Is Silent Gems OP?

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Daihok

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I been watching some vids on silent gems and it looks very interesting. My concern is though, is it OP? Just looking for some thought on this from people who may have used it.
 
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Xenulus

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I haven't played through it completely, but maybe it is a little bit OP. But its nice being able to get efficiency V, fortune III or silk touch, and unbreaking III without a single XP orb. Just need to spend the resources which early game only takes a bit of mining and good RNG.
 
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Daihok

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Yea i just hardly even find the need anymore to use tinkers and this looks like could be a more interesting approach.
 
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Xenulus

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I've always used tinkers, which in and of itself can be OP at times. Silent's gems is a good alternative with different mechanics but still providing amazing tools. Also, just got flight fairly early game. SILENTS GEMS OP!
 

Drbretto

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Mar 5, 2016
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I like Silent's Gems. I dont' have an opinion on OP-ness but I do have some questions.

I read somewhere that you can mix and match the gems and kind of make up for one stat from one gem type by mixing it with another, but when I built the base sword and try to combine it with different gems, I'm seeing the colors change on the sword, but I wasn't seeing any differences in the stats. Dow anyone know how that works?
 
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Xenulus

Guest
I like Silent's Gems. I dont' have an opinion on OP-ness but I do have some questions.

I read somewhere that you can mix and match the gems and kind of make up for one stat from one gem type by mixing it with another, but when I built the base sword and try to combine it with different gems, I'm seeing the colors change on the sword, but I wasn't seeing any differences in the stats. Dow anyone know how that works?
I have been trying to find a pattern with how stats are combined and what not. I can't find any rhyme or rhythm with them. An onyx gem says it has a melee damage of 7. Two of them to make a sword shows stats of 10 melee damage, but an attack damage of 11. Doesn't make any sense to me at all.
As far as colors, it seems that whichever gem is used most, the tool will take on that color. In the case of a sword, it takes the color of the gem in the center. There are other exceptions with higher tier tools but I haven't experimented with them yet.
 

Inaeo

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Jul 29, 2019
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OP is in the eyes of the beholder. I personally think the tools in Silent's Gems are on par with those of TiCo, although the route to power seems more tiered in Silent's Gems. Silent's Gems does add customizable armor and shields as well as basic tools, which sets it apart a level. The biggest difference is that Silent's adds so much more.

Tools:
First off, I like the flint tools vs Vanilla wooden tools. They serve the same purpose, but feel more authentic. In addition, you can repair the flint tools in any crafting grid (even just your inventory 2x2) using more flint.

The next tier is gem tools. The stats on the gem tools will be altered depending on the gems used in construction (@Drbretto not after the fact, but during creation). With 16 gems available (more if you have add-on mods), the combinations can fit most needs, and the tools can be repaired with any gems you want (this changes the color, but not the stats). The placement of the gems in the crafting grid determine what colors appear where on the finished product, but otherwise they don't affect the stats differently. When you start applying gems in weapons, the gems will call out either melee or magic damage, and they affect different weapons in different ways - swords like melee damage, whereas scepter uses magic damage, and katana uses melee for direct attacks and magic for the associated missile.

The third tier is made with Supercharged Gems. Supercharged equipment is better in all stats, and has the added benefit of using Chaos (stored in Chaos Orbs) to access special powers (larger mining area, treecapitation, fireball projectiles, etc.). These require Supercharged Gems to repair.

Teleportation:
Silent's Gems adds teleporters (available in 16 colors, one for each gem). You can link them to any place you like with the provided tool. For two way transport, you can link each side to the other. The teleporters need Chaos to operate, which can be provided by naturally occurring Chaos Nodes or either type of crafted pylon (slow passive, or quick but fueled) nearby.

The Return Home Charm is a trinket that acts as a one way teleporter by activating it from your hotbar. It must be linked to the place of transport (some restrictions on binding, but not so much that it's a hassle), and it requires Chaos just like the teleporters. It even works across dimensions, so I usually link one to a safehouse in the Nether, and another at my base. Never worry about being lost again.

But wait, there's more:
There are gems you can make that will consume Chaos to apply potion affects of your choosing on you. You activate it in the hotbar, but I think it will work from anywhere in inventory after it's active. Deactivation stops the potion affects and the consumption of Chaos.

Silent's Gems also adds ways to summon wolves and ocelots. Great for cutting down on searching for the elusive jungle biome after your favorite world gen mod screws you.

Did I mention it comes with a handy book that actually explains all this stuff better than I did? Probably should have opened with that, eh?

