Cognition in FTB Skies 2

Cognition is a mod that overhauls player XP. It gives you new ways to store, transport and use experience, and it powers its mystical machinery with Cognitium, which the mod describes as pure knowledge given corporeal form. It used to be called Experience Obelisk, and that old name still shows up in places. The pack includes version 2.4.13.^[1][2]

The mod's own page says that for now the content available is quite small, and that much more is currently in the works.^[1]

Where it fits in the pack

Cognition shows up in the gearing_up quest chapter. The chain starts with "Cognition: Using your Knowledge" quest, which asks you to obtain Cognitive Flux and Astute Assembly. Three quests unlock after that one.^[3]

• "Cognitive Gear" quest is the gear quest. You need one Cognition armor piece, one tool or sword, and one ranged or utility item. The armor options are Cognitive Helm, Cognitive Chestplate, Cognitive Leggings or Cognitive Boots. For the tool, any of Cognitive Sword, Cognitive Shovel, Cognitive Pickaxe, Cognitive Axe or Cognitive Hoe counts. The third slot takes Cognitive Bow, Flint and Cognitive Alloy, Cognitive Shears or Cognitive Rod.^[3]
• "Experience Obelisk" quest asks for the Experience Obelisk, the block the mod started out as.^[1][3]
• "Precision Dispeller" quest asks for the Precision Dispeller.^[3]

The Experience Obelisk quest opens two more. "Molecular Metamorpher" quest wants the Molecular Metamorpher and the Transforming Focus, and "Experience Fountain" quest wants the Experience Fountain. After the metamorpher quest, the last one is "Infectious XP Generation" quest. It asks for the Bibliophage and the Fluorescent Agar, plus an observation task.^[3]

Cognition is all about XP: storing it, moving it and turning it into new materials. In this pack the questbook walks you through the mod in a clear order, and the first steps all start from Cognitive Flux and Astute Assembly. Follow that order and everything else unlocks naturally.^[1][3]

Step 1: Cognitive Flux and Amalgam

Your first quest, "Cognition: Using your Knowledge" quest, asks for Cognitive Flux and Astute Assembly. The pack changed the Flux recipe from the mod's version, so check the in-pack recipe below rather than any older guide.^[3][4]

4× Cognitive FluxChanged by the pack

Crafting Shapeless

• Quartz
• any lapi gems
• Soul Sand or Soul Soil

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_flux

Flux isn't the end product. You can smelt it or blast it in a blasting furnace to get Cognitive Amalgam, which almost everything else in the mod is built from.^[4]

Cognitive AmalgamMod recipe

Smelting

• Cognitive Flux

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_amalgam_smelting

Step 2: Alloy, Crystal and the Astute Assembly

Amalgam is the base for Cognitive Alloy and Cognitive Crystal. The pack changed both of these recipes, so don't rely on the mod's defaults.^[4]

Cognitive AlloyChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot
Cognitive Amalgam	any copper ingot	Cognitive Amalgam
Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_alloy

Cognitive CrystalChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot
Cognitive Amalgam	any emerald gem	Cognitive Amalgam
Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_crystal

With Alloy and Crystal made, you can craft the Astute Assembly. It's the key component for most of the mod's early gear, so make a few.^[4]

2× Astute AssemblyMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Cognitive Alloy	Redstone	Cognitive Alloy
Cognitive Alloy	Cognitive Crystal	Cognitive Alloy
Cognitive Alloy	Redstone	Cognitive Alloy

Recipe id: cognition:astute_assembly

Step 3: Cognitive gear

Once the first quest is done, "Cognitive Gear" quest asks you to get one armor piece, one tool and one of the bow, flint, shears or rod options. All of these are smithing table upgrades that use an Astute Assembly and Cognitive Alloy. Here is the pickaxe as an example:^[3][4]

Cognitive PickaxeMod recipe

Smithing Transform

• Astute Assembly
• Cognitive Alloy
• Iron Pickaxe

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_pickaxe

Step 4: The Experience Obelisk

The real heart of the mod is the Experience Obelisk, which "Experience Obelisk" quest unlocks. It stores and retrieves XP and passively absorbs nearby experience orbs, so place it somewhere you'll pass often.^[3][5]

