rhn's continued adventures: a build journal, guide collection etc.

[rhn]

I've actaully seen some streamers use collapsible blocks from Carpenter's Blocks to make really smooth curves, heck, one streamer even made it so you could barely even tell there were no curves
but the collapsible blocks are really hard to use, you really need to be used to them to use them like that

Well doing round stuff it is impossible to make it completely smooth. Best you can do it scale things up and make really big circles.

I really wish that Carpenter blocks had more varied slopes. A "Slab slope" would be nice(a slope going from nothing to 1/2 thickness and one from 1/2 to 1/1 thickness). Would allow for much better grades. I am constantly torn between slopes and microblocks, since microblocks can be varied in every possible thickness multiplicative by a covers thickness.

 

[madnewmy]

Well doing round stuff it is impossible to make it completely smooth. Best you can do it scale things up and make really big circles.

I really wish that Carpenter blocks had more varied slopes. A "Slab slope" would be nice(a slope going from nothing to 1/2 thickness and one from 1/2 to 1/1 thickness). Would allow for much better grades. I am constantly torn between slopes and microblocks, since microblocks can be varied in every possible thickness multiplicative by a covers thickness.

collapsible blocks? the top can do done smootly but not the bottom

 

[rhn]

collapsible blocks? the top can do done smootly but not the bottom

Ahh yeah right the collapsible block. Really should try and use that more. Just so rare that it is only the top side of what I build that matters. For example would be pretty much useless for what I am building atm as the bottom layer is the inside of the dome. And it is way way too labour intensive to use systematically on a large scale.

Actually just re-read Yusunohas message and realised he was talking about the collapsible block too.[DOUBLEPOST=1413489635,1413388925][/DOUBLEPOST]So, more building:

Turtle mining:

LOT of GT Red Granite
Turtle script is working really well. Restarts itself after reboots etc. now. Should have checked for updates long ago

Been playing around with BoP quicksand a bit on the mining world:

It is actually really handy for grinding Endermen. Just stand behind a patch of it, eyeball an Enderman and look down, let it come over to you and it will get stuck in the quicksand. Really easy to just whack its feet/torso then when it/you aren't bouncing all over.


Think most people know by now, but if you have been lucky enough to find some Ender Lily seeds, they grow almost twice as fast if planted on End stone(Ender Core is even better, but is insanely expensive in TPPI for Quarry balancing purposes).

And a really easy and cheap way to get End stone without going to the End (and if you don't live near a magical biome with Magic bee subterranean hives) is to smelt Ender Pearls in the TiCo Smelter and pour it out over Obsidian(Other cheaper/easier stones work too, but with less efficiency with the enderpearls). One pearl will net 5 End stone this way.

On the tech front I have sort of started making several things. I still got no clue where to put it all(I dont really feel like any of the already built locations feel right for the industrial stuff), so until now it just gets put into a chest

Also decided to give TiCo tools a serious try. I have always(and still do) proffered the IC2/Gravisuite powered tools, but since that is a bit of progress off still, I invested some time in going to the Nether for mats and making some Manyullyn stuff.

Right, off to try and figure out where to build more base/bunker areas

 

[rouge_bare]

I'm not sure if this is still the case in 1.6 tinkers, but you could try modifying the tinker tools with the Electric modifier, and have them use EU. (it's a rechargeable battery and an electric circuit if memory serves, I've been using the Flux modifier since the ability to use RF on tinkers tools came out.)

I'd also suggest mixing up your tool mats a little, It looks like most of those tools are pure manylum, cobalt is fastest mining speed, Many is most Damage and Durability, while Ardite gives Stonebound (mines faster as the tool wears down). Paper makes really good bindings, as the binding doesn't affect durability of the tools at all, and gives you an extra modifier to boot. The 'head' of the tool (pickaxe head, hammer head, sword blade) affects the base damage and speed of the tool, while other parts generally alter the durability and add their own traits. You don't need to use all of the same material in your tools.

Other notable materials are Thaumium (essentially a durable paper part), Obsidian (Max Reinforced level you'll get pre-modifiers) and Pig Iron (a pain to get but can get you some free bacon when the tool is used).

That out the way (as customizing Tinker tools is mostly down to personal taste), as usual I'm impressed by the standards of your building. Thanks for the tip about the quicksand, but personally i just find it a nuisance. At least it actually has some kind of use as a mob trap.

