Thoughts on the Quarry

[Recon]

So, after a few days on our new server world I got to the point where I had a ME network, and a few tesseracts, along with that sweet nether pump from Extra Utilities providing infinite lava.

I've been getting decent resources from using Hammers, but I wanted a big boost so I could set up a nuke and build a power suit with nice upgrades. So I wandered off into a crap biome and set up a quarry. I've used quarries a lot in the past but I'm really wondering now about how they affect game balance. I brought with me only the following:
Liquid Tesseract (for infinite lava)
Some Liquiducts
3 Magmatic Engines
Some Redstone Energy Conduits
Quarry
3 Landmarks
Lever
Item Tesseract

I slapped them down and went back home. Configured it for max size, 64x64.
It ran overnight, pumping the contents of the quarry into a 16k storage unit. Overnight it was down to about level 40 from the surface which is in the 70's. So far, its produced an obscene amount of resources compared to anything else I could use. And its 100% maintenance free. Set and forget. With a cube of 64x64x75, that's roughly 300,000 blocks give or take. I currently have two quintuple compressed cobblestone, and am half way through the third. Its a lot of stuff.

So, I'm thinking, is the quarry objectively overpowered? The amount of resources you get for the effort is vastly disproportional to anything else I can think of, especially in the early/mid game. I could easily set this thing up in a new spot every couple days and never even think about acquiring mined resources any other way. Is it time for a nerf perhaps? I'm not sure what would be a good one. Maybe a max size of 16x16 instead of 64x64. That way you'd have to set it up 16 times to get the same results as the max size one currently gives. There ought to be some way to better balance this thing without simply banning it. What are people's thoughts on this?

 

[PierceSG]

Not really OP, it's just a way for people to go on about doing other stuffs instead of mining. Not everyone is into the digging for resources route, some are more inclined into the building aspects of minecraft. Plus there are a lot more ways to procure resources with the other mods as well, quarry is just one of the ways. I mean, there're CC turtles, MFR Laser Drill, EE3 Minium Stone, TC Arcane Bore, IC2 Miner and stuffs. Plus the quarry is a energy guzzler, so I find that it balances itself there. Also, it can't silk touch or fortune the resources for you so it is more like you trade in efficiency for ease.

 

[Tsun]

I always thought it was massively OP for what it all costs. BC needs to add config to adjust the maximum dimensions and depth, and ideally power consumption or max mining speed.

 

[cynric]

It ran overnight,

This, in my opinion, is the biggest problem here. I think it is perfectly fine in single player, where it runs for an hour or two and when you logout, everything stops. On a server with chunk loaders, everything that you can automate gets a massive boost in productivity because it keeps on gathering/accumulating stuff all the time so when you are back, you basically have hours upon hours of work done for you.

Not sure how you could balance that either except linking chunk loader activity to player activity somehow. As long as stuff keeps running without you even playing, it is hard to balance that without ruining the single player experience.

 

[Golrith]

Well, think back to the days of when the quarry first turned up. There was hardly any power generation and no teleportation, and the amount of power you could produce wasn't high, so the quarry was not fast. Now with other mods on the scene, power generation is even easier and the quarry has been buffed to work at higher power levels, so runs faster.

The quarry is no different to any type of automated farm. You'll gain a lot of resources very easily. Our server has one MFR planter/harvestor, and after being left on for 2 days, we have drowned in wood/plant material.

 

[Omicron]

You might want to keep in mind this:

Among automated mining machines, the Buildcraft quarry is considered the weakest.

Redpower tunnel bores, turtle excavator groups and mining well machines can all chew through significantly more rock significantly quicker, and/or focus on specific height bands where your most desired resources lie. In addition, the first two are basically free from a running cost standpoint, whereas the quarry gobbles large amounts of energy. Mining wells are comparable in energy cost over time, but overally less per block mined (and they don't cost any diamonds).

 

[Hydra]

Funny. You try to argue quarries are op while you skip over what in this case makes them 'op': limitless energy from the nether.

Quarries are good: it allows you to focus on the fun stuff.

 

[PierceSG]

Now, all I need is a satellite cannon mod to channel my UNLIMITED POWER to.

 

[Pinkishu]

MFR Laser Drill

Just wanted to make clear that the laser drill is more of a massfab, not a miner

 

[techno156]

Well, the Mining Well was the predecessor to Quarries. In Vanilla Buildcraft, you need obscene amounts of power and resources in order to run the quite quickly. I find that's where it balances, for me. Although setting and forgetting is good, just try everything out with Vanilla buildcraft and a mass of chests. It won't be so easy then. That's why I find it a good balancing point.

