Network Analyzer
alaindustrial:network_analyzer
Summary
The Network Analyzer is a hand-held diagnostic tool — a player-friendly alternative to the /ala net command for people without operator rights. It makes and stores no energy of its own; it only reads what's happening in a network. Right-click a cable and it shows that network's stats (not the whole world): the combined EU/FE/tick supply from producers, the combined EU/FE/tick demand of consumers, and how much EU/FE actually moved over the last tick. At the same time it draws the network in the world — cables and the devices on them are joined by lines, and animated pulses run along the lines showing the direction of energy flow, producer to consumer (a lot like the channel visualisation in Applied Energistics 2).
Mini-example: your machines went quiet and you don't know why. Right-click the cable leaving your generator with the analyzer: the actionbar shows supply and demand, and the on-world trace lights up green at the producer, orange at each consumer — so you can see at a glance whether a segment is starved or disconnected.
Energy
Uses no energy — it never connects to a network, only reads one.
Inventory
Not applicable (item). Stack: 1 (a tool, not consumed).
Block Properties
Not applicable (item).
How it works
The tool has two diagnostic modes. The chosen mode is stored on the item itself and survives world reloads. Traverse (default). An energy storage block counts as part of the network: the analyzer walks through it and highlights the whole connected cable system — even if, topologically, it's several separate networks joined through the storage block. Good for seeing an entire power system at once. Stop-at-storage. Shows exactly one network — the one the clicked cable is in; the walk stops at a storage block. Good for targeted diagnosis of a single segment. Using it: Shift + right-click in air or off-network (including on someone else's block) cycles the mode 1↔2 and prints the new mode's name to the actionbar. Right-click on a cable (Shift or not) — scans in the current mode. A click on a cable is always diagnostic; Shift doesn't switch it. Right-click on another network's cable — replaces the highlight with the new network. Right-click off-network (into air or a block with no network) — clears the highlight. What a scan shows: the actionbar prints a line — the number of cables, sources, consumers and storages, plus supply/demand EU/FE/tick and how much EU/FE moved over the last tick (aggregated across all walked networks in traverse mode). If the traverse-mode network cap is reached, an extra warning is shown. The item tooltip always shows a base hint with the current-mode line beneath it; the result of the last scan is stored on the tool and expands under [SHIFT]: cables, sources/consumers/storages, supply/demand EU/FE/tick, and how much was transferred last tick. The highlight is a volumetric "trace", visible through walls and across several chunks (it simply isn't drawn in unloaded chunks — there's no separate timer). Coloured cube markers sit at the joints: green for a producer, orange for a consumer, light-blue for a storage block in traverse mode (to flag the "bridge node"). Animated flow pulses run along the trace from producer to consumer; on unpowered sections (a network with no producer, an isolated island) the trace is drawn statically, without animation. The tool only reads the network — it changes nothing and doesn't affect energy distribution.
Recipes
Assembled at a workbench (shaped 3×3): a tin body, an Electronic Circuit as the "brain" in the centre, and copper contacts at the bottom — thematically a power-network diagnostic device.
TTT
TCT
UUUT — tin ingot (×5); C — electronic circuit (×1); U — copper ingot (×3).
Progression
No energy tier — a diagnostic tool, useful from your very first network onward and increasingly handy as networks grow more complex.
Related
Electronic Circuit — its central component. Tin — its body. Copper Cable — what you click it on.
Crafting
Shaped Crafting
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Network Analyzer