I'm contemplating ditching CraftGuide for NEI after all. I've already got the blanket release from Chickenbones which includes NEI so permissions is already a done thing, and with the question mark shift click thing, it has additional utility beyond 'cheat mode'.
Also, if I was going to do a biomes mod, it would probably be UndergroundBiomes. different colored stones you can make smoothstone or brick out of for the more color-coordinated players out there. Plus, yanno, some vaguely accurate stone formation generation. Steampunk tends to be victorian era science, well Geology was certainly around, at least to this extent, back then. Shist was Gneiss, but don't take it for Granite. That was one of the things I liked about TFC, and I wouldn't mind seeing it here.