My Modded Play Diary
Day 301
My initial mining spree lasted me quite a while, but I'm starting to get low on certain resources. Time to do another round, with my new Fortune III pickaxe! See y'all in a while.
Day 309
I'm back from what I would consider a very successful mining run. I got lots of resources, and more than doubled my diamond supply. The greatest find, though, was this scarab gem! It's an extremely rare drop from fossil blocks in the Fossils and Archaeology: Revival mod. Though I haven't mentioned it in this series yet, F&A is a mod I'm really excited to check out. The mod has been around for ages (since beta Minecraft even), yet I never found the chance to play it before. It adds a system for uncovering fossils and relics, and bringing prehistoric creatures back to life! I'm not yet ready to mess with dinos in this playthrough, yet, but when I do, the scarab gem can be used to tame the most powerful creatures in the mod.
Day 312
In order to face the challenges of this pack, I need to upgrade my gear! Botania uses a multiblock structure to produce Terrasteel, which can be used to make powerful equipment. It'll take a lot of mana to create enough Terrasteel for a full set. Thankfully I have charcoal for days, but eventually I'll want to upgrade my mana production.
Day 321
Phew! That took a while, but I'm finally all decked out in Terrasteel. Don't I look stylish ;P
While I was waiting, I got a partner for Peeko, named Boko. I've been feeding the two of them greens and fruits to improve their stats. Soon, I'll start breeding them!
Day 322
I wanted to test out my new armor, so I decided to take on the Twilight Lich!
The lich fight has two phases. You can't harm the lich directly in the first phase, as he has several golden shields circling him. He summons shades of himself, which all proceed to teleport around and hurl magic at you. You need to direct the projectiles back at him to break the shields, eventually triggering the next phase. Then, the lich is vulnerable to harm, but summons zombie minions.
I beat the lich and was rewarded with loot, including the Scepter of Fortification. This lets you summons shields like the lich's. There's actually several unique drops from this fight, and more lich towers around, so I'll probably go clear them, too.
Day 325
I was out exploring, and decided to get to know some of the neighbors!
The Millenaire mod adds various types of settlements based on 11th-century cultures. The player can develop a relationship with these cultures to help their villages grow and develop.
There's a couple villages within a few hundred blocks of me, including this Japanese one. Millenaire is another one of those mods I've always wanted to play with but never found a place for, so I'm excited to do more with it!
Day 330
I finally got into potion-making, and used Fire Resistance potions to craft an Obsidian Skull! As long as I carry it, it gives me immunity to burning. Why would I want this all of a sudden? No reason, no reason...
Day 332
...except maybe for fighting dragons!
Ice and Fire dragons are huge, powerful mobs with hundreds of health and devastating breath weapons. A great test of my combat prowess! The battles were fierce, but I proved victorious. I raided the two nearest dragon roosts and slew their occupants, which rewarded me with various dragon parts and other loot. I don't have much use for these yet, but at least I've made the lands around me a little safer.
Day 340
Today I bred my chocobos! You can use different items when breeding to influence the baby's stats, though I won't be able to see the results until it grows up. But look how cute it is <3
Day 344
Time to delve into another magic mod. Astral Sorcery is all about wielding the power of starlight.
The first steps in this mod are to make its special crafting altar and start collecting starlight in a Lightwell. The mod involves a lot of exploring, crafting, and building large multiblock structures, so there's plenty to keep me occupied!
Day 349
In Astral Sorcery, you need certain amounts of starlight in order to make things with your crafting altar. Different chunks have different levels of starlight. I found a chunk with a high concentration a little ways from my base, and created the multiblock structure of my altar. This will get bigger as it increases in tier. I'd get even more starlight if I built the altar at a higher elevation, but this is fine for now. There are other ways to increase starlight later.
Now, as you might expect for a mod focusing on starlight, a lot of Astral Sorcery has to be done at night. Underneath the altar, I placed a Mega Torch from the Torchmaster mod, which will block hostile mob spawns in a decent area, to keep me safe while I work celestial magic.
Day 353
I'm charting the heavens!
Constellations play a big part in Astral Sorcery, so discovering and charting them out is an important part of progression. One cool thing is that drawing out a constellation with your telescope makes them show up in the night sky! Makes the mod feel more part of the game world, in a way.
Day 356
In Astral Sorcery, you can attune yourself to a constellation to access new abilities. I always go with Vicio, the constellation of motion, because I like to gofast; there's other neat perks later down the line. Plus, in order to level up your abilities you have to do certain actions associated with your constellation, and Vicio's easy in that regard--just get moving!
Day 358
I was itching for some adventure, so I headed to the Twilight Forest. This time, I was looking for a Twilight Swamp, and the Labyrinth within.
I found one partially exposed to the air. These labyrinths twist through the earth, made of nigh-indestructible stone, with treasures and monsters alike. I descended to the second level, fighting off Lava Beetles, Minotaurs, and more, and eventually found the lair of the mighty Minoshroom.
Defeating the Minoshroom got me loot, from his axe to some delicious Meef Stroganoff; eating this opens the way forward to continue my journey. This is as far as I've gotten in the Twilight Forest before. From here on out, it's a new experience for me!
Day 363
Took some time to explore the End, and got an Elytra! Honestly not the most necessary thing for me at the moment, but still good to have. I may have more use for it later.
Day 372
Today's adventure took me to the Twilight Forest's Fire Swamp, to the lair of the enormous Hydra. Like a ghast, this beast shoots explosive fireballs which can be hit back at it to do damage, though you have to watch out for its other heads' attacks!
Defeating the creature got me its Fiery blood, which can be used to make powerful tools and armor--though if I want to complete the set, I'll have to defeat more than one Hydra...
Day 373
A key part of Botania's progression is the portal to Alfheim! Unfortunately, I can't go through the portal myself, but I can trade with the elves on the other side for Botania resources. Tossing in my mod guide also updates it with new knowledge, and even a boss fight (that I am definitely not ready for, lol).
Day 385
I built a brewery! Several mods in this pack have brewing systems, from Rustic and its addon Rusticated Fruit, to Sakura, to Forestry. They share a similar design in allowing me to craft alcohol and other liquids with various effects. On the right in the image, I've started a small orchard of fruit-bearing trees.
This took me a while because I suck at building, haha. But I think it turned out cute in the end! The glazed windows are from ArchitectureCraft, while the lanterns and campfires come from Future MC.
Day 388
My first batch of booze is brewing! Rustic's system has a random quality level associated with it, so it may take a few tries before I get passable liquor. I'm particularly interested in brewing mead for its wither ward effect.
Day 392
I'm living dangerously in Thaumcraft.
Thaumcraft's infusion crafting mechanic is prone to instability. This can be mitigated by placing candles and other paraphenalia around the altar as in the above image, but the higher-tier recipes will require stabilizers. In order to research those, I have to let an infusion go unstable. Messing up in order to progess seems to be a theme with Thaumcraft.
Day 397
I'm hunting wither skeletons for their skulls, for various reasons. I can use them as stabilizers for Thaumcraft infusion, and of course, there's that certain boss fight...
Day 400
I feel like I've made good progress in the past 100 days! I've gotten stronger, and faced several bosses and mighty foes. I hope to take on more challenges in the coming days, too.
I also wanted to talk about this blog a bit. On the one hand, when I'm spending days doing chores or Thaumcraft research, it can be stressful to have nothing interesting to show. On the other, I feel like it keeps me moving forward, always working towards at least small goals, and that's rewarding. Overall, I think the blog's been a good thing, and I want to keep it up for whoever may be interested. Even if that's only me :P