i absolutely love the arcane bore. i just wish there would be a way to make it more efficient. the flux production is pretty crazy and it drains a ton of vis.
turning it on, while doing something else in the meantime, like the description promises is practically not possible. it should at least be able to dig one hole through to its maximum range, withithout getting the flux level higher than moderate, from none. at the moment, i find myself still supervising the thing, because i need to keep an eye on the flux level and turn it off, before it gets too crazy.
the problem of vis supply can be solved with capacitors, but i still have to place a lot of them. would be nice, if there was a better capacitor, that stores more vis.
all in all, it would be nice to have the possibility to attach arcane bellows to the bore, to reduce the flux production and make it run more efficient on vis.
Perhaps that could end up being an upgrade on the tech tree. Making it more efficient, or have a longer reach. Similar to how golems can be customized.
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.
Perhaps that could end up being an upgrade on the tech tree. Making it more efficient, or have a longer reach. Similar to how golems can be customized.
im quite statisfied with the reach tbh. if i put a bunch of good enchanted tools in there, it digs a pretty deep tunnel. since it gets its modifiers from enchantments on the items you put in there, i dont think its going to need extra upgrades in that area.
maybe it could just dig faster with bellows attached. that way, tools wouldnt run out that fast either, before the tunnel is completed.
the only thing that bugs me, is that the maintenance costs are pretty huge.
if the vanilla redstone system wasnt so horrible, i would probably just build a timer to have it run for a limited time, when i activate it. (i know a way to do it with dispensers and pressure plates, but setting it up all the time would be a major nuissance)
probbaly going to have to get red power 2 for that.
Hello. My account name is VileAmpersand. I have been with Minecraft since before doors and spider jockeys. I have seen Thaumcraft morph and grow since its first release, always staying tied as my favorite mod (other is TwilightForest). I have played most major mods that exist. I am usually content to see other people discussing (or hurling homophobic slurs at each other), but this topic is enough to make me create a forums account. I put some time and much thought into this, so please read on. Enough with the ethos, let's get to ideas.
Research: I like the idea of a new research system. The current system is a decent improvement from the last, but can be a bit annoying to gather some mob drops required for certain aspects, as mobs respawn at a dismal crawl. I am sure that I am not alone here when I say that I have become bleary eyed and comatose from staring at the crafting GUI for so long pondering what aspects could possibly be related to the crystal core or if I even still possess the strength to lift myself from my chair. So if I dislike the current system, then what would I want to see more of? I want to see more adventure. One of the reasons I like TwilightForest so much, is that you explore and crash dungeons. Research shouldn't be a time when you go to your workshop and leave your golems in shock as you slit your wrists in despair, but a time when you grab your weapon of choice and go to explore the dilapidated castle of some other thaumaturge who has since died out a century ago (presumably of slit wrists). Research should be a fun activity with rewards, not a lachrymose prison filled with despair. specific ideas:
-Dream exploring: Set the alarm, focus your thoughts, and 30 seconds of illegal herbage later, you are running through an enchanted plane of reality trying to solve a puzzle before you wake up or are shaken awake by the slavering jaws of some phantasmal beast.
-Dungeon crashing: Pretty self explanatory. Don some armor, find a dungeon, solve the puzzles and kamehameha uppity minions until you locate the treasure room (or library).
-Merge with an aura node: Fuse your spirit with some magical source, be it a pool of essentia, the Tome of Unlife, an eldritch totem, or even a tree of life. Get too good at this and you might find yourself mind controlling cows as a way to kill time (and the cows).
-Look to the skies: Build a telescope and watch the stars swirl and dance overhead while you try to solve a lunar based puzzle on the pinnacle of some ancient tower.
-Rob an NPC thaumaturge: Be prepared for consequences in the form of imminent immolation.
-Study mystical creatures: Stalk a unicorn through the forest to find out if and how they plane-shift so naturally. They can, why shouldn't you?
I also like the idea of having separate tech trees, possibly per aspect, allowing you delve solely into the depths of your field of choice or to role-play as a specific flavor of wizard. Or you could grab your bandages, a new razor, and head back to the research table. "... and this one here is when it took 56 iron ingots in the form of armor essentia to research the thaumaturge's robe."
Aspects/Essentia: Saying that there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft is like saying that there are too many feral cats in latched on to your soft pudgy face. So I'm gonna say it : there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft! There are many whose sole purpose is to make one crafting recipe or another more difficult. As Azanor said earlier in this thread, there are 5 (was it 4?) aspects directly associated with plants, not to mention healing and permutatio. If Azanor wants to have essentia/aura centered around areas/features of interest (a good thing, as it encourages exploring), then he should probably limit them, the aspects, to several broad categories. You now have my expressed permission to ponder a deep philosophical conundrum: what is the difference between the tree and the leaves aspects? Couldn't we bunch about eight or more of the aspects into the broader category of "life?"
specific ideas:
-Life: Deals with the force that keeps all creatures from falling apart.
-Death: The opposite of life or sometimes the technique of removing life from others. Please please please add necromancy and also vamparism!
-Nature: Kiss a cow! Hug a tree! Now make the tree go punch the cow! This aspect would deal with the natural order of things and how to bend pre-existing things to your will. I have always wanted to be able to transform in a minecraft mod. Why let the Saiyans hog all the fun? Lycanthropy (werewolves) can be fun to transform into. There should be some other uses for this aspect/tech tree. Maybe a spell to sense minerals?
-Chaos: In the immortal words of the Brood-War Dark Archon, "With real power burn that put demon hunter to shame!" Harness raw energy and inflict abhorrent mutations upon others and yourself in the hopes of gaining more power (or just for lols).
-Sorcery: Summon spirits and manipulate the wind to carry you through the air, or just to boost your blast furnace. ps: I miss the magic carpet
-Eldritch: Loved this one from TC2. Basically, include all the stuff that was too horrific for man to comprehend. Or Google Image "eldritch abomination."
Spell Casting: Although Azanor has done an outstanding job with the new items, I like his idea of making spells and casting them through your basic wand (or staff) using essentia. There should still be certain items, and I love the mystical constructs like the infernal furnace, but certain items could go in favor of spells. I personally like the idea of doing some things through your own power. Adding spells would make it easier to keep your inventory clear of clutter and would certainly add a more adventurous RPG feeling to the game. With the addition of spell casting, it would be easy to group like spells by aspect and tech tree. The idea of the multiple manna pools based on each type of essentia is certainly interesting and I thing, good. In my comic, the characters cast by absorbing raw magic and (hopefully) guiding it to their will. Just be careful not to absorb too much (poor poor Aurora ahhhhhhHHHHH BOOM) . Magic is a wild thing that should have severe facial scaring among other consequences for misguiding. I just hope Azanor is careful to make it not too annoying to gather essentia and that it respawns. Maybe the area/node/landmark that you are in/around gives you bonuses or causes your essentia of that type to replenish quicker, which would make aspect-specialization easier (hopefully gonna role-play a shaman-necromancer). These are just a few of my ideas. Please consider them for the mod. Azanor, I am sure the next update will be great; yours always are. Whatever you decide will be boss!
what i would like to see would be more usage of arcane block types
having to build structure with it wehre i need to research specific items to advance.
lets say you keep the same research table, but instead putting items for a recepie, your doing research on a specific subject, like fire, water or any other element. once a item or set of knowledge is discovered it gives you en bookcase with that aspect. once place near the research table it gives you a boost in power to further research that branch.
you could find the basic schematics from TC villagers or dungeon chest, to promote exploration and villager interaction.
at the end of each branch, you could unlock a aspect node, making you able to fully use that aspect in its radius. meaning that on servers, one would hide his research facilities so others woudnt find them, making googles of revealing and maybe warded stone to block against it a big plus
also for mage clothing, if you put spells or magic wands, it could reduce magic damage with low physical damage resistance ( like leather or worse) again making server play with your mod a bit more chalenging
im quite statisfied with the reach tbh. if i put a bunch of good enchanted tools in there, it digs a pretty deep tunnel. since it gets its modifiers from enchantments on the items you put in there, i dont think its going to need extra upgrades in that area.
maybe it could just dig faster with bellows attached. that way, tools wouldnt run out that fast either, before the tunnel is completed.
the only thing that bugs me, is that the maintenance costs are pretty huge.
if the vanilla redstone system wasnt so horrible, i would probably just build a timer to have it run for a limited time, when i activate it. (i know a way to do it with dispensers and pressure plates, but setting it up all the time would be a major nuissance)
probbaly going to have to get red power 2 for that.
