Agrarian Skys help, venting, and discussion thread

[johnnypebs]

Why can't I attract any rocky bees? I've placed all 6 of these AT LEAST 4 times and none of them have spawned. (yes, I dipped them in seed oil first) It's a forest biome and everything I've seen says that they should spawn in any biome. Temp and Humidity are both normal in a forest, so they should be good.

Could it be that they're too high? Should they be below a certain Y coordinate?

 

[johnnypebs]

You have ... I'd say an order of magnitude less "stone" then you should.
Stone means smooth stone.

Detection range is 5x5. Fill that completely with smooth stone. The more there is, the higher the odds. You have 5 around most of them. It should be 124.

If you get tired of that, dunk the hive into seed oil, then put it into a blood magic alchemic chemistry set with the smooth stone.

Blerg. What I read said that cobblestone counted. Well, no biggie... I've got enough smooth stone I can use. I'll see if I can do it the mundane way first before resorting to blood magic.

 

[johnnypebs]

I actually managed to produce 4 rocky hives from scented artificials and a bunch of stone. One the first try and 3 the second.

 

[Ieldra]

Has anyone ever done the "Crazy Automation" quest? Most of the stuff in there is quite doable, even the 4 octuple-compressed cobblestone, but the 64 Mysterious Magnets seem to be, indeed, insane. If that's 64 level 8 magnets (the quest doesn't say but the other one in Bees and Trees requires 8 level 8 magnets), the required resources would include:

16320 Gold Blocks = 146880 Gold Ingots
16320 Redstone Blocks = 146880 Redstone Dust
16320 Diamonds.

Getting the redstone is no problem and the diamonds should be doable too if I go crazy with Gendustry and Diamandi bees, but how am I ever to get that amount of gold?

If I'm going to use a laser drill, it creates an ore every 10 seconds at full speed, and fully maxed out with yellow foci let's say a third of the output is gold (is it?), which means one gold ore every 30 seconds, which with ore-tripling means one ore every ten seconds. I've have the gold together in 1468800 seconds ~ 408 hours. I guess I could build a 100KRF big reactor to power ten laser drills and be done in a more reasonable time frame... Uh, not sure if I want to do that, even though a platform with five turbines would fit my world perfectly, but I'd like to know if anyone else has finished this quest, and how?

 

[johnnypebs]

What is the deal with going "translucent" in the Nether? I've noticed a few times when making forays in there for various things that I can see through the item I'm carrying or through my hand if I'm not carrying anything.

 

[CaseyRobinson]

Has anyone ever done the "Crazy Automation" quest?

Yeah, I did this one, and yeah, it's crazy. I tried bees, I tried Ritual assisted oreberries, but the answer really was turbines and mining lasers. I ended up setting up my line to use rich slag in an induction furnace with the nether gold ore for the extra, and hammer gold ore blocks down to dust.

My mistake was not setting up maximum turbines when I started with the quest, so I spent time with only a couple laser drills. At that point it shouldn't be a big deal to tell your AE system to crank out a few thousand turbine housing blocks, and a couple hundred enderium blocks.

Don't forget to set up systems for the other things you will need quite a lot of. Mostly nether quartz, end stone, and iron. I don't recall the diamonds or the redstone being an issue at all.

 

[Ieldra]

Yeah, I did this one, and yeah, it's crazy. I tried bees, I tried Ritual assisted oreberries, but the answer really was turbines and mining lasers. I ended up setting up my line to use rich slag in an induction furnace with the nether gold ore for the extra, and hammer gold ore blocks down to dust.

My mistake was not setting up maximum turbines when I started with the quest, so I spent time with only a couple laser drills. At that point it shouldn't be a big deal to tell your AE system to crank out a few thousand turbine housing blocks, and a couple hundred enderium blocks.

Don't forget to set up systems for the other things you will need quite a lot of. Mostly nether quartz, end stone, and iron. I don't recall the diamonds or the redstone being an issue at all.

