The most underused starting strategies?

[Vovk]

Sky pirate starter.

get clay, coal, wood, wool and iron and make yourself a traincraft zeppelin

use your brand new airship to go village raiding and to explore the world. 1 coal = 2500m. Do your best to trade with all the villagers you find.

use your first diamonds, tin and copper, and nikolite to create a 6 axis frame machine. This is your base. You're free to attach block breakers to the bottom or the sides to drive through mountains or burrow through the earth. Everything in your base must be attached to the frame system somehow. You must always carry all of your possessions on your ship OR leave them buried in secret locations, marked with something distinct to you but innocuous to others.

Upgrade your frameship as you move throughout the world. Equip it with portal energy pellet throwers and TNT cart launchers for defense. Recruit others to join your crew, you can send them out on zeppelins - two steves to a zep, one pilot, one gunner.

You may not be able to create complex systems because of the mobile nature of your airship, but industry and automation are for the sheep. You live for the freedom of the open air.

No mercy - anything you fancy is yours. Never set down long enough for others to know your location. Create maps of the world you've explored so far. You are the captain of the skies

 

[Setari]

Holy crap that is awesome Vovk.

I haven't really been playing FTB long enough to say what my usual starting stratagem is, but on my SSP world I just started with a generator and extractor for rubber and just went from there to a macerator. I strip mined for quite awhile to make a quarry and now have a quarry powered by 2 Hobbyist steam engines. Woo! Getting there.

In anyone's opinion, is it better to start with turtles or a quarry? Should learn turtle stuff...

 

[Antice]

Sky pirate starter.

get clay, coal, wood, wool and iron and make yourself a traincraft zeppelin

use your brand new airship to go village raiding and to explore the world. 1 coal = 2500m. Do your best to trade with all the villagers you find.

use your first diamonds, tin and copper, and nikolite to create a 6 axis frame machine. This is your base. You're free to attach block breakers to the bottom or the sides to drive through mountains or burrow through the earth. Everything in your base must be attached to the frame system somehow. You must always carry all of your possessions on your ship OR leave them buried in secret locations, marked with something distinct to you but innocuous to others.

Upgrade your frameship as you move throughout the world. Equip it with portal energy pellet throwers and TNT cart launchers for defense. Recruit others to join your crew, you can send them out on zeppelins - two steves to a zep, one pilot, one gunner.

You may not be able to create complex systems because of the mobile nature of your airship, but industry and automation are for the sheep. You live for the freedom of the open air.

No mercy - anything you fancy is yours. Never set down long enough for others to know your location. Create maps of the world you've explored so far. You are the captain of the skies

Challenge accepted.
1. Is it allowed to do an initial "gantry" base to get the frameship built after your first zeppelin based raids? those 6 axis frame drives do cost quite a bit of resources and i fear that the start could be a bit too slow. you need an initial 11 diamonds to get them, (even tho you get some of them back)

2. by crew, do you refer to capturing some vilagers and bring them onboard the ship? I'm envisioning that some ship systems would need crew present to function. (also. the ability to trade with vilagers you bring along is pretty valuable on it's own)

3. any other rules i have to take into consideration before knocking myself out?

 

[Vovk]

Challenge accepted.
1. Is it allowed to do an initial "gantry" base to get the frameship built after your first zeppelin based raids? those 6 axis frame drives do cost quite a bit of resources and i fear that the start could be a bit too slow. you need an initial 11 diamonds to get them, (even tho you get some of them back)

2. by crew, do you refer to capturing some vilagers and bring them onboard the ship? I'm envisioning that some ship systems would need crew present to function. (also. the ability to trade with vilagers you bring along is pretty valuable on it's own)

3. any other rules i have to take into consideration before knocking myself out?

1) It might be prudent to create a port to build your ships, but you may not stay there for any length of time. Indeed it would be unwise to keep anything of great value there because it would be vulnerable to scouting and retributions by your victims.

2) This is intended in a pvp server with full ability to blast and raid other people's bases. Your crew would be players and captured villagers (finding villagers that trade food and gunpowder would be a great asset)

3) not so much rules as advice. Always follow the rules of the server on which you play - if a server forbids spawncamping then do not, etc etc. Also keep in mind that zeppelins are buggy finnicky beasts that require great skill to fly - a good example is the bug that kills you if you touch the ground while in descent mode instead of hover mode. The server would have to allow the traincraft recipe for steel as this is the only way to get a zeppelin in any short amount of time - else you'd need to go to the nether and build a permanent blast furnace fixture (though I'm interested to see how frames handle the multiblock structure). Do your best to keep on the move and live as a nomadic raider (you might even solve your steel problem through piracy). Piratical roleplaying and flavor are always encouraged - pirate flags and sigils are almost a requirement Last off remember to have fun.

if you find any problems with this playstyle please post here and add to the discussion

 

[Antice]

1) It might be prudent to create a port to build your ships, but you may not stay there for any length of time. Indeed it would be unwise to keep anything of great value there because it would be vulnerable to scouting and retributions by your victims.

