And I still can't figure out what's wrong with my wiki account.. The support team said I still need to confirm my e-mail, but I've confirmed it multiple times using different confirmation codes that were sent to me, but alas, it's still not confirmed. Sadface
First off, love the mod. It is really obvious the hard work that went into it. The magic levels, the mana that you get and the way you get spells and their costs are all very balanced and dynamic.
However, dying is very punishing. You can go from an extreamly powerful wizard to a nobody in seconds simply because of a creeper explosion or a misplaced step. I understand the aim, since dying should have a punishment aside from losing a spell book that can be easily replaced. But there needs to be a way to level up your magic better so that dying doesn't cause you to go back to your mob spawner to grind your levels.
I was thinking about something with the Nexus. It is a way to break down items into their base magic essence to use in magic blocks, but what if you could take the power it had and infuse yourself with it, converting the power it holds into EXP, so that you can easily gain at least a few levels depending on the ammount of power you had. Of course this would quickly drain the Nexus as the power to exp ratio should be rather high so it can't be abused, it should be there for a quick charge after dying so you can more easily get back on your feet magic wise without going through the tedium of grinding a mob trap.
First off, love the mod. It is really obvious the hard work that went into it. The magic levels, the mana that you get and the way you get spells and their costs are all very balanced and dynamic.
However, dying is very punishing. You can go from an extreamly powerful wizard to a nobody in seconds simply because of a creeper explosion or a misplaced step. I understand the aim, since dying should have a punishment aside from losing a spell book that can be easily replaced. But there needs to be a way to level up your magic better so that dying doesn't cause you to go back to your mob spawner to grind your levels.
I was thinking about something with the Nexus. It is a way to break down items into their base magic essence to use in magic blocks, but what if you could take the power it had and infuse yourself with it, converting the power it holds into EXP, so that you can easily gain at least a few levels depending on the ammount of power you had. Of course this would quickly drain the Nexus as the power to exp ratio should be rather high so it can't be abused, it should be there for a quick charge after dying so you can more easily get back on your feet magic wise without going through the tedium of grinding a mob trap.
It is a set five levels, so it's not too punishing when you're really high level, and it can be changed in the config file.
I gotta say, it's hard to know what is offered by this mod, beyond the obvious. The wiki seems to have *most* aspects listed (f.e. - still can't find any information on how to craft a keystone - no recipe on that page, which I only found through another search to find gateway after a previous search to find keystone receptacle ><) but a lot of content isn't linked somewhere it can be found without using the search function; however, searching requires knowing what to search in the first place. Someone with authority to link all those loose pages to their respective sections (items, blocks, spells, etc.) on the main page would be a winner in my book.
And on to my question! Just a bit of digression first =P
-How do you harness energy from a dark nexus? I set one up, but I can't for the life of me manage to link it to an essence conduit chain. All the conduits have colored crystals and are in range of both the nexus and my machines, so I'm obviously missing something here.
Actually, the thing I would like to see most on the wiki (besides a clearer explanation of Keystones) from someone "in the know" would be a clearer explanation of how this deficit thing works. The way it's presented on the wiki makes it sound like conduits are bound to always explode eventually. But I guess there are bigger fish to fry atm.
(f.e. - still can't find any information on how to craft a keystone - no recipe on that page, which I only found through another search to find gateway after a previous search to find keystone receptacle ><)
Actually, the thing I would like to see most on the wiki (besides a clearer explanation of Keystones) from someone "in the know" would be a clearer explanation of how this deficit thing works. The way it's presented on the wiki makes it sound like conduits are bound to always explode eventually. But I guess there are bigger fish to fry atm.
Essence/Deficit is actually one of the most complicated yet simple systems in Ars Magica. Here is my attempt to explain it as best I can:
General Notes of Deficit:
Deficit is created in general when more power is requested from a power interaction block than it has. It will search for another source of power (either a nexus, or another conduit with a known path to the nexus), and request it from there in order to serve the power up. Currently this only applies to conduits as they are the only block that is capable of providing power other than the nexus (but it has special rules and cannot build deficit).
By default, an essence conduit is capable of shedding 0.5 deficit per tick, or 20 deficit per second. All power being requested through the conduit creates an equal amount of deficit that is continually shed by the conduit at this rate. So if 10 essence is requested from a block, the conduit will build 10 deficit per second, but is able to shed 20, so it's fine. If more power is being pulled through the conduit than it is capable of shedding naturally, it will begin to build deficit.
