Download
Calclavia has been generous enough to let me host my mod on his site, universalelectricity.com. You can download Mekanism on it's page here.
Questions and Answers... with myself
Mekanism -- what is it?
Mekanism actually has no definitive goal, concept, or development plan. It has evolved since late 2011, starting off only featuring a few sets of tools, and now coming together with many ways of electricity generation and complex machinery. I can't tell you what it will contain in it's coming development.
Why would you post a mod like this here, on the IC2 forums?
Mekanism has experienced several complete reworks, most recent of which was my dedication to making this mod completely compatible with Universal Electricity, and using this as it's framework. However, as time has gone by, I've realized people tend to think of Mekanism as a mod that runs completely on UE, and serves as competition to mods like Thermal Expansion and IndustrialCraft. This couldn't be farther from the truth, and has led me to rethink how I think of Mekanism myself.
What do you mean by that?
Actually, Mekanism was never originally compatible with Universal Electricity. When I added the various machinery, it originally ran completely on redstone, and I later added IC2 support due to both my love for the mod and it's content, as well as my liking for it's various developers; specifically Alblaka and Player. I discovered UE when it was it's own standalone mod, and immediately took a liking to it's goal -- to make an electricity framework other mods could build upon. I've continued to appreciate this, but have begun to realize that this goal may be futile, considering the work developers have put into the IC2 EnergyNet and BuildCraft's Power Framework. Shortly after implementing UE I added support for BuildCraft, a decision that I definitely don't regret.
Why should I use Mekanism when mods like IC2's machinery function just like yours?
The answer, I must say, is that you don't have to. Shortly after Direwolf20's spotlight was released, there was a lot of complaints about my mod discretely copying IC2, something I hadn't even considered. I realized that this was largely true -- Mekanism includes machines that use the same ore processing system IC2 has. King_Lemming, someone who has encouraged me from the start of my modding "career," and who has helped me overcome countless difficulties in the past, explained to me not to get caught up in the politics of modding. I greatly appreciated his insight, and encouraged me to make my mod more independent -- something more along the lines of Factorization, but something that works universally with the most popular mods out today.
So there's really no advantage of using your mod?
Technically, yes, there are some advantages. My mod's machines work with every major electricity network, including BuildCraft power, IndustrialCraft energy, and Universal Electricity, well, electricity. This means you'll have no trouble using Mekanism if you already have a full-fledged, Thermal Expansion-style ore processing facility. Also, similar to Thermal Expansion, my machines have configurable inventories, allowing you to automate processing with BuildCraft pipes or RedPower tubes. Also, this is only talking about the machinery Mekanism consists of. There's plenty more to see!
I'm really starting to not like you.
Perfectly fine by me
Content
Energy Storage:
* Energy Cube - my favorite, a three-tiered energy storage device capable of holding 1,000, 2,500, and 5,000 KJ. Can accept and output Universal Electricity, BuildCraft and IndustrialCraft power. Breaking it will yield the cube, but with the same amount of energy it contained when it dropped. This item can then be used as a battery in, say, an MFSU. Place it down, and you get an Energy Cube with the same amount of energy.
* Energy Tablet - a universal battery, capable of storing 250 KJ, that works with IC2 and UE.
Machinery:
* Platinum Compressor - a machine capable of combining various vanilla-based materials with Platinum to obtain various alloys.
* Combiner - a machine used to combine dusts with Cobblestone in order to obtain their ore form. Not a cheap process -- requires extensive amounts of electricity and 8 dusts to create a single ore, although working with materials including Copper, Tin, Silver and Lead.
* Metallurgic Infuser - a machine used to combine alloys such carbon and an enriched form of iron to obtain steel, or tin dust and a copper ingot to obtain bronze.
* Crusher - a machine used to crush ingots of various materials in order to obtain their dust counterpart. Also can be used to crush clumps into dirty forms of dust, or to compress plant-based materials into biofuel. Yes, it can get you coal dust.
* Enrichment Chamber - a machine used to enrich ores into two of their dust form. Also is capable of turning dirty dust into it's pure form of dust.
* Purification Chamber - a second-tier version of the Enrichment Chamber, used to turn an ore into three clumps -- in other words, 300% ore output. Requires a large amount of Oxygen to function.
* Electrolytic Separator - a machine that splits water molecules using an electric current, leaving you with two units of Hydrogen and one of Oxygen.
* Smelting Factory - an electric furnace with 3 tiers -- having 3, 5, and 7 operation slots.
Generators:
* Solar Generator - a generator that runs completely on the sun -- generating a small amount of electricity during the day, and none at night.
* Advanced Solar Generator - nine-times more efficient than the Solar Generator, taking up 11 times more space. Cheaper than nine Solar Generators.
* Bio-Generator - used to create energy out of BioFuel. A fairly efficient process, although automation will be handy considering the BioFuel doesn't last that long.
* Heat Generator - a thermopile-based machine that is capable of producing tiny amounts of energy when lava surrounds it. Also works as a solid-fuel generator, simply put any burnable resource in the fuel slot and it will generate you plenty of electricity.
* Hydrogen Generator - directly converts Hydrogen into useable electricity. Requires immense amounts of Hydrogen to function, but generates large amounts of electricity. Can be directly connected to an Electrolytic Separator.
Other Features:
* Machine-based upgrade system that cooperates with all other UE mods.
* Atomic Disassembler, end-game electronic multitool.
* Electric Bow, capable of catching arrows on fire before launch.
* Configurator, used to modify machines' sided inventories (implementable API).
* 6 sets of tools and armor, all with visible HP information.
* Full-fledged IC2 and BuildCraft integration.
* In-game update system.
* Completely open source.
* Plenty more features!
Source Code
Mekanism is open source, and isn't currently held under any license. This means you have the right to copy any of my code you find, credit me, and use it on your own. Not crediting me, however, would be considered plagiarism. You can click here for the source.
Credit to GregoriousT for helping me balance this mod.
Thanks for reading!