My staircase to the bottom of the world has run into a natural cave system, so I spend a couple of minutes securing the entrance and showing off my new Firebolt Spell.
With that done, I get down to work. I’ve been needing to make a start with Buildcraft for a while, and Forestry provides a short-cut. The Clockwork Engine is limited in its usefulness, but will let me get on with what I need to do. I also make a Carpenter, and a Centrifuge, which allows me to finish up with some delicious honeyed bread.
Mods Encountered
Buildcraft 3.6.0 maintained by CovertJaguar : It’s nice to have finally made a start with Buildcraft, even though technically everything I made today was from Forestry!
Forestry by Sir Sengir : Even once you have more complicated engines, the clockwork engine will be a useful and easy to set up engine for quick jobs.
While regular and rocky combs only give honey and wax, even some of the other mundane bees will make combs which centrifuge into more interesting things.
Now I just need to find a diamond for the beealyser…
Extra Bees by Binine : Rocky Bees are not particularly productive, but being able to keep them indoors easily makes up for that. Like all basic bees, they can lead to some farm more interesting species.
Ars Magica by Mithion : Firebolt is the second spell I’ve researched. I’m trying to do them one at a time, from time to time, to make sure I have new things to talk about!
In need of inner peace after my disastrous obsidian hunting expedition, I decide to build an aquarium.
Renewed, I also build an anvil for using my stock of enchanted books.
A quiet and somewhat uneventful episode, but I was pleased to finally have some enchanted tools. Since recording I’ve continued my grand staircase downwards and have just broken into a cave network. I’ll save looking in there for the next episode.
Anvil enchanting is vanilla Minecraft, of course, but new to me. This is my first proper game since Alpha, and even unmodded Minecraft still has plenty of new things for me to learn.
Mods Encountered
Mo Creatures by Dr Zhark and Bloodshot 42 : I’m not sure how many different sorts of fish there are to collect. I do have some piranha eggs, but I thought that might be tempting fate.
Wild Caves was responsible for the spider webs I collected down in the caves.
Farlanders adds rubies to worldgen for trading with the friendly Farlanders. Not to be confused with the identical looking Ruby planted by Biomes O’ Plenty, who made the deliberate and annoying decision to be incompatible.
After a joyous beginning where I introduce my newly bred horse while fighting off an army of monsters, it all goes a bit wrong.
I demonstrate how to make steel from Manganese and Iron, and then bravely set off to use my steel pick to carve some obsidian.
Mods Encountered
Metallurgy by Rebel Keithy and Shadowclaimer : Steel is another step up from Damascus Steel, but I am not currently in possession of enough Manganese to dream of putting it into general usage.
Grimoire of Gaia by Silentine : Dullahan!! That’s what those pesky little blue folks were called. I shall have forgotten again by the next time I encounter one.
Enhanced Portals gets its first mention rather sooner than I expected. It would appear that, in addition to improving how portals work, it also has something to say about the properties of obsidian, the main material for portals. If you don’t have Enhanced Portals installed, steel will handle obsidian very nicely indeed. For me, I shall have to accelerate my descent to depths where diamonds can be found.
The reasons for my pumpkin and wheat farming become clear, as I go in search of a trusty steed or three to help me get around a little faster.
Mods Encountered
Mo Creatures by Dr Zhark and Bloodshot42 : The horses, donkeys, saddles, sugarlumps and medallions are all Mo Creatures. Through selective breeding, and a little magic, it is possible to attain pegasi, unicorns, and other exotic mounts. I’ll settle for a sturdy and loyal companion for now.
I’ll be making the means to get horses to stay still in the next episode. That should allow me to take Pablo the pack-donkey on adventures *relatively* safely. I just hope he does better than the luggage in that regard.
Rancraft Penguins : Today was the triumphant first appearance of a Rancraft Penguin. That’s one, getting devoured when I go over to the ocean, just as I clumsily cut to the next scene. Most of the penguin species appear in icier biomes than I’ve found yet, but a few appear on beach sub-biomes, which I guess I’m encountering for the first time in that area.
In the last episode I claimed there was an unstable Thaumcraft vis node south of my base. Today, I show how I could have known that without goggles, and go to check it out a bit more closely.
I also do a bit of vegetable farming.
Mods Encountered
Thaumcraft by Azanor : The obsidian altar will continue to pump out aggressive-aspected wisps until I deal with the spawner. As it’s embedded inside obsidian, I couldn’t do that today. Even if I could destroy it, I’m somewhat reluctant to, as wisps can drop some useful ingredients.
Mo Creatures by Dr Zhark and Bloodshot42 : I’ll probably need to put fences around my farms eventually, as Mo Creatures is filled with critters who like messing with your crops.
Natura by mDiyo : Natura adds cotton and barley seeds to grass drops, as well as the pants themselves growing in the wild.
Forestry by SirSengir : I now have some visible cross-bred leaf blocks on the trees near my hives. Most exciting, but I’m leaving them where they are until I can analyse their genetic structure and pick the best saplings for the next generation.
Today I put my wizard hat back on, and begin to dabble in the weird ways of Thaumcraft research.
Realising that magic is not the only path to success, I also show how to create a batch of Damascus Steel with Metallurgy. Damascus Steel is made by mixing bronze dust and iron dust. It is a little better than iron for most purposes, and is significantly more durable, meaning that gear will last far longer. All tools and armour made with Metallurgy metals have a unique appearance too.
Mods Encountered
Metallurgy by Rebel Keithy and Shadowclaimer : There are a great many ores and alloys in Metallurgy beyond the ones I’ve used so far. Most of them are rarer, or in the Nether or End. Damascus Steel is a good working material for me where I am, still in the very early game.
Grimoire of Gaia by Silentine just updated to 1.4. As well as taking pity on me in my Extreme Hills home (Silentine watches the series!) by pushing Griffons and Valkyrie up from sea level, the new version also adds 5 new monsters whom I’m sure shall be delighted to see me.
Thaumcraft by Azanor : At last I’m back on track to becoming a mighty Thaumaturge! I did mispeak though, as I have done a little with Thaumcraft in a previous episode. You can catch me creating my first wand, and the fabled Thaumonomicon back in episode 11.
The crucible is a tricky beast, from what my studies tell me, so is going to require a room of its own. I’m extending the ground floor of the wizard tower to accommodate it.