Nether quartz won't be a problem - I have an efficient soul sand production setup and then I run the soul sand through my very efficient auto-sifter. That's much faster than mining. End stone, I've done the 1000 End Stone quest easily so if I need 16 times that it's not going to be a problem. Redstone, well, I already have 120k from farming one blood tree non-stop ever since I had the power for it. Iron, yeah...that will need some more work.

How many laser drills did you use? I'm planning for eight maximum-power drills set at elevation 140 (I take it that still gives a bonus. I'd rather not go that high, but you need every boost you can get with this quest). I could double that if needed but I'd need eight turbines instead of four and that's a considerable investment in time and resources.

 

[CaseyRobinson]

I started with 2 laser drills, but I was up to 9 by the time I was done. Mostly with all yellow foci, but I had a few sets of white foci (I think, the one for iron) that I would swap in when iron production became my bottleneck.

 

[Ieldra]

I started with 2 laser drills, but I was up to 9 by the time I was done. Mostly with all yellow foci, but I had a few sets of white foci (I think, the one for iron) that I would swap in when iron production became my bottleneck.

All right, that sounds manageable. As long as I have things to do in my world, I can let the lasers run unattended. BTW, I'd have thought you get yellorium from the yellow focus as well, but that doesn't appear to be the case. For now I'm using a lime focus and I get a ton of uranium which I can pulverize to yellorium dust. This creates enough yellorium for several reactors.

 

[Ieldra]

I did a calculation of the resources you need for all the Mysterious Magnets you need to make for the two quests where they are required (a total of 72 level-8 Magnets). Here is the result:

Iron 165888(18432 Blocks)
Diamond 36792
Redstone 183672
Nether Quartz 294624
End Stone 36792
Gold 331128(36792 Blocks)
Ender Pearl 36792
Blaze Powder 36792

 

[RikoRain]

I know this thread is long, and possibly old, and I might not get a reply, but Im frustrated, and at the point where Ive given up trying on my own. Ive literally spend 5 days waiting for passive mobs to spawn. Ive almost completely surrounded myself in grassy dirt (which took forever in and of itself), this area goes all around me, and ranges from 10 blocks from my house, to 60 (I literally went all out). I have some patches covered in grass plants from bone meal, others are blank and just grass. Torches are on wood blocks. Everythings lit up. I even turned off my mob spawner. I sit in my house for hours, and dont get a single cow, pig, chicken, sheep - whatever. The biomes Im over are plains, forest, taiga - theres even beach and magical forest.

I get not a single animal. I am on a server, and everyone else on the server seems to have gotten passive mobs just fine. Its really hindering my quest progress (and overall fun...). Others have even come over and tried to help expand my dirt, or load chunks to try to help my area get passive mobs, but nothing. I am at a loss. Any ideas? Am I just doing it wrong? Im stuck on quite a few quests waiting for milk or leather..

 

[Evillevi]

I know this thread is long, and possibly old, and I might not get a reply, but Im frustrated, and at the point where Ive given up trying on my own. Ive literally spend 5 days waiting for passive mobs to spawn. Ive almost completely surrounded myself in grassy dirt (which took forever in and of itself), this area goes all around me, and ranges from 10 blocks from my house, to 60 (I literally went all out). I have some patches covered in grass plants from bone meal, others are blank and just grass. Torches are on wood blocks. Everythings lit up. I even turned off my mob spawner. I sit in my house for hours, and dont get a single cow, pig, chicken, sheep - whatever. The biomes Im over are plains, forest, taiga - theres even beach and magical forest.

I get not a single animal. I am on a server, and everyone else on the server seems to have gotten passive mobs just fine. Its really hindering my quest progress (and overall fun...). Others have even come over and tried to help expand my dirt, or load chunks to try to help my area get passive mobs, but nothing. I am at a loss. Any ideas? Am I just doing it wrong? Im stuck on quite a few quests waiting for milk or leather..

There's a possibility that the server hit's it's max limit on how many passive mobs it will allow before it stops spawning*, though that may be something I'm remembering from some other modpack and thus tottaly wrong.

