Lost in Gregtech/IC2 x

[Sigma85]

I realize that I have joined these forums and done almost nothing but ask questions, I apologize, but this is a great community so far and I appreciate all the help from you guys . That said, onto my newest batch of questions...

I started a new pack/world about 2 weeks ago give or take with IC2 experimental and gregtech among other things, and now I am climbing the tech tree, looking through NEI, and well...I am just lost...With IC2 x's new centrifuge and Ore Washing Plant, then Greg's Centrifuge and Electrolyzer, the Macerator, the Industrial Grinder, The new Metal Former, and Greg's Plate Bending MAchine, Plate Cutting MAchine and the Wiremill.
I guess my question really is does anyone know of a good starting guide ?
Perhaps THAT could answer my other questions: Does Greg's Plate cutting/bending machines and Wiremill cancel out the Metal Former ?
Why are there 3 canning machine type things and how do I use them ? Do I need the IC2 Thermal Centrifuge and Ore Washing Plant, how do they even work ?
If I use RailCraft's Blast Furnace, can I skip the Bronze Age ?
Which machines should I build first ? How should I power them ?
Is Thermal Expansion too OP for a GregTech playthrough, will it disrupt my Tech tree if I require Steel for it's machines ?
Sorry for the torrent of questions and wall of text thing i always do. Anyway, yeah, a good starting guide to Gregtech would probably help. Mainly just want to know which of the new machines Gregtech replaces like the Ore Washing Plant and Thermal Centrifuge, and want to have a better understanding of the typical progression, and what machines to build first... Thanks again guys !

 

[EnzymeA113]

Firstly, the first machines you want are bronze steam ones (powered by whatever boiler you choose.). Please note that macerators and crushers (both steam and electrical) require ore washing, centrifuging, etc to create dusts, so you're best to use another mod's processor until you reach electricity in the tech tree. I reccomend the GT blast furnace for early steel, as it doesn't require nether access and is fairly cheap to build. As for plates and whatnot, I believe the Forge Hammer has been replaced by gregtech's suite of hammers.

 

[Sigma85]

Thanks. I discovered that RailCrafts Rolling machine is good for making Iron Plates cheaper than with a hammer, but it can't make most of the ones i really need for gregtech, I also have things setup so that most ores require some sort of processing before they can be made into ingots, maybe i made things too complicated for myself. lol. I added Tinkers Construct so I can double ores and make alloys withe the smeltery, but I feel like this is throwing off the GregTech tech tree, I was looking for a challenge this time, I guess I found it...I have too many mods to make a true Lets Play, but I was considering a Picture-Through, I'd need several paragraphs to explain my setup though. Thanks for the help

 

[John.E]

Some things that may help:
Community supported Gregtech Wiki
On the IC2 forums, user Nonotan has a bunch of links for some various Gregtech guides that he posted on the forum.

 

[willis936]

Look at Nonotan's signature in the link above. The link called "dealing with hard mode" is a great cheat sheet when you're lost.

>Does Greg's Plate cutting/bending machines and Wiremill cancel out the Metal Former ?
>The metal former is still a WIP from what I understand. I think the metal former can do some additional things like make gears without a lathe and perhaps even less materials (unless I'm thinking of a different machine). Don't take my word on the lower materials, I can't check right now.
I was thinking about the gregtech extruder. I guess it does the gtech machines are a better choice than the metal former.

>Why are there 3 canning machine type things and how do I use them ? Do I need the IC2 Thermal Centrifuge and Ore Washing Plant, how do they even work ?
>I also haven't played with these yet but from looking at the recipes it looks like the gregtech equivalents are the better route in terms of the materials you get out per ore. Nonotan also has a guide on GT ore processing routes (though not ic2 experimental processing). I'm unsure if the fact that GT processing yields more stuff is from GT ic2 nerfs or not.

