Vindex

n> Hey, mind hear a little Idea I had? http://pastebin.com/xE7U2Ny2
<Vindex> Yes
<TheMadman> I'd like your thoughts on it.
<Vindex> Say
<Vindex> Oh, mmnt, I'll move to pc
<Vindex> To open pastebin
<TheMadman> Ah, sorry. It is a little long to post here, chat log from a conversation I had with Way.
<Vindex> so I'm at PC
<TheMadman> Ah, thank you.
<Vindex> reading it now...
<Vindex> just finish some calculation I've started for botania
<Vindex> ok, back to reading
<Vindex> so basically backpack would convert food into LP?
<TheMadman> Using you as a catalyst, yes.
<Vindex> without you having to sit near altar
<TheMadman> Right.
<Vindex> but it would take danger of overdraining from the equation
<TheMadman> But leave you in a constant state of low HP.
<Vindex> so danger of zombie eating your brain
<TheMadman> Right.
<TheMadman> And it would take your chest armor slot, so you will have far less protection.
<Vindex> I'm trying to imagine playing with  this item and when I would move away from it
<TheMadman> Hmm... Would you say that having it make 150 LP off a heart would be more fair?
<Vindex> knife is 200, right?
<TheMadman> Without any runes, yes.
<TheMadman> And the altar holds 10,000 without any capacity.
<Vindex> ok, I would use it in L1 definitively
<Vindex> in L2 I usually try to find ways to sacrifice mobs
<TheMadman> My thought is you make it around T1-2, use it until T3 when standing at the altar is far more efficient, then at t4 you have the feathered knife.
<Vindex> well, personally I would think this is too easy
<Vindex> this is like nearly no effort, just consuming food
<TheMadman> But so is self sacrifice.
<Vindex> given you have green grove at L2, food is no problem
<TheMadman> But you would be spending more then your making that way.
<Vindex> so you would have to balance it out by big farm fields
<Vindex> if it would push player into that direction, I like it
<Vindex> because for me placing farm fields and harvesting them is PITA, different than grinding over altar
<Vindex> PITA is good
<TheMadman> Hmm... Any thoughts on what might make it more balanced? Your stuck at one heart, have some de-buff like slowness or mining fatigue, less efficiency then the altar?
<Vindex> ok, so with this item you can't idle
<Vindex> once you idle, your food bar goes down and you stop regenerating
<TheMadman> So you would need to keep eating.
<Vindex> yes
<TheMadman> *Or have a form of regneration, like potions or a beacon.
<Vindex> but if you have beacon or potions, it would be waaay faster to be at the altar
<TheMadman> Right...
<TheMadman> So this would make a nice T1-2 so you can work around your base while still making LP.
<Vindex> I'm thinking about how to make player do more
<Vindex> I like farming implication
<TheMadman> Considering bread would only give 2-3 hearts each, they would need a large field to keep up with demand.
<Vindex> which BTW is easily counteracted early game by TC harvest golem, but balancing with mods is hard
<Vindex> this is creepy...... but...
<TheMadman> Right, but this would still keep BM in the mid-late game area where you have already made some infrastructure with other mods.
<Vindex> I've just had an idea of player having to fuel the backpack by something. Like sharpening its teeth
<TheMadman> Flint, or iron?
<Vindex> harvest golem can be done without any infrastructure
<Vindex> yeah
<Vindex> not in big amounts
<Vindex> but make player think about it and do something
<TheMadman> Well, some infrastructure. You'd need a crucible, arcane work table, and research table.
<Vindex> I'm trying to keep with basic underlying idea of being not resource intensive - so vary activitie
<Vindex> s
<Vindex> TC: some iron and wood
<TheMadman> Hmm... Perhaps when you drain it the glass needs replaced?
<Vindex> BM needs diamond to start
<TheMadman> Well, a chance to need to be replaced.
<Vindex> yeah, something like that... yes, chance is good
<Vindex> how many times you would need to drain it, before you are at T2 and T3?
<TheMadman> Roughly twice for T1 to T2, without the orb cost.
<TheMadman> For T2-T3... About twelve.
<TheMadman> That is if you let it fill to full each time.
<Vindex> which you would probably do
<Vindex> real PITA would be if the pack was one use only :)
<Vindex> (depends on crafting costs of course)
<TheMadman> Right, unless you could repair it. Or needed to replace the tanks.
<Vindex> just making it use leather would be unpleasant enough
<TheMadman> So.. Leather *6, glass block, blank slate * 2 sound good?
<Vindex> yes
<Vindex> so either you farm and have animals or you go hunting or you stay at the altar
<TheMadman> Well, staying at the altar needs a farm as well.
<Vindex> yes, but not animals
<Vindex> and really, food costs are not that big...
<TheMadman> Well, meat. Far better usage of crops, at the cost of time.
<Vindex> it's pity I've used mandrakes at T2 and T3
<Vindex> I don't have exact feeling how much grind it is without Witchery
<TheMadman> And I can't give a good representation, because I'm not daff enough to just stand at the altar waiting for HP to regen.
<Vindex> yeah, if I didn't have witchery, I would go looking for spawner
<Vindex> or make a mob trap in the skies
<TheMadman> Right, as that is sort of the progression Way has in mind. Mob trap or potions through T2.
<Vindex> I'm actually bad test subject for this
<TheMadman> That is the problem, isn't it? We need to balance around the best methods, and people rarely use them. Once I have melons I'm chugging potions to speed up progression.
<Vindex> because I would make BM e.g. more resource intensive or add some other pain
<Vindex> to force me do more different activities
<Vindex> mining is one possibility only
<Vindex> actually I like demon village idea very much
<Vindex> personally I would require some form of it even in much earlier game
<TheMadman> Right, understandable. That is why at T2 I'm always running about my base, building things, crafting, farming instead of sitting around to wait for regen.
<Vindex> like AE2, which forces you to explore for meteorites
<TheMadman> Well, thank you for your time. Glad to get another opinon on this matter, as I said earlier: We're welcome to ideas to make it less tedious while still being blood magic.
<TheMadman> Problem always comes with finding those ideas.