DEAD. READ THE NOTICE. A bunch of ideas. A bunch of mods. One vision. Check it out.

[Queue]

NOTICE:
After much difficulty and a minecraft update and the fact that my computer died and I lost everything, this mod is dead. I will work on my other addon, over on the IC2 forum. I may return to this idea, but in the meantime feel free to steal it an revive it.

I am Queue.

For a while, I have had this idea. This idea is a mod (or set of modules, sort of like the GrowthCraft concept) to bring a great rich gameplay experience to the world of Minecraft without sacrificing certain beloved mods in the process.

I love Gregtech. I love Tinkers' Construct. I love Railcraft. I love Buildcraft. I love Thermal Expansion. These mods all have enormous overlapping fanbases-- which is a problem. Gregtech doesn't play well with much of anyone. Railcraft/Buildcraft/Forestry are sort of heading a separate direction from TE and company. The modpack "market", if you will, is changing. More focused packs are becoming more and more necessary (ie MagicFarm, Unhinged, Bevo's TechPack, etc) although Resonant Rise (hats off to KirinDave+Co ) has proven the era of major modpacks is still alive and well. What we need, en mi opinion, is a new breed of mods to combat this shift with a unified experience-- Gregtech without the fuss.

Enter my vision. There are 3 main roads that mods follow currently:

-The old-style mod balanced around vanilla MC
-The super-compatible mod designed around everything
-The mod which says fuck it and runs off in a totally new direction

I love the direction that mods such as Rotary/ReactorCraft, EDX/Industrialization, et al. are heading in. This off-the-cuff back-to-the-basics style is proving quite awesome. However, these mods are hard to get into and in the case of EDX, development is rather slow (no offense, you guys are rocking it). For now, we must work with the current mindset of the modding community.

I am announcing two mods. I am not sure on how they will work. I have not started development. However, I can hope by sharing my vision others can pick up on my idea and ensure it doesn't die (unless everyone just decides i'm crazy-- they would probably be right). The first mod is one called Vapor. Vapor was born after I realized that Railcraft was not heading in the same direction as mods such as TE. Vapor would provide an interesting take on boilers, steam engines and steel production much like railcraft, but completely separate, therefore leaving modpack creators free to go exclusively down the TE/IC2 path-- without sacrificing content.

Vapor would add 3 types of worldgen. Oil. Natural Gas. Petrol/Oil Sands (similar to Traincraft). Basically you could pump these up and store them in tanks (similar to Iron/Steel tanks but with interesting drumlike rendering-- think ExtraUtilites Drum but enourmous) and then you could pump it into the bottom of a boiler

The boiler would be realistic, and rendered nicely- again round, like a real boiler. You pump in the fuel (Coal, upgraded versions of coal, NatGas, oil, etc) then start it with an ignition. This would start a roaring fire beneath the boiler, which you pump water into. That boiler would reach 100 degrees C and then produce steam. This steam would then be pumped into various engines. Most who have played other mods with steam know about this. It would be very similar to Railcraft, however with the added mechanic of Gregtech-ish fuels and the ignition. Oh, and of course the models. I think round boilers in Minecraft would look pretty sweet.

There would be 5 types of engines/uses for steam included in the mod (anything else would come from things like Railcraft/Atomic Science/TE/Gregtech, etc):

-IC2 Generators that run off of steam to push a 3D rendered turbine
-TE Dynamos (do I need to explain?)
-Builcraft Engines (would be redundant, but anyway)
-RotaryCraft turbine (I need to dive more into Rotarycraft for more on that)
-Steam powered furnace (for the crazy ones who don't have any other mods installed) and a steam powered grinder (2nd tier vanilla ore processing).

Note: As said by SynfulChaot, these have already been done. What Vapor would do is to expand the current level of content available, a next tier of steam consumers (beyond the Industrial Steam Engine, Steam Dynamos, Etc).

This, at the moment, is Vapor. Tell me what you think. Tell me what to add. Tell me to kill myself. Run wild.

