It's GregTech, Jim... but not as we know it

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ShneekeyTheLost

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Dec 8, 2012
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Okay, first off, I'd like to start out with a gentleman's agreement for this topic, since tempers can flare on this topic:

  • I'm not trying to tell you how to play the game, I'm sharing some discoveries I have made with you.
  • Config files are easy to edit. In fact, I even wrote a QuickTip on the topic. Go check it out.
  • Please read the post before responding
Right, so with that out of the way, there's something I would like to say about GregTech:

Like many others, I saw what it did to a lot of recipes, and was rather upset over it and thought it could bring nothing meaningful to the game.

I was wrong.

Once you get past the Artificial Difficulty, there's a surprising amount of 'meat' to this mod, and not all of it is end-game (although there's quite a bit of that here). Furthermore, all of the Artificial Difficulty can be disabled in the config settings. What is left is... well... pretty entertaining, actually.

The IC2 Addon forum post's title is:
GregTech-Addon: Taking Industry to a whole new Level of complexity!

And yanno what? That pretty much sums it up. It makes things more complex, but I actually kind of enjoy that, and the trade off is a surprising amount of flexibility in resource gathering.

There's some new blocks which make this possible. Most notably are the Industrial Grinder/Centrifuge/Electrolyzer/Blast Furnace

Yes, it's complicated. It's supposed to be. However, once you get the hang of the system, you've got a lot of really attractive options. Iron and Gold become somewhat-renewable resources, being able to pull iron out of Obsidian and gold out of Lava Cells. You've also got a LOT of alternate recipes which look like the Periodic Table of Elements just had a love affair with a college-level Geology text. Most of these items, however, are byproducts of refining ores using the grinder/electrolyzer/centrifuge. And a lot of these changed recipes are actually *easier* to get going than the original recipes themselves!

There's also several new generators which are rather nice. The Thermal Generator is basically an upgrade to the Geothermal Generator, and produces 50% more EU per lava block consumed, at a slightly higher EU output rate (24 Eu/t vs 20). Then there's the Gas Turbine, which runs on Hydrogen or Methane Cells... which are byproducts of a lot of what you are creating. Basically, renewable resources. It also produces around 16 Eu/t. The Semifluid Generator runs on raw crude Oil as well as Biomass and even Creosote Oil. There's some viable options here.

Of course, there's also the infamous Lightning Rod and the Fusion Reactor for those who want More Power(tm). But that's going to require extensive resources.

There's also the Rock Cutter (NOT to be confused with the Rock Crusher) which is basically a silk-touch diamond drill. This works exceptionally well in your Industrial Grinder to produce quite a few resources.

Jack Hammers seem fairly pointless at first, but the more I began playing with it, the more I liked it. Basically, it's a drill that runs at a very respectable speed and won't go through Ores. Why not? Because you want to use your Rock Cutter on them for more output!

Plus, yanno, there's a whole pile of end-game toys that are basically 'Tier 4' to keep you interested and playing long after you've gotten your Quantum/Gravisuite gear.

This isn't a GregTech Guide (I'm still doing my research on that topic), so I won't go into all of the details here, however I would suggest to anyone who decided that the 1.4.2 version of GregTech needed to go die in a fire... you should really take another look at it, there's a LOT of improvements that were made between 1.4.2 and 1.4.6, and a LOT of alternate ways to get items you want.
 

Mdt7734

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Jul 29, 2019
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Thanks. I like to see constructive topics like this. Helps ease my way into it. In fact, I've see several good posts the last couple days that I've saved and reference as I tweak with configurations.


P.S. Now I feel all inspired to give the default mindcrack hard mode a valiant effort on SSP before I put it on my SMP. I hope you do a full on guide my friend!
 

