Tsori's Steampunk Emporium - A Very Victorian Etherium

[Tsori]

Ahoy all

So im back again, once again delving into a long term minecraft project. Once again its steampunky...since..is there any better style?

So what am i up to this time? Well first off let me begin by introducing the sever im on. As an admin of xiquadrant i have been partaking in their servers on and off for a while now, however unhappy with restrictions we decided to make a closed server environment that i could abuse without the risk of someone coming along and breaking the base, crashing the server, melting the system ect ect. Right now its just the three admins playing on the server however opening it up to like minded people is a possibility.


So First entry!

My plan this time is to mix magic and a few more appropriate tech mods. By which i mean im not restricting myself to one or another, but rather just doing what i find fun. Ive got immersive engineering and magneticraft for the backbone tech, although AE might make an appearance. Mekanism will support it but not be a major factor.

So initially i chose a AE meteor crater, dug it out, lined it with grass, built into the side of it. That however went south when building under the ground didnt give me any inspiration for continuing. I had at least got tools sorted, got some stuff rolling and built up a little backlog of ores.

So i set out and found myself a little plains next to a coniferous forest. this would allow me to build outwards without too much work but the forest offered the opportunity to raise my own little Jurassic park , something ive been wanting to do for a very long time.

So as you can see i setup a small hut, and added in a few neccesities.

Few chests, bed, ect. Transmutation tablet is in the basement.

Setup a windmill, 4 more of these plus some thermal generators currently power my machines.


Its not a huge amount, i currently have an enrichment chamber and electric furnaces from immersive eng. They handle ore production and smelting Its a temporary setup designed to solely supply my construction. Next post will have the shell of the base, as well as a few more advances in mods

Stay tuned!

 

[Teflon54]

Niceto see you here, lol! Looking good so far, excited for your builds

 

[Tsori]

So it took a day and we reset the map! ...hah. The coniferous forest turns out bugs out and crashes other players...YEYY

Watch this space, more pics comming soon of 2.0

 

[Tsori]

New beginnings..
​

Ok so not quite new, since the last one never really got any traction. So what happened?

Well basically i got quite far with the next build. I had a mansion all nicely built, a huge conservatory for witchery and various plants, as well as a built up AE workshop. Then the lag began. Unfortunately the scope of what myself and the others on the server want to create, a living city around our bases, normal huge packs are just too bulky and bloated to effectively do it before we hit the point we are forced to stop.

So we went back to the drawing board. We sort of stopped development on Sandbox 2 (the mod pack i used in my last picture through) largely due to the expectation of new mods for 1.8. Its now clear that 1.8 is going to largely be skipped in favor of 1.9 for modding so we decided to revive our old homemade modpack and make it far more suited for what we wanted to do.

The concept we are working around is bringing back alot more realism and control to the mods we use. So TE is out, as is IC2, No more ender io or RF tools. Tech mods have been considerably reduced, replaced by in world interaction focus such as rotary craft, reactor craft, immersive engineering, Magneticraft, Steves carts, bees and fishes ect. Its more of a push to use the types of mods we always start off wanting to do but then get taken over by easier or cheaper methods.

Now there is a few additional that are needed to fill some holes in the pack, or lag preventing mods such as compact machines, MFR and a few others, however these are purely for one or two items that we cannot get elsewhere. I personally will avoid using these where necessary. Goodbye pipes Hello conveyors!

We are still using ancient warfare and customNPC's to create the towns, much like my last playthrough i want to create an entirely separate system with those mods, rather than feeding myself the resources, rather making them self sufficient and a town that runs itself with very little input from me. Thematically wise, my base itself will be separate to the town, much like the crazy inventor that lives on a hill , avoided because the house may explode at any point.

So thats where we are currently. Pictures will be uploaded with a progress report most days, Watch this space!

 

[Tsori]

So while i get the new season underway thought id throw up some screenshots of what i made in the interim

So Originally i made a giant tree and a giant tower of marble. Alot of mining went into this. The tower was for thaumaturgy, the tree behind (you can kinda see it a little) was going to be for witchery.
However scale of it seemed so out i abandoned it before it was finished.

Next I moved to a large plains and began planning out a new base. This one based on a manor hall (flintham hall) thats nearby to where i live. It has a giant victorian conservatory which i thought would be awesome for witchery.

I laid out a template of the building in sand so i knew where to begin. Then came the mass digging involved for foundations.