The next, (for now) final, and biggest mod is something I call Mekanized Tinkerer. TiMek for short. TiMek would be a TiCon addon styled after Gregtech. You start the game with the usual TiCon (or IguanaTweeks if you wish) until you hit ManyulynwhateverthefuckitscalledIcantbebotheredrightnowtolookitupmaybelater. You are seemingly fine, with all your resources and your Thermal Expansion machines. You are fine. Until you realize you have no TE machines. TiMek pulls a Greg on you and drastically changes the tech tree, making TE machines require all sorts of weird stuff. Note, however, one major difference. These changes are NOT grinding. They are just plain difficult. They slow you down, but at the same time encouraging exploration and interesting builds. It is Gregtech, revisited.

One of the main goals of TiMek is to bridge the gap between TiCon and all of the other tech mods, while being difficult and adding loads of content similar to Gregtech. You must, well obviously after acquiring metric shitloads of resources, construct an upgraded smeltery. This would be done by either adding smeltery plating (used by smelting alumite and molding it into alumite plates, like the Aluminum Brass casts) on top of the existing smeltery, OR you could construct machine blocks, which are nice blast resistant future-proof (used in constructing the endgame Assembler structure) blocks. Anyway, once the smeltery is upgraded, you must add several more things. The first is an outlet, a way of inputting RF/MJ/EU/Rotarycraft/MOAR power. This makes the new, 2nd Tier Industrial Smelter structure you have just created hum. The next thing is an input for fuel, or a way of creating alloys by pumping in various liquid products, or you could increase the heat of the smeltery by inputting liquidated coal. Think of it as the Gregtech Industrial Blast furnace 2nd slot, but it also functions as cupronickel heating coils-- something to increase the heat capacity.

Once you have this, your smeltery will look all cool and shiny. This means it is time to melt.

BUT WAIT

First comes a new way for storing molten liquids. The ThermosTank. This tank can let molten metal be stored outside of the smeltery. You can then use anything, such as fluiducts to pump molten metal into the upgraded version of the casting basin. The Tinkers' Caster. This block lets you pump metal into certain areas of the basin, making it like a crafting table-- but using molten metal.

TO BE CONTINUED HOPEFULLY WITH 75% LESS STUPID

[DOUBLEPOST=1390420026][/DOUBLEPOST]Oops. That't what you get for accidentally hitting post. This is very, very much WIP.

[Edit: Since I am an idiot and hit post too early, I am scrabmling to add the rest of the stuff I had down, so please tell me if something seems incomplete. It probably is.]
[Edit Number 9001: This is a bunch of ideas. It rambles. It isn't very organized. I hope that isn't an issue until I can sort out my computer issues]

 

[SynfulChaot]

There would be 5 types of engines/uses for steam included in the mod (anything else would come from things like Railcraft/Atomic Science/TE/Gregtech, etc):

-IC2 Generators that run off of steam to push a 3D rendered turbine
-TE Dynamos (do I need to explain?)
-Builcraft Engines (would be redundant, but anyway)
-RotaryCraft turbine (I need to dive more into Rotarycraft for more on that)
-Steam powered furnace (for the crazy ones who don't have any other mods installed) and a steam powered grinder (2nd tier vanilla ore processing).

I love the idea, but most of these steam consumers already have equivalents in their respective mods, sans IC2, of course. TE can directly process steam in the Steam Dynamo, as Railcraft can with it's own Steam Engines. RotaryCraft also has a steam consumer. I don't know that there is need for new equivalents built in as they won't be of much use without these mods anyways.

I do like the idea of a direct steam powered furnace and grinder, though. I never could get into Railcraft's steam oven and, IIRC, there is no current steam grinder in existance.

 

[Queue]

I love the idea, but most of these steam consumers already have equivalents in their respective mods, sans IC2, of course. TE can directly process steam in the Steam Dynamo, as Railcraft can with it's own Steam Engines. RotaryCraft also has a steam consumer. I don't know that there is need for new equivalents built in as they won't be of much use without these mods anyways.

I do like the idea of a direct steam powered furnace and grinder, though. I never could get into Railcraft's steam oven and, IIRC, there is no current steam grinder in existance.

Small correction. RC has a sort of grinder, the rock crusher, but I appreciate your feedback. You are correct, all of these things have been done. The main thing Vapor would do would be to add upgraded versions of these things-- a next tier after the Steam Dynamo, the Industrial Steam Engine, the Generator, etc. It would expand above the current level of content, rather than fill a nonexistent gap.