Experience ObeliskMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Crystal	Empty slot
Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot
Cognitive Alloy	Astute Assembly	Cognitive Alloy

Recipe id: cognition:experience_obelisk

After that, "Experience Fountain" quest points you to the Experience Fountain. It dispenses experience orbs at an adjustable rate, but it only works once it is bound to an Obelisk. The Staff of Attunement is the tool that binds, queries and configures this mod's blocks.^[3][4][5]

Staff of AttunementMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Crystal
Empty slot	Cognitive Alloy	Empty slot
Cognitive Alloy	Empty slot	Empty slot

Recipe id: cognition:attunement_staff

What comes next

• "Precision Dispeller" quest leads to the Precision Dispeller, which selectively removes enchantments and curses.^[3][5]
• "Molecular Metamorpher" quest asks for the Molecular Metamorpher and the Transforming Focus. The Metamorpher also has to be bound to an Obelisk, and the Focus lets it perform transforming recipes.^[3][5]
• "Infectious XP Generation" quest covers the Bibliophage and Fluorescent Agar. The Bibliophage infects bookshelves so they generate XP as they decay.^[3][5]

Cognition is built around player XP. The project page says it aims to overhaul player XP by giving you new ways to store, transport and use it, and that the content available is quite small for now, with more in the works. In this pack, the block that the Fountain and the Metamorpher bind to is the Experience Obelisk, so that is where we start.^[1][5]

The Experience Obelisk

The Experience Obelisk stores and retrieves experience, and it passively absorbs nearby experience orbs. In its GUI you can store or retrieve 1 level, 10 levels or all levels, and there is also a button to reset its radius to default.^[5]

Its capacity is set by [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Experience Obelisk Capacity.Capacity]], which is 100,000,000 mB in this pack. That is roughly 1072 levels' worth. The config warns that raising the value above the default can cause unintended XP loss or gain because of a rounding error in Minecraft's XP handling. Any new value must be divisible by 20.^[6]

The Obelisk can also work with XP fluids from other mods, controlled by [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Allowed Experience Fluids.AllowedFluids]]. This pack lists fluids from the mob_grinding_utils, cofh_core, industrialforegoing, sophisticatedcore, enderio and reliquary namespaces. Any fluid you add must be tagged forge:experience.^[6]

Experience ObeliskMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Crystal	Empty slot
Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot
Cognitive Alloy	Astute Assembly	Cognitive Alloy

Recipe id: cognition:experience_obelisk

Binding machines with the Staff of Attunement

The item description says the Staff of Attunement binds, queries and configures blocks from this mod. The descriptions of the Experience Fountain and the Molecular Metamorpher say each requires binding to an Obelisk. The staff, and the Memory Tablet, bind within [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Binding Range.Range]], which is 48 blocks in this pack. The config suggests lowering it if bound blocks misbehave.^[5][6]

Staff of AttunementMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Crystal
Empty slot	Cognitive Alloy	Empty slot
Cognitive Alloy	Empty slot	Empty slot

Recipe id: cognition:attunement_staff

The Memory Tablet's description says it gives remote Obelisk access and experience recovery. To link it, hold SHIFT and right-click an Obelisk.^[5]

Experience Fountain

The description of the Experience Fountain says it dispenses experience orbs at an adjustable rate and requires binding to an Obelisk. The JEI info for filling and emptying says you right-click a bound fountain, and the Obelisk needs enough XP for filling or enough space for emptying.^[5]

Experience FountainMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Repeater	Empty slot
Cognitive Alloy	Dropper	Cognitive Alloy
Cognitive Alloy	Astute Assembly	Cognitive Alloy

Recipe id: cognition:experience_fountain

Collecting orbs: the amulets

The Enlightened Amulet teleports nearby orbs to you and merges them for faster absorption. SHIFT + Right Click toggles it on and off, and its tooltip tells you whether it is currently active or inactive. Its reach is [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Enlightened Amulet.Range]], which is 8 blocks in this pack.^[5][6]

In this pack the amulet ignores orbs from Experience Fountains ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Enlightened Amulet.IgnoresFountainOrbs]] is true). That stops it from grabbing the orbs your fountain just dropped. It does not ignore orbs from Infected Bookshelves ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Enlightened Amulet.IgnoresBookshelfOrbs]] is false), so it will collect those.^[6]

The description of the Fortuitous Amulet says it inherits the Enlightened Amulet's properties and gives a boost to XP drops from mobs. The pack changed its recipe.^[4][5]

Fortuitous AmuletChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any gold nugget	Calcarine Matrix	any gold nugget
Calcarine Matrix	Enlightened Amulet	Calcarine Matrix
any gold nugget	Calcarine Matrix	any gold nugget

Recipe id: cognition:fortuitous_amulet

This recipe is changed by the pack.