I also started and Advanced warfare village nearby. This held crop and animal farms with limited success (4 nights in they were all dead)

I shored up the walls of the foundations with marble and began making a raised base for the walls to start on

As you can see, it was built largely from the basement up.

This was to be the workshop, hidden beneath the main building most of my crafting machines smeltery and power gen was going to be hidden below.

The inside of the ground floor would contain a bit of witchery, a separate cauldron would be used for potions.

By this point, i already disliked the building. Too much marble involved, too bland and it hid a large amount of the details.

So i rebuilt! Im a big fan of bricks, especially chisel bricks, and provided you break them up with separate colors and mix sizes.

Next post will have more progression on this base!

 

[Tsori]

Following on from above, as you can see the size has reduced a little, as part of the rebuild i took off 1/3 of the buildings width, once again scale was playing hell with me but i was happy at that point. As you can see from above there is going to be two domes, one is a skylight for the main building and Thaum Area. The other is a tower for the infusion altar.

With the ground floor mapped out i begin building up, the central area of the building (towards the center in the below pic) was to be the thaumcraft area, the left hand side would have a kitchen and a grand staircase.

Marble would still be used in large quantities, normally id use limestone from mariculture, however it isnt in RR3. Luckily ive put it back in sandbox3 so my next build will use it alot more. Still the detailing stands out alot more against the brick.

This is the back of the building. As you can see ive kept a bit of a tower going through the building, this time just for the infusion altar. Also added a backdoor, it was needed. Even though the base was smaller it took too long to run round the outside.

And Finally with the second floor finished, i could add the dome to both towers. The windmills were made onto a wooden scaffold framework, they were supposed to look like they had been added afterwards, tacked onto the building and not part of the original plan.

And then began the conservatory. This was largely just a giant empty space to be detailed in with plants inside.

Once done, i began running electrics. Immersive engineering wiring was wound around the building before dropping down into the basement.

Interior detailing begins! The ground and first floor is aimed towards looking low tech and magicky, so bookshelves feature alot througout. Additionally the inside is laid out in a random manner to make it confusing to look at.

Transportation between the ground floor and the tower would be through the fireplace, Use of elevator blocks right now, later on i would have changed these out for a thaumcraft method.

From the ground floor the dome skylight is the main lightsource in the central area. This looks down on both floors with the cauldron setup in the center.

 

[Tsori]

Inside of the conservatory - a balcony from the second floor allows access from all levels.

The whole building is designed with a crawlspace under each floor to allow for pipes and cables to be run without being obvious...as well as cows apparently.

I did a bit more decoration for the outside, Eventually the entire area would be landscaped however for now it was just the building. Leaf blocks hide mistakes!

Carpets and my EE3 setup moved in first!

Then the thaumcraft stuff!

Then some additions to the workshop.

The workshop had wires running all over, it worked well, felt very closed in but nice.

Stair cases were added afterwards. In the background you can see the main staircase coming down from the main hall however it became quite apparent that easier access down was needed. Spiral staircases fitted in nicely , 3 in the end were used from various parts of the building.

Then came the death bell for this particular build.I was at the point where i needed better storage. This simple AE setup was meant to tide me over. However upon placing it, along with logistics pipes, the lag in this area of the base became ridiculous. At this point of screenshot id shoot from stable 60/120 (depending on setting) to 20. This was not reasonable.

So there we have it, thats what ive been up to in the interim. Its progressed at a pace i was very happy with yet the pack itself was not suited to the end goal.

With the next playthrough il be taking the task on differently. As you can see all this time spent building meant i was stunted in mod growth. Next time, il be pacing the mods at the same rate as the building. Hopefully this shall give me a better sense of scale and space requirements.

 

[Genius83]

That looks really nice.

 

[dragon_fang101]

cool!

 

[KingTriaxx]

One of the clever things you can do with AE now because of the flat panels, is completely hide them. Lay them around the sides of a block and use a sticky piston to move a block out from the front, and then close it again when you move away. That keeps it from disrupting the visual appeal of your build.

 

[Knux897]

This is very cool. Your use of blocks and architecture reminds me heavily of the Disney World version of the Haunted Mansion.

 

[Tsori]

Just a post to say thanks for the suggestions so far, i already plan to incorporate AE alot better in the new build. Ive recently just got back from time away with work and will begin uploading more shots of the new playthrough.

 

[Tsori]

So a mini-pre update, new world is...existing. Unfortunately it landed two days before i went away for two weeks.. SO YEY!. However im back now and despite being in the middle of ripping a kitchen out and replacing it, i can start posting again.

