Yes, forests (and the "standard" trees, like oak, birch, and taiga) need overhauls in my opinion for the reason you're describing. Right now, forests aren't too exciting to explore or build in because you can't see into them and because they're not convincing as something you're "in" (both problems caused because canopies are way, way, way too low).
They feel less like forests and more like awkward ground level dense bushes.
The effort required to clear them is one thing. Sure, that's an obstacle... but I'd absolutely do that work if forests were a biome worth settling in. Right now, they're not. You can't traverse them well, you can't see in them well, and anything you build sticks well above the canopies.
Make the canopies higher and the sight level at ground much better and they'll be there. This basically means the standard trees need removed and replaced with larger scale ones. I think the taigas need replaced with trees twice the size (they'd still be thinner and smaller than old growth taigas), the birch trees need the same treatment (essentially, the trees that naturally generate in "old growth" forests should become the new minimum), and oaks would need work. Basically, the great oak would be the regular tree and then maybe add even larger ones.
I imagine the possible backlash that "mining trees would be more time and effort" as complaints, and the concern of performance, are two reasons why forests have stayed the same all this time. They've added a few larger forests but instead they should have made all forests like that.
As for the mobs, I don't think beaches have a lower spawn chance. People used to think it was the other way around with deserts back in the day (that spawns were higher) but it was simply because you could see more. Well, it might be true that they also spawn a bit more from less obstructions than in, say, forests.
Baby zombies used to panic me, but I've learned they look more frantic and urgent than they are due to their animation speed, and the fact that every other mob moves slower than you walk (not run, but walk). The baby zombie "running" merely matches your walk speed. Once you learn that and pace yourself, they become easier to manage. It works double because their faster movement and the sync between the internal server and client being a bit off makes them harder to hit when they're moving. So I found it easier to have a shield and let them run to you and hit you (blocking with the shield), and then attack back while they're stationary. Sometimes they do two quick consecutive hits, so if you let it hit and then go to return a hit, it will still hit you, so sometimes wait for two blocked attacks if you want to be more sure.
As for the mobs, I don't think beaches have a lower spawn chance. People used to think it was the other way around with deserts back in the day (that spawns were higher) but it was simply because you could see more. Well, it might be true that they also spawn a bit more from less obstructions than in, say, forests.
Prior to 1.8 there was an interesting quirk in how mobs spawned - the initial location chosen as the center of a pack had to be an air block - nothing else - or the pack completely fails (individual spawn attempts could occur in any non-colliding transparent block), and this actually resulted in no mobs spawning whatsoever in e.g. a Superflat world with a layer of snow at the top:
1.8 14w25a Most restrictions on the pack location are removed. Formerly it had to be an air block, now any non-opaque block suffices.
I even noticed this myself the first time I found an Ice Plains (since then I made my own modifications similar to 1.8); Plains is affected to a lesser degree due to the tall grass, same for Taiga (the lack of snow under trees allows packs to spawn, otherwise, the pack center can also be an air block next to a hill, spawning individual mobs on it, and trees ensure the section height is above ground level (prior to 1.8 the game used chunk sections, in multiples of 16 blocks, instead of the height of the highest non-air block, a consequence of this is that even with no transparent blocks mobs would not spawn if the surface was at the top of a section), with other non-desert biomes either having too many obstructions (trees or water) or uneven terrain:
Also, I've noticed something interesting - there seem to be hardly any mobs on the surface at night in Ice Plains biomes:
Another benefit of deserts is the lighter color of sand, which increases visibility at night and contrasts with mobs; beaches can work just as well but are often small and uneven, while deserts (not hills) had the lowest height variation of any land biome (pack spawning is most efficient on flat surfaces since individual spawn attempts are all on the same layer, this remains true as of the latest version).
Wow, so 1.8 did something right for a change. I'm surprised it was ever like that to begin with.
With how bad it sounds like it can prevent spawning, I'm surprised it wasn't more apparent to me. I might have noticed it in the snow plains at least with how drastic it sounds like it probably impacts that particular biome, but I probably didn't because I don't think I ever really stayed in one for too long until after I had already updated beyond 1.8.
Yes, forests (and the "standard" trees, like oak, birch, and taiga) need overhauls in my opinion for the reason you're describing. Right now, forests aren't too exciting to explore or build in because you can't see into them and because they're not convincing as something you're "in" (both problems caused because canopies are way, way, way too low).
They feel less like forests and more like awkward ground level dense bushes.
I never intentionally decided "never build in vanilla forest" but I never *have* built a base in a Forest or Taiga, excluding starter shacks. Never. I have built in Jungle, and in modded forests which have more interesting (and larger) trees. I never even got to the stage of thinking about the problem of things awkwardly above the canopy, although I agree even a 2 story house would look odd.
For a laugh, imagine a treehouse in a vanilla Forest.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
Yes, in real life, typical oak trees go well above even two story homes. They go so much higher that a picture from above the canopies of those trees (but still looking towards the horizon and not a straight down satellite view) even in a suburb looks less like a suburb and more like a forest. Yet, on ground level, there's a lot of clear visibility.
Now I'm not saying the scale of trees needs to match that exactly (they would have to be very large), but the current large oak becoming the new normal tree would be a start.
Honestly, I'd go so far as to say old growth taigas are maybe the only forest in the game that feel close to proper. Jungles are close but there's even an argument they could be larger (because I feel they represent what the other forests should be like, and they themselves should be larger/taller than other forests). All the rest feel too small; there's too little visibility and not enough traversability on the ground level, with canopy levels that are far too low.
I feel "we don't want to make players upset that mining trees takes more effort" (which, to be fair to Mojang, would likely happen especially these days since the fan base complains about everything) and "performance" are reasons they will likely remain unchanged.
My own take on a "mega taiga" biome, prior to adding the "vanilla" variants (which coexist with my own version) included adding gigantic trees with 3x3 trunks, which generate along with normal sized trees and spruce "bushes" at ground level:
I also added a "mega forest" biome with trees up to 64 blocks tall and a similar layered structure (much like a real forest):
There's also a "mixed forest" variant with all types of large trees:
Both variants can be seen here (mixed on the left, normal on the right):
There is also "mega tree plains", similar to how plains have the occasional single tree:
In 1.7 Mojang removed big oak trees from most world generation due to "lag" - I fixed them and dedicated an entire biome to them as a memorial, including an unused 2x2 variant hidden in the code (they did re-add them later. I also wonder why Mojang still hasn't incorporated all-bark logs in trees, as I think all the exposed ends look ugly, to not interfere with wood gathering I made them require Silk Touch, in a similar manner to the raw 1.8 stone types):
These biomes were all added way back in 2014; more recently, I added "big birch forest", with a new variant of birch tree with 2x2 trunks which split into 4 single trunks, as well as a "poplar" shaped variant (both large and small sizes, along with vanilla birch trees, and in various combinations with birch forest):
Another biome is "great forest", with larger variants of oak and spruce trees in new forms, whose mix varies from region to region:
There's also a "mushroom forest" biome; I also added more variants and colors of mushrooms and giant mushrooms (these also generate on mushroom islands, with mooshroom variants to match, and in random areas underground):
I've been really getting into playing the Feed The Factory mod pack.
I've abbreviated a few mod names as follows:
IE - Immersive Engineering, EIO - Ender IO, TE - Thermal Expansion, MM - Modular Machinery, LA - Logistical Automation
Some info on the research system in the pack - there are 6 tiers of science, Green - Logistic, Red - Mechanics, Blue - Production, Purple - Utility, Yellow - Chemical, and rainbow (the science cycles colors between the previous 5 tiers) - Quantum.
Green and Red science can be made in the Burner Researcher multi-block. Green needs TE Iron Plates and IE Conveyor Belts, plus Coal or Charcoal. Red uses TE Steel Gears, IE Copper Coil Blocks, and again coal or charcoal. Blue requires a custom item added by the mod pack author called an Aluminum Widget. It is made with a TE Al Gear, 4 IE Al Structural Arms (ramps), and 4 Al wire. The other 2 components are IE Redstone Engineering Blocks and TE Fluxed Electrum.
