ElJere2706

I'd like to join the server! My username is The__Philosopher (that's two underscores). Even though I haven't played with tech mods in TFC yet, I think it could be fun.

Yes, that could be a way to do it. Maybe copper only reads the top layer (which would be rather useless, but it's only copper), bronze reads the top and middle layers and from wrought iron onwards you get readings for all three layers? It would be in line with this suggestion, which I thought was pretty good: In all my years playing TFC, I've onlymadecopper hoes, to enable the nutrient readings, but do all my soil tilling with stone hoes. Never have I made a higher tier one. Actually, since tilled soil pretty much always remains tilled, you only need to till a decently big area at the beginning of your survival world, and you're set for the rest of the time. It would make much more sense if tilled soil reverted back to dirt after harvest. This would be consistent with the fact that, IRL, fields after harvest are left with small roots, stubble and whatnot, which has to be dealt with before being able to seed come spring. I don't know if that would be something feasible within the mod, however.

Maybe something like a geologist's hammer, or something of the sort, to sample what rock types are in the middle and bottom layers. Maybe it could have a skill level attached to it, being more likely to get it right the higher the skill. Or it could be linked to the prospecting skill, since in a way they are related. One for ores/minerals, the other for rock types. I know that I certainly would have loved to have something like that when I was looking for that elusive Gabbro, to get Garnierite.

So, I have finally reached Master on my cooking skill, and I have been working towards making a "perfect sandwich" (i.e. a sandwich with perfect sweetness, perfect sourness, perfect saltiness, perfect bitterness and perfect savoriness). So far, I have taken note of all the stats of all the food items available to me, both brined and notbrined, salted and not salted, at all their cooking stages. The best i have come up with is this: Sandwich A Perfectly sweet(4) Perfectly sour(0) Not very salty (-18) Perfectly bitter (-3) Perfectly savory (-1) Sandwich B Perfectly sweet (2) Moderately sour (-5) Overly salty (9) Perfectly bitter (-4) Perfectly savory (-2) My question is: is it better to have four "perfectly" stats and one off by quite a bit (-19) or is it better to have three "perfectly" stats and two off by not so much (-5 and 9)?? Thanks to anyone who can help shed some light on this matter.

