Here's another playthrough, using various versions (from 79.18 to 79.29), vanilla TFC (no addons) and default configuration. I tried a few seed, before settling on this one: 2816386667391356020. In case you are interested, I already posted another playthrough here. Having played extensively on this new map, I can definitively say that my first map was way easier (yet, it was one of my first random seed). Beside silver and graphite, everything was within 200 blocks of my main base: I rarely had to wander very far in the wilderness. For this playthrough, I will make one post per in-game year (starting and ending in june), instead of arbitrary milestone. My end goal will be when I reach steel, not advanced steel, because as of writing this (year 9), I haven't even reached black steel yet. So, here we go .... Year 1: june 1000 ~ june 1001 Here's a screenshot of the world's natural spawn point: Spoiler located at Z = -14200. Forest around the area consist of Maple, Spruce, Oak, Pine, Aspen. There should be no sequoia, I generated the initial area with v79.18. Top stone is basalt, middle is phyllite and bottom is granite. Average bio temp: 3.6 degrees. More interestingly, not far south is a flux stone biome: dolomite. I spent the first month wandering in the northern region (around Z = -15000). Here's what the typical landscape looks like: Spoiler Some might find this kind of terrain a bit boring, but there are some crazy mountain range about 1000 blocks east/north to the spawn point. That will probably be where I will settle for my main base. Also this kind of terrain has its advantages: line of sight everywhere, very easy to dodge bad guys, traverse by horse and spot wild crops. After wandering in a area of 1500x1500 blocks, I started to realize that igneous extrusive rocks seems to be the easy-mode rock type in TFC: lots of copper, hematite, bismuth and sphalerite (from the phyllite layer below the basalt), that means the starting metal will be bronze. Decent amount of wild crops. Another challenge I set to myself was to use bricks for all of my builds. Wood should be limited to interior only (ie: no wooden roof). And to get bricks, you first need flux. That was my priority back then, once I got a good grasp of the northern area. Since (this time!) it was certain I would have to go south, might as well start an outpost in the "southern" region for my first year, that should give me a good primer of the climate I will experience higher north. Spoiler Venturing not very far south of the spawn point, at Z = -13600, I stumbled on this forest made entirely of maple trees (there was sequoia, pine and spruce just behind my back). The terrain is mostly flat (or so I thought), which is not my typical location, but it just transitioned to dolomite on the small hill you can see in the distance. After running like a mad man for almost an entire month, I finally decided to settle for my first outpost. Having only stone tools, that was the best shelter I could come up: Spoiler Ha, ha, your typical first-night crappy shelter in TFC. Don't you worry, at this point I already figured everything out in creative mode. I've been playing Minecraft this way for a long time: first build everything in creative mode, then gather resources and rebuild everything in survival. It seems like a lot of work, but it is usually way faster than attempting to do this in survival first. So, let's get started! Spoiler Half way through the build, I realized that my bismuth bronze chisel were not going to be enough. We were in late august/early september and decided to venture back in the northern region, to grab more of the resources I left behind (crops and nuggets mostly), that I needed to make more tools. Not even 5 minutes after I left the outpost, it started raining/thundering for the remainder of the trip, while I did not have any sword yet. What could go wrong? Well, the trip went mostly okay, the most interesting part was when I found cassiterite and silver nuggets on the surface of basalt grass, that means granite in the middle layer. This is when I decided to switch from bismuth bronze to regular bronze for my next batch of tools. Having enough copper and cassiterite, I decided to get back home... but alas died in the middle of the night, pinned down by who knows how many skeletons and spiders. Hopefully that was not very far from the spawn point. I usually avoid reckless play style, but in this case my diet were quite bad (3 food groups at half), so I didn't feel bad about this event. I got all of my stuff back and later placed a little gravestone: Spoiler Back at my outpost, I continued the building until I reached the top floor. I ran out of dolomite bricks and realized that I completely stripped the area of any dolomite rocks that were on the surface. I could have started a little quarry, but I would prefer preserving the durability of my only pick. Spoiler We were in october 1000, and temperatures were reaching in the negatives at these latitudes. So I decided to make a very long trip to the south, because there was some resources I wanted to get access as early as possible. My absolute priority was getting fruit tree saplings, preferably some that mature in summer (late autumn would certainly be too cold). I would not come back until I get several types. My next priority target would be reeds. These ones are even more painful to find, because you need an even higher average bio temp (around 20 if I remember well). That is seriously south from my current position, probably around Z = -8000. That means a 6000 blocks trip to the south. I want to start mapping the area early this time, instead of waiting until the end of the game. So, off