April News

[Pyure]

Thanks for your two cents forum police cadet. Maybe one of the ftb admins can answer me or the other 3 members about open computers???

Let's keep this particular tone to a minimum. It probably wasn't intentional, but it won't be received well.

FTB won't be able to reply on a mod-by-mod basis. To determine if its "safe" the way you're hoping they'd need to look the mod over in detail, test it out, basically what they've been doing for months with the mods that are in the list.

Just throw it in and see what happens. Start a dedicated thread about it if you run into problems or want to share your experience. You're not the only person interested in OC, other people may want to discuss it in a proper thread.

 

[Kuktar]

Let's keep this particular tone to a minimum. It probably wasn't intentional, but it won't be received well.

FTB won't be able to reply on a mod-by-mod basis. To determine if its "safe" the way you're hoping they'd need to look the mod over in detail, test it out, basically what they've been doing for months with the mods that are in the list.

Just throw it in and see what happens. Start a dedicated thread about it if you run into problems or want to share your experience. You're not the only person interested in OC, other people may want to discuss it in a proper thread.

I told myself I would stop using these forums but I have one last thing to say.

Of the 5 people constantly using the news threads you are the most awesome. Please keep up the good work! You always have good ideas and you definitely inspire creativity wich is really important.

 

[Kuktar]

I told myself I would stop using these forums but I have one last thing to say.

Of the 5 people constantly using the news threads you are the most awesome. Please keep up the good work! You always have good ideas and you definitely inspire creativity wich is really important.

Oh and calling him a cadet was totally intentional. Did you see his reply? ROFL like 4 times @me he is always quick to reply usually in a negative tone and acts like a know it all. That is 100% a butter bar. When I was enlisted in the military I met officers like him all the time lol.

I did get a PM that was really nice from an ftb member, he explained there is a ignore feature built into the website! I started using it so I can not be bothered by the forum police anymore. The downside to this is the 3 of them make up 90% or so of all replys to my posts lol

 

[Senseidragon]

FTB won't be able to reply on a mod-by-mod basis. To determine if its "safe" the way you're hoping they'd need to look the mod over in detail, test it out, basically what they've been doing for months with the mods that are in the list.

Just throw it in and see what happens. (emphasis added by me for clarity)

@Pyure, while I try to stay out of the squabbling for the most part, the part quoted above is a little dismissive. Not completely analogous, but if I see a picture of an automobile and I'd like to know ahead of it's release date if it has heated seats -- I'm not asking them to jump through major hoops -- they already know if heated seats are in the car or not, or if it's a viable option for the vehicle. They don't need to deep dive an extra three weeks to answer the first part, which would be "is it even included". This does not mean they have to dive in to research whether or not adding heated seats after purchase might cause the car to combust, that understandably would take extra effort they may not be willing to invest at this point in time.

After a poster was mildly rebuffed for stating it should be relatively easy to just add it after the fact, and then the "proper" thing to do put forth was to ask a pack dev, some more barbs were tossed back and forth. However, I think it is a valid point that just getting a simple, straightforward answer to a question that is NOT "when will the pack be out" from an official source rather than another forum user is not only unhelpful, it is a bit frustrating. Town Hall meetings are increasingly less frequent, but with little to discuss, I understand this. People have lives outside of the game, I understand this as well. They are volunteers. Check. Given all that though, how hard is it for someone who actually has the authority to speak on the matter to say "yes" or "no" to the "Is the Open Computers mod in the Continuum(sp?) pack?"

Also, I know this could open a whole can of worms about "well, is mod X in the pack then?", "You answered that guy's question, why didn't you answer mine?", etc. If that's the main concern, that's cool too. But just have someone (like @Watchful11) spell that out for people, and the pages of back and forth quibbling can maybe stop so other users can actually hope to read something topical every once in a while.

Edit: @Pyure - I'm not calling you out specifically on this, you were just the one who happened to type the phrase that triggered my wall of text. It just stems from my frustration over how the signal to noise ratio in this subforum has just seemed to get worse week by week. Maybe @Watchful11 can distract everyone with a short summary of how the recent Minefaire went or something. Either that or a gif of a cute internet cat or something...

 

[Senseidragon]

On a mildly related note to the "Open Computers" topic...

