One thing I noticed, is that Magical Forest and Tainted Lands both naturally will amplify any node that was generated in them to double the limit normal ones have. Effectively, if you want huge nodes, check those places. Tainted Nodes are pretty risky to drag into your house though.
Yea, its a known issue, and deleting your .dat will do nothing to fix it, as it is a chunk problem.
The problem is, I need to be able to talk with you to synchronize the timing to fix it, as fixing it is based on me TPing you out of the area to another one the moment you log in, before you start loading the chunks around ya. I have outran the server before with my TP commands, but I need to do it as you log in, and I need to be able to talk to you to do this so I can tell ya when to get on.
Go sign up for Dolby Axon (it is free) and friend me, and I can invite you to a chat room to get the timing right to fix it as we are doing it.
Personally, I say variety is the spice of life when it comes to minigames. Don't have just one, have several. Have them shift things up every now and then, and more complex researches might make you have to obey the rules of 2 or more of the games.
And randomize it. Researching Nitor could call on any one of the three.
And for the people who don't want a minigame route, world gen that dynamically decides what it makes when you enter a front room/area that you can't "cheat" around (I.E. no digging around the outside to the back for the chest) could make for some good fun.
Then the system that guy described that you quoted could be another way to gain research. And then another... and another....
If you make it so you have 4+ ways to get to the end goal, suddenly, it becomes a lot less "grindy" as you no longer have to do the same thing over and over again. If you get tired of it, swap to another method of doing it. Do multiple different routes at once to speed yourself along your path, rather than sitting there clicking things in front of the table endlessly.
Remember, two of the BIGGEST problems TC3 had was the hours of sitting in front of the table regardless of your will, and massive resource drains to fuel said research, if you wanted to progress. That very same burden still exist in TC4 currently for sitting in front of the table, but not the resource drain. If you go to the system this guy has listed, all you are doing is trading out one of the problems from TC3 for a different one from TC3.
I already know what the two nexuses are. I want to know what the differences between the caps for them are. Does the cap on the dark nexus affect anything other than appearance? Is there a difference between using glass or diamond on a light nexus?
In the case of the Light Nexus, at least, the caps are pretty important. Glass-Gold-Diamond increase gains while daylight, but Moonstone is the best, only works at night though due to running on lunar energy.
I haven't really seen too much on the Dark Nexus, but pretty sure each cap type would just be more efficient mob hp to energy upgrades to the previous, except maybe Sunstone (following the logic of Moonstone being a minor mechanic change as well).
So first off, lemme just state that the only reason I have this account is because of how annoyed I got.
The research system as it is currently is complete and total garbage.
Now before I endure the wrath of the 15 year old fan-boys, let me explain.
There is absolutely no way to direct what you want to research, you are forced to guess and hope for the best that you get what you want. Basically you are spending hours not playing the game to hopefully get what you want to play the game...
Now let me state that I have less of a problem with the move the "letters", or w/e, around to figure out the research. Its still taking out out of the "fun" part of the game. But that is less of a problem.
If I could simple choose what to research next from the thaumnomocon, and it would give me the research notes. This mod would be immensely better than it is currently. And don't get me wrong, I love the idea of all the magical stuff, I just can never get to it cause of how awful the research system is. This isnt just a "I played for 5 minutes and this is my first impression" either. I have been messing around with this mod for about 3-4 weeks now on a server with my friends.
TL;DR
The research system is complete garbage
Wanna know something? You can pick and choose your researches. Just instead of blindly throwing points at the research, try and figure out what specific thing could be included in the next research. For example, trying to research Pickaxe of the Core? Don't just spam instrumentum (the tool aspect) and hope for the best out of ALL the tools/wand foci/golem researches that use it. Instead, aim for say... the mining aspect (who's name I can never remember due to being too similar to Perdito (entropy), which will land you said pickaxe. Researching for golems? Go for Animus (spirit) aspect, as most golems, if not all, use it.