2) This is intended in a pvp server with full ability to blast and raid other people's bases. Your crew would be players and captured villagers (finding villagers that trade food and gunpowder would be a great asset)

3) not so much rules as advice. Always follow the rules of the server on which you play - if a server forbids spawncamping then do not, etc etc. Also keep in mind that zeppelins are buggy finnicky beasts that require great skill to fly - a good example is the bug that kills you if you touch the ground while in descent mode instead of hover mode. The server would have to allow the traincraft recipe for steel as this is the only way to get a zeppelin in any short amount of time - else you'd need to go to the nether and build a permanent blast furnace fixture (though I'm interested to see how frames handle the multiblock structure). Do your best to keep on the move and live as a nomadic raider (you might even solve your steel problem through piracy). Piratical roleplaying and flavor are always encouraged - pirate flags and sigils are almost a requirement Last off remember to have fun.

if you find any problems with this playstyle please post here and add to the discussion

Awww.. I can't do the smp thing. my internet is just way too poor for that. but as a single player challenge to see how far i can push a mobile base, that i can do. And who knows, maybe i could inspire someone who actually can do SMP into making one of their own? I'l definately be adding items of mass destruction to my build, because blowing stuff up never get's old.
I was thinking of making it remote controlled too. It would likely become too big to move after a while, so when that happens I'd make a second ship slaved to the first, and have a fleet of em cruising along.
Watch out for a new Youtube thread in the youtube section. I'l be posting my vids there when i get cracking on this. Got to sleep first, then prep, then once the kids are asleep in their beds i can start recording... man. this is gonna be great.
I knew this thread was gonna gimme something good sooner or later.
Big thanks to the OP for making it, and to Vovk for posting this brilliant idea.

 

[khorozm]

Redpower frame quarry
and once you got a pair of portal spawner go for tunnel bore

 

[Abdiel]

I really wish frameships could be made fast and maneuverable enough for some combat to occur. As it is now, you can see one approaching from miles away, and in a few seconds you can dirtpillar up to it and hammer it into pieces with your pickaxe. I suppose you could shield one with MFFS, but then there is no chance of combat again because the shield is literally impenetrable.

(Wait, does MFFS drain additional energy for explosions near the forcefield? Then you could shoot TNT cannons at each other with some epic "captain, our shield is at 20%" moments!)

 

[RetroGamer1224]

I am really loving these turtle ideas. Last night I finished with three coke ovens and have a nice marble brick house by a lake. I am going to have to look into a normal mining program once I make a turtle to help with getting resources. I admit some Railcraft with Factorization makes for an interesting early game. Add in Thaumcraft and it will be awesome.

 

[YX33A]

Redpower frame quarry
and once you got a pair of portal spawner go for tunnel bore

Underused means not used nearly enough. A good example would be making the zeppelin from Traincraft and exploring for days looking for the perfect base location, raiding villages for resources and only stopping for occasional resource gathering. What you're suggesting is a end goal, and a highly unoriginal one at that.
Starting Strategies, people, not end goals. I'd set up a frame base with everything I want if I could, but it would be massive by the time I was done. And that would be the very definition of an end goal.(even more so for me, with my lack of desire to work with Frames)

Another one; using the buildcraft mining well. I have never once even considered it. But it's easier to use them the Industrial Craft Auto-Miner Thingy, and while it's not as useful, it's cheap enough that it could be used early game.
Just a thought.

Oh, and OD and OV scanners.(IC2) They are actually pretty handy for finding decent resources, but of course, if you have mods with new ores, you have to configure them to recognize them.
Using them with GregTech might even make finding yourself some Iridium easier. Or at least, easier then strip mining the world. Instead you just have to strip mine PART of the world. Basically 1 every five chunks.

