Minecraft meets science with Mekanism, a technology mod created and maintained by braidyaidanc and pupnewfster. Mekanism upgrades your gameplay by bringing new technology into the game, starting with simple things like energy generators up to complex machines like jetpacks.

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It's very much an "if you can dream it, you can do it" mod, which can make it hard to get started. The technical parts might seem overwhelming. So how do you move forward with it? Let's take a look at a few tips to help you get started with the Mekanism mod.

6 Take One Step At A Time

Minecraft Mekanism Fusion Reactor

This may seem obvious, but it can be easy to get ahead of yourself, which will result in quickly getting lost. Mekanism can get complicated fast, even if you think you know what you're doing. There are four levels of Mekanism — Basic, Advanced, Elite, and Ultimate.

It's worth it to take the time to work through each level one by one, rather than trying to go straight from Basic to Ultimate — which isn't possible anyway. If you have basic pipes, for example, you need to make advanced pipes to make elite pipes, and elite pipes are used to make ultimate pipes. You'll thank yourself for taking the time to learn early.

5 Know Your Ores

Minecraft ores left to right - osmium, lead, tin, uranium

Mekanism comes with a variety of new ores: Osmium, Lead, Tin, Uranium, and Fluorite are the ones you'll find earliest, through basic mining. Osmium is extremely important in early gameplay, as it's used in most machine building and component parts. Make sure you get as much as you can.

Uranium and fluorite are more endgame ores, which you'll use in fission reactor building and the components surrounding it. Lead is used mostly for making shielding, and tin is an early ore that you'll use as a power source in machines for converting materials.

4 Your First Machine

Minecraft Metallurgic Infuser, Left: Two machines in front of a windmill; Right: The Infuser GUI

The very first machine you'll make for Mekanism will be a Metallurgic Infuser. The Metallurgic Infuser uses different energy sources to convert ingots to different materials. The recipe is very simple — two furnaces, four iron ingots, one osmium ingot, and two redstone. The infuser can be a little complicated to start. When you click on it, the GUI will show four different squares — three for items to be placed in, and one output. The far left square is for placing the consumable you'll need, while the one next to it is the base material.

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Redstone, for example, is a consumable you can use to convert an iron ingot to an infused alloy. The far right box will be for inputting energy sources. Redstone and charcoal/coal are the best short-term energy sources. Consumable sources vary, with the two most common being redstone and coal. You'll use those a lot in early gameplay for making new components for machines. Other common consumables include higher level dusts and refined ores, like diamond and obsidian, for late-game conversions. You'll probably want to make two infusers in order to have two separate power sources going at the same time.

3 Energy Sources

Minecraft Sideview of a windmill connected to a metallurgic infuser

Mekanism machines use a variety of energy sources. The easiest early-game sources, as mentioned above, are redstone and coal/charcoal. You'll eventually want to replace those with generators, as it can get tiresome to continuously refill the machines. Long-term renewable sources are heat, bio fuel, wind, and solar.

Bio fuel is a resource introduced by Mekanism, which can be made in a Crusher from basically any common Overworld resource (leaves, moss, kelp, grass, etc.). Heat is generated by lava flow, while wind and solar are harnessed by a windmill and a solar panel. What energy source you choose is up to you — there are pros and cons to each, and ultimately it depends on how you're setting things up.

2 Make A Configurator

Minecraft Player holding Configurator

To move on to the next parts of Mekanism, you'll want to make a configurator. The configurator is used to configure pipes and cables, changing whether they output or input, what materials they use (dust, liquid, items, etc.), and even allowing you to color code things, so you can keep track of what pipes are going where.

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If you don't have a configurator, you have no way to make pipes and cables work, and you'll pretty much be dead in the water. At this point, if you've done everything right, it should be easy to collect the materials to make one, so be sure to get that done before trying to go on.

1 Pipes And Cables

Minecraft Mekanism Cables and Pipes line a wall

Pipes and cables are an important part of Mekanism, and you'll want to make sure you know the difference between them before you go and slap them down. They're used for transferring different types of energy and items, and while they look a little alike, they're not interchangeable. A universal cable is used for transferring any kind of generated energy. A pressurized tube transfers gasses, while a thermodynamic conductor transfers heat.

Logistical transporters are used to transfer blocks and items, usually from a farm to storage, and a mechanical pipe is used for transferring liquids. Transporters and pipes work well with other mods — for example, you can use a pipe to transfer lava to a burnt tank for Tinkers' Construct. Transporters are useful for moving items from one chest to another, or to a different kind of storage.

Again, pipes, transporters, tubes, and cables are not interchangeable. They're used for one specific thing, and you'll be banging your head against a wall if you don't know what you need and have to keep switching them out.

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