I have posted some screenshots of the factory. The 1st is that of my Storage Drawers. With the exception of cobblestone, some items which I only have a few or one of, and any tools, everything I have crafted or smelted in the pack is stored here. The 2nd image is my IE Metal Presses, and in the background IE Water Wheels. I have 30 of these on 10 IE Kinetic Generators producing a total of 450 Redstone Flux (RF)/t. There is also an Ender IO LV Capacitor Bank, storing 900,000 RF. It is behind the 2nd Metal Press, and is to the right of the Dropper.
The 3rd image shows some IE Improved Blast Furnaces, which can make Steel from Iron and coal, charcoal or coal coke. The last of these is made in an IE Coke Oven from Coal, which also produces Creosote Oil. That is to the left of the belts that look like stairs. These are LA Escalator Belts. The Creosote Oil is in that tank on the right of the belt. It is about 2/3 full, and holds 512,000 mB. Next image is that of the Researcher GUI. This is also a MM multi-block machine.The last image is that of my TE smelting line. The ore multiplication at my current stage of tech is 2.5x, and can go up to 10x with TE Augments. A closer look at the Water Wheels is in this image. Since the wheels themselves are made out of IE Treated Wood (uses the creosote oil), I chose to make the entire building housing them out of those. The machine to the left of the first Pulverizer is an IE Assembler multi-block. It can auto-craft almost instantly, but the pack author made it so that anything unlockable, including what you have already researched, cannot be made in it.
I have unlocked the next tier of power, MV. EIO's MV Energy Conduits can be made, and can transfer 5000 RF/t, 10x the LV ones. I also unlocked tier 4 Solar Panels (64 RF/t) from Solar Flux Reborn. I last played with this mod in Stoneblock.
This, but less dense (and maybe with more weight on the larger tree sizes rather than what looks like a 50-50 even mix of small and large) is sort of what I think represents where forests should be in general for all types. That is, large enough trees that put the canapoy well above the player and even above smaller builds, with visibility on the ground level, but the occasional smaller tree to fill in the gaps and imitate that not every tree is the exact age.
I'm surprised you didn't remove most of the smaller/normal trees though. Having the larger forests but then also having the smaller ones would just make them seem like they don't belong together in the same world.
It's part of why I loved the old growth taiaas when they were added, but felt they were out of place. It was more that it made me realize they were what all forests should be, and the older ones were all out of place.
I also wonder why Mojang still hasn't incorporated all-bark logs in trees, as I think all the exposed ends look ugly
I never even think much of this because I keep forgetting the six sided bark logs exist (not really, but they aren't really at the front of my mind either and I tend to never craft or use them). I personally don't mind them as the are now.
If anything I think having instances where logs are only connected diagonal would look odd with logs that are fully covered in bark. Sure, there's no exposure in real branches, but they also aren't blocks that have diagonal connections for scale purposes. It makes them look like repeatedly widening and narrowing branches that way in my mind, if that makes sense?
If you pictures are indicative of something else, I would definitely prefer them as Mojang has them. All of the side textures on yours are facing upwards, even for branches going sideways, and I don't like the look of that. But you can probably add another orientation or block state or whatever to fix that I presume (or maybe it's already even there and you just have them generate that way in your mod since you don't mind, I don't know; I'm probably showing just how unfamiliar I am with those six side covered bark logs).
FWIW, in my current journal world I started out by chopping BoP Redwoods, which are *huge* and had absolutely no problem at all.
People would complain anyway. The modern community (and I really dislike talking down on what other people want) seems more towards instant gratification these days. People with tree farms would be very vocal. people who can't gather from one tree at ground level in three seconds would be vocal.
I find mega taiga trees better in terms of resources for time and effort than normal taigas. The latter has a common tendency to generate at a height that is either one or two blocks above ground reach, so you commonly have to pillar up one or two blocks (or repeatedly jump and sometimes still pillar up one). Add to that there's a type where the logs at the top lands on the leaves, which requires removing those.
So for me I'd rather just clear larger ones anyway. A given tree would certainly take longer if it's taller, but then you're getting much more resources per tree.
I'm surprised you didn't remove most of the smaller/normal trees though. Having the larger forests but then also having the smaller ones would just make them seem like they don't belong together in the same world.
You know how I often go on about how world generation lacks variety in newer versions, at least on a local scale - having only a single type of forest with only large trees reduces variety on a larger scale as well ("every biome looks the same" is less of an issue with more biomes) - and not everybody likes skyscraper-tall trees (and as a common counterargument goes they can cause performance issues - my old computer ran fine with Fast leaves* but Fancy caused FPS to drop to single digits as the GPU ran out of dedicated VRAM, and the game even threw "out of memory" errors due to exceeding the 32 bit process size limit, though that was a more general issue caused by the launcher allocating too much mem9ry by default) - I even have a biome that goes the other way, with only "bushes" scattered about (appropriately named "Bushlands"), some even smaller than the jungle bushes they were based on (for these the log is set inside the ground and up to 6 leaves cover the top, only the larger sizes that generate on the surface can be grown by the player):
*And even Fast won't help in newer versions since Mojang refuses to fix Fast leaves not culling faces adjacent to other leaf blocks (as an extreme example, on Fast a 16x16x16 section renders 1536 faces; on Fancy there are 24576, or 16 times as many, and on my computer OpenGL requires about 25 milliseconds to compile such a chunk; my method of controlling chunk updates to minimize lag results in a significant reduction in rendering speed as you move through a mega forest biome, which is much less pronounced on Fast; in any case, I prefer the "blocker" look of Fast leaves, and made some changes to the textures to make them brighter):
If you pictures are indicative of something else, I would definitely prefer them as Mojang has them. All of the side textures on yours are facing upwards, even for branches going sideways, and I don't like the look of that. But you can probably add another orientation or block state or whatever to fix that I presume (or maybe it's already even there and you just have them generate that way in your mod since you don't mind, I don't know; I'm probably showing just how unfamiliar I am with those six side covered bark logs).
The only way to add directional bark logs in 1.6.4 is to add an entirely new block, such is the severe limitation of having only 16 metadata values (instead of an infinite, or at least 32 bit limit(?) number of block states, each of which is more analogous to a separate block; the only other solution is to use a tile entity). That, and the availability of only 256 block IDs (4096 states) and my desire to use as few IDs as possible to maximize the time before they are used up, which is also why e.g. my stalagmites cheat and many variants use the block they are placed to determine their appearance (there is only one "hardened clay stalagmite" which can assume one of 17 colors in one of 2 directions, this is also not dissimilar to how fences determine their appearance based on the blocks next to them when they are rendered, with no usage of metadata at all, enabling me to add new variants without adding new blocks.
Another issue is that it increases the potential for error and having to perform more work in the code (did I correctly account for a new block in some piece of code? Checking a single block ID is faster than checking two, or three, etc. Since 1.13 Mojang has had to deal with weird bugs like "snowy grass" without snow on top (I have no idea why Mojang even made this a physical block and not just a "render" state, or fence connections, etc, seemingly just so people can play around with the "debug stick" and make "illegal" blocks. Interestingly, Bedrock Edition went the same way as I did in many cases, e.g. my thread about how wasteful they were on java Edition, which shows that Bedrock used metadata instead of separate blocks to add new wood fence variants (and one block for each color of shulker box, seriously? Just use item / tile entity data to determine their color, you could even store it as a 24 bit color value for any possible color, with the standard color values being mapped to their names, otherwise they are just "Shulker Box").
Also, in 1.6.4 "bark logs" weren't obtainable or functional at all unless you used an external editor or mod like WorldEdit to place them - you could use /give to get them in your inventory but they would turn into a normal log when placed, same for if you mined.them. I originally added them to trees before I made them obtainable as an item; they also generate as the uppermost blocks of trunks to hide the cut ends when leaves are set to Fancy (you might say that they don't entirely fit here either since they have bark on the bottom side, adjacent to another log, but the same could be said about 2x2 trees, which have bark on the interior faces, not to mention 4 sets of tree rings. For logs to have every possible combination of stripped/exposed and bark you'd need a total of 192 states per wood variant, 2 per side times 6 sides (as 2^6, nor 2x6) times 3 directions. This is also why "stripped logs" only have 3 directions, not individual sides being strippable).
Sometimes it seems reasonable for leaves to be passable blocks (and perhaps slow you down slightly) given that you are standing on a solid block, as they are a constant annoyance while traversing forest biomes with the current canopy level. One overestimation of the height of a leaf block and you can find yourself plunging into a ravine.
