Powercraft: What do you think of it?

[whizzball1]

Powercraft is a mod I once saw while browsing through some modlists, and I was like, woah! This mod is amazing! People should check it out! I mentioned it to the people on Morv's server. No one bothered to check it out. It adds many things, like Checkpoints which can be modified to give you items, huge "chests" that are actually multiblock structures made with vanilla blocks, Weasel (Powercraft's Code), logic, conveyor belts, and all kinds of other wonderful things! Link:
http://www.powercrafting.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=100
Wiki Link (WIP):
http://www.powercrafting.net/wiki/?Welcome
EDIT: Working on my own wiki, updated for the newest version! Yay! Here it is:
http://powercraft-mod.wikia.com/wiki/Powercraft_Mod_Wiki
I just made it, so don't scream: "This wiki has absolutely nothing! Liar!"
It used to have a Google Doc guide, but it was incomplete, so they started the wiki. It isn't very thorough, though, and I was thinking of helping out. Here is a brief description of the modules (Not very brief). Modules: Core: which adds beautiful Crystal world gen and a crafting tool kinda like Crafting Table III.
Checkpoint: Does what it says. (Portal Gun's doesn't work yet).
Deco: Adds Iron Frames, Chimneys, and a redstone block. (This was before 1.5 came out. They are removing it.)
Hologram!: Fake block projector! And a few other supplemental objects.
Item Storage: Compressors (Backpacks). High Stack Compressor has 9 slots which can hold many many items. Kinda like AE's Drives. Huge Chest: 4*4 square empty, glass in the corners. Fences on top of those, Fences on top of those, and glass on the top of those. Right click with an activator crystal (from Core) to create a super cool looking structure with lasers in the glass. Throw items in the square and they will get sucked in and start floating around, kind of like a glorified crystal chest.
Light: Light. Lasers! Very comprehensive. If a laser goes through a crystal, it gets colored. You can add modulators to the laser like the distance modulator. If you craft multiple Distance Modulators, the Modulator levels up. Then you can right click on the Laser to apply it. Each adds 8 blocks to the distance. Sensor Modulator, which allows you to sense anything in the laser's way and emit a redstone signal. Killing Modulator. Can be leveled up. The Sensor cannot, as far as I know. Prism! Splits the laser. You can right click on the sides with glass panes to split the laser. Mirrors! Lightning Conductor. Have not tried this yet.
Logic!: Adds many gates, many more than Redpower's.
Machines!: Automatic Workbench. Uses disks encoded with recipes, kind of like XACT and AE. Block Builder (PC deployer). Harvester (PC Block Breaker). Replacer (Haven't tested this yet). Roaster! Furnace and sets fire to mobs who walk on it. XP Bank (PC Brain in a Jar). Transmutabox (Haven't tested this yet). Fishingmachine, apparently a Multiblock Structure. Chunkloader (MultiBlock Structure).
Mobile: Miner (Multiblock Structure).
Net: Radio and Sensor.
Teleporter: Duh.
Transport: Ready for this? CONVEYOR BELTS! Jk, not new. Brake Belt, very slow, stops if redstone. Detector Belt, item pressure plate. Ejector Belt, Puts items into chests. Normal Belt: Normal Belt. Speedy Belt: Speedy Belt. Redirector Belt: Sorting Belt. Separation Belt: Splitting Belt? Hacked Water: Idk. Item Elevator!!! Lifts you up too and deposits you/item on adjacent block at top of elevator. Sticky Boots: You don't get pulled by conveyors.
Weasel: PC programming.

Yeah, I know, PC doesn't sound right for this description. Whatever. Aaaanywho, there you go! Anyone got any thoughts?

 

[ILoveGregTech]

Meh so far doesn't look that cool but of course congrats to the person who made it for going out there and doing it. I think other people will like it

 

[Chocorate]

I saw multiblock structures. I'm in.

If only I could change crafting tables and engines and furnaces to multiblock structures...

 

[whizzball1]

What I made using Powercraft Lasers:

 

[Chocorate]

Probably too OP. I think Gregtech will probably make the lasers require 3 nether stars each and get rid of those mirrors.

 

[brujon]

There isn't a lot of information available...

From what i gather, the Weasel system is just like ComputerCraft, but a little different?
I didn't get most of the machines either.

Seriously, i couldn't get much information out of the links, sorry, can't post any first impressions like that. Could make or provide a video walkthrough of the blocks, etc, something to show what may be possible with the mod so we can maybe appraise it a little better?

 

[whizzball1]

The lasers require Distance Modulators to go farther. I currently have a level 36 modulator on my laser to make it go that far. Prisms split the laser and crystals color the laser. Mirrors redirect it. Lasers are only 1/13 of what this mod adds.[DOUBLEPOST=1363920171][/DOUBLEPOST]EDIT: I've been making a wiki!

 

[Fox Nemhauser]

i use some things from powercraft on my modded direwolf pack server

unfortunatelly a lot of things do not work with the pack (or maybe there are conflicts with other mods that i've added) such as the storage multiblock structure (looked really cool on youtube video, sadly it does not work for me) or just simply crash the server (placing laser on the heating block, don't recall it's name now)

but lasers on it's own do work as well as the conveyer modules so that's what i''ve ended up using...

friend did a nice automatic exp generator (laser kills the mobs and conveyer belts move the experience orbs or items)

and the power crystals look nicely too, oh and the stairs ;-)

 

[YX33A]

It used to be one of my favorite mods, actually. Pretty sweet, but it used a crap-ton of IDs in the past, making it hard to fit into my old setup(which was back before the 4096 ID patch).
I guess I could look into adding it again. It's got a lot of features, some of which aren't covered by other mods! Personally, I prefer the miner from Powercraft more then Turtles from Computercraft, because it's so much easier to assume direct control over the miner.
If I knew how to code LUA I'd make a turtle program which uses that peripheral which allows for remote control. Then I'd set up a turtle with a mining laser and go nuts.