Adding the mod as-is into a heavily modified progression pack I would think will almost CERTAINLY break progression, as any other expert-like pack I've seen has generally done things like replacing ingots with plates, or something similar. From what I've seen of Continuum, I would presume balancing OpenComputers would at minimum require some components to be manufactured in the efab with possibly modified recipes, instead of just whipped up on a crafting table.

In my opinion, just throwing the mod in with no tweaks will provide an imbalance with respect to automation at the very least.

 

[Pyure]

@Pyure, while I try to stay out of the squabbling for the most part, the part quoted above is a little dismissive. Not completely analogous, but if I see a picture of an automobile and I'd like to know ahead of it's release date if it has heated seats -- I'm not asking them to jump through major hoops -- they already know if heated seats are in the car or not, or if it's a viable option for the vehicle. They don't need to deep dive an extra three weeks to answer the first part, which would be "is it even included". This does not mean they have to dive in to research whether or not adding heated seats after purchase might cause the car to combust, that understandably would take extra effort they may not be willing to invest at this point in time.

After a poster was mildly rebuffed for stating it should be relatively easy to just add it after the fact, and then the "proper" thing to do put forth was to ask a pack dev, some more barbs were tossed back and forth. However, I think it is a valid point that just getting a simple, straightforward answer to a question that is NOT "when will the pack be out" from an official source rather than another forum user is not only unhelpful, it is a bit frustrating. Town Hall meetings are increasingly less frequent, but with little to discuss, I understand this. People have lives outside of the game, I understand this as well. They are volunteers. Check. Given all that though, how hard is it for someone who actually has the authority to speak on the matter to say "yes" or "no" to the "Is the Open Computers mod in the Continuum(sp?) pack?"

Also, I know this could open a whole can of worms about "well, is mod X in the pack then?", "You answered that guy's question, why didn't you answer mine?", etc. If that's the main concern, that's cool too. But just have someone (like @Watchful11) spell that out for people, and the pages of back and forth quibbling can maybe stop so other users can actually hope to read something topical every once in a while.

Edit: @Pyure - I'm not calling you out specifically on this, you were just the one who happened to type the phrase that triggered my wall of text. It just stems from my frustration over how the signal to noise ratio in this subforum has just seemed to get worse week by week. Maybe @Watchful11 can distract everyone with a short summary of how the recent Minefaire went or something. Either that or a gif of a cute internet cat or something...

If that's how it came across, I missed my mark. That would be my bad, particularly since you're making the point I've been spending time trying to drive home myself.

I do hope you read my last sentence where I encouraged the discussion to continue in greater detail on a dedicated thread.

 

[Kuktar]

@Pyure, while I try to stay out of the squabbling for the most part, the part quoted above is a little dismissive. Not completely analogous, but if I see a picture of an automobile and I'd like to know ahead of it's release date if it has heated seats -- I'm not asking them to jump through major hoops -- they already know if heated seats are in the car or not, or if it's a viable option for the vehicle. They don't need to deep dive an extra three weeks to answer the first part, which would be "is it even included". This does not mean they have to dive in to research whether or not adding heated seats after purchase might cause the car to combust, that understandably would take extra effort they may not be willing to invest at this point in time.

After a poster was mildly rebuffed for stating it should be relatively easy to just add it after the fact, and then the "proper" thing to do put forth was to ask a pack dev, some more barbs were tossed back and forth. However, I think it is a valid point that just getting a simple, straightforward answer to a question that is NOT "when will the pack be out" from an official source rather than another forum user is not only unhelpful, it is a bit frustrating. Town Hall meetings are increasingly less frequent, but with little to discuss, I understand this. People have lives outside of the game, I understand this as well. They are volunteers. Check. Given all that though, how hard is it for someone who actually has the authority to speak on the matter to say "yes" or "no" to the "Is the Open Computers mod in the Continuum(sp?) pack?"

Also, I know this could open a whole can of worms about "well, is mod X in the pack then?", "You answered that guy's question, why didn't you answer mine?", etc. If that's the main concern, that's cool too. But just have someone (like @Watchful11) spell that out for people, and the pages of back and forth quibbling can maybe stop so other users can actually hope to read something topical every once in a while.

