremko5497]

this by far has to be the best ae2 tutorial i have ever seen, thank you very much sir. hope to see more from you again soon.

[@TheEmeraldNight]

Posted four years ago and it is still relevant today. Very well thought out. Clearly explained. Great details. Thank you.

[@Hisklig]

Amazingly well made video. From content, how it was laid out to the viewer in easy to understand steps, to the way you paced it both contentwise aswell as speed of speech. Bonus points for your voice too! :)

[@gordonellsworth7569]

I would just like to say that even to this day I still refer to your video to understand how P2P tunnels work in AE2. You explain it so well and make it understandable.

[@Gamingoodz]

Best tutorial I have ever watched Hands down. Though I started to get lost the more complicated the setups got :) I'll have to watch those over again. But I got more out of this tutorial than any other Ae2 channel tutorial I've watched.

[@gazeebo88]

This was really helpful and I never even thought about using a separate controller to guide the channels through. Makes for much better cable management.

[@ocdkirby]

Thanks for making this! I've been playing with AE2 in my modpacks for years, and never fully understood the system. You really helped!

[@Nonsanity]

Glad I could help! :)

[@SarungStreams]

You sir, I tip my hat to you. As this video went on I was thinking "he's barely started and gone past everything I know, where is he going with this?" I am simply blown away by this. Simply one of the best AE2 (controller set up/P2P) tutorials out there!!! I cannot even comprehend that monstrosity and I saw the pic!!

[@JPEaglesandKatz]

Fantastic tutorial... I was very unsure about certain aspects of channels and p2p tunnels.. You explained it reall well and well spoken.. I will highly recommend and pass on this link to anyone who ever is in doubt about channels. I think I will actually use the 7x7 huge controller setup for my new void base. Never knew I could have that many channels available! :) Keep up the good work.

[@bobosims1848]

Absolutely brilliant! This was really the most hilarious, yet most comprehensive and enlightening tut on Channels and Tunnels I have seen. Sensible, though not necessarily sane, this has given me a lot to ponder :) Thank you very much for boggling my mind, Nonsanity.

[@Nonsanity]

Bobo Sims SO glad you got a kick (and at least a little to think about) from it. And my beard would look a lot like yours if I didn't keep it reigned in as a circle beard. :)

[@mikekleckner5345]

hey man, just wanted to let you know that this video was beyond helpful. I had just changed from ae1 and its so different and just couldn't wrap my head around ae2 for some reason watched many videos before yours and they weren't as well explained or broken down in the genius way that you do. Do wanted to just give you a shout out and a huge thank you!

[@Nonsanity]

You are very welcome. I'm so glad the tutorials have helped people. :)

[@Blubbpaule]

U totally deserved my Sub. I Usually never comment nor subscribe, but this was the first Minecraft based Tutorial where i didn't clicked away after 2 minutes because the Maker is some overreactive child. This was informative and good.

[@Fosuya]

Brilliant Formatting and Excellent execution, You in 32 minutes managed to help me understand the channels and P2P than what 48 hours of googling did.

[@danvondrasek]

Already knew the jists of the mod, but you totally just helped me figure out everything else I was missing and thinking in my head "why cant I do this to this...." Huge help! Thanks again

[@ViniciusNegrao_]

Probably one of the best AE2 channels tutorial video out there, congratulations!

[@Nonsanity]

+Vinícius Negrão Thanks for letting me know you find it so useful! :)

[@ProHolmes]

Well after all this years I use AE2, I finally found how to effectively build complex me system. Great work, sir!

[@WhirlSquirrel]

everytime i forget how to do the ME controller. I always look for this video. He explains it perfectly.

[@JU1CEME]

Seen this video years ago and have came back to it multiple times. Great video and thank you very much my friend.

[@Nonsanity]

I quite happy that it's held up so well. If the mod ever gets massive changes, I'll have to re-do it.

