Concentration

[bsb23 303]

Love the mod bioxx but I see two large problems right now (sorry posting the first part you could terminate it if you wish I just figured I might as well say it)

1. The prospecting pick, I understand this is how it really works but it is rather difficult and rather useless. So I propose that instead of finding the amount of ore within the designated area you would find the concentration for instance.

1 1 1 1 1 1 1 the #= the value of that ore1 2 2 2 2 2 1 x= player1 2 3 3 3 2 11 2 3 X 3 2 11 2 3 3 3 2 11 2 2 2 2 2 11 1 1 1 1 1 1so if O = ore1 1 1 O 1 1 11 2 O O O 2 11 2 3 O 3 2 11 2 3 X 3 2 11 2 3 3 3 2 11 2 2 2 2 2 11 1 1 1 1 1 1then the ore concentration in the area would be ten

So now you can actually hunt down the ores because it will have higher concentration as you get closer. This is realist because when you get closer to an ore deposit there will be more traces of it. Hope this solves the problem there.

2. My next concern is your concentration the mod is in a good position right now and expanding content is a good idea however you are close to crossing a line between difficult and boring not everyone loves a long tedious game just to build a small hut. I also am unhappy with the loss of the stone sword if the process were simply longer to make the sword this would allow the use of a weapon that is honestly a lot of fun to have. If you were to re-implement it I would for starters have the stone be made out of smoothstone rather than cobble I would then suggest that a process similar to the metal working process be put in instead of a hammer use a chisel and a whetstone and also heat would also be unnecessary this could also began I better use of masonry rather than making blocks in your inventory you would have to use a "Mason's bench" or something of the like

eventually more complex stone could be made here although it would also be far more time consuming.

Another thing is that I think you can make use of these difficulty settings perhaps at the beginning of a world you could select the world difficulty this would dictate exactly how much reality and difficulty is put in a world as everyone is different. Furthermore I hope my ideas made a little bit of sense and would like to congratulate you for this mod.

PS this doesn't make the prospecting pick more accurate just more realistic.

[bsb23 303]

Oh and I just remembered given that you don't delete this post the first time you see prospecting I would also like to ask it you were planning to do a little more with pottery, ceramics, or porcelain (kaolinite)

[Jointertron 10]

I agree to a certain extent with what you are saying. I have no problems with the prospecting pick I am able to pinpoint ore with it just fine. However, since pre11 (and now in pre12) I find that ores are ridiculously hard to find and I mean this to the point where I'm not really having fun anymore. A lot of people that I've talked to are now using x-ray hacks just to find it. I don't think that the ores should be as easy to find as they used to be but I think we need a happy medium. I love this mod and the only issue I know have is with the ore generation. I enjoy a challenge but looking for over 6 hours just to find one type of ore (that I NEED to progress) and NOT finding it is overkill and has really taken one of my favorite aspects of the mod which is mining and made it a boring, annoying and very frustrating chore.

Everything else seems fine to me. I completely disagree with what you said about the prospectors pick being useless. If it tells you there is a sample all you have to do is dig out a 23x23x12 area and it WILL be there. Also you can get small sample then move and get medium sample which usually means your moving closer to a bigger sample. If anyone else agrees please say so.

[Deez 47]

Some people do like the fact that Bioxx is adding and changing the basic content of the game to make it more realistic, harder and I suppose "boring" in some sense. The mod is basically a recreation of Dwarf Fortress, and if you haven't played that before than give it a shot to see where development might be heading. My guess is things will be getting harder, more tedious and more in depth as development continues and that's the way I like it.

[bsb23 303]

Don't get me wrong I love the realism also but there is a fine line between realist and boring. I'm not saying realism is boring in general its only boring when used in excess. For example I really don't want to go grab my shovel and pickaxe in real life right now to make a giant hole in the ground in order to find minuscule traces of ores. Life is about balance I think this is a balance also. I was also saying that more content should be added to make it more realistic not taken away like with the stone swords there are plenty of things to add its not like we are in any shortage of things to add. I honestly hate when things are taken out and I understand making a sword out of stone on a workbench is impractical however the process I described isn't. On a side note Jointertron your right the pick isn't useless that was a bad word choice but with the time people spend learning how to use (practicing) it they very well could have already found ore whereas the system i described would take only a glance at the wiki or a brief video.

[Jointertron 10]

The method I used only took a brief watch of a video.

