How far could I get in Infinity: Expert mode skyblock.

[GreenZombie]

So, I'm bored, enough to think about trying this very very grindy pack.

But, there are a few mods I really don't like. They always strike me as too cheesy, or annoying. Are there alternatives to - say Botania and Extra Utilities or will expert mode force me to visit these mods?

 

[Middleclaw]

Expert mode will basically force you to use all the mods in the pack. For example, you need Botania's Mana Steel to make Thaumcraft's Thaumium ingot.

 

[rouge_bare]

if you refuse to use botania, you won't be able to do magic at all, nor get to draconic evolution, magic mods are very entwined together in expert. Extra Utilities is largely optional, only really things that might be needed are bedrockium (which is made differently) and the Q.E.D.

 

[Inaeo]

We picked Infinity Expert up for our server while our custom pack underwent a retrofit. I likely have the most patience of our group, but when I realized I spent more time in the crafting grid making a machine than it took to walk to our mines, find the ores I needed, walk back, and process them, I'd had enough.
Not knocking it. It is what it is. It's just not for me.

As stated, Botania is the entry to the magic side, and everything is built off it from there. I know you enjoy TC, but if you hate Botania, you likely wo t enjoy the TC experience in Infinity, as it relies heavily on a Botania infrastructure to support it.

The QED is needed for the tech side, and felt like an actual achievement to finally put together. It did take running our Assembly Table and Lasers overnight on the server to make the Resonant Machine Frame, which put me off significantly - I don't get much time to play, so I don't like time as a gating mechanic. The Culinary Generator was a godsend for us, as power in the early stages is a commodity. If it weren't for Stuffed Eggplant, we would have starved and had no power for a while. Not saying there aren't more options, but Pam's + Agricraft made it an obvious choice.

I have no love for IC2e. The fact that all the tech side goes through that mod was a major turnoff for me. I can't help but feel you would be as dissatisfied with the Botania relationship, but then it's best to keep an open mind and try it out. Worst case scenario, you aren't bored for a week then you delete everything. Best case scenario, you learn to enjoy (or at least respect) the mods you disdained before, and play more hours than we all care to count in a new pack.

Good luck. Have fun.

 

[MigukNamja]

So, I'm bored, enough to think about trying this very very grindy pack.

But, there are a few mods I really don't like. They always strike me as too cheesy, or annoying. Are there alternatives to - say Botania and Extra Utilities or will expert mode force me to visit these mods?

It's not 'grindy' in the same way as GregTech is 'grindy'. However, you *will* need to spend a lot of time in mods you may not want to be spending in. For me, I don't really enjoy Witchery or Blood Magic *as much as Thaumcraft or Botania*, so I guess you could consider time spent in those mods as 'grindy' for me.

What's nice about IE:E is it will take a *long* time to get through the whole pack if you have the patience. If you set your expectations that your world will take *months* to get through, you're coming in with the right mindset. I've been playing modded MC for 3 years now, a wide variety of packs including several GT packs, and this is the one that had me exploring mods more fully than I've ever explored before.

For example, I never bothered with LogisticsPipes (LP) since AE was always my go-to. Well, with IE:E, AE2 is late middle-game / early end-game, and you will *really* want some inventory management and auto-crafting/auto-machine-processing capabilities well before then. It forced me to learn LP and I'm glad it did. Ditto RFTools.

One tip : if you don't like IC2 fluid reactors outside of the 5x5x5 cube itself, add AdvancedGenerators and keep just the Heat Exchanger and Steam Generator. It's already balanced for this pack without any further tweaks.

Hat tip to @Pyure for Advanced Generators and of course @bdew for creating it.

 

[GreenZombie]

I appear to be being forced to make a Railcraft coke oven, so I can make an IE coke oven. This is unfortunate. I'd rather just make the IE coke oven.

 

[MigukNamja]

I appear to be being forced to make a Railcraft coke oven, so I can make an IE coke oven. This is unfortunate. I'd rather just make the IE coke oven.

Oh ? That's strange. I've played through the beginning of this pack twice. One time I made RC Coke Oven (coal --> coal coke) and then IE Blast Furnace (iron --> steel). This time, I made IE Coke Oven (only) and never made an RC Coke Oven.

 

[GreenZombie]

Oh ? That's strange. I've played through the beginning of this pack twice. One time I made RC Coke Oven (coal --> coal coke) and then IE Blast Furnace (iron --> steel). This time, I made IE Coke Oven (only) and never made an RC Coke Oven.

The IE hammer, required to assemble IE multiblocks, requires treated sticks in Expert mode - which need creosote. Unless there is a non coke oven way to get creosote?

---
Oh i see. I am paying too much attention to DW20's playthrough, in which the IE hammer required treated sticks. Now I actually look at the recipe, its normal sticks.

 

[MigukNamja]

Ah.I see you haven't visited a village or visited enough villages. In nearly every village, there is a red brick, 2-story house. It will have a hammer in a frame above the doorway. And, there's almost always treated sticks in the IE crates. Villages are common in this pack. Also in many villages is a near-complete TiCo smeltery setup.

