Industrial mod idea

Recently I've been thinking - what would make this game more challenging? What could refresh it for people who are a bit bored of it? I've come with a following mod idea.

Check the Table of Contents, instead reading whole this jibbba-jabba. Ore names and machine names are jsut placeholders. Please bear with my Engrish.

“	Mod ideas are like assholes - everyone has one, and no one cares about them.	”
– Albert Einstein

There are many mods that change the ore system, however most of them focus on adding a number of ores, without providing a decent way to use them. Hereby I come with idea of a new mod, codenamed Silesia (see-lays-ya).

• Before

  Go to Minecraft ore distribution
• After

  Go to Better Ore Distribution

1/2

Basic concepts

So instead adding new ores, I'd like to add more flavor to existing ores by:

• changing ore distribution - ore deposits are less common but more rich
  • Encourages player to plan and develop his mines, instead of simply going underground and branch mine like a robot. Finding ore deposit is much harder, thus more rewarding. Minecarts are useful again.
• adding a new factor - ore quality.
  • Some deposits are better, some are worse. Forces player to plan and decide; adds more activities to the game.
• adding prospectors' toolset
  • Stops brainless branch mining.

Ore distribution is inspired by Better Ore Distribution mod (Marcopolo1613 is the author). Ores will spawn in large veins. Each vein will contain only few or none vanilla ore blocks, more medium quality ore, and a lots of bad ore. Clumped ores encourage players to spend more time in one place instead of plowing through the map like a mining robot. Also, it forces use of mine carts.

This mod would make the game harder than it is. As I'm technicpack/tekkit-oriented, this mod can provide a nice experience with those packs (RP2/Buildcraft for automation, IC2/ThermalExpansion for machines).

Ore quality

Each ore, like iron or copper, will come in few flavors (3 are enough, I think):

1. Normal ore - vanilla ore.
2. Poor ore - needs to be smelted two times. 1 ingot requires two Poor ores (you can use machines to change that - see tech trees below)
3. Bad ore - needs to be smelted FOUR times. 1 ingot requires four Bad ores (not if you use machines. See tech tree below).

Tech trees

Few tech trees just to catch general idea. Notice how production output increases when going to the next tier. Disclaimer: those trees are not trying to resemble how ores are treated in real world.

Normal ore smelting

T1				T2				T3
				T2 machine - crusher/macerator				not neccesary
				Pure dust
1 ore : 1 ingot				1 : 2

Poor quality ore smelting

T1				T2				T3
Poor ore				T2 machine
				Stained ore dust				T3 machine - ore rinser or sth
Slag								Pure dust
2
1 ore : 0,5 ingot				1 : 1				1 : 2

Bad ore smelting

Analogical to those above.

T1				T2				T3
1 ore : 0,25 ingot				1 : 0,5				1 : 1

Rich diamond block

T1				T2				T3
Rich diamond block
				T2 machine - crusher/macerator				T3 machine
1 ore : 1 diamond				1 : 2

Poor diamond block

T2				T3
Poor diamond block
T2 machine
Stained diamond dust				T3 machine
No T1 or T2 here				1 : 1

Et cetera, T. B. C.

Machines

The idea is to get more metals from the poor quality ores. Higher tier -> more metal.

T2 machine

Building it should need some kind of investment - IC2 Macerator or Thermal Expansion Pulverizer are good candidates.

T3 machine

Quite costly to build and very annoying to keep in operation. For example, it could need hideous amounts of water to operate. Or lava.

T4 machine

Needs extreme amounts of power to operate, similar or more to the Mass Fabricator

Prospection

Prospector tools are tiered as well. Three variables are taken into account:

1. Tools' vertical range (how deep measurement can reach)
2. Ore quantity approximation (from boolean true/false to almost exact number of blocks)
3. Ore type differentiation (basic tool can say that there is SOME kind of ore underground, but can't tell what ore is it).

I don't yet know how to mix those variables in the tiers, however I'm sure that first tier (or first and second tier) will use only resources from the surface to be crafted, so the player could have a decent game start.

Gameplay implications in Single Player

• Ore output increases as the player progress - instead of increasing scale of his mines, by adding another Miners or Quarries, player can utilize more sophisticated methods of increasing metal output.
• Player is not interested in bad quality ores in the beginning, but when he has reached next tech, he will come back for them. Thus, he never abandons his old mines, so he will put more effort in building and maintaining them.
• Ore veins encourage players to establish mining camps, instead brainlessly plowing through the overworld. Minecarts will be useful again.
• Prospection adds the element of choice to the mining. Currently players don't make almost any decisions when mining, because ore distribution is very similar from chunk to chunk.
• Player have to decide how is he going to use his ores - smelt them right away or wait until next Tech?

Gameplay implications in Multiplayer

t.b.c.

Gameplay schemes

For comparison before and after Silesia.

Current Technicpack gameplay scheme

Simplified, no EE. Thaumcraft treated as a side quest.

1. Punch trees, find food.
2. Craft basic tools, go underground. Charcoal is optional.
3. Carve a stairway to the bedrock. Branch mine.
4. When mined enough, craft IC2 and RP2 machines.
5. Mine resources until capable of auto mining (Miner/Quarry).
6. Increase scale of auto mining.
7. Develop other things when steady flow of resources has been reached.
8. "Endgame".

Silesia gameplay scheme

A bit more detailed description than the one above. No EE, Thaumcraft treated as a side quest.

1. Punch trees, find food.
2. Craft basic tools, start producing charcoal for the torches.
3. Craft basic prospecting tools.
4. Seek for iron and copper veins. Go underground, explore caves (no good tools yet, can't just branch mine).
5. Mine ores of the best quality, leave the poor ones for the later use.
6. Craft T2 machines to increase metal yield and establish IC2 and RP2 infrastructure.
7. As the machines work, craft better prospecting tools and search for diamonds and more redstone.
8. Player has more metal now. He can establish basic mining facilities - rails, tubes, pipes, sorting system.
9. Construct basic automations (farms and such), more mining machines (miners and quarries).
10. Go T3. Quite a lot of work, as T3 machines are very annoying to keep in operation. Go back to old mines in order to get those Poor Ores smelted.
11. Increase scale of metal and energy production.
12. Go T4. Reuse former mines again in order to use Bad Ores.
13. "Endgame", interrupted with ore seeking from time to time.

Epilogue

That's it. Maybe I could make that mod myself, but I'm not a professional programmer. Even if I had enough time to learn, let's face it - code would suck donkey' balls, not mentioning bug tracking and technical help.

I will be more than happy to pass this idea to a person, who would develop such a mod. How much work is needed? I don't know, but I think I can point few milestones:

1. New ores - may be done via metadata of existing ores, however it may bring some limitations.
2. Ore distribution - using BOD if possible. Adding new ores may be tricky, however BOD support multi-layered distribution.
3. Prospector tools - a bit of coding.
4. New dusts/slags - need integration with furnaces and machines. Ore duping may be an issue.
5. Machines - Thermal Expansion will be perfect, as it has good API.
   1. T2 = Pulverizer or Macerator
   2. T3 = Igneous Extruder modified by adding an input slot for ores and power input.
   3. T4 = ???.

So that's really it. Thanks for coming this far, I'll appreciate every feedback.