technic_tutorial/technic_tutorial.txt

Starting a new game
===================

Create a new world, and enable the following mods/modpacks (before
entering that world for the first time):
- mesecons
- moreblocks (optional, but needed if you want to use "extranodes")
- moreores
- moretrees
- pipeworks
- plantlife (or at least, plants_lib)
- technic
- unified_inventory


First steps
===========

[[worldcreate.png]]

So, you've just spawned in a wonderful world, and you're probably
wondering about what to do. Do as you would do on any map: dig a few
trees (don't trash the leaves, they will be useful later), gather some
cobble, craft a basic stone pick, and build your house... There are a
few points you need to be careful about though: make your house big
enough, and easy to extend, since the industry will need a lot of
room, and, more importantly, if you decide to mine immediately, do not
smelt any of your ore yet, except three iron lumps to craft an iron
pick.

[[house.png]]


Time to mine!
=============

Now, gather your torches and pickaxes, and let's go down!

[[ores1.png]]

Here you can see from left to right:
- Mese crystals
- Tin
- Iron
- Copper (this is the metal you will most lack - not because it's
rare, but because it is the most used one)
- Zinc

[[ores2.png]]

From left to right:
- Iron again
- Coal (don't say it is useless, you will need it...)
- Chromium (generates below -100)
- Gold

Other ores I haven't shown:
- Uranium, a blue-green ore, only generates between -80 and -300
- Mithril, a deep blue ore, generates below -512
- Silver, a grey ore
- Diamond, but you already know it...

So, now you know all the ores, gather:
<...>

Don't forget that you should not smelt that ore! We will soon see a
machine that will be able to produce two ingots for every lump you
mine - so if you're too hasty, you will lose metal... 

Your first electric network
===========================

Ok, now you can smelt some of your ore... But don't smelt all of it!
Here is what you will need:
<...>

The base ingredient of electrical networks is... cables, of course!
So, craft <...> cables using the copper ingots. Note that cables are
not mesecon wires: while the latter will only transport information
(on or off state), the former will be able to transport energy, which
is what we want.

[[craft_lv_cables.png]]

To run your networks, you will also need a switching station - it is
the component which will handle all the logic. However, building a
switching station is expensive: You will need two cables, two copper
ingots, four cast iron ingots and a LV transformer. I'm hearing you
saying "Cast iron? What's that?", so let me explain a bit.

[[craft_switching_station.png]]

In technic, iron has several forms: the first one is wrought iron,
which is basically pure iron, in its ingot form. The second one is
cast iron, which is an alloy of iron and carbon, with high carbon
content. To get it, just smelt again an ingot of wrought iron; the
carbon in the coal will alloy with the iron and form cast iron. There
are two other forms of iron, which we will see later.

[[smelt_cast_iron.png]]

Ok, so now you have to make a LV transformer to build that switching
station. But do you know how a transformer is made? It is basically
two coils around an iron core. Therefore, you will need seven wrought
iron ingots and two coils to make it.

[[craft_lv_transformer.png]]

Finally, the copper coil. Well, it is but fine wire wrapped around
some metal ring. To make it you need fine copper wire and <...> iron.

[[craft_coil.png]]
[[craft_fine_copper_wire.png]]

There it is! You now have your first switching station.

[[switching_station.png]]

"But", you will say, "what can I do with it now?". Well, to tell the
truth: nothing. You need to produce energy in order to be able to do
something with your brand new switching station. Therefore, we will
craft two more components: the generator and the battery box. What
those are used for is self-explainatory: the generator produces energy
by burning up fuel, and the battery box can store or give energy to
comply with the current energy demand and production.

Firstly, the battery box: for that, you will only need a few batteries
and <...>. The batteries aren't hard to craft either: you will just
need some <...> and some <...>. Please note that batteries cannot be
stacked.

[[craft_battery.png]]
[[craft_battery_box.png]]

Secondly, the generator: you will need <...>

[[craft_generator.png]]

Now, you can make a real circuit. Please note that the switching
station needs to be above the cable, whereas the position of other
machines relative to the wires has no effect at all.

[[basic_circuit.png]]

To use the generator, simply put some fuel in its lower slot, and
watch the battery box slowly fill up! Some recommandations: you should
use coalblocks instead of raw coal to power the generator, and when
you will have a macerator ready, use coal dust - it's a lot more
efficient than coal.

"Ok, it's good, but what do we do now?". Well, we use that
energy. Remember that machine I told yu about earlier? Well, we're
going to build it. Get some desert stone, take a diamond - hey, if it
was cheap, it would not be so powerful! - and craft a grinder.

[[craft_grinder.png]]

Now you can connect the grinder to your electric network, and watch it
slowly grind one lump into two dusts, which can each be smelted into
an ingot. The grinder has a few other uses too: it can also grind coal
(you will need coal dust for several things), grind <...> into <...>,
or grind cobble into sand - ever thought glass was too expensive? It
is no longer true!

The basic machines
==================