I won't harvest nether quartz until I have silk touch. Keeps mobs from agro-ing and allows use of machines that give extra output. The NEI ore processing feature is a godsend. Jetpack+silktouch ftw to get nether quartz.
Why AE2 feels punishing (the Certus Quartz need)
- Thread starter Benie76
- Start date
I won't harvest nether quartz until I have silk touch. Keeps mobs from agro-ing and allows use of machines that give extra output. The NEI ore processing feature is a godsend. Jetpack+silktouch ftw to get nether quartz.
Even with silk touch the sheer amount of Nether Quartz leaves you with no Quartz for anything else. I know when my mind is concentrated on a task I don't want to hunt for an object for more than 30 minutes. I don't find no where near enough quartz so I end up starting other tasks like mundanely wandering the Nether.
Maybe it’s just me but I have never had an issue finding Certus Quartz. Maybe that’s because I don’t try and build an AE system on my first day. Once I have my bees or MFR Laser Drill running I more Certus Quartz then I need.
Also I always Silk Touch all my ores. You have a small chance of getting Certus Quartz dust form Nether Quartz ore.
Also I always Silk Touch all my ores. You have a small chance of getting Certus Quartz dust form Nether Quartz ore.
Direwolf20 isn't running a lecture, he's just narrating his gameplay for his lets plays. While he can be informative it's not the main goal.
He probably omits crafting recipies becasue his pack has NEI, it's far more helpful to tell someone to use NEI then show them the recipe.
He probably omits crafting recipies becasue his pack has NEI, it's far more helpful to tell someone to use NEI then show them the recipe.
I've actually found Dire to be one of the most informative and easy to follow people doing videos. He's very clear and concise in his explanations and easily understood and doesn't fumble around with a bunch of ummm's etc. I rarely come away from his videos with questions about what he is explaining. The only way it might seem that way to some viewers is if you haven't played modded MC very much, he does omit the more basic processes in some cases as its a given that most players understand.
I absolutely agree. I've watched many videos from other people in order to get a more varied picture, but there's a reason why I always come back to dw20's videos if I look for information, be it LP series or mod spotlights. I know people who are clearly highly competent but their voices put me to sleep, and others who appear to think sounding crazy and excited draws a bigger audience. There are only a few who find the right balance, and dw20 is one of them.
I've been messing around with mystcraft a lot lately and find that it is super useful, and if your lucky and remember to find the library in every age you make, even if it's a sucky age, you can find things like nether quartz blocks. I have a age full of tons of nether quartz, it's practically endless.
My starts have been:
TC tools/smeltery for ore doubling
Manual mining(A cheap iron hammer will get a lot of work done) and working toward getting to the nether
make 2 ender tanks(for lava), a pump setup with redstone engines and a chunk loader for the nether (my personal server)
and know you are ready for magma dynamos and basically infinite energy (Recently learned about thermal expansion piping, I things they are lot better then buildcraft pipes)
this will let you power your quarry and from there you can move into AE (Remember you need lots and lots of chests, diamond pipes for connecting everything and possible some void pipes for cobble/dirt to manage the quarry output)
This is what I consider midgame. From there you can work toward all the better things. My latest server I've actually been able to completely avoid IC2 (which I've come to hate) Thermal expansion/Forestry will get everything you need done, and is much more manageable imo.
My next step is finding a permanent base locations and setting up my first reactor.
My starts have been:
TC tools/smeltery for ore doubling
Manual mining(A cheap iron hammer will get a lot of work done) and working toward getting to the nether
make 2 ender tanks(for lava), a pump setup with redstone engines and a chunk loader for the nether (my personal server)
and know you are ready for magma dynamos and basically infinite energy (Recently learned about thermal expansion piping, I things they are lot better then buildcraft pipes)
this will let you power your quarry and from there you can move into AE (Remember you need lots and lots of chests, diamond pipes for connecting everything and possible some void pipes for cobble/dirt to manage the quarry output)
This is what I consider midgame. From there you can work toward all the better things. My latest server I've actually been able to completely avoid IC2 (which I've come to hate) Thermal expansion/Forestry will get everything you need done, and is much more manageable imo.
My next step is finding a permanent base locations and setting up my first reactor.
Right up to here you're doing perfect in my opinion, but I would like to make a few suggestions that I think you will find are much faster and more practical.
