Annoying and repetitive task ?

[MoRmEnGiL]

Breaking block dispensers. The damned things (as of the latest release, the adjective is literal) may make pretty much any redstone/mechanical system work amazingly, but put them in the wrong place or the wrong orientation...bloody nightmare.

Add to that fences,obsidian (though this is rightly so in SMP, in SSP..it's just a huge pain in the rear end) and furnaces (try moving an array of furnaces, say 5x2..*shudder*)

[FlowerChild]

Add to that fences,obsidian (though this is rightly so in SMP, in SSP..it's just a huge pain in the rear end) and furnaces (try moving an array of furnaces, say 5x2..*shudder*)

Fences are already taken care of by the axe tweaks . Obsidian...well, I do intend to make this thing SMP, and I'm not going to create differences in the way in functions between the two (plus pouring molds is cool).

I have a solution in the works for the rest.

[Dralnalak]

For me the most annoying and repetitive task has to be spending long period of time mining tunnels through the deep earth in hopes of stumbling on the rare ore I need. The scarcity of some things seems like an artificial and unnecessary grind in the game.

It may just be better luck, but it seems like there's a lot more iron (and coal) in the two 1.8 worlds I've played, so that at least has become easier. Previously I used only stone pickaxes for anything but those materials that had to have iron and rarely wore iron armor because I never found enough iron across multiple worlds. (I also never made a rail system in any world because I'd have tons of everything non-ore, a chest full of redstone I wasn't using, and maybe two stacks of iron if I was really lucky.)

[Itamarcu]

For me it's grinding hemp.
I mean, it's four clicks for EVERY FRIGGIN' HEMP!
It can drive you mad.

I think there SHOULD be a way to automate grinding hemp, but it should be VERY slow (something like 1 hemp in every minute) so you can mine or build in the meantime.

[Stormweaver]

For me it's grinding hemp.
I mean, it's four clicks for EVERY FRIGGIN' HEMP!
It can drive you mad.

I think there SHOULD be a way to automate grinding hemp, but it should be VERY slow (something like 1 hemp in every minute) so you can mine or build in the meantime.

It's called a windmill.

[FlowerChild]

It's called a windmill.

Lol! You're on a roll today man :)

[KriiEiter]

Or it's called right click AFK-ing. It's not hard to just sit with right click held down on your handcrank. I don't get all the hate that handcranks get.

The whole point of BTW is that things get easier (more productive at least) with each progression to new tech levels.

[ilovekintoki]

Or it's called right click AFK-ing. It's not hard to just sit with right click held down on your handcrank.

I would agree with you in earlier releases, but hand cranking depletes your hunger bar at an amazing rate. I think I needed like 2 stacks of melon slices to keep up my hunger bar in a sufficient manner to get a windmill.

[KriiEiter]

Or it's called right click AFK-ing. It's not hard to just sit with right click held down on your handcrank.

I would agree with you in earlier releases, but hand cranking depletes your hunger bar at an amazing rate. I think I needed like 2 stacks of melon slices to keep up my hunger bar in a sufficient manner to get a windmill.

I guess I haven't had that problem yet, as I've only had enough hemp to have to sit at my handcrank for around 4 hemp at a time. I've got 3 fabric so far, so I guess I'm in for some more cranking soon!

It does seem like most people are significantly slowed down by this new hunger bar depletion, though I've yet to experience it myself.

Then again, I do tend to space my activities out. I'll do some hemp grinding, then go tend my mob trap, see how my various farms are doing, grab some cobble from my generator, cut down some trees, and then finally come back to my hemp, farm it, and return to grinding.

[Likewhat]

Hollowing out underground rooms big enough for interesting projects. That's pretty much the only reason I started using Buildcraft. Also chopping down trees.

[BinoAl]

I'm not a big fan of chopping trees. In fact, a lot of the time when i host a server for me and a few friends, I'll start us off with a stack of 64 logs each, just to hold off the need for wood. lolz

[Thalmane]

The tedious task of collecting tons of sand to make sandstone for my underwater base. That 4:1 ratio is a pain in the ass

[MoRmEnGiL]

Add to that fences,obsidian (though this is rightly so in SMP, in SSP..it's just a huge pain in the rear end) and furnaces (try moving an array of furnaces, say 5x2..*shudder*)

Fences are already taken care of by the axe tweaks . Obsidian...well, I do intend to make this thing SMP, and I'm not going to create differences in the way in functions between the two (plus pouring molds is cool).

I have a solution in the works for the rest.