I'm good with the reach as well. It was just the most common upgrade I could think of for an example.
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.
Omg I love these new ideas you are having! It would make this mod so much better! The only thing I'm worried about is the spell casting from the one wand, one way I would do it would be to have a hot bar on the side of the screen with different spells, controlled by default by the arrow keys? And possibly a spell inventory? With the s button as the hotkey? Just putting ideas out there
TC Essences reduction/Essence Classification
Volitio, Vacuous, Aura, Motus – Air
Rock, Dirt – Earth
Ignis, Fractus, Lux – Fire
Apple, Poison, Lignum, herba, ect. – Plant
Malus, Precantio, and Flux – Sorcerous
Gelum, Aqua, Purify, Vitreus – Water
Wolf, Bat, Pannus, Corpus – Wild
Mechanis, Potentia, Metallum, Carus – Machine
Armor, Telum, Instrumentum, Anvil – Modification
Alienis, Mortus, Sonus, Chronos, Draconus – Mystery
Transmutations
2 Instrumentum + 10 Fractus = 12 Telum (since both are inexpensive, I don’t see a need to reduce the output)
20 Vacuous + 20 Malus = 10 Alienis
Metallum + Potentia = Magnetic
Corpus + Plant (any) = Apple
Wild (any) + Malum = Mortus
Air (any) + Aqua = Potentia
30 Metallum + 30 Purify = 10 Carus
15 Malus + 15 Carus = 20 Draconis (but only if there is no Mortus, otherwise it turns into 30 Flux)
Time Delay Mechanic
Okay, I think I’ve come up with a way to modify time so that it’s easier than...y’know, WAITING...without being straight-up cheating once you get it. To use it, you would need to put some sort of magical resource into a machine that modifies time. BUT it’s not a time machine; it can only control the rate at which time flows. Putting Time Essence (or whatever) into one of the slots makes time run faster; puttin it into the other slows time down. If you make the machine redstone controlled, you could use some clever wiring to make a mechanism that slows time down during the day and speeds it up during the night, or vice versa. The only caveat to this method is that if the player tried to use any other method of modifying time (like beds or through creative mode commands), he gets whammed with some terrible effect (high level Slowness, anyone?)
Wand of Power (upgrade from Lightning) – You have discovered a way to supply power to various machines using the essences within your own body. Simply point the wand at an appropriate input for power (like the Charging Stand or the Van de Graph generator) and hold right click to fire a special bolt of power, which can be converted by various machines into electrical power. When the device is not capable of accepting any more electricity, some of the energy will feed back into you, shocking and progressively damaging you for half a heart [as a very evident sign that you’ve hit the limit of what the system can take]. Note that some aspects, such as Aqua and Fractus, provide noticibly less power per essence than rarer ones, like Carus or Alienis, and Potentia provides the most amount of EU/MJ/amperage-or-whatever-the-hell-Eloraam-uses-in-RP2 per essence.
Wand of Scalding (upgrade from Ice) – This wand behaves in much the same way as the Wand of Fire, spraying a stream of scalding hot water outwards. Unlike the Wand of Fire, however, the particles from this wand can actually put out fires and turn lava into obsidian.
Arcane Caster – An upgrade to the Arcane Bore that is capable of accepting any wand and casting any spell. Instead of draining essence from your body, it can draw directly from the Aura instead. Be warned, though; keeping this machine on constantly will quickly deplete the environment and cause bad effects rather quickly. It is best to turn this on only when needed. The arcane caster also must be aimed at a specific block using a base wand; that way, if you have something like the Wand of Excavation or the Wand of Stone, you can pick one block without ruining your entire base. You can also control who has acess to these using Iron or Gold Keys.
Charging Stand – A holder meant to be used in conjunction with the Wand of Power. Its simple crafting recipe (3,4,6,7,9 stick, 5 wood plank/halfstep) means tha it can be constructed and deployed in the field with relatively little effort. It can hold items like batteries, Redstone Energy Cells, Laptron crystals, or their UE and Factorization equivalents; things that can accept some form of electrical energy. Use the Wand of Power on this stand to charge the item held within; though it’s meant to let you recharge your tools while away from your base, it can also be used in conjunction with the Arcane Caster and Buildcraft/Redpower2 to make a recharging station inside your home base.
Thaumic Charger – By making a 7x7 pyramid of Arcane Stone + placing a gold block on top, you can use your wand to create a charger that can recharge Thaumcraft tools and devices with the Wand of Recharging. The lower down on the pyramid the point you aim at is, the faster the device inside the charger repairs, but the Wand of Recharging you’re using deteriorates just as quickly.
Van de Graph Generator – a multi-block structure that can both accept and receive electricity. It is a sphere made of iron sitting on top of a tube of...something. Firing the Wand of Charging at the sphere will create electricity, which can be extracted out the bottom with wood conductive pipes, orange redstone conduits, or any type of wire. You can also feed any type of power in and construct another Van de Graph nearby; the power will arc from one generator to the other, allowing for power conversion between different mods. (though at a small loss – 10%, say?)
Liquid Crucible – The basic Thaumcraft crucible is capable of breaking down solid items into their component essences. In the same way, the Liquid Crucible can convert liquids into essences. There are two modes to this block; Fill, which will fill up the crucible’s internal storage of fluid and wait until a device like the Stone Table needs it (at which point the essence that is available will be used and the liquid destroyed), and Discharge, which will attempt to spill essences out into adjacent alembics as soon as it receives enough liquid to process. The interesting thing about this mechanic is that liquids could have a fractional amount of essences per bucket – 1 1/3rd Ignis per bucket, perhaps – so it gives you an advantage to craft this item if you’re producing/using that liquid or essence in bulk.
Wand of Calling – When used, this wand produces a beam in the direction you were pointing in and a hynotic sound, which will freeze the mob or player in it for several seconds. This beam can be seen even by players who are beyond the usual visual range of these sorts of things, though it will attract every single mob in a sizable sphere around you. It can also be used in an Arcane Caster as a beacon; if you wire the Arcane Caster correctly, only people who have the correct key can see this beam.
Rod of the Seven Seas – a fishing pole upgraded with a bunch of Water Essence. It has a much higher durability than the vanilla rod, it takes no additional durability damage from catching and reeling in mobs, and when you fish with it like a normal rod, it has a chance of catching random items from the bottom of the ocean/lake, including discarded vials with essentia still in them, old iron tools, partially completed research notes, nearly-drained wands, and more. Some of these found items could be researched to find out what sort of enchantments/modifcations were made to them.
Archeologist’s Trowel – A small shovel that moves 20% slower than an iron shovel. Like the Rod of the Seven Seas, it has a chance to uncover rare artifacts that will aid you in your research (though it is a much lower chance than the Fishing Rod, to balance out the fact that one could easily – though tediously – place and redig the same soil). To counter cheaters, the dirt block must be surrounded by all-natural blocks – air, stone, ores, other dirt, or things that generate as part of a recognized structure – so you can’t just have a Deployer doing all the placing while you do all the digging. The chance of getting an artifact (and getting a better artifact) is higher if you’re digging next to a generated structure, like a village, a jungle temple, a stronghold, a TC barrow, or a mineshaft. It can also be used to break mossy cobble or brick (at the speed of a wood pickaxe); the sucess rate goes up considerably, but the mossy block drops as regular cobblestone or brick, and again, you can’t have non-natural blocks in the area. Also, you’ll have a better chance of getting something if you do it inside a generated structure, so it’s best to have a portal to a mineshaft or something.
