A crazy idea...

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Now, you guys should know by now, I tend to be kinda... outside the box. Trimming things down, eliminating mods that many consider 'core' or 'essential' to come up with a different experience. But now I've got a very interesting idea I want to bounce off you guys...

A mod pack, not simply a map, where there is zero ore gen. None. Period. Disable vanilla oregen too. You get dirt, grass, stone, sand, gravel... just no actual ores. Instead, you use ExNi to get all of your ores.

This is a simple but fundamental game-changer. Quarries become pointless, because there are no ores to quarry for any longer. You no longer need to go delving for goodies, you need to set up your infrastructure. You have less boring branch mining and more boring sifting (at least until you get some automation going).

Unlike a skyblock type map, dirt and stone are prevalent, so you can get your initial resources pretty quickly. You won't need to compost for dirt in most places, for example. However, you will probably find yourself quarrying for stone to break down for sifting purposes.

I wonder how this will change the dynamic of the game, and if it would be a good one.

 

[Pyure]

I suppose I'd be a bit concerned that it deprecates the traditional "point" of minecraft, which is mining.

At least in a skyblock, there's nothing to mine. But now you'd have a world that doesn't actually provide anything.

Other than that I'd check it out for fun regardless.

 

[Chaka]

I like it. If there was a pack like that i would definitely play that.

 

[Feniks]

I wouldn't like it. It would just add 1 more step to quarry as you would still ran it and soend hours sifting it. it would make exploring and caveing poitless making most of the world boring really.

 

[KillerRamer]

I did this pritty much and it wasn't really different in the end... I just never went underground... I wouldn't mind some sorta hardcore, huge clusters of ores, but very spread out, and you need some sorta diving doohicky to find them..

 

[Golrith]

Personally, Ex Nilo is pointless in a non-skyblock environment. The ores you get from it are insane (based on Arg Skies), you might as well just 5x ore gen.
Part of the Ore Gen is exploration, depending on your pack, you never know what's down there that you can stumble across.

 

[Iskandar]

Personally, Ex Nilo is pointless in a non-skyblock environment. The ores you get from it are insane (based on Arg Skies), you might as well just 5x ore gen.
Part of the Ore Gen is exploration, depending on your pack, you never know what's down there that you can stumble across.

I partly agree. There was a config option added recently so you can tone down the ore gain, though.

That said, you giving a reason to explore would be a good idea. Then again, some mods do explore exploration outside of just ore. Going after the different flowers in both Botania and Pneumaticcraft, for instance.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Personally, Ex Nilo is pointless in a non-skyblock environment. The ores you get from it are insane (based on Arg Skies), you might as well just 5x ore gen.
Part of the Ore Gen is exploration, depending on your pack, you never know what's down there that you can stumble across.

I'm considering toning down oregen from what you find in AgSkies. More importantly, however, is that is the ONLY source of ore in your game, which is what the purpose is.

I'm strongly also considering adding in mods like Better Dungeons, Harvestcraft, and Botania, which will give players a reason to explore more, just not digging around at Y10 forever.

 

[Zenthon_127]

Yeah, I think a modpack with insane amounts of worldgen but zero oregen.....might actually work. Well. I'd say Mariculture, ATG, BoP, BetterDungeons, Botania, Natura, ProjectRed, Geostrata and other similar mods would greatly enhance the experience. Maybe some of the newer stuff like Solstice and Elemental Caves as well.

If we were to do something like this, I'd like to see tech mods ramped up in terms of price DRASTICALLY, if they're included at all. Maybe just plain BC/LP along with EnderIO or something.

 

[Golrith]

To give you an idea, the pack I'm running on my server I have roughly 1/4 the ore generation of default, and using various config/minetweaker options to make various recipes more expensive (Cogs and Steel for TE3, MFR using TE3, etc).
To give players some other options for gaining resources, there is magical crops (heavily tweaked to reduce output and seed chance), silverfish have a chance of dropping pulved ores on death (silverfish blocks added to ore gen), and zombies/skeletons have access to mod armour/tools (which they have a chance to drop, along with various other items, including nuggets and ingots), which combined with simple recycling and minetweaker recipes, can be turned back to raw materials.

Players have so far not mined much, going instead for magical crops, recycling mob drops and raiding dungeons for iron doors/bars/chest loot.

 

[YX33A]

Just a reminder, these days, thinking outside the box is in of itself thinking inside the box.

