[1.7.10][LISTED] InfiTech 2 Modpack v3.2.21 [HQM][GregTech balanced hard-mode modpack]

[Nezraddin]

Phew... I think I really need to start taking notes about what I learned the last few pages. Might still be a long time till I reach that point. Still pre-steam age for me till I build at least my starting building *smirks*

At least Iron won't be a problem for a while, I just noticed that beside the 3x3 Limonite Vein which I have right under my starting base, a second 3x3 Limonite-Vein is found *chuckles*
Wish I would find some diamond that I at least can get this first macerator build.

Two little question on the way:
- I read often now that you should protect your stuff from rain. Does that mean 'every' machine that I might build needs a little roof over it's top or just special ones, like everything that uses electric energy?

- Is it best to mine as much as possible from veins in the beginning or trying to only get just enough for what you need until you have better ways to process/mine things and let as much as possible either in chests or underground?

 

[asb3pe]

At least Iron won't be a problem for a while, I just noticed that beside the 3x3 Limonite Vein which I have right under my starting base, a second 3x3 Limonite-Vein is found *chuckles*
Wish I would find some diamond that I at least can get this first macerator build.

Two little question on the way:
- I read often now that you should protect your stuff from rain. Does that mean 'every' machine that I might build needs a little roof over it's top or just special ones, like everything that uses electric energy?

- Is it best to mine as much as possible from veins in the beginning or trying to only get just enough for what you need until you have better ways to process/mine things and let as much as possible either in chests or underground?

I had the same thing happen to me, I cleared out a Limonite vein, and just as I got to the very bottom of the last Yellow Limonite layer, in the very last corner of the huge area I had just cleaned out... I began to see a few Brown Limonite Ores, and I LOL'ed because the only thing that could mean is that there was another Limonite vein right next to this now-empty one. Two for the price of... two. hahaha

As for rain, my only advice is to be extremely careful and if in doubt, go into a temporary creative world and experiment.

What I CAN say for sure, because I've done it, is that rain will NOT cause the Bronze Blast Furnace to explode, I kept mine outdoors... and same for my Large Steel Boiler, which also runs outside in the rain, uncovered. I know there's a rule of thumb to determine if a machine is safe or not, but my own rule of thumb is just to cover everything. LOL I've read that the Advanced Miner can explode in the rain, so don't expect the rule to make much sense. I mean... where else would the Advanced Miner be operated, but outdoors? LOL

Lastly... the only time I waited to mine an ore vein with the Advanced Miner II is the Scheelite vein... because Tungsten veins are rare, and I wanted to get as much out of it as possible. And another reason is, I'm not ready to make Tungsten yet, so why mine it? But that's an obvious situation when you would wait. Otherwise... no, I would recommend if you have a need, you address it instead of putting it off. I totally understand that thought-process tho, and I think you're correct to pose the question. I guess my answer would be to check the list of ore vein "weighting" (how often they appear in the world) and for the lowest-weighted ores, consider saving those until you're using that Advanced Miner II. But I think things like Diamond veins (which aren't as rare as you might think, other ores are more rare, diamond veins are just smaller than average, check the ore list "density" column to see) are common enough where you just go mine them when you need those materials for a project.

 

[Celestialphoenix]

- I read often now that you should protect your stuff from rain. Does that mean 'every' machine that I might build needs a little roof over it's top or just special ones, like everything that uses electric energy?

I think its only electrical stuff- however covering it also means the adjacent blocks, so you'll need a 3x3 shelter to protect 1 machine. Or move to a rain free biome such as desert or savanna.
Machine covers (plates) also count as covering the machine.

- Is it best to mine as much as possible from veins in the beginning or trying to only get just enough for what you need until you have better ways to process/mine things and let as much as possible either in chests or underground?

Take only what you need. Early on you'll be better off finding different ore types rather than stripping that entire iron deposit. It isn't going to walk off anywhere right?
Iron, tin, and copper is what you need. Diamond/Redstone make for nice bonuses- you'll want a little of each. Gold if you want to hit Thaumcraft.
Small ores can get you out of a pinch- so its worth carrying a backpack or two and mining those as you find them.