 

[Ieldra]

I know this thread is long, and possibly old, and I might not get a reply, but Im frustrated, and at the point where Ive given up trying on my own. Ive literally spend 5 days waiting for passive mobs to spawn. Ive almost completely surrounded myself in grassy dirt (which took forever in and of itself), this area goes all around me, and ranges from 10 blocks from my house, to 60 (I literally went all out). I have some patches covered in grass plants from bone meal, others are blank and just grass. Torches are on wood blocks. Everythings lit up. I even turned off my mob spawner. I sit in my house for hours, and dont get a single cow, pig, chicken, sheep - whatever. The biomes Im over are plains, forest, taiga - theres even beach and magical forest.

I get not a single animal. I am on a server, and everyone else on the server seems to have gotten passive mobs just fine. Its really hindering my quest progress (and overall fun...). Others have even come over and tried to help expand my dirt, or load chunks to try to help my area get passive mobs, but nothing. I am at a loss. Any ideas? Am I just doing it wrong? Im stuck on quite a few quests waiting for milk or leather..

Here's how you get your passive mobs:

(1) Sheep: craft a block of wool from four strings, put in a blood altar to get a spawn egg for a sheep.
(2) Cows: use Blood Magic alchemy to make three pieces of leather from three rotten flesh, a piece of flint and a bucket of water. Put the leather into a blood altar to make a spawn egg for a cow.
(3) Chicken: use Blood Magic alchemy to make a feather from three arrows. Put the feather into a blood altar to get a spawn egg for a chicken.
(4) Pig: use Blood Magic alchemy to make a spawn egg for a pig from a piece of leather and two rotten flesh.
(5) Squid: use Blood Magic alchemy to make a spawn egg for a squid from two raw fish and a fishing rod.

(1), (2) and (3) require only a level 1 blood altar and a weak blood orb, respectively. (4) and (5) require an apprentice blood orb, which you get from a level 2 blood altar.

These recipes also require V3 of Agrarian Skies.

 

[RikoRain]

Yeah someone kept telling me to use Blood Magic to make them but, frankly, I watched JadedCat's youtube video on it.. its hard to follow and learn a completely new mod from scratch when the person is just creative-mode-ing everything in and verbally explaining what they do, instead of showing you the process (no offense, but some people just dont learn by audio explanations, and Im one of those people). Even your breakdown seems simple and easy to follow.

I was lucky and two other players (who had mobs spawn on theirs.. but then later done blood magic) on the server came to help (knowing this same situation happened last time, only.. then we could craft them using feathers and such..). They had done enough blood magic together to make them - but that seems to not be quite right in the quest book for Agrarian Skies. You have to pretty much go out on a limb and explore a totally different mod, in a completely different manner than the book itself states, just the progress with what seems like a pretty early requirement?

 

[Ieldra]

Yeah someone kept telling me to use Blood Magic to make them but, frankly, I watched JadedCat's youtube video on it.. its hard to follow and learn a completely new mod from scratch when the person is just creative-mode-ing everything in and verbally explaining what they do, instead of showing you the process (no offense, but some people just dont learn by audio explanations, and Im one of those people). Even your breakdown seems simple and easy to follow.

I was lucky and two other players (who had mobs spawn on theirs.. but then later done blood magic) on the server came to help (knowing this same situation happened last time, only.. then we could craft them using feathers and such..). They had done enough blood magic together to make them - but that seems to not be quite right in the quest book for Agrarian Skies. You have to pretty much go out on a limb and explore a totally different mod, in a completely different manner than the book itself states, just the progress with what seems like a pretty early requirement?

