Focused modpacks

[abobabo]

It seems most famous modpacks are to some degree made with the attitude of "all ze mods!". I get why, it's inclusive, gives something for everyone on a server and allows interesting interactions between different mods.

But personally, I tend to prefer smaller, more focused modpacks - not just with a general theme like "tech" or "magic" but more closely knit-together . Most of the time I have to make them myself though, since I don't know of many such modpacks. That leads to me trending towards the same mods all the time because those are the first that pops to mind (commonly tinker's, thaumcraft, railcraft and a few others).

I prefer smaller packs primarily because of three reasons:
It makes the gameplay more themed and less kitchen sink
It means every mod matters, and you have to think creatively to do what you want
It's far more friendly to my not-that-modern computer

So now I ask for suggestions, do you know if there's a list of smaller, more focused modpacks? Or do you know of such a modpack? It doesn't have to be a prepacked one either, a list of mods you like to play with in a tightly nit sense is very welcome too!

Thanks for any suggestions // Ilja

 

[buggirlexpres]

Running Red. And the soon to be released Vampire Money.

#shamelessplug

 

[SatanicSanta]

I personally like the Horizons-like pack(s). New mods = gr8

 

[NinjaEnergy]

Blood and bones anyone?

 

[abobabo]

While those modpacks look cool and all, and definately have more theme than say Horizons or Unleashed or what have you, they are still pretty huge and sprawling; they include 5+ power sources/types and very distinct and different gameplay styles.

I'm looking for smaller, and more compact modpacks. As an example, right now I'm playing my own thrown-together-thingy; the only major mods are thaumcraft, tinker's, natura and roguelike dungeons. Apart from those, enderio, betterstorage, NEI and InvTweaks there's only coremods/required contentless mods like Baubles. I considered including Railcraft and Pam's Harvestcraft for low-tech tech and farming respectively, but decided against them because they weren't really necessary for the theme.

That's more what I meant with smaller, not going from 150 mods to 70 mods, but more to like 15 mods ;P

Not meaning to be negative or anything, both Blood & Bone and Running Red looked really cool, just not really my cup of tea.

 

[MigukNamja]

FTB is moving *away* from the general-purpose, one-size-fits-all packs and is focusing on higher-quality themed packs. FTB has also fully embraced and increased the visiblity of 3rd-party packs. FTB is a full-service meta-game organization taking on the roles of publisher, hosting, forum, Wiki, etc., where modders meet pack-makers meet player base.

I believe this is what (now) clearly separates FTB from Tekkit and other launchers. FTB is not trying to compete for the "single most popular pack" title*, but is rather catering to a specific subset of the MC modded community, including modders, pack-makers, and players.

*Note : Hosting DW20 doesn't hurt, though. DW20 is perhaps *the* best mod-pack for newcomers to start off with, simply because of DW20's videos. Lovely, lovely pack with a big learning and support system behind it.

 

[epidemia78]

Seems to me what you are asking for doesnt quite exist. Ive always made my own packs but Ive realized its silly when theres something like Monster around that already has most of the mods I want plus a few others. You could use that and disable a bunch of mods. Since its the only pack I know of that has rotarycraft, you could focus the pack around that. I was also thinking magic world sounds interesting but it needs railcraft and maybe even traincraft for item transport and sorting. And theres the old universal electricity pack for 1.5.2. Mekanism, even though its not exactly a UE mod anymore still carries a lot of the traits of those mods, and made me wonder what it would be like to play with all of them.

 

[MigukNamja]

While those modpacks look cool and all, and definately have more theme than say Horizons or Unleashed or what have you, they are still pretty huge and sprawling; they include 5+ power sources/types and very distinct and different gameplay styles.

I'm looking for smaller, and more compact modpacks. As an example, right now I'm playing my own thrown-together-thingy; the only major mods are thaumcraft, tinker's, natura and roguelike dungeons. Apart from those, enderio, betterstorage, NEI and InvTweaks there's only coremods/required contentless mods like Baubles. I considered including Railcraft and Pam's Harvestcraft for low-tech tech and farming respectively, but decided against them because they weren't really necessary for the theme.

That's more what I meant with smaller, not going from 150 mods to 70 mods, but more to like 15 mods ;P

Not meaning to be negative or anything, both Blood & Bone and Running Red looked really cool, just not really my cup of tea.