And if you have like 10 researches with the Ignis aspect as a core part of it, perhaps don't try and use ignis to find a specific one of those researches. Also, for the love of god.... if you DON'T get the research you want first try, don't just keep spamming the researches until you get it. Finish it, then go to the next one, or else you will keep getting it because you are being stupid and trying to draw a lotto card rather than just doing it.
My ONLY complaint about the research system is the fact you can't refuel a single scribing tool in the table, and instead either have to take it out to repair it, and then put it back in (usually losing track of your runes) or having to carry a second one. I would much prefer it if the slot used by the scribing tool was instead used for ink. The scribing tool would be consumed upon making the table and you instead just fuel it with ink (with a little bar on the side showing how much is left of the "current" ink sac). Much simpler system while you still have to pay for wastefully moving runes.
For the minigame itself, perhaps remove the rule of not branching, as that seems to be the most common frustration for people (again, though, this could be solved easily by making it a bit more clear how the research system works in the Thaumonomicon). If the no-branching rule is removed, add more nodes to the note so that it still takes a bit of time to complete.
While I would disagree with this part, if done, I think that there should be an additional type of rune to the Red Herring and Normal runes we have. Negative/walling runes. I.E. runes that form blockades. You need to shove these little beasties out of the way of the lines every now and then. I'd make these runes link regardless of distance/blockades, and be prone to crossing large areas. Meaning you would have more to do in the researches. Note there might only be one pair, maybe two, per research, depending on how high tier a research it is.
I've researched greatwood wand cores, but still can't see the other options for the other core types reed etc., also the same for iron and gold transmutation, no link to any other metals?
Have I missed some research?
I would think that most of the elemental wand cores are now also linked to Infusion Crafting due to needing that to craft them.
Iron and Gold transmutation are linked to Thaumium research.
---
Also, Azanor, sorry about the idea avalanche from me, but you are the one who unleashed it, soooo..... deal with it. Idea for the Arcane Bore. I was thinking about our golems, and how great a degree of control we had over them, but how we had to use the bore for mining due to them not being able to use most tools (I want more tool cores for golems by the way), but this lead me to thinking.... what if we could point the bore at a specific block? Note that you could choose between two modes, one mode where it bores out a large tunnel, and another mode where it pinpoints a specific block and only will mine that specific block space (Making a compact mining machine possible). Also, on the issue of the bore for tunneling... what if you made it so you could have it aim for a certain target using the same targeting mechanic as the prior said one, but it will keep digging in that direction until the end of it's range. If the target it out of range, it will mine as far as it can to the target. Note that the bore should be able to remember a target even if you pick the bore up to move it. This would let you use it to dig long, straight tunnels to a location even on a diagonal, or just let you rotate it at the very least with much more control.
Hopefully I can go to sleep now. But the flood has been unleashed, I doubt I will stop thinking of ideas that will make me get up and post more.
Yet another brain storm as I nearly went to bed. Instead of scanning things possibly giving you research when holding scribing tools (or, at least, after you get past low level researches) you could use that Thaumic Camera you had showed off long ago for an entirely new method of targeted research?
What I was thinking was an additional slot in the Research table where you could place a specific object, or a picture you had taken in world using the camera, which would be used to "lock in" on a very specific research idea. This could very easily go with the idea of going out into the world and gathering observations in the wild, and then coming back brimming with ideas and things to study. For example, you may take a picture of a Blaze and throw it into the research table, and think of the idea of the Infernal Furnace via this, or you maybe wanted to research something on the taint, and bring in a Tainted Goo and place it in the slot (note that these items should obviously render on the table like the scribing tools, paper, and research notes do). From here, you conduct research on the item and set up a research you can learn. Note that I think the camera should only have one, maybe two, slots for pictures (meaning they have a very low memory) and have various upgrades you could do over time, like better lenses (for longer ranged pictures... say... of said Blaze, or maybe a Taint Biome that you feel is a very bad idea to enter) or perhaps greater memory (so you could double or more the amount of pictures you can hold allowing more things to bring home to think about). This, at least I think, would be a great way to expand upon the research system in a decent, interactive, way. This way also promotes interaction with the world at large, over just sitting in front of your research table. Note that you could leave each way open so that you can use multiple paths to reach the same thing
Also, Azanor, if you do infact plan to do some serious changes to the research system, would you mind making a command which the player (or an OP/Moderator at least) can use to reset their research so they can play it again from the same world? This would be wonderful on servers when a player wants to start over, where, unlike in SSP, you can't easily access your own player NBT data or make a new world if you want to do things from scratch.