 

[Bigglesworth]

http://www.powercrafting.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=210

Spotlights. First thing the guy says is how the Forge reliance is a downside.

What the hell is wrong with Forge?!




The ore sniffer is pretty cool depending on how hard recipe I saw is to actually get it might even be useful early game.

 

[Bigglesworth]

If I knew how to code LUA I'd make a turtle program which uses that peripheral which allows for remote control. Then I'd set up a turtle with a mining laser and go nuts.

LUA is one of the easiest languages to learn (like Python in some ways), and the CC implementation of it is even further simplified. Its not as hard as some might think, give it a try.

 

[jumpfight5]

There's nothing here! If someone's gonna put in so much work for a mod, don't you think they should have useable blocks, recipes, worldgen, and other things available for the public to see? I have no idea what those lasers do besides cause lag, everything on the MCF is outdated, but the website doesn't have anything. I would say it looks like (insert tech mod here), but I dont' know what it looks like!

At least you're helping, with the wiki, but is there really nowhere I can go to look at recipes, worldgen, or even a summary of the mod? What is it meant to do?
You say "multi-block chests". How do you make them? How much can they hold? What vanilla blocks? How big are they?
You say "conveyor belts". What's the recipe? Are they like MFR's conveyor belts? Is it the only way to transfer items through the mod? Are they less laggy like AE's transport system, can they float in the air, what do they look like, how are they powered?

I'm sorry for the *minor* rage, but I just hate it when a talented author goes and makes a super nice mod, and couldn't be bothered to tell people what it does. Do you want us to download it and scour the code, or maybe NEI? It's one of the most annoying parts of finding mods for me. You don't need a wiki, you just need a spoiler filled with recipes. Videos are good, but some people *cough* me *cough* like text.

Another thing I don't like already is the fact that they don't keep it updated on MCF. If you have a mod, put it there, and keep it updated. Presentation is KEY, look at RP2: http://nemesis.evalq.net/RedPower2/recipes.html. That's PERFECT. CTRL+F, and you've got the entire RP2 database at your fingertips. Then, look at the *updated* MCF post. Filled with pictures that will show you what you can do, it's amazing. You think: Wow! That looks so cool, I can make the most intricate builds!

 

[Lambert2191]

lasers are only 1/13th of the mod? How very precise. Thanks for telling me how horribly limited the mod is.

Multiblock chests? You know what else adds those? Vanilla.
What does the mod DO? Why should I download it?

 

[KirinDave]

lasers are only 1/13th of the mod? How very precise. Thanks for telling me how horribly limited the mod is.

Multiblock chests? You know what else adds those? Vanilla.
What does the mod DO? Why should I download it?

So PowerCraft is one of those mods you can use to replace most of RedPower2. It has a pretty competent digital logic replacement, conveyor-based stuff (that is marginally inferior to MFR these days) and a ton of conveyor-friendly auto-crafters and processors. It's one of the only mods I know of besides computercraft to have a fully automated enchantment process. It's also got a lot of interesting light-based structures, and something akin to xycraft tanks for item storage. It has its own special auto-miner, but personally I find that part of the mod very janky and awkward. But if you were building a modpack that does not include redpower (as I, as a matter of fact, am) then its digital logic stuff is indispensable (and also does not cause light updates, making it a much nicer client-side experience).

It has some really crazy stuff I have never seen spotlighted but have been told is really cool, including something involving holograms. I've been meaning to play with it.

 

[Zjarek_S]

What in RP2 causes lighting updates now? Wires don't emit light and gates emit light constantly. Redstone is a lot worse in this, you have to light everything if you want to use fast timing. Problem is that client must know about every change in every single piece of any wire in separate packet (even bundled cable, which has 256 states for each of 16 colors) and things like timer seem to update a lot more often then they should (you can see stuttering of this arrow sometimes).
About powercraft, I stumbled at it from time to time and it seemed cool, but I didn't really gave it a chance. Maybe today?

 

[KirinDave]

What in RP2 causes lighting updates now?

State cells sure do on my computer.

 

[Zjarek_S]

State cells sure do on my computer.

Are you sure? http://imgur.com/a/j1QsX I don't see any lighting updates.

 

[KirinDave]

Are you sure? http://imgur.com/a/j1QsX I don't see any lighting updates.

Welp. My memory's track record is pretty poor today! I could have swore I was seeing them flash on my old server. I even put up torches and this seemed to help my wife's framerate. But I guess I was wrong. I withdraw the observation.

 

[whythisname]

It's one of the only mods I know of besides computercraft to have a fully automated enchantment process.

I think MFR also has an automatic enchanting system these days, at least I remember seeing something like that in one of the recent spotlights on the MFR topic on the MC forums. I see it might replace some things from the current mod pack (like the logic gates from RP2 or conveyors from MFR), but I honestly don't see it adding any really new functionality (Lasers don't look like enough of an addition to me to justify adding it). As far as I can tell so far at least.

 

[KirinDave]

I think MFR also has an automatic enchanting system these days, at least I remember seeing something like that in one of the recent spotlights on the MFR topic on the MC forums. I see it might replace some things from the current mod pack (like the logic gates from RP2 or conveyors from MFR), but I honestly don't see it adding any really new functionality (Lasers don't look like enough of an addition to me to justify adding it). As far as I can tell so far at least.

I think it's not nearly as effective as what PowerCraft has.