I know that there’s probably an exploit or a mod trick to get mossy blocks easier, but that’s why there’s the natural block clause. It may be a bit cheap, but it’s not like you can have a nearly-automated set-up; you have to place the block by hand, you have to break it by hand, and you have to do it at the speed of a wooden pickaxe.
Wand of Recharging [Upgrade to Equal Trade] – A wand that draws aspects out of the environment and into your body faster than normal, at the cost of hunger or health. It has a slightly different use in the Arcane Caster; it can identify any source of aspects that the Stone Table can recognize, such as those in a cauldron or those stored in Warded Jars, and release them into the environment to be used by other wands.
Wand of Stone [upgraded Excavation] – On each right-click, it picks up the block you were looking at when you right-clicked, up to a maximum of five, which then revolve and orbit around you like Mario Kart shells (even if you switch from the wand to something else). These blocks will break when a mob hits them; you can either keep them around you as a sort of shield (though the blocks will shatter upon impact with a solid surface), or throw them at an enemy with a left-click of the wand. If you throw a block against a dirt, sand, or other soft, shovel-able block, it will stick and transform back into a block instead of shattering – a useful method of transporting things like spawners and chests if Portal Gun is not installed. Keep in mind that some fragile blocks, like glass and crystal clusters, will shatter regardless. [alt, the no-shatter clause could be an upgrade for the wand]. When used in the Arcane Caster, it will always try to pick up a block in a particular spot first, enabling you to use a RP2 Deployer to make a cannon. The wand will try to grab up to 5 blocks; once the redstone power is cut, it will throw those one at a time in the direction the caster is facing. [Additional feature; perhaps multiple Casters could be chained to make a ring of rocks that encircles all the casters, making Stone Shields an actual thing?]
Wisp Bait – You have discoverd that wisps are attracted to magic. Specifically, to the same essences that they are composed of. They will tend to congregate around anything that has the same essence in a form that the Stone Table can use – crucibles, jars, ect. – and, if they are allowed to, slowly consume that essence. This mechanic lets you build devices and mob traps that can capture Mutatio and Animus, and also makes defending your base harder (since the place where you store all of your essences in jars is probably the same place where you do all of your magic + generate all of your flux). Note that all wisps are attracted to Animus, but also note that having twenty different wisps consuming one type of essence will drain that aspect quicker than letting twenty differnt wisps consume their own element. Liquid Crucibles are great for this, as you can control exactly how much essence you want available to the wisps at one time.
Buff Golem – This golem is extra strong – so strong, in fact, that he can pick up entire chests or barrels full of stuff for transport to different locations. Placing him on an inventory activates him; he will then pick up that chest or barrel and follow you around. Be warned; he is much slower than you are, so finding a portal or some other way of moving around is preferrable to walking.
Wall Jump augment – When you are facing a wall and jump in mid-air, you will jump as if you were on solid ground. [Hopefully, this is like Megaman’s wall jump, where you can continue to chain this as needed.] Also might gain the ability to jump on mob’s heads to damage them.
Fling augment – When you try to block with a weapon or tool that can block, you instead fling yourself forward [basically, Sword of Winds from TC2; that was a fun toy]
Arcing augment – makes the Wand of Lightning and the Wand of Power arc from the main target to a secondary target, damaging or powering that target as well. The aspect use is the same as it would be to damage both targets normally. Useful for large groups of enemies, or quickly charging banks of Charging Stands
Aspect upgrades;
Visum – Dig 5x5; See further back into the wall or display more than one aspect; detect and cut wood blocks on a diagonal with the Elemental Axe (increasing the amount of Twilight Forest Logs you can harvest by staring at one block for five minutes); increased range on most wands
Aura – Speed increase on everything
Vacuous – Everything becomes more powerful, but items generated from a block drop or a mob kill have a chance to be deleted from the world. Spade can dig 3x3x2, pickaxe can mine obsidian and harder materials from other mods, sword and other damaging items can kill mobs faster, ect.
Earth – The pickaxe of the core, the mining wands, the Sword of Four Winds, and the spade all gain the ability to harvest additional pieces of metal per block destroyed/mob killed.
Ignis – Pickaxe, Spade, and Excavation/Equal Trade have the chance of auto-smelting items; this stacks with the Pickaxe’s chance of generating ore clusters
Motus – When you fire a wand like the Wand of Fire, you get pushed back in the other direction. You can use this mechanic to fly (though with a great deal of difficulty, as you can’t see where you’re going.)
It would be cool if you could find different items around in the world, in dungeons or such, that let you skip ahead in your research.
Hello. My account name is VileAmpersand. I have been with Minecraft since before doors and spider jockeys. I have seen Thaumcraft morph and grow since its first release, always staying tied as my favorite mod (other is TwilightForest). I have played most major mods that exist. I am usually content to see other people discussing (or hurling homophobic slurs at each other), but this topic is enough to make me create a forums account. I put some time and much thought into this, so please read on. Enough with the ethos, let's get to ideas.
Research: I like the idea of a new research system. The current system is a decent improvement from the last, but can be a bit annoying to gather some mob drops required for certain aspects, as mobs respawn at a dismal crawl. I am sure that I am not alone here when I say that I have become bleary eyed and comatose from staring at the crafting GUI for so long pondering what aspects could possibly be related to the crystal core or if I even still possess the strength to lift myself from my chair. So if I dislike the current system, then what would I want to see more of? I want to see more adventure. One of the reasons I like TwilightForest so much, is that you explore and crash dungeons. Research shouldn't be a time when you go to your workshop and leave your golems in shock as you slit your wrists in despair, but a time when you grab your weapon of choice and go to explore the dilapidated castle of some other thaumaturge who has since died out a century ago (presumably of slit wrists). Research should be a fun activity with rewards, not a lachrymose prison filled with despair. specific ideas:
-Dream exploring: Set the alarm, focus your thoughts, and 30 seconds of illegal herbage later, you are running through an enchanted plane of reality trying to solve a puzzle before you wake up or are shaken awake by the slavering jaws of some phantasmal beast.
-Dungeon crashing: Pretty self explanatory. Don some armor, find a dungeon, solve the puzzles and kamehameha uppity minions until you locate the treasure room (or library).
-Merge with an aura node: Fuse your spirit with some magical source, be it a pool of essentia, the Tome of Unlife, an eldritch totem, or even a tree of life. Get too good at this and you might find yourself mind controlling cows as a way to kill time (and the cows).
-Look to the skies: Build a telescope and watch the stars swirl and dance overhead while you try to solve a lunar based puzzle on the pinnacle of some ancient tower.
-Rob an NPC thaumaturge: Be prepared for consequences in the form of imminent immolation.
-Study mystical creatures: Stalk a unicorn through the forest to find out if and how they plane-shift so naturally. They can, why shouldn't you?
I also like the idea of having separate tech trees, possibly per aspect, allowing you delve solely into the depths of your field of choice or to role-play as a specific flavor of wizard. Or you could grab your bandages, a new razor, and head back to the research table. "... and this one here is when it took 56 iron ingots in the form of armor essentia to research the thaumaturge's robe."
Aspects/Essentia: Saying that there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft is like saying that there are too many feral cats in latched on to your soft pudgy face. So I'm gonna say it : there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft! There are many whose sole purpose is to make one crafting recipe or another more difficult. As Azanor said earlier in this thread, there are 5 (was it 4?) aspects directly associated with plants, not to mention healing and permutatio. If Azanor wants to have essentia/aura centered around areas/features of interest (a good thing, as it encourages exploring), then he should probably limit them, the aspects, to several broad categories. You now have my expressed permission to ponder a deep philosophical conundrum: what is the difference between the tree and the leaves aspects? Couldn't we bunch about eight or more of the aspects into the broader category of "life?"
specific ideas:
-Life: Deals with the force that keeps all creatures from falling apart.