[@CElliott994]

You’ve just cured a serious head ache with this video thank you so much!

[@RageModeEngage]

thank you and subscribed. Thorough, and simply explained. I shall be checking out the rest of your videos.

[@keithcamilleri1497]

This tutorial is the easiest to understand AND the most complex at the same time, keep it up you really helped me out

[@Nonsanity]

+Keith Camilleri I do need to make more tutorials. Those are fun... but a lot of work. :)

[@Nonsanity]

I went ahead and built the monstrosity I described at the end of the video. You can see a picture of it here: nonsanity.com/x/ae2-monstrosity-1.png

[@SyrusCan]

Wow, great work! How much power gen does that require to keep functioning?

[@Alumx]

You're crazy xD

[@dinidini4000]

u forgot a thing u sayd in the start that the p2p tunnels takes 1 channel per tunnel but then later u never sayd it again and forgot u sayd it and how they worked so u need not only 12 dense cable for the giant cube but really 24 as p2p tunnels are a set of 2 per me controller face

[@Nonsanity]

The source ends of all the tunnels are connected to different faces of the transport network's ME Controllers, so they have their own channels-and in fact they completely max out their own cables. The Dense Cables going out to the machines will only support the destination Tunnels, so the number of cables as described (and pictured above) is correct. :)

[@dinidini4000]

i se that now but he never sayd this in the video he sayd that the tunnels take 1 per end so thats 4 per no controller network but with controller they dont connect from tunnel to tunnel

[@143huskies]

I was having a porblem automating some shit, this was way more complicated and more than i needed, but super useful for preparing for needing more in the future thank you so much!

[@aaronanon3056]

This is probably the best AE2 P2P video I've seen, thanks for making it!

[@TheSWDarkstone]

You are the most easy to understand and frankly speak in terms that everybody should be able to grasp. Thank you so much for this video. You sir have a subscriber!

[@Nonsanity]

Me speek gud! (Misspelling words is hard these days. Takes effort!) :)

[@TheSWDarkstone]

@@Nonsanity Is ok. Grundy knows words too.

[@TheSeany838]

Your voice OMG :) you should be a narrator

[@Nonsanity]

+Brandon Hyde I did narrate my own short story here in my channel. You have to go back a bit to find it. :)

[@danielhoover5169]

If KZbinrs were rated by their voice quality instead of their sub count, you would be right up there with Scott Manley and Morgan Freeman.

[@thomasfelts6745]

I been saying this for years.

[@Mr_toe_]

if he didnt have a voice crack lol

[@TheSoltys666]

You sir are a wizard. I turned this on, because a new device I attached to the network made it crash... but what I saw here spawned a great deal of respect for you for working this out, and for the mod creator. And shared on FB. None of my FB friends play minecraft, but hey, if it DOES help you in any way.. You earned it :D P.S. You got a very good voice and demeanor for making those movies. Well done ^^

[@Serial1977]

Best video out there to cover this topic. Finally I understand channels and their relationship with other parts! Thanks so much (2021 almost yay!)

[@Nonsanity]

I happy that this video has held up to the test of time as a source of channel knowledge. If it ever goes out of date, I'll be sure to update it. :)

[@HazmatikMusic]

Thanks so much for making this video, I understand it so much better now. I had already played with AE2 alot but never anything really large scale. My current build I used the non-cubed design but stood it up to have access to all available faces the number of available channels I ended up with was 3,843 channels. I don't ever see me using that many channels. Really the only reason I went with such a large design is because well it looks really cool.

[@Nonsanity]

HazmatikMusic When it comes down to it, that's the only real reason to go big like that. I've never needed more than 100 channels-if that-myself. :)

[@mxclwolf]

Best clear and concise explanation I have seen

[@JohnSkelley]

Thanks, your the only one who explained the mechanics properly.

