A venting thread.... just what I need.
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5x5x3 size
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You're having difficulties because you're building your spawn areas too small and not making use of all the mods at your disposal.
For Endermen, I've got a single-level darkroom with 4 9x9 spawn pads [spider-proof'd] and I'll get 2-3 pearls an hour. You have 2 choices, either build the darkroom bigger or go the MFR route and safari net one. Then you can use the mob essence your small darkroom can generate to spawn Endermen as required.
Same thing for the squid. Build a 3x3 column of falling water the length of squid's Y-coord spawn range [62-46?]. Remove any other water sources between those Y-levels and you're guaranteed to get ink sacs. Or again, capture one with a net.
If you're adventurous, you can create a squid spawn egg with blood magic, tho it requires a blaze rod for the chemistry set.[DOUBLEPOST=1407419504][/DOUBLEPOST]
place the sand on top of the (vanilla) hopper that catches the drops
and enclose the space
I recently watched a video of this mechanic. Myself, I just use pulverizers.
edit: I do, however, wish this same mechanic worked for hammering sifted ores. It's kinda inconceivable that 'hammering of sifted ore' automation only works with a vacuum hopper or golems