Hello MinecraftForum! Y'all might have seen my mods around before, but I never ended up making a thread here. So, I'm making a thread here!
This is a thread for all of my active mods, at the moment Roots, Embers, and Clarity. This list may expand in the future though...
Roots 2
Summary
Roots 2 is a druidic magic mod based around using natural forces to accomplish magical acts. It has a focus on in-world interaction, exploration, and secrets.
Getting Started
To get started in Roots 2, you will need to find an abandoned hut in the wilderness with a thatch roof like this one:
Inside, you will find a chest with some ancient books:
Open up the books for a full tutorial on how to use the mod!
Feature Pics
Several new mobs that will spawn throughout your world. Depicted here are some Deer and some Sprouts.
Mystical natural sites like Fairy Circles. The fairies will only come out at night time, to dance under the moon.
Ancient abandoned structures, like this Moonlight Circle. At midnight, a grand blue beam of moonlight will come down, and magical plants may be grown under the light.
A dazzling spellcasting system with many different varied effects. This spell, Sanctuary, repels all entities from a radius around you.
A ritual system with powerful area effects. This one, the Storm of Fire, will call down fireballs from the heavens to strike the area around it.
Download
Embers
Summary
Embers is a fusion magic and tech mod that tries to promote a hearty Dwarven lifestyle. It is based around the raw energy of the Core, called Ember, which may only be tapped near bedrock.
Getting Started
To get started with Embers, you will need to find some Ancient Golem mobs.
Kill them for their drops, until you have at least two Archaic Bricks and an Ancient Motive Core.
Use the drops to craft an Ancient Codex.
Within the Codex is contained all the information you will need to progress through the mod.
Feature Pics
A wireless Ember power system.
Lots and lots of machines.
Special armor and tools.
Powerful Ember-powered weapons.
A complex alchemy system.
Download
Clarity
Clarity is a very small mod that will decrease fog when underwater.
Embers is currently my only open-source mod: Clarity is too small for me to bother, and Roots 2 is intentionally closed-source to let me implement secret mechanics.
If you would like to poke around the code of any of my projects, even decompiling the closed-source ones, there's nothing I can or will try to do to stop you. All I ask is that if you take one of my mods and update it (or, in a recently-relevant case, do the opposite), you don't publish it publicly. I won't legally stop you, but I personally would rather you didn't do something like backdating Roots 2 to 1.10.2 -- at least, not without close communication with me, and even then I would still most likely rather not see it done at all.
I have had a pet peeve with Embers ever since the feature was added- shooting lasers at a table to do "alchemy" is like, really dumb, and not very condusive to the magic or tech themes
Especially since it doesn't even serve a recognizable purpose, it just starts an abstract ritual
I don't know if you have any plans regarding this, but if you want a totally unsolicited idea off the top of my head, you could make it shoot a crystal or something placed somewhere above the alchemy setup
It could be just an aesthetic target that starts the process, but it could also tie into the puzzle element with some sort of rotation/refraction stuff
And having a third party acting as an intermediary between the gun and the table means you'd have some infrastructure laid down if you ever wanted those lasers to have more uses outside of alchemy in the future
I have had a pet peeve with Embers ever since the feature was added- shooting lasers at a table to do "alchemy" is like, really dumb, and not very condusive to the magic or tech themes
Especially since it doesn't even serve a recognizable purpose, it just starts an abstract ritual
I don't know if you have any plans regarding this, but if you want a totally unsolicited idea off the top of my head, you could make it shoot a crystal or something placed somewhere above the alchemy setup
It could be just an aesthetic target that starts the process, but it could also tie into the puzzle element with some sort of rotation/refraction stuff
And having a third party acting as an intermediary between the gun and the table means you'd have some infrastructure laid down if you ever wanted those lasers to have more uses outside of alchemy in the future
Oh also I really love your work, 2/10 it's ok
The Beam Cannon was mostly intended as a very high energy jumpstart. Inspired by chemical reactions, where an activation energy must be exceeded for the reaction to actually occur.
