This is just a few ideas I have been toying with for while now and I'm not saying I will be doing any of this. The reason I created the thread is to see if these are needed and/or wanted changes.
With the Minecraft 1.5 update looming in the horizon it seemed like a good opportunity to do some housecleaning.
Most of the current TC 3 items and blocks will remain intact except where it is obvious they will need to change to fit in with the new ideas listed below.
Why would you want to change things?
TC3 is working fine as-is, but after release several things had become obvious to me.
Firstly, there are way too many aspects. During the early days of TC3 I went back and forth between having only a few or loads of different aspects. I ended up going the more is better route, but I've not been very happy with the results.
Secondly the whole concept of aura nodes worked well on paper, but is problematic for several reasons:
They get corrupted easily due to crashes and the way MC saves chunk data
They are succeptable to griefing (either malicious or self inflicted )
They cause lag (fps, server and bandwith)
Thirdly, research could be funner. Most people enjoy research as it currently stands, but I feel it could be even more fun. Research should be less of a resource sink and more of a "game".
What do you want to change with Aspects?
I'm thinking of reducing them to only a handfull of fairly broad categories. I'm currently considering Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Life, Death, Magic, Nature. I might also go with a non-elemental category breakdown. Either way I want there to be less than 10 aspects.
Also, aspects will replace Vis. What the what!? .... see below
What do you want to change with Auras?
Well, I want to do away with them completely. Auras are used as a source for vis, and I'm thinking of getting rid of vis (in its current form) completely. Currently most crafting requires two different resources - vis and essentia. That is a bit silly imho and I think it would probably be better to just use essentia.
I DO like the idea that aura nodes acted as focal points for magical power. I will try and keep that idea alive with different worldgen features, but for the most part they will be tied to special blocks or structures like the old TC1 altars and obelisks.
These are big changes and I suspect they will be unpopular ones. If I'm proven right it will probably prevent me from implementing some of the other ideas I have.
What do you want to change with Research?
Not sure yet honestly. It might remain as-is, or become even more of a mini-game. All I know at the moment is that I would like it be more fun and less about guessing and more about puzzle-solving.
As some of the TC add-on devs and IRC regulars might know I have discussed the possibility of splitting up the research tree into distinct sections each with its own page and tree structure. The current TC tree is getting a bit crowded and messy - especially with add-on mods adding their own stuff.
Ok, if you are getting rid of vis, what will power our stuff?
Good question. YOU will power your stuff. There will be mechanics added to allow you to absorb the various types of essentia. For example, when you start out you can store a total of 50 essentia of each type and using a wand drains from those essentia pools.
I'm considering adding a bit of an RPG element to things by allowing you to "level up" to increase how much essentia you can store, or grant you other abilities. This leveling will happen through research and/or actual xp or other means.
You will absorb essentia by various means. One way would be mob drops - they will drop raw essentia orbs in the same way they drop xp orbs. You could also destroy blocks and items to gain their essentia. You could also have tools to suck the essentia from various things like the world-gen features I'm planning on adding to replace nodes.
Wait, your adding what is essentially different kinds of mana? Does this mean...
Yes. I'm adding spellcasting. One of the research trees I'd like to add will be all about casting spells. I'm going to remove all the various elemental wands and you will just have the basic casting wand that currently exists, which you will use for all your various spells and such. For example, instead of having a Wand of Fire, you will research how to cast the same effect through your normal wand.
I have resisted adding spellcasting for ages, but since the whole idea of TC3 was to move away from the tech mod concept spellcasting does feel like an obvious way to do it.
The magi-punk idea of TC will remain however - that is a big part of the mod and I will never get rid of it. Also I have now coined the phrase magi-punk. Your welcome.
Just to make things clear - these are just ideas. If most people say "No thanks", then I will happily abandon them.
UPDATE:
Aspects
After giving things some thought I have decided not to cull the aspect list to less than 24 or so different aspects. I'm still deciding if I'm just going cut off the dead wood (quite literally - there are 5 plant related aspects) or completely reorganize the aspect breakdown.
Research
I've had a bit of an inspiration with the research system which I think will add an intresting dynamic to it, though I don't want to go into details just yet. Lets just say that more than half of your research time would NOT be spent in front of a table staring at a GUI.
Aura
I'm still wracking my brain on the whole matter in regards to the aura and nodes. I'm still leaning heavily towards making them blocks, but there is several problems with the approach. This needs a bit more thought.
Vis
The overwhelming opinion seems to be to keep vis as a resource. I'm still in two minds on the matter, though I am leaning slightly towards keeping it however. It is linked to auras so depending on what I do there will determine if it stays or not.
Spellcasting
Nope. Well, not in the traditional sense of the word at least - it will have a definite magi-punk flavor
RPG Elements
I was never planning on using MC's built in xp system for this especially since there has been rumblings that vanilla might include things like that. I was thinking more along the lines of there being research that alters the way your character does thaumcrafty things - for example a research that reduces vis cost by 10%, or increases damage with the wand of fire by 20%. These researches could possibly even include branching paths so you need to choose between 20% bonus damage or 20% less charge use on the wand.
If I include this it would more than likely come in a later update.
I really like the ideas you're thinking of and can't wait for the changes
I'm pretty sure spell-casting, though could be phrased differently to be more unique, will be an interesting vibe to the next reincarnation of the mod.
The idea of going back to totems and relics that generate power versus the Nodes I believe to be a smart idea as the Nodes atm do have quite a few complicated issues that a lot of us have had.
Changing the research system would be nice, making it more interactive rather then using a slot machine would be nice. As most of us are really just throwing items in and pulling the lever till something moves and then rinse and repeating that step.