-Death: The opposite of life or sometimes the technique of removing life from others. Please please please add necromancy and also vamparism!
-Nature: Kiss a cow! Hug a tree! Now make the tree go punch the cow! This aspect would deal with the natural order of things and how to bend pre-existing things to your will. I have always wanted to be able to transform in a minecraft mod. Why let the Saiyans hog all the fun? Lycanthropy (werewolves) can be fun to transform into. There should be some other uses for this aspect/tech tree. Maybe a spell to sense minerals?
-Chaos: In the immortal words of the Brood-War Dark Archon, "With real power burn that put demon hunter to shame!" Harness raw energy and inflict abhorrent mutations upon others and yourself in the hopes of gaining more power (or just for lols).
-Sorcery: Summon spirits and manipulate the wind to carry you through the air, or just to boost your blast furnace. ps: I miss the magic carpet
-Eldritch: Loved this one from TC2. Basically, include all the stuff that was too horrific for man to comprehend. Or Google Image "eldritch abomination."
Spell Casting: Although Azanor has done an outstanding job with the new items, I like his idea of making spells and casting them through your basic wand (or staff) using essentia. There should still be certain items, and I love the mystical constructs like the infernal furnace, but certain items could go in favor of spells. I personally like the idea of doing some things through your own power. Adding spells would make it easier to keep your inventory clear of clutter and would certainly add a more adventurous RPG feeling to the game. With the addition of spell casting, it would be easy to group like spells by aspect and tech tree. The idea of the multiple manna pools based on each type of essentia is certainly interesting and I thing, good. In my comic, the characters cast by absorbing raw magic and (hopefully) guiding it to their will. Just be careful not to absorb too much (poor poor Aurora ahhhhhhHHHHH BOOM) . Magic is a wild thing that should have severe facial scaring among other consequences for misguiding. I just hope Azanor is careful to make it not too annoying to gather essentia and that it respawns. Maybe the area/node/landmark that you are in/around gives you bonuses or causes your essentia of that type to replenish quicker, which would make aspect-specialization easier (hopefully gonna role-play a shaman-necromancer). These are just a few of my ideas. Please consider them for the mod. Azanor, I am sure the next update will be great; yours always are. Whatever you decide will be boss!
Supporting most of this. I think you're placing a bit too much emphasis on dungeon-diving and puzzle-solving: it's fun and all, but there can be too much of a good thing. The key, I think, is to have a variety of research methods, preferably each with their strengths and weaknesses (for example, the current system is the fastest but requires the most resources, some other system might be very slow but require virtually no resources, etc, etc). So you're free to bleed out at your research table if that suits you, but you can also putter off and investigate that ruined tower you've been avoiding because it is absolutely crawling with spiders. Perhaps at the top of it, some thaumaturge left research notes for advanced/hidden technology? ...ooooor maybe there's just more spiders. In which case you head off and go observe a zombie attack on a village in order to gain insight into reanimation. Again, I believe it's all about having options.
Hello. My account name is VileAmpersand. I have been with Minecraft since before doors and spider jockeys. I have seen Thaumcraft morph and grow since its first release, always staying tied as my favorite mod (other is TwilightForest). I have played most major mods that exist. I am usually content to see other people discussing (or hurling homophobic slurs at each other), but this topic is enough to make me create a forums account. I put some time and much thought into this, so please read on. Enough with the ethos, let's get to ideas.
Research: I like the idea of a new research system. The current system is a decent improvement from the last, but can be a bit annoying to gather some mob drops required for certain aspects, as mobs respawn at a dismal crawl. I am sure that I am not alone here when I say that I have become bleary eyed and comatose from staring at the crafting GUI for so long pondering what aspects could possibly be related to the crystal core or if I even still possess the strength to lift myself from my chair. So if I dislike the current system, then what would I want to see more of? I want to see more adventure. One of the reasons I like TwilightForest so much, is that you explore and crash dungeons. Research shouldn't be a time when you go to your workshop and leave your golems in shock as you slit your wrists in despair, but a time when you grab your weapon of choice and go to explore the dilapidated castle of some other thaumaturge who has since died out a century ago (presumably of slit wrists). Research should be a fun activity with rewards, not a lachrymose prison filled with despair. specific ideas:
-Dream exploring: Set the alarm, focus your thoughts, and 30 seconds of illegal herbage later, you are running through an enchanted plane of reality trying to solve a puzzle before you wake up or are shaken awake by the slavering jaws of some phantasmal beast.
-Dungeon crashing: Pretty self explanatory. Don some armor, find a dungeon, solve the puzzles and kamehameha uppity minions until you locate the treasure room (or library).
-Merge with an aura node: Fuse your spirit with some magical source, be it a pool of essentia, the Tome of Unlife, an eldritch totem, or even a tree of life. Get too good at this and you might find yourself mind controlling cows as a way to kill time (and the cows).
-Look to the skies: Build a telescope and watch the stars swirl and dance overhead while you try to solve a lunar based puzzle on the pinnacle of some ancient tower.
-Rob an NPC thaumaturge: Be prepared for consequences in the form of imminent immolation.
-Study mystical creatures: Stalk a unicorn through the forest to find out if and how they plane-shift so naturally. They can, why shouldn't you?
I also like the idea of having separate tech trees, possibly per aspect, allowing you delve solely into the depths of your field of choice or to role-play as a specific flavor of wizard. Or you could grab your bandages, a new razor, and head back to the research table. "... and this one here is when it took 56 iron ingots in the form of armor essentia to research the thaumaturge's robe."
Aspects/Essentia: Saying that there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft is like saying that there are too many feral cats in latched on to your soft pudgy face. So I'm gonna say it : there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft! There are many whose sole purpose is to make one crafting recipe or another more difficult. As Azanor said earlier in this thread, there are 5 (was it 4?) aspects directly associated with plants, not to mention healing and permutatio. If Azanor wants to have essentia/aura centered around areas/features of interest (a good thing, as it encourages exploring), then he should probably limit them, the aspects, to several broad categories. You now have my expressed permission to ponder a deep philosophical conundrum: what is the difference between the tree and the leaves aspects? Couldn't we bunch about eight or more of the aspects into the broader category of "life?"
specific ideas:
-Life: Deals with the force that keeps all creatures from falling apart.
-Death: The opposite of life or sometimes the technique of removing life from others. Please please please add necromancy and also vamparism!
-Nature: Kiss a cow! Hug a tree! Now make the tree go punch the cow! This aspect would deal with the natural order of things and how to bend pre-existing things to your will. I have always wanted to be able to transform in a minecraft mod. Why let the Saiyans hog all the fun? Lycanthropy (werewolves) can be fun to transform into. There should be some other uses for this aspect/tech tree. Maybe a spell to sense minerals?
-Chaos: In the immortal words of the Brood-War Dark Archon, "With real power burn that put demon hunter to shame!" Harness raw energy and inflict abhorrent mutations upon others and yourself in the hopes of gaining more power (or just for lols).
-Sorcery: Summon spirits and manipulate the wind to carry you through the air, or just to boost your blast furnace. ps: I miss the magic carpet
-Eldritch: Loved this one from TC2. Basically, include all the stuff that was too horrific for man to comprehend. Or Google Image "eldritch abomination."