If you get *really* lucky, you'll get a good amount of steel from the ImmEng house. You'll want to use a steel pickaxe with moss. Get your mossy cobblestone from a magic biome.

 

[MigukNamja]

In general, this pack - moreso than others - rewards getting out and about. You won't be able to capture nodes for a while, so you'll be running around re-filling your wand with nodes in the wild unless you do a lot of killing with the wand in your inventory bar.

Botania pretty requires a decent amount of wandering to collect sufficient quantities of the requisite flowers. And, you'll need tons of clay, gravel, and sand, which usually means wandering.

 

[GreenZombie]

In general, this pack - moreso than others - rewards getting out and about. You won't be able to capture nodes for a while, so you'll be running around re-filling your wand with nodes in the wild unless you do a lot of killing with the wand in your inventory bar.

Botania pretty requires a decent amount of wandering to collect sufficient quantities of the requisite flowers. And, you'll need tons of clay, gravel, and sand, which usually means wandering.

Skyblock.
So...
I took a distressingly long time to remember how to make lava and feed it into a smeltery without a bucket.

 

[MigukNamja]

Ah, Skyblock.

 

[MigukNamja]

BTW, how is the Nether and The End handled in this skyblock pack ? I'm assuming the The End is the same. Otherwise, Draconic Evolution would be difficult to re-script without it.

 

[Everlasting2]

BTW, how is the Nether and The End handled in this skyblock pack ? I'm assuming the The End is the same. Otherwise, Draconic Evolution would be difficult to re-script without it.

as far as ive seen the nether and 99% of the end are void worlds (i think the chaos guardians "home " is less touched ) but other then that maybe, zilch
to obtain draconium u need to process endstone (which is made using glowstone and something else(i forget what its an exnillo recipe) or could use the botania way probably ) or nether rack for a worse chance at getting draconium

 

[GreenZombie]

The immersive Engineering Fluid pump requires a Buildcraft pump. The buildcraft pump requires an IC2 pump. The IC2 pump requires chipsets to be made at an assembly table? The aqueous accumulator is likewise convoluted.

To what end though? This just forces me to use an ExU liquid transfer node. Which, Oh, doesn't require RF, can be loaded with world interaction upgrades, and is just good if not better than all the above options.

What am I missing here that makes this a logical progression? So far, this doesn't seem to be forcing me to use more mods. I'm just being squeezed into using the mods that are so overdone I wanted a pack that would make me avoid them.

---
Ok - how do I get rubber saplings? This seems core to starting IC2 and will allow me to make a railcraft water siding, that can automatically output water into pipes obviating the need for pumps. I remember there was a way when I played AgSkies, but I'm damned if I can remember now.

---

Ah yes. Sieve dirt.

 

[Scottly318]

Rubber tree seeds you get from sifting dirt.

 

[Inaeo]

Yeah, this was a major point of annoyance for me as well. One pump needs a different pump needs a different pump of nested crafting for nested crafting's sake. No thanks.

My personal breaking point with Expert Mode was the realization that all machines were gated behind the Assembly Table and varying levels of RF. This isn't actually the issue, as the mechanic isn't bad in and of itself. The issue was the combined realization that powering the damn Assembly Table in any sort of timely fashion was beyond capability until after a QED, and thus a Resonant Machine Frame, had been achieved.

I'll not lie, it was an amazing feeling of accomplishment having built my QED, but that was the moment I realized what was ahead. Running our base off Culinary Generators and an ImmEng Waterwheel for early game was sufficient, but if I was expected to make another (let alone dozens) of Resonant Machine Frames, IC2ex nukes were the next stepping stone. Try as i may, I cannot learn to like IC2 (see my feelings on nested crafting for nested crafting's sake above), so I was officially submitted.

It's a shame, as the idea of the pack is right up my alley. Forcing everything in my life to rely on a backbone of IC2 was a deal breaker. Given the well documented divide around IC2ex, I was surprised they opted for this path. I hoped I could embrace it, if just temporarily, but it wasn't to be, and there is no other option available.

 

[Everlasting2]

Running our base off Culinary Generators and an ImmEng Waterwheel for early game was sufficient,

spam moar 8x culinary generators generators (why 8x becuase 64x needs nuclear material )

 

[Inaeo]

spam moar 8x culinary generators generators (why 8x becuase 64x needs nuclear material )

That was actually my point. Anything powerful enough to not take ages to do anything requires IC2 backbone. Seriously, any other choice would have been acceptable, but the guiding hand choked ms out on this one. Oh well. On to other things.

 

[GreenZombie]

That was actually my point. Anything powerful enough to not take ages to do anything requires IC2 backbone. Seriously, any other choice would have been acceptable, but the guiding hand choked ms out on this one. Oh well. On to other things.

The inclusion of easy mode mods like Tinkers Construct and Extra Utilities do taint the modpack concept. The progression itself is sometimes quite non nonsensical. The idea that you might learn new mods when their recipes are so badly damaged clearly pure fallacy.
But the one thing I don't mind is the basic principal of tiering the tech mods, and if that means IC2exp comes first, I'm ok with that.