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I ain't gonna lie.
On one hand, I love MystCraft because of how cool it is, and the fact that I played a bit of Myst growing up.
On the other hand, you have different fingers. And RF Tools seems, quite frankly, alien and strange to me, as I have never really dug deep into it before.
...also could someone tell Sensaidragon about my posts being hidden to him? I get the feeling he may have ignored me and I don't know if I could contact him.
The dimlet system takes a bit of getting used to, but it really does play (other than the power requirement) a lot like the dimensions description features in mystcraft. It's just techy, and you can recycle "pages". Oh and a lot of the more "advanced" dimlets require a resource (dimensional shards) that only spawns in rftools random ages until you get some. Unless McJty changed that when I wasn't looking.
You wouldn't be able to, it blocks Conversations as well as hides forum messages. Not quotes from what I remember, but just in case. @Senseidragon? @YX33A is wondering if you ignored him, because apparently his posts are hidden to you.
I had to go look, but yes, I had him on ignore. Which is odd, since I only had like 3 people on that list. Two were rabid GregTech frothing-at-the-mouth forum-spammers from a long while ago, and @YX33A. I can only imagine I was in a crochety mood that day or something. I cleared the list anyway, since I can't remember what it was that got my knickers in a twist to begin with.
Hi @YX33A. That would explain why I wasn't following the conversation.
I feel like I owe you guys an explanation for why things have been going so slow. In a sentence: feature creep burnout.
I wanted to do too much in the same space and it just got overwhelming. I kept coming back, and in the span of 5-30 minutes I went from "Woo, let's do this" to "Oh God, where do I start?" to "Nopenopenopenopenope."
So does this mean I'm quitting?
nope, but it does mean the current version of the challenge is being abandoned in favor of something better.
Not complete, but basically what I'm going to be getting done first:
Rule 1: The "Rule of Cool" takes precedence over any other rules.
You may use anything you find in chests (Testificate village, dungeon, or otherwise)
Wooden Hoe may be used
Build a Dirt Hovel made out of Dirt, Sand, or Clay.
Minimum Requirements:
Wooden Door(s)
1 Bed
1 Crafting Table
1 Double Chest
Build a Farm to support yourself
Must have at least 10 plots
May be any type of plantable food
You have survived the long nights of the wilderness. It is time to stop merely surviving and begin thriving. Using the wood you collected, it is time to build a proper house, and stop living in the mud like a mere mob. It is time to plant crops, and get a steady food supply.
Other refugees have passed by, and have decided to settle down with you. They will need houses as well, and most are too weak to work. With a steady diet, and shelter from the elements, they should improve quickly. But your wooden houses are far too easily burnt down, and too fragile besides. You should begin collecting Stone in preparation for reinforcing your existing buildings and expanding your small settlement for the other refugees that you have learned are already on their way.
Residential
Build a full set of Wooden Tools Each player must have a full set of Leather Armor before they may advance
Player Dwelling Upgrades:
Must be too bright for mobs to spawn
Maybe made of Dirt (and Dirt variants) or Wood
Bedroom
Player must have a dedicated Bedroom. If Player already has a Bedroom, build a Guest Bedroom
Work Room
Must have at least a Crafting Bench and a Double Chest
Storage Room
Must have at least 3-6 Double Chests
Commercial
Build an Item Bank
Build a Town Hall
Before you start rabbling that I'm dumbing everything down: No, I'm not.
I just think it's kind of stupid I've been working on it this long and I've never really gotten anything done in the last 3-4 stages. And there are all kinds of fun things I want to do, but trying to do all of them at once is killing me.
The Capital Challenge will be a barebones challenge more like what I had first. It will not have Magic, it will not have Tech. It will have neither Outliers nor Military. Even its Agriculture will barely be there. And no, it won't have a Hardcore setting.
It will be a City-Building Challenge.
.....taken on its own.
Because I do intend to throw all those in there (and more, like a Bandit Kingdom-Building Challenge, a Pirate Kingdom Building Challenge.......). BUT trying to stuff everything at once can (and has) kill my motivation for writing this. I want to do this because I find it fun to make it. Not because it's a chore.
Nobody likes chores.
So. The Capital Building Challenge will be completed and stand on its own.