Disclaimer: First of all, I would like to say that I am not claiming to have been the first one ever to come up with this mining method. Being that Terrafirmacraft is such a great mod, played by so many people, it would be absolutely pretentious of me to claim such a thing. I merely want to share with the community a mining method that I have found to be quite useful. The purpose of this guide is to show a method of using support beams that I have found to be the one that allows to get the most ore out of a vein, both minimizing the cave-in risk and minimizing unnecessary mining. First of all, a very brief overview of how support beams work. For this part, I assume that you understand the basics about support beams, since I will just point out a few characteristics that will be relevant for my later explanation. As I’m sure most of us know, a single horizontal support beam (exemplified by the light-colored beam in the screenshots) will support any gravity-affected block up to four blocks away from it in the X and Z directions, on the same Y level as the beam, one above and one below. That is, a 9x9x3 area centered on the horizontal support beam. Now, the beauty of support beams, and what makes possible this method, is that they can be stacked. By this, I mean that vertical support beams can be placed on top of already existing support beams (on top of vertical or corner support beams that is, not horizontal). Therefore, a second horizontal support beam placed three blocks above the original one will stack its own 9x9x3 area-of-effect on top of the first one’s area, together creating a 9x9x6. Of course, a third one can be placed three blocks above that second one, etc. etc. You get the point. Now, with this in mind, let’s see how it can be applied to getting the most out of an ore (or mineral) vein. 1. Locating the center of a vein If you already know how to find the center of a vein, you can skip this whole section, and jump straight to section 2. So, this is not exactly the main focus of my guide, since I mainly want to address the use of support beams, but it will be necessary to know where the center of a vein is. Therefore, I will explain how to find the center, but the same disclaimer I mentioned before applies here. First of all, you’ll want to start somewhere that you know is close to, or around the area of an ore or mineral vein. Those little surface nuggets are a great hint, as I’m sure you all know. Random hits with a prospector’s pick will also do the job, but that uses up pick durability. However, minerals (i.e. kaolinite, graphite, sylvite, etc.) don’t have surface nuggets, so pro-pick will be your only option in these cases. Once you found those nuggets, give the floor a tap with your pro-pick. Ideally, you want to see a message of the type “found X of Y” (where “X” will be “traces”, “small sample”, “medium sample”, etc., and “Y” will be the name of the ore or mineral). If you get “nothing found”, check around the area, you may be a few blocks away. In case that, despite having surface nuggets, you don’t get any reading anywhere in the area, then your vein is too deep underground to be detected by surface readings. I won’t discuss in detail how to find the vein’s center in that case, but it’s not so different as with surface readings, it’s just more hassle. Once you got this initial spot, check a couple of blocks away from it trying to determine in which direction the readings grow (both on the X axis as in the Z axis) and in which direction they decrease. Ideally, you want to find an area where you get “found a very large sample of Y”. This new reading will be your new starting point. If you didn’t find any “very large sample”, just take as your new starting point whichever your higher reading was. It is possible that you only find “traces”, don’t worry about it. You can now forget about your original starting point, you won’t be using it anymore. Now, find the limits of your reading. That is, find where your “very large sample” turns into “large sample”, on both axes, and mark those points. Also, keep in mind that going up or down blocks on the Y axis will alter your readings. Once you’ve marked the four limits, find the center of it all by dividing the distance between both ends of both axes. Eureka! You’ve just found the center of the vein. 2. Choosing the best support beam configuration The process I described above for finding the center of the vein not only gives you the center, but it also gives you an idea of the size of the vein, i.e. its approximate diameter. Not all veins are equally large, and choosing a support beam configuration will depend on assessing which one is best for the size of your vein. You don’t want to choose a small configuration for a large vein (this would waste ore), nor a large configuration for a small vein (this would waste support beams). Let’s take a look at the four support beam configurations that I think could be used in most veins. They are presented in a scale from smallest to largest. A. Single The most basic support beam configuration is two vertical beams and one horizontal. Since “support beams can only be placed horizontally between two vertical beams that are up to 5 blocks apart,” the best way to maximize this single-beam configuration is, obviously, to take full advantage of the five-block-max span for the horizontal beam. This results in a 13x9 footprint of supported blocks (a 117 block area). In the screenshot I have marked the footprint outline with planks. (The double-tall fencepost is the center of my vein) B. Double If you want to step up your coverage, you can go with what I call a “double support beam.” This is three verticals and two horizontals, where the both horizontals share a vertical. This adds 6 rows to the footprint (3 on each side), which results in a 19x9 (171 block area). In the screenshot I’ve left the planks marking the footprint of the single-beam, so as to more easily compare the increase. The new outline is marked with one-tall vertical support beams. Notice that this footprint comes quite close to the torches that mark the limit of my “very large sample” reading. This doesn’t mean that past these torches there will be no ore, but it does mean that most ore will be in the space inside the area bound by the torches. C. Cross-shaped This is one type of combination of two Doubles. Here, four horizontals share one vertical. This adds 10 rows, each one 9 blocks wide. It’s harder to describe since it’s not a rectangular shape, but check the screenshot. This configuration covers a 261 block footprint. The downside of this configuration is that it overlaps coverage, so it is not ideal, it doesn’t maximize its support beams. D. Double Squared This one, the largest one, is basically two Doubles put side by side so as not to overlay at all, but also not to leave a gap unsupported. It’s a 19x18, a 342 block footprint. The different-colored planks in the screenshot outline both areas of effect. This is a comparison with the Cross-shaped area of effect. So, these are the configurations among which, in my opinion, you should choose. Any bigger than the Double Squared would be a waste, since veins aren’t really that big. Now, which one to choose will totally depend on how big your vein is and how much you want that ore or mineral. For example, for rich hematite/limonite/magnetite, you’ll definitely want the Double Squared, even if it’s a somewhat small vein, since iron, and especially rich iron, is a prime resource in TFC. For my illustration, I’ve gone with the Double Squared, mainly because sylvite is quite rare (it only generates inone type of rock). 3. Implementing the chosen support beam configuration Once you've chosen one of the configurations, it’s time to implement it below ground! As I said before, this implementation method capitalizes on the fact that support beams can be stacked on top of each other. a. Vertical beams Now, make sure you have a lot of beams in your inventory (between 1 and 2 stacks should do the trick), choose any of the vertical beams of your configuration, and, on that spot, start digging straight down! “Straight down” you may ask? Yes, indeed, straight down! I'm perfectly aware that this is generally considered a no-no in Minecraft, but actually, in Terrafirmacraft it’s not such a bad idea. In TFC you don’t have those vanilla lava pockets, which are the biggest risk with digging straight down, and you do have the upside of virtually avoiding any cave-in risk, since you are not removing any block from underneath another (as you would if you dug a staircase instead). The only risk is digging straight down into a cave, and even this would not kill you, since most caves are just 5 o 6 blocks of air space tall. This fall would not kill you, even with TFC fall damage. Really, the only risk is digging into one of those huge cavernous caves, but this is highly (highly!) unlikely. So yes, dig straight down. In any case, what’s life without a little risk? As you go down, you’ll notice that the amount of ore you come across increases and then decreases. This means that you approached the core of the vein, and then you passed it. Keep going down until you feel that you have left the vein behind. If you’ve dug like 5 or 6 blocks and haven’t found any more ore, it’s kind of safe to assume that you have left it behind. See screenshot. Now it’s time to begin raising the vertical beam. It would be a good idea at this point to press F3 and take note of your Y position, so that your other vertical beams go equally deep, although this is not absolutely necessary. Before you begin placing beams, it’s better to put down a block that won’t be affected by gravity. This is so that, if there were to be a cave-in, the block your beams are built on won’t be at risk of collapsing. I use a plank block, but smooth stone, bricks, etc. would also work. However, unless you brought those with you to the mining expedition, they are harder to make, for they require chisel, mortar, etc. This plank will be the foundation of your vertical beams. After placing this block, just jump and place the beams, and then just keep holding the jump button and the right click. This will bring you back to the surface, leaving a beautiful long support beam in your wake! Rinse and repeat for all the other vertical beams in your chosen configuration. b. Horizontal beams Now that you have the vertical beams in place, it’s time to place the horizontal ones. The first line of beams can be placed either one block on top of ground level, at ground level or one block below. However, I always place it one block on top because it’s simpler. The two other options imply digging away a strip of soil. Next, dig three blocks down. From here, dig up to the two other vertical beams and place the horizontal ones on the third block below the one above ground. By doing this, you are stacking the beams’ areas of effect, like I showed above. Again, rinse and repeat until you get to the bottom of the mine. Remember, for the Double Squared you need to do this on both sides. 4. Mine to your heart’s content With all these stacked support beams in place, you can go to town on your mining! Just beware not to mine past the 4-block range of the beams. It may help to put an indicator on the 5th block, to remind you that those blocks cannot be mined. I generally indicate this by putting a torch. If all is done right, your mines should look something like this: Hope you enjoyed the guide, and hope that it was clear enough! Please, feel free to comment any suggestions on how to improve this method! Also, post screenshots of your mines, I’d love to see how other TFC players do their mining!

