Request Early Game Items.

[slowpoke]

Before I start a thread, I wanted to make sure there wasnt one that already existed. Has anyone come across a thread/guide of items that can be made in the early game cheaply that would make things much easier going forwards or mini setups that again can be made cheaply early game that will make your life easier later on.

For example dollys are highly useful for moving chests around.
Putting a chicken directly on a hopper to collect eggs.
Starting farms and early agriculture (agricraft sprinkler system)
Examples of early game power sources etc.

If such a thread doesnt exist, how would you feel about having one where anyone could suggest stuff and we collate the answers into a google doc or something?

 

[ljfa]

I have not yet seen such a thread. I think it would be a good idea.
It's always nice to share such things with others, and to get good ideas from others.

 

[HeilMewTwo]

I remember something similar ages ago, but it is long dead and buried. Plus there were tons of derailments.

 

[ChemE]

I like the idea. Not super early game but this is my contribution to the cause: http://imgur.com/a/12ZSW

 

[epidemia78]

Stone Ticon tools are great early game, all it takes is cobble to repair. Just carry a crafting station when mining. And since the fortune level raises as you use the tool, you only need one piece of lapis.

 

[Yusunoha]

Stone Ticon tools are great early game, all it takes is cobble to repair. Just carry a crafting station when mining. And since the fortune level raises as you use the tool, you only need one piece of lapis.

another plus with this is that you don't need to carry any cobble with you. just dig down a few blocks and you'll be able to get more cobblestone.
another tip with this is to make the binding of the stone pickaxe out of paper, this way you've another modifier and you don't really need that much durability on your stone pickaxe because it's so easy to repair.

a quick way of getting more sugarcane is by using the IC2 crops, as sugarcane with IC2 crops is already really fast and doesn't require any extra breeding.

I actually love using stone so much that I pretty much make stone tools out of most tinker's tools, even the hammer, excavator and lumber axe, because stone is just so easy to come by.

another tip, if you need a redstone level pickaxe but you don't want to waste any metals, you can create a pickaxe from AE2 quartz which can mine redstone, I also use the quarts for a grinding stone if I don't yet have a smeltery going, so I can craft myself a bucket

yes, I'm this nitpicky when it comes to resources, I'm actually this bad that I don't even use coal for torches, I can only create torches made out of charcoal.

 

[mattp_12]

An (arguably) easier way of making torches is to bring a couple down mining, (about 10) and find some coal. You can make stone sticks with 2 cobblestone and combine them with a piece of coal to get torches from tinkers construct. Since coal is very abundant in caves and such they are a viable option

 

[jokermatt999]

Not always really game (depends on leather), but OpenBlock's hang glider is a great exploration tool.

 

[rouge_bare]

another tip with this is to make the binding of the stone pickaxe out of paper, this way you've another modifier and you don't really need that much durability on your stone pickaxe because it's so easy to repair.

I'd have to disagree with using paper, unless you planning on keeping the pickaxe to lategame. I only really modify my late game tools, aside from maybe giving moss to my early tools. I don't really gain much from having the extra modifier. The binding also doesn't affect durability at all.

My personal favourite pre-metal pick is a flint head, stone binding, wood handle pickaxe, flint isn't too hard to come by, and i usually get a fair bit simply gathering gravel for grout. By the time I'm actually running low on flint to repair, I've usually got my smeltery up, and access to metal tools.

Food is often my biggest issue early game, I also tend to opt for more magical mods first, and go for tech later on. (the only early tech I often get is ore doubling.) As such I usually get myself a fairly early Soujourner's sash to aid me in getting about, and an Agricarnation once I got a decent mana supply.
Also, if you can use Barley instead of wheat, it does grow faster than wheat. That said I tend to use wheat anyway as Wheat is needed for the rune of spring, and there isn't a huge differnece.

 

[Maelstraz]

Chisel! :3

Also, really love botania's magnetisation ring, trying to get it as fast, as possible, after that i can forget about mod for some time.

 

[Skyqula]

An iBench, crafting is just such an important aspect of minecraft. A good crafting "table" ala Dartcrafts clipboard is just a must have!