we go. Spoiler The terrain was pretty boring up until Z = -10000. I found this dolomite and granite biome. Also, my first fruit tree, and I think that was cranberry bushes. Spoiler Quite a nice place. I thought I would have to come back for silver, there were lots of nuggets all over the place, but a few years later I'll find silver deposits way closer to home. Also, lots of cassiterite deposits exposed on the side of cliffs. This time, if I'll do whatever possible to avoid branch mining. I also realized how little cassiterite you need per ingot. With the 16 pieces of poor and normal ore, that would largely be enough to get a bronze anvil and a bloomery door, plus whatever tools I would need in the process to reach iron age. Nice because bismuth bronze is not that easy to work with (mixing 3 different metals using only ceramic vessel is not that practical). Spoiler But long story short, the remainder of trip was pretty uneventful. Not much to see: I crossed a shale, then rhyolite biome, and dry grass all over the place (which have no fruit trees either). Still manage to find a peach and a plum tree in the granite biome (and enough fruit for the remainder of the year). At Z = -7200 I finally found some reeds. Phew, 6400 blocks from home. Spoiler That's what I brought back. Found hickory, white cedar, chestnut and ash on my way (which can all be found near my area). Not a big fan of the latter two. Since I won't be using lots of wood in my build, I actually don't really care about tree species this time. The ceramic vessels contained all of my food I gathered prior to the trip. I didn't know how long this trip would last, so I kept my food with me to prevent decay, especially since I did not do any farming this year. Spoiler I thought that 2 stacks of cobblestone dolomite would be enough to finish the tower, guess it wasn't: that's as far as I could built with the resources I got from my trip. We were in late october, and the maple trees finally got their canadian colors. I went back to the south to get 2 more stacks of dolomite cobble. The granite gives the impression of some crude painting job. The result is actually pretty convincing. Spoiler Here's the tower completed. At first I was not very convinced, but the more I look at it, the more I like it. It has some kind of brutalist architecture feel to it: simple shape, mostly flat geometry, alien/ominous appearance. That's the kind of architecture I like. Believe it or not, this was my inspiration when I was fiddling in creative mode. Spoiler I particularly like the looks of this tower from far away: makes me think of a giant flashlight. Which is kind of its purpose: the terrain is not particularly remarkable around here, having a tower above everything else makes it easy to get your bearings. Spoiler I also tried to go crazy with chiseled blocks, but the result were not that good. Mostly because dolomite is kind of a dark stone, details get lost easily. It will become even more obvious when I will start using basalt bricks. Spoiler This is the top floor: forge on right. Cellar in front (3x2 space, not much but enough for this outpost), it is freezing about 10 months per year at this height: ceramic vessels are largely enough to store all of your food, no need for brined/pickled/vinegar storage. I usually trim the decay about once or twice per year and it rarely goes over 5%. The red stained glass was not a great idea though: they are oriented in the east and west side. Whenever I looked at them, I always thought it is dawn or sunset. The wide windows are black stained glass (by far, my favorite). Floor is aspen planks. As you can see, there's no room for a blast furnace (at least for a full size one), or even just a bloomery. I've no intention to process iron ore here. Spoiler Here is a cutaway view of the tower: 6 floors, plus a basement (wood storage/charcoal pit). And yes, I did this in creative mode, I'm not that crazy. Cost: 1.5 bronze chisel, 1000 bricks, 150 brick walls. Pretty cheap actually (well, compared to my other future outposts at least). I only used my pickaxe for the granite, the dolomite bricks came from the ground (I haven't harvested a single block of dolomite stone so far). It is kind of overkill for what will ultimately only be a secondary outpost, but I know if I don't put the effort right away, I will still be in a rundown ghetto with junk scattered all over the place by the time I reach the steel age. It takes investment and commitment to get out of this natural state of affair. If you don't invest that time early, chances are by the time you reach steel, you probably won't need that kind of build anyway. Not to mention that, the hardest part is the creative process, rebuilding this in survival is a piece of cake in comparison. Spoiler Bonus screenshot: this was my second version of the tower. The first one was actually similar, but way too big. Square towers are definitively not my cup of tea. So many failed attempt. As I was exploring the surroundings to get rocks for my bricks, I realized how much ravines and hot springs there were in the area (this is were the granite of the tower came from), even though the terrain appears flat in most of the screenshots. In one of the ravine, I spotted some copper: a really big patch of rich ore (overlapping a poor bismuth patch). Not impressed though, copper in igneous rocks in extremely common. While wandering in the wilderness, I kept the location of at least 10 nugget deposits. I'm more worried about iron. Spoiler I also spent quite some time securing the surroundings: Build bridges across ravines that got in my way. Cut and replant small trees (the one with a canopy starting 1 or 2 blocks above