[@jameskeelinggaming2319]

hi nonsanity. you really need to do more tutorials as you have an excellent abillity to teach in a precise and clear way. I will share your vids with friends that play modded minecraft. thanks again 😃

[@Nonsanity]

+james Keeling Thanks for saying so-it means a lot. I've said before that if I ever get tired of making Let's Play series, I'll switch over to making tutorials. They both take a lot of time, so for now it's either/or.

[@lewisshield6582]

i know this is old but you helped and you have a real talent for explaining things and narration.

[@Nonsanity]

+lewis shield Why thank you. I keep meaning to do more tutorials, but playing tends to be more fun. :)

[@eac-ox2ly]

Wow, finally I understand AE2 channels. Thank you so much!

[@boomstick12gnl]

I built the practical version (around the 27 minute mark) and it has proven to be super useful. Thank you for the layout!

[@Nonsanity]

Great! It's heartening to see the video be useful. :)

[@bobwatchesvids]

I've really enjoyed this informative video. Great explenation on every aspect. Thanks!

[@SaneTrinity]

4 years old and still useful, great tutorial.

[@Nonsanity]

If it ever becomes significantly out-of-date, I’ll be sure to update it. :)

[@drswingingblades]

I'm trying to learn tunnels. I've watched a half dozen guides/tutorials/spotlights and everyone has 2 ME controller hooked into their network with no explanation, you can't have 2 controllers on one network, I'm so incredibly confused at this point. 5:00 you call it your transport network, everything makes sense now. Subbed, liked and recommending this video. Thank you.

[@Nonsanity]

Sometimes giving something the right name helps settle it in the mind so that it can actually be used. :)

[@Dayta]

even tho its now 2 years since this video was uploaded its still the one and only im looking for when i start rethinking how it was done. thank you again

[@Nonsanity]

+Dayta You are very much welcome! And thank you the complement. (I'm taking it as a complement. I'm taking it and keeping it.) ;)

[@pcmalgaming7223]

Still very usefull after 9 years. Only used refined storage due to it's simplicity but with this i can start using ae2 because i finally understand the p2p system. Thank you!

[@speedyshad3933]

Very good. Explained in high detail. Should be known more. Great video overall. Thank you.

[@Nonsanity]

I think it's linked from the AE2 homepage. If so, can't get more direct than that. :)

[@8ball1511]

Superb video. You explain things very well. Now I need to go and rip out all my wiring!

[@Wolverineeeeeeee]

Thanks for the video! I think I finally understand channels now! I just started with AE2 and I feel like I'm completely lost. I was just starting to get the hang of AE last month and now I have to learn AE2! I've played around in creative and got basic auto crafting and stuff like that to work but I've been having trouble setting up automatic pulverizers and redstone furnaces like I used to in AE. I always end up running out of channels. I think I'm making my rows to long. I need to make shorter rows of the machines with dense cables.

[@superbob2]

Great video! Finally understand how to build big with AE 2

[@DiiaaamoondsLair]

Probably the best tutorial I've watched 2015.

[@IJoeAceJRI]

2016

[@taj1994]

2018

[@TheEmeraldNight]

2019

[@battyplays404]

This was a great tutorial. I decided to go with the 16 colors on a 4 tall stack as 512 machines is more than I will ever use. I had been banging my head trying to figure this out until I saw this.

[@Nonsanity]

+dddrake47150 Very Glad it could help you! :)

[@Toapoint]

"Lets cube it" My mouth dropped... lol. AMAZING WORD DUDE! I now now the way I was doign the pipes was SOOOO wrong. Thank you!!!!!!

[@dabfellow]

5 years later and this is the best ae2 channel tutorial

[@Nonsanity]

Woo-hoo :)

[@mattshelton7423]

This made my fee like a person who's lived under a rock but it was very helpful as well

[@soullesswaffle]

Great tutorial! Could you put all the AE2 tutorials in a playlist? I'm trying to watch them in order of beginner -> advanced, but they're a little difficult to locate.

