Could use some inputs and ideas for building modpack

[rhn]

Preface:
I have been away from modded minecraft for a while, and before that I played the same modpack(1.7.10) for years. However some friends lured me back in, and now I am really aching to play some more. Specially after having tried some of the 1.12 mods for real. But I have been pretty obsessive with how I play in the past, so I decided to make my own pack from scratch this time. However I am rather unaware of many of the new mods and the many changes that have happened over the last several years, so I could really use some inputs.

What I have so far:
I have spent some days "reading" up on new mods, and have started a pack on Twitch. Based on that I decided to base it on 1.12, since it still seems the most matured version atm. Newer versions seem to have too many missing mods still.
My idea is for a magic/medieval/fantasy style pack, specifically I think I will be taking heavy inspiration for the Elder Scrolls series for builds. For that purpose I am so far considering the following mods as "base" for the pack:

• Astral Sorcery
• Blood Magic
• Botania
• Electroblob's Wizardry
• Embers Rekindled
• Ice and Fire: Dragons
• Immersive Engineering + Immersive Technology (mostly for background processing for steampunk/fantasy tech themes(Dwemer))
• Mystical World
• Roots
• Thaumcraft

In addition to these, I have added a ton of various utility mods. Also every relevant decoration items/block mods and various building utility/tools mods I could find. And lastly all the various fixes and performance mods I found recommendations for.
Despite it being magic/medieval/fantasy style, I padded a few "tech" mods. Mostly I just intend to allow them to be used as background backbones to help usability and convenience. Like Railcraft is added, but I configured/tweaked it down to just being tracks and carts for automation/transport. Might do the same with Immersive stuff so it only really serves as background tech for a steampunk/fantasy tech theme.

The modlist gets rather long, so just gonna link to this spreadsheet with all the mods listed after role it fills: Google Docs Modlist

I would be very grateful if anyone could skim it over and see if it seems alright. As well as any inputs and ideas you might have to improve it. In particular I would love some inputs on:

• Additional thematically fitting "major content" mods.
• Mods with smaller features/utilities that could help with convenience, fun or just add to the theme.
  • Any thematically fitting mods with auto-mining/quarrying.
  • Any good "Elder Scrolls" like mob mods.
• Cosmetic or building mods/tools I have missed.
• Ideas for balance or crossmod compatibility tweaks and configs.

TL;DR:
Trying to build my own magic/medieval/fantasy modpack and I would be terribly grateful if anyone has any ideas or recommendations for mods to add(or remove), general balance or crossmod compat tweaks I can make, or basically any constructive inputs you can think off. Modlist: Google Docs Modlist

 

[Cptqrk]

Might I suggest Waystones for 'fast travel'? Very magic looking, generate in villages, and can be player crafted.

Never mind.. saw it in your list... was a bit hard to find not being sorted LOL

When it comes to Fire and Ice, do us all a bit of a favor and tone down the number of Dragons that spawn? I hate when I find a nice place to settle down, only to run into a Dragon on the other side of a hill and him chasing me back to my base and destroying everything...

 

[Nuclear_Creeper0]

If you're gonna do Immersive Engineering and Immersive Tech, I would recommend Immersive Petroleum as well.
It fits in really really well with the other immersive mods and with a steampunk sort of vibe given the how the machines are designed even tho technically it's not steampunk.

In terms of magic and fantasy mods, Psi fits really well into that category, it's really well made, and having wands that shoot explosives is fun.

If your pack was 1.14, I would 100% say Create because it perfectly fits exactly what you're saying, low-level tech but strong automation possibilities, no power, just rotational energy.

 

[rhn]

Might I suggest Waystones for 'fast travel'? Very magic looking, generate in villages, and can be player crafted.

Never mind.. saw it in your list... was a bit hard to find not being sorted LOL

When it comes to Fire and Ice, do us all a bit of a favor and tone down the number of Dragons that spawn? I hate when I find a nice place to settle down, only to run into a Dragon on the other side of a hill and him chasing me back to my base and destroying everything...

Heh yeah, I sorted it all alphabetical first, but then decided to sub sort it by "role", and then alphabetical

Yes, I have already made the dragons, and a bunch of other mobs, spawn further apart and at half the rate. Testing world gen I saw how many there were. Was nuts. I have also configged them to not break (most) blocks, and I have added Controlled Burn to disable fire from destroying stuff.

If you're gonna do Immersive Engineering and Immersive Tech, I would recommend Immersive Petroleum as well.
It fits in really really well with the other immersive mods and with a steampunk sort of vibe given the how the machines are designed even tho technically it's not steampunk.

In terms of magic and fantasy mods, Psi fits really well into that category, it's really well made, and having wands that shoot explosives is fun.

If your pack was 1.14, I would 100% say Create because it perfectly fits exactly what you're saying, low-level tech but strong automation possibilities, no power, just rotational energy.

I originally had added Immersive Petroleum, but decided against it. Feel it will just be too hard to fit into a fantasy type universe. I have however kept the Railcraft Boilers in, so they can work with the Immersive Tech turbines, so there is more choice for fuelling the steam power stuff than just Biodiesel. I also think it can work together with Ember, which seems to add steam too(not researched that far in yet). Probably requires some balance tweaking once I know more though.

Skipped over Psi at first, since it seemed a bit "techy". And I already have Electroblob's Wizardry for spells. But I will look it over again, thanks.

Yes, Create looks amazing. Just loosing too many other cool stuff if moving to 1.14 as far as I can tell

 

[rhn]

Would adding something like "Better With Mods" be an idea? As far as I can tell, it does lot of cool lowtech automation stuff, but also a lot of changes to vanilla stuff? Possible to config to work with other mods?