You have no idea how much I love the BtW axe tweak.
Obsidian as I said is a special case. (Out of curiosity, does anyone know if block dispensers work with obsidian? FC mentioned somewhere that obsidian farming can be semi-automated with BtW or am I imagining things? :P)
As for the rest, I'm sure you will come up with something good.

For me it's grinding hemp.
I mean, it's four clicks for EVERY FRIGGIN' HEMP!
It can drive you mad.

I think there SHOULD be a way to automate grinding hemp, but it should be VERY slow (something like 1 hemp in every minute) so you can mine or build in the meantime.

It's called a windmill.

Eh yeah, but in order to build that first windmill you need to just sit right clicking at the hand crank for an amount of time I find slightly unreasonable.
It is not a problem of how fast a single hemp is ground to fibers, rather it is a problem with the sheer quantity of fibers a working windmill needs (216 for the windmill itself, plus enough rope for whatveer number of axles you want). This is my only gripe so far with this mod. That whole hand-cranking thing is in stark contrast with the rest of the gameplay in this mod which is more about creative thinking and designing and less about repetitive tedious actions.

A possible solution for this would be a low tech automated tier 0 grinder of sorts. Something you would never use if you had windmills, unless setting up a remote base, but you would prefer over hand-cranking. It could be really slow,with only one slot for hemp,requiring an elaborate setup, or even a rare non BtW resource in small amounts,or it could even require some redstone circuitry or clock design.
The logic is, initially you could handcrank a bit anyway, untill you get this thing up and running, then you use it for more mass grinding till you get enough fibers for a windmill, or for a quick job if you are not near your windmill (ie passing by).

It does not need to be a new block btw, it can be a new function for the hand crank.

Of course the relevant recipes can simply be changed to need less fiber, but this is a bit too drastic methinks.

EDIT: to the person above, remember to filter your gravel too (If you bother collecting it that is, I have an OCD impulse to collect every last block of gravel I find :[ )

[DaveYanakov]

Would those who feel hand cranking is a chore be happier if it took five seconds or so to shift the lever but would then grind a piece of hemp plant without additional interaction? It would still use as much stamina as fifteen jumps on average.

[Battosay]

(Out of curiosity, does anyone know if block dispensers work with obsidian? FC mentioned somewhere that obsidian farming can be semi-automated with BtW or am I imagining things? :P)

Oh yeah :)
Inspired by FC's farm :
http://youtu.be/WjH8L-XiJGY?t=12m9s

Would those who feel hand cranking is a chore be happier if it took five seconds or so to shift the lever but would then grind a piece of hemp plant without additional interaction? It would still use as much stamina as fifteen jumps on average.

Motion secondée ! :)

[logorouge]

Reading all the posts about hand-cranking hemp, I have to ask: Are you guys using only a single millstone to grind your hemp? If you have the required food to replenish your hunger, sitting in a room with 5 or 6 millstones wouldn't take too long to grind what you need.

[FlowerChild]

Reading all the posts about hand-cranking hemp, I have to ask: Are you guys using only a single millstone to grind your hemp? If you have the required food to replenish your hunger, sitting in a room with 5 or 6 millstones wouldn't take too long to grind what you need.

Yeah, for most of my playthroughs, I've been using two cranks and millstones, and for my latest, I used 3. Even with 2 it's never gotten me to the annoyance stage, and I am generally quickly annoyed by such things :)

I'm certainly open to alternatives however, as long as it preserves the overall tech-flow where a wind-mill is required to move beyond a certain point, and there's a fair amount of work involved in making it.

As for the food issue: one thing to keep in mind is that even if it's not visible, different foods have different "satisfaction values" with the food system. Cooked Steak and Pork Chops have a very high satisfaction, while stuff like melon slices and donuts have very low.

This invisible satisfaction is drained off before your hunger meter begins to deplete from an activity, so if you eat more satisfying food, it takes you MUCH longer to get hungry. I don't find this system particularly intuitive, and I am not sure if I agree with how Mojang did it, but there it is: if you don't want to have to eat like crazy all the time, eat more satisfying foods.

[MoRmEnGiL]

Eh, it is not actually THAT bad, but it struck me as a big contrast with the rest of the stuff I did later on with this mod.
I fully understand FC philosophy of not giving things away for free to players or making them too easy, and I couldn't agree more.

It could be just me, but after a year of playing endless hours of mc I have a certain allergy to repetitive things :P And since it is just a stage that is soon over and never revisited, eh, it's not worth it to fuzz too much about it.