CrafterOfMines57

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Jul 29, 2019
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This is a lot like what I once said in one of the many, many, GregTech debate threads, people should keep in mind that this mod is still a pre-release, the 1.4.2 version with its 40+ minute centrifuge times and not a whole lot of content of its own is nowhere near what GregTech currently is in 1.4.6. Going along with what you said, I urge people that have really only used the 1.4.2 beta pack to update to the MindCrack one and give it a try. Is it for everyone? Definitely not, but I think some people might be pleasantly surprised when they try it out for once. Even now the FTB version is slightly outdated; the newest versions add machines to gain energy from enchanted, or magical items, and ThaumCraft Vis extracted from Nodes (with plans to add those machines into the ThaumCraft research), plus a pretty big bugfix for an endgame device (hint: Don't use the Dragon Egg Siphon until it updates if you don't want a crater for a workshop).
 

ShneekeyTheLost

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UPDATE:

I have just created a new QuickTip describing in detail what goes where and why for the GregTech config files specifically, rather than just linking my general config file QuickTip, and I have updated the link in the OP to point to this one, as it is more relevant to this discussion.
 

huldu

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Jul 29, 2019
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No offense, but what you wrote can be said about a lot of mods, many of which aren't even in FTB. There are so many mods out there that add complexity in great ways, but are fairly unknown because they're in early stages or because they add new mechanics people can't wrap their heads around. Gregtech mostly only really affects and plays around IC2.

Don't get me wrong here, I don't really mind gregtech for what it does, it just doesn't affect me or the mods I play with. Minecraft was a survival game, many mods turn it into a hoarding game. Who can gather the most resources in the least amount of time? Gregtech really adds nothing new and exciting to the game, for me at least. It does what all the other mods already do. That's basically the reason why I don't use gregtech myself. Someone like direwolf20 could change my mind, he has done that so many times already... But he doesn't use gregtech so not even going to bother doing it myself :)
 

vasouv

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Jul 29, 2019
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I, for one, am definitely trying Gregtech out but I'm waiting for the Tech pack which will be in Easy mode I think.
 

Golrith

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I think I may like Gregtech in the future. I wasn't keen on what was offered in 1.4.2, but am aware of the major changes. I do like the idea of the Industrial Centrifuge though. I'm not keen on all the new ores added, seems excessive. To my mind, one or 2 new ores would have been enough, combined with the Ind Cent to combine elements into other materials. I quite like the idea of chaining up a lot of Ind Cent's to produce a rare material.
 

Yusunoha

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Jul 29, 2019
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haha, seriously, +1 for the topic title, it made me laugh so hard xD


onto the GT debate, I am quite mixed about GT right now.
at the beginning, I hated GT, it made IC2 quite useless and you could just use other machines for the work (though it did made me look into other mods)
but after a while, GT started adding more and more things, that actually made GT more interesting and useful, and maybe even fun to work with.
but now I am a bit on the negative side of GT again, because it constantly adds and changes so many things, making things like recipes constantly change and hard to keep up with.

GT really is a work in progress that you need to keep in mind. you really need to keep an eye out on new versions, because the moment when you dislike something with GT, it might have already changed in the next version.
I am still not a fan of how it changes the recipes of other mods besides IC without really asking the other mod developers for it, but you can't really stop the developer of GT from doing it either.

but one thing I really hate is whenever some complains about GT, people keep saying "configs" over and over and over. yes, we all know there are configs, but there's a reason people use the FTB pack because they are usually not good at putting together modpacks themselves.
 

ShneekeyTheLost

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Dec 8, 2012
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haha, seriously, +1 for the topic title, it made me laugh so hard xD
Ahh, that one. Yes, that was a cute song.

onto the GT debate, I am quite mixed about GT right now.
at the beginning, I hated GT, it made IC2 quite useless and you could just use other machines for the work (though it did made me look into other mods)
but after a while, GT started adding more and more things, that actually made GT more interesting and useful, and maybe even fun to work with.
but now I am a bit on the negative side of GT again, because it constantly adds and changes so many things, making things like recipes constantly change and hard to keep up with.

