The RFTools Builder and You

This is a community-written guide. It was written to help players get accustomed to using the RFTools Builder.

About this Guide
This guide is not an exhaustive description of items, nor a tutorial on using each item. It is a helping hand to get you started with using the RFTools Builder. Throughout this guide you'll find links to various blocks and items. Be sure to explore these links for full details, descriptions and illustrations.

The Builder
The Builder is an incredibly versatile machine, capable of both destruction and creation in a myriad array of shapes and sizes. In this guide, we'll try to provide a comprehensive overview of the Builder's many features. You may also be interested in the guide Quarrying with RFTools.

Shape Cards
An RFTools Shape Card is required to instruct the Builder on where to work. Shape Cards are sufficiently powerful as to rate their own Guide, so check out All About Shape Cards before proceeding.

Clearing Space
Clearing a large volume is easily achieved using the Builder as a quarry. See Quarrying with RFTools. However, you're not limited to rectangular spaces. By configuring the Shape Card to a different shape, the Builder will clear a space of any shape you like. If you don't want to keep the blocks in the cleared area, consider using a Shape Card (Void).

Building a Simple Shape
I have a Forestry Multifarm that I'd like to build a wall around. I start by programming a Shape Card to create a Hollow Cylinder.

Using the Support/Preview mode in the Builder's GUI, I fine tune the shape until I'm happy with it. Note that the offsets are between the center of the shape and the Builder.

After placing a chest full of Mossy Stone Bricks on top of the Builder and activating the Builder with a Lever, a wall appears within a matter of seconds.

Combining Simple Shapes
The castle pictured below is hardly a masterpiece but it shows what can be constructed in 15 minutes by combining a few simple shapes. With the hard work done by the Builder, a player could use this as the basis for a masterpiece.

Feeding Materials
Unless specified with a complex Shape Card, the Builder will draw blocks at random from the supply chest on top. Depending on the choice of materials, the result can appear semi-natural or quite colorful.