Infected bookshelves: an XP farm

Use a Bibliophage on a valid bookshelf to infect it. An infected bookshelf slowly decays and releases experience orbs as it does. It also has a chance every second to infect a valid adjacent block, and that chance is 0.02 for each of the shelf types listed below in this pack. The JEI info also says infection can happen by placing a block next to infectious blocks.^[5][6]

BibliophageMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Crystal	Empty slot
Cognitive Amalgam	Primordial Assembly	Cognitive Amalgam
Cognitive Amalgam	Quartz	Cognitive Amalgam

Recipe id: cognition:bibliophage

Each shelf type has its own numbers in this pack. Each one has a spawn delay of 300 to 500 ticks between orbs.^[6]

• Infected Bookshelf: 50 spawns before it decays, 12 XP per orb.^[6]
• Infected Archiver's Bookshelf: 100 spawns, 12 XP per orb. Its description says it lasts twice as long as an ordinary bookshelf.^[5][6]
• Infected Enchanted Bookshelf: 100 spawns, 24 XP per orb. Its description says it lasts twice as long and produces orbs with twice the value of an ordinary bookshelf.^[5][6]

The JEI info says Infected Bookshelves drop Forgotten Dust when broken (100%) and when they decay. The pack raised the decay chance to 0.5 from the mod default of 0.33, in [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.DropDustChance]].^[5][6]

Agar blocks

The in-game descriptions call Agar blocks infectious blocks. Insightful Agar reduces the spawn delay of surrounding bookshelves. Extravagant Agar boosts the orb value of surrounding bookshelves. Nutrient Agar does not decay and has a slow infection rate.^[5]

Each type has a chance per second to infect a valid adjacent block: 0.005 for Nutrient, 0.01 for Insightful and 0.02 for Extravagant. Insightful and Extravagant Agar apply stronger bonuses the more closely they touch a bookshelf: 1.35 for a shared face, 1.15 for a shared edge and 1.1 for a shared vertex. These are the mod's values, and the pack keeps them unchanged.^[6]

To get started, craft Fluorescent Agar. Its description calls it a block of nutritious jelly that you inoculate to turn it into Nutrient Agar.^[4][5]

Fluorescent AgarMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fluorescent Jelly	Forgotten Dust	Fluorescent Jelly
Forgotten Dust	Fluorescent Jelly	Forgotten Dust
Fluorescent Jelly	Forgotten Dust	Fluorescent Jelly

Recipe id: cognition:fluorescent_agar

Other machines and tools

• Accelerator launches entities in the direction it is facing. The Linear Accelerator does the same in the direction it points. The pack changed the Accelerator's recipe, and the Linear Accelerator converts back to it with a shapeless recipe.^[4][5]
• The Precision Dispeller's description says it selectively removes enchantments and curses. Its tooltips say removing a curse costs 30 levels / 1395 XP, while removing an enchantment gives you levels and XP back.^[5]
• The Molecular Metamorpher's description says it blasts ingredients with a beam of concentrated XP, converting them into more advanced materials, and that it requires binding to an Obelisk. Its tooltips show an option to lock its input slots, and the Transforming Focus is described as permitting the Metamorpher to perform transforming recipes.^[5]
• Flask of Poseidon places a block of water and Flask of Hades places a block of lava. Flask of Chaos erases a block of liquid. Their descriptions say each of them consumes XP.^[4][5]
• Archiver's Bookshelf has an enchantment power bonus of 1.5 around an Enchanting Table, and Enchanted Bookshelf has 2.0.^[4][5]

4× AcceleratorChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Amalgam
Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Crystal	Cognitive Amalgam
any iron ingot	any iron ingot	any iron ingot

Recipe id: cognition:accelerator

This recipe is changed by the pack.

