Table of Contents
Certus Quartz
| Author | Applied Energistics Team |
|---|---|
| Category | Storage & Automation |
Certus Quartz is a core resource in AE2. It is grown from Budding Certus Quartz blocks, similar to how Amethyst buds grow.
Growth and Harvesting
- Buds sprout from Budding Certus Quartz.
- Breaking before maturity drops Certus Quartz Dust (fortune has no effect).
- Breaking a fully grown Cluster drops 4 Certus Quartz Crystals (fortune increases yield).
Budding Block Tiers
| Tier | Behavior | Notes |
| ———— | ————————— | ——- |
| Flawless | Never degrades | Infinite certus supply. Cannot be crafted or mined, only moved with Spatial Storage. |
| Flawed | Can degrade when buds grow | Will eventually break down into plain Certus Quartz Block. |
| Chipped | Same as flawed, weaker | |
| Damaged | Weakest form, fastest degradation |
Degradation Every time a bud grows to the next stage, the budding block has a chance to drop one tier until it becomes a normal Certus Quartz Block.
Repair/Creation Toss the budding block (or a normal Certus Quartz Block) into water with one or more Charged Certus Quartz Crystals to repair or convert.
Growth Speed
- Buds grow very slowly by default.
- Growth Accelerators placed adjacent to budding blocks massively speed up growth.
- Early-game option: power them with a Wooden Crank if you don’t yet have an Energy Acceptor or Vibration Chamber.
Automation
Automatic harvesting uses ME Annihilation Planes and ME Storage Busses:
- Annihilation Plane breaks clusters automatically.
- Storage Bus (filtered) ensures only Certus Quartz Crystals are accepted.
- Growth Accelerators make the process fast enough for continuous supply.
Note: Non-mature buds drop Certus Quartz Dust instead of nothing, making filtering reliable.
Example Automated Setup
Configuration:
- ME Annihilation Plane – no GUI, can be enchanted with Fortune.
- First ME Storage Bus – filtered to Certus Quartz Crystal, outputs into a barrel.
- Second ME Storage Bus – also filtered to Certus Quartz Crystal, but set to higher priority than main storage.
Process:
- The Annihilation Plane attempts to break blocks in front of it.
- Because the subnet only sees Certus Quartz Crystals (via the filtered Storage Bus), it only breaks Clusters, ignoring buds.
- The first Storage Bus pushes harvested Crystals into the barrel.
- The second Storage Bus shares those Crystals with the main network but keeps them preferentially in the barrel due to priority.
Semi-Auto and Advanced Farms
- With Flawless Budding Certus – farm runs indefinitely without maintenance.
- With Flawed/Chipped/Damaged Budding Certus – blocks will eventually break and must be replaced, either manually or with advanced setups.