 

[casilleroatr]

I like your ideas overall, particularly TiMek. If I may, I would like to propose a slightly different way of having the power and fuel work together to power the industrial smelter. I like the addition of several fuel types, each powering the smelter in different ways (a bit like Ars Magica 2 power which I think is really interesting). What if you kept that functionality with the fuel but instead of having the power "making it hum" the fuel would also do this directly. My idea for power is that you require a large amount of power to start off the smelter, like an ignition, and then it would either no longer need more power or just a tiny trickle to keep going. I am just going to pluck these numbers out the air, but say you need 50000RF to start the smelter and then so long as you supply stuff to smelt all you need to keep it going is the requisite amount of fuel. If you turn the smelter off, either because you run out of fuel or because you run out of stuff to smelt, you will have to supply enough power to reignite it again. This will encourage making a batch delivery system for ores (like Railcraft chest carts), adding an extra gameplay dimension to conserve power.

EDIT: I meant to say this earlier but I forgot. mDiyo and the Tinker's Construct team moved stuff like the drawbridge from Tinker's Construct to the a new mod called Tinker's Mechworks a month or two ago. So there is a bit of a naming conflict. Nothing major but maybe enough that you might want to think of a new name.

 

[VapourDrive]

Slight misspell of the mod title; but we'll let it slide (kidding of course but it's not my fault I like in part of the like 10th of the world that adds the u )
I like this a lot... I have greatly enjoyed the magical box experience that some of the other tech mods have given me, but realistic systems such as the TiC smeltery have always pulled on my heartstrings. I also like the thought of a longer play-style; more effort to progress etc. Be warned: mechanics that are used for "prolonging" said progression better be pretty stinkin' fun or the community will throw you to the pit along with... well nevemind (again with the jests, what is it today...)
Back to reality; please implement that casting mold idea, it would be fantastic; absolutely amazing. Crafting machine parts in world instead of in a crafting table with molten metal 0.0... oh the possibilities.
Anyways, best of luck and I will definitely keep tabs on this!

 

[kaovalin]

What advantage would this have over say installing Mekanism and letting the UE mechanics handle energy conversions? Maybe you could just use the UE api and let that do most of the heavy lifting for your power plans.

Also the recipe changes are interesting, but like gregtech you may want to add endgame machines to work towards instead of just a barrier to entry. I may have missunderstood some of your vision, so please only take this as constructive criticism .

 

[SonOfABirch]

The boiler would be realistic, and rendered nicely- again round, like a real boiler.

Just to point out.. not all boilers are round. The boiler at my old house was a cuboid.

 

[MoosyDoosy]

I like the idea of Mechanized Tinker's Construct. It would keep the integrity of TiC while adding some tech to it. I always did feel kinda weird building a TiC smelter while building my super complicated power system. xD It's a nice idea overall, but obviously needs work. Just remember. Don't make it overly long or add tedium to the mods, because the community will burn you like what is happening with IC2. Just something to keep in mind.

 

[Queue]

Ok. I think I have sorted my computer issues for now. I should be posting the last bit of TiMek and the pictures and stuff pretty soon.[DOUBLEPOST=1390524817][/DOUBLEPOST]

I like the idea of Mechanized Tinker's Construct. It would keep the integrity of TiC while adding some tech to it. I always did feel kinda weird building a TiC smelter while building my super complicated power system. xD It's a nice idea overall, but obviously needs work. Just remember. Don't make it overly long or add tedium to the mods, because the community will burn you like what is happening with IC2. Just something to keep in mind.

Thanks, I like the complexity that Gregtech adds but I agree that there comes a time when it just adds tedium. I have been contemplating the idea of a dust-based chemical system, but that would come MUCH later and need a LOT of tweaking to be fun.[DOUBLEPOST=1390524926][/DOUBLEPOST]

Just to point out.. not all boilers are round. The boiler at my old house was a cuboid.

Very true, but you can only take so much cube in MC...
This was sort of what I was aiming at:
http://www.johnstonboiler.com/images/new/1800-2500_HP_PFTS-BOILER.jpg
EDIT: The two guys might have to be another addon though

 

[Queue]

What advantage would this have over say installing Mekanism and letting the UE mechanics handle energy conversions? Maybe you could just use the UE api and let that do most of the heavy lifting for your power plans.