Each block that requests power requests it at a rate of n per second. Base is 10/second, certain blocks like the gateway are at 100/second by default. Some blocks allow charge foci to be placed in them, which alters the rate at which they charge - this puts an equal strain on any conduits as well. The effects of charge foci in the blocks that allow them vary from block to block, but it's roughly a multiplicative 30% increase per focus on average, and they do stack (multiple slots will stack, not multiple foci in a single slot - only the first one matters).
Combining all endpoints' power draw together will allow you to calculate how much total draw per second, and therefore how much deficit per second will be generated.
It's also worth noting that applying a redstone signal to a conduit will immediately stop it from providing power, but still allowing it to shed deficit, which means it can catch up, or cool down. The more deficit a conduit has, the more the color will shift to red, and it will begin to smoke. So there are visual cues as well, in case you don't have sense energy handy.
Managing Deficit
Deficit can be managed in one of four ways.
The first, is by placing blocks in such a way that they use different conduit paths. Not always the most efficient, but a good workaround when resources are limited.
The second, is by placing charge foci in the conduit itself. Charge foci in a conduit will decrease the amount of deficit built up. It's multiplicative as well - experiment with it to find the numbers. (mainly because I don't have the formulas in front of me ATM - this is all off the top of my head)
The third, is by instead using mana foci in the conduit itself. While charge foci decrease the deficit built up, mana foci increase the rate at which the conduit is able to shed deficit each tick. They also stack multiplicatively. Again, experiment to find the best combination. Charge and mana foci can be combined in a conduit as well; use the most effective combination for your particular situation.
The fourth is the most powerful, and is really intended for "core" lines, which may perhaps be the main channel out of a nexus, for example. This involves placing a crystal pillar right next to the conduit (or more than one, it just has to be within one block). Each crystal pillar provides an extreme boost to the amount of deficit shed per second; 400 to be exact (20 per tick) per pillar. So these are what you use when foci just aren't cutting it anymore - however, they are expensive to make, and are not intended to be commonly required for most simple setups. Something like a gateway central station however may require several of these. Technically, you could fit 26 crystal pillars around a single conduit with each adjacent block to the conduit being filled by a crystal pillar.
Currently, the only negative effect of deficit is that the block can explode. I'm not sure if I want to have any other ill effects, or just keep it simple.
Thanks. Hopefully someone can copy/paste that into the wiki under deficit or something.
While I'm sure there are a billion different ways to add more detrimental effects that would probably be overcomplicated and a PITA in general, maybe they could just set off a random negative spell effect or something? With some range in just how bad the effect is due to the random nature, that could be fun. IE, things like summoning hostile shadows or causing a meteor jump explosion, etc on the "more annoying" end, and things like setting off the spell to create a water source or porting you to the nether on the "annoying, but less so" end. Relatively simple - or so I imagine, since there is already a Caster block - and more fun than boring old explosions!
I have a couple ideas for fairly simple deficit effects.
Idea 1:
A block with a certain amount of deficit slowly drains your mana while you're near it, and the rate of drain is higher with more deficit.
Idea 2:
For every 3 points of deficit in an Energy Conduit, one point of Essence is lost passing through the conduit.
I.e Say you have conduits channeling power from a nexus to some block that requires just enough essence to build one point of deficit a tick. So, 21 Essence per second. The Nexus is giving that 21 per second, but after a bit of deficit builds up, the Nexus is forced to expend more power because the conduits have deficit. Say you have three conduits, all three have three deficit, meaning it loses 3 Essence on the way to the powered block, so the Nexus has to provide 24 Essence per tick. Note that the extra Essence expended wouldn't count toward building deficit.
Well if anyone knows how to get conduits to work with a dark nexus and wants to share, that would be awesome. And win.
On a side note, the Magic Fabricator can't be removed once placed. Left click opens the GUI same as the standard right click does. I had to blow mine up with TNT when I remodeled my tower.
