Pipes and Tiers

Pipes and Tiers

The four kinds

Kind	Moves	Connects to
Item Pipe	items (with all their components, e.g. enchantments, names)	inventories
Fluid Pipe	fluids	fluid tanks and other fluid containers
Gas Pipe	gases (see Resources and Compatibility)	gas handlers
Energy Cable	energy (E = FE = Team Reborn Energy units)	energy storages

A pipe position holds exactly one kind. Pipes of the same kind connect regardless of tier; different kinds never connect. The pipe is not a tank you can fill from outside.

Tiers

Tier	Items/t	Fluid mB/t	Gas units/t	Energy E/t	Item batch
T1 Copper	2	100	100	1,000	8
T2 Reinforced	8	400	400	8,000	32
T3 Precision	32	1,600	1,600	64,000	64
T4 Resonant	128	6,400	6,400	512,000	256
T5 Quantum	512	25,600	25,600	4,096,000	1,024

These are balance values, not measurements.

How throughput works

• Every pipe segment has one budget per tick. All transfers through that segment share it, in both directions.
• Every port also has a budget of its own tier.
• So one Copper segment limits a path even if both ends are Quantum ports. Parallel paths can add up throughput, but a single port never goes above its own budget.
• Items can save up unused port throughput for up to 4 ticks to move in batches ("Item batch"). Normal stack sizes still apply, and batches never exceed the current segment budget.
• Some blocks only give out whole portions, for example a cauldron (a third of a bucket per level). If a portion is larger than the pipe moves per tick, nothing moves and the port says "Source only gives larger portions". For cauldrons use Precision fluid pipes or better.
• Gas values are in the unit the gas declares (see Resources and Compatibility); they are not converted.

Mixing tiers

You can mix tiers in one network. Each segment is limited by its own tier. Hover over a pipe item to see its throughput.

Upgrading

There are two ways to upgrade.

In place, with a bolt. Right-click a pipe with the matching upgrade bolt:

Bolt	Upgrades
Reinforcement Upgrade Bolt	T1 → T2
Precision Upgrade Bolt	T2 → T3
Resonance Upgrade Bolt	T3 → T4
Quantum Upgrade Bolt	T4 → T5

The pipe keeps its connections, port settings, cards and buffered content.

By crafting. 8 pipes of one tier around the next tier's core item give 8 pipes of the next tier (see Recipes). Pipes that still carry buffered content or block data do not fit into these recipes, so crafting never deletes resources.

Breaking pipes

• Break a pipe normally, or sneak + right-click its centre with the Conduit Wrench (see Ports and the Conduit Wrench).
• Filter and rule cards in its ports drop as items.
• Buffered resources stay inside the dropped pipe item and come out again when you place it.