Also the recipe changes are interesting, but like gregtech you may want to add endgame machines to work towards instead of just a barrier to entry. I may have missunderstood some of your vision, so please only take this as constructive criticism .

Oh don't worry I love any bit of feedback I can get... I think that would be taken under consideration, the idea of using the UE api as Calclavia wants it to be used, but honestly I have no idea right now. I am strictly in design phase. Thanks for the feedback though.

And about endgame machines: I have some pretty interesting ones planned, as endgame content is what I love about GT.[DOUBLEPOST=1390525268][/DOUBLEPOST]

I like your ideas overall, particularly TiMek. If I may, I would like to propose a slightly different way of having the power and fuel work together to power the industrial smelter. I like the addition of several fuel types, each powering the smelter in different ways (a bit like Ars Magica 2 power which I think is really interesting). What if you kept that functionality with the fuel but instead of having the power "making it hum" the fuel would also do this directly. My idea for power is that you require a large amount of power to start off the smelter, like an ignition, and then it would either no longer need more power or just a tiny trickle to keep going. I am just going to pluck these numbers out the air, but say you need 50000RF to start the smelter and then so long as you supply stuff to smelt all you need to keep it going is the requisite amount of fuel. If you turn the smelter off, either because you run out of fuel or because you run out of stuff to smelt, you will have to supply enough power to reignite it again. This will encourage making a batch delivery system for ores (like Railcraft chest carts), adding an extra gameplay dimension to conserve power.

EDIT: I meant to say this earlier but I forgot. mDiyo and the Tinker's Construct team moved stuff like the drawbridge from Tinker's Construct to the a new mod called Tinker's Mechworks a month or two ago. So there is a bit of a naming conflict. Nothing major but maybe enough that you might want to think of a new name.

I totally forgot about Tinkers Mech, I thought of this mod in the 1.5 days, and I would have to take that into consideration... but naming can come much later. Maybe just the Mek (think Mekanism) part will distinguish it from the its properly spelled cousin.[DOUBLEPOST=1390525333][/DOUBLEPOST]

I like your ideas overall, particularly TiMek. If I may, I would like to propose a slightly different way of having the power and fuel work together to power the industrial smelter. I like the addition of several fuel types, each powering the smelter in different ways (a bit like Ars Magica 2 power which I think is really interesting). What if you kept that functionality with the fuel but instead of having the power "making it hum" the fuel would also do this directly. My idea for power is that you require a large amount of power to start off the smelter, like an ignition, and then it would either no longer need more power or just a tiny trickle to keep going. I am just going to pluck these numbers out the air, but say you need 50000RF to start the smelter and then so long as you supply stuff to smelt all you need to keep it going is the requisite amount of fuel. If you turn the smelter off, either because you run out of fuel or because you run out of stuff to smelt, you will have to supply enough power to reignite it again. This will encourage making a batch delivery system for ores (like Railcraft chest carts), adding an extra gameplay dimension to conserve power.

EDIT: I meant to say this earlier but I forgot. mDiyo and the Tinker's Construct team moved stuff like the drawbridge from Tinker's Construct to the a new mod called Tinker's Mechworks a month or two ago. So there is a bit of a naming conflict. Nothing major but maybe enough that you might want to think of a new name.

Oh and I really like your idea, it has been bothering me how the fuel and power seem to combat each other, and I think your idea might just solve that.

 

[Queue]

Slight misspell of the mod title; but we'll let it slide (kidding of course but it's not my fault I like in part of the like 10th of the world that adds the u )
I like this a lot... I have greatly enjoyed the magical box experience that some of the other tech mods have given me, but realistic systems such as the TiC smeltery have always pulled on my heartstrings. I also like the thought of a longer play-style; more effort to progress etc. Be warned: mechanics that are used for "prolonging" said progression better be pretty stinkin' fun or the community will throw you to the pit along with... well nevemind (again with the jests, what is it today...)
Back to reality; please implement that casting mold idea, it would be fantastic; absolutely amazing. Crafting machine parts in world instead of in a crafting table with molten metal 0.0... oh the possibilities.
Anyways, best of luck and I will definitely keep tabs on this!