Making another post, mostly because new ideas, and the other one is already bloated enough as it is, that further expands upon the "research gate" idea from the last one. Not every gate has to be supermassive multi-research locking gates. You could just have it be a simple progression gate from one thing to the next, like making an Infernal Furnace and actually using it before you think of "hey, lets see if attaching bellows to it makes it work better!" or before you can make the centrifuge, you actually have to have used the Essencia Distiller quite a few times before you think "damn, I have too much of X(Potentia, in this case), and not enough of Y(lets say Order), lets try and find a way to break it down into it's base aspects (Fire and Order)".
One of the things that drives me nuts is how you never have to use the block, and you can already be making upgrades to it, or things that excel it, or render it irrelevant already. For example, the wand recharging station. You have never even used it before, and yet you think of the issue of "hey, wait, I can't drain complex aspects from the node, I wonder if I can make a devise to do that to attach to it?" or you just researched the mirror, and before you even place two of them, you suddenly think to make a personal hand mirror version. Or a much easier to see one, having never used the actual mirror itself. Such "augmented" researches wouldn't have to be limiters to the much more complex "mega-gate" researches, say, you can have made the mirrors and those would count to your mega-gate without having yet made the hand mirror, or you can have just made a wand recharging station, and never worry about the upgraded version ever being needed to progress further down the research tree (effectively, mini-gated researches could almost act like lost researches. Not required to progress, but helpful things if obtained).
What if, to even think of the upgrade to the wand recharging station, you actually have to place a node with a complex aspect near a recharging station (or a station near a node with a complex aspect) so that you are prompted to think "mmm.... I have this aspect within this node that is fully worthless to me... I wonder.... could I possibly devise a device which can tap even complex aspects?" at which point, the locked research of the advanced recharging upgrade for the wand station is made researchable (note, you could/would play a hint that a new research could now be researched in the form of your chat bar that you usually use for scanning stuff could display the message on. Perhaps in this case it would say "You know, this aspect within the node is impossible to access. I wonder if I could possibly make an upgrade to my recharging station to use it?")
Things like this can easily increase the immersion of the research, as it would actually follow real world logic of finding a problem, and then trying to figure out a solution to said problem, rather than making a solution to a problem you never even knew existed possibly. Sure, some researches can be break-thoughs, where you come up with something out of the blue (say, Infusion Crafting) but things that feel like problem solving updates to older inventions should have actually required you to USE that old invention.
As a regular, I can say I DO like the minigame, but there are some parts of it which do tend to get... grindy. I say you should have a variety of ways to reach each research. Like with the scribing tools on you as you roam the world. Or perhaps finding world gen structures that have stuff that you can scan to instantly unlock a research or have pre-placed (or dynamically generated) research notes that relate to what you still haven't learned (but are close to learning). These rooms would be contained in Warded Block walls with a single door way (and either the room can't be opened until you have unlocked X research, or it dynamically decides what it will be based on what you know already. First option easier, second option smexier.) I mean, just imagine stumbling upon an old ruin of a thaumaturge from long ago, finding his old research notes, and using those to further your own understanding. Or perhaps you examine an old, damaged Infernal Furnace and use it to figure out how to make a fully functional one. Might put out a little flux now and then, but it works, right?
I also think there needs to be a lot more research gates. Things you have to do in world to go from stage one research to stage two to stage three ect. Currently, nothing, nothing at all, stops you from possibly just sitting down for about 2-3 hours after running around scanning the world and power-chugging 100% of the research. This will really help resolve one of the biggest problems with the research, which is the sit down and do it all nature. This is almost identical to what we had as one of the biggest problems of research in TC3. Gather resources, and sit in front of table for several hours.