 

[rhn]

I'm not sure if this is still the case in 1.6 tinkers, but you could try modifying the tinker tools with the Electric modifier, and have them use EU. (it's a rechargeable battery and an electric circuit if memory serves, I've been using the Flux modifier since the ability to use RF on tinkers tools came out.)

I'd also suggest mixing up your tool mats a little, It looks like most of those tools are pure manylum, cobalt is fastest mining speed, Many is most Damage and Durability, while Ardite gives Stonebound (mines faster as the tool wears down). Paper makes really good bindings, as the binding doesn't affect durability of the tools at all, and gives you an extra modifier to boot. The 'head' of the tool (pickaxe head, hammer head, sword blade) affects the base damage and speed of the tool, while other parts generally alter the durability and add their own traits. You don't need to use all of the same material in your tools.

Other notable materials are Thaumium (essentially a durable paper part), Obsidian (Max Reinforced level you'll get pre-modifiers) and Pig Iron (a pain to get but can get you some free bacon when the tool is used).

That out the way (as customizing Tinker tools is mostly down to personal taste), as usual I'm impressed by the standards of your building. Thanks for the tip about the quicksand, but personally i just find it a nuisance. At least it actually has some kind of use as a mob trap.

Yeah not sure about the EU support for 1.6. Think it was a 1.5 thing only. But I am rather ok with it as it is atm with moss upgrade.

And nah dw it is not all Manyullyn. Used an Obsidian binding for the pickaxe and a Cobalt plate for the Cleaver for Reinforced.
And yeah completely forgot about Cobalts mining speed. Just looked up the highest mining level Oh well, it will serve me fine until Advanced Diamond drill Or some of the stuff from the seemingly very interesting "Electro-Magic Tools" mod that is present in TPPI. Interesting integration of IC2 items with Thaumcraft. Chainsaw of the Stream! Quantum boots of the Traveler! etc. [DOUBLEPOST=1413496313][/DOUBLEPOST]Love that you can do diagonal stuff with Carpenter's blocks:

HATE that unless you make the entire thing out of the same material, you are still going to have the jagged transition "seams"...
Or atleast be very restricted in where to do the transitions.

 

[Yusunoha]

connected texture all the things!!

 

[Pyure]

rhn, when using carp blocks, do you need to walk around and click every scaffold(?) piece with a glass block individually? That was my initial gripe was that I had to essentially build twice, but I didn't know much about the mod at the time. Was wishing it was a bit more like an equal-trade system to save me doing things over again.

 

[masterzh]

rhn, when using carp blocks, do you need to walk around and click every scaffold(?) piece with a glass block individually? That was my initial gripe was that I had to essentially build twice, but I didn't know much about the mod at the time. Was wishing it was a bit more like an equal-trade system to save me doing things over again.

Yes, of course. Until you play in survival without any WE tools its the only option.

 

[rouge_bare]

And nah dw it is not all Manyullyn. Used an Obsidian binding for the pickaxe and a Cobalt plate for the Cleaver for Reinforced.
And yeah completely forgot about Cobalts mining speed. Just looked up the highest mining level Oh well, it will serve me fine until Advanced Diamond drill Or some of the stuff from the seemingly very interesting "Electro-Magic Tools" mod that is present in TPPI. Interesting integration of IC2 items with Thaumcraft. Chainsaw of the Stream! Quantum boots of the Traveler! etc.

Incidently the only thing Many pickaxes can mine that cobalt or ardite can't are Many blocks.
While I do like Axe/Chainsaws of the Stream, personally I prefer a good old Lumber Axe for my tree cutting needs. In fact it's usually the first T2 tinker tool I tend to make, nothing beats seeing an entire tree chopped at once, shame about the leaves hanging up there for what seems like an eternity. Only trees I've found that can be a hassle for it are huge trees (like most Twilight ones, and the Natura Redwood, and the larger Greatwoods) and trees that are structured a little differently, (like the vanilla Acacia in 1.7, or some variations of the Dark Oak (which is incidentally my favorite tree to farm in 1.7.) But I can't deny I prefer the Drill of the Rockbiter over Tinkers hammers/excavators. I haven't used the advanced Diamond Drill myself, so I cannot comment.

And I'm not used to Soratex tinker parts, (or that texture pack in general), hence why I missed the plate and binding not being many. I agree while carpenter's blocks are awesome at what they do, they can be a bit tedious at times, especially when texturing them en mass. I do wish there were a better way than simply doing them one by one.