So, as the topic suggests, I would like to know what the best sandwich you’ve ever managed to make is. I think it would be nice to make this a sort of contest, and see who has come the closest to an absolute perfect sandwich. Just to clarify, when I say “an absolute perfect sandwich”, I mean a sandwich that’s not only “perfectly sweet”, “perfectly sour”, etc., but a sandwich that is right on +-0 across all five categories. For comparing which sandwich is closer to the absolute perfect, we should do as Kitty said in this post and “compare them by adding the distance from perfect, and better is a smaller number.” In my case, it’s this one (screenshot in spoiler). After some trial and error, and some math (quite a lot of math, actually), I managed to get this. It’s four “perfectly” (<+-5) and one “overly” (<+-10): 1, 5, 2, 7, 2, which gives a sum total of 17. I would have loved to get that “overly bitter” down to “perfectly bitter”, but I wasn’t able to do it. So, I’d like to see yours! Which is the best sandwich you’ve ever made?

Screenshots might help shed some light

Yeah, at first I thought of settling down somewhere down South, where I found some cool looking mountains, but then I figured it would be nice to settle down here. That way I can follow more closely the progress you make on the series, visit the same landmarks, etc.

Recognize this place?

Yes, that's true. The only reward is more food saturation pero sandwich, but it's true that that's not much of a reward to be honest.

Thank you,Nick! Actually, I already have it, it's one of the two resource packs I like to use in TFC. I noticed the link was down because I recommended it to a friend, and he couldn't download it from here. I ended up just sending it to him myself, but I thought it would be good to re-upload it here so that other people could use it. But thanks anyways, it was kind of you to upload it.

@DarkSirNobody, I believe the link is down, could you please re-upload? I think this is one of the best TFC resource packs!

That does sound like it does a lot for the immersion of the game!

It sounds like fun! Sort of like a labyrinth-mixed-with-parkour adventure map. lol It sure is "special," as you said. My method indeed allows you not to worry about cave-ins. As long as you mine within the 4-block range of the support beams, that is:

Totally agree with this.