Honestly? I'm all for this Azanor. I do believe something needs to be done about the aura, as it really does seem quite fickle. I love the idea of gathering essentia, and i am excited by the prospect of spellcasting. (although i do agree with flamedance, you MUST make the name something of your own creation. spellcasting is just so... ordinary for the creative and inspired world of thaumcraft) Research... Eh. Take it or leave it. I don't mind the current system. I'm sure I'll like any new system just as much, if not more.
To be honest, the ONLY thing I actively dislike about this is that I sense it will take a while to implement. You have spoiled us with frequent, content-filled updates XP. If it makes thaumcraft more awesome, however, I really am all for it. You've got amazing talent, and have yet to disappoint. Lead on, O captain my captain! =D
I'm a bit wary about the spell casting part, as it'll be hard to get done right. Also very, very wary about spell-bloating. Exactly how many spells will there be? Will it be a pain in the neck to manage all those spells? How will switching spells be done? Can spells be switched on-the-fly?
As for the 'scrap the aura' part... The current system causes more issues then it is worth, imo.
Research - as long as it isn't something ridiculous, I'm all for it.
(47 aspects is a bit of overkill, really. But 'Eldritch' or something like it, should be an aspect as well. Can't forget those guys. )
Edit: And with the scrapping of 'Vis/Aura' entirely, you could get away with a renaming as well. 4 is a bit... High, isn't it? Whatever happened to Arcanacraft? Maybe Essentiacraft?
I REALLY like the aura system and the nodes. Please don't let them go! Perhaps even improve them. I have one idea, but would probably not be possible on a modern computer. Have a "Vis Field" that contains positive and negative energy. Positive energy will repel itself and the dark energy, where as dark energy would attract other energies. When too much energy gets in one area, strange things start to happen. The light energy tries to prevent that by dispersing itself evenly. When dark energy accumulates, it attracts more energy like gravity, thus making the problem worse. However, it attracts all energy. That includes light energy which repels energy. When dark energy builds up, it attracts light energy, and the light energy will repel the dark 'node' apart. Perhaps causing an effect visible to the naked eye. The goggles of revealing will allow you to see this field, but I don't think a computer would be able to render all that. If it were in real life, it would look somewhat like fog, but you could still see through it. The more fog in one area, the more opeak it gets. The less fog, the easier it is to see. That makes it much easier to see the spectacular events that occur when dark energy builds up. But like I said, I don't think any computer could render or even calculate the interactions of billions of particles smaller than pixels coming together to make fog. I think it would be a cool idea though. What do you think?
I will not have hundreds of different spells. Probably about 1 per aspect and a few "mixed-aspect" spells that expand upon the basic ones and lastly a few unique ones for very specific tasks.
For example a single target fire spell and then a fire+air version that works like the current wand of flame.
I don't see there being more than a dozen when I release this initially.
Switching between spells will probably be via a hotkey and it will have its own onscreen gui element. Possibly there will be a spell hotbar that you can pupulate with a limited number of spells and the hotkey simply cycles through them. This hotbar size can be increased with research or possibly the leveling mechanic I mentioned.
I will not have hundreds of different spells. Probably about 1 per aspect and a few "mixed-aspect" spells that expand upon the basic ones and lastly a few unique ones for very specific tasks.
I don't see there being more than a dozen when I release this initially.
Switching between spells will probably be via a hotkey and it will have its own onscreen gui element Possibly there will be a spell hotbar that you can pupulate with a limited number of spells and the hotkey simply cycles through them. This hotbar size can be increased in size with research or possibly the leveling mechanic I mentioned.
Will there be the ability to have separate/additional 'hotbars' of spells you can have? (Via later research, or after all spells, etc)
Like one you bring for mining that has no actual combat spells, one you bring while exploring (or, if you hit a cave/ravine while mining), or one you use for PVP, etc, etc.
Not sure yet honestly. It might remain as-is, or become even more of a mini-game. All I know at the moment is that I would like it be more fun and less about guessing and more about puzzle-solving.
I didn't get too far into Thaumcraft, the almost random nature of research was what I found frustrating. At one stage I had two fragments for the same piece of research, not the mention wasting resources trying to find the correct 3rd element.
Perhaps we could have Materials Research and Item Reseach. Materials only need to be researched once, Item Reseach requires several times more materials that is needed to make it normally.
I think all of these changes sound very interesting.
I do have a few questions though.
When it comes to using the Obelisks. Will we be able to 'harvest' the blocks and place them at our bases to have them near by?
Along with all these new changes to the way magic works will we be able to see greater effects of careless magic on the environment?
Well those are the only things I'm curious about right now. Everything else seems like changes that would make an awesome mod even better.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Humanity is the creation of Logic and Emotion, Calculation and Imagination, Cold Analysis and Blind Faith. This is why I believe it is a strange Human that would prize one while shunning the other. For a calculator can do math just as well as you, but a calculator can not use math to make the world a better place.
Have it the same but add to it,make a book that tells you what items has what aspects and will i have ben on a LOT of server with it on it and only some of ther were lagey and one not vis at all but tc3 is good
another reboot? and just when I was really getting into this current system...I honestly think combo ofthe systems in TC 2a nd 3 would be ideal than. If ya wanna have different essentia pools to draw on than lets us break down items and what not down into a liquid form and give us a way get liquid vis and the essentia split up and stored away. I dun know at this point I'm scratching my head looking at this I think things are going good as is really, It makes it hard, and honestly that's why I like Tc3, it has alot for me to figure out and memorize. if ya can get the node system a lil more stable and all that, that would be the best way to go. But, I will say this......we need the freaking monoliths back. they freaking rocked, hell I loved setting up out post bases in em.
This is still in the early conceptual phase so I can't really answer your first question.
As for your second: yes. Thaumcraft wouldn't be thaumcraft without Bad Stuff ™
Alright. Thanks for the quick response. I wasn't sure how developed these ideas were so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Humanity is the creation of Logic and Emotion, Calculation and Imagination, Cold Analysis and Blind Faith. This is why I believe it is a strange Human that would prize one while shunning the other. For a calculator can do math just as well as you, but a calculator can not use math to make the world a better place.
first I preface this by saying I have no problems with you wanting to take this in a new direction again. (and nore would it matter if I did) game design is one of those things where it's nessesary to play with your mechanics over and over and over until they feel /just/ right.