As for canopy levels, oak and spruce trees need to be higher and thinner. Even harvesting oaks in a normal forest biome can become an issue as there are these “balloon oak” variants, and saplings are challenging to collect as the trees often “ connect.”
Since increased canopy levels might make sapling collecting harder, there can be occasional small bushes throughout the forest to help with that. And in response to the complaints about trees being difficult to harvest, “small tree” farms can be created by building a ceiling above where the saplings are planted. Trees will still grow but will not exceed the height of the ceiling.
So I am at the stage of the FTF pack where I need to accumulate as many items as I can. To assist with that, I unlocked TE's Flux Anodizers, which double ores and dirty dusts, This augment gives me 5x ore multiplication. This covers copper, iron, gold, tin, lead, nickel, platinum, aluminum, thorium and uranium. All of those metals are in Compacting Drawers. I added a 2nd diamond level upgrade (adds x16 stacks to the drawer) to each of these. Each drawer can accept up to 7 upgrades, so if I need to, I can add more.
I am still at the burner stage for my mining drills, as the powered ones uses 150 RF/t, and I do not have enough power to run more than one of these, of which am mining from 4 different areas, so would need 600 RF/t to run all 4. As a consequence of this, I am going through charcoal at a pretty rapid rate. I am manually chopping down trees for this, and putting the logs in the Redstone Furnaces (which I have to remove the x2 augment to smelt). I had planted a large oak tree farm. The pack has Treecapitator in it, and I found I could harvest several trees by placing logs at their bases. These trees I made so they were 1 block between each.
I later found dark oak to be more suitable for getting a lot of wood, so I planted a couple dozen around the factory, I am also using the dark oak planks for the drawers, and more making Treated Wood. The nearest thing to bonemeal I have is TE's Phyto-Gro. It usually takes around 1-3 of these to grow a dark oak, though sometimes up to 6.
I got some upgrades to some of my equipment, such as the diamond drill head (iron level, mines faster than iron), Travellers Boots Mk IV (gives Speed IV and Jump Boost II), and also upgraded both my TE Reservoir (holds fluids) and Satchel (adds an extra inventory row, at Reinforced level is the same as the player inventory).
Then I started looking into what it was going to take to get to Utility science. For this, all 3 high-level TE alloys (Signalum, Lumium & Enderium) will be needed. And for those I need to get into Deep Mob Learning. This mod is a sort of a successor to Soul Shards, which allows you to spawn and slay mobs for their drops. This is done in a Simulation Chamber with a Data Model for the mob you want to obtain drops from, along with a catalyst called Clay Polymer. As you run the simulation, the data model increases in quality, starting at faulty and going all the way up to self-aware. At that level, the chamber uses 150 RF/t. I'll need data models for the Witch (gives Redstone, unlocking Signalum), Ghast (gives Glowstone, unlocking Lumium), and Enderman, which unlocks Enderium. That's 450 RF/t.
In order to do this, I am going to have to go solar, making a total of 10 Solar Panel IV's from Solar Flux. That is going to need over 1,000,000 Glass, so a cobbleworks was in order. I made a total of 4 more TE Pulverizers and 2 Redstone Furnaces to make the glass. The Pulverizers all have secondary output nullifiers, which destroy excess of that item made, leaving a full stack in them, yet allowing the machine to continue to run. These have also been upgraded to Reinforced tier as well. Each machine uses 70 RF/t, so this is close to my current max gen capacity of 450. So I added some automation to feed my old coal generators charcoal from a chest so I could run other machines while all that glass was being made. This doesn't add much, only 80 RF/t, but it helps.
Solar Flux was in Stoneblock, though the highest level I crafted was Mk III.
Edit: I reconsidered going the solar route for power for Deep Mob Learning, and found that with a couple of TE Steam Dynamo augments, I could generate the same 640 RF/t, with a much easier crafting chain than going the Solar Flux route. To that end I made 16 Steam Dynamos, 4 Boiler Conversion augments and 12 Turbine Conversion augments, as well as 36 Capacitor Bank blocks, plus some MV energy conduit. I also calculated how much research I would need for the DML Data Models - 384 green, 192 red, and 144 blue. In the process of making Fluxed Electrum for the blue science, I was also running my entire pulverize/smelting line. I watched as my existing capacitor bank drained completely, eventually running out of redstone, which allowed the LV capacitor bank to recharge.
Location: Ice boat station, off The Chunk Plaza Boulevard.
From this:
To these:
And yes the lights are in a different direction in the secons one.
That's because on that one, I had done the skylights like a month before whereas the first one I had just done them then. On the first them they were widly unevenly spacedd, did them 3 - 4 times and it still wasn't right. Even drew on squared paper IRL and it worked out to 4 skylights but in-game still worked oout to three. Also, didn't think leaving a 2 gap between sky-lights that on the inside it would be 4, which are why the lights are in a different direction.
I will fix it, I think it might just be a case (I hope) of taking a one-block side of either side of the middle one. Still not sure what I'm going to put in the rooms yet.
Also took down the sides of the front towers for re-texturing.
big holes. V
This is about all I'm doing, just going around tidying things up for the anniversary d/l release.
Like Minecraft forums or interested in my world? Try My message board, it's better moderated because I run it directly and have run Internet message boards for 21+ years! Better software and I have much more control to keep the content more up to date. Free to join, 13 years+.
So there appears to be a major, even game breaking bug in Feed The Factory. This is occurring with Ender IO's conduits and the Better Boilers multi-block steam boiler. Every time I log into the game, the inputs to the boiler will disconnect the conduits, forcing me to break, replace and re-configure them. The first couple of times this occurred, I did not catch it soon enough, and it drained the power out of both of my main capacitor banks (one stores 3.6 M RF, the other 4.8 M). I would then have to shut down most of my machines. For Thermal machines, it is simply a matter of changing the redstone control to high. It is normally set to ignore by default. For the DML Simulation Chambers, I can either let the output slot back stuff, or remove the data model.
Tonight I went about re-factoring my incoming power to the 2 capacitor banks. I crafted 16 of the Mk IV Solar Panels from Solar Flux, and figured out the best way to split them between each capacitor. I also included the 15 Windmills set up earlier. I had seen the amount of power they were generating and it came out to around 34 RF/t each. So I reduced it to 30, which makes 450. The quest book states that these generate 64 RF/t, which is wrong. It is actually 128 RF/t. 2 of these would effectively power a mining outpost with a single electric drill. So though these are a bit expensive and complex to craft, it is worth it for the amount of power they can generate, plus the fact that the modpack author set a command when creating the pack to make it always day time upon logging in, so solar panels would always work.
I also got Utility science going and set up the Researchers for it. This uses 1 each of gears made from the 3 thermal alloys, Signalum, Lumium and Enderium. The Researchers also have their gearboxes replaced with Machine Speed 2 upgrades, which increases speed by 50% each. But of course this also consumes more power.
The major thing I recently unlocked was the Logistics Crafting Table from Logistics Pipes. This cost me 16x64 (1024 total) of green, 32x8 (128) of red, and 32 of blue science. This uses both the 8x and 64x compressed research. This is also the single most expensive item so far I have unlocked. I want to unlock HV power transfer, which is as expensive as the logistics table, as it is need for the next Thermal Upgrade Kit (#3).
Edit: so the 128 RF/t from each Solar Panel IV was wrong, and likely due to a bug. They are actually producing 64 as the Quest Book stated. It was a good thing then that I had placed a 3rd one of these over at an Aluminum node with around 1000 ore in the chunk. I dismantled the rail line going to an earlier outpost, and that also applied to the MV Conduits I had placed along the tracks.
Also, I read something pretty funny posted on Curseforge about this pack - if you wait long enough, a statue of an Amogus (the Crewmates from Among Us; there's a mod that allows you to spawn them) will appear in the Main Menu.