So what have i done so far? Well not a huge amount. Furnaces, crafting tables, small farm , the basics.
Myself and others on the servers have found an area of cliff edges and valleys that we will build our towns within. Atop one side ive claimed an area of the clifftop for my base, with intentions of building down the face for the town and outwards from it. I have made a start with agricraft, however without a proper setup im pretty much just getting weeds, this will need a bit more research on the mod to progress. I have drew out plans for my base area, and a few for the town itself, now begins the resource hording and getting the materials together.

Screenshots are coming, as is a more detailed run through, however just a small update to keep things moving.

 

[Tsori]

Update time!

Finally got some time to sit down away from work and get more done. So here we go with the pictures!

First off, the new areas:

Spoiler

As you can see im spreading out a bit this time. The aim is to build a town down in the valley in which my ancient warfare + rotarycraft areas can come together to make an industrial victorian-esque landscape. However thats further down the road. Ontop of the cliffs i want to spread out the areas mainly to reduce lag and FPS drops but also because it will pace me better as i progress.

Next up i setup a basecamp.

Spoiler

On the map, the area you see as tech base is where my initial camp was. I say was because at current time its being made into a mob farm (you will see this in later updates) So i dug a hole. and began getting coke ovens and blast furnaces going. I was going to need a huge amount of steel.

With this underway, i needed some cheap power!

Spoiler

This was quite easy to do, i made a lake above the "way down" marker, this would eventually have a cable held bridge dropping down into the valley, dropping the water over the edge and hitting a good 40% of each water wheel, this produces a good flow of power, enough to run my furnaces off of at least. an underground sewer runs the cables back to the base (this will be changed later on, however i do intend to have a fully usable sewer system for pipes and cables, however IE's over-land cables are attractive enough to use normally)

 

[Tsori]

Now it was around this time i began considering options. The pack we are using focuses around usable multiblock mods, aesthetically tuned to what im trying to do. However the issue with multiblocks is how damn big they can get. previous bases have been planned around the main big hitters, 25x25 infusion alter, 20x20 blood magic altar, ect ect. However this tech base had not been made with magneticraft and IE's blocks in mind. Space was already becoming an issue.

Anywho, next up my steel production ground to a halt, creosote oil has to be the most useless thing at the rate i was producing it, so i made a tank

Spoiler

Following this i connected a void pipe to the top, so once the tank filled i could drain it off.

I then began epanding, this time i went downwards and made 2 more layers

Spoiler

A bit of steelwork later, and i had a framework to use

Next up, i made a crusher, this drained the hell out of my little waterwheels so measures had to be taken.

Spoiler

This setup when ran will generate around 300rf/t, enough to power the crusher and top up my batteries.

However i limited power with breakers to ensure i could run my furnaces when i needed to.

Then i implemented a conveyor system from the top of the hole to bring all my ores down to the crusher.

So, setup complete, i had 2x ore processing and a small farm for food. I could now begin on the building!

Here is where things went wrong. Firstly the initial idea was to build atop the tech area, the current creation would run in the basement and a factory would sit ontop. It was too small. Multiblocks such as the refinery, magneticrafts resource processing ect all took up far too much room for such a tiny shaft with four levels. So i set out making a building to fit them.

Now for building im not going to lie, i have used EE3. The reason for this is i will be using a WHOLE LOT of bricks, and this is throughout. In order to keep it totally survival based and not jump into creative, EE3 is the only reliable way of creating many many blocks of brick in this pack. When i build, i build to completion. I cant begin building and then stop and continue later, so having all the resources there is important.

So, my first attempt at a factory:

Spoiler

One hour later i tore it all down.

In all honesty i like the inside, i like the use of height and steel against the brick. But from the outside the shape and lack of color is horrid. It looked too much like a church and lacked that touch of fantasy i want my builds to have. Knowing what i will be creating as my main base this also looked "too similar". A sense of familiarity and matching is great, but copying isnt. I have now built something different, something im more happy with and will be putting the finishing touches on today ready for another update in the near future.

With this building done, il be able to get back to what i really want to do, exploring this whole new set of mods.


Another major decision ive taken is No AE2. While AE2 is in the pack, and others on the server are using it, ive decided to keep a magical focus on my play through and where a magic solution exists with enough complexity to keep it interesting then that is what il be using. To that end, il be using automagy's inventarium, alongside botanias corporeal system. All of that however is stuff for another update.