In this pack, Cognition progression follows a short quest chain in the gearing_up chapter. The quests have no titles, so this guide names each step by what it asks you to hold. The chain starts with one quest, then branches into three, and one branch keeps going. The sources don't give named tiers, so the steps below follow the quest order.^[3]

Step 1: Cognitive Flux and Astute Assembly

The first quest, "Cognition: Using your Knowledge" quest, asks for Cognitive Flux and Astute Assembly. The other quests in the chapter come after this one. The pack changed the Cognitive Flux recipe, so don't rely on the mod's default.^[3][4]

4× Cognitive FluxChanged by the pack

Crafting Shapeless

• Quartz
• any lapi gems
• Soul Sand or Soul Soil

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_flux

This recipe was changed by the pack.

The flux can be smelted or blasted into Cognitive Amalgam, which is an ingredient in the pack's recipes for Cognitive Alloy and Cognitive Crystal.^[4]

Cognitive AmalgamMod recipe

Smelting

• Cognitive Flux

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_amalgam_smelting

The Astute Assembly also needs Cognitive Alloy and Cognitive Crystal. The pack changed both of those recipes too.^[4]

Cognitive AlloyChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot
Cognitive Amalgam	any copper ingot	Cognitive Amalgam
Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_alloy

This recipe was changed by the pack.

Cognitive CrystalChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot
Cognitive Amalgam	any emerald gem	Cognitive Amalgam
Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_crystal

This recipe was changed by the pack.

2× Astute AssemblyMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Cognitive Alloy	Redstone	Cognitive Alloy
Cognitive Alloy	Cognitive Crystal	Cognitive Alloy
Cognitive Alloy	Redstone	Cognitive Alloy

Recipe id: cognition:astute_assembly

Step 2: Three branches

Once the first quest is done, three quests open up. Each one only requires the first quest, so you can take them in any order.^[3]

• "Cognitive Gear" quest asks for one Cognitive armor piece, one Cognitive tool, and one of the Cognitive Bow, Flint and Cognitive Alloy, Cognitive Shears or Cognitive Rod.^[3]
• "Experience Obelisk" quest asks for the Experience Obelisk. It leads into the next part of the chain.^[3]
• "Precision Dispeller" quest asks for the Precision Dispeller.^[3]

The Cognitive tools and armor are smithing upgrades that use the Astute Assembly, Cognitive Alloy and the matching iron item. The pickaxe is shown here, and the other tools and armor pieces follow the same pattern.^[4]

Cognitive PickaxeMod recipe

Smithing Transform

• Astute Assembly
• Cognitive Alloy
• Iron Pickaxe

Recipe id: cognition:cognitive_pickaxe

Experience ObeliskMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Crystal	Empty slot
Empty slot	Cognitive Amalgam	Empty slot
Cognitive Alloy	Astute Assembly	Cognitive Alloy

Recipe id: cognition:experience_obelisk

Precision DispellerMod recipe

Smithing Transform

• Astute Assembly
• Cognitive Crystal
• Grindstone

Recipe id: cognition:precision_dispeller

Step 3: Metamorpher and Experience Fountain

Two quests unlock after the Experience Obelisk. "Molecular Metamorpher" quest asks for the Molecular Metamorpher and a Transforming Focus. "Experience Fountain" quest asks for the Experience Fountain.^[3]

The Molecular Metamorpher recipe includes an Accelerator, and the pack changed that recipe.^[4]

4× AcceleratorChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Amalgam
Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Crystal	Cognitive Amalgam
any iron ingot	any iron ingot	any iron ingot

Recipe id: cognition:accelerator

This recipe was changed by the pack.