Conclusion:
OP depends on context, and given the general power creep of modded Minecraft, I'd say Silent's Gems has struck a decent balance. It's enchanting method might be simplistic for some, but it's no worse than other options most kitchen sink packs allow. Over all, I've come to prefer it in my custom packs, and I'm still working on playing with all the toys.
 
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Daihok

Guest
I guess that is true about eye of the beholder. I am still trying to decide if i want to add it in cause speaking of OP i use AA quite alot and once you can ke a drill and the upgrades honestly why use anything else. As far as armor goes and weapon I have mekanism and lets face it reinforced obsidian gear mmm delicious. So really I dont even know why i asked about it bein OP cause every mod seems these days have something thats OP.
 

Drbretto

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Mar 5, 2016
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Hell of a pitch there, Ineao. I agree 100% on the parts of this that I have experience with and am looking forward to getting the most out if it in the next pack.

There's kinda just something about this mod I like in general. The point about the Flint tools. I don't know why, but it just feels right.

Craftable enchantments, too. I actually enjoy the process of building a set with this mod.
 

Inaeo

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Jul 29, 2019
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I saw Silent's Gems in the tail end of 1.7, but I didn't get the full experience until I made the leap to 1.10. I used it over TiCo in my first custom pack, which had strong Mekanism and RFTools agendas (also where I cut my teeth with MineColonies, but that's a different topic). I fell in love with the early flint tools mostly because I could simply repair my basic pick while I was mining (rather than run to the surface to punch trees), and I finally had a reason to covet gravel (the two gravel to one flint craft is worth the loss in time saving). Once I had a stockpile of gems, I began toying with an early sword/shield to get a grip on the new combat mechanics.

Once I started using the later game bits (mostly just to consume my growing stockpile, thanks to the Digital Miner), I began to set up an extensive teleportation system, and I had a backpack full of Return Home Charms linked to various places - each neatly color coded for my OCD pleasure.

Honestly, once I got into high end tech tools, I didn't play with SG tools until later game when I was back in full tinker mode. I played around with a Supercharged Katana for a while, and I designed a full colorized set of armor that wasn't too shabby. It wasn't until I played around with Sprout that I began using the Supercharged Pick and Axe, which are both pretty badass when let loose fully.

Because TiCo has become a mainstay in so many packs, it's easy for other good tool mods to slip under the radar. With SG, you get nice, progression based tooling, and a plethora of other things to play with. Adding Gemulation to the pack allows you to upgrade Crafting Tables, Furnaces, and Chests using flint and gems (providing tiered bonuses). The Gemulation Gem Chests can be moved with contents intact, and the tiered progression is not dissimilar to Iron Chests in functionality. With 16 colors to pick from, also helps me to sort things into places I can actually remember.
 
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Daihok

Guest
Is there a way to cut down whole tree in silent gems kinda like the Lumber Axe in Tinkers?
 

Drbretto

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Mar 5, 2016
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I believe an empowered axe can do that, yes. I haven't actually tried it yet, though.
 
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Daihok

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Cool thanks yea been messing around with it in my test world trying to get stuff figured out
 

Drbretto

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Mar 5, 2016
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It's quickly become one of my favorite mods. That scepter is OP in the best way. Actually, not *OP* per se, it feels appropriately powerful, but it's very powerful when fully enchanted. Mixing that in with something like scaling health, which keeps those mobs strong enough to actually be worth using good gear for, and combat on my pack right now is a damn pleasure.

I had always used the dark steel axe to chop down the trees. I feel like this way would be a bit easier to work with.

The chaos charging pylons are a neat way to charge up, too. Great mod that keeps getting better the more I explore it.
 
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Daihok

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Mixing that in with something like scaling health, which keeps those mobs strong enough to actually be worth using good gear for, and combat on my pack right now is a damn pleasure.

Is the scaling health mod pretty balanced right out of the box? Or did you have to tweak things. Thinking of adding it in my pack but not sure how dangerous things will be considering i have Blood Moon, Infernal Mobs, and mutated mobs currently in the pack. Those blood Moons are crazy but cool
 

Drbretto

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Mar 5, 2016
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It's all in how you play. It can work just fine out of the box.


I've used it two ways. First on sprout, which I
believe ramped up at default speed, but severely limited the heart containers. I found that to be just a little bit too much of a race.

On my current custom pack, everything is default except the speed it ramps up. I cut that in half. Feels right, especially if the idea is just to keep enemies relevant, not necessarily just to be hard. Enough to keep you moving, but not enough that you have to stop and reevaluate your equipment every few minutes. I also let the heart pieces drop like normal and I'm definitely OK with that.
 
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