You may want to rethink this. At this point you're probably only powering a pulverizer and furnace, take a look at survival generators they are super cheap, connect direct to a machine (you can connect one gen to each side of a mchine, or multiple machines to a gen) and can be used later to power a lava pump. In the meantime you can be mining for enough coal and yellorite to get a basic reactor started. In my opinion there is no reason to even run dynamos. You can make as small as a 1 core reactor that will out power several dynamos, is easier to use and maintain and can be expanded easily. I used to build one right by the quarry above ground before I started setting up the quarry's right under my base, now i set them up right below the reactor, then start making ender IO energy conduit to run when I move it until I have tesseracs, I usually have ender chests by the time i've moved it twice, but I can reset it 3 times barely moving it and leaving space for my outfeed inventories. No more waiting for daylight and dodging mobs to check quarry
Thermal pipes just came back after an absence to reconfigure the mod. They used to fall under TE. now it is its own mod. It still seems to be a bit glitchy and Ender IO pipes are vastly superior once you get enough ender. I havent used BC pipes in years. Even extra utilities pipes are better, which is what I used to use early game till TE pipes came back.
Try using barrels. Run pipes off the quarry chest and put another overflow chest at the end of the run. I generally run dirt, cobble etc to a trash can after filling a barrel or two. The barrels allow you more time to do other things instead of constantly emptying chests or worrying about overflow, and you can swap full barrels for empty (using a dolly to pick them up, these also pick up full chests) and run a barrel of ore at a time through your processing system if you want r store them till you get a better system up.
This is what i consider my early game.
Yes, IC used to be amazing and fun. The macerator was a game changer, I'm not sure but I think it was before TE. IC in general completely changed modded minecraft for me, I used to love making the water wheels and figuring out how to get the max power from them. UU matter, reactors, loads of fun . Then along came greg. However TE took the ball and ran with it, and now we have Ender IO which greatly expands things even further.
Also, take a look at BC for planting and harvesting.
I personally prefer a stone hammer for mining. With a wooden handle, and a tool station in your inventory, you can go forever because you can repair the tool on the go. Plus it won't mine anything except coal mostly, and so you can later come back and cherry pick out the ores you want with a pick.
As for AE2, I don't really use it until I have my wall of barrels filled. (Including ten or so Cobble barrels.) For mining I still use the Buildcraft Quarry, since it's reliable in a way that even Ender Quarries have proven not to be. On the other hand, if your computer works without lagging out like mine, a Mining Turtle with the Excavate command, which is built in, is a perfectly acceptable substitute.
Excavate requires a number, such as 8, that makes it dig an 8x8 hole, and return to it's starting position to drop off it's items into a chest. I don't believe it will auto-refuel though, which can be an issue. There are other mining scripts out there though, which will auto-refuel. It's just a matter of finding them on the Computer Craft forums.
As for AE2, I don't really use it until I have my wall of barrels filled. (Including ten or so Cobble barrels.) For mining I still use the Buildcraft Quarry, since it's reliable in a way that even Ender Quarries have proven not to be. On the other hand, if your computer works without lagging out like mine, a Mining Turtle with the Excavate command, which is built in, is a perfectly acceptable substitute.
Excavate requires a number, such as 8, that makes it dig an 8x8 hole, and return to it's starting position to drop off it's items into a chest. I don't believe it will auto-refuel though, which can be an issue. There are other mining scripts out there though, which will auto-refuel. It's just a matter of finding them on the Computer Craft forums.
There's a great script that you can use. It has worked excellent for me. Some people complain about it being buggy but for the most part I never have any issues. And it auto refuels. I set up a sorting pipe to branch off and go to the fuel chest so the coal it mines goes to the fuel chest. Works great for me, and starting up before I could afford the ender quarry it provided much certus quartz. Just make sure you put smooth stone in the first slot as a filter or it will excavate just like normal except from the ground up lol
http://www.computercraft.info/forums2/index.php?/topic/7675-advanced-mining-turtle-ore-quarry/
http://pastebin.com/3mkeUzby
Would you mind elaborating a bit on this? I have yet to have a problem with and ender-quarry so I'm wondering if I'm simply missing a fault in it's operation.
It's more an issue on my end. My computer sometimes brings minecraft to a complete halt and so the ender quarry will loose connection to the world hole upgrade, and so I end up with pillars of dirt in the middle of the holes.
I know it's not in any of the FTB packs But thaumic energistics makes certus quartz a trivial affair as the addon lets you alchemically double certus quartz for 2 aqua and 4 Vitreus. The mod also lets you store essentia on a ME network. In my play through I am using Technomancy's Node Dynamo to keep a little sub-network powered.
Of course this is useless to you if you stick to stock standard packs or play mostly SMP.
Of course this is useless to you if you stick to stock standard packs or play mostly SMP.