No problems at all, mate. FTB has soooo many 3rd-party packs now, surely there's at least 1 that suits your playstyle. If not, just use it as a base and modify it.

And, what you did there is exactly what every experienced MC player should do at some point : make their own pack !

 

[SatanicSanta]

No problems at all, mate. FTB has soooo many 3rd-party packs now, surely there's at least 1 that suits your playstyle. If not, just use it as a base and modify it.

Adding it to the launcher as a 3rd party pack wouldn't hurt either, since there is likely at least 1 other player who wants this type of pack.

 

[MigukNamja]

Adding it to the launcher as a 3rd party pack wouldn't hurt either, since there is likely at least 1 other player who wants this type of pack.

++

 

[abobabo]

Thanks for all the feedback, lots of good stuff here!

You could use that and disable a bunch of mods. Since its the only pack I know of that has rotarycraft, you could focus the pack around that.

I guess that's one approach, though it basically comes down to making my own pack again then, though of course it's nice to have pre-checked compability etc.

And, what you did there is exactly what every experienced MC player should do at some point : make their own pack !

Yeah, made my own modpacks before modpacks existed xD As did everyone back in the old beta (or was it late alpha?) days.
But the great thing about downloading a pre-packed modpack is that it's a great way to find new mods, since I can't take the "easy option" of using the old mods I'm used to. Downloading a large pack also loses that benefit partly, since there's access to everything.

Adding it to the launcher as a 3rd party pack wouldn't hurt either, since there is likely at least 1 other player who wants this type of pack.

But wouldn't that mean I need to gather permissions?

But at this point, it looks like I have to continue making my own packs.

So then I'm asking for a suggestion:
Does anyone know a good tech-based mod (or a few connected mods like how buildcraft+forestry+railcraft is connected) to build a small tech-based modpack around, that plays well together with vanilla minecraft in terms of power level?

I've been thinking of building something around Mekanism, but don't know that much about it - are there other mods that are made specifically to work with it (not just be compatible but like, how forestry and buildcraft are related)? Is Mekanism the kind of superpowered mod that EE2 was (and to a lesser extent DartCraft is nowadays)?
Or are there any other techmods you can recommend that stand strongly on their own? That does something else than "MOAR OARS!!!"

 

[MigukNamja]

Try RotaryCraft and ReactorCraft *without* many other mods to support it. RoC/ReC are only OP when you use other mods to get a leg-up and bypass the gates that Reika has designed. RoC/ReC in a skinny pack is a good challenge.

 

[abobabo]

Try RotaryCraft and ReactorCraft *without* many other mods to support it. RoC/ReC are only OP when you use other mods to get a leg-up and bypass the gates that Reika has designed. RoC/ReC in a skinny pack is a good challenge.

That sounds like a good idea. I tried rotarycraft some months ago, but didn't have the patience, but with that as the only techmod it might work well.
Would it mix well with various decoration and storage mods? Like, Carpenter's + Better Storage + Bibliocraft?
Does it play well with AE? I've been interested in learning more than the basics of AE, but it's hard to slot into a fantasy-themed exploration pack, and with a more machinery-focused pack it might work better.

 

[MigukNamja]

That sounds like a good idea. I tried rotarycraft some months ago, but didn't have the patience, but with that as the only techmod it might work well.
Would it mix well with various decoration and storage mods? Like, Carpenter's + Better Storage + Bibliocraft?
Does it play well with AE? I've been interested in learning more than the basics of AE, but it's hard to slot into a fantasy-themed exploration pack, and with a more machinery-focused pack it might work better.

Yes, works great with AE. AE has direct support for RC power. Other "must have" mods would be:

• NEI
• Jabba
• Opis
• Waila
• <some kind of map mod>
• <decoration mods like Biblio, Carpenter's, Forge Microblocks, etc.,.>

What's lacking is item automation. And, Reika's fluid transport mechanism is hands-down the ugliest in the game. No idea why. His other creations are works of art. If you're into tweaking, eIO would probably be the best bet for items, fluids, and redstone. Would have to avoid the temptation of RF, though, so tweaking might be necessary, i.e. disable the energy conduits, but leave the generators so you can at least run the processing machines to make the item and fluids conduits.

