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[Putnam]

That would be interesting

[i2amroy]

This sounds interesting. Personally I think the best way to handle the sheer amount of log/stone reactions would be to create a new type of stone and wood that didn't show up anywhere naturally (call them "alchemical stone" and "alchemical wood" or something like that) and then give it stats basically equivalent to your standard wood/stone. If you want you might even want to have "alchemical stone (lava-safe)" as well. That chops your number of reactions for stone/wood from hundreds down to 3 plus any ore reactions you want to have.

[Trapezohedron]

It all depends on how indepth you want it to be. You want to make every material in the vanilla game? well there is your 200 reactions, you only want to make sensiable reactions, if you know how to properly use REACTION_CLASS or MATERIAL_REACTION_PRODUCT you can probally only have 20 - 50 reactions.

This is true. Mastery over the REACTION_CLASS tag will most certainly reduce the amount of reactions. But, there's a catch.

Since you can't use reaction class to produce a specific material, you'll still be stuck in that area. Unless that reaction requires a material (let's say a wooden log in this case) and some EMC to create, instead of being produced from pure EMC.

Let's say you need wood. By using REACTION_CLASS:WOOD on all wooden materials, as well as the reaction's reagent line itself, the operator will go looking for a WOOD material around the area. The first wooden thing it'll grab will become the base material of the products, via GET_MATERIAL_FROM_REAGENT:etc . Then the operator will go looking for EMC. If you put PRESERVE_REAGENT on the same reagent line as the one with REACTION_CLASS:WOOD, the base material for the product will never be consumed, effectively making the EMC fabricator only consume EMC to produce the product.

I guess that's preferable to choosing over a 100+ reactions of stuff you're not going to use.

[abculatter_2]

I added a list of stuff I'm planning to do to the first post, in the spoiler at the bottom. I decided to change things quite a bit from the Minecraft version, since balance, thematics, and capabilities are very different in DF then in MC.

Like, for example, I'll be adding a kind of alchemical tech tree, where one must must first explore the world of alchemy and make discoveries before one can emulate real materials with any real efficiency. You can replicate real-world matter even at 'tier 1' (as of now, in my head, there are really only two tiers; Pre-Secret and Post-Secret, which I will refer to as such from now on). However, the reaction is highly inefficient, requiring twice as much EMC as the item actually costs EMC-wise in the real world. If I add more then 1 tier, the those will gradually increase this efficiency, but as of now pre-secret costs 2x as much, post-secret is true equivalent exchange.

I'll also be adding new 'Alchemical' materials, which are essentially inferior, but sometimes uniquely useful versions of their real-world counter-parts. These are much easier to produce pre-secret, having roughly the same cost as their counter-parts. There's a bit more info up in the spoiler, but I won't be revealing what I have planned for individual stuff yet... Where's the !!FUN!! in that? ;P

Another thing I'll be adding is EMC tiers, each being a more condensed form of the last, which can be condensed and broken apart freely at no additional cost. The more expensive stuff will require more condensed forms of EMC, and converting stuff with higher EMC values will also yield their equivalent EMC value. This should reduce clutter, hauling, and just generally make things easier to deal with...

Also, I am working on this now, but progress is rather slow, since I tend to be easily distracted...

Alsoalso, New Guy, that is glorious. Thank you telling me about that, that will make things a HELL of a lot easier... And it's not difficult to justify thematically, either.

EDIT: Oh, also, once I actually get something worth making a new thread about, I will do so, and probably rename the mod to "Secrets of Creation"
Internally, though, it'll still be abbreviated as EE.

EDIT2: Alsoalso, some help with the x to EMC reactions would help a lot, and be greatly appreciated. I've decided to stick with only converting raw materials (metal bars (not ore), wood, stone, gems, plants, corpses (including vermin). However, there are a few challenges with this... Like, for example, I plan on having the gems each have separate cost tiers, which are defined in the spoiler. But how can I do this, without adding a new reaction for every single gem?

[Putnam]

For the gems: use reaction classes in the gems to sort them into tiers. The gem file already has handy tiers in place.

[abculatter_2]

For the gems: use reaction classes in the gems to sort them into tiers. The gem file already has handy tiers in place.

Wut.
Explain, please.

[Putnam]

Add a line to each gem that goes like this:

[REACTION_CLASS:GEM_TIER_X]

where X is the tier you want the gem in.