Molecular MetamorpherMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Cognitive Crystal	Accelerator	Cognitive Crystal
Cognitive Amalgam	Cognitive Crystal	Cognitive Amalgam
Astute Assembly	Smithing Table	Astute Assembly

Recipe id: cognition:molecular_metamorpher

The Transforming Focus is made with a molecular metamorphosis recipe rather than a crafting grid recipe.^[4]

Transforming FocusMod recipe

Molecular Metamorphosis (cognition)

• Cognitive Crystal
• Transforming Focus
• Amethyst Shard
• Redstone

Recipe id: cognition:metamorpher/transforming_focus

Experience FountainMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Repeater	Empty slot
Cognitive Alloy	Dropper	Cognitive Alloy
Cognitive Alloy	Astute Assembly	Cognitive Alloy

Recipe id: cognition:experience_fountain

Step 4: Bibliophage and Fluorescent Agar

The last quest in the chain is "Infectious XP Generation" quest. It unlocks after the Metamorpher quest and asks for a Bibliophage, an observation task, and Fluorescent Agar.^[3]

BibliophageMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Cognitive Crystal	Empty slot
Cognitive Amalgam	Primordial Assembly	Cognitive Amalgam
Cognitive Amalgam	Quartz	Cognitive Amalgam

Recipe id: cognition:bibliophage

Fluorescent AgarMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Fluorescent Jelly	Forgotten Dust	Fluorescent Jelly
Forgotten Dust	Fluorescent Jelly	Forgotten Dust
Fluorescent Jelly	Forgotten Dust	Fluorescent Jelly

Recipe id: cognition:fluorescent_agar

Cognition is about player XP, and this pack ties it into other mods through recipes. Cognition items act as ingredients in crafts from other mods, and the pack has changed a couple of Cognition's own recipes. Here are the recipes that mix Cognition with other mods.^[1][4]

Cognition items as ingredients elsewhere

The pack adds recipes in other mods' machines that need a Cognition item. Each one is rendered below exactly as it appears in the pack.^[4]

• Cognitive Flux is used in an ae2:transform recipe that produces Block of Aluminum. The recipe also needs a fluid from the c:molten_ender tag.^[4]
• Primordial Assembly is used in an ae2:transform recipe that produces Budding Osmium GeOre. This one also needs a fluid from the c:molten_ender tag.^[4]
• Primordial Assembly is also used in an oritech:particle_collision recipe that produces Evolutionary Arcanum.^[4]

Block of AluminumAdded by the pack

Transform (ae2)

• 2× Cognitive Flux
• Iron Block
• any molten ender

Recipe id: ftb:ae2/transform/aluminum_block

Added by the pack: an ae2:transform recipe that makes a Block of Aluminum.

Budding Osmium GeOreAdded by the pack

Transform (ae2)

• Primordial Assembly
• 4× Obsidian Dust
• Block of Silver
• any molten ender

Recipe id: ftb:ae2/transform/budding_osmium

Added by the pack: an ae2:transform recipe that makes Budding Osmium GeOre.

Evolutionary ArcanumAdded by the pack

Particle Collision (oritech)

• Primordial Assembly
• Empty
• Trinity Gem

Recipe id: ftb:oritech/particle_collision/evolutionary_arcanum

Added by the pack: an oritech:particle_collision recipe that makes the Evolutionary Arcanum.

Molecular Metamorphosis crossover

The pack uses Cognition's own molecular_metamorphosis recipe type to make Realized Transcendence. The recipe was added by the pack and mixes Cognition's Cognitive Crystal with items from other mods. If you are heading for this item, you will be working with Cognition's machines.^[4]

Realized TranscendenceAdded by the pack

Molecular Metamorphosis (cognition)

• Cognitive Crystal
• Realized Transcendence
• Fused Consciousness
• Nether Star

Recipe id: cognition:kjs/dvcvbhyhhm7ipyug40xyusgat

Added by the pack: a molecular_metamorphosis recipe that makes Realized Transcendence.

Changed emptying recipes

The pack has changed two of Cognition's emptying recipes. One takes Experience Droplet and the other takes Solidified Experience, so XP items from other mods feed into Cognition's emptying recipe type in this pack.^[4]

BarrierChanged by the pack

Emptying (cognition)

• Experience Droplet Emptying
• Experience Droplet

Recipe id: cognition:emptying/experience_droplet_emptying

Changed by the pack: the emptying recipe for the Experience Droplet.

BarrierChanged by the pack

Emptying (cognition)

• Solidified Experience
• Solidified Experience Emptying

Recipe id: cognition:emptying/solidified_experience_emptying

Changed by the pack: the emptying recipe for Solidified Experience.