Spell Casting: Although Azanor has done an outstanding job with the new items, I like his idea of making spells and casting them through your basic wand (or staff) using essentia. There should still be certain items, and I love the mystical constructs like the infernal furnace, but certain items could go in favor of spells. I personally like the idea of doing some things through your own power. Adding spells would make it easier to keep your inventory clear of clutter and would certainly add a more adventurous RPG feeling to the game. With the addition of spell casting, it would be easy to group like spells by aspect and tech tree. The idea of the multiple manna pools based on each type of essentia is certainly interesting and I thing, good. In my comic, the characters cast by absorbing raw magic and (hopefully) guiding it to their will. Just be careful not to absorb too much (poor poor Aurora ahhhhhhHHHHH BOOM) . Magic is a wild thing that should have severe facial scaring among other consequences for misguiding. I just hope Azanor is careful to make it not too annoying to gather essentia and that it respawns. Maybe the area/node/landmark that you are in/around gives you bonuses or causes your essentia of that type to replenish quicker, which would make aspect-specialization easier (hopefully gonna role-play a shaman-necromancer). These are just a few of my ideas. Please consider them for the mod. Azanor, I am sure the next update will be great; yours always are. Whatever you decide will be boss!
Quoting this to hope Azanor reads it
I love these ideas, and I too love Twilight Forest..
One thing I would be wary of tho on a side note Azanor.. when you change aspects around, make sure it doesn't explode when used with other mods who did their best to be compatible with your by adding aspects.. Make it a whole new system maybe so they either just stop working or they can change to it in order to avoid a very long incompatibility list for two weeks
Just going to make a quick snip here to just note how annoying it was to have boats as the primary form of motus before Twilight Forest blocks got aspects, if for no other reason than they don't stack.
Just going to make a quick snip here to just note how annoying it was to have boats as the primary form of motus before Twilight Forest blocks got aspects, if for no other reason than they don't stack.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
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Azanor if you change thaumcraft in these ways it could impact thaumcraft bees with I giant fist to its stomach it would probably be better to try to keep everything close to how it was and just add on from there because as I said earlier it could impact on thaumcraft 3 addons badly
Azanor if you change thaumcraft in these ways it could impact thaumcraft bees with I giant fist to its stomach it would probably be better to try to keep everything close to how it was and just add on from there because as I said earlier it could impact on thaumcraft 3 addons badly
add on will do like borgs do.. they will adapt
lol
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
There are no country's, only one planet, no race, Only humans.
no religion only hope, no stupidity only knowledge in training.
To make it even more interesting, semi procedural spells could be implemented, such as including the fire aspect on the end of the excavation spell it might make it smelt things you break (or have a chance to), or perhaps just increase the time the spell lasts for, or the rate or power of the effect.
And to make more complicated spells more difficult the ring's speed could increase as you add more and more aspects to the spell.
Only if there is a significant negative side-effect to becoming more powerful would I agree. Progression in power is nice, but progression without its own risks is no fun.
For example, if you add too many instances of 'motus' to the ring, it should make you faster *and* nauseous. Or, you could have the ring continuously drain aura from the nearby node and replace some of it with flux. Perhaps you could also have the ring slowly bleed off its 'motus' aspects into the local aura as 'motus-flux'.
A ring of fire aspects could imbue your attacks with a chance to light enemies on fire with the chance increasing with the number of aspects. If too many aspects are added, you are periodically set on fire. These aspects might also bleed into the local aura.
A ring of life aspects would periodically imbue you with a short regeneration buff, with a shortening period between buffs with increasing life aspect. Too many, and you will have flowers sprout from your head and ears. Or, more likely, you may perhaps spawn wisps and enemies or heal nearby enemies.
tl;dr - Progression with risks. There's nothing more boring than being super-powerful with no risk and nothing to use it for.
"An optimist will tell you that your glass is half-full. A pessimist will tell you that your glass is half-empty. A process engineer will tell you that your glass is twice as large as it should be."
i was looking around my books at home and found my old EXALTED books and it made me think.
A power source for each aspect could be world generated, in the game im refering to, they call it desmens( kind of a vortex of pure essence, aka apect for TC). you tap its power by attuning to it. it gives you a low mana regen and a low rated power associated with its type ( aspect in this case) .You can build structure around it to boost that power input. the things is that small one could only have one master, and larger one could hold more but would still be limited.
this applied to a server could create mage wars and alliances around those nodes.
You could make this a rare occurance or it could be that after researching a divise to home-in on it, it would generate one. that way you keep cpu usage as low as possible. making a rule in the coding that no two nodes can spawn in a close visinity would also help to disperse player buildings ( making rails or portals a big use, for portal i would be able to live with a 3 to 5 second load screen like for the nether. making shure it has loaded my new chunks and unloaded the old one again for cpu usage)
Having to find knowledge of these hot spot ( trough research) and also having to aquire knowledge on blueprints ( villager trades or dungeon delving ) for what type of building is needed, then having to research those material... its begining to take shape.. and thats only one aspect.
also make it so some items or research can be done only at night, having to deal with monster is always a plus. for instance one could be ask to stay up 5 days in a row while harvesting leaves at knight to undertand the effet of the moon on the wood aspect...
well ill always be for exploration and world interaction.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
There are no country's, only one planet, no race, Only humans.
no religion only hope, no stupidity only knowledge in training.
@Azanor what are the odds that you'd include a node generation mode that made the auras a bit less flat and with less overall aura? So, lots of low 100-200 level nodes with some very rare 600-800 nodes dotting the world at key features. Also, some sort of 'aura jar' that you can carry on yourself to break and infuse the surrounding environment, so that you can operate items in magically dead zones? This mostly effects SSP, but even in SMP the amount of aura around with the limited uses of it is kind of self defeating... its not terribly valuable except at your own base, where it drains the fastest.
So I have been doing a lot of thinking and messing about this past week and this is what I'm thinking of doing so far.
IMPORTANT: I'm still in the design and planning stages so none of this is set in stone.
Aspects
I've both reduced the number of aspects and increased them. Whaat?!
I'm reducing the number of aspects to 8, namely Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Positive, Negative, Order, Chaos.
These are called the Primal (or Primordial) Aspects.
Taking inspiration from Pyro27 and his Doodle God idea you can then get derived aspects by combining those aspects together. For example you get Light from Positive and Fire. These combinations get more and more complex as you get continue combining these aspects. In theory the number of aspects are limitless.
However the Primal aspects are the only thing that you use to power your magical doodads and spells and when you break down items you only get primal aspects... at least initially.
Research
I'm still developing my ideas for this, but my current thinking is leaning towards the following:
I'm going to use Nitor as an example. As one of the first things you will need to research it will have a 100% chance of having all the required aspects revealed. As the researches get more complex this chance will go down.
When you open up the research table and start working on Nitor you will see that it requires 2 aspects: Light and Energy. Neither of those are Primal aspects. The player only has access to primal aspects that he has gathered (I'll reveal how in the future). He needs to combine those till he has Light and Energy. Once that is done: Ta Da! Nitor research is done.
Obviously I'm leaving out some details there, but that will be the (very basic) gist of it.
Nodes
No progress yet - until the above two is complete I can't really start redesigning them. What I can say is that nodes will probably be attuned to the primal aspects. There might be more complex nodes that have more than one primal aspect or even derived aspects. Also I'm using the word "node" very loosely. Current nodes will still exist, but the term will probably also include other objects that act as sources of aspects (obelisks, etc.)
I think you've done alot of quality thinking about what you've updated us on so far, I like what I read. I think the new aspect system will be able to retain the complexity that I think alot of us love without being too unweildy. Also, doodle god is amazing.
Perhaps that could end up being an upgrade on the tech tree. Making it more efficient, or have a longer reach. Similar to how golems can be customized.
im quite statisfied with the reach tbh. if i put a bunch of good enchanted tools in there, it digs a pretty deep tunnel. since it gets its modifiers from enchantments on the items you put in there, i dont think its going to need extra upgrades in that area.
maybe it could just dig faster with bellows attached. that way, tools wouldnt run out that fast either, before the tunnel is completed.
the only thing that bugs me, is that the maintenance costs are pretty huge.
if the vanilla redstone system wasnt so horrible, i would probably just build a timer to have it run for a limited time, when i activate it. (i know a way to do it with dispensers and pressure plates, but setting it up all the time would be a major nuissance)
probbaly going to have to get red power 2 for that.