 

[loboca]

It's maybe late early-game, but if you have MFR, I power to some energy and a mob spawner + grinder + safari net for ender pearls. You start needing them for high-end TE stuff, and for an Ender Quarry, so being able to spawn endermen to harvest pearls is quite helpful. Once you have your ender quarry going (preferrably in a flat mystcraft age that you happen to get by luck, I usually get one in the 1st ten ages I randomly create), you're into middle game where you build up your power / resource collection and start branching off to the fun mods, instead of worrying about resource collection as much.

(This fits into the, 'make your life easier later on' category)

 

[buggirlexpres]

If you've got Forestry, a neat method of early-game power is the Clockwork Engine. It gets you RF for free, if you've got the time to click it a couple times.

 

[ljfa]

Don't forget that vanilla potions still exist. A potion of fire resistance is very useful for getting blaze rods or swimming in lava.

 

[ratchet freak]

early game smeltery automation for ore doubling with just a hopper and a liquid transport (or timer ticking on the faucet) into a casting table with ingot cast

with a large smeltery you need to parallelize the casting or smelting to prevent unwanted alloys

 

[Someone Else 37]

early game smeltery automation for ore doubling with just a hopper and a liquid transport (or timer ticking on the faucet) into a casting table with ingot cast

with a large smeltery you need to parallelize the casting or smelting to prevent unwanted alloys

Casting basins can solidify your liquid metal much faster than ingot casts in tables by creating a whole block at a time. However, if you don't have nine ingots worth of metal, it stops working.

 

[dylanpiera]

Well you can get seared stone by putting (cobble)stone in the tc smeltery. Alot of people know that, I knew it. But i never used it cause i didn't think about it.

For early power generation i'd use Ender i/o or extra utilities.

Extra utilities has a lot of awesome generators. Use what you have a lot of if you want to use those, About efficiency you shoud use ender io

were there are 2 nice ways to get power. Not decided whice works best.

1st. a cumbustion engine runned by Hootch.
Just by getting a non-automated sugar cane farm and potato farm will let you power your machines for very long. Making 60 rf/t (using 20 for hootch production) makes it a nice early game generator that uses only "Green" Recources. That are easily harvested with a ExtraUtilities watering can.

2nd. is a stirling generator with a octodic capacitor.
If you have a abundace of coal, Or a charcoal farm. The stirling generator is just what you need, But it only gives 20 rf/t with 2x the burn speed of coal
But with an octodic capacitor, You get 80 rf/t for 1.5x the burn speed.
To get the capacitor is some work. but easily done.

If you start working on AE2 early. Alot of people also don't know you can use the wooden crack on the Charger from ae2, whice is very usefull. It just takes a lot of cranking...

When you get to the end of early game, I'd make (like other people have said) an enderman farm. I did mine with ender io
It takes loads of energy. Loads of energy. You need a full capacitor if you want to use it for just a bit, Thats why i'd recommand if you do this, have a small big reactor set up, Thats what i had a 4x4 with iron 2 controll rods en 2 iron block pilars

These are some of the things i start with while making my series, (Thats what i did the last week for my early game atleast) If you need some mid game inspiration i can post it here to

 

[Azzanine]

For what modpack?

Thanks to the flexible TiCo smelteries scouring a river for a patch of clay and making a 1 block capacity smeltery asap is a must. Also it seems that compressed cobble can be smelted, one compressed cobble will make a block and half a bricks worth of seared stone.

 

[dylanpiera]

For what modpack?

Thanks to the flexible TiCo smelteries scouring a river for a patch of clay and making a 1 block capacity smeltery asap is a must. Also it seems that compressed cobble can be smelted, one compressed cobble will make a block and half a bricks worth of seared stone.

For me a normal cobblestone gives me also a half a brick...

 

[Azzanine]

For me a normal cobblestone gives me also a half a brick...

Yeah I think I meant it gives me a block and a full brick, which equals 5 bricks all up.
Each cobble = half a brick.
Compressed cobble = 9x cobble.
1 block = 4 bricks = 8 cobble.

NEI is also telling me double compressed and up will work too, but not in a 1x1 space smeltery, I have tried it and it doesn't have the capacity to hold the seared stone it produces.

Edit: actually no, it is a block and half a brick lol. I was right the 1st time.