Because, honestly, do you REALLY think you would understand everything you need to do a great many complex infusion processes when you have never even made a wand before? Yet this is 100% possible a situation to run into.
Also, I am one of the biggest advocates of node moving being a much harder process. A rule on my server is that you are only allowed to take 1-2 nodes tops to your own base, just to limit people from taking like 30 nodes and never walking outside to even recharge the damn wands.
Another point on research gates.... it would be somewhat difficult to show these in the thauminomicon due to it's tabbed nature. Either you would need to make it so that the research flow chart wasn't so... spidery, and more linear at least going down. Or perhaps alternations in the background could also show as you are reaching research gated areas (maybe large electrical/magical fields around gated research zones?). One final thing on the research gates, I think it should require you having interacted with at least 3-4 of the research "trees" up to the research gate and made in world before it will open up to new stuff.
Lets just take an example for an early game gate. You just recently opened up the research for the first time, and you are starting to check stuff out. You are in stage one, and can't really go too far. The task you have to do from stage one to enter stage two might be 3 out of 4 of the following.... Make an Infernal Furnace, research and place a hungry chest (note how I linked two of the earliest forms of automation in the low tiers of research), make a greatwood wand with gold caps, and/or make a thaumium ingot in the crucible. Having to do things away from the table before you can get back to it can help just give you a break from the "powerlevel" grind you feel like you have to do.
Also, instead of the things like Research mastery and improved vis draw from nodes and such being actual researches, they should be rewards for breaking through a gate. This would make it so you can't power-research those and instantly have max power researching ability from the get-go, or just grinding through the node ones to gain access to node moving quickly.
Had some 20 levels, and it only cost 6 base. Even with the supposed 10% increase per enchantment on the object (Either, with my SotZ, being a 70% bonus, meaning 10 levels needed, or on my unenchanted Goggles meaning no bonus) I had more than enough.
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Did you ensure the hopper is pointing into the jar you want it to drain into? It is direction sensitive.
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The problem is, I need to be able to talk with you to synchronize the timing to fix it, as fixing it is based on me TPing you out of the area to another one the moment you log in, before you start loading the chunks around ya. I have outran the server before with my TP commands, but I need to do it as you log in, and I need to be able to talk to you to do this so I can tell ya when to get on.
Go sign up for Dolby Axon (it is free) and friend me, and I can invite you to a chat room to get the timing right to fix it as we are doing it.
0
And randomize it. Researching Nitor could call on any one of the three.
And for the people who don't want a minigame route, world gen that dynamically decides what it makes when you enter a front room/area that you can't "cheat" around (I.E. no digging around the outside to the back for the chest) could make for some good fun.
Then the system that guy described that you quoted could be another way to gain research. And then another... and another....
If you make it so you have 4+ ways to get to the end goal, suddenly, it becomes a lot less "grindy" as you no longer have to do the same thing over and over again. If you get tired of it, swap to another method of doing it. Do multiple different routes at once to speed yourself along your path, rather than sitting there clicking things in front of the table endlessly.
Remember, two of the BIGGEST problems TC3 had was the hours of sitting in front of the table regardless of your will, and massive resource drains to fuel said research, if you wanted to progress. That very same burden still exist in TC4 currently for sitting in front of the table, but not the resource drain. If you go to the system this guy has listed, all you are doing is trading out one of the problems from TC3 for a different one from TC3.
0
In the case of the Light Nexus, at least, the caps are pretty important. Glass-Gold-Diamond increase gains while daylight, but Moonstone is the best, only works at night though due to running on lunar energy.
I haven't really seen too much on the Dark Nexus, but pretty sure each cap type would just be more efficient mob hp to energy upgrades to the previous, except maybe Sunstone (following the logic of Moonstone being a minor mechanic change as well).