Research: I like the idea of a new research system. The current system is a decent improvement from the last, but can be a bit annoying to gather some mob drops required for certain aspects, as mobs respawn at a dismal crawl. I am sure that I am not alone here when I say that I have become bleary eyed and comatose from staring at the crafting GUI for so long pondering what aspects could possibly be related to the crystal core or if I even still possess the strength to lift myself from my chair. So if I dislike the current system, then what would I want to see more of? I want to see more adventure. One of the reasons I like TwilightForest so much, is that you explore and crash dungeons. Research shouldn't be a time when you go to your workshop and leave your golems in shock as you slit your wrists in despair, but a time when you grab your weapon of choice and go to explore the dilapidated castle of some other thaumaturge who has since died out a century ago (presumably of slit wrists). Research should be a fun activity with rewards, not a lachrymose prison filled with despair.
specific ideas:
-Dream exploring: Set the alarm, focus your thoughts, and 30 seconds of illegal herbage later, you are running through an enchanted plane of reality trying to solve a puzzle before you wake up or are shaken awake by the slavering jaws of some phantasmal beast.
-Dungeon crashing: Pretty self explanatory. Don some armor, find a dungeon, solve the puzzles and kamehameha uppity minions until you locate the treasure room (or library).
-Merge with an aura node: Fuse your spirit with some magical source, be it a pool of essentia, the Tome of Unlife, an eldritch totem, or even a tree of life. Get too good at this and you might find yourself mind controlling cows as a way to kill time (and the cows).
-Look to the skies: Build a telescope and watch the stars swirl and dance overhead while you try to solve a lunar based puzzle on the pinnacle of some ancient tower.
-Rob an NPC thaumaturge: Be prepared for consequences in the form of imminent immolation.
-Study mystical creatures: Stalk a unicorn through the forest to find out if and how they plane-shift so naturally. They can, why shouldn't you?
I also like the idea of having separate tech trees, possibly per aspect, allowing you delve solely into the depths of your field of choice or to role-play as a specific flavor of wizard. Or you could grab your bandages, a new razor, and head back to the research table. "... and this one here is when it took 56 iron ingots in the form of armor essentia to research the thaumaturge's robe."
Aspects/Essentia: Saying that there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft is like saying that there are too many feral cats in latched on to your soft pudgy face. So I'm gonna say it : there are too many aspects in Thaumcraft! There are many whose sole purpose is to make one crafting recipe or another more difficult. As Azanor said earlier in this thread, there are 5 (was it 4?) aspects directly associated with plants, not to mention healing and permutatio. If Azanor wants to have essentia/aura centered around areas/features of interest (a good thing, as it encourages exploring), then he should probably limit them, the aspects, to several broad categories. You now have my expressed permission to ponder a deep philosophical conundrum: what is the difference between the tree and the leaves aspects? Couldn't we bunch about eight or more of the aspects into the broader category of "life?"
specific ideas:
-Life: Deals with the force that keeps all creatures from falling apart.
-Death: The opposite of life or sometimes the technique of removing life from others. Please please please add necromancy and also vamparism!
-Nature: Kiss a cow! Hug a tree! Now make the tree go punch the cow! This aspect would deal with the natural order of things and how to bend pre-existing things to your will. I have always wanted to be able to transform in a minecraft mod. Why let the Saiyans hog all the fun? Lycanthropy (werewolves) can be fun to transform into. There should be some other uses for this aspect/tech tree. Maybe a spell to sense minerals?
-Chaos: In the immortal words of the Brood-War Dark Archon, "With real power burn that put demon hunter to shame!" Harness raw energy and inflict abhorrent mutations upon others and yourself in the hopes of gaining more power (or just for lols).
-Sorcery: Summon spirits and manipulate the wind to carry you through the air, or just to boost your blast furnace. ps: I miss the magic carpet
-Eldritch: Loved this one from TC2. Basically, include all the stuff that was too horrific for man to comprehend. Or Google Image "eldritch abomination."
Spell Casting: Although Azanor has done an outstanding job with the new items, I like his idea of making spells and casting them through your basic wand (or staff) using essentia. There should still be certain items, and I love the mystical constructs like the infernal furnace, but certain items could go in favor of spells. I personally like the idea of doing some things through your own power. Adding spells would make it easier to keep your inventory clear of clutter and would certainly add a more adventurous RPG feeling to the game. With the addition of spell casting, it would be easy to group like spells by aspect and tech tree. The idea of the multiple manna pools based on each type of essentia is certainly interesting and I thing, good. In my comic, the characters cast by absorbing raw magic and (hopefully) guiding it to their will. Just be careful not to absorb too much (poor poor Aurora ahhhhhhHHHHH BOOM) . Magic is a wild thing that should have severe facial scaring among other consequences for misguiding. I just hope Azanor is careful to make it not too annoying to gather essentia and that it respawns. Maybe the area/node/landmark that you are in/around gives you bonuses or causes your essentia of that type to replenish quicker, which would make aspect-specialization easier (hopefully gonna role-play a shaman-necromancer). These are just a few of my ideas. Please consider them for the mod. Azanor, I am sure the next update will be great; yours always are. Whatever you decide will be boss!
what i would like to see would be more usage of arcane block types
having to build structure with it wehre i need to research specific items to advance.
lets say you keep the same research table, but instead putting items for a recepie, your doing research on a specific subject, like fire, water or any other element. once a item or set of knowledge is discovered it gives you en bookcase with that aspect. once place near the research table it gives you a boost in power to further research that branch.
you could find the basic schematics from TC villagers or dungeon chest, to promote exploration and villager interaction.
at the end of each branch, you could unlock a aspect node, making you able to fully use that aspect in its radius. meaning that on servers, one would hide his research facilities so others woudnt find them, making googles of revealing and maybe warded stone to block against it a big plus
also for mage clothing, if you put spells or magic wands, it could reduce magic damage with low physical damage resistance ( like leather or worse) again making server play with your mod a bit more chalenging
no religion only hope, no stupidity only knowledge in training.
I'm good with the reach as well. It was just the most common upgrade I could think of for an example.
TC Essences reduction/Essence Classification
Volitio, Vacuous, Aura, Motus – Air
Rock, Dirt – Earth
Ignis, Fractus, Lux – Fire
Apple, Poison, Lignum, herba, ect. – Plant
Malus, Precantio, and Flux – Sorcerous
Gelum, Aqua, Purify, Vitreus – Water
Wolf, Bat, Pannus, Corpus – Wild
Mechanis, Potentia, Metallum, Carus – Machine
Armor, Telum, Instrumentum, Anvil – Modification
Alienis, Mortus, Sonus, Chronos, Draconus – Mystery
Transmutations
2 Instrumentum + 10 Fractus = 12 Telum (since both are inexpensive, I don’t see a need to reduce the output)
20 Vacuous + 20 Malus = 10 Alienis
Metallum + Potentia = Magnetic
Corpus + Plant (any) = Apple
Wild (any) + Malum = Mortus
Air (any) + Aqua = Potentia
30 Metallum + 30 Purify = 10 Carus
15 Malus + 15 Carus = 20 Draconis (but only if there is no Mortus, otherwise it turns into 30 Flux)
Time Delay Mechanic
Okay, I think I’ve come up with a way to modify time so that it’s easier than...y’know, WAITING...without being straight-up cheating once you get it. To use it, you would need to put some sort of magical resource into a machine that modifies time. BUT it’s not a time machine; it can only control the rate at which time flows. Putting Time Essence (or whatever) into one of the slots makes time run faster; puttin it into the other slows time down. If you make the machine redstone controlled, you could use some clever wiring to make a mechanism that slows time down during the day and speeds it up during the night, or vice versa. The only caveat to this method is that if the player tried to use any other method of modifying time (like beds or through creative mode commands), he gets whammed with some terrible effect (high level Slowness, anyone?)