 

[buggirlexpres]

I'd ask you to think outside the box on this, but it's obvious that your box is broken. And has schizophrenia.

-From the comic Lab Ratt

In other words, I'd be extremely excited to play a modpack like this. But yes, you do need more of a reason to explore, if all the ores are gone. Dungeons and Botania would help significantly, but I would also suggest adding Harvestcraft and Hunger Overhaul, as well as @squeek502 's The Spice of Life to sort of force them to explore (The Spice of Life decreases the effectiveness of food based on how often you eat that type of food). But once again, I would be more than happy to play a modpack of this nature. I always love it when someone challenges what we think of the concept of Minecraft.

 

[Qazplm601]

I did this pritty much and it wasn't really different in the end... I just never went underground... I wouldn't mind some sorta hardcore, huge clusters of ores, but very spread out, and you need some sorta diving doohicky to find them..

COG: first revival (sorta)[DOUBLEPOST=1401340486][/DOUBLEPOST]sho many IDEAS!

 

[MacAisling]

Hey! Why don't we all walk on our hands & work with our feet! I think the real key to successful innovation is not to think outside the box, but to be smarter than the box.

I came to modded minecraft for a less grindy experience, so I'll pass. I won't even watch a new AgSkies let's play until they hit episode 5 or so.

 

[SatanicSanta]

Some people might like it. I personally wouldn't, but I also don't like the Ex-- mods. I'd say it's worth a shot. If it fails, whatever.

 

[epidemia78]

Agrarian Skies seems popular so I guess it might catch on. I see a lot of people trying to extend the early game grind and I understand why they might want to. Once you have an AE system packed with every single thing, the game seems less interesting. But thats when you shift focus to massive building projects that would be impossible without mods. At least, thats what Id like to do but I usually end up getting burned out and starting a new world after a month long break.

 

[Mevansuto]

Hmm...

 

[RedBoss]

Some people might like it. I personally wouldn't, but I also don't like the Ex-- mods. I'd say it's worth a shot. If it fails, whatever.

Agreed. It sounds interesting. It seems like it'd appeal to those that like Agrarian Skies but actually want to build easily and have environmental terrain. Its not my cup of tea, but neither is Agrarian Skies. AS has a huge following though so you'd probably get a lot of users.

 

[KillerRamer]

Agreed. It sounds interesting. It seems like it'd appeal to those that like Agrarian Skies but actually want to build easily and have environmental terrain. Its not my cup of tea, but neither is Agrarian Skies. AS has a huge following though so you'd probably get a lot of users.

I feel like agra skies hinges more or less on the questline portion of it though. It gives the users goals, and objectives to achieve... It plays into those players who tend to amass huge amounts of resources, and ask "what should I do with all this stuff guys"...

Ex nihilo is an interesting, and fun mod though. Definitely taking from the guiless generation of modding, which is fairly enjoyable for me... It felt like a breath of fresh air, so I kinda added it recently as an alternative, as I kinda enjoyed it... I wouldn't mind more alternatives to mining... Like sluicing... I had alloot of fun with that in terra firma craft...

 

[RedBoss]

I feel like agra skies hinges more or less on the questline portion of it though. It gives the users goals, and objectives to achieve... It plays into those players who tend to amass huge amounts of resources, and ask "what should I do with all this stuff guys"...

Ex nihilo is an interesting, and fun mod though. Definitely taking from the guiless generation of modding, which is fairly enjoyable for me... It felt like a breath of fresh air, so I kinda added it recently as an alternative, as I kinda enjoyed it... I wouldn't mind more alternatives to mining... Like sluicing... I had alloot of fun with that in terra firma craft...

The Ex mods don't appeal to me, but Shneekey's concept does sound intruiging. I feel there's an audience for it and that he should definitely proceed with it.

That being said I personally don't like AS because it goes against my whole purpose in playing Minecraft, someone telling me what to do. That's not a knock against its fans. Anyone who browses the modded MC community knows that "What should I do next?" posts are some of the most repeated topics. It gives direction, objectives, and offers challenge. My play style on the other hand is all about doing what I want to do and as much of it as I choose.

Shneekey's concept as it stands, does not conflict with my play style. It adds a grinding element that I wouldn't want, but that's just me wanting my Kool Aid flavored differently. It definitely changes the game when it comes to caving. I always cave, mostly early game, but later on just to find dungeons. With no ores, I can see caving only for building blocks from mods like Chisel, or just to find dungeons.