By default, an essence conduit is capable of shedding 0.5 deficit per tick, or 20 deficit per second. All power being requested through the conduit creates an equal amount of deficit that is continually shed by the conduit at this rate. So if 10 essence is requested from a block, the conduit will build 10 deficit per second, but is able to shed 20, so it's fine. If more power is being pulled through the conduit than it is capable of shedding naturally, it will begin to build deficit.
I hate to say it, but the math doesn't match up... 0.5 per tick = 10 per second as there are 20 ticks per second (at most)
I hate to say it, but the math doesn't match up... 0.5 per tick = 10 per second as there are 20 ticks per second (at most)
Yep, you're correct. I was right on the formula but not right on the total output. It is 10 deficit per second. That's what I get for posting when I should be sleeping.
Well if anyone knows how to get conduits to work with a dark nexus and wants to share, that would be awesome. And win.
On a side note, the Magic Fabricator can't be removed once placed. Left click opens the GUI same as the standard right click does. I had to blow mine up with TNT when I remodeled my tower.
I fixed the fabricator bug for the next release.
Your dark nexus has to be charged up first. Check the wiki on it.
To anyone looking for info on the wiki - it's there, it's all there, go to recent changes and select to view as many possible, scroll down the list and the keystone page is there and many others not found through the menus. It's a matter of making headings for the info.
An idea for a spell - Embolden (or whatever) Pet - changes a pet into a super pet - increases health, speed, resistance, damage, etc; increases visual size and appearance, adds AI to pets that gets better with level - 3 min on weak casting, 10 min on normal, and on augmented permanent and introduces a levelling system for cats and wolves at augmented (Panther for Dark Mages and Dire wolves for Light are my suggestions)
So to explain that easier - Embolden Pet - weak casting
- lasts 3 minutes
- pets do double damage, have double health, lv 1 resistance to everything, 1.5 X faster,
- slightly smarter AI
- change in visual appearance - wolves get larger, furrier, angrier looking, possibly a bluish shimmer effect? Cats turn into wolf sized panther, possibly a purple shimmer effect
- special abilities - Pack Mentality - when more than one wolf, be it dire or normal, are following you and you encounter an enemy the pack leader (highest lv Dire Wolf or first made one, which ever is more applicable) will confront it head on while any other wolves in the pack will circle around it and attack it from the back and sides for more damage done.
- Stealth Kill - Panthers are able to climb and when possible will stick to trees rather than being on the ground - when an enemy is sighted the panther will crouch, turn invisible and pounce on it's prey for massive damage 10X (this is to compensate for it being solitary, where as the wolves will be able to accumulate that amount due to numbers)
- Oh, and saddles. You can put one on your pet to ride, will be returned to player upon return to normal, or death of pet.
Normal casting
- lasts 10 minutes
- health, damage, resistance, etc are 2 X as strong
- better AI (not sure what to do for that, but pets are pretty dumb, if a slight change could be made to make them less "dumb" that'd be awesome).
- All else remains the same except pets now gain the ability to cast feather fall automatically if falling from a large height.
Augmented Casting! - the change is now permanent and opens up the option to level up your pets to give them more power, open up abilities, and other cool things. 10 levels.
- pets gain .5 damage, resistance to everything, speed, etc per level - so at lv 10 they'll do 5 more damage
- slightly smarter AI per level, accumulative
- Every two levels the pet gains the ability to cast a new spell, can switch them up for each beast, this is just a suggested list
lv 2 - feather fall
lv 4 - agility
lv 6 - magic shield
lv 8 - drain life
lv 10 - one of the bolt spells or reflect magic
Yep, you're correct. I was right on the formula but not right on the total output. It is 10 deficit per second. That's what I get for posting when I should be sleeping.
I fixed the fabricator bug for the next release.
Your dark nexus has to be charged up first. Check the wiki on it.
You mean things have to die in it. I'd set mine up in an enclosed space with a Thaumcraft 3 node inside, and had several dozen wisps being toasted by the nexus. Sense energy showed 40-50k essence, so it had plenty of charge to power my calefactor. Still wasn't actually sending energy through the conduits though.
22 years old. Doctor Who nerd.
22 years old. Doctor Who nerd.
However, dying is very punishing. You can go from an extreamly powerful wizard to a nobody in seconds simply because of a creeper explosion or a misplaced step. I understand the aim, since dying should have a punishment aside from losing a spell book that can be easily replaced. But there needs to be a way to level up your magic better so that dying doesn't cause you to go back to your mob spawner to grind your levels.