Wand of Power (upgrade from Lightning) – You have discovered a way to supply power to various machines using the essences within your own body. Simply point the wand at an appropriate input for power (like the Charging Stand or the Van de Graph generator) and hold right click to fire a special bolt of power, which can be converted by various machines into electrical power. When the device is not capable of accepting any more electricity, some of the energy will feed back into you, shocking and progressively damaging you for half a heart [as a very evident sign that you’ve hit the limit of what the system can take]. Note that some aspects, such as Aqua and Fractus, provide noticibly less power per essence than rarer ones, like Carus or Alienis, and Potentia provides the most amount of EU/MJ/amperage-or-whatever-the-hell-Eloraam-uses-in-RP2 per essence.
Wand of Scalding (upgrade from Ice) – This wand behaves in much the same way as the Wand of Fire, spraying a stream of scalding hot water outwards. Unlike the Wand of Fire, however, the particles from this wand can actually put out fires and turn lava into obsidian.
Arcane Caster – An upgrade to the Arcane Bore that is capable of accepting any wand and casting any spell. Instead of draining essence from your body, it can draw directly from the Aura instead. Be warned, though; keeping this machine on constantly will quickly deplete the environment and cause bad effects rather quickly. It is best to turn this on only when needed. The arcane caster also must be aimed at a specific block using a base wand; that way, if you have something like the Wand of Excavation or the Wand of Stone, you can pick one block without ruining your entire base. You can also control who has acess to these using Iron or Gold Keys.
Charging Stand – A holder meant to be used in conjunction with the Wand of Power. Its simple crafting recipe (3,4,6,7,9 stick, 5 wood plank/halfstep) means tha it can be constructed and deployed in the field with relatively little effort. It can hold items like batteries, Redstone Energy Cells, Laptron crystals, or their UE and Factorization equivalents; things that can accept some form of electrical energy. Use the Wand of Power on this stand to charge the item held within; though it’s meant to let you recharge your tools while away from your base, it can also be used in conjunction with the Arcane Caster and Buildcraft/Redpower2 to make a recharging station inside your home base.
Thaumic Charger – By making a 7x7 pyramid of Arcane Stone + placing a gold block on top, you can use your wand to create a charger that can recharge Thaumcraft tools and devices with the Wand of Recharging. The lower down on the pyramid the point you aim at is, the faster the device inside the charger repairs, but the Wand of Recharging you’re using deteriorates just as quickly.
Van de Graph Generator – a multi-block structure that can both accept and receive electricity. It is a sphere made of iron sitting on top of a tube of...something. Firing the Wand of Charging at the sphere will create electricity, which can be extracted out the bottom with wood conductive pipes, orange redstone conduits, or any type of wire. You can also feed any type of power in and construct another Van de Graph nearby; the power will arc from one generator to the other, allowing for power conversion between different mods. (though at a small loss – 10%, say?)
Liquid Crucible – The basic Thaumcraft crucible is capable of breaking down solid items into their component essences. In the same way, the Liquid Crucible can convert liquids into essences. There are two modes to this block; Fill, which will fill up the crucible’s internal storage of fluid and wait until a device like the Stone Table needs it (at which point the essence that is available will be used and the liquid destroyed), and Discharge, which will attempt to spill essences out into adjacent alembics as soon as it receives enough liquid to process. The interesting thing about this mechanic is that liquids could have a fractional amount of essences per bucket – 1 1/3rd Ignis per bucket, perhaps – so it gives you an advantage to craft this item if you’re producing/using that liquid or essence in bulk.
Wand of Calling – When used, this wand produces a beam in the direction you were pointing in and a hynotic sound, which will freeze the mob or player in it for several seconds. This beam can be seen even by players who are beyond the usual visual range of these sorts of things, though it will attract every single mob in a sizable sphere around you. It can also be used in an Arcane Caster as a beacon; if you wire the Arcane Caster correctly, only people who have the correct key can see this beam.
Rod of the Seven Seas – a fishing pole upgraded with a bunch of Water Essence. It has a much higher durability than the vanilla rod, it takes no additional durability damage from catching and reeling in mobs, and when you fish with it like a normal rod, it has a chance of catching random items from the bottom of the ocean/lake, including discarded vials with essentia still in them, old iron tools, partially completed research notes, nearly-drained wands, and more. Some of these found items could be researched to find out what sort of enchantments/modifcations were made to them.
Archeologist’s Trowel – A small shovel that moves 20% slower than an iron shovel. Like the Rod of the Seven Seas, it has a chance to uncover rare artifacts that will aid you in your research (though it is a much lower chance than the Fishing Rod, to balance out the fact that one could easily – though tediously – place and redig the same soil). To counter cheaters, the dirt block must be surrounded by all-natural blocks – air, stone, ores, other dirt, or things that generate as part of a recognized structure – so you can’t just have a Deployer doing all the placing while you do all the digging. The chance of getting an artifact (and getting a better artifact) is higher if you’re digging next to a generated structure, like a village, a jungle temple, a stronghold, a TC barrow, or a mineshaft. It can also be used to break mossy cobble or brick (at the speed of a wood pickaxe); the sucess rate goes up considerably, but the mossy block drops as regular cobblestone or brick, and again, you can’t have non-natural blocks in the area. Also, you’ll have a better chance of getting something if you do it inside a generated structure, so it’s best to have a portal to a mineshaft or something.
I know that there’s probably an exploit or a mod trick to get mossy blocks easier, but that’s why there’s the natural block clause. It may be a bit cheap, but it’s not like you can have a nearly-automated set-up; you have to place the block by hand, you have to break it by hand, and you have to do it at the speed of a wooden pickaxe.
Wand of Recharging [Upgrade to Equal Trade] – A wand that draws aspects out of the environment and into your body faster than normal, at the cost of hunger or health. It has a slightly different use in the Arcane Caster; it can identify any source of aspects that the Stone Table can recognize, such as those in a cauldron or those stored in Warded Jars, and release them into the environment to be used by other wands.
Wand of Stone [upgraded Excavation] – On each right-click, it picks up the block you were looking at when you right-clicked, up to a maximum of five, which then revolve and orbit around you like Mario Kart shells (even if you switch from the wand to something else). These blocks will break when a mob hits them; you can either keep them around you as a sort of shield (though the blocks will shatter upon impact with a solid surface), or throw them at an enemy with a left-click of the wand. If you throw a block against a dirt, sand, or other soft, shovel-able block, it will stick and transform back into a block instead of shattering – a useful method of transporting things like spawners and chests if Portal Gun is not installed. Keep in mind that some fragile blocks, like glass and crystal clusters, will shatter regardless. [alt, the no-shatter clause could be an upgrade for the wand]. When used in the Arcane Caster, it will always try to pick up a block in a particular spot first, enabling you to use a RP2 Deployer to make a cannon. The wand will try to grab up to 5 blocks; once the redstone power is cut, it will throw those one at a time in the direction the caster is facing. [Additional feature; perhaps multiple Casters could be chained to make a ring of rocks that encircles all the casters, making Stone Shields an actual thing?]
Wisp Bait – You have discoverd that wisps are attracted to magic. Specifically, to the same essences that they are composed of. They will tend to congregate around anything that has the same essence in a form that the Stone Table can use – crucibles, jars, ect. – and, if they are allowed to, slowly consume that essence. This mechanic lets you build devices and mob traps that can capture Mutatio and Animus, and also makes defending your base harder (since the place where you store all of your essences in jars is probably the same place where you do all of your magic + generate all of your flux). Note that all wisps are attracted to Animus, but also note that having twenty different wisps consuming one type of essence will drain that aspect quicker than letting twenty differnt wisps consume their own element. Liquid Crucibles are great for this, as you can control exactly how much essence you want available to the wisps at one time.