 

[Nezraddin]

Thank you for the fast answers and hints

And thanks for the list. I always forget to check all the lists in the gregtech wiki. So many things you need to understand and find ways to deal with it *laughs* No wonder it's challanging. But slowly I have alot of holes in the ground... still mostly the same ressources I already found once or twice, guess I just need to keep going until I find new ones.
(and seeing the list of possible veins... I really hardly found that many possible ones yet)

And surely the words about "Finding Copper and Tin to start into the machine age is the biggest challange early game" were not kidding... still have to find a good vein for both. Copper I have at least in form of Malachite. The high-generated veins for these two things sure avoid me. Second extrem hill pretty much searched through, still no sign of one of the high-y'level veins

Luckily I got quiet a few ingots of Tin out of the questbook, so I'm not totally stuck till I find a vein.

 

[targetingyou78]

Thank you for the fast answers and hints

And thanks for the list. I always forget to check all the lists in the gregtech wiki. So many things you need to understand and find ways to deal with it *laughs* No wonder it's challanging. But slowly I have alot of holes in the ground... still mostly the same ressources I already found once or twice, guess I just need to keep going until I find new ones.
(and seeing the list of possible veins... I really hardly found that many possible ones yet)

And surely the words about "Finding Copper and Tin to start into the machine age is the biggest challange early game" were not kidding... still have to find a good vein for both. Copper I have at least in form of Malachite. The high-generated veins for these two things sure avoid me. Second extrem hill pretty much searched through, still no sign of one of the high-y'level veins

Luckily I got quiet a few ingots of Tin out of the questbook, so I'm not totally stuck till I find a vein.

I would suggest (If you're not already) using a texture pack of some sort that changes the texture of the ores. The first time I played I never found a tin vein. I eventually ended up quitting. The same thing almost happened again but I installed a texture pack and realized that there were actually two tin veins that i had missed.

Edit: Also, to add my own two cents onto your question about mining or just skimming until you can get a better way to mine... I would say mine it if you need it. Even if you mine it now you can always wait to process it later when you have a better chain. Once you mine it you can no longer use the Advanced Miner II to get 5x ore out of it but to be honest, you are very, very far away from that. That's in the Extreme Voltage Era and it's Bronze -> LV -> MV -> HV -> EV. As mentioned before, something like a scheelite vein you might want to leave alone because you have little use for it (Although, you can get lithium and Manganese from it. That's how I've made most of my batteries and most of my Manganese. I'm sure I'll regret it later when I need tons of tungsten but without it I might never had made it through HV era anyways) Seriously though, you'll likely find a lot more than one or two of a vein type while searching for more rarer ones later.

 

[asb3pe]

If you're not finding multiple Chalcopyrite (that's the main early-game copper ore) and Limonite (early game iron) veins, you're not doing it right. I got stuck because I couldn't find a Grossular vein, which meant I couldn't proceed with making Stainless Steel parts required for HV and beyond... so, I did what we're supposed to do in MINEcraft... I dug and dug and dug and dug some more. I tunneled a 36x36 chunk area under my base with each tunnel separated by 3 chunks, so I made a grid of 12 tunnels by 12 tunnels, each tunnel with a length of over 500 blocks. Perhaps I was unlucky with the Grossular, and yes I eventually did find one. But before I located it, I came across 13 Limonite veins and 6 Chalcopyrites. So break out your ore book, look at the spawning elevations for whatever ore you are in need of, and start tunneling right in the middle of that elevation range! I guarantee if you do this, and if you devote a solid block of time to the mission (everything in this pack takes time and motivation), you will succeed. Tin is definitely the biggest early-game challenge, but it won't be your last. hahaha Good luck!

