I've tried bricks and an iron block which are listed in the gregtech ftp wiki, but for some reason they are disabled in this pack. It still feels weird having to suddenly find a way to mine obsidian to build a steam level machine. it's like everything is tin, copper, iron and coal and all of a sudden, 'oh hey, go get lucky with some small cobalt, small diamond ore or a random treasure chest.' it was a jarring experience from the rest of the smooth progression up to that point. Just felt like suddenly I was outside gregtech relying on a different mod.
Either way, I'm now in love with gregtech and can't really see how i can go back to a normal modded minecraft now. Thanks so much to you guys btw for all your help. Now I just need to start building a huge warehouse to house my growing machine collection.
Be warned - it might soon turn to hate (but back to love again, of course)
One thing to note is, in this pack, there's ic2, then there's gregtech on top of that and then there's Jason and Co mixing it up - especially with Thaumcraft, so it's difficult to rely on recipes from wikis. I've been fooled by them a few times. To be honest, I have no idea whether it's GT or Infitech that removed the ic2 brick option though for the compressed chunk.
A couple of other tips from a newbie that I've picked up from this thread ...
1. Once you get to LV age, watch out for recipes that require a certain amount of EU/t. I've been caught out trying to use an LV machine when the recipe actually requires MV.
2. Check
every item in a recipe. You know, you see some items and think, yeah I know how to make them and don't click through. Always click through and save yourself from anguish.
3. Be careful going back too far in this thread to search for answers - recipes sometimes get changed on update. A good example of this is the coke oven - which can't now be made until you have electricity.
4. If you need to make a certain item - motors say - make a set of them instead (if you have the resources, of course).