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

[asb3pe]

What material do you use for axes? I go thru so many axes. Cutting down the 4x4 Spruce Trees, then harvesting the 11x11x5 Charcoals in the Pit uses up axes incredibly quickly, even tho I'm using Cobalt as my tool material.

On the bright side, there's nothing better than a GT axe cutting down a tall spruce tree in just 4 chops... but taking away like 20% of it's total durability per tree is harsh. I need to find a better way, so what is it? Should I be using a power saw or something? I'm only in LV era but there must be something better to use than hand axe?

 

[asb3pe]

Yet another DOH moment... for the past week I've been working towards the goal of installing a train in my nether tunnel to cut my long walking time down (connecting my present base to the starting village where I still have items and all sorts of mining waypoints.

This morning I finally made my track, and my steam locomotive. Yay! Tested it all out in my base, with the liquid loader to fill the locomotive with water... when suddenly it hit me - oh crap, this isn't gonna work in the nether because you can't use water there!

So anybody experienced with Railcraft, please clue me in on how to run a train in the nether - will the steam locomotive work somehow? Will a reservoir/liquidloader combo work in the nether? Will I have to wait for the electric locomotive, or is there some other option?

 

[Jason McRay]

What material do you use for axes? I go thru so many axes. Cutting down the 4x4 Spruce Trees, then harvesting the 11x11x5 Charcoals in the Pit uses up axes incredibly quickly, even tho I'm using Cobalt as my tool material.

On the bright side, there's nothing better than a GT axe cutting down a tall spruce tree in just 4 chops... but taking away like 20% of it's total durability per tree is harsh. I need to find a better way, so what is it? Should I be using a power saw or something? I'm only in LV era but there must be something better to use than hand axe?

I primarily use Blue Steel as a tool material. It has fair amount of durability. (not sure if it is lvl 3 material though)

Yet another DOH moment... for the past week I've been working towards the goal of installing a train in my nether tunnel to cut my long walking time down (connecting my present base to the starting village where I still have items and all sorts of mining waypoints.

This morning I finally made my track, and my steam locomotive. Yay! Tested it all out in my base, with the liquid loader to fill the locomotive with water... when suddenly it hit me - oh crap, this isn't gonna work in the nether because you can't use water there!

So anybody experienced with Railcraft, please clue me in on how to run a train in the nether - will the steam locomotive work somehow? Will a reservoir/liquidloader combo work in the nether? Will I have to wait for the electric locomotive, or is there some other option?

You only cannot place Water in nether. So making reservoir should be fine.

 

[asb3pe]

I primarily use Blue Steel as a tool material. It has fair amount of durability. (not sure if it is lvl 3 material though)

You only cannot place Water in nether. So making reservoir should be fine.

Ok I'll try the train out then. Yeah, in my other world (SSP) I do use Blue Steel for my sword since it gives Sharpness V on it. And I also made my axes out of it as well so you're right about durability. The problem with Blue Steel is that it requires the Electric Blast Furnace with (I think) the top-end Coils in it, so I'm not quite there yet. I'll just keep using up Cobalt until I can cook up some Blue Steel dust but thx for the reminder/suggestion which will motivate me to get that Electric Furnace going!

 

[SolManX]

For my early game, I had a forestry worktable loaded with flint and sticks for axes

10 4x4 spruces generally filled a max charcoal pit needing approx 6/7 axes and a few extra to clear the pit. Cheap 'n' easy.

 

[Sven "flamestrider"]

What material do you use for axes? I go thru so many axes. Cutting down the 4x4 Spruce Trees, then harvesting the 11x11x5 Charcoals in the Pit uses up axes incredibly quickly, even tho I'm using Cobalt as my tool material. -crop-

I primarily use Blue Steel as a tool material. It has fair amount of durability. -crop-

I tend to go the Thaumcraft route for my wood-axes, Damascus steel is really nice and not too expensive. I think it's still doable in LV-era... but in any case building an EBF should be a priority... together with an arc furnace for cheap steel.