Where the quest book puts Cognition

Cognition's quests sit in the gearing_up chapter. The chain starts with "Cognition: Using your Knowledge" quest, which asks for Cognitive Flux and Astute Assembly. From there it branches to the Experience Obelisk quest "Experience Obelisk" quest, which in turn leads to "Molecular Metamorpher" quest for the Molecular Metamorpher and Transforming Focus.^[3]

The quest tasks only ask for Cognition items, so the crossovers with other mods in this pack come from the recipes above rather than from the quests.^[3]

Cognition shows up in a single quest chapter in this pack, called "gearing_up". It has seven quests, none of which has a title in the quest file, so I'll refer to them by their IDs. The chapter branches out from one starting quest, so you can pick your path from there.^[3]

The starting quest

Everything begins with "Cognition: Using your Knowledge" quest. It asks you to hand in two items: Cognitive Flux and Astute Assembly. Three other quests unlock once this one is done.^[3]

First branch: three quests after the start

• "Cognitive Gear" quest is the gear quest. It has three tasks, and each one accepts any item from a group. The first is one armor piece: Cognitive Helm, Cognitive Chestplate, Cognitive Leggings or Cognitive Boots. The second is one tool or weapon: Cognitive Sword, Cognitive Shovel, Cognitive Pickaxe, Cognitive Axe or Cognitive Hoe. The third is one of Cognitive Bow, Flint and Cognitive Alloy, Cognitive Shears or Cognitive Rod.^[3]
• "Experience Obelisk" quest asks for the Experience Obelisk. It also leads to more quests.^[3]
• "Precision Dispeller" quest asks for the Precision Dispeller.^[3]

Following the Experience Obelisk

Two quests unlock after "Experience Obelisk" quest. "Molecular Metamorpher" quest wants both the Molecular Metamorpher and the Transforming Focus. "Experience Fountain" quest wants the Experience Fountain.^[3]

The final quest

The last quest is "Infectious XP Generation" quest, which unlocks after "Molecular Metamorpher" quest. It has three tasks: submit the Bibliophage, complete an observation task, and submit Fluorescent Agar. The quest file doesn't say what the observation task needs you to look at, so check it in the quest book.^[3]

Cognition's config in this pack is mostly untouched. The one value the config file marks as changed by the pack is [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.DropDustChance]], the chance that a decaying infected bookshelf of any kind drops Forgotten Dust. The pack sets it to 0.5, up from the mod default of 0.33. Set it to 0.0 and decaying shelves never drop dust.^[6]

Infected bookshelves

Each shelf type has its own settings for how long it lasts and how much XP it gives. In this pack all of these match the mod defaults. Spawn delays are in ticks, and every shelf type has a 0.02 chance per second to infect a valid adjacent block.^[6]

• Infected Bookshelves: [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Bookshelves.Spawns]] is 50 spawns before the shelf decays, and [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Bookshelves.OrbValue]] is 12 XP per orb.^[6]
• Infected Archiver's Bookshelves: [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Archiver's Bookshelves.Spawns]] is 100 spawns, and [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Archiver's Bookshelves.OrbValue]] is 12 XP per orb.^[6]
• Infected Enchanted Bookshelves: [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Enchanted Bookshelves.Spawns]] is 100 spawns, and [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Enchanted Bookshelves.OrbValue]] is 24 XP per orb, double the other two.^[6]
• All three shelf types use a minimum spawn delay of 300 ticks and a maximum of 500 ticks, for example [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Bookshelves.SpawnDelayMin]] and [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.Infected Bookshelves.SpawnDelayMax]].^[6]
• [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Bookshelf Settings.ShelvesPermeableToDust]] is false in this pack, so Forgotten Dust item entities can't pass through infected bookshelves.^[6]

Agar

Agar spreads on its own. The chance per second to infect a valid adjacent block is 0.005 for Nutrient Agar ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Agar Settings.NutrientAgarInfectivity]]), 0.01 for Insightful Agar ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Agar Settings.InsightfulAgarInfectivity]]) and 0.02 for Extravagant Agar ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Agar Settings.ExtravagantAgarInfectivity]]). All of these are mod defaults.^[6]