 

[Nezraddin]

Hehe, yeah even the LV era still seems very far away. Just happy the questbook really helps, without it I wouldn't even know where to start gregtech *laughs*

And yeah, probably not doing it completly right yet, just begun that I actually found the center of a 3x3 vein and now I always mine in the middle chunk to have best chances to hit some ore while digging downwards. At the moment it seems to really work well, the extreme hill I just probe-dug now has alot of veins under it, just not what I was searching for.
I even found something which seems only usable in IV era, Monazite and Bastnasite or something like that... still learning the NEI-way of gregtech, so many pages and so confusing x.x

Noticed now that I dug down alot at the edge of veins, so probably that why I have some empty spots... need to dig down in the center again to see if there is something.
And at the moment I run digging-holes from the Groundlevel down to whatever I find - hoping that really there is always only one vein and you shouldn't actually dig down always to bedrock... so far I always stopped as soon as I found something.

Stopped my first attempt at tunneling cause I still used flint-tools and they broke too often. Now with wrought iron tools and a few iron-giving veins already found, I might start it again. Just not really a fan of 1x2 tunnels. So... will see if I start tunneling again or just stay on the ground again running three chunks and digging down from there, hehe.

Oh so much to learn and even more once I actually find everything to start the machine-age *smirks*
And yeah... the "time and motivation" is always the problem for me. That's why at the moment I take little breaks between my searching for veins, else I would blow up, hehe.

[edit]
And now with actually reading the complete list of ores... I found out there are copper and tin veins that actually down below y'level ~60 ... and I ran around searching for extreme hills thinking they only spawn aboth that level *laughs*
Thanks for hinting me again at the list/book


[edit 2]
And while reading the list... do I see it right that "Oil sand" doesn't count as vein and I actually should dig down these chunks more where I found it? O_O

 

[targetingyou78]

Stopped my first attempt at tunneling cause I still used flint-tools and they broke too often. Now with wrought iron tools and a few iron-giving veins already found, I might start it again. Just not really a fan of 1x2 tunnels. So... will see if I start tunneling again or just stay on the ground again running three chunks and digging down from there, hehe.

I'm pretty sure that digging shafts in a grid (Preferably centered around your vein generation) is by far the best method. Also, if you're worried you may have missed a vein by a few blocks you can always bring a hammer and prospect as you dig your grid.

 

[targetingyou78]

Quick question: What should I do with my multiple drums full of mercury from trying to make chrome from redstone? I've been using it on Nickel and Magnetite so far but... I have so much left. I also have Aurelia leafs so I don't even need to do the Magnetite for gold. I'm just doing it so I can free up space. My last 12 stacks of redstone or so I have just been pumping the Mercury into a trashcan.

 

[asb3pe]

I even found something which seems only usable in IV era, Monazite and Bastnasite or something like that... still learning the NEI-way of gregtech, so many pages and so confusing x.x

Yes, that vein provides Neodymium, and EV motors have a center rod made of Polarized Neodymium. That Bastnasite vein was the last vein I had to find in order to have the materials to get up to EV era... not that I'm quite ready yet, but at least now I have all the right ores found. So just make a waypoint to the ore, and someday you probably won't even realize how much effort that discovery just saved you.

Noticed now that I dug down alot at the edge of veins, so probably that why I have some empty spots... need to dig down in the center again to see if there is something. And at the moment I run digging-holes from the Groundlevel down to whatever I find - hoping that really there is always only one vein and you shouldn't actually dig down always to bedrock... so far I always stopped as soon as I found something.

Stopped my first attempt at tunneling cause I still used flint-tools and they broke too often. Now with wrought iron tools and a few iron-giving veins already found, I might start it again. Just not really a fan of 1x2 tunnels. So... will see if I start tunneling again or just stay on the ground again running three chunks and digging down from there, hehe.

And while reading the list... do I see it right that "Oil sand" doesn't count as vein and I actually should dig down these chunks more where I found it? O_O

Oil Sands isn't all that significant, I wouldn't go out of my way, altho for early oil which you will need in small quantities (to make polyethylene), it's probably the easiest method to get oil from unless you find one of those geysers and just grab buckets of it by hand (a good option as well).

But I agree with you about vertical explorations... if I find an ore vein, I stop just like you do. Yes, it's possible there might be another ore vein below, but it would be very rare and it's not worth all that extra work for something that is rare. I was always just glad I found one ore vein in that shaft, I marked it, and moved on to the next location.