Decided to revisit the second major base in my world, located in a Mesa biome, which I had built not long after the mesa biomes were added to Minecraft, and which I had demolished some time ago after deciding I didn’t like it in all actuality. The problem was after I had reduced the outside (it was a circular shape) and packed all the blocks and stuff into chests in the underground section, I was rather hampered by the existing surrounding infrastructure and the underground section and I couldn’t really think of what to with it. So I left it, but now I’m gonna try and do something with it. As this base was only connected to my other bases by a Nether rail network, it also lacks a good farm for experience orbs for recharging mending gear, which I think I will need to have handy when working on this base. Using Minutor I discovered an unexplored Nether Fortress not too far from the rail network junction that serves this base, with a Blazer spawner gallery handy, so I’ve decided to branch from the main rail line and build a Blaze Farm there. All my other Blaze farms have used spawners that have been in good positions, i.e embedded in netherrack, but this gallery is over lava, so will need to be a bit careful – I’ve already managed to enclose the spawner in dirt to deactivate it, and during the process got knocked into the lava a couple of times by the Blaze. So, while I’m busy building the farm and rail connection point, hopefully I’ll get some ideas/inspiration for what I could do with the base itself …
Have I traveled back in time? I suddenly see names that I thought were gone from here forever. @jeffreym23, I used to read your posts about your tech modded worlds with great interest albeit not a lot of comprehension at the time!
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I'll post a couple of pics from my recent dinking around in Alpha 1.1
Now I remember why I lived in a castle back in the day, castles are much easier to build. Getting stairs to co-operate with me to construct a roof for a comfy cottage was absolute hell. I had to use full blocks for gable-ends rather than more stairs as I'd have preferred because they would not orientate correctly without the "bookends". And when the stair goes on wrong and you have to remove it, you only get a singular cobblestone block or wood plank back upon breaking, not the stair block, so every stair that has to be removed is a significant loss of raw materials.
This is a pro gamer interior. It's got brick flooring. Brick. Aw yiss. Only way to flex harder would be to swap it for mossy cobble and I do in fact have some of that but I'm saving it.
I had a go at some redstone. What can you do with redstone in early Alpha? Pretty much absolutely nothing. As far as I can tell the only block that interacts with redstone is doors. Even trapdoors haven't been invented yet. So I built a vault to store valuables with an iron door that only opens when two levers are triggered. Amazing security!
Yeah, I stopped playing modded Minecraft for a while, and instead played several factory games, Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program, Shapez, Satisfactory and most recently Techtonica, along with Terraria. And also because of the account switchover, I no longer have access to any of my old worlds in 1.12.2, 1.7.10, or 1.4.7, or Stoneblock for that matter. I do still have access to my old 1.2.5 worlds and my original vanilla worlds, as I have these set up to play offline.
Back to what I have done in Feed The Factory:
I've been making a whole bunch of components needed for the current level of science I am at (Utility). So much so that I have been running low on Tin, Silver and Lead. I decided to go about 1000 m away from spawn and was able to find a node with around 300+ Tin, as well as Lead and Silver, in several chunks. I hung around the area, and waited for the drill to stop mining, then picked it back up and moved it to the next chunk. It has an Enderium Drill Head in it, which is the fastest in the pack. I unlocked both this and the Invar (faster tier 2 head) one.
I have also had some more power problems, specifically with the Utility science Researchers. My 1st batch of this science caused them to drain the power out of the capacitor bank. Since then, everything has recovered. I unlocked Solar Panel IV, HV Cables, Mk I & II Speed and Energy Upgrades for the Researchers (these function a lot like the upgrades in Mekanism or Nuclearcraft in that they need to be balanced between types). I made enough for each Researcher to have one of each Mk II upgrade, so a total of 16 of each type were needed. Speed I's are made with Emeralds, Hardened Upgrade Kits and Machine Casings from Modular Machinery. Energy upgrades are made with a similar recipe, except for Lapis instead of Emeralds. Speed and Energy II's use the Reinforced Upgrade Kits and the same gems and Machine Casings.
I also built quite a few Sequential Fabricators. Those are fast enough at Reinforced tier without needing any additional Augments. I've been using them to autocraft some of the components for the science. They are better than the Buildcraft auto workbench as they are not only much faster, but also have double the inventory. I also set up a line of Redstone Furnaces with Pyrolitic Conversion in them, which gives them the ability to burn coal to make Coal Coke and Creosote. The latter is going into a gigantic tank. The Coal Coke is being made into blocks, and 32 of these will smelt a full stack of iron blocks into steel. These all have 2 external heaters on them, which consume 30 RF/t to run and speed up the Blast Furnaces considerably. There is an even faster option which I can unlock, but I am saving all my science to get HV Conduits, the HV Capacitor and HV Capacitor Bank. Each of these needs 32 x64 Logistics science (green) plus lesser amounts of the Mechanics (red), Production (blue), and Utility (purple) science.
There are some resources I have a lot of, like iron, copper, aluminum and platinum, all of which are 25k or more. Copper is at 117k, iron at 91k, aluminum 34k, and platinum 25k. Others, like tin, lead and silver I have been using heavily lately, and had 1350 left before I went mining. I am no longer using Burner Drills for this, and have switched to the powered ones. Those I can provide with 4 Solar Panel IV's at 64k RF/t and 786k RF storage. The drill itself uses 150 RF/t and can store 1M RF. What I will do is after setting up the miner, I'll claim and load the chunk it is in, undoing this when the chunk is depleted. I have been running back and forth loading up the resources mined into the Diamond Shulker Box I keep with me. This has the same number of slots as the normal diamond chest.
The current area I am mining at has all the resources I have unlocked so far except for iron, copper, platinum, thorium and uranium. There's around 2-3K of both coal and redstone, around 250 or so Nether quartz, around 200-250 each of nickel, lead, silver, tin and gold, and around 170 diamonds. I've gotten more of all of these except for the lead, which is lagging behind the tin and silver. Back in my base, I found there was an area near my boiler and the steam dynamos where there was lead. I had another powered drill in my base area, which had run out, so I moved it where the lead was, and tapped into the nearest power, which was the output of the dynamos. I chose to connect it to the input side of the capacitor bank rather than the output, as the incoming power lines were much closer. It has an Invar drill head, as this is all it needs for lead. Later I will be able to infinitely mine rarer resources using the Infinity Miner. This I have yet to unlock, and at tier 1, it produces infinite copper and iron. Tier 2 appears to involve the use of drones, and the Quest Book says these are complex and expensive to make, but are not always consumed during each mining cycle.
End of my current holiday yesterday, so decided to have a big Minecraft play session. The Blaze Farm is complete (a modified version of NimsTUT’s design) and I made the outer wall out of Nether Brick as it merges with various existing structures of the Fortress – I may trim some of the fortress away in the future. All I need to do now is connect the rail line to the farm, with a minecart terminal in between, the main issue is the rail like is about 10 blocks above the floor level of the farm, so need to drop the rail line down first. To this end I have reduced the fortress pillar that is in front of the farm and onto which I will build the Minecart terminal. I’ve also extended the base of the pillar with some lava removal to give it a bit more “substance”
Some views of the farm:
Kill Area
Spawner
Some of the redstone
Other pics
The rail line extension and the farm floor marker (two blocks of cobblestone in the nether brick on the left)
Extending the pillar base
Don’t look down please! (I have noticed on occasion Ghast don’t seem to see you when directly above, or is that just me?)
I had enough stored Research to unlock the HV Conduits and maybe one other of the 3 I wanted, but ended up unlocking something else from the Production tab of the Quest Book: The Mega Metal Press. This is a multi-block that occupies the same space as the regular metal press, but runs much faster, producing a plate, gear, wire or rod in 5 ticks. This matches the speed Ender IO Conduits are limited to in this pack, 4 items/sec.
Here's a screenshot of the structures. The machines to the left are Compactors, 2 of which are set for plates, the other 2 for gears. Those are quite a bit slower than the mega metal presses. The structure behind the last press is a tank from Pressure Pipes. It holds Creosote Oil. There are 4 Redstone Furnaces next to the tank, and these are augmented to burn coal into coal coke and creosote oil. They are pretty fast given they have 3 auxiliary reception coil augments in addition to the one that makes the furnace produce coal coke and creosote from coal. The former is then being compacted into blocks to be used in the blast furnaces. 4 stacks of iron blocks can be smelted into steel blocks using 2 stacks of coal coke blocks. This is the most efficient fuel type as it gives 2 smelts per item, while coal is 1:1, and charcoal is 1:2.
The original metal presses have all been dismantled, and their components put back into storage. All of the redstone repeaters are now gone as well, as is any dust or redstone conduit connecting to the droppers, which are also stored. The output chests are still there though.
In this entire series, there is one thing I have yet to do which I have done in nearly every play through of modded minecraft, and that is build underground. The factory is getting rather large, and I want to have more Researchers running. I may consider building them underground.