I was thinking about something with the Nexus. It is a way to break down items into their base magic essence to use in magic blocks, but what if you could take the power it had and infuse yourself with it, converting the power it holds into EXP, so that you can easily gain at least a few levels depending on the ammount of power you had. Of course this would quickly drain the Nexus as the power to exp ratio should be rather high so it can't be abused, it should be there for a quick charge after dying so you can more easily get back on your feet magic wise without going through the tedium of grinding a mob trap.
It is a set five levels, so it's not too punishing when you're really high level, and it can be changed in the config file.
And on to my question! Just a bit of digression first =P
-How do you harness energy from a dark nexus? I set one up, but I can't for the life of me manage to link it to an essence conduit chain. All the conduits have colored crystals and are in range of both the nexus and my machines, so I'm obviously missing something here.
actually the recipe is there.
To be fair, it was not there when s/he looked for it. I posted it a few minutes ago after I saw the need. (;
peace
Plant Life, Trees, Flowers, Food and Farming! Pam's mods.
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Curse PremiumEssence/Deficit is actually one of the most complicated yet simple systems in Ars Magica. Here is my attempt to explain it as best I can:
General Notes of Deficit:
Deficit is created in general when more power is requested from a power interaction block than it has. It will search for another source of power (either a nexus, or another conduit with a known path to the nexus), and request it from there in order to serve the power up. Currently this only applies to conduits as they are the only block that is capable of providing power other than the nexus (but it has special rules and cannot build deficit).
By default, an essence conduit is capable of shedding 0.5 deficit per tick, or 20 deficit per second. All power being requested through the conduit creates an equal amount of deficit that is continually shed by the conduit at this rate. So if 10 essence is requested from a block, the conduit will build 10 deficit per second, but is able to shed 20, so it's fine. If more power is being pulled through the conduit than it is capable of shedding naturally, it will begin to build deficit.
Each block that requests power requests it at a rate of n per second. Base is 10/second, certain blocks like the gateway are at 100/second by default. Some blocks allow charge foci to be placed in them, which alters the rate at which they charge - this puts an equal strain on any conduits as well. The effects of charge foci in the blocks that allow them vary from block to block, but it's roughly a multiplicative 30% increase per focus on average, and they do stack (multiple slots will stack, not multiple foci in a single slot - only the first one matters).
Combining all endpoints' power draw together will allow you to calculate how much total draw per second, and therefore how much deficit per second will be generated.
It's also worth noting that applying a redstone signal to a conduit will immediately stop it from providing power, but still allowing it to shed deficit, which means it can catch up, or cool down. The more deficit a conduit has, the more the color will shift to red, and it will begin to smoke. So there are visual cues as well, in case you don't have sense energy handy.
Managing Deficit
Deficit can be managed in one of four ways.
The first, is by placing blocks in such a way that they use different conduit paths. Not always the most efficient, but a good workaround when resources are limited.
The second, is by placing charge foci in the conduit itself. Charge foci in a conduit will decrease the amount of deficit built up. It's multiplicative as well - experiment with it to find the numbers. (mainly because I don't have the formulas in front of me ATM - this is all off the top of my head)
The third, is by instead using mana foci in the conduit itself. While charge foci decrease the deficit built up, mana foci increase the rate at which the conduit is able to shed deficit each tick. They also stack multiplicatively. Again, experiment to find the best combination. Charge and mana foci can be combined in a conduit as well; use the most effective combination for your particular situation.
The fourth is the most powerful, and is really intended for "core" lines, which may perhaps be the main channel out of a nexus, for example. This involves placing a crystal pillar right next to the conduit (or more than one, it just has to be within one block). Each crystal pillar provides an extreme boost to the amount of deficit shed per second; 400 to be exact (20 per tick) per pillar. So these are what you use when foci just aren't cutting it anymore - however, they are expensive to make, and are not intended to be commonly required for most simple setups. Something like a gateway central station however may require several of these. Technically, you could fit 26 crystal pillars around a single conduit with each adjacent block to the conduit being filled by a crystal pillar.
Currently, the only negative effect of deficit is that the block can explode. I'm not sure if I want to have any other ill effects, or just keep it simple.
I hope this sheds some light on the subject.
