Seeking: Getting Started Guides

[FunshineX]

Hello community. Please read Jaded's post first as to how the community driven portion of the wiki will work.

At this time we are in need of written introductions to the main mods of the FTB pack. If you have in depth knowledge of these mods and can write in a way that someone brand new could easily pick up the basics, we'd love to have you write a getting started guide.

Your guide should assume zero knowledge of the mod on behalf of the reader, however you can assume they know how to play Minecraft.

1. DO NOT simply copy a guide from one of the mods' wikis.
2. No need to include images or tables for crafting recipes. We can insert those where needed (just leave a note like [insert macerator recipe here]).
3. Don't worry about using wiki formatting. We can add that in. Focus on content
4. You can mention more advanced topics, but try to stay away from explaining them. i.e. you can say nuclear is a power source for IC2, but no need to explain how to build a reactor and layout its components. That would be its own wiki article
5. Don't be afraid to list things that are considered spoilers. If someone comes to the wiki its their own fault if some secret gets spoiled (i.e. thaumcraft research)

A good guide would cover the following:

• Why a player would want to start using the mod / what benefits does it give them
• Resources required to get started with the basics (i.e. explain how to get rubber before explaining IC2 machines)
• Tips/tricks that a newbie wouldn't know by intuition (i.e. power loss on copper cable)
• As a conclusion list some blocks or items they should work toward
• What other mods work great in conjunction

List of mods needing guides:

• Getting Started with IndustrialCraft
• Getting Started with BuildCraft
• Getting Started with Forestry
• Getting Started with Thermal Expansion
• Getting Started with Railcraft
• Getting Started with ComputerCraft
• Getting Started with Mystcraft
• Getting Started with Steve's Carts
• Getting Started with The Twilight Forest
• Getting Started with Factorization
• Getting Started with Thaumcraft
• Getting Started with RedPower

You will be given credit for your work, but the wiki team reserves all rights to make edits to content and format as we seek to keep the wiki consistent.

If you are not interested in writing a getting started guide but still wish to contribute to the wiki, please continue to monitor these forums as we'll be posting additional requests soon.

Thanks!

 

[RampantPanda65]

The problem is that Gregtech can change how you would start with IC2.
I dunno if you want the Gregtech portion to be included with IC2 or just vanilla IC2?

 

[FunshineX]

We'll need probably two getting started guides for IC2, one for with GT, one for without. They would have a disclaimer at the top pointing to each other

 

[ICountFrom0]

How much cross mod assumption are we looking at, can I go ahead and use an Iron furnace to smelt the pulverized ore in the writeup?

 

[Kyre]

Can I compare functionality or usage to other mods? Something like "Thermal Expansion is a good candidate for basic ore doubling if you have difficulty finding rubber or silver" or "Buildcraft Stone Conductive Pipes are fine for a nascent energy network, but when you find the need to upgrade both Gold Conductive Pipes and Energy Conduits are viable options, each with their pros and cons..."?

Edit: Or an even better example might be something like "Buildcraft pumps can pump water into your liquid pipe network to act as an infinite water supply; however pumps acting this way have been known to behave erratically if you do not keep the chunk it is in loaded, which can prevent your Combustion Engine from receiving the water it needs so badly. Additionally pumps used in this way can put a lot of strain on your computer or server due to the water blocks constantly draining and refilling. For these reasons it is highly recommended to use an Aqueous Accumulator from Thermal Expansion for your infinite water needs."

 

[FunshineX]

How much cross mod assumption are we looking at, can I go ahead and use an Iron furnace to smelt the pulverized ore in the writeup?

You can comment on other mods, but the player shouldn't be required to go build another mod item to follow the guide. In your example, you'd just need to say smelt the ore in a furnace, allowing the user to decide to use a regular furnace, or an improved one if available. However, if the player is pulverizing ore, they should probably be guided to create a Thermal Expansion furnace first and to use that to smelt.

Can I compare functionality or usage to other mods? Something like "Thermal Expansion is a good candidate for basic ore doubling if you have difficulty finding rubber or silver" or "Buildcraft Stone Conductive Pipes are fine for a nascent energy network, but when you find the need to upgrade both Gold Conductive Pipes and Energy Conduits are viable options, each with their pros and cons..."?

Edit: Or an even better example might be something like "Buildcraft pumps can pump water into your liquid pipe network to act as an infinite water supply; however pumps acting this way have been known to behave erratically if you do not keep the chunk it is in loaded, which can prevent your Combustion Engine from receiving the water it needs so badly. Additionally pumps used in this way can put a lot of strain on your computer or server due to the water blocks constantly draining and refilling. For these reasons it is highly recommended to use an Aqueous Accumulator from Thermal Expansion for your infinite water needs."