@Deez: Really? You like to spend hours digging through rock and not finding much of anything? If that's the case then I suppose you have no issues with the new ore distribution. As much as I would like to try Dwarf Fortress I just can't get over how horrible the game looks. I play MC because I like so actually SEE my work when it's done, lines and pixels that look kind of like a fortress don't cut it for me. Also i don't like the idea of having to wait on little dwarves that have needs and wants to do what I want done when I can do it myself in another game. The reason I like TFC is that it is more realistic than vanilla and more deep. If the ore generation stays the way it is that's fine it's up to Bioxx. Moreover, when the mod stabilizes more I'll start letting more people on my server and with more people we could set up a trade network and getting the ores I need for metal working will get easier. It just seems to me that this leaves people who like to play single player with the short end of the stick. I know this mod is mostly meant for SMP but I also know that Bioxx does want SSP to be a viable option. I think that if things keep going in the insanely hard and realistic direction with no thought for fun and people who don't have a group of people helping them that this mod might lose a lot of followers. I'm not trying to complain just trying to find a middle ground where everyone can be happy.

[Deez 47]

The method I used only took a brief watch of a video.

@Deez: Really? You like to spend hours digging through rock and not finding much of anything? If that's the case then I suppose you have no issues with the new ore distribution. As much as I would like to try Dwarf Fortress I just can't get over how horrible the game looks. I play MC because I like so actually SEE my work when it's done, lines and pixels that look kind of like a fortress don't cut it for me. Also i don't like the idea of having to wait on little dwarves that have needs and wants to do what I want done when I can do it myself in another game. The reason I like TFC is that it is more realistic than vanilla and more deep. If the ore generation stays the way it is that's fine it's up to Bioxx. Moreover, when the mod stabilizes more I'll start letting more people on my server and with more people we could set up a trade network and getting the ores I need for metal working will get easier. It just seems to me that this leaves people who like to play single player with the short end of the stick. I know this mod is mostly meant for SMP but I also know that Bioxx does want SSP to be a viable option. I think that if things keep going in the insanely hard and realistic direction with no thought for fun and people who don't have a group of people helping them that this mod might lose a lot of followers. I'm not trying to complain just trying to find a middle ground where everyone can be happy.

Minecraft player complaining about graphics, well I'll be damned...

Anyways Bioxx has said before that he wants to add some sort of SP trading system with the current villagers, so that would basically solve the problem right?

[bsb23 303]

Minecraft player complaining about graphics, well I'll be damned...

Anyways Bioxx has said before that he wants to add some sort of SP trading system with the current villagers, so that would basically solve the problem right?

Somehow I doubt he will make all the ores accessible in the villages rather just a select few with extremely steep prices. It would make the game far too easy if as soon as you found a village you could have immediate access to all ores. Do you think it would be possible (yet time consuming I'll admit) to make a large TFC/millenaire crossover mod? I think they kind of have what we need right now for that. But beyond that my concern isn't in the ore distribution right now as even before the updates we had a lot of newbies come on and say they were unable to find ores/metals/whatever the hell newbies say. This can not be a mod (well I suppose it could it just wouldn't be popular) for a select few of people willing to spend time on it, it won't go anywhere like that I would like to bring up my world difficulty idea again. The newbies could spawn an easy world with plenty of ores everywhere and those who wanted to play a more realistic mod could do so. I probably sounded rude during that I apologize.

[RogueHydra 32]

If he really is going towards the whole Dwarf Fortress theme for this mod, then with traders coming into play eventually, you could just save all that mined stone and work it in your masonry workbench thing with a hammer and chisel and carve up figurines and stuff to trade for a specific or or object that you need. Heh. But anyway, we'll see. DF or no, it is still going to be fun. Don't worry right now people, beta testing to point out things people like or don't like is part of the process as well. Grinding will be necessary to get things done so I'm not too awfully worried. It'll force me to pause to eat... yaknow.... at least 1 meal that day. heheh.

[Jointertron 10]

Minecraft player complaining about graphics, well I'll be damned...

Lol MC is 3D and as long as the graphics aren't so bad that they make my eyes bleed then 3D is enough for me. However I personally draw the line at 3D (very small list of exceptions).

On that note I am over complaining about ore distribution. I have changed the way that I mine and am now having more success. I still think that Bioxx should be careful (careful is all I'm saying) that he doesn't make it too hard and tedious or like bsb23 said, it may effect the amount of people who actually want to play the mod. I don't think he's doing all this work so that an very small group of people will enjoy it. That said I am still enjoying the mod and understand that it is in beta and am not going to make any judgements until it's done.