I'm not sure where this post should go. It's mainly from a conversation with friends in a big modded server (~50, 70 players), but it was about IC2, and about balance in the game. There will be lots of suggestions here, I guarantee. There will also be a lot of typos, since english is my second language
I think the normal IC2 is pretty cool. And balanced. Maybe a bit too much. It's kinda hard to get Nuclear Reactors, UU Matter and Quantum armor going on "normal" IC2. Damn, it's hard to even make a Miner work! And that's kinda of a bad thing. IC2 power is a bit hard to get. That makes people go crazy with huge Windmill towers and insane reactor designs that run for 10secs. That, in the good old IC2. But usually, people don't play just with IC2. Oh no, they play with a lot of other mods. They play with BuildCraft, RedPower, EquivalentExchange... Some of these mods are really op (I mean, in EE, you can kinda make Lava Cells from nothing with Condensers and Collectors), and these mods make it so much easier. You can simply put a pump in the Nether and run 50 Geothermals because you know, who needs Reactors? Well, if your answer was me, you probably made one of those crazy MK Vs that use Snow Golems, Block Breakers, Auto Crafting Tables, Compressors, etc. All of that is really nice but...
We're on a server. That probably wasn't so important like 2 months ago, when there was no sign 1.3 would make Minecraft a game that "must" be played in multiplayer (yes, multi was important before, but not nearly as much). It is important now. Lag is something very important. I can run 1.2.5 on "max" just fine, but when I tried 1.3, my computer gasped so much I could hear it crying. But this problem isn't new, oh no. It's been such a big issue in IC2 that some machines cause too much lag that people made an addon to help it. You probably heard of it: CompactSolars. That beauty can put 512 EU/t in a single block. Is that op? Hell no! It's basically a lag decreaser. But unfortunately, people with this have been giving up on Reactors just to build some HV Solar Arrays. So, going against almost everyone I've talked to, I don't think CompactSolars should be added to IC2. Neither that "other" plugin, the one called Advanced Machines, because...
Induction Furnaces are OP. They just are. To make two Electric Furnaces run at a decent speed, or even a speed that's near the 100% heated Induction Furnace, it's needed a ridiculously huge amout of both work and energy. Overclocker, Transformer and Storage Upgrades are required, and that yields MFSU, Reactor and all of those shenanigans to get lots of Energy. An Induction Furnace on the other hand, just needs 6EU/t and shazam! Two slots for input, two slots for output and there you go, super speed at the cost of a few Solars. That is bad because with it, upgrades make no sense. Why would I waste my time making Circuits, Batteries and even Transformers if I just need some Coal and Metals? It's just a waste of time. But I'm aware that the item will most likely not be removed. I suggest at least a nerf, making the thing take more EU or something like that. But at this point, you may be asking to yourself: How the heck am I going to get all this EU? Is this guy nuts? Well, no. The answer is...
Better energy generation. That's one of the things we got more excited about, because IC2 energy generation is real hard. You either get 10 MK I Nuclear Reactors (impossible on most servers), or build one of those huge Windmill towers, or make an insane Solar Factory (yes, we've been watching you Player!) or do one of those "Direwolf20's Watermill System" those things cause lag. Tons of lag. Timers, Tubes, Watermills, all that causes lots of lag. And the problem is people don't know, some even just don't care. And why is that? It's simple. IC2 energy is hard to get. Solars are hard to craft. There is no "easy energy" on IC2. Sure, Geothermals are nice. But we're still talking about SMP. Lava flow is not nice. And even worse, people do bases in the Nether with Mass Fabs and MFSUs just to sit in there charging Lapotron Crystals while UU gets produced. And that is just boring. Our suggestion?