But there is going to be another major change to my entire base, and that is going to be the addition of Logistics Pipes to every machine, automating as much as possible. I last played with this mod back in 1.6.4, though the version I played more was in 1.2.5. The new version requires a handheld device called a Logistics Programmer. This goes into a Logistic Program Compiler along with a Logistics Disk. This can be used to research new tiers, pipes, modules and upgrades, but can take while to do.
Yes, forests (and the "standard" trees, like oak, birch, and taiga) need overhauls in my opinion for the reason you're describing. Right now, forests aren't too exciting to explore or build in because you can't see into them and because they're not convincing as something you're "in" (both problems caused because canopies are way, way, way too low).
They feel less like forests and more like awkward ground level dense bushes.
The effort required to clear them is one thing. Sure, that's an obstacle... but I'd absolutely do that work if forests were a biome worth settling in. Right now, they're not. You can't traverse them well, you can't see in them well, and anything you build sticks well above the canopies.
Make the canopies higher and the sight level at ground much better and they'll be there. This basically means the standard trees need removed and replaced with larger scale ones. I think the taigas need replaced with trees twice the size (they'd still be thinner and smaller than old growth taigas), the birch trees need the same treatment (essentially, the trees that naturally generate in "old growth" forests should become the new minimum), and oaks would need work. Basically, the great oak would be the regular tree and then maybe add even larger ones.
I imagine the possible backlash that "mining trees would be more time and effort" as complaints, and the concern of performance, are two reasons why forests have stayed the same all this time. They've added a few larger forests but instead they should have made all forests like that.
As for the mobs, I don't think beaches have a lower spawn chance. People used to think it was the other way around with deserts back in the day (that spawns were higher) but it was simply because you could see more. Well, it might be true that they also spawn a bit more from less obstructions than in, say, forests.
Baby zombies used to panic me, but I've learned they look more frantic and urgent than they are due to their animation speed, and the fact that every other mob moves slower than you walk (not run, but walk). The baby zombie "running" merely matches your walk speed. Once you learn that and pace yourself, they become easier to manage. It works double because their faster movement and the sync between the internal server and client being a bit off makes them harder to hit when they're moving. So I found it easier to have a shield and let them run to you and hit you (blocking with the shield), and then attack back while they're stationary. Sometimes they do two quick consecutive hits, so if you let it hit and then go to return a hit, it will still hit you, so sometimes wait for two blocked attacks if you want to be more sure.
Prior to 1.8 there was an interesting quirk in how mobs spawned - the initial location chosen as the center of a pack had to be an air block - nothing else - or the pack completely fails (individual spawn attempts could occur in any non-colliding transparent block), and this actually resulted in no mobs spawning whatsoever in e.g. a Superflat world with a layer of snow at the top:
I even noticed this myself the first time I found an Ice Plains (since then I made my own modifications similar to 1.8); Plains is affected to a lesser degree due to the tall grass, same for Taiga (the lack of snow under trees allows packs to spawn, otherwise, the pack center can also be an air block next to a hill, spawning individual mobs on it, and trees ensure the section height is above ground level (prior to 1.8 the game used chunk sections, in multiples of 16 blocks, instead of the height of the highest non-air block, a consequence of this is that even with no transparent blocks mobs would not spawn if the surface was at the top of a section), with other non-desert biomes either having too many obstructions (trees or water) or uneven terrain:
Another benefit of deserts is the lighter color of sand, which increases visibility at night and contrasts with mobs; beaches can work just as well but are often small and uneven, while deserts (not hills) had the lowest height variation of any land biome (pack spawning is most efficient on flat surfaces since individual spawn attempts are all on the same layer, this remains true as of the latest version).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Wow, so 1.8 did something right for a change. I'm surprised it was ever like that to begin with.
With how bad it sounds like it can prevent spawning, I'm surprised it wasn't more apparent to me. I might have noticed it in the snow plains at least with how drastic it sounds like it probably impacts that particular biome, but I probably didn't because I don't think I ever really stayed in one for too long until after I had already updated beyond 1.8.
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Curse PremiumI never intentionally decided "never build in vanilla forest" but I never *have* built a base in a Forest or Taiga, excluding starter shacks. Never. I have built in Jungle, and in modded forests which have more interesting (and larger) trees. I never even got to the stage of thinking about the problem of things awkwardly above the canopy, although I agree even a 2 story house would look odd.
For a laugh, imagine a treehouse in a vanilla Forest.
Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
Yes, in real life, typical oak trees go well above even two story homes. They go so much higher that a picture from above the canopies of those trees (but still looking towards the horizon and not a straight down satellite view) even in a suburb looks less like a suburb and more like a forest. Yet, on ground level, there's a lot of clear visibility.
Now I'm not saying the scale of trees needs to match that exactly (they would have to be very large), but the current large oak becoming the new normal tree would be a start.
Honestly, I'd go so far as to say old growth taigas are maybe the only forest in the game that feel close to proper. Jungles are close but there's even an argument they could be larger (because I feel they represent what the other forests should be like, and they themselves should be larger/taller than other forests). All the rest feel too small; there's too little visibility and not enough traversability on the ground level, with canopy levels that are far too low.
I feel "we don't want to make players upset that mining trees takes more effort" (which, to be fair to Mojang, would likely happen especially these days since the fan base complains about everything) and "performance" are reasons they will likely remain unchanged.
My own take on a "mega taiga" biome, prior to adding the "vanilla" variants (which coexist with my own version) included adding gigantic trees with 3x3 trunks, which generate along with normal sized trees and spruce "bushes" at ground level:
I also added a "mega forest" biome with trees up to 64 blocks tall and a similar layered structure (much like a real forest):
There's also a "mixed forest" variant with all types of large trees:
Both variants can be seen here (mixed on the left, normal on the right):
There is also "mega tree plains", similar to how plains have the occasional single tree:
In 1.7 Mojang removed big oak trees from most world generation due to "lag" - I fixed them and dedicated an entire biome to them as a memorial, including an unused 2x2 variant hidden in the code (they did re-add them later. I also wonder why Mojang still hasn't incorporated all-bark logs in trees, as I think all the exposed ends look ugly, to not interfere with wood gathering I made them require Silk Touch, in a similar manner to the raw 1.8 stone types):
These biomes were all added way back in 2014; more recently, I added "big birch forest", with a new variant of birch tree with 2x2 trunks which split into 4 single trunks, as well as a "poplar" shaped variant (both large and small sizes, along with vanilla birch trees, and in various combinations with birch forest):
Another biome is "great forest", with larger variants of oak and spruce trees in new forms, whose mix varies from region to region:
There's also a "mushroom forest" biome; I also added more variants and colors of mushrooms and giant mushrooms (these also generate on mushroom islands, with mooshroom variants to match, and in random areas underground):
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
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Curse PremiumThose are nice trees and a huge improvement on vanilla.
FWIW, in my current journal world I started out by chopping BoP Redwoods, which are *huge* and had absolutely no problem at all.
Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
I've been really getting into playing the Feed The Factory mod pack.
I've abbreviated a few mod names as follows:
IE - Immersive Engineering, EIO - Ender IO, TE - Thermal Expansion, MM - Modular Machinery, LA - Logistical Automation
Some info on the research system in the pack - there are 6 tiers of science, Green - Logistic, Red - Mechanics, Blue - Production, Purple - Utility, Yellow - Chemical, and rainbow (the science cycles colors between the previous 5 tiers) - Quantum.
Green and Red science can be made in the Burner Researcher multi-block. Green needs TE Iron Plates and IE Conveyor Belts, plus Coal or Charcoal. Red uses TE Steel Gears, IE Copper Coil Blocks, and again coal or charcoal. Blue requires a custom item added by the mod pack author called an Aluminum Widget. It is made with a TE Al Gear, 4 IE Al Structural Arms (ramps), and 4 Al wire. The other 2 components are IE Redstone Engineering Blocks and TE Fluxed Electrum.
I have posted some screenshots of the factory. The 1st is that of my Storage Drawers. With the exception of cobblestone, some items which I only have a few or one of, and any tools, everything I have crafted or smelted in the pack is stored here. The 2nd image is my IE Metal Presses, and in the background IE Water Wheels. I have 30 of these on 10 IE Kinetic Generators producing a total of 450 Redstone Flux (RF)/t. There is also an Ender IO LV Capacitor Bank, storing 900,000 RF. It is behind the 2nd Metal Press, and is to the right of the Dropper.
