Mod-of-the-Month: June 2015

[Big Bad]

Welcome, welcome! June has just begun: flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, and the FTB team is totally ignoring the wonders of the outdoors in favor of building some lovely themed packs. All is right in the world.

Introduced last week, Feed The Beast is starting a new initiative to release small, individually-focused modpacks alongside our larger packs and flagship releases. In general, these packs will contain a singular, major mod along with any expansions, upgrades, or mod-specific addons that we feel would help round out and enhance the experience. An interactive tutorial system will also be implemented for both guidance and potential extra challenge. Furthermore, the contents of these monthly packs will be decided entirely by a community vote run on our forum, giving players direct control over the direction will take!

So, dear players, let’s kick June off with a bang! We’ve got the first selection of mods already set to go. To participate, simply cast your vote in the attached poll; we’ll be tallying up the responses on the 9th and releasing the pack around July 1st along with another poll. Same process for July, August, September, and the foreseeable future!

“But wait,” you might say to yourself. “There’s a mod I want a pack made out of that isn’t on the list!”

We’ve got that covered too. Mods on the list will be rotated in and out routinely as the months go on based on suggestions we receive. There are some exceptions, though: some full-conversion mods like GregTech and TerraFirmaCraft have been deemed a bit too big for this system. However, if there’s enough community support for conversion-type mods, we’ll be looking into adapting them into larger, stand-alone releases in the future.

And with that: happy voting!

 

[ljfa]

Hm, I wonder how mods like BluePower or Extra Utilities would work as center of a modpack, since they don't have much content by themselves and are more supportive imo. Well I'd be excited if it comes to that.

 

[tatsu011]

Because inventoryTweaks is usually on an auto-include list of common pack things.

 

[Bearnado123]

Man, I can't wait until Immersive engineering is finished, It would be great for this kind of thing.

 

[Vauthil]

I know this is going to make me sound a misanthropic jerk grunting meanly at a cool idea here but...

...isn't this list a bit too, well, safe?

Basically every single mod in this initial list is one of those mainstay mods that has been latched onto the Direwolf20/Kitchen Sink paradigm since their introduction. Anybody playing modded Minecraft for more than a single Minecraft patchlevel is familiar with most of these mods already, if not capable of using them with their eyes closed.

Maybe I was expecting something a little more... Horizon-y from the idea? If anything, maybe even some of those mods with some community exposure but that quite often don't meet the cutoff for regular inclusion because of how different their progression feels, but without being a TFC/GT total conversion, like Mekanism or RotaryCraft?

I guess in this case I'll go with voting for Botania because I'd like to see people actually using it largely standalone without having all the cross-mod tools to make it simpler, but I figured I'd voice my concerns because I'm certain a number of people are willing to say the same things in a much less diplomatic manner if I don't get to it first. =)

 

[Pyure]

I know this is going to make me sound a misanthropic jerk grunting meanly at a cool idea here but...

...isn't this list a bit too, well, safe?

Basically every single mod in this initial list is one of those mainstay mods that has been latched onto the Direwolf20/Kitchen Sink paradigm since their introduction. Anybody playing modded Minecraft for more than a single Minecraft patchlevel is familiar with most of these mods already, if not capable of using them with their eyes closed.

Maybe I was expecting something a little more... Horizon-y from the idea? If anything, maybe even some of those mods with some community exposure but that quite often don't meet the cutoff for regular inclusion because of how different their progression feels, but without being a TFC/GT total conversion, like Mekanism or RotaryCraft?

I guess in this case I'll go with voting for Botania because I'd like to see people actually using it largely standalone without having all the cross-mod tools to make it simpler, but I figured I'd voice my concerns because I'm certain a number of people are willing to say the same things in a much less diplomatic manner if I don't get to it first. =)

I specifically picked pneumaticcraft for this reason.

Nobody includes this in their pack, or if they do, nobody uses it in that pack.

Given the option I would have selected Mariculture for the exact same reason.

 

[tatsu011]

...contain a singular, major mod along with any expansions, upgrades, or mod-specific addons

Thus it's limited to major mods with a presentable API and one that has been used.

Example: Thaumcraft would likely have multiple addons put into the pack like Automagy, Thaumic Horizons, and Thaumic Tinkerer.