I feel from TC1-TC3 you have tightened this up in the normal way a dedicated game designer would. and 4 would be no exception. although I would be tempted to suggest you stop "incrementing" as if these were sequels and start naming them *.00 alphas until you are satisfyed with the direction. this would be A4.00 for example
Thoughs on your ideas for Aspects:
I agree, currently there are too many aspects but I feel at the time of designing the concept this was due to the desire for complexity in the system (the fun kind) and then feel like the feature suite is not large enough to currently accomodate the amount of aspects.
This obviously could be changed by growing the feature suite. But of course it's unessesary to do that if you feel the specific nature of the aspect system is currently undesirable.
My own personal opinions are that yes the number of aspects is currently too large and actually serves to clutter the research system. "What of these many many many aspects could this research token be"
Auras:
The Aura system is definately one of those things that seem really really awesome on when writing up the design document, but in practice are a logistics nightmare and serve to confuse the player.
I believe the best way to adopt this system is definately by world gen focal points as you suggest. the only issue I see with this is players spending in inordinate amount of time looking for the perfect focalpoint+biome combo for their dream wizard tower
Research:
I love the teir locking of having a research system.
However something I did enjoy about the current system is the "boss" type researches which unlock the next tier of researching.
What I suggest here is that istead of each individual item taking it's own research, you instead have more complex single research stages which unlock a series of items/tools e.t.c
E.G. "basic golemancy" is more complex, but unlocks stone > tallow basic golems. and then "adapative golemancy" which unlocks all the different golem cores. e.t.c e.t.c
Powering stuff:
Love the RPG like outline you have given, all I ask is that if this is the route you take you keep more hotkeys to a minimum.
Spell casting:
A very different direction for thaumcraft, but whats the harm in toying with it.
The current system is nice. Honestly, I quite enjoy the node system. It makes it feel like you want to settle down in certain areas, more than just "ok, this is a nice hill. It is now my new house". I would much prefer a bit more worldgen, and have some of it be a source of research. For example, instead of just randomly throwing blaze rods and Soul sand in the research bench, and suddenly you think you know how to trap a blaze in a Netherbrick and obsidian cage, perhaps have ruins with things like the remains of a dysfunctional Infernal Furnace that you can use to study, before refining the idea into a functioning forge.
Also, if you heavily cut down the aspect count, then why not have an ore for each aspect? It obviously wouldn't be viable with our 47 or so aspects we currently have, but with about 10 of em it would be much more reasonable (flame, water, wind, earth, time, life, death, nature, magic and chaos?)
Or have these as primary aspects, which shape the majority of the important structures of the mod, while having many more minor aspects in the background that add finese. Perhaps every item could be bound to a primary aspect, while they can also bear many secondary aspects to further "describe" that item.
If you did want to replace the node system, then perhaps having each aspect be bound to a "node" of sorts, that can act as a source for everything using that aspect within reason. And making it so that having conflicting nodes close to eachother disrupt their abilities to be used (IE. Fire/water, earth/air, nature/time, magic/chaos, life/death). Note that stronger nodes would have a stronger disruptive effect on both rival nodes and neutral nodes (anything it doesn't directly conflict with). While neutral nodes would only have minor disruptions if near eachother, rival nodes would have disastrous effects on the nearby area. If you used this system, nodes would have to cover a much larger area than before, but it would also give a real use to the Thaumeter as well. To help you find these much farther scattered about nodes. Might also promote an interesting play of "node wars" as groups try and secure nodes for their own faction on servers any means necessary. You would probably see quite a few bases in multiplayer built around the fire/death nodes (they are perhaps the most common node types... although the most dangerous as well. Read below to read up on the temple idea list I had where you could find each type of node) You can also give each type of node a distinct effect on the area (water node inducing more storms if in a loaded chunk, death nodes making much more, stronger, hostile mobs spawn, nature node acting like bonemeal in the area... as well as placing saplings that proceed to get bonemealed, ect)
Spellcasting - Honestly not partial either way on this issue. Really would have to see it to truely decide on it. I have always thought of Thaumcraft as magi-punk technology (lol, been using this term a long time to talk about TC3), and spellcasting feels less like magi-punk and more like just plain old magic. And you would already have a massive rival in the Ars Magica mod on what a real good looking magic based mod would be for spellcasting... as in I doubt even you could make so perfect a system to rival it.
ima edit in more ideas in a moment, just posting what I have so far now.
On the subject of nodes and worldgen again, perhaps make each type of node have its own world gen "temple" of some kind that you can find it in. Note that I would want you able to move EACH node for this though, so that while you have to truely search them out, once you find them you can bring them back to your home base, or at least the surrounding hills of it anyway to make sure the nodes don't get too close to eachother.
I would also say each aspect/node should have its own branch in the Thaumonomicon. For example, almost all the fire aspect based things (Furnace, fire spells if you decide to do them, a new brewing system to expand on vanilla, ect) have their own page, and things like the life aspect (golems, perhap things that enhance farms to be more fertile, ect) on another.
I do agree with that one post above on it being nice to have those "boss" researches we had to do to move on, and perhaps a similar system would still fit. Perhaps have the first one require the basics in all researches, but each higher tier requires fewer aspects done for it. I might make a picture to demonstrate this idea better.