[@Nonsanity]

That is an excellent idea! I'll see about doing that later today. Thanks! :D

[@cheatong7338]

6 years later and this tutorial is still great

[@Nonsanity]

You're making me feel old! ...But also happy the video still helps. :)

[@kryzethx]

Watching these videos in 1.25x and/or 1.5x speed makes it so much more bearable. Very helpful tutorials, just a little slow at normal speed.

[@Nonsanity]

I'lltrytotalkfasternexttimebutatleasttechnologymakesiteasyforyoutocustomizeyourexperience! :)

[@ronansutherland1659]

Thanks for the help man, Cheers Fixed my whole Setup

[@spoonikle]

best channel explanation ever - so many possibilities.

[@asbestinuS]

Very good tutorial, thank you! I'm probably good with your first 13 minutes for my needs though :D I really appreciate your straight use with the colors, makes it way better to understand. Will Fav this one :)

[@Nonsanity]

There is also my "from scratch" AE2 tutorial video if you want more ancillary facts about the mod. :)

[@6LordMortus9]

If it's possible to understand more and be more confused at the same time, you just did it hehe.. I'll be re-watching this a few times I'm sure, but it's a brilliant explanation.

[@Nonsanity]

6LordMortus9 I'm glad you liked it and hope it does all become clear for you in the end! If you have any further questions along the way, don't hesitate to ask. :)

[@kakaoen4]

This makes so much more sense now. Thank god i watched this before i just threw all my ME cables away for dense cable.

[@TheTomber16]

This tutorial is great!! The best one on youtube.

[@TCLG6x6]

direwolf21

[@brayamsramos2202]

lol

[@eac-ox2ly]

lmao

[@suki3346]

these kind of tutorials dont exist anymore thank you

[@jacksquire7970]

Excellent tutorial! Keep it up man!

[@Nonsanity]

+Jack Squire Glad you liked it! :)

[@davidsouthy]

Everything is now clear haha thank you very much.

[@baktashrazaq9037]

7 years later and this still helps

[@Nonsanity]

I’m so glad it does!

[@Markchill2]

thank you some that does not just tells us about the block but build a system to. You have a your self a new sub

[@Nonsanity]

+Markchill2 Glad it could help you! :)

[@fuzzyfallthetempest]

Idk what it was but it finally clicked how to make it work I was having a struggle where I thought I knew how it worked after watching the video but I was just missing one small part thank you for the help now I can make a mega storage/machine complex

[@Nonsanity]

Hooray for mega machines! :D

[@djpowerboy]

Excelent tut! Cheers from Brazil

[@camadas]

Let me say thanks for this tuturial :D finally have my network running properly :D

[@Nonsanity]

I love to be helpful. :)

[@BlackTecSystems]

Thanks a lot for this video. I try a thousand times to use more than 4 P2P tunnels on a cable. This will help me

[@Nonsanity]

Glad I could help! :)

[@BlackTecSystems]

+Nonsanity Is it possible to get MORE channels on the Dense Cables? I test it but don´t find a good way for that. I have a server and want to connect a seperate ME System to every Player. So i have a secured building with 500 ME systems. One for each player. With you video i can Compress 16 Networks in one Dense cable ( 1channel for source Tunnel and 1 channel for the other P2P Tunnel at the Player´s house ) In the next step, i want to compress it again. I dont want to setup so much dense cables from the Building to every House. So my question is: Is it possible to send a P2P Tunnel signal over a P2P Tunnel? 16 Tunnels compress in ONE channel? If you don´t know what i mean, maybe i can send you a blueprint of my Plan. Greetings BTSM NRW

[@Nonsanity]

You can't double-P2P. While it's not a perfect analogy, think about compressing a file-trying to compress it a second time doesn't get you anything. With the P2P channels compressing 32 into one, you can't compress any further. And 32 channels is all a dense cable can hold. So maxing the compression, one dense cable connected to a transport network ME Controller can run to 32 P2P tunnel outputs carrying 32 channels each for a total of 1024 channels at the far end of the dense cable. If you need more than 1024, you have to have more cables.