ground). Also spread trees that are in cluster: to make way for horses. Fill holes, remove some hot springs, slightly flatten the land. I still replant every tree I cut down, I'm not a big fan of the scorched earth technique, especially at this latitude, temperatures are too cold for sapling to spawn naturally. After 1 or 2 in-game years, you get a nice horse-friendly forest. Spoiler The bridge on the top spans actually a double ravine. The one in the bottom left is over a 35 blocks deep ravine, you can barely see the middle layer from it (phyllite). Even though there was quite a bit of chiseling in each of these builds, the basalt bricks blur almost all the details (and I tried lots of angles/time of day for these screenshots). Spoiler Here's a overview of the area from the top of the tower (looking north/east, taken in late may 1001). The nearest bridge you can see is above the copper mine. Not far from it (top/left), is the bridge showed in the bottom right of the screenshot. You can barely see the bridge over the double ravine in the top center (the orange strip is actually mapple fences). The bridge over the deep ravine is completely hidden near the hill on the right. All the saplings on the ground came from cluster/small trees. The sequoia line probably marks the chunks generated in v79.18 versus v79.24. Spoiler For my next project (we were in february 1001), I thought about making a bronze anvil and a bloomery, until I saw this formation while exploring not very far from the dolomite tower (600 blocks north east). Especially that white patch of stone caught my eyes, it was too light to be phyllite (what I expected). Also tamed two horses I found near the outpost: 2 females. One of them is next to useless (slow and can't jump, will probably end up as horse meat if I ever run low on soybeans), the other has decent speed (not as fast as the one in my previous playthrough), and amazingly good jumping capabilities (4 blocks). Good enough for now, because I did not see many horses around, especially compared to my previous playthrough. Just for fun, this is a sample of what I found just along the path between the graphite and lava outposts. There was a lot more, but the pen was too small (grass regeneration could barely keep up). That surprised me, because dry grass is the worst biome for grass eating animals (and yes, they were all wild): Spoiler Anyway, back to the present. So that's what I thought: quartzite. Alright, if that location doesn't scream graphite outpost, I don't know what will, and I was ready for another building challenge. Took me quite a few tries in creative mode to get something worth building. Spoiler First step though: secure the perimeter. I spammed support beams everywhere I could, there was a lot of overhangs all around the mountain. It clogged a little bit the interior, but it is not like I will use it for anything. I mostly need some chests and some space to park a horse. Spoiler Next: the facade. That took me way too many tries in creative. Still, it has the look I was hoping for: some kind of factory with pipes going all around. The slight touch of quartzite really makes a huge difference. It looks massive, but really isn't: it is just a facade with not much behind. Heck, even the staircase on the left has almost more bricks than the rest. Cost: about 400 bricks, 100 brick walls, 2 in-game months. The copper deposit you see in the back is a rich deposit. There are however lots of overhangs. The area will be hard to secure, so I did not harvest any of it. Also my fourth bronze chisel didn't make it. Alright, I think it is enough building for this year. Spoiler Here's a better view of the staircase. I built it so that a horse can easily reach the upper level. There is also a door on the ground level, very hard to spot though: it is made of aspen, I especially chose this wood because it blends well with basalt. It leads to a ladder to get to the same level than the staircase. It also contains the access to the (future) branch mine. This angle also shows how thin the facade really is. Last but not least, those maple fences add a nice bit of color for a build that is pretty dark overall. This will actually be my main color palette for most of the builds I will do in the future. Spoiler I was kind of lucky to have generated this map in v79.18. The sequoia should not be here, yet they add so much to the feel of a real forest. I wish trees could spawn in much higher variations than the typical vanilla shape (a.k.a oak/big oak). Spoiler We were in late april 1001, temperatures reached positive values for the first time in 7~8 months (well at sea level at least). The coldest temperature I've seen was around -20 degrees. Come to think about it, that's very close to the canadian climate I get near the USA border. Starting to run low on soybeans and fruit though. Back at my dolomite outpost, I immediately planted a plum and green apple tree and the 15 berry bushes I found so far. I don't have high hopes for the green apple to give any fruit, crossing my fingers for the plum though. To be sure, I will be returning to the granite biome and check if there are more fruit trees. And yes, it is perfectly safe and easy to jump from the top of the tower to the closest hot spring. Spoiler I ended in june 1001 with very little food supplies: almost out of soybeans, fruit and vegetables (still have lots of grain left). As for the tech level, I had a bronze anvil and have largely enough resources to make a bloomery door. My goal for the next year is to prospect for iron: locate the most profitable deposits and secure the area. Enter the iron age and eventually find graphite (not a huge priority though).