Edit: @Pyure - I'm not calling you out specifically on this, you were just the one who happened to type the phrase that triggered my wall of text. It just stems from my frustration over how the signal to noise ratio in this subforum has just seemed to get worse week by week. Maybe @Watchful11 can distract everyone with a short summary of how the recent Minefaire went or something. Either that or a gif of a cute internet cat or something...

Were are you hiding lol you seem very level headed. I'm adding you to my helpful people to read list. Your post above is absolutely perfect and what I look for on a forum. This isn't reddit people lol.

Also thanks for getting involved, it really does mean a lot to me.

 

[Pyure]

Adding the mod as-is into a heavily modified progression pack I would think will almost CERTAINLY break progression, as any other expert-like pack I've seen has generally done things like replacing ingots with plates, or something similar. From what I've seen of Continuum, I would presume balancing OpenComputers would at minimum require some components to be manufactured in the efab with possibly modified recipes, instead of just whipped up on a crafting table.

In terms of terminology, do you feel there's a distinction between breaking "progression" and breaking "balance"? When I build a pack, I typically consider "breaking progression" to mean that you will be unable to progress down an expected chain because you removed a recipe or misplaced a prerequisite.

I think in this case you meant "breaking balance", with which I'd agree going by what you've described.

 

[Pyure]

Has anyone been following any of the streams on the upcoming pack? (I haven't). Any kind of feedback positive or negative so far? (I'm more interested in the positive, and definitely not interested in "but my favorite mod X is missing so its garbage")

 

[Magzie]

@Pyure, while I try to stay out of the squabbling for the most part, the part quoted above is a little dismissive. Not completely analogous, but if I see a picture of an automobile and I'd like to know ahead of it's release date if it has heated seats -- I'm not asking them to jump through major hoops -- they already know if heated seats are in the car or not, or if it's a viable option for the vehicle. They don't need to deep dive an extra three weeks to answer the first part, which would be "is it even included". This does not mean they have to dive in to research whether or not adding heated seats after purchase might cause the car to combust, that understandably would take extra effort they may not be willing to invest at this point in time.

After a poster was mildly rebuffed for stating it should be relatively easy to just add it after the fact, and then the "proper" thing to do put forth was to ask a pack dev, some more barbs were tossed back and forth. However, I think it is a valid point that just getting a simple, straightforward answer to a question that is NOT "when will the pack be out" from an official source rather than another forum user is not only unhelpful, it is a bit frustrating. Town Hall meetings are increasingly less frequent, but with little to discuss, I understand this. People have lives outside of the game, I understand this as well. They are volunteers. Check. Given all that though, how hard is it for someone who actually has the authority to speak on the matter to say "yes" or "no" to the "Is the Open Computers mod in the Continuum(sp?) pack?"

Also, I know this could open a whole can of worms about "well, is mod X in the pack then?", "You answered that guy's question, why didn't you answer mine?", etc. If that's the main concern, that's cool too. But just have someone (like @Watchful11) spell that out for people, and the pages of back and forth quibbling can maybe stop so other users can actually hope to read something topical every once in a while.

Edit: @Pyure - I'm not calling you out specifically on this, you were just the one who happened to type the phrase that triggered my wall of text. It just stems from my frustration over how the signal to noise ratio in this subforum has just seemed to get worse week by week. Maybe @Watchful11 can distract everyone with a short summary of how the recent Minefaire went or something. Either that or a gif of a cute internet cat or something...

Except Your not buying anything from ftb. You bought Minecraft from the Mojang. They give you ftb for free. If a friend is making me a table for free out of the kindness of their heart I don't keep hounding them for a time of when it is done. No one on here is paying for these packs. There is no use comparing them to companies that sell products.

 

[Magzie]

Has anyone been following any of the streams on the upcoming pack? (I haven't). Any kind of feedback positive or negative so far? (I'm more interested in the positive, and definitely not interested in "but my favorite mod X is missing so its garbage")

Not really got addicted to an ark playthrough. I was hoping Bentley was going to do a lp on ftb one but sadly not.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

Has anyone been following any of the streams on the upcoming pack? (I haven't). Any kind of feedback positive or negative so far? (I'm more interested in the positive, and definitely not interested in "but my favorite mod X is missing so its garbage")

Not streams, but Krakaen has been doing a series, and I’ve been following that. I’m enjoying it, although that’s mostly down to Krakaen himself (I like his YouTube style a lot). The EFab crafting mechanic is interesting, and it’s modular and expandable nature that opens up more and more things is really well done. But to me, some of the choices on what can be made in a normal crafting table and what needs the EFab don’t seem especially consistent in many cases, and downright peculiar in others. That said, it looks like the version of TechReborn used in the pack somehow seems less buggy and more complete than the one I saw in Age of Engineering (perhaps unsurprisingly, if they’ve focussed on keeping up with current MC) - I don’t know whether it IS, but it at least looks it.

