So is that going to be using the same tool continuously? I'd be curious to see how that could be implemented, I can only guess a few methods, although they would be by Mariculture alone. (Mariculture is a surprisingly robust mod!)
I am also curious on how you'll limit the players into classes when they start up, because I can imagine that when someone starts they immediately try to become a jack of all trades.
Finally, is this going to be a custom map, or are you going to have this procedurally generate? Since you've mentioned worldgen, it makes me suspect that you're trying to engineer a world, but you've mentioned you're making towns by hand. The custom map also brings the question of finite resources, and how you'll work around that. That is, if you want to avoid a metal market economy crash. Which sounds kinda fun, actually.
For your first question, there's a couple mods that add more realistic tool progression and forging techniques.
First, there's Material Evolution, which forces early game progression via more primitive means. You can't mine hard blocks with your fist (hurts you when you punch wood, stone, etc), and your first tool needed is a digstick, which allows you to dig up gravel for flint to make flint tools. From there you can advance to stone, then make a bloomery and kiln, and fire ores for processing.
Then, Metalforge comes into play, where you can use more advanced techniques to create alloys and whatnot, and create tools. It seems it is done a similar fashion to TiCon, but n a much 'lighter' fashion. Kinda hard to explain, but here it is:
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forum...ods/2245125-wip-metalforge-the-blacksmith-mod
I'm gonna use Minetweaker to help bridge the progression between the two.
As for 'forcing' players into specific trades, the idea is sort of like this:
Each trade/profession will have some sort of initial early game difficult progression, such as a miner needing to go through all the steps to get a basic pickaxe, or a fisherman having to get the stuff for a fishing pole, bait and a boat. A blacksmith has to acquire the initial furnaces, anvil, hammer and crucibles for early game ores (copper, bronze).
Well, when players start out, they are given a choice. How I introduce this choice to players is still brewing as multiple ideas, so here's a couple:
The first idea I had was just popping up a GUI in a new player's face. Pick a profession. Get a profession item kit. Then choose from a list of recommended biomes based on your chosen profession, and you get plopped down at an outpost in the chosen biome. The outpost contains basic amenities to help you survive the first couple days as you venture out and secure a location. Outpost will also contain NPCs that sell basic supplies. Players will also get a survival kit specific to their chosen biome. Things like some food, a firepit, and if you chose a tundra, you get a bucket of lava, or if you chose a desert, you get some ice and a camel pack.
The second idea I had was to start players off in a major city. The players will have some coins and be directed to some NPCs who sell kits. You use the coins to buy a profession kit and a survival kit, plus a few extra coins for a handful of other things. Players will also get some basic materials for free for their first trade pack. They craft the pack and immediately set out to deliver it. I will somehow 'suggest' players go a certain route based on their chosen profession, but nothing is forced. If a fisherman wanted to travel to the desert, by all means do so. Overall, the point is to give players their first trade pack so they know how the system works.
Either way, players will get a kit containing the tools and materials needed to push them past early progression steps for a specific profession/trade. Players can, at any point, set out to become a jack of multiple trades, but it'll distract them from their primary profession if they do it too early, since there will be other factors that players need to address like surviving, securing better methods of travel, thinking of ways to earn more money to get past certain progression gates, etc.
There's a lot of ways I can do this, but I want to make it not feel forced, rather heavily suggested. The ultimate goal here is to get players trading. If players can just hunker down and progress all the way to Immersive Engineering-level power gen without ever trading (with either tradepacks, other players, or with NPCs), then the overall idea of this modpack has failed.
Finally, is this going to be a custom map, or are you going to have this procedurally generate?
Both, actually... I think.
So, I originally thought of 100% handmaking the map. However, after screwing around with the world gen a lot (I've made countless maps already), I think I found a good solution.
Right now, worlds are generating with huge biomes and climates. My current map placed me in a flower forest with an ocean to the north and a desert to the west.
Here's a bit of the map:
That's just one biome, and I'm not quite sure where the edges are except for the north and west (western desert doesnt show on this SS)
There's also very light structure gen. I've currently disabled all Recurrent Complex structures (will be using that mod to generate only custom structures, none of the defaults), and cut down on several of the structures other mods make. Still more tweaking to do, but I do want some 'lightly' scattered random structures (which we specifically hand build and insert to be random gen'd).
This modpack is very likely going to solely depend on a live server to fully function. It's gonna be very difficult to properly do a single player map *and* implement a robust trading system.
For that, our plan is when we enter beta, we will open a beta server and a beta feedback forum. We will take notes on things like one's ability to survive when traveling, biome sizes and climates, resource abundance/scarcity, etc.
When the modpack goes live and officially released, the server we host for it will be closely monitored. One of the ideas I was given was to let the world generate randomly under these fine tuned configs with a world border. We could have players, as stated above, start in a main city-hub. Then, we will hand build specific towns and outposts, and add stuff to the world as time goes on. Perhaps add additional continents and islands via extending the world border.
Lots of ideas and approaches, but a SMP setting will be much needed for the theme to carry through. We might also, later down the road, compile a server admin's package for those who want to host their own, but for now, we will keep it local.
The custom map also brings the question of finite resources, and how you'll work around that. That is, if you want to avoid a metal market economy crash. Which sounds kinda fun, actually.
This should be easily achievable. First of all, there's a few mods already in place that shake up conventional Minecraft methods of ore gen. I'm not talking about just CoFHCore either (which will still be used...)
For example - one of the mods, SGU BetterGeo, removes diamond ore from the game and replaces it with a more accurate-to-real-life method of finding it. Basically, the mod adds something called Kimberlite pipes to the game. These are real life geological formations that result from lava vents extending to the Earth's surface. These pipes contain diamonds.
The same mod also adds geological layers to the world. So, instead of most of the world being made up of stone, there are layers of shale, limestone, etc, and each one has its own hardness, meaning the deeper you go down, the harder it is to mine through these layers. This is where pickaxe progression will come into play, along with other methods of strip mining (such as Railcraft tunnel bores... which will be LATE game gated, btw)
Now, as for CoFHCore, I will be using it to manipulate ore gen on a per-biome basis. Each biome will potentially contain all ore types, but, for example, a desert will contain more copper than most biomes, and some biomes may contain like 1% copper, but then contain, say, more bauxite than a desert.
I will try to give hints as to what biomes contain what resources in abundance (and in scarcity), such as a book or maybe even via NPCs selling whatever that biome has a lot of, and buying whatever is rare... so, a NPC in the desert might sell oil, glass and copper in near-infinite quantities, but also want to buy things like water, wood and fresh fruits from players.
So, large biomes + biome specific resource abundance and scarcity+a world border should be enough to drive trading. Also, the element of progression, because, ya know, players wont be able to tunnel bore or quarry the world in the first week. In fact, automation will be closely monitored and regulated. Even though Im including BC (for now), quarries and pumps will likely be disabled completely (pumps probably late late game and expensive to run)
