Introducing the new Alice

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by sk89q, 3 March 2014.

  1. sk89q

    sk89q Administrator
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    edit: New member applications have been processed. Sorry for the delay.​
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    [h2]Introducing the new and improved Alice 1.6[/h2]
    A message from the ModPack team.

    The ModPack Team has been working for the last two weeks on rolling out a re-balanced and much improved version of Alice 1.6. There are some significant changes in the pack this time around, and there is a lot to be excited about. We've added a large number of new mods, retired a few, and brought back several other favorites from the past.

    What started out as a humble re-balance and map reset has turned into an update of grandiose proportions. Even so, balancing resource scarcity and relative "toughness" has remained one of our top priorities throughout this update.
    [h2]Our goals[/h2]
    With this update, the ModPack Team hopes to present players with increased focus on exploration and creativity in their gameplay. Mind you, we are by no means forcing you to discover and explore the plethora of amazing new dungeons added by mods like ChocolateQuest, nor are we saying that you must use all the brand new and brilliant blocks from Carpenter Blocks or Chisel mod. (Promise.)

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    However, this re-balance isn't a simple, static update. Over the next several months, mods will be added, content further balanced, new mechanics created, and so forth, long after the mod pack's initial release. Once you get on now, you may notice that a handful of items, blocks and other mechanics – from new and old mods alike – aren't currently enabled or implemented. Time constraints have required that we focus on critical issues, and set aside some features for inclusion in future updates.

    That said, let’s see what’s been changed!
    [h2]What's new[/h2]
    We hope that you don’t have to simply repeat the same work that you may have done previously, and so we’ve made a plethora of changes to the modpack.

    To begin, we’ve replaced Extra Biomes XL with Biomes O' Plenty, and we have padded the world with neat world generation mods like BigTrees! Finding that perfect place for you base should prove to be a bit more fun this time around.

    As far as technology goes, our “big end game” mod, GregTech is currently no longer a part of the mod pack. It wasn't easy to do — simply removing such a monolith of a mod — but we have added two equally large mods, specifically, Mekanism and RotaryCraft. (And in time, we intend on adding Atomic Science and a few other mods.)

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    Possibly the biggest change, however, is that automated mining methods such as quarries have been removed from the modpack (a few of the bee species are also affected similarly). Surely we are nuts? But wait — we have shifted the direct focus of mining and resource gathering back to tools. Awakened Ichorium Pickaxe wielding one-man quarries... Oh my, power trips are quite indubitably great for your health. Don’t enjoy mining at all? We’re writing our own share of mods that help you trade resources in a much larger quantity via the market, but you’ll have to hold as we figure that out. It’s an experimental idea, and it might not even work out, but we’d like to try it.

    Spawn shops will now be regulated by a "necessity" rule. Simply put, spawn will no longer sell items for the sake of convenience, but will instead sell items that cannot be obtained due to the likes of disabled mechanics and so forth.

    There’s many more changes than those that we’ve mentioned, so for a more in-depth look, you can check out this spreadsheet that compares the old mod packs' mods with our new, re-balanced modpack.

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    [h2]The future[/h2]
    As previously mentioned, this mod pack update isn’t a “static” update. Content will be added, possibly removed, and so forth. Here’s a quick taste of possible additions to Alice later down the line…

    The mod Dimensional Doors was a hot topic during the entirety of this new update. Exploring through the very fabric of space and time, conquering dungeons and solving puzzles along the line. All with the added functionality of being able to create very own personal pocket dimensions? I’m sold. All of these mechanics may seem simple at first, but their applications are from it. Hence, it was decided that we defer Dimensional Doors for a later update.

    Another great mod that wasn’t added yet is Twilight Forest. Exploration and adventure is a key gameplay mechanic of Minecraft, and in order to improve on said exploration, the ModPack Team decided to bring dimensional mods into the exotic flavour of SKCraft. Twilight Forest isn’t the only such mod that was considered, others such as Tropicraft were also part of our daily discussions. In the end, however, they were deferred for a later update.

    As you can see, the mod pack isn’t a set-in-stone, absolute true form of it’s existence. New content will most certainly be added, current content modified, so don’t stop suggesting, and keep the new mods rolling!
    [h2]Thank you![/h2]
    We understand this mod pack was a huge inconvenience for everybody involved, both the players and the ModPack Team alike. In the light of all this, we would just like to thank everybody for sticking with us to the end!

    We hope that you, the players, have as much fun playing the new mod pack as we, the ModPack Team had building it!
    [h2]Release notes[/h2]
    • If you find the new trees too funky, use F9 or F10 to adjust the settings. It takes some getting used to, but you can grow to enjoy it!
    • We'd like to thank Lord_Drahcir's friend, Nox, for the launch screen.
    • We will be moving builds later in the week when we get some time. In the mean time, find a place to settle and play with some of the new mods.
    • Withers are not yet properly spawning in the Nether; we're going to look into it.
    • The Bazaar is not yet open. It will be rebuilt anew.
    • Some of our trading mechanics are still in the works!
    • Go to the Welcome Center in the market in order to get an Ender Cup that will put you randomly far from spawn if you drink it.
    • Sorry, we don't have GammaBright this time. This is partly because some of the new mods added appear to break it.
     