[@BlackTecSystems]

Thanks for the Quick answer, then ich have to use Immersive Engineering wires to put more Cables in my systems. Thanks very much greetings

[@Dayta]

one of the best videos out there so far which i found on that topic and i will try to explain why. i just started with ae2 looking for a reason why 2 me controller would be neede... ok i got that answer somewhat. but i am defenatly more confused now than i was befor :D but in a good way this video was a fantastic piece of information with nice recording quality sound and video wise very clear about what you are talking about not stumbling around like some unexperienced teacher are even tho they try to share information and try to help people which is a good thing. but it helps when in your case you own the information and are not confused yourself. so whats left to say i would say this is one of the best videos out there so far which i found on that topic thank you for this masterpiece of tutorial video even tho my brain went mental on that topic after getting all the information which lead to imagination and posibilitys im already thinking about how many parallel machines would still bring some speed to the system without beeing many just for the sake of beeing many. for example what about 64 massfabricator from ic2 or 128 .. how many are actually needed to be faster at producing something i just took out of the system and on the flipside how much energy is needed to make that happen. some kind of a creative mode machine which turns sunlight into magic :) for sure my head is spinning so thank you for the confusion it defenatly helped me alot. and of course this video will be the first i will mention to people who are in search of answers about that topic. cheers

[@Nonsanity]

***** Well, if this was too much as a start, I'm about to release a "Getting Started in Applied Energistics 2" tutorial video shortly. :)

[@Dayta]

Nonsanity it wasnt too much as a start i actualy prefer this kind of tutorials which go a little deeper and dont waste that much time with ... where do i get cubble stone how can i get dirt. not everything needs to be from scratch you jump right into action thats really nice :)

[@Dayta]

***** what i am looking for at the moment is a smiliar video about cpus. how many crafting cpus how many co processor and stuff like that would be optimal or reasonable like your explanation about possible channel per me controller which gives an idea on how many cubes are minimum for x machines

[@Nonsanity]

***** I'm planning to make a tutorial on auto-crafting soon. :)

[@taj1994]

I know this was posted about three and a half years ago, but at 15:46 you said that if there was a way to tell which P2P tunnels are connected to each other, you'd love to find out about it. The mod AE2 Stuff adds an item called "Network Visualization Tool" and one of its modes is to show P2P links

[@bretonkyle]

I don't know if you know anything about audiobooks, but you sound a hell of a lot like Sam Tsoutsouvas. Also amazing tutorial, thanks for providing quality content like this!

[@Nonsanity]

+SkyKnight34 I've actually got an "audiobook" recording in my channel. But don't listen to it if you don't like ponies. :D

[@alanwatts8239]

Other youtubers: AE2 is a complicated mod and i'm gonna do my best to explain it to you guys This guy: One must understand the cable, For the cable contains all channels. A channel could be viewed as a path, a destination, And you must become the channel. Understand the channel, be one with the channel.

[@DamienGardner]

This is fantastic! It’s essentially QinQ or MPLS/VPLS VMANS for Minecraft :D

[@lorddragonmage4432]

thanks Nonsanity. Excellent breakdown.

[@Nonsanity]

+Lord Dragonmage You are very welcome. :)

[@jokerssjokess4857]

This tutorial made me understand everything i need

[@Nonsanity]

As soon as people stop saying that, I’ll have to make an updated tutorial. :)

[@TenryuBoshi]

very good video, really good explanation and most importantly, simple. This helped me a lot, XD

[@Nyanyashadow]

mekakuuuuu

[@TenryuBoshi]

LavaboltStar ☜(ﾟヮﾟ☜)

[@izshocker1]

A lot of help explaining the p2p tunnels

[@McKibbon17]

Thanks Helped me understand P2P Tunneling thanks!

