New Release! (BTW V4.30)

[Charzy]

That windmill just made my day XD

[RezDev]

Wow, that windmill looks awesome!

Guess I'll have to kick my FTL addiction and head back into the Nether...

Thanks for another great update, FC!

[embirrim]

That windmill reminds me of the good old age of empires days.
Great release, you're going all out with the chemistry aspect =D I still remember when you were playing spacechem and we all all anticipated something of the sort.

[Six]

Oh, one thing which I've not mentioned which I would like to tip my hat to, is the naming you've been using.

Not sulfur - Brimstone
Not potassium nitrate - Nitre
Not nitro glycerin - Blasting oil

It does wonders for keeping the natural Minecraft feel, sticking more to alchemy / medieval chemistry.

[FlowerChild]

Great release, you're going all out with the chemistry aspect =D I still remember when you were playing spacechem and we all all anticipated something of the sort.

Well, my experiences with Spacechem lead more to thoughts on production-line mechanisms rather than on actual chemistry. I was looking more at the gameplay mechanics rather than the subject-matter :)

That does make me think I should go back to that game for another round though. I get the impressions there are still some lessons left in it for me, as it really is a brilliant design (I just wish the overall pacing were better).

The chemistry thing is more just a natural extension of what I've been doing in the past. There are certain aspects of gameplay that just lend themselves towards it...explosives definitely being one of them.

It does wonders for keeping the natural Minecraft feel, sticking more to alchemy / medieval chemistry.

Thanks man! I do try to put some thought into that aspect. With Blasting Oil, there obviously wasn't really an ancient or medieval name for the substance since it's a relatively modern invention. However, yes, I thought "Blasting Oil" to be much more appropriate than "Nitroglycerin", even if blasting oil was historically an invention that came afterwards.

It seemed like a name that Steve might come up with himself for the substance he's discovered, as it's descriptive of what it does rather than its chemical composition, and also provides a historical reference for the player as to what the substance actually is, even if it's a tad anachronistic.

[embirrim]

Well, my experiences with Spacechem lead more to thoughts on production-line mechanisms rather than on actual chemistry. I was looking more at the gameplay mechanics rather than the subject-matter :)

That does make me think I should go back to that game for another round though. I get the impressions there are still some lessons left in it for me, as it really is a brilliant design (I just wish the overall pacing were better).

The chemistry thing is more just a natural extension of what I've been doing in the past. There are certain aspects of gameplay that just lend themselves towards it...explosives definitely being one of them.

Oh yes, production lines make more sense, even though spacechem is quite chemistry based, although not 100% real. I really liked the game also, what do you mean by overall pacing? Sorry for the offtopic, but creating a thread for a question... meh.

[FlowerChild]

Oh yes, production lines make more sense, even though spacechem is quite chemistry based, although not 100% real. I really liked the game also, what do you mean by overall pacing? Sorry for the offtopic, but creating a thread for a question... meh.

Yeah, I don't view SpaceChem as a chemistry game. Chemistry was really just the "setting" for what was a game about automated production lines. For example, I remember I was toying with different variants on the concept at one point, and I had one idea about assembling monsters out of various body-parts and sending them off to do battle with a neighboring mad-scientist or what have you. It would essentially be the same game with a competitive element (and potentially a lot more mass appeal as it's something more people can relate to).

With regards to pacing, the problem with space-chem is the difficulty ramped up way too quick. Each mission basically had you assimilating a new concept on how to do things, and simultaneously made the scenario much harder overall. I think it really would have benefited from more "filler" missions where you got to practice previous techniques a few more times before moving on to the next. I think it also would have flowed a bit better if the scenarios in which new concepts were introduced focused almost exclusively on that element rather than ramping up the difficulty in other areas at the same time.

As it stands, the pacing was rather overwhelming. Despite loving the game, I never finished it, and upon further reflection, I realized that the above was the reason why.

But yes, beyond the lessons I learned from the game and how they came to influence my own design decisions for the mod, this is very off-topic, so if people want to discuss this further, I'd ask them to resurrect the old SpaceChem thread in the off-topic section, or start a new one.

[Graphite]

-Added back the ability for Ender Spectacles to see spawn locations in the end dimension. I had mistakingly thought that spawns in the end were not dependent on light-level, which they actually are.

You know, this one had me wondering about something. From what I gathered the indirect motivation to you creating nether groth was your death at the hands of endermen on the bridge you were building in the end. When you got back from that death-run, did you light up the bridge to make sure that wouldn't happen again? I can't help but think that'd be the first thing I'd do subconsciously. Curious whether you'd do the same :P

Great update otherwise. Not really into blowing stuff up (particularly not myself), but I've already thought up several building designs I'll have to try with the new windmill :)

[FlowerChild]

You know, this one had me wondering about something. From what I gathered the indirect motivation to you creating nether groth was your death at the hands of endermen on the bridge you were building in the end. When you got back from that death-run, did you light up the bridge to make sure that wouldn't happen again? I can't help but think that'd be the first thing I'd do subconsciously. Curious whether you'd do the same :P

No...I actually went through the trouble of building a 2-high ceiling out of slabs the entire length of said bridge, and made sure the entire area around my mob-trap had a top layer of slabs on it :)

And actually, the Groth was a result of my work on my pigman farm...not the enderman one.

[Graphite]

And actually, the Groth was a result of my work on my pigman farm...not the enderman one.