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  2. drogonmast12

    drogonmast12 New Member

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    Badass quick question are the mods that say new already in the modpack or will those be added gradually like the rest?
     
  3. sk89q

    sk89q Administrator
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    They are in.
     
  4. Raevox

    Raevox Chaos Dunker

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    All of the mods marked "New!" are already part of the mod pack. :)
     
  5. KuraTanaka

    KuraTanaka Pokemon is the shizznite!

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    Awesome awesome awesome im so excited to find a sunken ship or a pirate alcove!!!! Great job MPT!!!
     
  6. krlmisha

    krlmisha New Member

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    Really good work :3
     
  7. gknova61

    gknova61 Farbes Lover

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    We got UE mods? FUC* YES!!!!!!

    But, why are we being forced to use TC now? You also might need to add back PowerConverters as the way Universal Cable works will drop the TPS. Was this even tested or? If not, you might also want to test the digiminer from Mekanism.
     
    punk_and_goth likes this.
  8. Raevox

    Raevox Chaos Dunker

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    There was some error with DigiMiner crashing the server with MCPC+, so it was disabled. Also, a few stress tests were indeed performed on the Universal Cables, but if it turns into too much of a problem, we'll think of something new.

    What I am a bit confused about, is the "forced to use TC" thing. What? Where are we forcing people to use TC?

    Is this what's being referred? If so, that was just an example. There are more than one ways to acquire a large amount of resources efficiently, not just the Thaumic Tinkerer KAMI items.

    That passage was meant as nothing more than a simple teaser. Don't take it too much to your heart. :)
     
  9. Tonius

    Tonius 555 Eternal Server Error

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    The rules of building modpacks
    1. There will be annoying bugs. No exceptions.
    2. There will probably be crashes.
    3. It will be unbalanced no matter what.
    4. If you balance it, people will find a way to make it unbalanced again.
    5. People won't like it.
    6. If people like it, they will try hard to find reasons not to like it, and proceed to not like it.
     
    suchtie, LordDrahcir, Raevox and 2 others like this.
  10. Demenzia

    Demenzia *boop*

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    weeee~

    That sounds like a complete new Alice! I love it even before joining!
    Thank you guys for your work. :D
     
  11. norwil0

    norwil0 New Member

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    Great work, but could you please set up a list of banned stuff, so we could know? else keep up the great work.
     
  12. Sleeeper

    Sleeeper Sleeeper

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    Mekanism power cube can output directly to either MFSU/etc or TE energy cells, so no need of any laggy cables.
     
  13. Neonbeta

    Neonbeta Person who did stuff and things

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    Still won't stop them being from being used thoroughly, unless they're entirely disabled.

    -edit-
    Screwed up what I tried to type, and only noticed when wolfenstine19 quoted me. So just fixed it.
     
  14. wolfenstein19

    wolfenstein19 Active Member

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    As it stands now, even with the Tiered system they are in atm, they will be largely and widely used to transmit power in any way, because of these reasons:

    1. Inbuild power converter, no need for anything else
    2. no loss (!)
    3. base version incredibly cheap
    4. connection indicators
    5. compatible with any machine ingame.
     
  15. Tonius

    Tonius 555 Eternal Server Error

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    Hmm, I didn't think of using the Energy Cubes as converters yet. Might want to disable cables and tell people to use the cubes then; but I haven't discussed that with the others yet.
     
  16. kylania

    kylania Active Member

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    Any word when JABBA will be re-added? It wasn't even on the spreadsheet of things removed/added and losing the functionality of the Dolly very annoying.

    Unhappy about Backpacks being removed too as it was the only real early game (which is when it matters) backpack mod. Project Red's buggy bags require a stack of string each, which is insane.
     
  17. Neonbeta

    Neonbeta Person who did stuff and things

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    I am wondering about this too. While I won't be playing as often as I'd like, JABBA's features aren't to go amiss.

    I'm also wondering about Ars Magica, since the spreadsheet only shows what was re-added and removed, and not what was 'denied'.
     
  18. Tonius

    Tonius 555 Eternal Server Error

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    I dunno, I am quite fine with spending 4 tin and some wood for a portable chest.
     
  19. sk89q

    sk89q Administrator
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    JABBA was causing quite a bit of server lag on the last Alice, and there was not a simple solution discovered yet for it.
     
  20. Elfen

    Elfen New Member

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    Looks fantastic, would be great to see a solution for the lag.