Increasing the believability and satisfaction of mining

[transcengopher 349]

Shards are resources, since they can be smelted.

Other than that, I guess, I haven't got questions for now.

[puxapuak 232]

I have an idea for a stripped down version of this that would simplify the implementation of it. Senior forum members... should I post it here as a comment, or should I start a new thread and just link back to this one?

[Srgnoodles 1,030]

I have an idea for a stripped down version of this that would simplify the implementation of it. Senior forum members... should I post it here as a comment, or should I start a new thread and just link back to this one?

Why did i read "stripped down" as "Striped Worm"

but yeah it should be fine to pst that here, unless of course you really want to make another thread

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

I agree with Noodles, it's okay wherever you want it to. Though, i would personally prefer it to be posted here. But yeah, that's personal opinion :3 shouldn't matter.

[bsb23 303]

Do I count as a senior member? Either way its probably easier for to either be a comment or an edit of the OP. Although feel free to make an additional topic if you want to.

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

Do I count as a senior member? Either way its probably easier for to either be a comment or an edit of the OP. Although feel free to make an additional topic if you want to.

bsb, you were here before me from what i know... So yeah, you do count as a senior member

[Kimbblesrath 503]

bsb, you were here before me from what i know... So yeah, you do count as a senior member

On that, what am I? Wondering.................................................................................................................................................Long dots are long

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

On that, what am I? Wondering.................................................................................................................................................Long dots are long

A nice guy :3

[Kimbblesrath 503]

A nice guy :3

And you are?

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

A creepy nice guy :3

[Kimbblesrath 503]

Yex, very creepy, very creepy indeed. At your username, you really aren't "Just another guy" lol

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

[Kimbblesrath 503]

Yes, very ironic indeed.

[LordOfWolves 514]

Yes, very ironic indeed.

And ironic is iron-ic. Bender is made of iron...and he can explain the irony...

[Pakislav 120]

[Srgnoodles 1,030]

just saw your signature there, you must have realised by now, that i do not neglect capitalization, i just do not believe in it

[puxapuak 232]

Ugh sorry... I am really trying to focus on getting my thesis done. I have been far too distracted by all of these other interesting ideas and not been spending time on the one that, for the time being, needs to matter the most in my life and to my career. I will write my simplified version of the idea tonight but must focus on my thesis for the coming weeks. I will be on now and then to add any clarifications, but will not be able to contribute as much as I was in November and earlier this month.

Increasing the Believability and Satisfaction of Mining II - Simplified Version

So I was considering what would be logical stages of implementation for this idea and I realised that the best first step was itself a pretty satisfactory stripped down version of the whole idea. So recall from the OP that the core of the idea is to make more of a learning puzzle out of mining - something where you're actually learning a skill of some sort and using your head. This depended first and foremost on the introduction of false positives and (initially) unknown success, which hinge on the descriptive capacity introduced in shards.

The simplified version is then this:

• instead of adding the new item (shard) just make propick usages actually display the descriptive features directly. So you'd smack a rock with your propick and instead of seeing 'trace/small/medium... sample of ...' you would see the descriptive features of the rock itself.
• Still remove the distinction between nuggets and ore. Have only one so that 'purity' of a vein can be more easily represented.
• Discontinue having nuggets pop from loose rocks directly when flipped. Instead, loose rocks would need to be smashed against stone. This would be the same pre-propick sampling technique described in the OP, except:
  • Smashing a rock that is not ore against another rock causes the sampling function to occur, but will break the rock.
  • Smashing a rock that is ore will pop the nugget(s)
• The rest of mining is more or less identical to what it is now.

I think it should be noted that this really is still just a first step... it doesn't carry with it the full adjustment to believability introduced by the OP (variable textures per rock family, ore blocks that look like the rock family, etc), but it does get users thinking a bit more about mining and makes introduction of other features an easier step-wise process, while also allowing users a chance to familiarise themselves with looking for descriptive elements of rock instead of knowing exactly what ore is around.

[transcengopher 349]

So, you basically need to have a propick before you start to get ore from loose stone. Well, not really, but there will be numerous kinds of ground rocks that you can collect, but they won't stack for absolutely "no reason" (because to see what they are you need a propick), and the way to go will be to smash all of them in hope to get some metal.

Now, I understand how it will work in midgame, but from start it will be awkward, I feel.

[bsb23 303]

He makes a good point though should the beginning really include metals? We have plenty else to do.

[transcengopher 349]

Beginning don't really include metals anyway, unless you rush into it. I prefer to build up some food production first, then start metalworking. Point I made actually has nothing to do with metalworking itself. Imagine this: rocks you got from the ground are all have their own properties, thus rocks of not the same type don't stack. In conjunction with how many rock types there are, as soon as you start collecting rocks, which is, like, first minute on any new world, it will introduce numerous numbers of piles in your inventory, all of which contains 1-3 rocks in them. Basically it will be the same situaltion as with crop seeds.

And then watch what happens if inventory size will get nerfed some time soon, as discussed here, for example.

Edit:

Or I misunderstood the concept slightly, in which case loose rocks on the ground should be hit with rock in hand in order to start "prospecting". Which is fine with me, I guess. We will kind of be making axes out of cassiterite from time to time without knowing it is ore though, which is a bit weird.

[puxapuak 232]

Edit:

Or I misunderstood the concept slightly, in which case loose rocks on the ground should be hit with rock in hand in order to start "prospecting". Which is fine with me, I guess. We will kind of be making axes out of cassiterite from time to time without knowing it is ore though, which is a bit weird.

Yeah this is mostly correct. The only reason I say that flipping a rock shouldn't instantly produce a nugget is because it's incredibly easy. I mean there's never really much of a need for tier 0 mines because the nuggets are in such vast supply. But we still need some way to produce the first metal for the first picks. There is always sluicing though, so this could just be ignored entirely in favour of sluicing as well, in which case maybe smashing rocks would result in gravel.

[transcengopher 349]

But then there will be only one way of getting starting metals, which is what TFC is trying to avoid most of the time.

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

But then there will be only one way of getting starting metals, which is what TFC is trying to avoid most of the time.

As he said, there will still be 3 ways, only one of them changes. Sluicing remains mostly unchanged, panning does as well; and you still get res from rocks, but not in the same way.

[dockwithme 76]

Hmm this is very interesting. Now we are taking away the visual cues (both textures and how the pro-pick reads) and also making pro-pick (I think) a bit trickier. It sounds very cool....

My only concern is how much more time consuming is this going to make searching for metal. I wouldn't want this to get so complicated that it takes a long time to find things; it might turn off the more casual users of this mod (which turn out to be no-so-casual in terms of Vanilla MC).

Actually, in your second explanation, all you're really changing in terms of the pro-pick is now it won't tell you 'Traces of...' Instead it will tell you descriptive clues. When really, who knows, behind the scenes the pro-pick COULD be doing the same thing, just actually telling what those descriptive words mean in terms of ore. So this just means replacing the text with a description based on the rock type... So if you're tracking a reading of green strands which keeps getting higher, you'll make your way to some ore of that type. Now you know, if you find traces of green strands, you're on your way to that ore.

Did I dumb that down too much? Or is that the main gist of it?

[LordOfWolves 514]

Did I dumb that down too much? Or is that the main gist of it?

You can discuss of everything, but Bioxx doesn't want suggestions for the Propick. Then, until you don't suggest it, you can suggest what you want...apart NPCs...