*Takes a big breath to start a long winded description*
Ok. From the beginning, you start out wanting to know about everything. You quickly start researching, trying to cover your bases in the basics of every aspect. Upon reaching a certain proficency with them, you realize that combining the ideas of them might help you further your goals. This is the Startup - first Theory of a little bit of everything. From there, you decide to focus on aspects in two major groups. The destructive (Fire, Time, Air, Death, and Chaos) and the productive (Water, Life, Earth, Nature, Magic). Both separate trees have their own Theory, The Theories of Creation and Destruction. This was part 2. Upon obtaining both of these, you realize that in truth, they are one and the same and proceed to unify these research trees. This leads up to T3, as you truely have a Theory for everything. From this, you decide that you want to master each aspect, and decide that the best way to control them is not to research just them, but also their rivals (as is listed a few paragraphs above). You see that they perfectly control one another (fire controls water, as water controls fire) and want to see if you yourself can obtain this true mastery over the elements though this. Perhaps you could add in a final stage where you have obtained true mastery over every element past this, finally reunifying the entire tree.
Ok, that's finished. Taking a breath now.
Ima head back to the ideas about the world gen temples of some sort or another, as talking about the above has sparked some ideas in my mind. Just going to list temple ideas for each node type.
1. Water Temple - A massive vortex in the ocean, that at the center has frozen ruin with a large water-spout bursting out. The node is in the center of this waterspout coming out of the ruins.
2. Air Temple - An ancient city flying high above the plains/extreme hills/tundra biomes. In the center rages a tornado which has the node within.
3. Death Temple - Deep in the Nether an ancient beast once fell, and its bones, as well as it's fossilized, burning heart guard a node of flame. As well as the hundreds of Wither skeletons. Don't forget the Wither Skeletons. *The bones might very well be made of 1.5 marble, as an idea*
4. Flame Temple - A runic castle floating on the surface of the lava lakes of the Nether, with a dangerous population of very infuriated blazes more than happy enough to toast a nearby raider.
5. Nature temple - A massive tree, much larger than average, with a hollowed core guarding the nature node. In jungles or forest.
6. Earth temple - A massive scar in the earth, much larger than a normal ravine(the top of it breaches the ground level, and it's bottom is brushing bedrock, and is about twice to three times as wide), that at it's deepest point has a shard of the lands might (the earth node). Any land based biome.
7. Life Temple - A ruin with a great many automatons and ancient devices. At it's core is a node that if disturbed would revive the entire temple... and not happily. Jungles.
8. Temporal Temple - In the shifting sands of the desert there rest the ruins of a massive hourglass, with shifting sands guarding it (pretty much the node is guarded by a liquid that is textured like sand, and looks like eternally flowing sands.. of time. Oh yea, these sands are also very dangerous, and just touching them affects you with the Wither debuff as you yourself turn to dust...). Obviously in deserts.
9. Magic Temple - A great many aged devises and traps in these hallowed halls, guarded with traps that have long sense ran out of arcane fuel... you hope. Found in Tundra biomes.
10. Chaos Temple - A chaotic structure found only in the End, where the forces that will destroy the world rampage around it, as the Ender Dragon roost above watching over its domain at the end of the world, waiting to bring it's plots to fruit. Well.... did you read this one? It's in the End.
*gasping for breath after talking for way to long strait*
ok, I think I am finally finished.... lolz. Spent much longer on this reply than I intended. Over an hour, to be specific.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Location:
Friendship, NY
Join Date:
12/26/2010
Posts:
639
Minecraft:
LunariusH
Member Details
What do you want to change with Aspects I think reducing the amount of Aspects is a terrible idea. One of my favorite aspects of Thaumcraft is the sheer amount of potential directions to go, both for the core mod, and for those who may consider extending said Mod via the API. The sheer complexity of Thaumcraft, and promises of further complexity make it one of my favorite Mods to play with, and has inspired a couple of interesting lines of thinking regarding Mod updates.
One of my many projects involves finding Mods that are in common circulation and making them 'Thaumcraft compatible', because I found the diversity of the aspects so interesting, and finding the rarer ones has been one of the many things to get me out of my comfortable village, and into the depths of the world and across the bounds of worlds into the nether... The "You can't get that here" direction.
What do you want to change with Auras
My big desire for these has always been for there to be more *types* of them. They're an amazing and interesting facet, and those on my server talk about them all the time. It's always fun to go looking for them, or to find them by accident. There was a mutual groan when we realized that our village had decided to set up camp not near one, but two unstable nodes, and one regular node. They are the subject of much discussion.
Regarding Viz and Essentia, again, I've always loved that there were two requirements for creation. The Viz to power the magic, and the essentia to shape it. If one must change one of my favorite aspects of Thaumcraft, perhaps you can go the direction of giving the individual nodes essentia aspects themselves, and making it possible to tilt the direction of these nodes aspects. See that pool of Lava? There's likely a Node over it attuned to Earth/Fire, that autumn forest glade? Seasons, Plant, Lignum, etc.
I'll touch on this again below, but...
I love the fact that Thaumcraft is not swords-and-sorcery magic. It's Artificery, it is shaping the bounds of the universe through Alchemical style magic. Aspects of this and twists of that warped together to create something altogether different. Nothing is self-powered, you are altering the reality of the universe around you, not flinging fireballs from your hands.
So basically, my thought wrapped up is: "Doing away with Aura's completely alters the feel of Thaumcraft, and Thaumcraft is pretty fantastic as is. Alter them a little, make more varieties that alter how the thaumaturge interacts with their environment, and make different perils in destabilizing the different types."
What do you want to change with Research?
Going with my above statement, I would think keeping the aspects, and turning down the path of Alchemical experimentation would be good. Using the tools and processes of Alchemy, the Thaumaturge would have to extract the vital essences of the components of the world around them, and experiment with THOSE to learn new things. These would also be used to focus the Vis focused by the Thaumaturge into shaping the things they desire.
Ok, if you are getting rid of vis, what will power our stuff?
This whole section saddens me greatly, as Thaumcraft has been one of the greatest encouragements to dispose of XP entirely. Trying to get a Mod put together that works the standard enchantments into Thaumcraft and does away with the in-game XP completely. It's always felt tacked on, and Thaumcraft is, at least, complete and well-thought-through.