2
Wanna know something? You can pick and choose your researches. Just instead of blindly throwing points at the research, try and figure out what specific thing could be included in the next research. For example, trying to research Pickaxe of the Core? Don't just spam instrumentum (the tool aspect) and hope for the best out of ALL the tools/wand foci/golem researches that use it. Instead, aim for say... the mining aspect (who's name I can never remember due to being too similar to Perdito (entropy), which will land you said pickaxe. Researching for golems? Go for Animus (spirit) aspect, as most golems, if not all, use it.
And if you have like 10 researches with the Ignis aspect as a core part of it, perhaps don't try and use ignis to find a specific one of those researches. Also, for the love of god.... if you DON'T get the research you want first try, don't just keep spamming the researches until you get it. Finish it, then go to the next one, or else you will keep getting it because you are being stupid and trying to draw a lotto card rather than just doing it.
My ONLY complaint about the research system is the fact you can't refuel a single scribing tool in the table, and instead either have to take it out to repair it, and then put it back in (usually losing track of your runes) or having to carry a second one. I would much prefer it if the slot used by the scribing tool was instead used for ink. The scribing tool would be consumed upon making the table and you instead just fuel it with ink (with a little bar on the side showing how much is left of the "current" ink sac). Much simpler system while you still have to pay for wastefully moving runes.
0
While I would disagree with this part, if done, I think that there should be an additional type of rune to the Red Herring and Normal runes we have. Negative/walling runes. I.E. runes that form blockades. You need to shove these little beasties out of the way of the lines every now and then. I'd make these runes link regardless of distance/blockades, and be prone to crossing large areas. Meaning you would have more to do in the researches. Note there might only be one pair, maybe two, per research, depending on how high tier a research it is.
0
I would think that most of the elemental wand cores are now also linked to Infusion Crafting due to needing that to craft them.
Iron and Gold transmutation are linked to Thaumium research.
---
Also, Azanor, sorry about the idea avalanche from me, but you are the one who unleashed it, soooo..... deal with it. Idea for the Arcane Bore. I was thinking about our golems, and how great a degree of control we had over them, but how we had to use the bore for mining due to them not being able to use most tools (I want more tool cores for golems by the way), but this lead me to thinking.... what if we could point the bore at a specific block? Note that you could choose between two modes, one mode where it bores out a large tunnel, and another mode where it pinpoints a specific block and only will mine that specific block space (Making a compact mining machine possible). Also, on the issue of the bore for tunneling... what if you made it so you could have it aim for a certain target using the same targeting mechanic as the prior said one, but it will keep digging in that direction until the end of it's range. If the target it out of range, it will mine as far as it can to the target. Note that the bore should be able to remember a target even if you pick the bore up to move it. This would let you use it to dig long, straight tunnels to a location even on a diagonal, or just let you rotate it at the very least with much more control.
Hopefully I can go to sleep now. But the flood has been unleashed, I doubt I will stop thinking of ideas that will make me get up and post more.
0
What I was thinking was an additional slot in the Research table where you could place a specific object, or a picture you had taken in world using the camera, which would be used to "lock in" on a very specific research idea. This could very easily go with the idea of going out into the world and gathering observations in the wild, and then coming back brimming with ideas and things to study. For example, you may take a picture of a Blaze and throw it into the research table, and think of the idea of the Infernal Furnace via this, or you maybe wanted to research something on the taint, and bring in a Tainted Goo and place it in the slot (note that these items should obviously render on the table like the scribing tools, paper, and research notes do). From here, you conduct research on the item and set up a research you can learn. Note that I think the camera should only have one, maybe two, slots for pictures (meaning they have a very low memory) and have various upgrades you could do over time, like better lenses (for longer ranged pictures... say... of said Blaze, or maybe a Taint Biome that you feel is a very bad idea to enter) or perhaps greater memory (so you could double or more the amount of pictures you can hold allowing more things to bring home to think about). This, at least I think, would be a great way to expand upon the research system in a decent, interactive, way. This way also promotes interaction with the world at large, over just sitting in front of your research table. Note that you could leave each way open so that you can use multiple paths to reach the same thing
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One of the things that drives me nuts is how you never have to use the block, and you can already be making upgrades to it, or things that excel it, or render it irrelevant already. For example, the wand recharging station. You have never even used it before, and yet you think of the issue of "hey, wait, I can't drain complex aspects from the node, I wonder if I can make a devise to do that to attach to it?" or you just researched the mirror, and before you even place two of them, you suddenly think to make a personal hand mirror version. Or a much easier to see one, having never used the actual mirror itself. Such "augmented" researches wouldn't have to be limiters to the much more complex "mega-gate" researches, say, you can have made the mirrors and those would count to your mega-gate without having yet made the hand mirror, or you can have just made a wand recharging station, and never worry about the upgraded version ever being needed to progress further down the research tree (effectively, mini-gated researches could almost act like lost researches. Not required to progress, but helpful things if obtained).