>If I use RailCraft's Blast Furnace, can I skip the Bronze Age ?
>Yes. Balancing gregtech configs with other mods is tricky. It's easy to see how things like thermal expansion, while cool mods, side step most early progress. The TE induction smelter is an even cheaper option. If you want to include those mods you could change the recipes to require steel. You have to be careful with ore generation not being too generous with many mods as well. Another consideration with including things like TE and MFR and extra utilities is that some components side step gregtech blocks altogether. Think about liquid transport. TE's fluiducts make just about any other solution seem silly. They're cheaper and have a higher transfer rate (haven't tested TE3 capacity yet, need to get on that!). Without any sort of tree farm, fermenter, oil generator, quarry, or aqueous accumulator you can see how the difficulty goes up. There are ic2/gregtech solutions for some (not all by a long shot) of those like the miner and the pump. At the bottom of Nonotan's hard mode cheat sheet he lists some of the things worth nerfing in other mods. There are more obviously, you just need to play to figure them out . I'm currently trying to compile a list for a proper challenge pack.

Also note the RC blast furnace requires blaze powder. You can get this from a bunch of different mods through various methods, but most are mid to late game (ic2 crops comes to mind). The nether is the obvious choice but you need steel to make flint and steel. Technically you can use the fire spread mechanics to make a nether portal without flint and steel but I tried for an hour and got nowhere.

>Which machines should I build first ? How should I power them ?
>Definitely check Nonotan's posts

>Is Thermal Expansion too OP for a GregTech playthrough, will it disrupt my Tech tree if I require Steel for it's machines ?
>There's a good chance the answer is yes. It's a bummer since a quintessential mod. Much like MFR it's irreplaceable but overpowered. I wouldn't worry too much about it though. Everything related to ic2 1.6 is in a very experimental place. I wouldn't expect to see a perfectly smoothed out ic2/gregtech release until the Summer. No matter what you do to make a balanced pack there will be issues if the devs haven't fully implemented all of the ideas they are working on.

 

[loboca]

Also the Machinery Tiers wiki page.

 

[ThatOneSlowking]

The canning machines-wait, three? The old one is being phased out, the new one is bring used. Unsure of third one

 

[DriftinFool]

I realize that I have joined these forums and done almost nothing but ask questions, I apologize, but this is a great community so far and I appreciate all the help from you guys . That said, onto my newest batch of questions...

I started a new pack/world about 2 weeks ago give or take with IC2 experimental and gregtech among other things, and now I am climbing the tech tree, looking through NEI, and well...I am just lost...With IC2 x's new centrifuge and Ore Washing Plant, then Greg's Centrifuge and Electrolyzer, the Macerator, the Industrial Grinder, The new Metal Former, and Greg's Plate Bending MAchine, Plate Cutting MAchine and the Wiremill.
I guess my question really is does anyone know of a good starting guide ?
Perhaps THAT could answer my other questions: Does Greg's Plate cutting/bending machines and Wiremill cancel out the Metal Former ?
Why are there 3 canning machine type things and how do I use them ? Do I need the IC2 Thermal Centrifuge and Ore Washing Plant, how do they even work ?
If I use RailCraft's Blast Furnace, can I skip the Bronze Age ?
Which machines should I build first ? How should I power them ?
Is Thermal Expansion too OP for a GregTech playthrough, will it disrupt my Tech tree if I require Steel for it's machines ?
Sorry for the torrent of questions and wall of text thing i always do. Anyway, yeah, a good starting guide to Gregtech would probably help. Mainly just want to know which of the new machines Gregtech replaces like the Ore Washing Plant and Thermal Centrifuge, and want to have a better understanding of the typical progression, and what machines to build first... Thanks again guys !

Some machines are redundant since GT isn't really meant to go with IC2 exp. IC2 exp seems to be leaning in more of a tiered progression than the older version, similar to GT. I couldn't tell you which ones are better at this point. I can tell you a few things though.

As for processing, a basic macerator will double your ores. The ore washing plant and thermal centrifuge give bonus dusts and make tripling ores possible. Kinda like tier 2 processing of IC2. The thermal centrifuge is also need to process uranium if you decide on nuclear power eventually.

