I'm either incredibly lucky or something

[Nanakisan]

So yes. My first days in FTB. OUTSIDE OF NUKING THINGS TO SHIT IN CREATIVE. I typed in a very random seed. I didn't expect much really. I figured it was going to be just like everyone dreaded. I would be put in a frozen wasteland or worse a forest full of fir trees.

No I get a meadows with 2 or 3 of those really giant oak trees. to the west a swamp biome just bit north of the swamp is this huge sexy mineral rich ravine. Just a bit northwest of the ravine theres a birch forest. then to the north east of the ravine. I happen upon some nicely generated extreme hills. I was not expecting this. not in the slightest.
Also...I'm a huge fan of spawners sometimes. To my shock and awe i discovered a skeleton spawner! *HAPPINESS* Now its just matter of rigging a transport system so i can kill them at will and get me some bones for growing me crops and trees.


Now i'm trying to decide. Do i break my habit of working with IC2 and give TE a shot or do i continue with Factorization. I came to really love using the slag furnace as a starter. Its not much but it does occasionally give me a extra-iron or two. which is really handy in my opinion. I've saved other ores from smelting till i know which direction i'm willing to take.

Anyway with the luck i've had. would anyone wish to have the seed? I'd be more then glad to share it. The ravine is rich in bauxite and iron hell its rich in everything. I'll just put it right here
-448430313

Also here is some screens. Its not much but it is homely.
http://imgur.com/a/xNTzJ#0
Included a largemap screen to show just how much i have to work with
I will say this much. I am really beginning to prefer FTB over tekkit. Its much better in my opinion. Its easy to start and once you do get started. Its hard as sin to stop! Thank you FTB team.

Seriously. Minecraft was always more about being in creative for me. But now i have something to keep me busy. Again i say thank you.

 

[Bagman817]

Another convert! Welcome to the community.

 

[Evil Hamster]

With all the mods to choose from, you can set up any kind of system you like

I generally start with the basic IC stuff and experiment with various other things once I'm set up.

 

[Zica]

Thermal expansion takes a little more to get started with, but the reward is worth it. If you are able to keep the machines at full power, you will love it.

 

[tedyhere]

If you have time to stand idly by while the process goes, Factorization can give a ton of extra output. I just haven't found a GOOD way to automate the final process of crystalization. So I have it automate up to that point, they just didn't make it easy to automate that last step with the 6 slots in the crystalizer, well 5 if you don't count the slot for sulfuric acid..

 

[SilvasRuin]

Thermal expansion takes a little more to get started with, but the reward is worth it. If you are able to keep the machines at full power, you will love it.

A little more than what? It's start is cheaper than IC2's, and Factorization's start requires running pretty close to a stack of the galena silver ore through the Slag Furnace. Heck, Thermal Expansion's fuel use is cheaper than IC2's as well.

 

[Zaik]

A little more than what? It's start is cheaper than IC2's, and Factorization's start requires running pretty close to a stack of the galena silver ore through the Slag Furnace. Heck, Thermal Expansion's fuel use is cheaper than IC2's as well.

Every machine requires gold, while a lot of the early IC2 stuff is just plain old iron/copper/tin, redstone, and rubber. Powering IC2 stuff is also much easier, a plain generator goes a lot farther than a Stirling engine on the same fuel, Oil is awful, and redstone engines don't even seem to work on anything but buildcraft pumps. Forestry's engines help a lot, but then you need to add in the costs of those machines producing crap to turn into biomass. You also need to store the biomass, so add in a 3x3x4 Railcraft iron tank that IC2 also doesn't require.

I love the pulverizer as much as anyone else, but let's not pretend it's cheaper to operate.

 

[SilvasRuin]

Every machine requires gold, while a lot of the early IC2 stuff is just plain old iron/copper/tin, redstone, and rubber. Powering IC2 stuff is also much easier, a plain generator goes a lot farther than a Stirling engine on the same fuel, Oil is awful, and redstone engines don't even seem to work on anything but buildcraft pumps. Forestry's engines help a lot, but then you need to add in the costs of those machines producing crap to turn into biomass. You also need to store the biomass, so add in a 3x3x4 Railcraft iron tank that IC2 also doesn't require.

I love the pulverizer as much as anyone else, but let's not pretend it's cheaper to operate.

Macerator and Generator:
3 Flint
10 Cobblestone
7 Rubber
3 and 1/3 Copper*
4 Tin
17 Iron
4 Redstone
* Requires 7 cables, so at least 6 Copper has to be used up to get started with IC2.
20 Coal has processed 25.5 ore.

Pulverizer and Stirling Engine:
10 Wood Planks
5 Glass
2 Flint
19 Cobblestone
2 Copper
6 Iron
2 Gold
4 Redstone
20 Coal has processed 80 ore.