It's not my favorite either, and I have a few ideas for how to change it. It's just fairly low-priority and I have a lot more stuff to work on, so revamping it gets thrown off by the wayside a bit.
Oh, and while we're on the topic, what happened to the original idea for Embers' documentation? Was it just too much work compared to a book?
It was actually easier, but I found it way less user-friendly, and lots of player responses so far agree with my assessment. A thaumonomicon-esque guide is just nice and familiar to the player. I do have some ways to make it more interesting in the future, but those will be implemented another time.
It was actually easier, but I found it way less user-friendly, and lots of player responses so far agree with my assessment. A thaumonomicon-esque guide is just nice and familiar to the player. I do have some ways to make it more interesting in the future, but those will be implemented another time.
I have had a pet peeve with Embers ever since the feature was added- shooting lasers at a table to do "alchemy" is like, really dumb, and not very condusive to the magic or tech themes
Especially since it doesn't even serve a recognizable purpose, it just starts an abstract ritual
I don't know if you have any plans regarding this, but if you want a totally unsolicited idea off the top of my head, you could make it shoot a crystal or something placed somewhere above the alchemy setup
It could be just an aesthetic target that starts the process, but it could also tie into the puzzle element with some sort of rotation/refraction stuff
And having a third party acting as an intermediary between the gun and the table means you'd have some infrastructure laid down if you ever wanted those lasers to have more uses outside of alchemy in the future
Oh also I really love your work, 2/10 it's ok
The way I see it, this is not a centralized place for complaints. This is a discussion forum for Elucent's mods where you could ask questions, discuss ideas, add-ons, or what have you. Please stop being rude about something you didn't like and try to be constructive instead.
As a reminder, this is a mod that Elucent has put his time and effort into for all to enjoy. He is not beholden to others' views on his mod though they may have different opinions of the immersion they experience. Please try to be more respectful in the future as your tone does not lend to that currently.
I personally like this way the mod functions. Having Ember focused into a molten beam of energy? Sounds pretty Dwemer-like to me. Not to mention there already are "crystal" like items on the surrounding pedestals that focus the energy. The whole alchemical process and cannon do have other uses as well. You can make infinite ores with it as well as enhance your cloak or just use the cannon to kill almost any mob/mobs. It's very powerful in the right hands.
The way I see it, this is not a centralized place for complaints. This is a discussion forum for Elucent's mods where you could ask questions, discuss ideas, add-ons, or what have you. Please stop being rude about something you didn't like and try to be constructive instead.
As a reminder, this is a mod that Elucent has put his time and effort into for all to enjoy. He is not beholden to others' views on his mod though they may have different opinions of the immersion they experience. Please try to be more respectful in the future as your tone does not lend to that currently.
I personally like this way the mod functions. Having Ember focused into a molten beam of energy? Sounds pretty Dwemer-like to me. Not to mention there already are "crystal" like items on the surrounding pedestals that focus the energy. The whole alchemical process and cannon do have other uses as well. You can make infinite ores with it as well as enhance your cloak or just use the cannon to kill almost any mob/mobs. It's very powerful in the right hands.
You get that I was being facetious by saying this was a place for complaints, right? I love the mod, and wasn't trying to force my opinion on anyone, calm down, friend.
In my view, pointing out something that I personally think could be improved on and offering easy ways to do it is about as constructive as it gets. It's okay if literally nobody other than me agrees with it, but staying silent and not offering feedback at all doesn't help anyone.
And I never criticized the alchemy system itself or what you can do with it, or even the cannon, just the particular current use of it in the process, aesthetically.
