Red Alloy Wire
 

Hi,
don't know if this is still true, but an interesting note on red alloy wire from the tekkit wiki which would suggest one should not use it.
Cheith

When red alloy wire switches states in multiplayer, it causes drastic increases in network usage. A timer hooked up to red alloy wire, jacketed wire, and bundled cable caused an additional half a megabit of traffic per person every time it changed states in three different tests. It's recommended to use redstone as much as possible, and have things such as timers directly adjacent to machines. Constant power does not affect network usage.

I've heard similar things, although I also heard that the insulated variant is much better in this regard. So in the very few cases I've been using red alloy wire I've been using the insulated variant. But generally I try to use machines and relays that does not require any redstone input at all.

Ultimately, you can't win. If you do anything outside of a vanilla mud shack, you will be generating lots of extra traffic through a number of methods. As is evidenced by our rules, pipes cause lag, power systems cause lag, machines cause lag, holes in the ground cause lag.....

This is greatly out of date, tekkit has not been updated since 1.4.2 and the wiki is actually older.

I cannot find any posts or information that refers to the FTB RP2 and redalloy wire. it is true we have noticed a larger than usual increase in network traffic, but is that redpower or the fact we are running 30+ mods thats the question.

At this stage until such time that we can find relevant info I would not worry too much./

Actually, the thought that just hit me too, is that there are many types of lag in relation to MC and FTB. Processor lag on the server, which seems to be more related to machines and per tick calculations. Network lag, like what this post was talking about (may also be affected by the mumble server running on the same hardware?) And then client side lag, which can be related to the graphics rendering of giant holes, redpower wiring lighting up, pipes being full/active machines with animations etc etc.

And for the really unlucky, you may get hit by all three at once....

So therein lies the dilemma. When there is a lag issue, what exactly is causing it and for how many people.... Not a lot can be done preemptively, but a bit more can be done retroactively, once a problem actually happens.

I know until such time as a rule is implemented, I will use red alloy wire over redstone, as the red alloy has far greater ranges and connectivity (better on corners, vertical surfaces and can go on ceilings...) Now that my flax is producing fairly well, I may go back and redo my red alloy with insulated cabling.

Ah, a use for the copius amounts of string i have.... :p

That is why we have a rule asking for people to consider the effect on the system (and hence lag) whenever they are doing anything. Little things like not having too many animals, not running too many machines at once, not using too much pipes, not running complex redstone circuits constantly. There is not really any benchmark rules we can give for these, so we just ask players to use common-sense. Take Mindcrack as a step-by-step process rather than trying to have everything at once.

Sorontar

also reading up on Redpower, the versions between tekkit and FTB "went through so many bug fixes the FTB team thought they had promised too much"

apparently the Mod developer refused to release it til it was pretty much bug free and that delayed the FTB guys lol

Well, if the red alloy wires are fine I shall probably use them - just based on the lag that our server seems to go through at times I obviously wanted to be cautious about something like that.

use it but as Sor said use it responsibly