 

[JoFlash Studios]

Hey guys, I'm about to start UUM production, and I'm looking into the best sources of scrap. Any recommendations? I have almost 60,000 stone dust, but apparently that doesn't work.

 

[Phoenix_the_II]

I'm getting frustrated that I can't find a way to unlock these thaumcraft researches:

Spoiler

 

[targetingyou78]

What material do you use for axes? I go thru so many axes. Cutting down the 4x4 Spruce Trees, then harvesting the 11x11x5 Charcoals in the Pit uses up axes incredibly quickly, even tho I'm using Cobalt as my tool material.

I used cobalt for a while but then I decided it really is a waste of cobalt... It is so quick and is tier three so using it on wood just felt wrong. I ended up going back to wrought iron for a while. Once you can get Stainless Steel I would definitely get a electric saw. Taking durability only 4% of the times you use it is a god send.

 

[asb3pe]

Hey guys, I'm about to start UUM production, and I'm looking into the best sources of scrap. Any recommendations? I have almost 60,000 stone dust, but apparently that doesn't work.

I dunno about this pack but... (I just checked and we do indeed have Extra Utilities)

 

[asb3pe]

I used cobalt for a while but then I decided it really is a waste of cobalt... It is so quick and is tier three so using it on wood just felt wrong. I ended up going back to wrought iron for a while. Once you can get Stainless Steel I would definitely get a electric saw. Taking durability only 4% of the times you use it is a god send.

The thing is, there's really no use for Cobalt (that I know of anyways). That fact, when coupled with the fact that it's more durable than wrought iron without the "nugget issue" (ugh), makes Cobalt the obvious choice for tools... unless you happen to be in a world (like I am) where server-mates have literally discovered more diamond veins than copper veins. LOL They just kept diggin, and they just kept runnin' into em. hehe But even in this environment I don't think it's wise to spend diamonds on tools... so I always end up back at good old Cobalt no matter what.

Ok so at least I can tell from the replies that I'm not alone with the "axe problem". hehe It's totally understandable that some things in early game are gonna be terrible wastes of resources (i.e. rubber-making before you have a Chemical Reactor). But that waste is precisely what motivates us and drives us into those upper tier materials as quick as we can get there. To delay progression is sort of like an exponential equation, it's not just twice as bad, it's bad squared. And that is exactly why this modpack is so great. There's no easy button.

 

[asb3pe]

I tend to go the Thaumcraft route for my wood-axes, Damascus steel is really nice and not too expensive. I think it's still doable in LV-era... but in any case building an EBF should be a priority... together with an arc furnace for cheap steel.

And speaking of motivations... thanks Sven, perhaps this will be the push I need to crack open that Thaumonomicon. It's a little bit dusty... POOF. (sneeze) LOL

I thought Damascus Steel wasn't available even tho it's been in NEI forever? I thought it was a legacy metal that you can't make but (perhaps) you might find some obscure weapon in a dungeon chest that's made out of it? Kinda like Chainmail armor or something? I'd love to realize I've been wrong about that impression for all this time! Am I?

Yeah I know the EBF is a key step towards everything that isn't "LV". hehe Almost there, I actually already built eight LV Steam Turbines so I'm just being lazy and/or distracted. I did get the "Nether Choo-Choo" up and running today, so in response to my own earlier question, the Railcraft Steam Locomotive does indeed work just fine in the Nether by using a Reservoir to fill it. One step at a time, this was a project I had been working towards all the past week, so now it's time for that EBF project I think.

 

[targetingyou78]

I thought Damascus Steel wasn't available even tho it's been in NEI forever? I thought it was a legacy metal that you can't make but (perhaps) you might find some obscure weapon in a dungeon chest that's made out of it? Kinda like Chainmail armor or something? I'd love to realize I've been wrong about that impression for all this time! Am I?