Haha yes I will indeed have to make some changes to Vapo[redacted for territorial and language conflicts]r. Maybe adding a special boiler with the words "VAPOUR IS THE ONLY WAY TO SPELL THIS SILLY MOD" would be nice
And I think you hit the nail on the head with my goal for these mods, and rest assured, by "prolong" I don't mean needlessly complex and frustrating so you shit on your computer and run out of the room crying *cough*Greg*Cough*InfernalMobs*Cough*

Alas, I do love those mods I just had a coughing fit over

 

[casilleroatr]

To get around the variants in spelling of Vapor/Vapour, you could write it like this

So you are not explicitly spelling it wrong for one set of English speakers or another, but have a distinctive stylized name with a lightning bolt where the u might have been which also serves to show it is a power based mod

I know it is a pretty goofy idea, but I will offer it anyway

 

[SynfulChaot]

As TiMek is to extend TiCon, you should give us a way to power the smeltery directly. That'd be pretty sweet. I always do like when I'm not forced to use only one power source (lava) for certain things.

 

[kaovalin]

As TiMek is to extend TiCon, you should give us a way to power the smeltery directly. That'd be pretty sweet. I always do like when I'm not forced to use only one power source (lava) for certain things.

And maybe turn those lava tanks in the smeltery stackable

 

[Queue]

To get around the variants in spelling of Vapor/Vapour, you could write it like this

View attachment 9372

So you are not explicitly spelling it wrong for one set of English speakers or another, but have a distinctive stylized name with a lightning bolt where the u might have been which also serves to show it is a power based mod

I know it is a pretty goofy idea, but I will offer it anyway

That is fantastic! I think, however, as I am a derned 'Murican from the land of gunslinging cowboys (well, New England really isn't but anyway) I will spell it Vapor, however if for example a British dev wanted to maintain the mod it would be fine calling it Vapour or Vapo[lightningbolt]r. I do like the idea of the lightning bolt, maybe a raindrop would be better though.
This, maybe (obviously in PShop rather than Paint):

 

[Queue]

As TiMek is to extend TiCon, you should give us a way to power the smeltery directly. That'd be pretty sweet. I always do like when I'm not forced to use only one power source (lava) for certain things.

Since TiMek is, at its core, a bridge between mods/TechTrees, I am considering things like Pyrotheum, Blaze powder (a solid fueled smeltery block much like RC), steam (would be interesting to have to cap the smeltery for it to get hot and/or pressurized), etc.[DOUBLEPOST=1390532850][/DOUBLEPOST]

And maybe turn those lava tanks in the smeltery stackable

That has always bothered me.

 

[SynfulChaot]

Since TiMek is, at its core, a bridge between mods/TechTrees, I am considering things like Pyrotheum, Blaze powder (a solid fueled smeltery block much like RC), steam (would be interesting to have to cap the smeltery for it to get hot and/or pressurized), etc.

That would be pretty sweet. I'd so use it!

 

[kaovalin]

Since TiMek is, at its core, a bridge between mods/TechTrees, I am considering things like Pyrotheum, Blaze powder (a solid fueled smeltery block much like RC), steam (would be interesting to have to cap the smeltery for it to get hot and/or pressurized), etc

With this in mind, maybe certain hot liquids like pyrotheium is necessary to melt certain end game ores in the smeltery. Lava just doesnt seem that hot in comparison. Maybe this would decrease the time it takes for the other ores to melt down as well to make it less of a punishment and more of a feature.

Edit: Maybe have it so that other really cold stuff from TE3 (gelid something?) is required to make certain advanced alloys since it needs rapid cooling to keep it from settling out of an alloy state.

 

[Wagon153]

So much yes. 10/10, would play with.

 

[Skyqula]

Vapor sounds realy awesome! Its what railcraft should do but never will

Timek? Not to sure. I like the idea, I just hope it wont change annything in another mod without at the very least a config option. I particularly dislike the idea of changing recipy's for TE. IMO TE is currently in a very very good spot. Adding on to it? Awesome. Changing it? Very very dangerous.