GT really is a work in progress that you need to keep in mind. you really need to keep an eye out on new versions, because the moment when you dislike something with GT, it might have already changed in the next version.
I am still not a fan of how it changes the recipes of other mods besides IC without really asking the other mod developers for it, but you can't really stop the developer of GT from doing it either.
True, it's still a work in progress. It will only change as frequently as the mod pack updates it, from your perspective, so I wouldn't really worry about that aspect as much.

but one thing I really hate is whenever some complains about GT, people keep saying "configs" over and over and over. yes, we all know there are configs, but there's a reason people use the FTB pack because they are usually not good at putting together modpacks themselves.
Umm... world of difference between editing a config setting and putting together a mod pack. Seriously, check the linked QuickTip, I tell you exactly what you would want to change for 'not hard mode', and where it is found. If you can fill out a tax return, this should be easy.[DOUBLEPOST=1358246755][/DOUBLEPOST]
When I say that there's a almighty config, I mean that the pack developers should take action.
Yes and no. On the one hand, yes, working the mods together into a seamless project is kind of one of the points to making a mod pack. However, you can't please everyone. Mindcrack is developed for people who want a more difficult challenge. That's the target audience for that particular pack. You can't blame them for tweaking the settings to achieve that goal.
Besides, it's easy to tweak back yourself.
 

frederikam

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Jul 29, 2019
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Yes and no. On the one hand, yes, working the mods together into a seamless project is kind of one of the points to making a mod pack. However, you can't please everyone. Mindcrack is developed for people who want a more difficult challenge. That's the target audience for that particular pack. You can't blame them for tweaking the settings to achieve that goal.
Besides, it's easy to tweak back yourself.

My point is; GregTech can be really good if it fits you right. Tweaking for yourself can always be a good thing, but some people don't do that.
 

Democretes

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Jul 29, 2019
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Gregtech is a golden nugget that someone set on the table for use to look at and enjoy, but someone forgot to clean of the dirt so you have to do it yourself until it suits your fancy.

Yes the configs are there, if you don't really know what you're doing they're quite a mess though. 4 configs, 3 which might be useful, 2 of wich are the only ones you're probably going to edit. Most people who use modpacks do it for the simplicity, not so they have to change configs to fit their fancy which can cause some people to just disable Gregtech than fiddle with the configs. Personallly, I enjoy Gregtech on hard mode, but I know some people don't like the recipe changes.

Despite hard mode recipes, Gregtech is really awesome. It has a TON of features already and it isn't even finished yet. Gregtech has plenty of potential and it makes sure the people who really look into the mod know that fact. I'm excited to see what's going to be added later on.
 

arkangyl

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Jul 29, 2019
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It should become a mod by itself, not an addon, like forestry.
I don't think GregTech could function without IC2. Not without duplicating a lot of it's functionality, anyway. Everything it has is basically a higher end version of what IC2 already does. I don't think it'd make sense to have things like a high end Energy Storage Block without the lower end EU infrastructure already in place...
 

jnads

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Jul 29, 2019
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My beef with GregTech is that it it doesn't "play nice" with other mods or modpacks.

GregTech is what it is: It's meant to be an ultra-endgame to IC2, on a server with IC2 and ONLY IC2 installed.

The end-game it provides is only self-referential (build a fusion generator to power a AESU, AESU to start a fusion generator), and doesn't serve a purpose to other mods.

Combine that with other mods can do the same things better and cheaper (electric buffer / BC Pipe/hopper, TE machines, etc), and his constant mucking with other mods' recipes to make them "harder" to drive traffic to his mod.

In the end, he's the kid on the playground that doesn't play nice with others.
 
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jnads

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Jul 29, 2019
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Wow, you didn't read the OP at ALL.
I did, mostly. The OP was commenting how GT is good or has changed "for the better". I was commenting why it's a waste of time / bad, and broken to begin with.

The only GOOD thing GT ever added to the game that isn't self-referential, is the Industrial Centrifuge. And he's so proud of that he has his logo plastered on it.

Every thing else, Industrial Electrolyzer, etc, are strictly applicable to only GT. You make AESU's to power a Fusion Generator, which is then used to make AESU's useful, etc. His mod is entirely self-referential.