(I will still use invedit though next time I start a new BtW world :P)

And since I'm new here and I haven't done so already I will take the time to congratulate FC for his work and views on a lot of subjects (just listened to the entire interview on battosay's youtube) and to Battosay and the rest of the crew for their contributions to the community. It is relieving to know that even if notch and jeb go on a permanent bad trip, at least there will be others who are still on the right track. Oh, and FC, if it means anything to you, BtW is the first mod I've ever used for any game that I've ever played (and I am an ancient in gaming :P)

EDIT: Oh back on topic, and regarding the whole inv management again, one thing I hate in MC is the inflow of tools. Really we do not need any more tools in this game, having to juggle shovels,picks,axes,swords,bows,arrows,buckets,shears,etc is already tedious for me at least.

I find myself too often either having a drastically reduced inv space, or not having the right tool at hand when I need it. I want to play MC, not running around fetching and dropping things like a fool. (Yeah I am chaotic in inv managment. I always seem to have full inv.)

So yeah, I don't need mods adding even more overhead with more tools if it can be avoided.. Unless it is a diamond saw! :P (i'm joking if it wasn't obvious)

[SPACEDUDE360000]

In my case, that would be mining Obsidian. God I hate mining that stuff, but I like building portal networks.
FlowerChild took care of my other annoyances.

Well, in the case of Obsidian, you can pour it into moulds, plus the mod makes it possible to build Obsidian generators as well. I probably shouldn't do anything further to it, lest I nerf it as a defensive measure in SMP by doing something like making Steel tools effective against it :)

Ya you can make an obsidian generator or just take a block dispenser, a lever, and a water bucket to a lava pool and farm obsidian really easily and quickly.

[FlowerChild]

So yeah, I don't need mods adding even more overhead with more tools if it can be avoided.. Unless it is a diamond saw! :P (i'm joking if it wasn't obvious)

Yup, I hear you man, hence the Battle Axe. It's probably an idea I'll expand upon further in the future: the combining of multiple tools into 1 as the tech-level increases.

And thanks for all the good vibes :)

[Thalmane]

Yup, I hear you man, hence the Battle Axe. It's probably an idea I'll expand upon further in the future: the combining of multiple tools into 1 as the tech-level increases.

So something like this?

mattock - a kind of pick that is used for digging.

Basically it's a pick with a lame shovel on one side. From experience it is a very effective tool when digging through dirt and stone.

On topic: trying to create some kind of lake. I wanted to make a massive lake in a Deseret map once. Gave up after the third layer. The amount of work that has to go into making it just isn't worth the reward :(

[Rekablade]

Hmm... This is interesting, I don't really have anything that annoys me in Minecraft. I think that is why on the Edolas server I have it so people can hire me to do their more dull task that they don't want to do. In the end it doesn't bother me at all to flatten a massive area like Sargunster's desert or mine out a large area in/underground like I had to when I was building my underground mining corporation and helping Sargunster again with his lava moat project.

[Necropolis]

Well, if we already have all the serious players, including the mod author, feel the need to use multiple millstones, perhaps that's something that can be rectified. A millstone has three slots, yeah? So make it grind one out of each slot simultaneously. It's not like making multiple millstones is a big investment in resources that it would break the tech tree, and you would still need the same amount of hemp, which is the major limiting factor, but it would cut down on tedium.

I also like the combination pick and shovel. The number of times I've found an inexplicable chunk of dirt, down in the bowels of the earth, right next to the rock in the middle of my tunnel that causes me to have to switch between the tools is beyond count. I don't like the idea of swiss army knife tools, for the most part, but that one definitely would remove an annoyance.

[Itamarcu]

A millstone has three slots, yeah? So make it grind one out of each slot simultaneously. It's not like making multiple millstones is a big investment in resources that it would break the tech tree, and you would still need the same amount of hemp, which is the major limiting factor, but it would cut down on tedium.

I think that's a great idea! You could also make it even more fatiguing, so you still need lots of food but you do it faster.
Also, that will only be with a hand crank, right? since the automatic grinding is good as it is.

I also like the combination pick and shovel. The number of times I've found an inexplicable chunk of dirt, down in the bowels of the earth, right next to the rock in the middle of my tunnel that causes me to have to switch between the tools is beyond count. I don't like the idea of swiss army knife tools, for the most part, but that one definitely would remove an annoyance.

The mattock is also very good, and it fits with the battle axe, so it shrinks your space in 2 slots - which is great.
However, it needs to be slower than both regular pickaxe and shovel, to balance things out.
It will look like...this maybe?

[STEEL][STEEL][STEEL]
[STEEL][HAFT]
-empty-[HAFT]

[screally]

Out of curiousity, if you place 2 (or 3, or 4) millstones adjacent to one handcrank, will they all be activated by it?