Oh so love Roots been using it from day 1 it showed up on Curseforge, Just added Embers to the server recently so I haven't had a lot of interaction with it yet. Either way just wanted to stop in and let you know how much my family and friends enjoy what you do
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"If you don't understand the bigger picture, writitng a program is difficult. That's true with any computer programming language, not just java. If you're typing code without knowing what it's about, and the code doesn't do exactly what you want it to do, then your just plain stuck." - Dr Burd
Owner/Admin of the amazing and awesome super custom modded Ninjacat Server!
Just found these two mods, these will really spice up my 1.11.2 gameplay. Thank you so much! Will you be adding cross compatibility between the two mods? Or combine them together and then add even more onto it? It all looks amazing!
Trouble with Embers in FTB Beyond 1.8 (Runs Minecraft version 1.10.2) on a server:
The Ember Bore worked briefly then stopped accepting gunpowder. It draws in coal OK but not gunpowder - not from a hopper, not from a chest with item pump and pipe. Tried using a separate chest/hopper for each item, just the coal is drawn in. The bore and mechanical core have been moved and replaced within the chunk but... no change. The Ember gauge shows more than 50% for the chunk.
After a bit of troubleshooting:
I set up the bore in and adjacent chunk with a lower Ember value and it ran fine - then I moved it back into the original chunk and it just won't run.
does anybody know any good servers that have roots, embers, astral sorcery and basically all magic mods. I really don't like using tech mods, since they make progression with magic way easier.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Join Date:
10/14/2010
Posts:
53
Member Details
So I have to say, Embers looks amazing so far. However, the codex gives descriptions of all the times in the game, but no idea how to craft any of it. I can't even figure out how to make caminite. I'm running 1.12.2.
The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Join Date:
9/13/2012
Posts:
47
Member Details
I am having problems with the ember emitter and receptor. I'm just trying to get ember from the activator to the copper cell, but for some reason, nothing is coming out. I've shift right clicked receptor in the right order and have a lever placed on top of the emitter but nothing is activating. Am I am being stupid and doing something wrong (Like not having it spaced far away enough)? Or is there some sort of issue?
I would like to say I absolutely love Embers to death. Ever since Thaumcraft went on hiatus I've needed a mod to scratch my magic steampunk-esque itch. This mod has definitely done that. I want to see this mod grow and expand and get even better. I have some critique as well as ideas which are all opinion of course. I trust the mod author to make a great mod but I'd like to spark some discussion and maybe present some ideas that invoke more creativity overall.
I would like to preface all of this by saying I have only played with the 1.11.2 version of Embers and have no experience with anything that has been added since. So if anything I say here has already been addressed please disregard it. Now despite this mod being amazing it has a long way to go. The endgame of Embers just feels left hanging to me. I'm sure Elucent is already working right now on adding more things to remedy this very problem but I'd like to throw a few of my own ideas out here and get some feedback.
I personally think that there needs to be another alloy included in the mod as either a counterpart to Dawnstone or a mid tier metal that separates out Dawnstone from the early game more. I found myself with all of the Dawnstone equipment and my personal favorite, the scorching ray, pretty soon after starting playing. Now don't get me wrong I don't want to make the mod more grindy or anything just to make Dawnstone harder to get. I do think that progression can be made smoother by making Dawnstone a bit later into the mod or making the tools require those ember clusters that you don't get until later, in their crafting recipes. The only problem then would be the endgame feels more satisfying but the mid game just seems like a lot of work to get to that point with no payoff until then, which doesn't make for super engaging progression. I think some sort of mid tier alloy could solve this and have its own equipment set that obviously is a decent bit weaker that Dawnstone but still as something that distinctly sets it apart from vanilla equipment.
The alternative idea, of a counterpart alloy to Dawnstone, is a bit more developed. Essentially I'm thinking of an alloy of iron and lead. Since its a counterpart to Dawnstone I'll refer to it as "Duskstone" (obviously I'm not great at names). I always kind of saw Dawnstone as a conductor of ember energy or infused with ember. The idea of "Duskstone" (the name is not growing on me) would be a metal that disperses ember energy. So if for instance your buddy came at you with a scorching ray and you had this armor on, it would disperse dealing far less damage. Perhaps adding in a few mobs that used ember energy as an attack would be interesting also to make the armor even more useful. Also Dawnstone is made of gold and copper which are two soft metals and wouldn't necessarily make the best armor at least conceptually (of course who knows how ember hardens it in the crafting process).