Also, Thaumcraft would not outshine or overbalance Rec/RoC. They are different enough. Ditto Blood Magic.

 

[abobabo]

Honestly, not everything needs to be in the modpack. Not having item automation or easy fluid transportation isn't a big issue to me really.

Is opis really beneficial for single player or small LAN servers?

 

[RJS]

Seems to me what you are asking for doesnt quite exist. Ive always made my own packs but Ive realized its silly when theres something like Monster around that already has most of the mods I want plus a few others. You could use that and disable a bunch of mods. Since its the only pack I know of that has rotarycraft, you could focus the pack around that. I was also thinking magic world sounds interesting but it needs railcraft and maybe even traincraft for item transport and sorting. And theres the old universal electricity pack for 1.5.2. Mekanism, even though its not exactly a UE mod anymore still carries a lot of the traits of those mods, and made me wonder what it would be like to play with all of them.

You can always add mods as well as disable them. If you really want item sorting in Magic World, it's basically either add a mod or use HopperDucts. HopperDucts is good, but isn't so compact as other systems. I'm still waiting for a decent Magic-based logistics system for item filtering and sorting though, I did hold out some hope for the sorting core for Golems, but that doesn't provide the sort of functionality I'm looking for

 

[SatanicSanta]

Yes, works great with AE. AE has direct support for RC power. Other "must have" mods would be:

• NEI
• Jabba
• Opis
• Waila
• <some kind of map mod>
• <decoration mods like Biblio, Carpenter's, Forge Microblocks, etc.,.>

What's lacking is item automation. And, Reika's fluid transport mechanism is hands-down the ugliest in the game. No idea why. His other creations are works of art. If you're into tweaking, eIO would probably be the best bet for items, fluids, and redstone. Would have to avoid the temptation of RF, though, so tweaking might be necessary, i.e. disable the energy conduits, but leave the generators so you can at least run the processing machines to make the item and fluids conduits.

Also, Thaumcraft would not outshine or overbalance Rec/RoC. They are different enough. Ditto Blood Magic.

When I originally learned RotaryCraft I only had the following mods installed, and it was awesome.

• Better Dungeons
  • I like to skip building and mining when I am learning new mods. Sue me
• BiblioCraft
• BuildCraft
• Chicken Chunks
• Chisel
• ElectriCraft
• Ender Storage
• Expanded Redstone
• Extra Carts
• InvTweaks
• Iron Chests
• JuiceWares
• Mapwriter
• Modular Powersuits
• NEI
• Powersuits Addons
• Railcraft
• ReactorCraft
• RotaryCraft
• Santa's Decor
• Santa's Toys (which was actually originally made for this pack)
• Steve's Carts
• Steve's Factory Manager
• Twilight Forest
• Valued Decor
• Witchery

Note that I never actually used most of those mods. I used RotaryCraft, Santa's Toys, Better Dungeons, Valued Decor, Iron Chests, Mapwriter, Railcraft, JuiceWares, and the client utility mods.

 

[ThomazM]

Uh, if you're looking for a focused modpack, I really need to recommend Magic Farm II, by @Jadedcat. I know that you said you didn't quite like the direct "tech" or "magic" approach; But the modlist is incredibly well-made, giving the pack the real "magic", "hardcorey" feel to it.
If you're looking for a really hardcore gameplay, you definitely should try Blood N' Bones, by @Eyamaz; It's bizarelly difficult, and the modlist being not that big should run fine on your PC.

 

[abobabo]

So, maybe something like this then?

>BASICS
NEI
InvTweaks
>TECH
Rotarycraft+Electricraft+Reactorcraft
Railcraft
Applied Energistics
EnderStorage
>VANITY
Carpenter's Blocks
Chisel Mod

Anyone know of any compability issues between these?

 

[MigukNamja]

Could use an early-game storage mod, ex. IronChests, JABBA, etc.,. A base full of double-chests gets old.

If you're learning RoC/ReC, I recommend WAILA. You'll want to know what you're looking at.

Could also use a client mapping program. There's plenty out there, some more/less "cheaty" than others. Hostile mob radar and seeing through solid rock underground is a tad "cheaty", IMHO. Those features seem better suited for an MMPS helmet upgrade. However, a basic but nice-looking mapping mod like Antique Atlas should not break any immersion walls.

No compatiblity issues I know of.