And we never thought it would happen

https://twitter.com/DanTwoHundred/status/515967919285870593/

unbelievable!

Going to write a efficient turtle replicator

It makes sense now the internal ID's are strings, not variable integer ID's anymore

How will this impact the balance of the game? Is being able to query items too overpowered?

Are you happy or angry? I can't tell because this is text xD

Genuinely curious as to what others think, actually. I remember this idea being trotted over a year ago and people complained computers are too overpowered as it is, same motivation as was behind adding fuel to turtles. I can't really think about how this simplifies the gameplay that much to be honest so I just think it makes a few more limited and cumbersome item identification systems obsolete, which is probably a good thing… but maybe it makes it all to easy. Not sure.

I don't know how those self-replication competitions and programs ended up going but if it wasn't achieved this will probably make that a much more attainable goal as well.

nitrogenfingers, on 28 September 2014 - 07:55 PM said:

I don't know how those self-replication competitions and programs ended up going but if it wasn't achieved this will probably make that a much more attainable goal as well.

A user named Inksaver actually completed a self replicating turtle program and posted it in the turtle programs section. He did it later than the competition mind you, however i believe he's the first to of made one. Here. He used a very cumbersome item identification system however he made it work and it actually completed rather well.

I talked to Dan about it on IRC the other day, and asked him why he relented and decided to add the function. He told me that it was always a good idea to be able to query the items, but he always felt that exposing the item ids was going too far through the fourth wall. Now that things in Minecraft are based on strings, he felt that it was no longer something that would break the fourth wall, and could be added into the game. Not only that, but command blocks are able to use the item strings now.

Personally, I like the change. This makes self replicating turtles so much easier, and now people can make pathfinding that much easier.

Ever since dan posted the tweet about the new version, I've been seeing alot of people say it's "overpowered." I loosely know the definition from league of legends, but I don't know the definition based on computercraft. I'm thinking people are saying "overpowered" because it is allowing computers/turtles to do more stuff easier. If I am wrong can someone correct me on this?

Agent Silence, on 30 September 2014 - 12:25 AM said:

Ever since dan posted the tweet about the new version, I've been seeing alot of people say it's "overpowered." I loosely know the definition from league of legends, but I don't know the definition based on computercraft. I'm thinking people are saying "overpowered" because it is allowing computers/turtles to do more stuff easier. If I am wrong can someone correct me on this?

I went ahead and merged your topic with this already similar one.

MineCraft is a difficult beast to "balance".

If a mod comes along that lets you stomp all over everyone else on the server, then that mod can be considered "unbalanced". Sure, other people have access to the same features from that mod as you do, but if they have to use items from that mod to beat you, then that's a problem. For example - mods like Ars Magica have been known to entirely ignore armour stats from even vanilla armours, forcing players to either invest their time into that mod or get trounced by those who do. That's overpowered.

That's talking about "capabilities". Then there's the matter of how quickly you acquire them - a mod can be considered unbalanced if using it gives you access to resources faster than other mods.

This is a rather more dicey issue. Most packs these days include multiple mods which grant "ore doublers". RotaryCraft has a machine which quintuples ores on average; granted, by the time you can build and run the thing, you'll already need to be very well established in terms of stocked resources. A good example of an outright "overpowered" mod in this regard would be the (older versions) of Dye Trees. Treecapitator is another obvious offender, allowing you to gather stacks of wood in one short action.

One thing that annoys me greatly are mods that simplify resource harvesting. MineFactory reloaded, for example, has blocks which "magically" harvest all sorts of things without even touching them. You just plonk a block down, provide it with power, and that's it - it'll grab everything in the range you tell it to. Combine MFR with a ME system from Applied Energistics, and you've got the ultimate dumbed-down item collection and distribution system. Overpowered to the point where few players who know about it and have access to it use anything else.

There are mods out there in regular use which provide single blocks that, without moving, can collect every ore block within a huge range. (Digital Miner, I'm looking at you.)

So in comparison to all this, ComputerCraft has a very hard time being "OP" at anything. Sure, a lot of people rely on it for easy and cheap resource collection at the start of their game, but then they move on to quarries. After that, ComputerCraft mostly sees use populating monitor displays with stats about what's in storage, handling fancy menus, and opening doors.

Given this, the way I see it, the only thing the new version of ComputerCraft can be "overpowered" in relation to is older versions of ComputerCraft.

(It's worth noting that just because I consider something to be "overpowered", doesn't mean it's altogether bad. Sometimes having "creative-mode"-like powers in some areas of the game means that you can all the better concentrate on enjoying the other areas that interest you - the point of a game is to have fun, after all.)

Bomb Bloke, on 30 September 2014 - 05:00 AM said:

There are mods out there in regular use which provide single blocks that, without moving, can collect every ore block within a huge range. (Digital Miner, I'm looking at you.)

Don't forget MFR Lasers.

At least with the digital miner, it's limited to the actual area you're in. MFR lasers collect all ores registered in the ore dictionary from every dimension.