Applied Energistics 2

Overview

Applied Energistics 2 (AE2) is a technology mod centered around Matter and Energy. It replaces traditional item storage with a digital network called the ME (Matter Energy) System, where physical items are converted into energy and stored on compact cells. A single ME Drive holding ten 64k Storage Cells can store more items than hundreds of Chests, all searchable and accessible from a single terminal.

Beyond storage, AE2 provides a powerful autocrafting system. You define crafting patterns, set up Molecular Assemblers, and the network handles complex multi-step recipes automatically. Need 64 Pistons? Request them from your terminal and AE2 will craft the Iron Ingots, Cobblestone, Wood Planks, and Redstone into the final product without you touching a Crafting Table.

The mod introduces its own materials (Certus Quartz, Fluix Crystals), processing machines (Inscriber, Grindstone, Charger), and a channel system that adds network planning depth. You can browse all 356 items and 116 recipes this mod adds using the tabs on this page.

Core Materials

Certus Quartz

Certus Quartz is mined from ore underground and is the foundational material for AE2. Regular Certus Quartz Crystals are used in many recipes. Charged Certus Quartz, created in the Charger, is needed specifically for crafting Fluix Crystals and a few key components like the Meteorite Compass. You can also grow Pure Certus Quartz Crystals from Crystal Seeds thrown into water. Crystal Seeds progress through 600 ticks of growth before producing a Purified Crystal, which can be used in place of regular crystals in most recipes.

Fluix Crystals

Fluix Crystals are created by dropping Charged Certus Quartz, Nether Quartz, and Redstone into water simultaneously. They are the primary ingredient in virtually every AE2 machine. Fluix Dust, made by grinding Fluix Crystals in the Grindstone, is used for Quartz Glass and other components. You can also grow Pure Fluix Crystals from Fluix Crystal Seeds, which require 600 growth ticks in water just like other seed types.

Sky Stone

Sky Stone is found in Meteorites and is the material used to craft the ME Controller. Smelt Sky Stone Blocks in a Furnace to get Smooth Sky Stone, which cycles through decorative variants: Smooth Sky Stone can be crafted into Sky Stone Brick, which becomes Sky Stone Small Brick, which cycles back to Smooth Sky Stone. Beyond decoration, the Controller recipe specifically requires Smooth Sky Stone, so save some for that.

Processors

The three processor types are the backbone of advanced AE2 crafting. Logic Processors (Gold + Silicon + Redstone) are used in basic components. Calculation Processors (Certus Quartz + Silicon + Redstone) appear in storage components and terminals. Engineering Processors (Diamond + Silicon + Redstone) are for advanced machinery like Molecular Assemblers and Crafting CPUs. All three are made in the Inscriber using the appropriate press on top, a Silicon Press on the bottom, and Redstone in the middle.

The ME Network

The ME (Matter Energy) network is the core system that connects all AE2 devices. Every device on the network communicates through ME Cables and requires both power and a channel to function. Understanding how networks, channels, and power interact is essential before building anything large.

Power

AE2 uses its own energy unit called AE (Applied Energistics energy). Power enters the network through the Energy Acceptor, which converts RF/FE from other mods into AE. Energy Cells store 200,000 AE each, and Dense Energy Cells store 1,600,000 AE (eight times more). Every device on the network draws some idle power; storage cells range from 0.5 AE/t for a 1k Cell to 2.0 AE/t for a 64k Cell. Plan your power generation to match your network's total drain.

Channels

Channels are AE2's way of limiting how many devices can share a single cable. Standard cables (Glass, Covered, and Smart) carry up to 8 channels each. Dense cables (Dense Covered and Dense Smart) carry up to 32 channels. Each device that interacts with the network (terminals, buses, storage) consumes one channel. A network with fewer than 8 devices can run without a Controller in ad-hoc mode, where channels are not tracked. Once you exceed 8 devices, you need an ME Controller.

Smart Cables and Dense Smart Cables visually display how many channels are in use, making them invaluable for network debugging. The colored lines on the cable show current channel usage at a glance. Glass and Covered Cables are cheaper but give you no visual feedback.

The ME Controller

The Controller is a multiblock structure that manages channels for your network. It can be built as a single block or expanded into a larger structure. Each face of a Controller block provides 32 channels to the cable attached to it. You can only have one Controller structure per network. The Controller itself requires Smooth Sky Stone Blocks, Fluix Crystals, and an Engineering Processor, making it a mid-game craft.