Well, I did say indirectly. I always thought you got started on your pigmen farm after this incident due to losing your, and I quote, "Full inventory full of power rails (actually...all my remaining gold in the world)," :P

[FlowerChild]

Well, I did say indirectly. I always thought you got started on your pigmen farm after this incident due to losing your, and I quote, "Full inventory full of power rails (actually...all my remaining gold in the world)," :P

Yup, that's true enough, but the Groth really had/has nothing to do with the end.

As an amusing aside...my end farm is now almost completely defunct due to the changes I made to Endermen a couple of releases ago. It was based on just a plain drop-trap with no pistons involved (just vine traps), so the Endermen have slowly been sabotaging it by placing endstone within :)

[Graphite]

As an amusing aside...my end farm is now almost completely defunct due to the changes I made to Endermen a couple of releases ago. It was based on just a plain drop-trap with no pistons involved (just vine traps), so the Endermen have slowly been sabotaging it by placing endstone within :)

Hah! Emergent behaviour at its finest. It's always entertaining to see how even the slightest changes can have totally unexpected, and quite interesting side-effects.

[FlowerChild]

Hah! Emergent behaviour at its finest. It's always entertaining to see how even the slightest changes can have totally unexpected, and quite interesting side-effects.

Well, I did anticipate this one as I was working on the Endermen actually. I setup very specific rules that would allow for certain kinds of traps to continue functioning with time, and which would cause others (like mine) to become inoperable.

So yes, I knowingly broke builds there...including my own :)

The only uncertainty was how long it would actually take. Turns out it was fairly fast.

[Mr_Hosed]

Congrats FlowerChild, you've managed to make me WANT to find a stronghold to go too the End now.

I've played atleast 5 BTW worlds since soul-forged steel was introduced and I've never bothered before now with the End. The only thing to really do there was an Enderman farm for pearls and XP and I didn't like pearls. I prefer to build railways, fast drops, speed potions, etc. Now I can use mystical water, harvest end stone for explosives, build endstone collection traps, etc. I can even still build an enderman trap if I so choose.

Thank you for giving a reason to yet another basically useless addition from Mojang =)

[FlowerChild]

Thank you for giving a reason to yet another basically useless addition from Mojang =)

Hehe...you're welcome man. It took me awhile to figure out how to properly integrate the End given its variable nature in old saves and in SMP, but I figured it out eventually ;)

[Mac]

This release is quite something for sure,
no other had me go to the hassle of actually making a warning-sign above the chest I keep the newly added stuff in,
to remind me to not blow myself to chunky bits by pure accident.
It reads the following btw.

Spoiler

Show

Warning
Dagerous-Goods
Class 1.1
inside

Handle with
extreme caution

Written in all caps where i did put it, but for reading comfort and good-sense I left it out here

Also, the mod keeps getting better and better, even made me become a hcb-convert (no joke),
hats off to you my good sir.

[haphazardnuke]

Oh man, the blasting oil. This stuff is going to be great in SMP. I can already imagine some devious demolitions, especially involving automated egg-cracking machines filled with oil.
Also, this gives you a desperation defense against SFS-wearing players: Throw some at them, then hit them with an arrow (or if you're suicidal, punch them)... even if it does do minimal damage, all you have to do is that half-heart.
I remember trying a mod once where you played as a creeper and Steve(?) NPCs ran around with random armors on. It sucked because the NPCs were kinda OP considering you had to kill yourself with an explosion to do any real damage.
Now, we can all be creepers and stay pure BTW. Laira gets the first squee, of course, but can I *cheer*? :3

No pressure, but I've never been disappointed with a new release's content. Even bugfixes are exciting around here. Thanks for this!

[Kazuya Mishima]

You know, this one had me wondering about something. From what I gathered the indirect motivation to you creating nether groth was your death at the hands of endermen on the bridge you were building in the end.

Wait the growth does grow in the "end" on endstone? So we don't have to build physics defying bridges away from the island to build a farm ?

[Graphite]

Might want to read the follow-up posts as well. The link lies in that the end made FC lose all his gold, which triggered him to build a gold-farm in the nether, which ended up with the nethergroth. I'm pretty sure it still only works in the nether ;)

P.S. That remark is going to haunt me now, isn't it? Sorry, FC, for introducing this particular misunderstanding.

[FlowerChild]

P.S. That remark is going to haunt me now, isn't it? Sorry, FC, for introducing this particular misunderstanding.

Hehe...no worries. Yeah, that's why I tried to correct any assumptions that might be made from it as quickly as possible. Didn't work though ;)

[Kazuya Mishima]

I wanted to be certain i understood. I'm not a big fan of building cobble bridges. I actually have never been to the end but i suppose i could have tested in creative.

[FlowerChild]

I wanted to be certain i understood. I'm not a big fan of building cobble bridges. I actually have never been to the end but i suppose i could have tested in creative.

Dude...I cleared it up immediately after the post you responded to was posted.

[Sarudak]

You don't need a big cobble bridge... Just light up the end like you would for an overland farm...

[Kazuya Mishima]

You don't need a big cobble bridge... Just light up the end like you would for an overland farm...

Thanks, i wasn't aware. I guess i watch too many etho videos and enderman have changed a bit since he built his farm. My shift key thanks you.

[Foxy Boxes]

Oh my. From playing around I found out how volatile Blasting Oil is, but get this: I try to guess at recipes rather than go straight to a wiki, so I was sat there trying to think how to make a Powder Keg when I get the god-awful thought that maybe Barrels had to be filled with Blasting Oil via a Hopper. Luckily I remembered Kegs were introduced before Blasting Oil (iirc), the thought of *having* to handle Blasting Oil like that... :S