 

[asiekierka]

But is BuildCraft really designed for individual focus? It's still designed for BuildCraft/Forestry/RailCraft best, though robots provide some of Forestry's tree farming/planting capabilities nowadays making it more redundant, especially when combined with AgriCraft which we are adding support for. RailCraft, to me, feels essential in a BC-centric pack, however. It gives content to automate and long-distance transport, as well as more interesting energy generation.

I'm still designing my own BC-centric pack - though it's more of a Minecraft conversion thing, and so are many others - I think you should look into less popular mods whose devs or players don't have time to work on packs for it instead - most of us know BuildCraft already, even the latest versions.

Of course, that is arguable - chilm had great success with a BC/BCA-only pack - however, I believe BC with BCA doesn't feel "as BC"; BCA interferes with quite a few of our mechanics. In the end, you'll do what you want to.

If you still want to go for BuildCraft if it wins, grab me on IRC.

 

[Bearnado123]

I know this is going to make me sound a misanthropic jerk grunting meanly at a cool idea here but...

...isn't this list a bit too, well, safe?

Basically every single mod in this initial list is one of those mainstay mods that has been latched onto the Direwolf20/Kitchen Sink paradigm since their introduction. Anybody playing modded Minecraft for more than a single Minecraft patchlevel is familiar with most of these mods already, if not capable of using them with their eyes closed.

Maybe I was expecting something a little more... Horizon-y from the idea? If anything, maybe even some of those mods with some community exposure but that quite often don't meet the cutoff for regular inclusion because of how different their progression feels, but without being a TFC/GT total conversion, like Mekanism or RotaryCraft?

I guess in this case I'll go with voting for Botania because I'd like to see people actually using it largely standalone without having all the cross-mod tools to make it simpler, but I figured I'd voice my concerns because I'm certain a number of people are willing to say the same things in a much less diplomatic manner if I don't get to it first. =)

I can see what you mean in all this but I think this first round's purpose is not as much to expose people to newer mods, but instead to make people actually use the mods. For instance, I know very few people who actually use Railcraft carts for automation. This being said I think the approach for this round was to put a few newer/less used mods on the list and to put other more common mods as well.

 

[LegzDiamond]

Draconic evolution is the best *.*

 

[tatsu011]

I can see what you mean in all this but I think this first round's purpose is not as much to expose people to newer mods, but instead to make people actually use the mods. For instance, I know very few people who actually use Railcraft carts for automation. This being said I think the approach for this round was to put a few newer/less used mods on the list and to put other more common mods as well.

I actually agree with this. A friend of mine made a Steel factory using exclusively Railcraft objects. It was fun to watch it work.

 

[Lumaceon]

I specifically picked pneumaticcraft for this reason.

So you were the other one. High five for like-mindedness.

 

[ljfa]

In this case wait with it until the changes with plastic production and getting rid of the flowers are released

 

[MysteriousAges]

Buzzzzzzzz~

 

[Bearnado123]

BigBad/Watchful/really anyone my suggestion to kind compromise would be to have two rounds of voting, one where there are no options listed but instead have the voters write in their suggestions. Then continue to the second round of voting which would include the top picks from the first round. This way the choices are more representative of the audience and would have a more diverse selection than just the regular ftb mods.

 

[MineMaarten]

In this case wait with it until the changes with plastic production and getting rid of the flowers are released

Shouldn't be long

 

[Pudding01]

BigBad/Watchful/really anyone my suggestion to kind compromise would be to have two rounds of voting, one where there are no options listed but instead have the voters write in their suggestions. Then continue to the second round of voting which would include the top picks from the first round. This way the choices are more representative of the audience and would have a more diverse selection than just the regular ftb mods.

We need more voting things like this

 

[GreenEyedEnderman]

I specifically picked pneumaticcraft for this reason.

Nobody includes this in their pack, or if they do, nobody uses it in that pack.

Given the option I would have selected Mariculture for the exact same reason.

You are so right. lol. I never use those.

 

[Maelstraz]

I think would be fair to choose not only one but some of leader mods. Like one core-mod and two sub-mods.

Really interested to see cross-mod crafting mechanics.

have the voters write in their suggestions

Then the first round thread will be longer than "They make you lose count".

 

[HeilMewTwo]

I really want a railcraft focused pack, such an underused mod in my opinion and the awesomeness as you start to make better and better carts for your train is a great method of progression.