IIRC, there is a quest where you have to create some spawn eggs in "Learning to Skyblock". You need Blood Magic for one of them, and NEI will show you if you look it up. Also, while BM gets very complicated later, starting with it is really easy. Here are the steps:

Blood Altar use
(1) Craft a blood altar and put it down somewhere. A L1 altar is easy to move - just break it and put it down elsewhere - but if you want a permanent location, put it 3-4 blocks up from the normal surface and in a place with 10 blocks free in every direction if you want to do all quests involving Blood Magic.
(2) Craft a sacrificial orb, then shift+rightclick near the altar to injure yourself and put some life essence into the altar. 1 heart gives you 200 LP. Put 1000 LP into the altar (or whatever is needed for the blood orb, look it up in NEI).
(3) Put a diamond into the altar. It will transform into a Weak Blood Orb.
(4) Put some more LP into the altar and put a Stone into it to make a Blank Slate. Craft a Divination Sigil from it. Right-click it to bind it to you. By right-clicking on the altar, you can now see how much LP are in it.
You can now use the altar as required for making

Life Network use and Alchemy:
(1) Right-Click your weak blood orb. It is now bound to you, and throwing into the altar will drain any LP therein and put it into your life essence network. LP in your life essence network is used for alchemy and rituals. Blood Orbs and some other BM items will not do anything unless they're first bound to you by right-clicking them. Put some LP into your network. Right-Clicking the Divination Sigil without pointing it at anything will tell you how much LP is in your network.
(2) Craft a brewing stand and an "Alchemical Chemistry Set" from it.

NEI will show you how the alchemy set works. You need to put a blood orb into the set in order for it to work. See (1) specifically for this. It's easy to forget activation if you're making extra blood orbs for alchemy.

BTW, there is a quest that helps you start with BM at the start of "You're a Wizard Steve"). Also, let me tell you that you do want the bound armor...

 

[sqitchy]

So I figured out how to make a vanilla mob spawner that collects liquid essence and mob essence. I also have vacuum hoppers collecting items and distributing them in berrals. Besides the itemduct exiting the hopper getting clogged from time to time, I'd like to figure out a way to control the sticky pistons that opens the door to the spawner so I don't have to climb up and hit all 4 levers to close the door so mobs stop falling. The only reason I need the door and pistons is when I change out the slabs for punji sticks. Any ideas?

 

[Ieldra]

So I figured out how to make a vanilla mob spawner that collects liquid essence and mob essence. I also have vacuum hoppers collecting items and distributing them in berrals. Besides the itemduct exiting the hopper getting clogged from time to time, I'd like to figure out a way to control the sticky pistons that opens the door to the spawner so I don't have to climb up and hit all 4 levers to close the door so mobs stop falling. The only reason I need the door and pistons is when I change out the slabs for punji sticks. Any ideas?

If this is to deactivate your spawner temporarily, use glowstone illuminators set in the ceiling of your spawning room and switch them on and off with one lever connected to the lamps with rednet cable. Or use a drawbridge instead of sticky pistons for the door.

 

[CaseyRobinson]

I'd like to figure out a way to control the sticky pistons that opens the door to the spawner so I don't have to climb up and hit all 4 levers to close the door so mobs stop falling. [...] Any ideas?

My favorite way to get a redstone signal from here to there in AgSkies is with signal terminals. To set these up you'll need a wire spool, 5 signal terminals, a signal bus and a lever. Pick a nice spot for your lever, then attach the first terminal to that block. Then attach a terminal to each of the pistons. Set up the signal up somewhere near the pistons. Hold the wire spool, and connect all the terminals to the bus. You do this by right-clicking the terminal, then right clicking the bus. If it worked, you will see the wire connecting the them.

Or, you know, rednet cable. But that's not as pretty.

 

[Ieldra]

I totally forgot about signal terminals. Do they have a maximum range? And are the terminals compatible with microblocks (as rednet cable isn't)? Being able to replacing my rednet cables would be great.

 

[sqitchy]

The illuminator would work, but the problem is I'm using the good ol vanilla box spawner method. The mobs spawn on a 3 by 3 platform, fall onto belts, then travel to a 2 by 2 hole into the grind area. The part that's annoying is I have to switch out the punji sticks for slabs when I want to make essence and liquid xp. That's the only time I need the 2 by 2 hole closed. With 2 vac hoppers on the side, and sewers under the slabs, I get liquid xp, mob essence, and mob drops that auto better barrel all at the same time. I'll defently have to try signal terminals.