The 3rd image shows some IE Improved Blast Furnaces, which can make Steel from Iron and coal, charcoal or coal coke. The last of these is made in an IE Coke Oven from Coal, which also produces Creosote Oil. That is to the left of the belts that look like stairs. These are LA Escalator Belts. The Creosote Oil is in that tank on the right of the belt. It is about 2/3 full, and holds 512,000 mB. Next image is that of the Researcher GUI. This is also a MM multi-block machine.The last image is that of my TE smelting line. The ore multiplication at my current stage of tech is 2.5x, and can go up to 10x with TE Augments. A closer look at the Water Wheels is in this image. Since the wheels themselves are made out of IE Treated Wood (uses the creosote oil), I chose to make the entire building housing them out of those. The machine to the left of the first Pulverizer is an IE Assembler multi-block. It can auto-craft almost instantly, but the pack author made it so that anything unlockable, including what you have already researched, cannot be made in it.
I have unlocked the next tier of power, MV. EIO's MV Energy Conduits can be made, and can transfer 5000 RF/t, 10x the LV ones. I also unlocked tier 4 Solar Panels (64 RF/t) from Solar Flux Reborn. I last played with this mod in Stoneblock.
This, but less dense (and maybe with more weight on the larger tree sizes rather than what looks like a 50-50 even mix of small and large) is sort of what I think represents where forests should be in general for all types. That is, large enough trees that put the canapoy well above the player and even above smaller builds, with visibility on the ground level, but the occasional smaller tree to fill in the gaps and imitate that not every tree is the exact age.
I'm surprised you didn't remove most of the smaller/normal trees though. Having the larger forests but then also having the smaller ones would just make them seem like they don't belong together in the same world.
It's part of why I loved the old growth taiaas when they were added, but felt they were out of place. It was more that it made me realize they were what all forests should be, and the older ones were all out of place.
I never even think much of this because I keep forgetting the six sided bark logs exist (not really, but they aren't really at the front of my mind either and I tend to never craft or use them). I personally don't mind them as the are now.
If anything I think having instances where logs are only connected diagonal would look odd with logs that are fully covered in bark. Sure, there's no exposure in real branches, but they also aren't blocks that have diagonal connections for scale purposes. It makes them look like repeatedly widening and narrowing branches that way in my mind, if that makes sense?
If you pictures are indicative of something else, I would definitely prefer them as Mojang has them. All of the side textures on yours are facing upwards, even for branches going sideways, and I don't like the look of that. But you can probably add another orientation or block state or whatever to fix that I presume (or maybe it's already even there and you just have them generate that way in your mod since you don't mind, I don't know; I'm probably showing just how unfamiliar I am with those six side covered bark logs).
People would complain anyway. The modern community (and I really dislike talking down on what other people want) seems more towards instant gratification these days. People with tree farms would be very vocal. people who can't gather from one tree at ground level in three seconds would be vocal.
I find mega taiga trees better in terms of resources for time and effort than normal taigas. The latter has a common tendency to generate at a height that is either one or two blocks above ground reach, so you commonly have to pillar up one or two blocks (or repeatedly jump and sometimes still pillar up one). Add to that there's a type where the logs at the top lands on the leaves, which requires removing those.
So for me I'd rather just clear larger ones anyway. A given tree would certainly take longer if it's taller, but then you're getting much more resources per tree.
You know how I often go on about how world generation lacks variety in newer versions, at least on a local scale - having only a single type of forest with only large trees reduces variety on a larger scale as well ("every biome looks the same" is less of an issue with more biomes) - and not everybody likes skyscraper-tall trees (and as a common counterargument goes they can cause performance issues - my old computer ran fine with Fast leaves* but Fancy caused FPS to drop to single digits as the GPU ran out of dedicated VRAM, and the game even threw "out of memory" errors due to exceeding the 32 bit process size limit, though that was a more general issue caused by the launcher allocating too much mem9ry by default) - I even have a biome that goes the other way, with only "bushes" scattered about (appropriately named "Bushlands"), some even smaller than the jungle bushes they were based on (for these the log is set inside the ground and up to 6 leaves cover the top, only the larger sizes that generate on the surface can be grown by the player):
*And even Fast won't help in newer versions since Mojang refuses to fix Fast leaves not culling faces adjacent to other leaf blocks (as an extreme example, on Fast a 16x16x16 section renders 1536 faces; on Fancy there are 24576, or 16 times as many, and on my computer OpenGL requires about 25 milliseconds to compile such a chunk; my method of controlling chunk updates to minimize lag results in a significant reduction in rendering speed as you move through a mega forest biome, which is much less pronounced on Fast; in any case, I prefer the "blocker" look of Fast leaves, and made some changes to the textures to make them brighter):
MC-179383 Leaves not culled with graphics set to Fast
The only way to add directional bark logs in 1.6.4 is to add an entirely new block, such is the severe limitation of having only 16 metadata values (instead of an infinite, or at least 32 bit limit(?) number of block states, each of which is more analogous to a separate block; the only other solution is to use a tile entity). That, and the availability of only 256 block IDs (4096 states) and my desire to use as few IDs as possible to maximize the time before they are used up, which is also why e.g. my stalagmites cheat and many variants use the block they are placed to determine their appearance (there is only one "hardened clay stalagmite" which can assume one of 17 colors in one of 2 directions, this is also not dissimilar to how fences determine their appearance based on the blocks next to them when they are rendered, with no usage of metadata at all, enabling me to add new variants without adding new blocks.
Another issue is that it increases the potential for error and having to perform more work in the code (did I correctly account for a new block in some piece of code? Checking a single block ID is faster than checking two, or three, etc. Since 1.13 Mojang has had to deal with weird bugs like "snowy grass" without snow on top (I have no idea why Mojang even made this a physical block and not just a "render" state, or fence connections, etc, seemingly just so people can play around with the "debug stick" and make "illegal" blocks. Interestingly, Bedrock Edition went the same way as I did in many cases, e.g. my thread about how wasteful they were on java Edition, which shows that Bedrock used metadata instead of separate blocks to add new wood fence variants (and one block for each color of shulker box, seriously? Just use item / tile entity data to determine their color, you could even store it as a 24 bit color value for any possible color, with the standard color values being mapped to their names, otherwise they are just "Shulker Box").
Also, in 1.6.4 "bark logs" weren't obtainable or functional at all unless you used an external editor or mod like WorldEdit to place them - you could use /give to get them in your inventory but they would turn into a normal log when placed, same for if you mined.them. I originally added them to trees before I made them obtainable as an item; they also generate as the uppermost blocks of trunks to hide the cut ends when leaves are set to Fancy (you might say that they don't entirely fit here either since they have bark on the bottom side, adjacent to another log, but the same could be said about 2x2 trees, which have bark on the interior faces, not to mention 4 sets of tree rings. For logs to have every possible combination of stripped/exposed and bark you'd need a total of 192 states per wood variant, 2 per side times 6 sides (as 2^6, nor 2x6) times 3 directions. This is also why "stripped logs" only have 3 directions, not individual sides being strippable).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Sometimes it seems reasonable for leaves to be passable blocks (and perhaps slow you down slightly) given that you are standing on a solid block, as they are a constant annoyance while traversing forest biomes with the current canopy level. One overestimation of the height of a leaf block and you can find yourself plunging into a ravine.
As for canopy levels, oak and spruce trees need to be higher and thinner. Even harvesting oaks in a normal forest biome can become an issue as there are these “balloon oak” variants, and saplings are challenging to collect as the trees often “ connect.”
Since increased canopy levels might make sapling collecting harder, there can be occasional small bushes throughout the forest to help with that. And in response to the complaints about trees being difficult to harvest, “small tree” farms can be created by building a ceiling above where the saplings are planted. Trees will still grow but will not exceed the height of the ceiling.
So I am at the stage of the FTF pack where I need to accumulate as many items as I can. To assist with that, I unlocked TE's Flux Anodizers, which double ores and dirty dusts, This augment gives me 5x ore multiplication. This covers copper, iron, gold, tin, lead, nickel, platinum, aluminum, thorium and uranium. All of those metals are in Compacting Drawers. I added a 2nd diamond level upgrade (adds x16 stacks to the drawer) to each of these. Each drawer can accept up to 7 upgrades, so if I need to, I can add more.