Having seen the ore generation without other stuff in the way (by using the /cofh clearblocks command on a test world), I can tell you there are going to be locations where there are what you call "blank spots". It's just the nature of "random" ore generation. I dug quite a few vertical shafts with zero ores found. But I don't think the center of the chunk is any different from any other block in a chunk, I dug all my tunnels right at chunk intersections, because that way I could turn on the chunk lines with the F9 key and always see the green squares. Digging in the middle of the chunk, you don't get those green squares, and they sometimes help me count blocks from a distance, so I like to turn on F9 and see them while I explore.

I always like to find the outside edges of the vein first, and find the top layer. Then I work my way from the outside in towards the center, and I work downward in 2-layer increments. Working downward is obviously easier than trying to dig upward... and working in from the edges means you never miss any ores. But that's just my own personal "strategy" and I'm sure everybody has their own way of mining.

Edit: Oh, I almost forgot... I cannot recommend enough how good it is to find some Cobaltite Ore and make your tools out of that blue Cobalt stuff. It's found with Nickel and that green ore Garnierite, which means even in the nether you have a decent chance of spotting a deposit against that overwhelmingly red background. Cobalt has excellent early-game durability, and even more important, it's a Tier 3 pickaxe you can actually make fairly easily, which then allows you to mine the harder ore blocks like Diamond and Garnierite with it. And it also doesn't have a lot of other uses, meaning there's no need to worry about "wasting it" on tools. I think tools is the best use for the ore.

 

[Herrminator1994]

So I found some weirdness. I'm running 3 advanced miner II's, and they all seem to be pulling up the same stuff. First all three were pulling Apatite, now all three are pulling almondine. Do they share inventories or some such weirdness?

 

[Nezraddin]

@targetingyou78
So far, since I used the center-digging method, I was lucky enough not to need the prospecting hammer. In the past I pretty much used an entire iron-hammer's durability trying to prospect, without much success. Usually I ended up with a bit of thaumcraft ore or a small ore.
But again, now looking back at my early attempts to find veins... they really were pretty much on the edge of veins, so no wonder I hardly ever found anything.

@asb3pe
Hrm... guess before understanding all the gregtech-mechanics of making oil, I guess it's not bad having at least a little bit of oil sand.

After trying my old tunnels again, I guess I will stay with my "on the surface" exploring of veins for now. Might dig tunnels later to the veins I found to have easier travelling to them (jumping around on extreme hills is still evil).
Seems both methods are quiet useful and have their advantages. On the surface you usually get around faster where you want to dig next. However if that place is inside a jungle, a swamp (lots of water) or extreme hills... that of course makes things more difficult again.

Yeah, noticed it as well, that as long as you dig in the center-chunk you have a very high chance to find ore no matter where you dig in the chunk. Just the outer chunks can be risky to try. At the moment I try to dig more in the center of the chunk, cause then I see on the worldmap exactly which chunk I was digging down. Makes a counting a little bit easier.


Really, knowing "where" you should dig makes the hunting for ores alot nicer and less frustrating. In my first days I dug so much with flint tools and hardly found anything. Now I find one vein after the other *cheers* (besides two empty spots so far... why do the high-y'level veins mock me, always trying to generate where they cannot *grumbles* ^^

 

[targetingyou78]

@targetingyou78
So far, since I used the center-digging method, I was lucky enough not to need the prospecting hammer. In the past I pretty much used an entire iron-hammer's durability trying to prospect, without much success. Usually I ended up with a bit of thaumcraft ore or a small ore.
But again, now looking back at my early attempts to find veins... they really were pretty much on the edge of veins, so no wonder I hardly ever found anything.

@asb3pe
Hrm... guess before understanding all the gregtech-mechanics of making oil, I guess it's not bad having at least a little bit of oil sand.

After trying my old tunnels again, I guess I will stay with my "on the surface" exploring of veins for now. Might dig tunnels later to the veins I found to have easier travelling to them (jumping around on extreme hills is still evil).
Seems both methods are quiet useful and have their advantages. On the surface you usually get around faster where you want to dig next. However if that place is inside a jungle, a swamp (lots of water) or extreme hills... that of course makes things more difficult again.