Thaumcarft gives a method for obtaining Damascus steel in the alchemy section along the chain of Wrought Iron -> Steel -> then several other types of Steel (Steeleaf, Damascus, Knightmetal etc). Also, to be honest, in this pack, Thaumcraft seems to be borderline pointless besides a few things here or there. Most of the tools and such are locked behind high tier electronics such as wand focuses requiring Titanium etc. By the time you can get something like the wand focus of excavation you are able to make MV drills which can give you something like 60-100 something mining speed which will instant break most things in the game.

 

[Celestialphoenix]

Axes- Flint for chopping trees- its normally 2 per tree, sometimes 1.5 if its a little stunted. (I'm on the 2x2 fir trees rather than the spruce ones)
For the charcoal, I use a diamond axe (GT version)- which instantly breaks the charcoal blocks. (charcoal causes a lot less wear on the tools- so the diamond lasts a long time)

Thaumcraft itself is actually pretty useful if you delve into alchemy. Find any metal deposit, and you can transmute it into whatever you're currently needing. (if you can scrounge enough gold for a Thaumatorium)
Also its kinda useful for producing sand and building stones in large batches.

 

[JoFlash Studios]

I dunno about this pack but... (I just checked and we do indeed have Extra Utilities)

It doesn't work with cobble either. Otherwise that would be the obvious solution.

 

[Nedrith]

If you wanted to be cheap you could autocraft saws and saw down the cobble that would work. Another solution is a tree farm and put the logs through a cutting saw. Not sure about the wood pulp but the planks can be thrown into it.

As for thaumcraft here are many, many uses. Alumentum is a lot better than charcoal in boilers and all you need is a witching gadgets cobblegen and charcoal to make it. It can also make clay out of aqua and cobblestone. aqua being easily gotten from water in a alchemical boiler. The clay can be processed into silicon, aluminium and lithium. you can use the same alchemical boiler burning water along with glass to duplicate nether quartz. It offers the earliest flight capability which while being a bit slow is a lot easier for getting out of a pit made to check for veins than building a pillar or using ladders. If you are a fan of manual mining I find the magical hand mirror to be the best compliment for auto-sending ores and stuff back to base.

 

[JoFlash Studios]

If you wanted to be cheap you could autocraft saws and saw down the cobble that would work. Another solution is a tree farm and put the logs through a cutting saw. Not sure about the wood pulp but the planks can be thrown into it.

I ended up going with conduit binder. A bit more complex, but it lets me use my stone dust.

 

[targetingyou78]

As for thaumcraft here are many, many uses. Alumentum is a lot better than charcoal in boilers and all you need is a witching gadgets cobblegen and charcoal to make it. It can also make clay out of aqua and cobblestone. aqua being easily gotten from water in a alchemical boiler. The clay can be processed into silicon, aluminium and lithium. you can use the same alchemical boiler burning water along with glass to duplicate nether quartz. It offers the earliest flight capability which while being a bit slow is a lot easier for getting out of a pit made to check for veins than building a pillar or using ladders. If you are a fan of manual mining I find the magical hand mirror to be the best compliment for auto-sending ores and stuff back to base.

I can definitely see the flight being really nice if it is actually easier to get. I have not yet gotten that research. However, I'm not even considering flight yet. I'm just in the MV/HV era. Second, yeah, Alumentum is definitely a great, although, It takes 5 charcoal (and some tiny dusts) to make 2 Alumentum... Alumentum has the same burn time as 4 charcoal-- so you really only get 8/5 the use out of your charcoal which makes it a lot less useful than it first seems. (I'm pretty thaumcraft noob so maybe there is a better way than that?)

 

[Sven "flamestrider"]

I ended up going with conduit binder. A bit more complex, but it lets me use my stone dust.

If you want to use up your stonedust you could consider making concrete... when used as pavement it speeds up movement and I believe it also stops mob-spawning.

 

[JoFlash Studios]

If you want to use up your stonedust you could consider making concrete... when used as pavement it speeds up movement and I believe it also stops mob-spawning.

Conduit binder is made of concrete.