AFTER it is finished, I will be starting on the Expansions. The Hardcore Kingdom Building Expansion, which will ramp up the difficulty. The Outlier Expansion, which will have a base number of buildings per Outlier before specialization. The Player Estate Expansion. Player Estates will be ripped out in the Capital Building Challenge, only requiring a handful of rooms built in your Player Dwelling across the course of the Challenge. Player Estates will also (Probably) introduce Servants, and serve as a prequel for Nobility.
By default, the Player Estate Expansion will be an Outlier unto itself, so you don't need to worry about running out of room in your Capital.
Some Expansions will have something to do per Stage. Some will just need some things added into the Capital and each Outlier (ie Agriculture [Farming and Ranching] and its Expansions [Bees, Trees, and more!]). Some will be a one-off building Challenge (like the Magic University Expansion I want to do, inspired by the Imre University from Patrick Rothfuss' Kingkiller Chronicles and the College of Magic from Elder Scrolls: Oblivion.
Note: the Bandit Kingdom/Pirate Kingdom Challenges will be designed to work with the main challenge. Bandits wouldn't really be Bandits if they had nobody to prey on. Same with the Pirates.
Trying to do everything in one fell swoop stage-by-stage just killed it for me. Getting the full Challenge done, then adding on little by little should be a bit better for me.
The things that add things in Stage by Stage will also be edited into the main description of the Stage, at the bottom of the page. There will be an Expansion section that will tell you what more is needed per Stage.
Now, I haven't been keeping up with mods, lately, and I'm way behind. If YOU would like to come up with Expansions, I'd be happy to put them up on the wiki. The page/Expansion would be labelled "[Your name Here]'s X Expansion" These can be per-mod, per-category, stage-by-stage, or stand-alone building challenge.
Also:
Capital Building Challenge=main challenge only
Kingdom Building Challenge=Main Challenge+Hardcore and a couple other Expansions
Empire Building Challenge=Main Challenge+Many Expansions.
I have to say I'm excited to get back into things without all the burnout, and I have a few more ideas than before of where I'd like to go--this time I'm gonna try to pace myself, though.
Protip: If you design a challenge, make sure it's something you'd play yourself. If you can't be bothered to do it, chances are that not many others will either. Keep it fun, and keep the rule of cool and you'll do fine.
If you need help, let us know. Having people to toss ideas around helps avoid burnout too, and has the added benefit of reining in potential 3am-overtired-or-drunk-as-a-skunk ideas that probably should never see the light of day.
Note that @The Mobius Archives and @VaalDeth don't -quite- follow the challenge as written, adopting some of their own (cool) ideas to make the challenge something they (and their viewers) enjoy. Don't hesitate to borrow ideas or inspiration from them when you re-envision the challenge.
I've actually kept it simple in my head when I went into working out my version of the challenge. Dirt (Orientation), Wood, Stone, Bronze, Iron, Industrial, Information, Atomic. Those were my key points to follow; anything that didn't fit went into side keywords (Mystic, Outlier Challenges.) I still have a few things mod to look at (and somehow look at loot table redistribution, I keep finding Headcrumbs heads in every chest I find. Sure, finding KingLemming's is nice, but not every three chests!)
The Capital Challenge will be a barebones challenge more like what I had first. It will not have Magic, it will not have Tech. It will have neither Outliers nor Military. Even its Agriculture will barely be there. And no, it won't have a Hardcore setting.
I like this idea I think the reason why my approach quite differed from the challenge as written is I started *way* back during the simpler times I don't think I'll ever be completely done given:
Sometimes you have to ask yourself why you play? Fun? Yes indeed Many thanks Maul for bringing this challenge to us, I find it fantastic even years later (started July 24, 2013 ).
Note that @The Mobius Archives and @VaalDeth don't -quite- follow the challenge as written, adopting some of their own (cool) ideas to make the challenge something they (and their viewers) enjoy. Don't hesitate to borrow ideas or inspiration from them when you re-envision the challenge.
I like the idea of keeping the 'Capital' challenge separate from the kingdom based aspects. Personally, most likely because I'm doing the challenge solo, I'm so focused on my one city, and just entering what I feel sufficient completion to call the Gold Age where I'm really starting to have access to automation mods.