Also since Minecraft has added in shields I'm thinking we put those Inflictor Gems on the front of a tower shield made of "Duskstone" (please help me come up with a better name) and have an upgrade so you can put your Cartridge in the shield since your giving up your off hand. Alternatively if you were willing to sacrifice your cartridge you could have a different upgrade like polished Dawnstone or something that could reflect ember energy back toward something. Also you could add an upgrade that essentially put a small nozzle in the middle of the shield that shot a short wide range cone of ember cloud like a shotgun scorching ray (or a flamethrower if you will).
As far as neat gadgets go that could just spice up the mod a bit. I thought about a something I call an "Ember Torch" (I like this name a bit better) and no its not a light source. Think more like a blowtorch. Essentially concentrating ember energy so precisely that you cut through blocks but not all blocks. I'm gonna say obsidian probably wouldn't be affected by something like this. So if you've seen a plasma cutter cut through sheet metal, imagine using an "Ember Torch" to create a hole in the side of something so you could get in. You would aim it around in rough circle (I know circles in Minecraft *gasp*) and it would break the blocks that it touched and are within the circle one block deep. Its one block deep and maybe have a cooldown to prevent strip mining with it as this is meant to break through thin walls. Now to keep people from going crazy and cutting half a mountain off, there would be a gauge in the lower corner of you screen and as you hold down to use the "Ember Torch" the gauge would decrease and if you got greedy and tried to cut a massive circle the gauge would run out and fail. Failing just basically means using up your ember energy without actually cutting any blocks and perhaps some sort of overheating mechanic.
Speaking of an overheating mechanic I think that applying a concept like overheating could potentially be interesting for some items. Maybe you can allow certain blocks and items to use more ember energy than normal to work faster but aside from being less efficient they could overheat and become unusable for a short time. If your scorching ray got charged way to much it might be too hot to hold or maybe it just starts to burn you. Now this kind of mechanic would need to be carefully implemented or you risk just making an annoying flaw in most items instead of an interesting way of getting more out of the things you have already built. This could branch off into upgrades that keep overheating down, items that actually gain new traits when they overheat, and so on and so forth.
These are just a few things I had bouncing around in my head that I thought could be cool. Of course this is all just me, a fan of this mod, rambling about things I think would fit in the mod well. I'm sure lots of people disagree with some parts of this so please tell me why you disagree or if you do agree help me build on it! (especially the names) All in all I trust Elucent to do a great job in the end and I just want to discuss this great mod more.
Hello MinecraftForum! Y'all might have seen my mods around before, but I never ended up making a thread here. So, I'm making a thread here!
This is a thread for all of my active mods, at the moment Roots, Embers, and Clarity. This list may expand in the future though...
Roots 2
Summary
Roots 2 is a druidic magic mod based around using natural forces to accomplish magical acts. It has a focus on in-world interaction, exploration, and secrets.
Getting Started
To get started in Roots 2, you will need to find an abandoned hut in the wilderness with a thatch roof like this one:
Inside, you will find a chest with some ancient books:
Open up the books for a full tutorial on how to use the mod!
Feature Pics
Several new mobs that will spawn throughout your world. Depicted here are some Deer and some Sprouts.
Mystical natural sites like Fairy Circles. The fairies will only come out at night time, to dance under the moon.
Ancient abandoned structures, like this Moonlight Circle. At midnight, a grand blue beam of moonlight will come down, and magical plants may be grown under the light.
A dazzling spellcasting system with many different varied effects. This spell, Sanctuary, repels all entities from a radius around you.