Digital Storage

The storage system is the heart of AE2. Items are stored digitally on Storage Cells, which are placed into ME Drives or ME Chests. Each cell can hold up to 63 different item types, and the total number of items depends on the cell tier. The actual capacity calculation is nuanced: each item type stored reserves some bytes as overhead, so a cell storing fewer item types can hold more total items of those types.

The ME Drive holds 10 Storage Cells and is the standard way to build storage. The ME Chest holds a single cell but provides a built-in terminal for access without additional components, making it useful for early game or remote storage points. An ME Terminal attached to the network gives you a searchable interface to all items across every connected Drive and cell.

Storage Cells come as a Housing plus a Storage Component. You can craft them combined or separately. Crafting them separately means you can reuse the Housing when upgrading to a higher tier component. AE2 also supports Fluid Storage Cells for storing liquids in the same network, with identical tier progression.

Autocrafting

AE2's autocrafting system is what elevates it from a storage mod to a full automation platform. The system consists of three parts: Crafting Patterns that define recipes, Molecular Assemblers that execute the crafting, and a Crafting CPU that coordinates the entire process.

Patterns and the Pattern Terminal

Crafting Patterns are created in the ME Pattern Terminal, an upgraded version of the Crafting Terminal. You lay out the recipe like a Crafting Table, then encode it onto a blank Pattern. Patterns come in two modes: crafting patterns (for standard Crafting Table recipes) and processing patterns (for machine recipes like Furnace smelting or other mod machines). Processing patterns let you define any input/output relationship, making AE2 compatible with virtually every tech mod.

Molecular Assemblers

Molecular Assemblers are the machines that actually perform crafting. Place them adjacent to an ME Interface that holds your patterns. When the network receives a crafting request, it pushes ingredients through the Interface into the Assembler, which crafts the result. Each Assembler handles one recipe at a time, so attach multiple Assemblers to a single Interface to parallelize work. Molecular Assemblers accept up to 5 Speed Upgrade cards, dramatically reducing craft times.

The Crafting CPU

The Crafting CPU is a multiblock that manages complex crafting jobs. It is built from Crafting Units as the frame, with Crafting Storage blocks providing the byte capacity to hold intermediate crafting results. Add Crafting Co-Processing Units to allow more simultaneous crafting steps, speeding up large jobs. A Crafting Monitor can be attached to the CPU to display what it is currently working on. You can build multiple separate Crafting CPUs on your network to handle multiple crafting requests in parallel.

Import, Export & Automation Buses

To move items between the ME network and the physical world, AE2 provides several bus and panel components that attach to cable faces.

Import Bus & Export Bus

The Import Bus pulls items from an adjacent inventory into the network. The Export Bus pushes specific items from the network into an adjacent inventory. Both support up to 4 Speed Upgrade cards to increase transfer rates. Use the Export Bus to keep machines stocked with materials, and the Import Bus to collect finished products back into the network.

Storage Bus

The Storage Bus connects an external inventory (like a Chest, Barrel, or another mod's storage block) to the ME network as if it were a Storage Cell. Items stay in the physical block but appear in your ME Terminal. This is excellent for connecting to deep storage solutions from other mods without importing everything into cells. You can set priority levels so the network prefers certain storage destinations.

ME Interface

The Interface is the bridge between your ME network and external automation. It can stock up to 9 item types and push them into adjacent inventories, making it the primary way to feed patterns to Molecular Assemblers. Interfaces also come as both block and panel (flat) forms, which is important because the panel form only uses one channel while the block form does not require a channel at all when placed directly on a cable.

Processing Machines

The Inscriber

The Inscriber is used to create Printed Circuits and Processors. It has a top slot (for a press), a bottom slot (for a press), and a middle slot (for the material being pressed). Processing takes 100 ticks by default, consuming 10 AE per tick with an internal buffer of 1,600 AE. It supports up to 3 Speed Upgrades to accelerate processing. The Inscriber is one of the first machines you will set up and automate, as processor demand scales quickly.

The Grindstone

The Grindstone is AE2's early-game ore processing solution. Attach a Crank and manually rotate it to grind ores into dust, effectively doubling your ore output (1 Ore produces 2 Dust, which smelts into 2 Ingots). Some recipes also produce optional secondary outputs with a percentage chance. The Grindstone requires no power and works immediately, making it one of the first things worth building. It also grinds Certus Quartz Crystals and Nether Quartz into their dust forms.