Structural machines. Structural machines are a apparently a thing now, with RailCraft's Coke Oven/Blast Furnace and Forestry, with it's Alveary. The idea is some sort of Structural Watermill system, or even a Hydroelectric could be cool. You know, my country's main energy power comes from Hydreletrics! But you know, eventually, the power of Water is not enough. To complement it, you could do some sort of Structural Windmill system is required. Yes, I'm talking about Eolic Turbines. They should provide more power than Solar Panels, but less than Hydreletrics/Watermills. Solars are just fine for me. I would suggest a change in it's crafting recipe though. For what it offers (1EU/t during half a day), it should have more of a simplistic crafting recipe, something like a specific new item, that would be only used in the crafting recipe of Solar-related items, something like that. Then again, you may be asking yourself: What about Reactors? There's nothing wrong about them... Right? Well, thing is...
Nuclear Reactors should be changed. And when I say changed, I mean that you guys should reduce it's explosion radius. Maybe even remove it. When a Nuclear Reactor overheats IRL, there is no Nuclear Explosion. What there is, is Radiation. Lot's of radiation. Enough Radiation to don't let thing live there for a very, very long time. And that's what Nuclear Reactors should do. Cause radiation. To get near it, you'd need a special type of armor, something made of special Metals and stuff like that, and it should slowly take damage for being next to the reactor. Of course, Reinforced Stone would no longer be the only thing you'd need to make a reactor work. Not sealing your chamber properly would cause radiation to destroy the nearby environment, making all the blocks around it contamined. That should have some radius. Making ir so that all Grass blocks turn into darker dirt blocks, and thus no longer being able to grow Grass or even being able have plants on it. This should also spread with a certain radius. Breaking the block would give you the radiated block. But you know, after the reactor liberates it's radiation, that fancy special armor would not work for too long. Some minutes max. After the armor gets destroyed, you get several bad effects: Poision, Blindness, etc. You'd be killed in a few secs. If that reactor is near your base, that's forever bye for you. If it is on your spawn point, you can say bye to that world too. And since we're talking about armor, I'm sure you're asking yourself: What about Quantum? Well...
Quantum is OP. Yes, I knew he would say that! It's what you probably just thought. But honestly, I don't think Quantum is OP because of it's benefits, or because it's easy to get Quantum. It's not that. I think Quantum is OP because it only takes 1 million EU per piece. That's easy to get, I know. But the thing is, you don't need it. How often you charge your Quantum Suite? It takes ages to fully discharge Quantum Armor. While we were talking about armor, another IC2 addon popped in the conversation: the Gravitation Suite addon. That, I don't think it's OP. Now you're thinking I'm crazy again, but trust me, I'm not. The thing that makes this addon not OP is not just the extremely expensive components of the items. It's the storage. The main item (GravitationChestPlate) hold 10 million EU. Yes, it makes you fly, but it cost 10 million EU! That's not easy to get. Even better (or worse), it's the fact that the flight only lasts for 20 minutes. Yes, that sounds like a lot, but unless you're one of those super crazy guys from the beggining, no way you can get 10 million EU in 20 minutes. Better that is the Hyper mode. It lasts for like 6~7 minutes. Then again, doesn't aply to those super crazy guys from the begining (don't take be bad, I love you guys). My suggestion is a change in the recipe. To add something that's crafted with Lapotron Crystals, in a way the Q. Armor just needs 10 million EU. Like that. Maybe a change in the Iridium Plates recipe. And talkinga about Iridium Plates...
Iridium Plates should be a product of the Nuclear Reactor. I mean, think about it. As awesome as UU is (no, I don't think UU is OP), We should have a better way to get Iridium. And better, of course, means harder! I'm not sure how this could be implemented. Not my idea. But ya know, there's always a way. I think something with depleted Uranium Cells, but not sure. Anyways, the idea of getting Iridium out of Nuclear Reactors sounds awesome to me. Maybe you could use it in Cells to make a less powerful (and less heated) Nuclear Reactor. Who knows? I'll live that for you guys.
And that ends this post. Yes, I know it's huge (space limit sucks ;(), and again, sorry for my terrible english , but you know, this had to be done. The more I love something, the better I want it to be. And kudos to all the IndustrialCraft Team!