What if, to even think of the upgrade to the wand recharging station, you actually have to place a node with a complex aspect near a recharging station (or a station near a node with a complex aspect) so that you are prompted to think "mmm.... I have this aspect within this node that is fully worthless to me... I wonder.... could I possibly devise a device which can tap even complex aspects?" at which point, the locked research of the advanced recharging upgrade for the wand station is made researchable (note, you could/would play a hint that a new research could now be researched in the form of your chat bar that you usually use for scanning stuff could display the message on. Perhaps in this case it would say "You know, this aspect within the node is impossible to access. I wonder if I could possibly make an upgrade to my recharging station to use it?")
Things like this can easily increase the immersion of the research, as it would actually follow real world logic of finding a problem, and then trying to figure out a solution to said problem, rather than making a solution to a problem you never even knew existed possibly. Sure, some researches can be break-thoughs, where you come up with something out of the blue (say, Infusion Crafting) but things that feel like problem solving updates to older inventions should have actually required you to USE that old invention.
2
I also think there needs to be a lot more research gates. Things you have to do in world to go from stage one research to stage two to stage three ect. Currently, nothing, nothing at all, stops you from possibly just sitting down for about 2-3 hours after running around scanning the world and power-chugging 100% of the research. This will really help resolve one of the biggest problems with the research, which is the sit down and do it all nature. This is almost identical to what we had as one of the biggest problems of research in TC3. Gather resources, and sit in front of table for several hours.
Because, honestly, do you REALLY think you would understand everything you need to do a great many complex infusion processes when you have never even made a wand before? Yet this is 100% possible a situation to run into.
Also, I am one of the biggest advocates of node moving being a much harder process. A rule on my server is that you are only allowed to take 1-2 nodes tops to your own base, just to limit people from taking like 30 nodes and never walking outside to even recharge the damn wands.
Another point on research gates.... it would be somewhat difficult to show these in the thauminomicon due to it's tabbed nature. Either you would need to make it so that the research flow chart wasn't so... spidery, and more linear at least going down. Or perhaps alternations in the background could also show as you are reaching research gated areas (maybe large electrical/magical fields around gated research zones?). One final thing on the research gates, I think it should require you having interacted with at least 3-4 of the research "trees" up to the research gate and made in world before it will open up to new stuff.
Lets just take an example for an early game gate. You just recently opened up the research for the first time, and you are starting to check stuff out. You are in stage one, and can't really go too far. The task you have to do from stage one to enter stage two might be 3 out of 4 of the following.... Make an Infernal Furnace, research and place a hungry chest (note how I linked two of the earliest forms of automation in the low tiers of research), make a greatwood wand with gold caps, and/or make a thaumium ingot in the crucible. Having to do things away from the table before you can get back to it can help just give you a break from the "powerlevel" grind you feel like you have to do.
Also, instead of the things like Research mastery and improved vis draw from nodes and such being actual researches, they should be rewards for breaking through a gate. This would make it so you can't power-research those and instantly have max power researching ability from the get-go, or just grinding through the node ones to gain access to node moving quickly.
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Had some 20 levels, and it only cost 6 base. Even with the supposed 10% increase per enchantment on the object (Either, with my SotZ, being a 70% bonus, meaning 10 levels needed, or on my unenchanted Goggles meaning no bonus) I had more than enough.
0