 

[Antice]

Underused means not used nearly enough. A good example would be making the zeppelin from Traincraft and exploring for days looking for the perfect base location, raiding villages for resources and only stopping for occasional resource gathering. What you're suggesting is a end goal, and a highly unoriginal one at that.
Starting Strategies, people, not end goals. I'd set up a frame base with everything I want if I could, but it would be massive by the time I was done. And that would be the very definition of an end goal.(even more so for me, with my lack of desire to work with Frames)

Another one; using the buildcraft mining well. I have never once even considered it. But it's easier to use them the Industrial Craft Auto-Miner Thingy, and while it's not as useful, it's cheap enough that it could be used early game.
Just a thought.

Oh, and OD and OV scanners.(IC2) They are actually pretty handy for finding decent resources, but of course, if you have mods with new ores, you have to configure them to recognize them.
Using them with GregTech might even make finding yourself some Iridium easier. Or at least, easier then strip mining the world. Instead you just have to strip mine PART of the world. Basically 1 every five chunks.

Actually i did some IC2 miner testing on mindcrack pack. the config files are already set up so that they pick up all the ores. including the xycraft stuff. and so do the scanners.

I do have a use for the Bc mining well early game tho. namely finding lava pools without strip mining at y12. It's a strategy i sometimes employ far into the mid and sometimes even endgame depending on need, and how much i find within 10 chunks of my base.
It's kinda like test drilling for oil actually. drill a hole, then move 10 blocks over and drill another one. if there is lava down there, then the miner will stop at that level, and when you remove it for moving it to the next test site. it's easy to spot the lava trough the hole once the miner has been picked up again, and a mining well is pretty cheap. it's just some iron and a piece of redstone.

late early game you can use a jetpack, and fly down the holes and pick out any ores you might want from the walls of the hole. (by then you have sucked out any lava already ofc)

 

[PhilHibbs]

Has anyone tried diving straight into Mystcraft? It needs books, but you could get those from Twilight Forest, I don't know how rare those Lich Towers are, maybe I was lucky to portal in really close to one but I got a ton of books as soon as I broke down the first wall. I would have to run away from the hostile flying books if I was just starting out though I guess. Having a Link Book nexus in a void world is really handy, I wish I'd done it earlier. I think I'll try making a nexus straight away next time.

Lets see, what does this need... wood, no problem. Books, needs leather and sugar cane, or bookshelves which can be found in villages or in a Lich Tower. Ink, feather, not too hard. I think that's all. Oh, and a diamond to get to Twilight Forest but that's optional as there are bookshelves in villages to get you started while you get up to speed making books the old fashioned way.

 

[Hydra]

You can't just dive into the first mystraft age you make. It's pretty much guaranteed to be unstable.

 

[PhilHibbs]

You can't just dive into the first mystraft age you make. It's pretty much guaranteed to be unstable.

Sure, I needed to go through about 30 Ages (so that's 30 leather, 90 sugarcane, and 30 feathers) before I could make a stable Void Age for my nexus. You might be lucky and get a not-too-unstable age with cows and chickens nearby on the way though. Some people's approach to Mystcraft is to cheat in a full notebook right at the start anyway to avoid pointless age bloat, but I don't think that's really necessary unless you're running a server and lots of people want to use Mystcraft.

 

[Hydra]

Inactive age only take up a bit of diskspace so I don't believe in cheating in a notebook.

 

[Lambert2191]

Some people's approach to Mystcraft is to cheat in a full notebook right at the start anyway to avoid pointless age bloat, but I don't think that's really necessary unless you're running a server and lots of people want to use Mystcraft.

On a sub par machine that's really necassary... my computer doesn't like having a ton of seperate ages, and that tiny bit of diskspace adds up. Random age hopping is completely and utterly pointless, boring, and detrimental. It's the only reason I haven't locked my SSP to recipe mode only.

 

[PhilHibbs]

My suggestion about an early Mystcraft nexus is now a bit redundant given that the "real" Mystcraft research system has been introduced. It's probably quicker to get to the Nether and use that as a nexus than it would be to create a stable (preferably Void) nexus age.

My nexus age now has Weakness, which it never used to. I hope it isn't unstable in any other ways! Does anyone know of a way to check for instability? I'd hate to lose it to decay!

 

[Phicksur]

The lack of interesting content on youtube in general is due to everyone explicitly doing the same thing, and once they have achieved the one thing they all seem to use as a milestone for achievement they just make empty vids where they build random stuff that generally don't have a purpose or goal except look pretty. and many just can't pull that off all that well.