I am still at the burner stage for my mining drills, as the powered ones uses 150 RF/t, and I do not have enough power to run more than one of these, of which am mining from 4 different areas, so would need 600 RF/t to run all 4. As a consequence of this, I am going through charcoal at a pretty rapid rate. I am manually chopping down trees for this, and putting the logs in the Redstone Furnaces (which I have to remove the x2 augment to smelt). I had planted a large oak tree farm. The pack has Treecapitator in it, and I found I could harvest several trees by placing logs at their bases. These trees I made so they were 1 block between each.
I later found dark oak to be more suitable for getting a lot of wood, so I planted a couple dozen around the factory, I am also using the dark oak planks for the drawers, and more making Treated Wood. The nearest thing to bonemeal I have is TE's Phyto-Gro. It usually takes around 1-3 of these to grow a dark oak, though sometimes up to 6.
I got some upgrades to some of my equipment, such as the diamond drill head (iron level, mines faster than iron), Travellers Boots Mk IV (gives Speed IV and Jump Boost II), and also upgraded both my TE Reservoir (holds fluids) and Satchel (adds an extra inventory row, at Reinforced level is the same as the player inventory).
Then I started looking into what it was going to take to get to Utility science. For this, all 3 high-level TE alloys (Signalum, Lumium & Enderium) will be needed. And for those I need to get into Deep Mob Learning. This mod is a sort of a successor to Soul Shards, which allows you to spawn and slay mobs for their drops. This is done in a Simulation Chamber with a Data Model for the mob you want to obtain drops from, along with a catalyst called Clay Polymer. As you run the simulation, the data model increases in quality, starting at faulty and going all the way up to self-aware. At that level, the chamber uses 150 RF/t. I'll need data models for the Witch (gives Redstone, unlocking Signalum), Ghast (gives Glowstone, unlocking Lumium), and Enderman, which unlocks Enderium. That's 450 RF/t.
In order to do this, I am going to have to go solar, making a total of 10 Solar Panel IV's from Solar Flux. That is going to need over 1,000,000 Glass, so a cobbleworks was in order. I made a total of 4 more TE Pulverizers and 2 Redstone Furnaces to make the glass. The Pulverizers all have secondary output nullifiers, which destroy excess of that item made, leaving a full stack in them, yet allowing the machine to continue to run. These have also been upgraded to Reinforced tier as well. Each machine uses 70 RF/t, so this is close to my current max gen capacity of 450. So I added some automation to feed my old coal generators charcoal from a chest so I could run other machines while all that glass was being made. This doesn't add much, only 80 RF/t, but it helps.
Solar Flux was in Stoneblock, though the highest level I crafted was Mk III.
Edit: I reconsidered going the solar route for power for Deep Mob Learning, and found that with a couple of TE Steam Dynamo augments, I could generate the same 640 RF/t, with a much easier crafting chain than going the Solar Flux route. To that end I made 16 Steam Dynamos, 4 Boiler Conversion augments and 12 Turbine Conversion augments, as well as 36 Capacitor Bank blocks, plus some MV energy conduit. I also calculated how much research I would need for the DML Data Models - 384 green, 192 red, and 144 blue. In the process of making Fluxed Electrum for the blue science, I was also running my entire pulverize/smelting line. I watched as my existing capacitor bank drained completely, eventually running out of redstone, which allowed the LV capacitor bank to recharge.
Location: Ice boat station, off The Chunk Plaza Boulevard.
From this:
To these:
And yes the lights are in a different direction in the secons one.
That's because on that one, I had done the skylights like a month before whereas the first one I had just done them then. On the first them they were widly unevenly spacedd, did them 3 - 4 times and it still wasn't right. Even drew on squared paper IRL and it worked out to 4 skylights but in-game still worked oout to three. Also, didn't think leaving a 2 gap between sky-lights that on the inside it would be 4, which are why the lights are in a different direction.
I will fix it, I think it might just be a case (I hope) of taking a one-block side of either side of the middle one. Still not sure what I'm going to put in the rooms yet.
Also took down the sides of the front towers for re-texturing.
big holes. V
This is about all I'm doing, just going around tidying things up for the anniversary d/l release.
Closed old thread
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So there appears to be a major, even game breaking bug in Feed The Factory. This is occurring with Ender IO's conduits and the Better Boilers multi-block steam boiler. Every time I log into the game, the inputs to the boiler will disconnect the conduits, forcing me to break, replace and re-configure them. The first couple of times this occurred, I did not catch it soon enough, and it drained the power out of both of my main capacitor banks (one stores 3.6 M RF, the other 4.8 M). I would then have to shut down most of my machines. For Thermal machines, it is simply a matter of changing the redstone control to high. It is normally set to ignore by default. For the DML Simulation Chambers, I can either let the output slot back stuff, or remove the data model.
Tonight I went about re-factoring my incoming power to the 2 capacitor banks. I crafted 16 of the Mk IV Solar Panels from Solar Flux, and figured out the best way to split them between each capacitor. I also included the 15 Windmills set up earlier. I had seen the amount of power they were generating and it came out to around 34 RF/t each. So I reduced it to 30, which makes 450. The quest book states that these generate 64 RF/t, which is wrong. It is actually 128 RF/t. 2 of these would effectively power a mining outpost with a single electric drill. So though these are a bit expensive and complex to craft, it is worth it for the amount of power they can generate, plus the fact that the modpack author set a command when creating the pack to make it always day time upon logging in, so solar panels would always work.
I also got Utility science going and set up the Researchers for it. This uses 1 each of gears made from the 3 thermal alloys, Signalum, Lumium and Enderium. The Researchers also have their gearboxes replaced with Machine Speed 2 upgrades, which increases speed by 50% each. But of course this also consumes more power.
The major thing I recently unlocked was the Logistics Crafting Table from Logistics Pipes. This cost me 16x64 (1024 total) of green, 32x8 (128) of red, and 32 of blue science. This uses both the 8x and 64x compressed research. This is also the single most expensive item so far I have unlocked. I want to unlock HV power transfer, which is as expensive as the logistics table, as it is need for the next Thermal Upgrade Kit (#3).
Edit: so the 128 RF/t from each Solar Panel IV was wrong, and likely due to a bug. They are actually producing 64 as the Quest Book stated. It was a good thing then that I had placed a 3rd one of these over at an Aluminum node with around 1000 ore in the chunk. I dismantled the rail line going to an earlier outpost, and that also applied to the MV Conduits I had placed along the tracks.
Also, I read something pretty funny posted on Curseforge about this pack - if you wait long enough, a statue of an Amogus (the Crewmates from Among Us; there's a mod that allows you to spawn them) will appear in the Main Menu.
MC Day 18899 (PC SP Win 10 Java Ver 1.13.2)
Decided to revisit the second major base in my world, located in a Mesa biome, which I had built not long after the mesa biomes were added to Minecraft, and which I had demolished some time ago after deciding I didn’t like it in all actuality. The problem was after I had reduced the outside (it was a circular shape) and packed all the blocks and stuff into chests in the underground section, I was rather hampered by the existing surrounding infrastructure and the underground section and I couldn’t really think of what to with it. So I left it, but now I’m gonna try and do something with it. As this base was only connected to my other bases by a Nether rail network, it also lacks a good farm for experience orbs for recharging mending gear, which I think I will need to have handy when working on this base. Using Minutor I discovered an unexplored Nether Fortress not too far from the rail network junction that serves this base, with a Blazer spawner gallery handy, so I’ve decided to branch from the main rail line and build a Blaze Farm there. All my other Blaze farms have used spawners that have been in good positions, i.e embedded in netherrack, but this gallery is over lava, so will need to be a bit careful – I’ve already managed to enclose the spawner in dirt to deactivate it, and during the process got knocked into the lava a couple of times by the Blaze. So, while I’m busy building the farm and rail connection point, hopefully I’ll get some ideas/inspiration for what I could do with the base itself …
The current “remains” of the base
Other pics
Great fun trying to find specific resources!
The spawner and its location
[\spoiler]
Mintutor now works in 1.13!
MrKite & Mc_Etlam ... I salute you!
I just started playing again i keep yall posted
Have I traveled back in time? I suddenly see names that I thought were gone from here forever. @jeffreym23, I used to read your posts about your tech modded worlds with great interest albeit not a lot of comprehension at the time!