Both of the first examples are great. You can leave it at that just state that other options are available. In a buildcraft article, a note on the improvements offered by golden cable is appropriate, and I think just a reference to conduits would be enough.
Regarding the second example, yes, that would be great for a buildcraft article. Any tips that can prevent frustration is exactly what we want. It sucks to find a crater where your house was because your bc pumps decided not to cool your engines.

 

[ratchet freak]

this might be a stupid question but where should we post the text for the guide, we can't create threads on this subforum...

 

[Kyre]

this might be a stupid question but where should we post the text for the guide, we can't create threads on this subforum...

Would it be possible for us to have accounts on the FTB wiki so that we could post what we write on our userpages? I'm familiar with mediawiki markup so I'd find it easy to write a draft article on there.

 

[FunshineX]

this might be a stupid question but where should we post the text for the guide, we can't create threads on this subforum...

Upload them to pastebin or something similar and post a link in this thread, no need to create a new thread

Would it be possible for us to have accounts on the FTB wiki so that we could post what we write on our userpages? I'm familiar with mediawiki markup so I'd find it easy to write a draft article on there.

At this time we will be accepting the articles in text format and we'll add any markup when the page is deployed. We don't have plans currently to allow the community to create accounts on the FTB site

 

[Sirbab]

I have created what i believe is a fairly through guide to starting out in the Twilight Forest, i have it on a pastebin.

 

[iceDave]

I have created what i believe is a fairly through guide to starting out in the Twilight Forest, i have it on a pastebin.

i have looked at you getting started.. nicely written and gave me a bit off an starter now as well...thx you got a like from me for that

 

[FunshineX]

I have created what i believe is a fairly through guide to starting out in the Twilight Forest, i have it on a pastebin.

Great guide! I've actually never been to the Twilight Forest, so I learned a lot. I'll pass on your guide to the wiki author in charge of TF so they can format for wiki, add a few pictures and crafting recipes, and of course give credit where its due

 

[Sirbab]

Much obliged you two, i'm happy to help with any other guides you need.

 

[QueWhat]

I have created what i believe is a fairly through guide to starting out in the Twilight Forest, i have it on a pastebin.

I read the whole thing and I too learned a lot! Excelent guide Sirbab, I'm looking forward to translating it, hope to see more like these myself. +1 Like

 

[beringtom]

+1 for this guide, i'm sure there is alot more to learn, but this is a great start

 

[arkangyl]

The problem is that Gregtech can change how you would start with IC2.
I dunno if you want the Gregtech portion to be included with IC2 or just vanilla IC2?

I would prefer the guide for IndustrialCraft to contain information on how to start both with and without GregTech, and also a simple explanation of how to tell if GregTech is being used for newbies. I will have a separate article explaining GregTech's changes in detail, but that is not needed at this point.

 

[ShneekeyTheLost]

I have begun the process of writing a getting started guide for Thermal Expansion which the Wiki editors are free to use in whole or in part.

 

[FunshineX]

Very impressive. I may need to cut it into a few articles or trim due do the length. Jaded would like them to be concise and to the point. Your content however is excellent.

 

[enoch]

I have to add that to please keep your guides simple, objective, and straightforward. When someone needs help, they want it easy to read, brief, and to the point. We are not storytelling and the extra 'fluff' makes it 'tldr.'

For example, this is too much extra material:

"Now I suggest you get some of the special yellow Glowstone. How do you get that? You have to go to the hellish lava dimension of the Nether. "How do you get there" you may ask. You need to mine the ever-so-difficult-to-mine Obsidian, which requires a Diamond Pickaxe. Better find some diamonds now. Once that Obsidian is mined, you need to make a 5x4 Obsidian vertical frame and ignite the internal frame. A wondrous magical purple portal is made and you can hop in."

It can instead be simply written:

"You need 10 Glowstone, which can be found in the Nether. To get to the Nether, you need 10 Obsidian blocks, which can only be mined with a Diamond Pickaxe. Make a 5x4 Obsidian vertical frame and ignite the internal frame with Flint and Steel. Step into the purple portal into the Nether."

Straightforward and tells you exactly what to do.

I have created what i believe is a fairly through guide to starting out in the Twilight Forest, i have it on a pastebin.

Sirbab, while your guide is excellent in content, it has a lot of extra material that is not absolutely necessary. If you can, please edit your guide so that it is more brief. If you prefer, we can edit it for you instead. As Funshine stated in the original post, the "the wiki team reserves all rights to make edits to content and format as we seek to keep the wiki consistent."

 

[ICountFrom0]

Can some of the redundant content be replaced with links to other pages of the wiki... say

"you need 10 glowstone, found in the (link to nether page)" Meaning this comes after your (nether portal link)." Does this work? (yes, I'm still toying with the idea of writing something up, I've just got writers block).