Sticking to items as a focus and channel for Vis and Aspects is part of what gives Thaumcraft it's feel for me. And also what makes it feel very minecrafty.
RE: Griefing of Nodes
Unfortunately trying to mod something to be griefproof is... nearly impossible.
We have officially banned Thaumaturgical experimentation within 500 blocks of our population center on our server. Our Thaumaturges have built their labs in the distance, because the common townspeople will have none of them. We don't want their fallout. This truth actually helped shaped our community and local area, and has added a great deal of fun to our server.
"... That's a wisp... Have you been experimenting near here?!" - Actual quote.
The thaumaturges also get called for problem solving. "There's this really nice place I'd like to build... We also think it also happens to contain an unstable node.. Could you help me deal with this?" And off we go to remove that node to make the area safer.
So by trying to make them less 'griefable', it would also serve to make them less interesting.
In Summary
My opinion is, keep the aspects, keep the nodes, but expand on the concept. Increase the number of potential fallout effects from Flux, because Flux is awesome. Give Nodes more aspects, make altering the aspect balance of your local node something worthwhile and interesting, steer away from spell-casting as 'Sword and Sorcery' spell-casting, and lean more towards the 'Magic side of Steampunk'. Where mad science is still very much a thing, but you're messing with the fundaments of the universe, rather than steam and clockwork.
You seem to have started down the road of Alchemy, with research, keep playing with it. Add the tools, make them used in research, and managing the chemistry set mid-process part of the game. In a way, the aspect system already adds a game. "I need an object that produces this aspect... Now I have to go find it and bring it back." It's become one of the foundations of trade on my server, as the thaumaturges are always needing the weirdest stuff.
As far as the research table goes, give us tabs in something like the Thaumcraft journal. Each of these represents a path of research 'Golemancy', ''Ferremancy', ''Transmutation'. And have these appear as the prerequisites for them are discovered. Further, don't reveal the necessary research path to FIND that particular branch, but let that also be discovered through research.
"Golemancy requires knowledge as yet unacquired from paths A and B." Which will eventually reveal not just the path required, but what level, much like you occasionally get random aspects in research now.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Compatability is King, but configuratiblity is Queen" - InfinityRaider
i'm not sure if i'm alone on this but i loved my liquid vis. It more or less defined thaumcraft for me made it the only "tech mod" that i even used and it was so clean and good to have all my precious resource where i could store it in tanks and show it to all those around me (well if i ever played on servers that is) so i was annoyed at the idea tc3 had at mostly removed vis. i however do agree that wands need more uses as it seems thaumcraft wands/tools are more or less "inside tools" and have no practical use outside our houses. if you are adding casting and new worldgen and changing nodes will we atleast see some of the void/elrich stuff come back? can we still have some "rare" aspects like pure? perhaps for "white" magic will you be removing hidden recearch or will you instead add to it? anyway i guess i should end here
#endRant
Why would you want to change things?
TC3 is working fine as-is, but after release several things had become obvious to me.
Firstly, there are way too many aspects. During the early days of TC3 I went back and forth between having only a few or loads of different aspects. I ended up going the more is better route, but I've not been very happy with the results.
Secondly the whole concept of aura nodes worked well on paper, but is problematic for several reasons:
What do you want to change with Aspects?
I'm thinking of reducing them to only a handfull of fairly broad categories. I'm currently considering Fire, Air, Earth, Water, Life, Death, Magic, Nature. I might also go with a non-elemental category breakdown. Either way I want there to be less than 10 aspects.
Also, aspects will replace Vis. What the what!? .... see below
What do you want to change with Auras?
Well, I want to do away with them completely. Auras are used as a source for vis, and I'm thinking of getting rid of vis (in its current form) completely. Currently most crafting requires two different resources - vis and essentia. That is a bit silly imho and I think it would probably be better to just use essentia.
I DO like the idea that aura nodes acted as focal points for magical power. I will try and keep that idea alive with different worldgen features, but for the most part they will be tied to special blocks or structures like the old TC1 altars and obelisks.
These are big changes and I suspect they will be unpopular ones. If I'm proven right it will probably prevent me from implementing some of the other ideas I have.
What do you want to change with Research?
Not sure yet honestly. It might remain as-is, or become even more of a mini-game. All I know at the moment is that I would like it be more fun and less about guessing and more about puzzle-solving.
As some of the TC add-on devs and IRC regulars might know I have discussed the possibility of splitting up the research tree into distinct sections each with its own page and tree structure. The current TC tree is getting a bit crowded and messy - especially with add-on mods adding their own stuff.
Ok, if you are getting rid of vis, what will power our stuff?
Good question. YOU will power your stuff. There will be mechanics added to allow you to absorb the various types of essentia. For example, when you start out you can store a total of 50 essentia of each type and using a wand drains from those essentia pools.
I'm considering adding a bit of an RPG element to things by allowing you to "level up" to increase how much essentia you can store, or grant you other abilities. This leveling will happen through research and/or actual xp or other means.
You will absorb essentia by various means. One way would be mob drops - they will drop raw essentia orbs in the same way they drop xp orbs. You could also destroy blocks and items to gain their essentia. You could also have tools to suck the essentia from various things like the world-gen features I'm planning on adding to replace nodes.
Wait, your adding what is essentially different kinds of mana? Does this mean...
Yes. I'm adding spellcasting. One of the research trees I'd like to add will be all about casting spells. I'm going to remove all the various elemental wands and you will just have the basic casting wand that currently exists, which you will use for all your various spells and such. For example, instead of having a Wand of Fire, you will research how to cast the same effect through your normal wand.
I have resisted adding spellcasting for ages, but since the whole idea of TC3 was to move away from the tech mod concept spellcasting does feel like an obvious way to do it.