Buff Golem – This golem is extra strong – so strong, in fact, that he can pick up entire chests or barrels full of stuff for transport to different locations. Placing him on an inventory activates him; he will then pick up that chest or barrel and follow you around. Be warned; he is much slower than you are, so finding a portal or some other way of moving around is preferrable to walking.
Wall Jump augment – When you are facing a wall and jump in mid-air, you will jump as if you were on solid ground. [Hopefully, this is like Megaman’s wall jump, where you can continue to chain this as needed.] Also might gain the ability to jump on mob’s heads to damage them.
Fling augment – When you try to block with a weapon or tool that can block, you instead fling yourself forward [basically, Sword of Winds from TC2; that was a fun toy]
Arcing augment – makes the Wand of Lightning and the Wand of Power arc from the main target to a secondary target, damaging or powering that target as well. The aspect use is the same as it would be to damage both targets normally. Useful for large groups of enemies, or quickly charging banks of Charging Stands
Aspect upgrades;
Visum – Dig 5x5; See further back into the wall or display more than one aspect; detect and cut wood blocks on a diagonal with the Elemental Axe (increasing the amount of Twilight Forest Logs you can harvest by staring at one block for five minutes); increased range on most wands
Aura – Speed increase on everything
Vacuous – Everything becomes more powerful, but items generated from a block drop or a mob kill have a chance to be deleted from the world. Spade can dig 3x3x2, pickaxe can mine obsidian and harder materials from other mods, sword and other damaging items can kill mobs faster, ect.
Earth – The pickaxe of the core, the mining wands, the Sword of Four Winds, and the spade all gain the ability to harvest additional pieces of metal per block destroyed/mob killed.
Ignis – Pickaxe, Spade, and Excavation/Equal Trade have the chance of auto-smelting items; this stacks with the Pickaxe’s chance of generating ore clusters
Motus – When you fire a wand like the Wand of Fire, you get pushed back in the other direction. You can use this mechanic to fly (though with a great deal of difficulty, as you can’t see where you’re going.)
It would be cool if you could find different items around in the world, in dungeons or such, that let you skip ahead in your research.
Supporting most of this. I think you're placing a bit too much emphasis on dungeon-diving and puzzle-solving: it's fun and all, but there can be too much of a good thing. The key, I think, is to have a variety of research methods, preferably each with their strengths and weaknesses (for example, the current system is the fastest but requires the most resources, some other system might be very slow but require virtually no resources, etc, etc). So you're free to bleed out at your research table if that suits you, but you can also putter off and investigate that ruined tower you've been avoiding because it is absolutely crawling with spiders. Perhaps at the top of it, some thaumaturge left research notes for advanced/hidden technology? ...ooooor maybe there's just more spiders. In which case you head off and go observe a zombie attack on a village in order to gain insight into reanimation. Again, I believe it's all about having options.
Aspects
I was toying with using this image in a game I was planning years ago. MTG uses a variation on this.
So the idea for aspects is that each element has 3 aspects. One creation aspect, one destroys aspect and one insult aspect.
If you are not going to use it then maybe I'll make into a mod somehow.
Aura nodes
Is there any issue storing nodes as npc entities which cannot be selected/targeted?
Quoting this to hope Azanor reads it
I love these ideas, and I too love Twilight Forest..
One thing I would be wary of tho on a side note Azanor.. when you change aspects around, make sure it doesn't explode when used with other mods who did their best to be compatible with your by adding aspects.. Make it a whole new system maybe so they either just stop working or they can change to it in order to avoid a very long incompatibility list for two weeks
Trapdoors stack.
add on will do like borgs do.. they will adapt
lol
no religion only hope, no stupidity only knowledge in training.
Only if there is a significant negative side-effect to becoming more powerful would I agree. Progression in power is nice, but progression without its own risks is no fun.
For example, if you add too many instances of 'motus' to the ring, it should make you faster *and* nauseous. Or, you could have the ring continuously drain aura from the nearby node and replace some of it with flux. Perhaps you could also have the ring slowly bleed off its 'motus' aspects into the local aura as 'motus-flux'.
A ring of fire aspects could imbue your attacks with a chance to light enemies on fire with the chance increasing with the number of aspects. If too many aspects are added, you are periodically set on fire. These aspects might also bleed into the local aura.
A ring of life aspects would periodically imbue you with a short regeneration buff, with a shortening period between buffs with increasing life aspect. Too many, and you will have flowers sprout from your head and ears. Or, more likely, you may perhaps spawn wisps and enemies or heal nearby enemies.
tl;dr - Progression with risks. There's nothing more boring than being super-powerful with no risk and nothing to use it for.
i was looking around my books at home and found my old EXALTED books and it made me think.
A power source for each aspect could be world generated, in the game im refering to, they call it desmens( kind of a vortex of pure essence, aka apect for TC). you tap its power by attuning to it. it gives you a low mana regen and a low rated power associated with its type ( aspect in this case) .You can build structure around it to boost that power input. the things is that small one could only have one master, and larger one could hold more but would still be limited.
this applied to a server could create mage wars and alliances around those nodes.
You could make this a rare occurance or it could be that after researching a divise to home-in on it, it would generate one. that way you keep cpu usage as low as possible. making a rule in the coding that no two nodes can spawn in a close visinity would also help to disperse player buildings ( making rails or portals a big use, for portal i would be able to live with a 3 to 5 second load screen like for the nether. making shure it has loaded my new chunks and unloaded the old one again for cpu usage)
Having to find knowledge of these hot spot ( trough research) and also having to aquire knowledge on blueprints ( villager trades or dungeon delving ) for what type of building is needed, then having to research those material... its begining to take shape.. and thats only one aspect.
also make it so some items or research can be done only at night, having to deal with monster is always a plus. for instance one could be ask to stay up 5 days in a row while harvesting leaves at knight to undertand the effet of the moon on the wood aspect...
well ill always be for exploration and world interaction.
no religion only hope, no stupidity only knowledge in training.
IMPORTANT: I'm still in the design and planning stages so none of this is set in stone.
Aspects
I've both reduced the number of aspects and increased them. Whaat?!
I'm reducing the number of aspects to 8, namely Air, Earth, Fire, Water, Positive, Negative, Order, Chaos.
These are called the Primal (or Primordial) Aspects.
Taking inspiration from Pyro27 and his Doodle God idea you can then get derived aspects by combining those aspects together. For example you get Light from Positive and Fire. These combinations get more and more complex as you get continue combining these aspects. In theory the number of aspects are limitless.
However the Primal aspects are the only thing that you use to power your magical doodads and spells and when you break down items you only get primal aspects... at least initially.
Research
I'm still developing my ideas for this, but my current thinking is leaning towards the following:
I'm going to use Nitor as an example. As one of the first things you will need to research it will have a 100% chance of having all the required aspects revealed. As the researches get more complex this chance will go down.
When you open up the research table and start working on Nitor you will see that it requires 2 aspects: Light and Energy. Neither of those are Primal aspects. The player only has access to primal aspects that he has gathered (I'll reveal how in the future). He needs to combine those till he has Light and Energy. Once that is done: Ta Da! Nitor research is done.
Obviously I'm leaving out some details there, but that will be the (very basic) gist of it.
Nodes
No progress yet - until the above two is complete I can't really start redesigning them. What I can say is that nodes will probably be attuned to the primal aspects. There might be more complex nodes that have more than one primal aspect or even derived aspects. Also I'm using the word "node" very loosely. Current nodes will still exist, but the term will probably also include other objects that act as sources of aspects (obelisks, etc.)