But when i watch youtube vid's, it's for the inspiration to do cool new types of builds, not look at mediochre architecture. I want to see stuff like traincraft utilized in some kind of cool way to make a transport nexus for instance. Not hear a vid full of gregtech related bitching.
Or a cool new way to sort items. (Thanks Guude. I loved the CC sorting/processing thing you did. it was awesome)

*minor snippage in above quote*

I was totally going to talk about something else, but this got my attention first.

I am not a 'professional' YouTuber. I do it for fun and have never earned a dime off it. I can see what you are saying how 'everyone is doing the same thing' because what few videos I watch of others YouTubers they all do seem to be doing the same things. They are all playing cookie-cutter Minecraft.

That is why I actually stopped watching other YouTubers FTB videos. I have my own series where I play FTB:MindCrack in Adventure Mode (as opposed to Survival) and play through like that (cheating is forbidden). The inability to pick up some blocks because of improper mod coding actually makes things FAR more challenging (like, I can't pick up Bog Earth with any tool, so my peat farm is problematic ATM, beehives are invulnerable so no bees, etc.). Some gear that you want to use, you can't, because it isn't coded to be used in Adventure Mode (like Barrels, completely useless without BC pipes/Redpower tubes).

Thus, instead of trying to play it like Creative or Survival, where it is all about building something huge and pretty, I am playing it more like an adventure game: stay in one place only long enough to upgrade gear/equipment and spend the rest of the time exploring/fighting/looting. So far I've found it fun and I've only gotten as far as iron tools (and a heavily enchanted diamond pickaxe). I even took out a lich (which, considering I had never fought one or read about how, was a real challenge).


NOW! For my underused startup:

The Induction Furnace and Pulverizer both work on Buildcraft energy and have their own internal power 'batteries'. As such, if you surround them with Redstone engines and are patient, you can 'freely' macerate and smelt your ores and (with the pulverizer) get other dusts and stuff as well. Pulverizers are also a LOT easier to make than a macerator and, unlike the macerator, don't downgrade when you break them to move them.

Beehives with a centrifuge are a great way to get beeswax, which can be used to make pipe waterproofing. The side products (honey, most of the time) are good to combine with bread for honeyed bread, which is awesome. These do not require any significant outlay of resources, as you can pick up most of it from villages if you explore enough. If you are using forest/meadows bees, don't bother identifying them with the honey, they won't be very special.

Iron Armor is fine for nearly all occasions; don't be in a hurry to upgrade. It will save you from all but a point-blank explosion from a creeper (and might then, depending on luck/initial health). You will be swimming in iron so make good use of it. Go for uber-armor after you've ubered everything else (and, then, maybe not even then).

Don't get into IC until you can make an electric wrench, because those 'downgrades' when you break a block suck. Most of what you can do in IC you can do with other mods anyway (except make titanium, which is a whole separate problem).

Avoid automation (*gasp!*). Part of the game is from us doing stuff. Some automation is fine, but try not to fully automate everything because then you will no longer feel like you have to be there. Make sure to require a small amount of human action, regardless of what machine. I generally use the logger with an automated charcoal setup, but require manual planting of the trees because it WILL build up wood fast, and you don't want it to get away from you.

Bottom Line: EXPLORE, you will find SO MUCH cool stuff, just don't forget where your house is.

 

[MrCervelo]

Actually, I thought of one that I'm using a bit right now.

Iron Furnaces

They are an upgrade from a standard Furnace costing 5 iron, but they improve the efficiency of the furnaces. You can process 10 items (instead of 8) for a piece of coal/charcoal. Early on, it does add up.

 

[RetroGamer1224]

Actually, I thought of one that I'm using a bit right now.

Iron Furnaces

They are an upgrade from a standard Furnace costing 5 iron, but they improve the efficiency of the furnaces. You can process 10 items (instead of 8) for a piece of coal/charcoal. Early on, it does add up.

I agree with this. 10:1 is a nice deal especially for somethings one cannot do in the slag furnance.

 

[Guswut]

Actually, I thought of one that I'm using a bit right now.

Iron Furnaces

They are an upgrade from a standard Furnace costing 5 iron, but they improve the efficiency of the furnaces. You can process 10 items (instead of 8) for a piece of coal/charcoal. Early on, it does add up.

I usually try to get to electric furnaces as quickly as it uses 390EU to function (versus the 400EU an iron furnace uses if you convert the coal to EU per operation), but more importantly it means I don't have to wait until I have stacks of eight/ten to start smelting because I won't smelt something unless I have a stack of eight/ten as I don't want to waste coal.

But yeah, getting an EU power grid set up early is useful to get more efficient smelting in general.