Anyone got far in the pack? I'm wondering if the quest book guide you through the automation or you'll need to figure it out yourself...
If you've done Ex Nihilo automation in any other packs you'll know what to do. The basic components of that are covered in the questbook but not in the order I approach it so YMMV. I had auto-sieving and a smeltery setup before I even unlocked those quests, for example.
The critical path is the repeatable quest in the first chapter that gets you oreberry bushes/harvestcraft gardens every time you do it. Doing that every time it is available will give you the food you need to survive and the initial metals you need to start building automation/utility. After you've gotten one or more sieve+autonomous activator combos setup + a smeltery start thinking about getting beneath the bedrock layer. After that your choices open up and you can work on practically anything you want to.
Hmm, what else? Make a point of killing blue slimes every chance you get, at least until you locate a slime island and can get slime saplings. I think blue slime tool rods are probably the best early game option, plus you need slimes for porcelain clay which is important to get past some of the early progression gates. Specifically you need porcelain clay for a juicer and a mortar and pestle. Need the juicer to keep your bee production going(for wax for torches, etc.), and need the mortar and pestle to make TiCon patterns.
When you build your defenses do so with an eye towards facilitating the harvesting/gathering of mob drops. Bones are important for early game tools(and repairing them) and speeding up tree/crop growth, zombie flesh for food, leather, and composted dirt, gunpowder for that all important repeatable quest. Because these drops are so useful early on I think it is best to avoid sleeping through the night once you have a bed until you don't need those drops. Additionally until you have a permanent water source you might need the rain.
Might even consider going for a sleeping bag instead initially since exploration will net you some items/resources that greatly speed progression. I suppose the viability of that option will vary depending upon how far you built from spawn.