A ritual system with powerful area effects. This one, the Storm of Fire, will call down fireballs from the heavens to strike the area around it.
Download
Embers
Summary
Embers is a fusion magic and tech mod that tries to promote a hearty Dwarven lifestyle. It is based around the raw energy of the Core, called Ember, which may only be tapped near bedrock.
Getting Started
To get started with Embers, you will need to find some Ancient Golem mobs.
Kill them for their drops, until you have at least two Archaic Bricks and an Ancient Motive Core.
Use the drops to craft an Ancient Codex.
Within the Codex is contained all the information you will need to progress through the mod.
Feature Pics
A wireless Ember power system.
Lots and lots of machines.
Special armor and tools.
Powerful Ember-powered weapons.
A complex alchemy system.
Download
Clarity
Clarity is a very small mod that will decrease fog when underwater.
Download
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mod Spotlights
Up-to-date:
Roots 2 by Mischief of Mice:
At least partially outdated (these are mostly about the 1.10.2 versions of my mods):
Roots by Mischief of Mice:
Roots by Rorax (very out-of-date):
Roots by Direwolf20 (very out-of-date):
Embers by Mischief of Mice:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Modpack Policy
Do whatever you want!
Code Policy
Embers is currently my only open-source mod: Clarity is too small for me to bother, and Roots 2 is intentionally closed-source to let me implement secret mechanics.
If you would like to poke around the code of any of my projects, even decompiling the closed-source ones, there's nothing I can or will try to do to stop you. All I ask is that if you take one of my mods and update it (or, in a recently-relevant case, do the opposite), you don't publish it publicly. I won't legally stop you, but I personally would rather you didn't do something like backdating Roots 2 to 1.10.2 -- at least, not without close communication with me, and even then I would still most likely rather not see it done at all.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Communication
I'm active quite a few places:
Twitter
Official Discord
GitHub
You can also reach me on CurseForge and on this forum.
Finally, a centralized place for complaints
I have had a pet peeve with Embers ever since the feature was added- shooting lasers at a table to do "alchemy" is like, really dumb, and not very condusive to the magic or tech themes
Especially since it doesn't even serve a recognizable purpose, it just starts an abstract ritual
I don't know if you have any plans regarding this, but if you want a totally unsolicited idea off the top of my head, you could make it shoot a crystal or something placed somewhere above the alchemy setup
It could be just an aesthetic target that starts the process, but it could also tie into the puzzle element with some sort of rotation/refraction stuff
And having a third party acting as an intermediary between the gun and the table means you'd have some infrastructure laid down if you ever wanted those lasers to have more uses outside of alchemy in the future
Oh also I really love your work, 2/10 it's ok
Quote from Letshavecake >>
The Beam Cannon was mostly intended as a very high energy jumpstart. Inspired by chemical reactions, where an activation energy must be exceeded for the reaction to actually occur.
It's not my favorite either, and I have a few ideas for how to change it. It's just fairly low-priority and I have a lot more stuff to work on, so revamping it gets thrown off by the wayside a bit.
That sort of makes sense, I guess
But yeah, I figured you'd be busy adding proton packs and bruce willis into roots or something, just an idea to keep in mind
Oh, and while we're on the topic, what happened to the original idea for Embers' documentation? Was it just too much work compared to a book?
It was actually easier, but I found it way less user-friendly, and lots of player responses so far agree with my assessment. A thaumonomicon-esque guide is just nice and familiar to the player. I do have some ways to make it more interesting in the future, but those will be implemented another time.
Aw, sad
The way I see it, this is not a centralized place for complaints. This is a discussion forum for Elucent's mods where you could ask questions, discuss ideas, add-ons, or what have you. Please stop being rude about something you didn't like and try to be constructive instead.
As a reminder, this is a mod that Elucent has put his time and effort into for all to enjoy. He is not beholden to others' views on his mod though they may have different opinions of the immersion they experience. Please try to be more respectful in the future as your tone does not lend to that currently.