The 2 canning machines from IC2 are the new and old one and one from GT. I forget which one is which without seeing the GUI. The new version has multiple internal tanks, modes, and input slots. You need the new version to make CF foam. CF foam sprayed on iron scaffolds is how you make reinforced stone now. You will actually need 2 of them for it to work right without using tanks. Feed the first one water and cf powder. You will see the water in one tank and foam in the other. Here is where the problem starts with one machine. You need the foam to be in the tank that the water is in to fill the cf sprayer. Easiest solution is put and ejector(IC2 has it's own plates like GT to input and output from it's normal machines automatically)on the side of canning machine 1 and have it output into a 2nd machine. The foam will go in the proper slot for filling the sprayer. Making reinforced stone is quite a task in this version. The GT canning machine was similar to the old IC2 one and could do the same things, plus a few specific GT only items. Not sure how this will crossover with the new IC2 one. I would think at this point, you may end up needing the GT one and the new IC2 one for specific things.

I have always gone for the semi fluid generator running off creosote oil from a few coke ovens. IC2 and GT both have one now. The diesel generator is another decent early power supply. Depending on what modpack you play, there are tons of fairly easy to obtain fuels to get an early power supply with them. Once you conquer the nether, geothermals can be good enough to sustain mid game while you prepare for higher tier power such a nuclear or fusion, as well as the huge GT multi block generators.

 

[Sigma85]

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been in a social crisis of sorts. Anyway, thank you so much, ALL of you. VERY helpful. The links to and ON Nonotan's page were perfect, can't believe I didn't find these before now.
With GregTech and many other mods installed, there really is just a crazy crazy amount of power options. I've added Transducers to the mix, though I don't really know why, they aren't really necessary. Also added Compact Solars and Compact Windmills. I will have to explore all the different power options. I want to try out Steam with Railcraft and Greg's Bronze Age. Plus the upgrades that let machines use steam. The possibilities are just endless.
I've changed TE to require Steel, and MF Reloaded to use TE Recipes, so they too need steel. Getting to the Nether needs Steel, but I think a few dungeons or a village might net me some Steel for that. But getting Diamonds may be the real challenge. Using configs and Minetweaker, I've made my world ultra hardcore. No health regen, smelting ores either requires Tinkers Construct smeltery or some sort of maceration process. Although, I think Tinkers Construct is OP when it comes to the smeltery. Obsidian requires diamonds to make/acquire. I threw in Better Dungeons and Ars Magica for some variety and adventure, Utility Mobs, TrapCraft, SecurityCraft, Lycanites Mobs and maybe Grimiore of Gaia when I level up a little. I think this world will be tough but fun. We'll see how it goes...

 

[trajano080]

Sorry it took so long to reply, I've been in a social crisis of sorts. Anyway, thank you so much, ALL of you. VERY helpful. The links to and ON Nonotan's page were perfect, can't believe I didn't find these before now.
With GregTech and many other mods installed, there really is just a crazy crazy amount of power options. I've added Transducers to the mix, though I don't really know why, they aren't really necessary. Also added Compact Solars and Compact Windmills. I will have to explore all the different power options. I want to try out Steam with Railcraft and Greg's Bronze Age. Plus the upgrades that let machines use steam. The possibilities are just endless.
I've changed TE to require Steel, and MF Reloaded to use TE Recipes, so they too need steel. Getting to the Nether needs Steel, but I think a few dungeons or a village might net me some Steel for that. But getting Diamonds may be the real challenge. Using configs and Minetweaker, I've made my world ultra hardcore. No health regen, smelting ores either requires Tinkers Construct smeltery or some sort of maceration process. Although, I think Tinkers Construct is OP when it comes to the smeltery. Obsidian requires diamonds to make/acquire. I threw in Better Dungeons and Ars Magica for some variety and adventure, Utility Mobs, TrapCraft, SecurityCraft, Lycanites Mobs and maybe Grimiore of Gaia when I level up a little. I think this world will be tough but fun. We'll see how it goes...

Try Advanced Solar Panels, Gravitation Suite, and Advanced Machines, they all work really nicely with IC2 and GT.