Item life cycles
Just so you know, this isn't going to be just a tiresome list of links to videos. I have done a lot of task analysis, optimization experiments, and tried to play the game and its mods from all angles, so I plan to post some unusual reference material along the way. I will try to be clear about all mods and versions mentioned, but it's a real brain teaser, since I played on a Tekkit server for about a year using one batch of mods, then when Tekkit seemed to stall at MC1.2.5 I drifted over to the Feed the Beast modpack, with different mods. The whole environment just keeps evolving. I know of recipes that have been replaced, but will try not to rack my brain every time to remember exactly which version such-and-such thing first appeared in.
One thing that fascinates me ... the "life cycles" of each item in the game. Where it comes from, what it can be used for, ALL the possible uses and how they merge together with the life cycles of other items. With the Never Enough Items (NEI) mod, you can search the recipe database live in your crafting window, but some uses don't involve crafting ... like mushrooms that you can make soup out of but also plant and harvest.
In a well-balanced game, every item should have multiple uses, multiple paths of development. Some are dead ends, like apatite in the Forestry mod: mix it with two sand to get 8(?) fertilizer, and that's the only possible use.
Many mods really open up possibilities. In vanilla MC, wheat can be used for bread, or mixed with cocoa for cookies. I can't think of another use. But add the Forestry mod and wheat goes into making humus for tree farms, goes into the moistener to make mulch (with mossy cobble/stonebrick as a byproduct), can be turned into biomass in the fermenter, and probably a dozen other neat applications.
So, without getting too demented with it, I hope to post more interesting analytical bits as I organize them in my files.
One thing that fascinates me ... the "life cycles" of each item in the game. Where it comes from, what it can be used for, ALL the possible uses and how they merge together with the life cycles of other items. With the Never Enough Items (NEI) mod, you can search the recipe database live in your crafting window, but some uses don't involve crafting ... like mushrooms that you can make soup out of but also plant and harvest.
In a well-balanced game, every item should have multiple uses, multiple paths of development. Some are dead ends, like apatite in the Forestry mod: mix it with two sand to get 8(?) fertilizer, and that's the only possible use.
Many mods really open up possibilities. In vanilla MC, wheat can be used for bread, or mixed with cocoa for cookies. I can't think of another use. But add the Forestry mod and wheat goes into making humus for tree farms, goes into the moistener to make mulch (with mossy cobble/stonebrick as a byproduct), can be turned into biomass in the fermenter, and probably a dozen other neat applications.
So, without getting too demented with it, I hope to post more interesting analytical bits as I organize them in my files.
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