While I'm sure there are a billion different ways to add more detrimental effects that would probably be overcomplicated and a PITA in general, maybe they could just set off a random negative spell effect or something? With some range in just how bad the effect is due to the random nature, that could be fun. IE, things like summoning hostile shadows or causing a meteor jump explosion, etc on the "more annoying" end, and things like setting off the spell to create a water source or porting you to the nether on the "annoying, but less so" end. Relatively simple - or so I imagine, since there is already a Caster block - and more fun than boring old explosions!
Idea 1:
A block with a certain amount of deficit slowly drains your mana while you're near it, and the rate of drain is higher with more deficit.
Idea 2:
For every 3 points of deficit in an Energy Conduit, one point of Essence is lost passing through the conduit.
I.e Say you have conduits channeling power from a nexus to some block that requires just enough essence to build one point of deficit a tick. So, 21 Essence per second. The Nexus is giving that 21 per second, but after a bit of deficit builds up, the Nexus is forced to expend more power because the conduits have deficit. Say you have three conduits, all three have three deficit, meaning it loses 3 Essence on the way to the powered block, so the Nexus has to provide 24 Essence per tick. Note that the extra Essence expended wouldn't count toward building deficit.
On a side note, the Magic Fabricator can't be removed once placed. Left click opens the GUI same as the standard right click does. I had to blow mine up with TNT when I remodeled my tower.
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Curse Premium22 years old. Doctor Who nerd.
Read the title and find out...
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Curse PremiumYep, you're correct. I was right on the formula but not right on the total output. It is 10 deficit per second. That's what I get for posting when I should be sleeping.
I fixed the fabricator bug for the next release.
Your dark nexus has to be charged up first. Check the wiki on it.
An idea for a spell - Embolden (or whatever) Pet - changes a pet into a super pet - increases health, speed, resistance, damage, etc; increases visual size and appearance, adds AI to pets that gets better with level - 3 min on weak casting, 10 min on normal, and on augmented permanent and introduces a levelling system for cats and wolves at augmented (Panther for Dark Mages and Dire wolves for Light are my suggestions)
So to explain that easier - Embolden Pet - weak casting
- lasts 3 minutes
- pets do double damage, have double health, lv 1 resistance to everything, 1.5 X faster,
- slightly smarter AI
- change in visual appearance - wolves get larger, furrier, angrier looking, possibly a bluish shimmer effect? Cats turn into wolf sized panther, possibly a purple shimmer effect
- special abilities - Pack Mentality - when more than one wolf, be it dire or normal, are following you and you encounter an enemy the pack leader (highest lv Dire Wolf or first made one, which ever is more applicable) will confront it head on while any other wolves in the pack will circle around it and attack it from the back and sides for more damage done.
- Stealth Kill - Panthers are able to climb and when possible will stick to trees rather than being on the ground - when an enemy is sighted the panther will crouch, turn invisible and pounce on it's prey for massive damage 10X (this is to compensate for it being solitary, where as the wolves will be able to accumulate that amount due to numbers)
- Oh, and saddles. You can put one on your pet to ride, will be returned to player upon return to normal, or death of pet.
Normal casting
- lasts 10 minutes
- health, damage, resistance, etc are 2 X as strong
- better AI (not sure what to do for that, but pets are pretty dumb, if a slight change could be made to make them less "dumb" that'd be awesome).
- All else remains the same except pets now gain the ability to cast feather fall automatically if falling from a large height.
Augmented Casting! - the change is now permanent and opens up the option to level up your pets to give them more power, open up abilities, and other cool things. 10 levels.
- pets gain .5 damage, resistance to everything, speed, etc per level - so at lv 10 they'll do 5 more damage
- slightly smarter AI per level, accumulative
- Every two levels the pet gains the ability to cast a new spell, can switch them up for each beast, this is just a suggested list
lv 2 - feather fall
lv 4 - agility
lv 6 - magic shield
lv 8 - drain life
lv 10 - one of the bolt spells or reflect magic
22 years old. Doctor Who nerd.
You mean things have to die in it. I'd set mine up in an enclosed space with a Thaumcraft 3 node inside, and had several dozen wisps being toasted by the nexus. Sense energy showed 40-50k essence, so it had plenty of charge to power my calefactor. Still wasn't actually sending energy through the conduits though.