All told, it looks well enough, but put up against packs like Age of Engineering (which was not without its flaws) and SevTech, it feels... almost a little behind. *shrugs* But, it’s still in Beta and there’s lots of testing going on, and I haven’t seen the tech side of SevTech so that might be no different.

I will reiterate my appreciation of EFab as a mod though - I can imagine that being put to very imaginative and excellent use in a variety of ways, and I love the idea of this ever-growing machine that gets bigger and more complex as you go on - feels very steampunk but also almost living-engine. A bit like Hex from some of the Discworld books, if you’ve read those?

 

[Magzie]

My LP world on Pyramid map Glitched and deleted all the machine, then spawned in concrete and terracotta every where. Funny seeing green concrete where my tin cables were.

 

[Pyure]

Not really got addicted to an ark playthrough. I was hoping Bentley was going to do a lp on ftb one but sadly not.

Ark?

All told, it looks well enough, but put up against packs like Age of Engineering (which was not without its flaws) and SevTech, it feels... almost a little behind. *shrugs* But, it’s still in Beta and there’s lots of testing going on, and I haven’t seen the tech side of SevTech so that might be no different.

But you'd still describe it as a pack that appeals to techie players? My background is mostly towards grindy tech packs (GT etc) but AoE was also fun if a bit lighter.

 

[GamerwithnoGame]

Ark?


But you'd still describe it as a pack that appeals to techie players? My background is mostly towards grindy tech packs (GT etc) but AoE was also fun if a bit lighter.

Yeah, I’d say so. It’s got less direction than AoE, I’m not sure it would have the depth to keep you entertained, but I reckon it’s worth you trying at least when it comes out.

 

[Magzie]

Ark is Ark: Survival Evolved. Love dino. I am kind of digging there crafting system. Also that Skyblock spawning mats mod is pretty sweet I hope they let that one public. I would like to see what pack makers do with it. I could see a tech pack about keeping power supplied for Survival.

 

[Senseidragon]

In terms of terminology, do you feel there's a distinction between breaking "progression" and breaking "balance"? When I build a pack, I typically consider "breaking progression" to mean that you will be unable to progress down an expected chain because you removed a recipe or misplaced a prerequisite.

I think in this case you meant "breaking balance", with which I'd agree going by what you've described.

Well, breaking balance I think is also an appropriate term, but at least in my experience, something like computercraft/opencomputers allows a user to generally skip a lot of "you can't mine this yet" mechanics, or allows them to do something much quicker/afk than they'd otherwise be able to accomplish. In that sense, I think it does break progression because you effectively skip, or at least minimize, something that would otherwise gate your progress.

I wasn't considering it as much "breaking a chain" or sequence of quest events as much as I would "I normally wouldn't be able to safely mine below y:20 at this point, but these darn turtles make it easy as pie!"

 

[Senseidragon]

Except Your not buying anything from ftb. You bought Minecraft from the Mojang. They give you ftb for free. If a friend is making me a table for free out of the kindness of their heart I don't keep hounding them for a time of when it is done. No one on here is paying for these packs. There is no use comparing them to companies that sell products.

Seriously?

That's what you took from my text?

Spoiler

 

[Magzie]

For most Youtubers Breaking Progression means skipping paths the pack maker wanted to take. Most pack makers that do Progression packs go to great lengths to keep players from skipping past mods they are supposed to path through first. Examples would be Breaking Progression would be like using a IE hammer to keep from having to do IC2 where as breaking balance would be like the Mecreeps mod..rofl. You know like an item that is way to cheap and easy to get for the benefits it allows.

Seriously?

That's what you took from my text?

Spoiler

It was the only thing I had a problem with.

 

[Senseidragon]

Umm.. Meecreeps.. *shakes head sadly*