The Charger

The Charger converts Certus Quartz Crystals into Charged Certus Quartz Crystals and charges AE2 tools like the Entropy Manipulator, Matter Cannon, and Color Applicator. It can be powered by a Crank for manual operation or connected to the ME network for automated power. The default charge rate is 160 AE per tick, capped at 16,000 AE per tick maximum.

Quartz Growth Accelerator

Crystal Seeds thrown into water grow slowly on their own, requiring 600 ticks per crystal type to mature. The Quartz Growth Accelerator speeds up this process significantly when placed adjacent to the water where seeds are growing. Stack multiple accelerators around the water pool for even faster growth. This is essential for producing Pure Crystals at any reasonable rate.

Advanced Systems

P2P Tunnels

P2P (Point-to-Point) Tunnels allow you to carry different types of signals and materials through the ME network without using extra channels. There are seven tunnel types: ME (network connections), Light, FE Power, IC2 Power, Redstone, Items, and Fluids. You create a tunnel by placing a P2P Tunnel part on a cable and right-clicking it with a relevant item to attune it; for example, right-clicking with a Lever attunes it to Redstone mode. P2P Tunnels are the secret to building compact networks, as a single channel can carry 32 channels of a sub-network through an ME tunnel.

Quantum Network Bridge

The Quantum Network Bridge connects two ME networks across any distance, even across dimensions. It requires two Quantum Rings (8 blocks each forming a ring) with a Quantum Link Chamber in the center of each. Pair the two bridges by placing a Quantum Entangled Singularity in each Link Chamber. Both sides must be powered for the connection to work. This lets you access your main base's storage from a Nether outpost or distant mining operation.

Spatial Storage

Spatial Storage is AE2's most exotic feature. It lets you capture a physical region of the world (blocks and all) and store it digitally on a Spatial Storage Cell. The system uses Spatial Pylons to define the capture region and a Spatial IO Port to trigger the operation. Cells come in three sizes: 2-cubed, 16-cubed, and 128-cubed. The power cost scales with a multiplier of 1,250 AE and an exponent of 1.35 per block volume, so larger regions require enormous amounts of energy. This system is used for moving structures or creating pocket dimensions.

Wireless Access

The Wireless Access Point broadcasts your ME Terminal wirelessly. Pair a Wireless Terminal with the Security Terminal, then carry it to access your network from a distance. The base range is 16 blocks. Adding Wireless Boosters to the Access Point extends range using the formula: Range = 16 + 1.0 x boosters^1.5. Power drain scales more aggressively: Drain = 8.0 + 1.0 x boosters^(1 + boosters/64). A few boosters go a long way, but stacking too many becomes power-prohibitive. The Wireless Terminal holds 1,600,000 AE of charge internally.

Tools & Utility Items

AE2 includes several unique tools beyond the standard network components. Certus Quartz and Nether Quartz can both be used to craft a full set of tools (Sword, Pickaxe, Axe, Shovel, Hoe) and a Wrench. The Quartz Cutting Knife is used to craft Name Plates for labeling things in your network.

The Entropy Manipulator is a powered multi-tool that can heat or cool blocks in-world (turning Water to Ice, Cobblestone to Stone, etc.). The Matter Cannon fires items as projectiles with damage based on their atomic weight; nuggets of heavier metals like Gold (196.97 atomic weight) deal devastating damage. The Color Applicator lets you dye cables and machines in-place. The Network Tool, when carried in your inventory, provides a diagnostic GUI showing your network's channel usage, power consumption, and connected devices.

Security & Access Control

The Security Terminal lets you control who can access your ME network and what permissions they have. Create Biometric Cards and assign them to players with specific permission levels: Inject (put items in), Extract (take items out), Craft (use autocrafting), Build (place/break network devices), and Security (modify permissions). This is essential on multiplayer servers where you want others to access your storage but not reconfigure your network. Without a Security Terminal, anyone can access and modify your entire network.

Configuration Options

AE2's config file contains several options that significantly affect gameplay. The wireless settings (base range, booster multiplier, booster exponent, cost multiplier) can be tuned to make wireless access easier or harder. Spatial IO power costs are controlled by spatialPowerMultiplier (default 1,250) and spatialPowerExponent (default 1.35). The minimum distance between Meteorites defaults to 707 blocks and can be adjusted if you want them more or less common. Channels can be disabled entirely in the config for players who find network planning tedious, though this removes a significant gameplay layer.