Well, your method is a bit more grindy than what I do, but it definitely is thorough! Nice! Also, this is a great idea!

Also, besides longer seasons (I trust that MonyClair explained how to do it, if not, check the I:yearLength value in TFCConfig.cfg), I think it would be a good idea to do what these people did in their server. Faster growing crops would ensure that we can all be sure(ish) to get at least one harvest before winter. In any case, it would at least make it more likely. To do this, you should change theS:cropGrowthModifier value inTFCConfig.cfg. If you want I can explain in more detail via PM. Also, aquestion, is the server running? I couldn't log in yesterday because of some mod version discrepancy between my client and the server. I would really like to be part of the community from the get go!

Yes, I believe that a bit of organization allows you to get more ore, waste less time (and tool durability), and avoid pretty much anycave-in risk. I do sort of a combination of both, Swiss cheese and organized mining. I mine all the ore in the area, but without unnecessarily mining tons of raw stone. The advantage of my support beam stacking is that, if you don't need to mine them, you can leave raw stone blocks floating around without worrying that they might collapse and destroy exposed ore. It allows for a more rational mining method. For example, check this screenshot, it's my rich gold mine (cross-shaped beam configuration). Look at all the raw stone blocks that are floating around. If I hadn't set up the support beams prior to mining, I either (a) would have had to be constantly checking whether I'm going to mine underneath a stone block, so as to raise support beams for it, or (b) I would have had to mine absolutely all that stone. 'a' is very time-consuming, and 'b', besides being time-consuming, wastes a lot of pick durability. Therefore, I proceed from the top-down, mining all the ore, and the stone blocks necessary to expose them and get to them, but not more stone than is absolutely necessary. The only exception to thisis when I mine for prime resources. That is, in my opinion, rich iron (any of the 3) and any type of garnierite. In those cases I want to get all the ore there is, without regards to how much stone I mine. I still apply one of the four support beam configurations I mentioned, but in these cases I do a sort of strip mining. Starting from the top, I mine corridors leaving two blocks in between, so as to expose all the ore in the vein, and I keep taking these corridors deeper and deeper until I get to the bottom of the vein. This is a screenshot of my rich hematite mine (double squared configuration), in which I applied this technique. I'd like to see how you do your own mines! Do you "Swiss cheese"? Do you implement your own organization? I'm curious to see.

I totally agree with this. Also, it would be nice, if someone sees that autumn is approaching, that he/she let know the other players that they should log in to harvest their crops.

Great! Sadly, it's already quite late where I live, I would love to be there for the server launch! However, I'll log in tomorrow as soon as possible

IGN: The__Philosopher Age: 28 Timezone: UTC-3 Have you read the rules?Yes. Do you understand that Estasi l'Ateaum many not be suitable for individuals under the age of 15? Yes, of course. What interests you about Estasi l'Ateaum? I really like the idea of being part of a TFC RP community. I've been mostly playing single player, and I think that I can cantribute a lot to a TFC server. I could also contribute quotes from famous (and not so famous) philosophers, like Hegel's "The owl of Minerva spreads its wings only with the falling of the dusk." Preface to the Philosophy of Right. How experienced are you with TFC? I've been playing TFC since 2015, so quite experienced. Do you think we should add more mods? Any ones in particular? I personaly like to play, besides the mods already listed,with Antique Atlas, Better Boat, TFCEngineer and Journey Map.

So, I just realized that my taste profile has somehow changed. I had managed to pretty much make perfect sandwiches (four "perfectly" and one "moderately"), but now those same sandwiches have other values. The only thing that I believe has changed is that a couple of days ago I changed my Minecraft username. Is it possible that that somehow changed my taste profile? It took me a lot of time and effort to come up with this ingredientscombination, I would hate to have done all that for nothing! Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on this matter!

Great! So, if I switched back my username to the one I had before, my taste profile should also change back to the one I had before? Or would I get a new (third) taste profile?

Rereading what I wrote, I realize I may not have been entirely clear. I'm using the same Minecraft account, I just changed my username. I did not add any mod, andI'm playing on the same save. I even have a couple of sandwiches that I had made when I had the previous taste profile, and those no longer give me the four "perfectlies" they used to.

Yes, I'm playing on 0.13.0. However, I already had the issue back when I was playing on 0.11, if that is of any help. I don't know if there whas a problem before, since I dind't try to craft pistons before that.