Insightful and Extravagant Agar boost bookshelves that touch them. The pack keeps the default multipliers: 1.15 for a shared edge ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Agar Settings.AgarEdgeBonus]]), 1.35 for a shared face ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Agar Settings.AgarFaceBonus]]) and 1.1 for a shared vertex ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Agar Settings.AgarVertexBonus]]).^[6]

Experience Obelisk

[[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Experience Obelisk Capacity.Capacity]] is 100,000,000 mB, the mod default, which the config describes as about 1,072 levels' worth. If you change it, the value must be divisible by 20.^[6]

[[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Allowed Experience Fluids.AllowedFluids]] decides which fluids the obelisk accepts. The pack lists mob_grinding_utils:fluid_xp, cofh_core:experience, industrialforegoing:essence, sophisticatedcore:xp_still, enderio:fluid_xp_juice_still and reliquary:xp_still. Any fluid you add must be tagged forge:experience.^[6]

Other options worth knowing

• [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Binding Range.Range]] is 48 blocks for the Staff of Attunement and Memory Tablet, the mod default. Lower it if bound blocks stop working correctly.^[6]
• [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Enlightened Amulet.Range]] is 8 blocks, the mod default. [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Enlightened Amulet.IgnoresBookshelfOrbs]] is false, so the amulet does not ignore bookshelf orbs. [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Enlightened Amulet.IgnoresFountainOrbs]] is true, so it ignores Experience Fountain orbs.^[6]
• Fluorescent Jelly gives 2 hunger points ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Fluorescent Jelly.Nutrition]]) and 1 saturation ([[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Fluorescent Jelly.Saturation]]).^[6]
• [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Enable Name Formatting Recipes.Formatting]] is true, so the custom recipes for changing item name color and formatting are enabled.^[6]
• [[config:config/cognition-common.toml#Cognitive Bow.Show]] is true, so the bow's projectile velocity and accuracy boost appear in its tooltip. Disable it if tooltip components show in the wrong order.^[6]

FTB Skies 2 1.22.0 ships Cognition 2.4.13, and the mod has been in the pack since 1.0.1 or earlier. The pack changelogs have no entries for it, so everything below comes from the mod's own changelogs for versions 2.4.6 to 2.4.13. These are the mod's stated changes, so check in game if you want to see how they play out in the pack.^[2]

Latest releases (2.4.10 to 2.4.13)

• 2.4.13 (the version in this pack): Transforming Foci can now be enchanted with mending, so they stop losing durability in the Metamorpher. A leftover printout that spammed the console was also removed.^[2][7]
• 2.4.12: Mending Neurogel got a 25% performance boost when used on Cognitive tools and armor. Infected Bookshelves now drop more Forgotten Dust when broken, and Infected Archiver's Bookshelves drop up to 8x as much. Dust drops from bookshelf decay were reduced.^[8]
• 2.4.12: a new item tag, neurogel_blacklisted, lets datapack makers stop items from being repaired with Mending Neurogel. A crash when an Obelisk was assembled into a Create contraption was fixed.^[8]
• 2.4.11: added config options for Infected Bookshelf and Agar infectivity, plus pt_br localizations.^[9]
• 2.4.10: added a config option to turn off the extra tooltip information on the Cognitive Bow.^[10]

Earlier releases (2.4.6 to 2.4.9)

• 2.4.9: fixed the Obelisk radius being centered on a corner instead of the middle of the block.^[11]
• 2.4.8: Cognitive Flux can now turn up in ruined portal chests, Astute Assemblies in desert temple chests, and Forgotten Dust in stronghold library chests and abandoned mineshafts.^[12]
• 2.4.8: Cognitive toolset durability went up from 835 to 921, and a client-server mismatch that sometimes happened during fluorescent agar infection was fixed.^[12]
• 2.4.7: Forgotten Dust drops from infected bookshelves are now affected by Fortune. Fixes covered an invalid tag in the book from any leather recipe and animation files missing the ".animation" extension. zh_cn localizations were added.^[13]
• 2.4.6: the Amulets and the Obelisk can collect more orbs per batch, the cap on orb values spawned by the Amulet was removed, and the Fortuitous Amulet XP bonus was increased.^[14]
• 2.4.6: fixed the Enlightened or Fortuitous Amulet inflating XP gain in some specific cases when Clumps is installed.^[14]