I personally like this way the mod functions. Having Ember focused into a molten beam of energy? Sounds pretty Dwemer-like to me. Not to mention there already are "crystal" like items on the surrounding pedestals that focus the energy. The whole alchemical process and cannon do have other uses as well. You can make infinite ores with it as well as enhance your cloak or just use the cannon to kill almost any mob/mobs. It's very powerful in the right hands.
You get that I was being facetious by saying this was a place for complaints, right? I love the mod, and wasn't trying to force my opinion on anyone, calm down, friend.
In my view, pointing out something that I personally think could be improved on and offering easy ways to do it is about as constructive as it gets. It's okay if literally nobody other than me agrees with it, but staying silent and not offering feedback at all doesn't help anyone.
And I never criticized the alchemy system itself or what you can do with it, or even the cannon, just the particular current use of it in the process, aesthetically.
No need to get heated, either of you.
I overreacted to meme talk and sarcasm that was taken completely out of context. Sorry. >.<
Honestly, I'm just glad to have a concise forum topic for both Roots and Embers.
Oh so love Roots been using it from day 1 it showed up on Curseforge, Just added Embers to the server recently so I haven't had a lot of interaction with it yet. Either way just wanted to stop in and let you know how much my family and friends enjoy what you do
Just found these two mods, these will really spice up my 1.11.2 gameplay. Thank you so much! Will you be adding cross compatibility between the two mods? Or combine them together and then add even more onto it? It all looks amazing!
i am currently working with roots, but i cannot figure out for the life of me how to get the third book. can anyone help?
Trouble with Embers in FTB Beyond 1.8 (Runs Minecraft version 1.10.2) on a server:
The Ember Bore worked briefly then stopped accepting gunpowder. It draws in coal OK but not gunpowder - not from a hopper, not from a chest with item pump and pipe. Tried using a separate chest/hopper for each item, just the coal is drawn in. The bore and mechanical core have been moved and replaced within the chunk but... no change. The Ember gauge shows more than 50% for the chunk.
After a bit of troubleshooting:
I set up the bore in and adjacent chunk with a lower Ember value and it ran fine - then I moved it back into the original chunk and it just won't run.
does anybody know any good servers that have roots, embers, astral sorcery and basically all magic mods. I really don't like using tech mods, since they make progression with magic way easier.
So I have to say, Embers looks amazing so far. However, the codex gives descriptions of all the times in the game, but no idea how to craft any of it. I can't even figure out how to make caminite. I'm running 1.12.2.
Removed by ITOFAL - query answered elsewhere.
I am having problems with the ember emitter and receptor. I'm just trying to get ember from the activator to the copper cell, but for some reason, nothing is coming out. I've shift right clicked receptor in the right order and have a lever placed on top of the emitter but nothing is activating. Am I am being stupid and doing something wrong (Like not having it spaced far away enough)? Or is there some sort of issue?
Here's an image of my set up to help visualize.
I would like to say I absolutely love Embers to death. Ever since Thaumcraft went on hiatus I've needed a mod to scratch my magic steampunk-esque itch. This mod has definitely done that. I want to see this mod grow and expand and get even better. I have some critique as well as ideas which are all opinion of course. I trust the mod author to make a great mod but I'd like to spark some discussion and maybe present some ideas that invoke more creativity overall.
I would like to preface all of this by saying I have only played with the 1.11.2 version of Embers and have no experience with anything that has been added since. So if anything I say here has already been addressed please disregard it. Now despite this mod being amazing it has a long way to go. The endgame of Embers just feels left hanging to me. I'm sure Elucent is already working right now on adding more things to remedy this very problem but I'd like to throw a few of my own ideas out here and get some feedback.