[@Nonsanity]

Jeff McKibbon Making complex topics easy to understand is a fun challenge. Glad it helped! :)

[@rubensvensson9341]

nice video man, thx for the help

[@NotAverageAfro]

One thing that had me scratching my head was the fact that once you've set up the last version of your method (the one at 16:16),using that one to branch off your channels, was that you then couldn't just have stuff connecting to the ME controller dealing with the condensed channels (the condensed channels being the single channels coming from the P2P), because it then wouldn't talk to anything that was connected to the brain controller (that being the controller/s with the P2P's on them). That one hurdle in thinking is what made it go from confusing as hell to "This is very powerful"

[@Nonsanity]

Of course, you CAN connect the "transport network" to the "data network" if you give up the second cluster of ME Controllers and instead use channels on the main ME Controller multiblock to give channels to all the tunnels... But that does get more confusing. :)

[@NotAverageAfro]

Nonsanity Just reading this confused me. The last time I played with AE2 I think this is what I ended up doing, and kind of just hodge bodged my way through it, hoping things would work.

[@hyeng2847]

that is one great tutorial. thanx for the video

[@Nonsanity]

You are welcome. I should update it someday, though there haven't been too many significant changes since I made it. :)

[@McDeathXX]

That helped me quite alot sir. Thx you.

[@Nonsanity]

You are quite welcome. :)

[@ProfessorRedstoneQ]

No dislikes! Wow! :D This tutorial has been very useful!

[@Achkahkl]

clear, well explained, nice job, u get a French sub ^^

[@GoProductions54]

awsome tutorial!!!!

[@grimreaper929]

Thank you just Thank you!!!

[@Keepandippit]

Hm, kinda mindblowing! Best Tutorial about tunneling i´ve seen so far. Do you think the coder of AE2 really thought about that useability you´re showing in the screenshot? I mean: the 7x7x7 setup of ME Controllers is written there on the wiki but... Did he ever thought about using this with "the force of tunneling"? :D Thanks for the really nice Tutorial! What i forgot: If u use the "name the memory card" version for the inner connections: Just add the facing info after the coords in the anvil. There won´t be two tunnels facing "north", or "west" at the same coords. This is normally shown if you use F3 :) Best regards, Keep

[@Nonsanity]

+Keepandippit I think all this was intended, at least conceptually. And using the direction is a good idea. Personally, I just don't make setups that dense-I never need that many channels. :)

[@Shirden]

Great video

[@IJoeAceJRI]

I subbed I love your vids!

[@bassie224]

Very helpfull tutorial! Thanks a lot, I got a lot more insight in my own network now. But I have one question what is not about the tutorial, but since you look to know a lot about AE2 i'll give it a try. Is it possible to link my cpu processors to 1 channel in stead of seperate ones? Using interfaces or something?

[@TallinuTV]