If you've dug down far enough to find that Redstone and you haven't found 2 Gold Ore yet, your luck is terrible.
So... you want to run that by me again? This isn't the first time I've run the math on this. As I've said in another thread, the Pulverizer's fuel efficiency should probably be nerfed.

 

[Rikki21]

If you've dug down far enough to find that Redstone and you haven't found 2 Gold Ore yet, your luck is terrible.
So... you want to run that by me again?

My luck must be terrible then, because I never seem to find gold. Just recently I started a world and decided to use TE first instead of IC2. Got a couple stacks of iron, tin, and copper and a stack of redstone before I found a vein of gold. So, with my luck the macerator is better, at least until I find that gold.

 

[SilvasRuin]

That's unfortunate then. I tend to have more Gold than I need at any given time. May you have better luck on future worlds.

Edit: It's probably due to the way I mine... When you're looking for Diamonds on your first to second mining trip, Gold is quite likely to turn up sooner than the Diamonds, especially when resorting to branch or line mining.

 

[Greyed]

Not to mention even if we concede that gold is slightly harder to find that red stone it is just one tiny piece which doesn't make the pulverizer significantly more expensive. In return we not only double our ore output we get bonus ores. So the nominally extra cost of 2 gold will more than likely be paid off within your first 2 stacks of pulverized tin... It is tin that yields bonus gold dust, right?

 

[SilvasRuin]

Copper yields bonus Gold. Tin yields bonus Iron. Silver and Lead yield extra each other.

The biggest difference between them is the 11 Iron, which IC2 devours like a ravenous beast.

 

[Greyed]

Well, actually to me the biggest difference between the two isn't cost, it is infrastructure. TE ties into the same infrastructure as BC, Forestry & Railcraft. IC2 ties in with... IC2. So starting with IC2 chances are you'll have to turn around and just start up with one of the others in short order (if not simultaneously) anyway.

 

[TruculentMC]

I would strongly recommend the Hobbyist's Steam Engine from Railcraft, over the Stirling Engine from Buildcraft or Steam Engine from Thermal Expansion. It is far more fuel-efficient.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I would strongly recommend the Hobbyist's Steam Engine from Railcraft, over the Stirling Engine from Buildcraft or Steam Engine from Thermal Expansion. It is far more fuel-efficient.

I would consider the Steam Engine from TE to be better than either the Sterling engine OR the Hobbyist Engine, because it produces 2 MJ/t. You can just put an AA underneath it to keep the tank topped off, and run it off of charcoal.

 

[SilvasRuin]

Steam Engine and Hobbyist Steam Engine provide different roles, and both are pretty awesome. The Hobbyist Steam Engine seems better to me in the long-run, though, because being provided steam from a Boiler gives it the ability to compete with the Steam Engine's speed. Steam Engines are better to get you by in the meantime.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Steam Engine and Hobbyist Steam Engine provide different roles, and both are pretty awesome. The Hobbyist Steam Engine seems better to me in the long-run, though, because being provided steam from a Boiler gives it the ability to compete with the Steam Engine's speed. Steam Engines are better to get you by in the meantime.

Steam requires nether materials. We're talking about initial setup. By the time you have a Boiler made, you should have moved well beyond Steam and into Biogas or Combustion.

I'd also like to point out than a TE setup requires less than 4 MJ/t to run, and if you put an energy crystal in-line, you've got enough storage to process an entire age's worth of goodies before it runs dry.

 

[SilvasRuin]

Hobbyist Steam Engines can be run much like the Steam Engine can and do not require entering the Nether to make. They're slower, but their fuel efficiency is second to probably only the Boiler itself. It CAN be used in the initial setup stage, and there will always be something that will run on 2 MJ/t.
My point about the Boiler is that a Hobbyist Steam Engine will only grow more useful over time (surpassing the TE Steam Engine) where a TE Steam Engine remains the same and unable to compete with your eventual Magmatic Engines and/or Boilers.

 

[Nanakisan]

Hahha wow. so much jargon my head is spinning. But yes currently at the moment due to my extreme luck i now have 4 dias and 4 gold. So i'm going to be working between facotrization and TE it appears. I can easily get set up with IC2 later. For now i like where this is going. you all are giving me some nice ideas. Now my only conundrum i want to solve is if its possible to use a CC Turtle to act as a afk player for me. I read somewhere they are like a fake player. So perhaps they could be used to set up a delivery system for my new skeleton spawner. I really want the bonemeals and the bows for burning into fuel. Thanks everyone.

 

[BanzaiBlitz]

If you have time to stand idly by while the process goes, Factorization can give a ton of extra output. I just haven't found a GOOD way to automate the final process of crystalization. So I have it automate up to that point, they just didn't make it easy to automate that last step with the 6 slots in the crystalizer, well 5 if you don't count the slot for sulfuric acid..

You need to look at the other parts of Factorization.

Routers can readily automate the entire line...