The magi-punk idea of TC will remain however - that is a big part of the mod and I will never get rid of it. Also I have now coined the phrase magi-punk. Your welcome.
Aspects
After giving things some thought I have decided not to cull the aspect list to less than 24 or so different aspects. I'm still deciding if I'm just going cut off the dead wood (quite literally - there are 5 plant related aspects) or completely reorganize the aspect breakdown.
Research
I've had a bit of an inspiration with the research system which I think will add an intresting dynamic to it, though I don't want to go into details just yet. Lets just say that more than half of your research time would NOT be spent in front of a table staring at a GUI.
Aura
I'm still wracking my brain on the whole matter in regards to the aura and nodes. I'm still leaning heavily towards making them blocks, but there is several problems with the approach. This needs a bit more thought.
Vis
The overwhelming opinion seems to be to keep vis as a resource. I'm still in two minds on the matter, though I am leaning slightly towards keeping it however. It is linked to auras so depending on what I do there will determine if it stays or not.
Spellcasting
Nope. Well, not in the traditional sense of the word at least - it will have a definite magi-punk flavor
RPG Elements
I was never planning on using MC's built in xp system for this especially since there has been rumblings that vanilla might include things like that. I was thinking more along the lines of there being research that alters the way your character does thaumcrafty things - for example a research that reduces vis cost by 10%, or increases damage with the wand of fire by 20%. These researches could possibly even include branching paths so you need to choose between 20% bonus damage or 20% less charge use on the wand.
If I include this it would more than likely come in a later update.
I'm pretty sure spell-casting, though could be phrased differently to be more unique, will be an interesting vibe to the next reincarnation of the mod.
The idea of going back to totems and relics that generate power versus the Nodes I believe to be a smart idea as the Nodes atm do have quite a few complicated issues that a lot of us have had.
Changing the research system would be nice, making it more interactive rather then using a slot machine would be nice. As most of us are really just throwing items in and pulling the lever till something moves and then rinse and repeating that step.
To be honest, the ONLY thing I actively dislike about this is that I sense it will take a while to implement. You have spoiled us with frequent, content-filled updates XP. If it makes thaumcraft more awesome, however, I really am all for it. You've got amazing talent, and have yet to disappoint. Lead on, O captain my captain! =D
As for the 'scrap the aura' part... The current system causes more issues then it is worth, imo.
Research - as long as it isn't something ridiculous, I'm all for it.
(47 aspects is a bit of overkill, really. But 'Eldritch' or something like it, should be an aspect as well. Can't forget those guys. )
Edit: And with the scrapping of 'Vis/Aura' entirely, you could get away with a renaming as well. 4 is a bit... High, isn't it? Whatever happened to Arcanacraft? Maybe Essentiacraft?
I made my own shader pack, by the way.
For example a single target fire spell and then a fire+air version that works like the current wand of flame.
I don't see there being more than a dozen when I release this initially.
Switching between spells will probably be via a hotkey and it will have its own onscreen gui element. Possibly there will be a spell hotbar that you can pupulate with a limited number of spells and the hotkey simply cycles through them. This hotbar size can be increased with research or possibly the leveling mechanic I mentioned.
Will there be the ability to have separate/additional 'hotbars' of spells you can have? (Via later research, or after all spells, etc)
Like one you bring for mining that has no actual combat spells, one you bring while exploring (or, if you hit a cave/ravine while mining), or one you use for PVP, etc, etc.
I didn't get too far into Thaumcraft, the almost random nature of research was what I found frustrating. At one stage I had two fragments for the same piece of research, not the mention wasting resources trying to find the correct 3rd element.
Perhaps we could have Materials Research and Item Reseach. Materials only need to be researched once, Item Reseach requires several times more materials that is needed to make it normally.
I do have a few questions though.
When it comes to using the Obelisks. Will we be able to 'harvest' the blocks and place them at our bases to have them near by?
Along with all these new changes to the way magic works will we be able to see greater effects of careless magic on the environment?
Well those are the only things I'm curious about right now. Everything else seems like changes that would make an awesome mod even better.
This is still in the early conceptual phase so I can't really answer your first question.
As for your second: yes. Thaumcraft wouldn't be thaumcraft without Bad Stuff (tm)
ya breing back tank i some what liked it i dont know y but i did
Alright. Thanks for the quick response. I wasn't sure how developed these ideas were so I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.
first I preface this by saying I have no problems with you wanting to take this in a new direction again. (and nore would it matter if I did) game design is one of those things where it's nessesary to play with your mechanics over and over and over until they feel /just/ right.
I feel from TC1-TC3 you have tightened this up in the normal way a dedicated game designer would. and 4 would be no exception. although I would be tempted to suggest you stop "incrementing" as if these were sequels and start naming them *.00 alphas until you are satisfyed with the direction. this would be A4.00 for example
Thoughs on your ideas for Aspects:
I agree, currently there are too many aspects but I feel at the time of designing the concept this was due to the desire for complexity in the system (the fun kind) and then feel like the feature suite is not large enough to currently accomodate the amount of aspects.
This obviously could be changed by growing the feature suite. But of course it's unessesary to do that if you feel the specific nature of the aspect system is currently undesirable.
My own personal opinions are that yes the number of aspects is currently too large and actually serves to clutter the research system. "What of these many many many aspects could this research token be"
Auras:
The Aura system is definately one of those things that seem really really awesome on when writing up the design document, but in practice are a logistics nightmare and serve to confuse the player.
I believe the best way to adopt this system is definately by world gen focal points as you suggest. the only issue I see with this is players spending in inordinate amount of time looking for the perfect focalpoint+biome combo for their dream wizard tower
Research:
I love the teir locking of having a research system.
However something I did enjoy about the current system is the "boss" type researches which unlock the next tier of researching.
