Transmutation

Or: I take this and that, and turn it into something else.


Take a fragile, sick mind and screw it up into something almost healthy ....


Oh, I told myself I wouldn't cheat. Better than Wolves is my true love, and I couldn't bear to give up its pure automation and style. I respect and admire Flowerchild for sticking to his guns - for setting his foot down and saying that this would not stand.

But I am not made of such strong stuff. I am now keeping a second .jar file for a batch of mods with something more ... magical.


I am, of course, referring to the twin mods Equivalent Exchange 2 and Thaumcraft 2. Both deal with turning one thing into another, especially matter into energy, but they go about it in two entirely different ways.

EE2 adds a lot of what most people would define as 'end-game' content. That is, you should really only try tackling EE2 after establishing yourself in the unmodified world, getting a few diamonds and a lot of redstone together, that sort of thing. When you've gotten all that together, then you can start on the things that require literally hundreds of diamonds to create.

What you get out of those diamonds varies from things like axes that can chop down entire forests in a single swing, to things like armor that makes you basically impervious to damage, to amulets that let you drain oceans, or hammers that let you level mountains.

To help you get that far, EE2 adds a lot of low-level content as well, like the Talisman of Repair that fixes your gear for you, or the transmutation table that lets you turn any item into any other item of equivalent value. See what I did there?

To EE2, cobblestone is no different from smooth stone is no different from grass is no different from sand - all are equivalent in value, and any can be made by using your trusty philosopher's stone on another.

Heady stuff, and there's something simply awesome about turning a handful of lapis lazuli powder into an entire library.

Now let's take a look at Thaumcraft 2.

By comparison, initially there is at once more wonder and less power to be had from TC2. Thaumcraft 2 adds a lot to world generation, from little sparkling wisps that flutter around the sky, chiming ever so softly, to shimmering silver trees that can't be grown naturally, to tiny crystals deep in the earth filled with magical power. There are mysterious monoliths, and massive greatwood trees, strange zombies and tainted slimes. The magic in the world is fueled by an invisible force called 'aura,' which can be corrupted by an equally powerful force called 'taint.' Both occur naturally, but can be made much more powerful when cultivated by the player.

Everything the player does, he or she does to harness Vis, the natural power of the world, to create things every bit as wonderful as those things made available by Equivalent Exchange.

There is a somewhat slower pace to TC2 than EE2, in part because, although EE2 immediately allows you to transmute anything you have into anything else you've ever had, in TC2, every discovery beyond the first two or three blocks has to be researched at a Quaesitum, a block that benefits from being placed in the aforementioned library, and a lot of the things researched at the Quaesitum are completely random in nature. With enough resources available, everything in EE2 is immediately at your fingertips, even if you're playing completely legitimately, while TC2 doles the magic out a little at a time - and gives terrible consequences to rushing ahead without thought.

As both mods are dependent on the Minecraft Forge, neither are compatible with Better Than Wolves, which is really my only complaint so far. It's hardly the fault of the mods, but it does mean I have to keep my worlds separate, at least until the official API hits.

Back, and doing all right. Expect posts erratically as I have thoughts in my head.