 

[Pinkishu]

Set and forget? But i have to relocate it ever few hours :<

 

[draeath]

then slow it down and place more at once

 

[PoisonWolf]

So, after a few days on our new server world I got to the point where I had a ME network, and a few tesseracts, along with that sweet nether pump from Extra Utilities providing infinite lava.

I've been getting decent resources from using Hammers, but I wanted a big boost so I could set up a nuke and build a power suit with nice upgrades. So I wandered off into a crap biome and set up a quarry. I've used quarries a lot in the past but I'm really wondering now about how they affect game balance. I brought with me only the following:
Liquid Tesseract (for infinite lava)
Some Liquiducts
3 Magmatic Engines
Some Redstone Energy Conduits
Quarry
3 Landmarks
Lever
Item Tesseract

I slapped them down and went back home. Configured it for max size, 64x64.
It ran overnight, pumping the contents of the quarry into a 16k storage unit. Overnight it was down to about level 40 from the surface which is in the 70's. So far, its produced an obscene amount of resources compared to anything else I could use. And its 100% maintenance free. Set and forget. With a cube of 64x64x75, that's roughly 300,000 blocks give or take. I currently have two quintuple compressed cobblestone, and am half way through the third. Its a lot of stuff.

So, I'm thinking, is the quarry objectively overpowered? The amount of resources you get for the effort is vastly disproportional to anything else I can think of, especially in the early/mid game. I could easily set this thing up in a new spot every couple days and never even think about acquiring mined resources any other way. Is it time for a nerf perhaps? I'm not sure what would be a good one. Maybe a max size of 16x16 instead of 64x64. That way you'd have to set it up 16 times to get the same results as the max size one currently gives. There ought to be some way to better balance this thing without simply banning it. What are people's thoughts on this?

What's OP about it? Are you in a competition to harvest materials? Cause if you are, then I can see why the word "OP" is being used.

What makes it OP are the chunkloaders. Chunkloaders makes a crap tonne of things overpowered. If you want to fix your problem, ban chunkloaders.

You could say that you could idle in your base as items are being sent back to your base via tesseracts, but then you run the risk of dying from hunger, etc.

I personally don't get people who say quarries are overpowered. You need to supply energy to it, and you still need to wait for the materials (last I checked, TIME is the most expensive currency).

 

[Staxed]

For people that are into balance and like the feel of a huge 'challenge' in getting resources, it could be seen as OP. But for people like me who simply like to build stuff (my challenge is building awesome contraptions/buildings/cities/etc) getting resources any way we can is fine...the more the better

 

[TheLoneWolfling]

My thoughts on the quarry:

OP doesn't make sense in a game where everyone has access to the same things and materials are limitless.

That being said, is the quarry better than other alternatives? No, actually. Compared to a frame bore, or even a couple mining turtles, it's actually pretty slow and power-hungry for what it does.

Also, I tend to like the quarry as it reduces tedium. I can focus on the stuff I like rather than having to grind.

 

[draeath]

Chunkloaders are a workaround to a technical problem in MC. Are you in the world? Then everything you built should be running. Is it a server? Everything should be running all the time. Time doesn't stop because you walked across the street.

 

[TheLoneWolfling]

Chunkloaders are a workaround to a technical problem in MC. Are you in the world? Then everything you built should be running. Is it a server? Everything should be running all the time. Time doesn't stop because you walked across the street.

This.

For that matter, I have no idea why in the base game it doesn't grow crops based on the time since the chunk was last loaded.

 

[RedBoss]

For people that are into balance and like the feel of a huge 'challenge' in getting resources, it could be seen as OP. But for people like me who simply like to build stuff (my challenge is building awesome contraptions/buildings/cities/etc) getting resources any way we can is fine...the more the better

My point exactly. The quarry is what got me into modded minecraft. Period.

I like to build and explore. The biggest challenge in building is a lack of resources. I found in vanilla that my "play" time was spent digging in branch mines and not actually building anything. The quarry addresses that issue for me and allows for fun time.

I largely ignore the term "OP". It's a loaded topic IMO.

 

[Golrith]

Chunkloaders are a workaround to a technical problem in MC. Are you in the world? Then everything you built should be running. Is it a server? Everything should be running all the time. Time doesn't stop because you walked across the street.

It doesn't? I thought time and space all revolved around me! You've shattered my existence.... Ok time for more medication and my padded room....

 

[Azzanine]

Quarries are not that overpowered. You need quite an infastructure to make them operate at "objectively" broken levels. It's largely tesseracts that make them broken and maybe the abuse of chunk loaders when it comes to a server. Pre tesseract you had to have a second base for your quarry, if of course you where adamant that you didn't want huge holes in your terrain.

Which is my only beef with them. They are hella destructive.