This is a really good video in regards to dealing with getting as many channels as possible on a main network and using transport layer networks. You do a great job describing everything and making most things clear and easy to understand. But I feel like the lack of anything addressing the many uses of subnetworks as channel usage mitigation use is a fairly big oversight. The two really go hand in glove. (I'll have to check if you have any other videos on that topic.) Subnets are especially great for storage. For example, if you haven't heard of the "Super Soaryn Drive" you should check out his great design. It's an infinitely expandable storage subsystem that uses one single channel on the main network to store anything and everything in as many drives as you want. Did I mention infinitely expandable? Or one channel? I like how you call the transport networks "extension cords". That made me grin. 8:30 - I'm pretty sure data goes through an energy acceptor though. See how the transport network on the right only shows one channel going through the longer stretch of cable between the P2P tunnel parts? Each one is only talking to the controller, via the energy acceptor. That entire length of cable would show up as using two channels from end to end if it was disconnected from the controller. (Speaking of which... If anyone is running tunnels through a LONG distance cable and is concerned about keeping power consumption as low as possible, be aware that putting a controller somewhere in between the ends may potentially reduce power usage, if the halving of power cost for transmission per channel per block of cable is a greater savings than the flat rate of power use by the controller - or on the other hand, you could run twice as many tunnels through the same basic fluix cable for the same power cost plus the controller's usage.) 10:22 - "No ME controller can have more than three neighbors touching it" is an inaccurate paraphrase of rule three. There are arrangements in which you can have four neighbors. You used all twelve of them in your big cube controller design, at the center of each edge. For example, one on the left, right, top, and front. Or top, bottom, front, and right. You just can't have two axes with two neighbors each like a plus or cross shape, as you mentioned. There are other ways to work around that rule, of course, leading to some creative and artistic shapes when people don't need to worry about power consumption. :) 12:00 - "If I want a fifth one over here, I can't" - You talked about how to do so around 30:40 - and I see you addressed the confusion over that in a comment. I'm editing some stuff out here, but leaving this part in case someone wants a reference to the times. Your wall of drives is a great example of the shortest path algorithm used to allocate channels to devices. You can also achieve that effect with a row of P2P tunnels. There are some other good examples of how it works and other options on the AE2 site's wiki. There's a ton of useful information there for anyone new to AE2, or looking to get better at using it. Finally, I think there's an important distinction to make, especially for viewers who might be having trouble understanding how AE2 channels work: Right at the start you said "basic cable provides 8 channels" and also suggested that it "creates" them somehow. This seems rather misleading to me. What you're talking about here - devices hooked together without a controller - are called "ad-hoc networks". The cables themselves do nothing but carry signals from the devices, and the normal size cables just can't carry more than eight signals to and from eight devices simultaneously. (Any explanation for that deeper than "because the developer wanted more interesting and challenging network design" is speculation verging on technobabble, but we can think of it as a matter of too much interference between distinct signals, or anything else that helps wrap our brains around it.) The eight device limit on ad-hoc networks exists because they actually function differently: With no controller to act as a central switchboard and determine how signals are routed, each device broadcasts to the entire network and every other device on it (whether it technically needs to talk to that device or not). They don't have a unique destination to send their transmissions to, so they send them everywhere, and every piece of cable on the network has to support enough channels to allow all of that communication. That's why all eight of those cables at the start show 8 of 8 channels used, in contrast to a controller network where the last cable in each row of devices only has to carry one channel, the next carries two, and so on. (And, of course, a controller simply disables any device to which it can't allocate a channel, rather than allowing the entire line of cable or the entire network to shut down the way an overloaded ad-hoc network does.) I'm not aware of any restriction preventing you from connecting different portions of an ad-hoc network together using dense cable (and you can even bridge an ad-hoc network through a P2P tunnel if you really want to, for that matter) - there just isn't any benefit to giving it that extra capacity, since it doesn't raise the device limit. Because full block-size devices act as "basic" ME fluix cable (not dense, as you mentioned), and parts like terminals and buses must also be attached to that normal sized cable, the 8 channel limit of that cable effectively extends to all devices on an ad-hoc network without regard to what other connection methods may link them together. (For instance, attaching eight drives directly to P2P adapters and then adding a ninth hooked up to an Interface to allow I/O, all of which are full blocks, would theoretically allow the nine devices to communicate through the 32 channel capacity of the tunnel - but each of those nine devices still broadcasts to all of the others through that link, overloading their signalling capacity and shutting them all down, since each device on the network would have to handle a total of 9 channels. Connecting them via dense cable would have the same result.) With a controller to organize things, each device only has to communicate with one other - that one device being the controller itself. Its signals are routed along the shortest path to the controller and vice versa. (And yes, that means ME fluix cable apparently has some kind of inherent signal routing capability. Which might make sense, if you assume it also acts like a repeater for those signals, also explaining the increasing power needs per channel per block of cable.) The result is a logical tree that can have some very widely spread branches, depending on how your cables and tunnels are attached. And as long as each individual segment of cable can carry enough channels to support all the devices trying to communicate through it at that particular point, everything is fine. Sadly, looking at the "leaves" of such a branch doesn't tell you whether the "trunk" end of it has any free channels, so the only way to find out is to go look at the right piece of cable. You could just add a device and see if it comes online, but even if it does, you might find that something farther away from the controller along that branch just went offline. This helps to explain how P2P (Point To Point) tunnels work, as well, for anyone not familiar with the concept: They simply package up distinct transmissions on different channels into a special format (you could think of it like making a ZIP file containing multiple other files) which is sent to the linked device as a single bundle and then decoded back into its original constituents. The tunnel devices themselves only requires one channel, since that packaged format is only being transmitted from one device to another - although if the tunnels aren't running on an ad-hoc network like the first transport networks you showed, then the data path technically includes a detour to the controller even if the two ends of the P2P connection are just a few blocks apart along the same line of cable. Think of how a simplified postal service would work - a bunch of letters sent from one city get put into a box together, the box is labeled with the address of another city, taken to that city (somehow), opened, and all the individual letters are pulled out and sent to their destinations. Each letter is a transmission from a different home or business, but the mail centers each have their own individual addresses, and you can think of the shipment of the box of letters as a single transmission too. If there were more letters than one mail center could handle in a day, then you'd need a second mail center with its own address at each end, and so on.