I think once that level of automation of resource gathering - the main difficulty in any city building challenge - is achieved then expanding into a kingdom makes sense.
How you go about getting to that level of automation where you can really build as you please with unlimited resources is part of the heart and I think fun of the challenge. Tinker's Construct's tool levels and strict mod allowance has made the challenge have an awesome feel of real progression for me.
As long as that spirit is maintained, any extra rules, mod-packs, or what have you will only enrich the experience of doing all the hard work yourself.
Also I will say I think the 'Keep It Simple' rule is a great idea with any challenge, and by making it separated into larger tiers of expansion is a great idea that follows right with the core spirit of progression.
Bring it on, I can't wait to see what you all come up with!
so, heh, still not done--got other things to do in my life, but I do have a decent outline (something I've never really had before):
Dirt Hovel: Build a Shelter
Wood Settlement: Attract immigrants
Stone Hamlet: Begin Gathering Resources
Iron Village: Tend to your people's needs, establish a rule of law (City Hall, magistrate/police force)
Gold City: Expand your City into the Nether
Lapis Metropolis: You have become the center of commerce for the entire region! Set up markets to accommodate this.
Emerald Capital: The End of the Capital Building Challenge.
Diamond Kingdom: You know you could have stopped, right? Welp, time to throw all kinds of building requirements at you.
Nether Star Imperium: You're kidding, right? You've colonized other Dimensions, your Kingdom is massive, and you're still back for more? Okay, but you asked for it.
Also, front page of the wiki has been prettified a bit to reflect the new focus.
Of course, the Hardcore Expansion will take the numbers I put in there and run away laughing at your pants around your ankles--with your belt in its hands.....
EDIT:
Changed Stone Hamlet so it's more of a start gathering resources a opposed to *just* food. Also, Lapis so it's more than just a waystation.
Hardcore, of course, will change most things about the challenge, starting with Clay Community, you'll have o build a house for yourself and others, and probably have to feed them too.
So I'm putting a lot of work into the wiki atm, and if you visit it now, you'll see the front page is cleaned up a bit, shifting a bit of Lore to the WIki, Expansions have their own page (and I'm considering just putting in my own deities and not using Cubeaism. it's rather complicated and I don't like a bunch of them), and are semi-organized.
I'm also removing a lot of the restrictions to the Dirt Hovel stage (still no tools but Wooden Hoe), because I'm trying to make things a bit more open and buildy rather than "Do this my way only" and restrictive.
also, ermagerhd, there's a save page keyboard shortcut. >.<
So I'm putting a lot of work into the wiki atm, and if you visit it now, you'll see the front page is cleaned up a bit, shifting a bit of Lore to the WIki, Expansions have their own page (and I'm considering just putting in my own deities and not using Cubeaism. it's rather complicated and I don't like a bunch of them), and are semi-organized.
Oh, @Maul_Junior, you can edit out the "unofficially official modpack" off the front page. The kid gave up after about two weeks, never did a darn thing with it. Apparently figured out that making a modpack isn't just throwing some mods together and calling it a day. There's actually (*gasp*) work involved in getting mods to play well together and balance everything out. That doesn't even touch on bringing some sort of cohesive theme or storyline into the pack.
The worst part for something like this is trying to integrate the challenge. HQM, Progression, whatever. Simple Achievements might be the easiest and even then that's a LOT of typing/editing/checking/testing.
Most of us could probably put together a decent undirected mod pack in a couple of weeks, especially if we worked in concert. But add in-game integration with the challenge and that task balloons exponentially. Rough way to find that out :-(
After a few technical difficulties I was able to get an update out for my Refugee to Regent Challenge. In this episode I continue work on our Airfield Outlier and start building a dry dock for our air-ship yards.
This is made to work with the FTB Infinity Modpack (v1.4.1). Inside you will find the configs, tweaked a bit for the challenge, as well as the HQM quests with my interpretation of the challenge.
Currently it only guides to the redstone stage, but if there is interest I'll complete it. Let me know what you think!
I play on a small server and we have now gotten to the Iron Village stage thrice now. Now that we're settled on MC 1.7.10 we hope to make it further.
We also added the following mods to our set: Roguelike Dungeons
Highlands
Hunger Overhaul /Applecore
CraftHeraldry
Hardcore Questing Mod (of course) [Required]
