[Suggestion] Additional Mining Laser Mode

    Description:
    This is a simple one. Add a "heat" mode to the mining laser. This would have a few simple functions. First, shooting any mobs or flammable blocks would cause them to catch fire. Second, shooting cobblestone blocks would smelt them into smoothstone in place. Third, and the best imo, it would cause water source blocks within a 1 block radius of the laser beam to evaporate. If you've used the volcanite amulet from the equivalent exchange mod, you know how it would work. This would allow you to clear up underground lakes you run into without having to fill them in with sand or gravel.


    Recipe:
    No change.

    So you want a laser cooking mode, similar to a laser flamethrower. At first glance this sounds like an interesting idea.

    Great idea, I like it!


    Though turning cobble into smoothstone on the spot should cost more than putting it in a electro furnace.

    Hmm...This is interesting. /signed.

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    Quote from Cadde

    Great idea, I like it!


    Though turning cobble into smoothstone on the spot should cost more than putting it in a electro furnace.


    I'm not so sure... if you smelt a block of cobblestone in place, you can't retrieve it to use in a recipe, you just get the cobblestone back. Even if the mining laser were cheaper to smelt than an electro furnace, you would still need to use a furnace in order to smelt stone to make a compressor, for instance. Likewise, we could also allow smelting of sand into glass, in place. But, you can't break it to pick it up and use it in a crafting table to make reinforced glass. It doesn't drop anything when you break it.


    The only way this would help you smelt stuff cheaper is if you had a pick enchanted with silk touch, and smooth stone is already the most common block in the game, it wouldn't exactly be a game changer to be able to make more.

    Quote from Indras

    I'm not so sure... if you smelt a block of cobblestone in place, you can't retrieve it to use in a recipe, you just get the cobblestone back. Even if the mining laser were cheaper to smelt than an electro furnace, you would still need to use a furnace in order to smelt stone to make a compressor, for instance. Likewise, we could also allow smelting of sand into glass, in place. But, you can't break it to pick it up and use it in a crafting table to make reinforced glass. It doesn't drop anything when you break it.


    The only way this would help you smelt stuff cheaper is if you had a pick enchanted with silk touch, and smooth stone is already the most common block in the game, it wouldn't exactly be a game changer to be able to make more.

    Since all sane people hate enchantments and potions i don't see why you had to bring that up reminding us just how awful that system is... Either way, point is that making structures out of smoothstone (which some people still do mind you) shouldn't be cheaper by using the mining laser and placing the cobble blocks... And it also makes sense in a physical way. A furnace is a confined environment where heat cannot escape as easily. Using a laser out in the open is a different thing all together.


    Why do you care about it anyways? I made a balancing suggestion and you want it to be cheaper than burning it in a furnace? You saying you want to use the laser to harden your cobble into smoothstone? hmmm?

    Quote from Cadde

    Since all sane people hate enchantments and potions i don't see why you had to bring that up reminding us just how awful that system is... Either way, point is that making structures out of smoothstone (which some people still do mind you) shouldn't be cheaper by using the mining laser and placing the cobble blocks... And it also makes sense in a physical way. A furnace is a confined environment where heat cannot escape as easily. Using a laser out in the open is a different thing all together.


    Why do you care about it anyways? I made a balancing suggestion and you want it to be cheaper than burning it in a furnace? You saying you want to use the laser to harden your cobble into smoothstone? hmmm?


    Fair enough. Other than making compressors and reinforced stone, smoothstone doesn't have much purpose besides as a building material. No reason why the EU cost can't be balanced with an electro furnace/induction furnace. And, it probably shouldn't be instantaneous either, maybe require multiple shots?


    The main reason why I want this suggestion is that there currently is no way to clear out underground lakes with IC2, besides the vanilla method of filling the area with sand/gravel and then digging it all back up. Buildcraft has the option of doing it for you, with a filler set up 1 block above the lake to fill with sand, but then the sand must be removed , either by another filler, or by hand. It drives me nuts when I'm setting up a mining shaft and I run into a large underground lake, there's just no fast or efficient method.


    Equivalent exchange has the volcanite amulet, with a projectile that evaporates water, as well as a hot key to evaporate all water in a radius around you, which makes this particular task a breeze. The "smelt-in-place" idea just sort of hit me while I was logging on to post this.

    I can think of a few ways to empty a lake...

    • Fill it with blocks. (obviously)
    • Fill it with torches REALLY fast. (macro ftw)
    • Use empty cells REALLY fast. (macro FTW)
    • Use a pump.
    • Use a sponge from finite liquid (Yeah, you just didn't list it)
    • Make a lake clearing machine that simply cooks all liquid it finds next to it recursively. Requiring 1 EU per water block. Extract plantball from machine for every 20 blocks cleared?


    However, clearing lakes with the laser would be a nice addition. It needs to have an area of effect though to clear out all water block in one click.

    This is an excelent idea! I don't really care too much either way with the smelt-in-place, but evaporating water would be sweet!


    And I would like to further add to the light-mobs-on-fire: one thing i've noticed about the current laser is that it lights mobs on fire for a very short time, and sets flamable blocks on fire only rarely. How about it does 0 damage to a mob upon impact, but lights them on fire for an extended time? Also, it would be nice if it lit whatever block it hit on fire 100% of the time, almost like a ranged flint & steel! (I spawned in a pine forest biome, and am totally BURRIED in trees! No peaceful mobs ever spawn (not enought space/light), so I have to go on periodic slash-and-burn sprees, which gets annoying)

    One of the few current threads in the suggestion section that I actually like. +1 from me!

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    As far as I'm aware, peaceful mobs don't spawn now period. They're laid down at the same time trees/etc are on the chunk and that's it. The big reason I wanted 1.0.0 was so I could get new converts in to it without requiring a backdated version (and compatibility with other updated mods); and the second reason was animal breeding (so I can actually kill the excess but keep a population).

    Quote from MJEvans

    As far as I'm aware, peaceful mobs don't spawn now period. They're laid down at the same time trees/etc are on the chunk and that's it. The big reason I wanted 1.0.0 was so I could get new converts in to it without requiring a backdated version (and compatibility with other updated mods); and the second reason was animal breeding (so I can actually kill the excess but keep a population).


    They spawn in the chunks they originally spawned. they just don't spawn that often. (Like one peaceful mob every 10 minecraft days or something like that)