Yeah, noticed it as well, that as long as you dig in the center-chunk you have a very high chance to find ore no matter where you dig in the chunk. Just the outer chunks can be risky to try. At the moment I try to dig more in the center of the chunk, cause then I see on the worldmap exactly which chunk I was digging down. Makes a counting a little bit easier.


Really, knowing "where" you should dig makes the hunting for ores alot nicer and less frustrating. In my first days I dug so much with flint tools and hardly found anything. Now I find one vein after the other *cheers* (besides two empty spots so far... why do the high-y'level veins mock me, always trying to generate where they cannot *grumbles* ^^

I will be honest with you, I have stacks and stacks of oil sand and have never processed a single one. xD

 

[Nezraddin]

I will be honest with you, I have stacks and stacks of oil sand and have never processed a single one. xD

Uhm well, I guess you could still use it as building-ressource then? A nice floor of oil-leaking sand... *chuckles*

 

[codewarrior0]

So I found some weirdness. I'm running 3 advanced miner II's, and they all seem to be pulling up the same stuff. First all three were pulling Apatite, now all three are pulling almondine. Do they share inventories or some such weirdness?

It's a bug. The Advanced Miner II is using the wrong coordinates in a couple of places, and the end result is that it outputs whatever the drops are from the last block that was broken, including the blocks broken by other Miners. This also means it will sometimes pull up ores that you have been personally digging up.

 

[codewarrior0]

Quick question: What should I do with my multiple drums full of mercury from trying to make chrome from redstone?

Scan the Mercury Bath column in the Ore Elements Table and see if there's anything you need. I didn't go into crops so the Mercury provided almost my entire Gold supply. I also used it on Iridium, Galena, and basically everything else in that column that I mined up.

Another use for Mercury is to make Magic Solid Super Fuel. You'll need to do just enough Thaumcraft to make Alumentum first.

 

[targetingyou78]

Scan the Mercury Bath column in the Ore Elements Table and see if there's anything you need. I didn't go into crops so the Mercury provided almost my entire Gold supply. I also used it on Iridium, Galena, and basically everything else in that column that I mined up.

Another use for Mercury is to make Magic Solid Super Fuel. You'll need to do just enough Thaumcraft to make Alumentum first.

Is there a future use for silver? Because I have some piles of it gathering dust atm. I don't think I've used it since the very beginning to make a handful of solar boilers and maybe 10 or so electrum. If I had some Iridium I'm certain I'd want to get the most bang for my buck but I'm years away from that. I have been slowly making Super Solid Fuel but I just don't seem to need to use it. I just use charcoal and creosote oil in my Large Steel Boiler. With my pyrolyse oven it doesn't seem to be a problem. Alright, I think I'll just keep voiding it.

 

[codewarrior0]

Silver is an ideal material for HV Cables, having the lowest line loss. It is also used to craft Blue Alloy, which makes cables that are even better, since they carry twice as many amps as Silver. (But don't forget that you can always use a higher-tier cable; anywhere you need a 4x Silver Cable, you could use a 4x Aluminum Cable or a 2x Platinum cable instead.)

Silver is used to make Electrum. Electrum is used to make Item Conduits and to make Etched HV Wiring for Advanced Circuits and other electrical components. It is also used to make high speed tools and turbine rotors in the form of Fluxed Electrum, which is also required for the Redstone Arsenal tools and weapons.

 

[McFrugal]

Guys. Don't store Mercury in liquid form. Use the Ball Mold to turn it into Quicksilver then store that in barrels!

Also I have a question. It appears I only need one Vis Apiary Booster for multiple Magic Apiaries. The icons light up even in magic apiaries near the booster, not directly under it. Is this intended behavior? If so, what's the radius?

 

[Nezraddin]

Hrm... there I thought I finally understand the ore-generation, then suddenly inside a cave I find minecraft redstone ore (hiding a deep hive of magic bees) and some emerald ore.
I guess the redstone ore is created so you find the hive, but is that sudden emerald ore inside caves normal?