What I suggest here is that istead of each individual item taking it's own research, you instead have more complex single research stages which unlock a series of items/tools e.t.c
E.G. "basic golemancy" is more complex, but unlocks stone > tallow basic golems. and then "adapative golemancy" which unlocks all the different golem cores. e.t.c e.t.c
Powering stuff:
Love the RPG like outline you have given, all I ask is that if this is the route you take you keep more hotkeys to a minimum.
Spell casting:
A very different direction for thaumcraft, but whats the harm in toying with it.
Also, if you heavily cut down the aspect count, then why not have an ore for each aspect? It obviously wouldn't be viable with our 47 or so aspects we currently have, but with about 10 of em it would be much more reasonable (flame, water, wind, earth, time, life, death, nature, magic and chaos?)
Or have these as primary aspects, which shape the majority of the important structures of the mod, while having many more minor aspects in the background that add finese. Perhaps every item could be bound to a primary aspect, while they can also bear many secondary aspects to further "describe" that item.
If you did want to replace the node system, then perhaps having each aspect be bound to a "node" of sorts, that can act as a source for everything using that aspect within reason. And making it so that having conflicting nodes close to eachother disrupt their abilities to be used (IE. Fire/water, earth/air, nature/time, magic/chaos, life/death). Note that stronger nodes would have a stronger disruptive effect on both rival nodes and neutral nodes (anything it doesn't directly conflict with). While neutral nodes would only have minor disruptions if near eachother, rival nodes would have disastrous effects on the nearby area. If you used this system, nodes would have to cover a much larger area than before, but it would also give a real use to the Thaumeter as well. To help you find these much farther scattered about nodes. Might also promote an interesting play of "node wars" as groups try and secure nodes for their own faction on servers any means necessary. You would probably see quite a few bases in multiplayer built around the fire/death nodes (they are perhaps the most common node types... although the most dangerous as well. Read below to read up on the temple idea list I had where you could find each type of node) You can also give each type of node a distinct effect on the area (water node inducing more storms if in a loaded chunk, death nodes making much more, stronger, hostile mobs spawn, nature node acting like bonemeal in the area... as well as placing saplings that proceed to get bonemealed, ect)
Spellcasting - Honestly not partial either way on this issue. Really would have to see it to truely decide on it. I have always thought of Thaumcraft as magi-punk technology (lol, been using this term a long time to talk about TC3), and spellcasting feels less like magi-punk and more like just plain old magic. And you would already have a massive rival in the Ars Magica mod on what a real good looking magic based mod would be for spellcasting... as in I doubt even you could make so perfect a system to rival it.
ima edit in more ideas in a moment, just posting what I have so far now.
On the subject of nodes and worldgen again, perhaps make each type of node have its own world gen "temple" of some kind that you can find it in. Note that I would want you able to move EACH node for this though, so that while you have to truely search them out, once you find them you can bring them back to your home base, or at least the surrounding hills of it anyway to make sure the nodes don't get too close to eachother.
I would also say each aspect/node should have its own branch in the Thaumonomicon. For example, almost all the fire aspect based things (Furnace, fire spells if you decide to do them, a new brewing system to expand on vanilla, ect) have their own page, and things like the life aspect (golems, perhap things that enhance farms to be more fertile, ect) on another.
I do agree with that one post above on it being nice to have those "boss" researches we had to do to move on, and perhaps a similar system would still fit. Perhaps have the first one require the basics in all researches, but each higher tier requires fewer aspects done for it. I might make a picture to demonstrate this idea better.
*Takes a big breath to start a long winded description*
Ok. From the beginning, you start out wanting to know about everything. You quickly start researching, trying to cover your bases in the basics of every aspect. Upon reaching a certain proficency with them, you realize that combining the ideas of them might help you further your goals. This is the Startup - first Theory of a little bit of everything. From there, you decide to focus on aspects in two major groups. The destructive (Fire, Time, Air, Death, and Chaos) and the productive (Water, Life, Earth, Nature, Magic). Both separate trees have their own Theory, The Theories of Creation and Destruction. This was part 2. Upon obtaining both of these, you realize that in truth, they are one and the same and proceed to unify these research trees. This leads up to T3, as you truely have a Theory for everything. From this, you decide that you want to master each aspect, and decide that the best way to control them is not to research just them, but also their rivals (as is listed a few paragraphs above). You see that they perfectly control one another (fire controls water, as water controls fire) and want to see if you yourself can obtain this true mastery over the elements though this. Perhaps you could add in a final stage where you have obtained true mastery over every element past this, finally reunifying the entire tree.
Ok, that's finished. Taking a breath now.
Ima head back to the ideas about the world gen temples of some sort or another, as talking about the above has sparked some ideas in my mind. Just going to list temple ideas for each node type.
1. Water Temple - A massive vortex in the ocean, that at the center has frozen ruin with a large water-spout bursting out. The node is in the center of this waterspout coming out of the ruins.
2. Air Temple - An ancient city flying high above the plains/extreme hills/tundra biomes. In the center rages a tornado which has the node within.
3. Death Temple - Deep in the Nether an ancient beast once fell, and its bones, as well as it's fossilized, burning heart guard a node of flame. As well as the hundreds of Wither skeletons. Don't forget the Wither Skeletons. *The bones might very well be made of 1.5 marble, as an idea*
4. Flame Temple - A runic castle floating on the surface of the lava lakes of the Nether, with a dangerous population of very infuriated blazes more than happy enough to toast a nearby raider.
5. Nature temple - A massive tree, much larger than average, with a hollowed core guarding the nature node. In jungles or forest.
6. Earth temple - A massive scar in the earth, much larger than a normal ravine(the top of it breaches the ground level, and it's bottom is brushing bedrock, and is about twice to three times as wide), that at it's deepest point has a shard of the lands might (the earth node). Any land based biome.