I personally think that there needs to be another alloy included in the mod as either a counterpart to Dawnstone or a mid tier metal that separates out Dawnstone from the early game more. I found myself with all of the Dawnstone equipment and my personal favorite, the scorching ray, pretty soon after starting playing. Now don't get me wrong I don't want to make the mod more grindy or anything just to make Dawnstone harder to get. I do think that progression can be made smoother by making Dawnstone a bit later into the mod or making the tools require those ember clusters that you don't get until later, in their crafting recipes. The only problem then would be the endgame feels more satisfying but the mid game just seems like a lot of work to get to that point with no payoff until then, which doesn't make for super engaging progression. I think some sort of mid tier alloy could solve this and have its own equipment set that obviously is a decent bit weaker that Dawnstone but still as something that distinctly sets it apart from vanilla equipment.
The alternative idea, of a counterpart alloy to Dawnstone, is a bit more developed. Essentially I'm thinking of an alloy of iron and lead. Since its a counterpart to Dawnstone I'll refer to it as "Duskstone" (obviously I'm not great at names). I always kind of saw Dawnstone as a conductor of ember energy or infused with ember. The idea of "Duskstone" (the name is not growing on me) would be a metal that disperses ember energy. So if for instance your buddy came at you with a scorching ray and you had this armor on, it would disperse dealing far less damage. Perhaps adding in a few mobs that used ember energy as an attack would be interesting also to make the armor even more useful. Also Dawnstone is made of gold and copper which are two soft metals and wouldn't necessarily make the best armor at least conceptually (of course who knows how ember hardens it in the crafting process).
Also since Minecraft has added in shields I'm thinking we put those Inflictor Gems on the front of a tower shield made of "Duskstone" (please help me come up with a better name) and have an upgrade so you can put your Cartridge in the shield since your giving up your off hand. Alternatively if you were willing to sacrifice your cartridge you could have a different upgrade like polished Dawnstone or something that could reflect ember energy back toward something. Also you could add an upgrade that essentially put a small nozzle in the middle of the shield that shot a short wide range cone of ember cloud like a shotgun scorching ray (or a flamethrower if you will).
As far as neat gadgets go that could just spice up the mod a bit. I thought about a something I call an "Ember Torch" (I like this name a bit better) and no its not a light source. Think more like a blowtorch. Essentially concentrating ember energy so precisely that you cut through blocks but not all blocks. I'm gonna say obsidian probably wouldn't be affected by something like this. So if you've seen a plasma cutter cut through sheet metal, imagine using an "Ember Torch" to create a hole in the side of something so you could get in. You would aim it around in rough circle (I know circles in Minecraft *gasp*) and it would break the blocks that it touched and are within the circle one block deep. Its one block deep and maybe have a cooldown to prevent strip mining with it as this is meant to break through thin walls. Now to keep people from going crazy and cutting half a mountain off, there would be a gauge in the lower corner of you screen and as you hold down to use the "Ember Torch" the gauge would decrease and if you got greedy and tried to cut a massive circle the gauge would run out and fail. Failing just basically means using up your ember energy without actually cutting any blocks and perhaps some sort of overheating mechanic.
Speaking of an overheating mechanic I think that applying a concept like overheating could potentially be interesting for some items. Maybe you can allow certain blocks and items to use more ember energy than normal to work faster but aside from being less efficient they could overheat and become unusable for a short time. If your scorching ray got charged way to much it might be too hot to hold or maybe it just starts to burn you. Now this kind of mechanic would need to be carefully implemented or you risk just making an annoying flaw in most items instead of an interesting way of getting more out of the things you have already built. This could branch off into upgrades that keep overheating down, items that actually gain new traits when they overheat, and so on and so forth.
These are just a few things I had bouncing around in my head that I thought could be cool. Of course this is all just me, a fan of this mod, rambling about things I think would fit in the mod well. I'm sure lots of people disagree with some parts of this so please tell me why you disagree or if you do agree help me build on it! (especially the names) All in all I trust Elucent to do a great job in the end and I just want to discuss this great mod more.