 

[Pyure]

Incidently the only thing Many pickaxes can mine that cobalt or ardite can't are Many blocks.
While I do like Axe/Chainsaws of the Stream, personally I prefer a good old Lumber Axe for my tree cutting needs. In fact it's usually the first T2 tinker tool I tend to make, nothing beats seeing an entire tree chopped at once, shame about the leaves hanging up there for what seems like an eternity. Only trees I've found that can be a hassle for it are huge trees (like most Twilight ones, and the Natura Redwood, and the larger Greatwoods) and trees that are structured a little differently, (like the vanilla Acacia in 1.7, or some variations of the Dark Oak (which is incidentally my favorite tree to farm in 1.7.) But I can't deny I prefer the Drill of the Rockbiter over Tinkers hammers/excavators. I haven't used the advanced Diamond Drill myself, so I cannot comment.

If I want an over-the-top op manual wood-cutting tool, I might prefer a RoC bedrock axe over a TiCo lumber axe, but yeah [DOUBLEPOST=1413554763][/DOUBLEPOST]rhn: last i checked, I found a tico hammer (cobalt etc) to be better for branch mining or landscaping than an advanced diamond drill. Your mileage may vary. Yes, its silly.

 

[rhn]

If I want an over-the-top op manual wood-cutting tool, I might prefer a RoC bedrock axe over a TiCo lumber axe, but yeah [DOUBLEPOST=1413554763][/DOUBLEPOST]rhn: last i checked, I found a tico hammer (cobalt etc) to be better for branch mining or landscaping than an advanced diamond drill. Your mileage may vary. Yes, its silly.

Once I get settled it is SO rare that I actually chop down whole trees. I usually carry an Advanced Chainsaw(Gravisuite again) just for breaking wooden things while I build etc. Doubles as shears too for wool, grass, leaves etc. if toggled.

My main issue with the TiCo hammers is that it cannot mine dirt/gravel etc. And I hate having to swap tools all the time and it all getting uneven when trying to do a 3x3 path. That is the cool thing about the Advanced Diamond drill, it mines dirt/gravel etc. as well as stones. And it mines "harder" stones/ores even if you weren't pointing at them. And the 3x3 mode is a toggle able feature so in essence I save myself from carrying: normal pick, Hammer, Excavator and shovel. And I love the fact that rightclick places torches WITHOUT having to have torches placed next to the drill. Any torches in your inventory will do.
But the Drill pretty much require you to wear a chest piece that can power it over the long run, like: Advanced Electric Jetpack, Advanced Nano or GraviChest. And you can then further prolong the mining time to something silly by carrying Gravisuite Lappacks in your inventory set to recharge mode(packs recharge your chest which charges your tools).[DOUBLEPOST=1413612987][/DOUBLEPOST]Just a small update:

Really need to "Carpenter's Blockify" those last two ones, but rather focusing on getting the bunker complex connecting them all up done(or atleast loosely mapped out) atm. And finding place for some machines etc.

 

[glepet1962]

I like your building style. I always have cylindrical/spherical/dome shaped buildings in my builds.
Question: Does having all those angular carpenters blocks cause any performance issues like having a ton of micro blocks do?

 

[madnewmy]

I like your building style. I always have cylindrical/spherical/dome shaped buildings in my builds.
Question: Does having all those angular carpenters blocks cause any performance issues like having a ton of micro blocks do?

Collapsible blocks kill fps but the others don't seem to do it a lot

 

[rhn]

Question: Does having all those angular carpenters blocks cause any performance issues like having a ton of micro blocks do?

I have not personally noticed any change. And technically it doesn't really add any more polygons to be rendered than normal blocks would. There might be a bit more information needed to define each block, but think that is almost negligible.

At least Carpenter Blocks (and Microblocks in 1.5+, think it was lighting in 1.4 versions that caused performance hit) wont cause any considerable problems compared to machines/tile entities.

 

[Master_Builder_800]

Hey RHN, just a warning but carpenter blocks cause a lot of lag in the long run. Keep it up and it'll be unplayable with all those angles. Thats what happened to the crackpack server for Mindcrack. Anyway, big fan of your work. Keep it up!

 

[rhn]

So, I have been working on the bunker complex connecting all the different base parts with the aim to finally get some proper room to start doing some more advanced machinery. But it is taking quite a long time. Partly because every time I make a room for some tech, I look at it and think: "This could make a good atrium/garden area/travel hub/etc.".

Hub area(WIP):

I also realised that all the stuff is going to be spread out quite a bit(on purpose), but I probably don't have the resources to make cables/conduits/whatever to connect it all yet. So decided it was time to set up the tech in a temporary spot so it can support me better while building.