[@Nonsanity]

***** Yup, I was wrong about the Energy Acceptor not passing data. Some previous situation led me to believe that, erroneously. I made sure to correct that in my next tutorial. Thankfully, the advice I gave of always using quartz cable in such situations was still correct. :)Thanks for the correction for the "rule of three" I mentioned. I did miss that four can work so long as three of the neighbors are not opposite each other, then a fourth is allowed to be opposite one of them. I was looking for a simpler way to explain the limitation without using words like "axis" or requiring complicated imaginary examples. I think the best way to do it would be to show multiple arrangements that are legal, and a few that are not. If I ever revisit this tutorial, I'll be sure to do that.The shortest path stuff can get confusing when you start adding in timing. In my storage tutorial, I gloss over some of this when I mention that cables of different lengths will cause the pathfinding "wave" running through them to arrive a single destination at different times. The first to arrive might claim the devices that the second should have claimed. It's a complicated idea to grasp, and I have yet to figure out a clear and easily understood way to demonstrate it. But that is one of my goals moving forward.As a professional programmer, I've created numerous examples of "tunneling" one protocol through another for many different purposes over the last few decades. I see you have a good grasp of the concept as well. The fun part here is boiling all that down into something that is simple-or even trivial-to grasp, since not everyone that plays Minecraft is also a programmer. Finding ways to lay a complex topic out that anyone can understand-even if it skips some of the finer exceptions-is a fun and enjoyable challenge. It's one I've had the great pleasure of practicing with my young daughter, teaching her complex science topics at an early age. (I think she understood inertia by age three.)Thanks for your in-depth analysis. This sort of feedback helps everyone, including me. :)

[@TallinuTV]

Awesome! I bet she'll be one smart cookie when she's older. I'm looking forward to whatever you upload next.

[@RingxWorld]

+Yancarlo Ramsey he was using a subnetwork starting at 13 mins

[@bobosims1848]

Hmm I notice that you actually added two notes to the video that tells about the possible four neighbors an ME controller can have. Very well!

[@Nonsanity]

+Bobo Sims Yeah. My original description of the "rules" was slightly incomplete. :)

[@bobosims1848]

+Nonsanity Indeed. I still learn new things from this AE2 series of yours, by the way.

[@gnnerlakswe]

You really helped me out

[@billno7867]

Realy nice video and u explain very good. thx for the help. Hope u get manny likes :)

[@thesystemsucks]

great video thanks