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I'll post a couple of pics from my recent dinking around in Alpha 1.1
Now I remember why I lived in a castle back in the day, castles are much easier to build. Getting stairs to co-operate with me to construct a roof for a comfy cottage was absolute hell. I had to use full blocks for gable-ends rather than more stairs as I'd have preferred because they would not orientate correctly without the "bookends". And when the stair goes on wrong and you have to remove it, you only get a singular cobblestone block or wood plank back upon breaking, not the stair block, so every stair that has to be removed is a significant loss of raw materials.
This is a pro gamer interior. It's got brick flooring. Brick. Aw yiss. Only way to flex harder would be to swap it for mossy cobble and I do in fact have some of that but I'm saving it.
I had a go at some redstone. What can you do with redstone in early Alpha? Pretty much absolutely nothing. As far as I can tell the only block that interacts with redstone is doors. Even trapdoors haven't been invented yet. So I built a vault to store valuables with an iron door that only opens when two levers are triggered. Amazing security!
Journals - Gregtech New Horizons | Tree Spirit Challenge [current]
Yeah, I stopped playing modded Minecraft for a while, and instead played several factory games, Factorio, Dyson Sphere Program, Shapez, Satisfactory and most recently Techtonica, along with Terraria. And also because of the account switchover, I no longer have access to any of my old worlds in 1.12.2, 1.7.10, or 1.4.7, or Stoneblock for that matter. I do still have access to my old 1.2.5 worlds and my original vanilla worlds, as I have these set up to play offline.
Back to what I have done in Feed The Factory:
I've been making a whole bunch of components needed for the current level of science I am at (Utility). So much so that I have been running low on Tin, Silver and Lead. I decided to go about 1000 m away from spawn and was able to find a node with around 300+ Tin, as well as Lead and Silver, in several chunks. I hung around the area, and waited for the drill to stop mining, then picked it back up and moved it to the next chunk. It has an Enderium Drill Head in it, which is the fastest in the pack. I unlocked both this and the Invar (faster tier 2 head) one.
I have also had some more power problems, specifically with the Utility science Researchers. My 1st batch of this science caused them to drain the power out of the capacitor bank. Since then, everything has recovered. I unlocked Solar Panel IV, HV Cables, Mk I & II Speed and Energy Upgrades for the Researchers (these function a lot like the upgrades in Mekanism or Nuclearcraft in that they need to be balanced between types). I made enough for each Researcher to have one of each Mk II upgrade, so a total of 16 of each type were needed. Speed I's are made with Emeralds, Hardened Upgrade Kits and Machine Casings from Modular Machinery. Energy upgrades are made with a similar recipe, except for Lapis instead of Emeralds. Speed and Energy II's use the Reinforced Upgrade Kits and the same gems and Machine Casings.
I also built quite a few Sequential Fabricators. Those are fast enough at Reinforced tier without needing any additional Augments. I've been using them to autocraft some of the components for the science. They are better than the Buildcraft auto workbench as they are not only much faster, but also have double the inventory. I also set up a line of Redstone Furnaces with Pyrolitic Conversion in them, which gives them the ability to burn coal to make Coal Coke and Creosote. The latter is going into a gigantic tank. The Coal Coke is being made into blocks, and 32 of these will smelt a full stack of iron blocks into steel. These all have 2 external heaters on them, which consume 30 RF/t to run and speed up the Blast Furnaces considerably. There is an even faster option which I can unlock, but I am saving all my science to get HV Conduits, the HV Capacitor and HV Capacitor Bank. Each of these needs 32 x64 Logistics science (green) plus lesser amounts of the Mechanics (red), Production (blue), and Utility (purple) science.
There are some resources I have a lot of, like iron, copper, aluminum and platinum, all of which are 25k or more. Copper is at 117k, iron at 91k, aluminum 34k, and platinum 25k. Others, like tin, lead and silver I have been using heavily lately, and had 1350 left before I went mining. I am no longer using Burner Drills for this, and have switched to the powered ones. Those I can provide with 4 Solar Panel IV's at 64k RF/t and 786k RF storage. The drill itself uses 150 RF/t and can store 1M RF. What I will do is after setting up the miner, I'll claim and load the chunk it is in, undoing this when the chunk is depleted. I have been running back and forth loading up the resources mined into the Diamond Shulker Box I keep with me. This has the same number of slots as the normal diamond chest.
The current area I am mining at has all the resources I have unlocked so far except for iron, copper, platinum, thorium and uranium. There's around 2-3K of both coal and redstone, around 250 or so Nether quartz, around 200-250 each of nickel, lead, silver, tin and gold, and around 170 diamonds. I've gotten more of all of these except for the lead, which is lagging behind the tin and silver. Back in my base, I found there was an area near my boiler and the steam dynamos where there was lead. I had another powered drill in my base area, which had run out, so I moved it where the lead was, and tapped into the nearest power, which was the output of the dynamos. I chose to connect it to the input side of the capacitor bank rather than the output, as the incoming power lines were much closer. It has an Invar drill head, as this is all it needs for lead. Later I will be able to infinitely mine rarer resources using the Infinity Miner. This I have yet to unlock, and at tier 1, it produces infinite copper and iron. Tier 2 appears to involve the use of drones, and the Quest Book says these are complex and expensive to make, but are not always consumed during each mining cycle.
MC Day 18940 (PC SP Win 10 Java Ver 1.13.2)
End of my current holiday yesterday, so decided to have a big Minecraft play session. The Blaze Farm is complete (a modified version of NimsTUT’s design) and I made the outer wall out of Nether Brick as it merges with various existing structures of the Fortress – I may trim some of the fortress away in the future. All I need to do now is connect the rail line to the farm, with a minecart terminal in between, the main issue is the rail like is about 10 blocks above the floor level of the farm, so need to drop the rail line down first. To this end I have reduced the fortress pillar that is in front of the farm and onto which I will build the Minecart terminal. I’ve also extended the base of the pillar with some lava removal to give it a bit more “substance”
Some views of the farm:
Kill Area
Spawner
Some of the redstone
Other pics
The rail line extension and the farm floor marker (two blocks of cobblestone in the nether brick on the left)
Extending the pillar base
Don’t look down please! (I have noticed on occasion Ghast don’t seem to see you when directly above, or is that just me?)
[\spoiler]
Mintutor now works in 1.13!
MrKite & Mc_Etlam ... I salute you!
I had enough stored Research to unlock the HV Conduits and maybe one other of the 3 I wanted, but ended up unlocking something else from the Production tab of the Quest Book: The Mega Metal Press. This is a multi-block that occupies the same space as the regular metal press, but runs much faster, producing a plate, gear, wire or rod in 5 ticks. This matches the speed Ender IO Conduits are limited to in this pack, 4 items/sec.
Here's a screenshot of the structures. The machines to the left are Compactors, 2 of which are set for plates, the other 2 for gears. Those are quite a bit slower than the mega metal presses. The structure behind the last press is a tank from Pressure Pipes. It holds Creosote Oil. There are 4 Redstone Furnaces next to the tank, and these are augmented to burn coal into coal coke and creosote oil. They are pretty fast given they have 3 auxiliary reception coil augments in addition to the one that makes the furnace produce coal coke and creosote from coal. The former is then being compacted into blocks to be used in the blast furnaces. 4 stacks of iron blocks can be smelted into steel blocks using 2 stacks of coal coke blocks. This is the most efficient fuel type as it gives 2 smelts per item, while coal is 1:1, and charcoal is 1:2.
The original metal presses have all been dismantled, and their components put back into storage. All of the redstone repeaters are now gone as well, as is any dust or redstone conduit connecting to the droppers, which are also stored. The output chests are still there though.
In this entire series, there is one thing I have yet to do which I have done in nearly every play through of modded minecraft, and that is build underground. The factory is getting rather large, and I want to have more Researchers running. I may consider building them underground.
But there is going to be another major change to my entire base, and that is going to be the addition of Logistics Pipes to every machine, automating as much as possible. I last played with this mod back in 1.6.4, though the version I played more was in 1.2.5. The new version requires a handheld device called a Logistics Programmer. This goes into a Logistic Program Compiler along with a Logistics Disk. This can be used to research new tiers, pipes, modules and upgrades, but can take while to do.