Then, have a reaction that creates a certain amount of EMC with a reagent like this:

[REAGENT:A:1:ROUGH:NONE:NONE:NONE][REACTION_CLASS:GEM_TIER_X]

Reaction classes are EXTREMELY useful, and they're simple as that: you can put anything in the reaction class and it will be accepted. You could have as few as 4-5 reactions total that will work for every gem that way.

[abculatter_2]

I love you.
Please, have my babies. ALL OF THEM.

EDIT: So, I can use these classes for any item, anywhere in the raws?

[Trapezohedron]

You can only use reaction classes on material raws (INORGANIC, METAL, etc, not ITEM_ARMOR and such), and in reagents.

So basically, you can make a reaction to make a batch of armor using a random material, in which the products become an xxx armor (where xxx = material used), which could theoretically extend to bone armor*, elven flesh armor and the like, depending on the reaction restrictions and REACTION_CLASS.

*May or may not work, but it might, due to how the game handles leather armor. Unsure of this though...

[Hugo_The_Dwarf]

You can only use reaction classes on material raws (INORGANIC, METAL, etc, not ITEM_ARMOR and such), and in reagents.

So basically, you can make a reaction to make a batch of armor using a random material, in which the products become an xxx armor (where xxx = material used), which could theoretically extend to bone armor, elven flesh armor and the like, depending on the reaction restrictions and REACTION_CLASS.

hmm elven skin shirts...

[abculatter_2]

Okay, so I have some of the basics down, I've defined 4 different EMCs (Cloud, which will pop up in reactions occasionally and cause FUN, Gaseous, which is the lowest tier of usable EMC, Viscous, which is condensed from 10 gaseous, and Solid, which is condensed from 10 viscous) and all of the necessary workshops, none of which I've really tested, I might add, and am now adding reactions.

However, I'm trying to decide how I want EMC to be stored... Should I just use barrels? Or, is there a way to create a storage device which can only store EMC, and which is the only place EMC can be stored?

I also feel like mentioning that this is my first mod ever, so yay.

[Trapezohedron]

I think you can create containers based on the item_tools.txt objects, but that's out of my expertise, so yeah, I can't really say for sure.

If anything, you can make them store EMC in barrels and stone pots or such.

Or maybe you could try vials?

Go look for adventure mods (like Lofn's Wanderer's Friend) and reverse-engineer the potion making raws to get a feel of how they fill vials with liquid materials/substances.

[abculatter_2]

Excerpt from the Alchemical Handbook, Vol. 3, Ch 3; Alchemical Colors, and Why They Matter

To many, the many different colors produced by alchemists are little more then trivialities, pure extensions of whimsy, whether they be from the alchemist himself, or from his consumer. And, indeed, many times this assumption is true; sometimes, seemingly trivial matters such as appearances really do matter, even if that reason is nothing more then to please some trifling noble or king. However, to truly master the alchemical art, and discover the Secrets of Creation, one must look past appearances, and understand these colors at their most basic and fundamental level.

And no, by the way, the colors themselves have very little to do with our goal.

What DOES have MUCH to do with our goal, however, is how these colors are brought about.

Unfortunately, much of the specifics on this subject remain shrouded in mystery; secrets closely guarded by the gods, and those few, lucky mortals which they choose to enlighten, or which have beaten the gods at their own game, and uncovered the secrets themselves... However, observant alchemists have made correlations between the color of alchemical materials, and their properties. Many have noted how certain properties seem to be carried over simply by the color of the material, despite radically different approaches to achieve that specific color.

What this actually means is a topic of much debate, but what IS known is that it is not the actual color which carries the properties. Rather, it seems to be almost the opposite; the conditions which bring about that color, are also the conditions which bring about those properties. This is a rather interesting phenomenon, especially when one examines the associations and prominent theories we have had throughout our history. Though, to the aspiring alchemist it is one of primarily categorical importance.

For those interested, (which should be everyone reading this book!) the known property associations which have been cataloged are as follows;

Red = Fire/Heat
Blue = Water/Cold
Green = Plants/Animals/Life
Magenta/purple = Death/Undeath
Cyan = Air/Sky
Yellow = Earth/Minerals
Grey =  Void/Substance
White = Light/Revelation
Black = Darkness/Deceit

...


(Now, if only I could focus this much on the actual mod itself, instead of the fluff...)

[Courtesy Arloban]

Due to having reactions to break down and build items of any material, I reccomend you store your materials in custom workshops similar to the display case or lumber stockpile mods.

[abculatter_2]

Due to having reactions to break down and build items of any material, I reccomend you store your materials in custom workshops similar to the display case or lumber stockpile mods.

... Huh?