So I have taken one of the discs and simply filled in all the tech I have made so far(and crafted more). This is purely temporary and it is all about functionality:

Railcraft Turbine, Boiler, GT Diesel Generators, MFR Bioreactor, ME network stuff.

GT Industrial Blast furnace and Industrial Grinder, Various IC2 and GT machinery.

Big Reactor reactor(just a 5x5x5 1 core with Graphite blocks atm, made it before I had Magma Crucibles etc.), various TE machines.



All this have lead to a few quite significant upgrades:

• Able to smelt Titanium and Stainless steel means I have finally been able to make myself an Advanced Diamond Drill(GraviSuite). Goodbye Picksaxe, Shovel, Hammer and Excavator
• Being able to make Enderium means access to Enderchests, Endertanks, Tesseracts etc. No more manual lava hunts(pump in the Nether), automatic retrieval of wood and saplings from woodfarm, Enderpouch connecting directly to ME network and will aim soon for a Quarry.
• Item sorting! Was lazy and didn't bother to make a sorting system before the ME network, so it is a huge change now Will also be much easier with automated mining now.

 

[epidemia78]

Looking good rhn, as usual. Its a real shame that minecraft's performance eventually degrades to the point of being unplayable. Ive had so many worlds go down the tubes, its affecting how I play the game. In my last major world, when lag started to appear, I filled in all of the caves for a huge radius around my base. Which seemed to help for a few days. And ever since 1.4.7 Ive built town-like bases comprised of several buildings instead of just one megabase. Is there anything special you do to avoid lag?

 

[rhn]

Is there anything special you do to avoid lag?

I try to aim as much as possible for spreading the tech etc. out as much as possible so you don't get the that major fps quench in the middle of your base(I failed miserable at it last world). Thinking about relocating some stuff off to "satellite bases" out of render range, but not sure what would be convenient/realistic/good effect to move yet. If I can find a good snow/glacier type biome I might make a geothermal plant there and Tesseract/IDSU the power back home.

Other than that I just try to pick solutions that are not bad for performance. I might choose to cover part of my IC2 EU needs for example with Compact/advanced solars just because of its low "footprint". I wont be doing stuff like lots of spawners for power on the other hand.

And I try to disable anything when I no longer need it running. Like farms and power. Not sure if the control devices to handle it all might not just make it worse, but it is a challenge in it self that I enjoy. And pretty sure that turning off mob, crop and wood farms when not needed will be giving bonus in performance.[DOUBLEPOST=1413967827][/DOUBLEPOST]It was time to get Steel production automated. I moved up my Bronze Blast Furnaces and expanded them a bit:

And then I fully automated them with Routers and ME. The 3 Routers on the front connect the 2 Furnaces on this side, and I have used cheap Barrels to bridge the underneath the multiblock and over to the other 2 Furnaces on the other side. This way these 3 Routers are automating all 4 Blast furnaces at the same time.
(And yeah.. I realised while building this that the Industrial Blast Furnace would have been better/faster for steel , but at least these are free to run).

Been having great fun with the GT Advanced Regulator and Electric Crafting Table:

Really love how the Advanced Regulators work as both buffer and exports only set stacksizes. Amazing for the GT machines(here Industrial Centrifuge on left and Electrolyzer far right), but can foresee many cool applications on other mod combos as well.
The Electric crafting table is just awsome for all those tiny/small piles of dusts, as each can handle and combine 16 different kinds each at the same time. No more need for piles of Cyclic assemblers for dusts and nuggets Awesome!


Needed some more power, so made another RC Boiler(this time a 36HP):

This caused my little spruce wood farm(for charcoal) to be somewhat inadequate so decided to upgrade it a bit:

Made another 11x11 Harvester+Planter combo and decided to boost output a bit by adding some Natura Ghostwood trees.
I am using the planters filter settings so it only plants the Ghostwood in the middle 3x3 and rest is just Spruce. An entire field of Ghostwood is simply too OP, as they grow too fast and are too large (I tried it just for laughs and it maxed out the power supply to the farm and lagged my PC out ).

Edit: Oh yeah, also managed to get a Quarry(BC) going and upgraded my Big Reactor with a second core and liquid Ender(more power at much better efficiency).

 

[Master_Builder_800]

Which mod are you referring to when you say GT? I thought you disabled GregTech?

 

[rhn]

Which mod are you referring to when you say GT? I thought you disabled GregTech?

I mean Gregtech.
And no it is not disabled.