Extended AE: Crystal Assembler, Circuit Slicing and the Rename
Extended AE is an Applied Energistics addon, and its two builds are far apart — including a change to the mod's own identifier. This guide covers what each version actually contains.
The 1.21.1 build is a different mod
Almost every specialised category exists only on the newer line:
Crystal Assembler — 39 recipes on 1.21.1, none on 1.20.1
Circuit Slicer — 9 recipes, 1.21.1 only
Crystal Fixer — 6 recipes, 1.21.1 only
Inscriber — 3, Transform — 2, both 1.21.1 only and both hooking into Applied Energistics itself- Crushing and Enriching — 1 each through Mekanism, 1.21.1 only
- Smelting and Blasting — 1 each, 1.21.1 only
The 1.20.1 build has exactly one specialised category: Circuit Cutter with 4 recipes.
The circuit bench was renamed, and so was the mod
This is the detail worth knowing before following an old tutorial. On 1.20.1 the circuit bench is filed under the identifier expatternprovider; on 1.21.1 the equivalent is filed under extendedae, and it is called the Circuit Slicer rather than the Circuit Cutter.
Same job, new name, new namespace, and more than twice the recipes — 9 against 4. Anything written for the older build will name a block that the newer one does not have.
Crafting went the other way
Crafting holds 55 recipes on 1.20.1 and 50 on 1.21.1. It is the only category where the older build is larger, and the five-recipe gap is roughly what moved into the new specialised benches.
The Crystal Assembler is the reason to be on 1.21.1
At 39 recipes it is by far the biggest thing in the mod, and it has no counterpart at all on the older line. If you are choosing a version for an AE2 pack, this single block is the deciding factor.
Scale
79 pages across 44 items and 35 blocks, with no worldgen structures. This is an addon rather than a standalone mod — small on its own, and only meaningful with Applied Energistics installed.
Versions
2.2.35 on NeoForge for 1.21.1, 1.4.18 on Forge for 1.20.1.