 

[Cptqrk]

I always found better with mods to be more of a hassle than 'fun'... The hunger mechanic, the hard coded hard mode assosiated with it always makes me sigh heavily when I see it in a pack.

 

[rhn]

I always found better with mods to be more of a hassle than 'fun'... The hunger mechanic, the hard coded hard mode assosiated with it always makes me sigh heavily when I see it in a pack.

Hmm as far as I can tell(says so on mod page) the mod is divided into modules, where the hardcore and tweak modules can be entirely disabled.
Will test it out a bit I think.

 

[LordPINE]

You can change a lot about BWM, but in the end, it's still better for packs built to house it than for throwing into random packs, I feel. It is, however, a very cool mod and it does have some nice vanilla-esque automation stuff

 

[rhn]

You can change a lot about BWM, but in the end, it's still better for packs built to house it than for throwing into random packs, I feel. It is, however, a very cool mod and it does have some nice vanilla-esque automation stuff

Oh, definitely. You cannot just throw it in and think it plays nice with other mods. Have spent the last few hours going through configs, and intend to probably do some recipe tweaks to better tie it into progression. I kinda like some of the "realism" changes, like not just being able to create planks out of a log with nothing but bare hands. And think it could serve as a kinda low-tech settlement option, like have a village just produce crops, wood, leather, charcoal etc. through a more interesting automation than autocrafters and furnaces.

 

[rhn]

The hunger mechanic

Despite the fat system being on the wiki, am actually beginning to think this is not implemented in the 1.12 version. That or another mod overwrites it. I can see no config options for it, nor can I trigger it by chomping down on stacks worth of Pam's meals. /shrugs

 

[Celestialphoenix]

Platforms looks like a fairly interesting aesthetics mod- https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/platforms

Theres also Immersive Posts- at first it looks a little to like tech, but in the right framing it'll make some nice support beams/frames- https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/immersiveposts

 

[Cptqrk]

Not to pile on to BWM, but if you are going to implement it, you will need to gate other tech/magic off until after you feel the player has done enough with it.

While it has a very pleasing aesthetic, (I love the idea of the windmills and gear boxes/shafts) it is quickly outpaced/replaced by almost any other mod. Almost any other pack that has it in, I skip it if at all possible due to the massive grind it involves when not tweaked, and by the time I feel like mucking around with it, I'm way beyond anything that the mod can offer.

 

[rhn]

Platforms looks like a fairly interesting aesthetics mod- https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/platforms

Theres also Immersive Posts- at first it looks a little to like tech, but in the right framing it'll make some nice support beams/frames- https://www.curseforge.com/minecraft/mc-mods/immersiveposts

Had actually passed on both of those earlier. But looking at Platforms again, it really reminded me of the scaffolding in mines etc. in Skyrim So added it in.

Not to pile on to BWM, but if you are going to implement it, you will need to gate other tech/magic off until after you feel the player has done enough with it.

While it has a very pleasing aesthetic, (I love the idea of the windmills and gear boxes/shafts) it is quickly outpaced/replaced by almost any other mod. Almost any other pack that has it in, I skip it if at all possible due to the massive grind it involves when not tweaked, and by the time I feel like mucking around with it, I'm way beyond anything that the mod can offer.

I am not really building the pack to be a balanced tech progression pack. It is first and foremost a pack for building. So if it only serves partly being a library of aestetic items, and partly for automation of a few select things, then that is perfect for me. Atm I have it set up to be the only real automation for wooden planks(at least most efficient), and I am considering making other recipes use its cured leathers too. The kilns could also be a nice real in world way to make things like bricks and charcoal. That is enough for me to keep the mod.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Be worth having a look at Steam Age Revolution. I last played with it's 1.7.10 incarnation which was Steamcraft 2, but it was quite a bit of fun.

 

[rhn]

Be worth having a look at Steam Age Revolution. I last played with it's 1.7.10 incarnation which was Steamcraft 2, but it was quite a bit of fun.

Not a whole lot of information about that mod(or predecessor), but from what I can tell it mostly does stuff I already have several mods that also do, like Embers, Tinkers, Immersive etc. So to keep the pack from ballooning out of size I will probably pass. But good suggestion!

 

[Cptqrk]

Has Embers actually fleshed out a bit to actually do stuff? I lost track of that mod a long time ago

 

[rhn]

Has Embers actually fleshed out a bit to actually do stuff? I lost track of that mod a long time ago

I have not actually played it yet, but from what I can tell from guide videos and just JEI browsing, it got a decent amount of stuff. Energy, ore-processing, metal alloying, tools, weapons and armour. And a bunch of aesthetic stuff that I think will be useful. So not huge, but decent enough I think.
Also crossmod compatibility with Tinkers, and can produce steam for other mods power.

 

[LordPINE]

For more endgame items with embers, you might want to look into installing Aetherworks. It's a pretty neat addon.
Also, Soot is a must have addon for embers, if you can deal with the JEI spam from the naming stamp.

 

[KingTriaxx]

That's fair. My trick to that is to have a void pack. Which is just the few utility mods, like JEI, Toast Control, and a couple others I can't recall off the top of my head, and install it there, then play with it a bit and see.

Embers is really cool, but it gives me a headache after a while.

 

[rhn]

For more endgame items with embers, you might want to look into installing Aetherworks. It's a pretty neat addon.
Also, Soot is a must have addon for embers, if you can deal with the JEI spam from the naming stamp.

Awesome suggestions. Aetherworks is straight out of the Skyrim quest lol