7. Life Temple - A ruin with a great many automatons and ancient devices. At it's core is a node that if disturbed would revive the entire temple... and not happily. Jungles.
8. Temporal Temple - In the shifting sands of the desert there rest the ruins of a massive hourglass, with shifting sands guarding it (pretty much the node is guarded by a liquid that is textured like sand, and looks like eternally flowing sands.. of time. Oh yea, these sands are also very dangerous, and just touching them affects you with the Wither debuff as you yourself turn to dust...). Obviously in deserts.
9. Magic Temple - A great many aged devises and traps in these hallowed halls, guarded with traps that have long sense ran out of arcane fuel... you hope. Found in Tundra biomes.
10. Chaos Temple - A chaotic structure found only in the End, where the forces that will destroy the world rampage around it, as the Ender Dragon roost above watching over its domain at the end of the world, waiting to bring it's plots to fruit. Well.... did you read this one? It's in the End.
*gasping for breath after talking for way to long strait*
ok, I think I am finally finished.... lolz. Spent much longer on this reply than I intended. Over an hour, to be specific.
I think reducing the amount of Aspects is a terrible idea. One of my favorite aspects of Thaumcraft is the sheer amount of potential directions to go, both for the core mod, and for those who may consider extending said Mod via the API. The sheer complexity of Thaumcraft, and promises of further complexity make it one of my favorite Mods to play with, and has inspired a couple of interesting lines of thinking regarding Mod updates.
One of my many projects involves finding Mods that are in common circulation and making them 'Thaumcraft compatible', because I found the diversity of the aspects so interesting, and finding the rarer ones has been one of the many things to get me out of my comfortable village, and into the depths of the world and across the bounds of worlds into the nether... The "You can't get that here" direction.
What do you want to change with Auras
My big desire for these has always been for there to be more *types* of them. They're an amazing and interesting facet, and those on my server talk about them all the time. It's always fun to go looking for them, or to find them by accident. There was a mutual groan when we realized that our village had decided to set up camp not near one, but two unstable nodes, and one regular node. They are the subject of much discussion.
Regarding Viz and Essentia, again, I've always loved that there were two requirements for creation. The Viz to power the magic, and the essentia to shape it. If one must change one of my favorite aspects of Thaumcraft, perhaps you can go the direction of giving the individual nodes essentia aspects themselves, and making it possible to tilt the direction of these nodes aspects. See that pool of Lava? There's likely a Node over it attuned to Earth/Fire, that autumn forest glade? Seasons, Plant, Lignum, etc.
I'll touch on this again below, but...
I love the fact that Thaumcraft is not swords-and-sorcery magic. It's Artificery, it is shaping the bounds of the universe through Alchemical style magic. Aspects of this and twists of that warped together to create something altogether different. Nothing is self-powered, you are altering the reality of the universe around you, not flinging fireballs from your hands.
So basically, my thought wrapped up is: "Doing away with Aura's completely alters the feel of Thaumcraft, and Thaumcraft is pretty fantastic as is. Alter them a little, make more varieties that alter how the thaumaturge interacts with their environment, and make different perils in destabilizing the different types."
What do you want to change with Research?
Going with my above statement, I would think keeping the aspects, and turning down the path of Alchemical experimentation would be good. Using the tools and processes of Alchemy, the Thaumaturge would have to extract the vital essences of the components of the world around them, and experiment with THOSE to learn new things. These would also be used to focus the Vis focused by the Thaumaturge into shaping the things they desire.
Ok, if you are getting rid of vis, what will power our stuff?
This whole section saddens me greatly, as Thaumcraft has been one of the greatest encouragements to dispose of XP entirely. Trying to get a Mod put together that works the standard enchantments into Thaumcraft and does away with the in-game XP completely. It's always felt tacked on, and Thaumcraft is, at least, complete and well-thought-through.
Sticking to items as a focus and channel for Vis and Aspects is part of what gives Thaumcraft it's feel for me. And also what makes it feel very minecrafty.
RE: Griefing of Nodes
Unfortunately trying to mod something to be griefproof is... nearly impossible.
We have officially banned Thaumaturgical experimentation within 500 blocks of our population center on our server. Our Thaumaturges have built their labs in the distance, because the common townspeople will have none of them. We don't want their fallout. This truth actually helped shaped our community and local area, and has added a great deal of fun to our server.
"... That's a wisp... Have you been experimenting near here?!" - Actual quote.
The thaumaturges also get called for problem solving. "There's this really nice place I'd like to build... We also think it also happens to contain an unstable node.. Could you help me deal with this?" And off we go to remove that node to make the area safer.
So by trying to make them less 'griefable', it would also serve to make them less interesting.
In Summary
My opinion is, keep the aspects, keep the nodes, but expand on the concept. Increase the number of potential fallout effects from Flux, because Flux is awesome. Give Nodes more aspects, make altering the aspect balance of your local node something worthwhile and interesting, steer away from spell-casting as 'Sword and Sorcery' spell-casting, and lean more towards the 'Magic side of Steampunk'. Where mad science is still very much a thing, but you're messing with the fundaments of the universe, rather than steam and clockwork.
You seem to have started down the road of Alchemy, with research, keep playing with it. Add the tools, make them used in research, and managing the chemistry set mid-process part of the game. In a way, the aspect system already adds a game. "I need an object that produces this aspect... Now I have to go find it and bring it back." It's become one of the foundations of trade on my server, as the thaumaturges are always needing the weirdest stuff.
As far as the research table goes, give us tabs in something like the Thaumcraft journal. Each of these represents a path of research 'Golemancy', ''Ferremancy', ''Transmutation'. And have these appear as the prerequisites for them are discovered. Further, don't reveal the necessary research path to FIND that particular branch, but let that also be discovered through research.
"Golemancy requires knowledge as yet unacquired from paths A and B." Which will eventually reveal not just the path required, but what level, much like you occasionally get random aspects in research now.
#endRant