Gadgets Against Grind in FTB Skies 2: Aero

Gadgets Against Grind (GAG for short) is a utility mod built to cut down the grind of everyday modded play, while keeping a Vanilla feel and not feeling too cheaty compared to using commands. This pack ships version 1.21.1-5.2.0 of it.^[1][2]

The mod page lists a lot of tricks: an Escape Rope to get out of caves, Hearthstones that teleport you to your spawn point or world spawn (plus a variant you can bind to any location), and different types of Dynamite for mining and fishing. You also get Sacred Salt, Balm and Salve to stop mobs spawning near you for a while, and a Labeling Tool for renaming items without burning lots of experience.^[1]

Pack developers can configure most parameters of these items, and the mod author even suggests changing recipes or disabling features that don't fit a pack. So don't assume the mod's defaults are what you get here. Check the in-pack recipes and quests for the real values.^[1]

Where the quest book puts it

This pack's quest book covers two GAG items in the "Useful Items & Tips" chapter, which is chapter 2 of 31 in the book and holds 30 quests. The chapter's intro quest describes it as a place for useful items and tips for your playthrough. One of the 30 quests isn't covered in the sources I have, so check the quest book for it.^[3]

• "Temporal Pouch" quest is about the Temporal Pouch. It stores time while it is in your inventory, and you spend that time by sneak-using the pouch on something to increase its ticks. If a machine or crop is too slow, this is your speed-up.^[3]
• "No More Traders!" quest is about the 'No Solicitors!' Sign. The quest pitches it as the fix if you're sick of trader guys spawning and getting in your face.^[3]

Gadgets Against Grind is a set of small utility items, each meant to cut down a chore. Some of them, like the sacred salts, only temporarily keep mobs from spawning near you.^[1]

As the quest book stands right now, two of these items have quests in the "Useful Items & Tips" chapter, which is chapter 2 of 31. Here is a sensible order to craft things in.^[3]

Hearthstone, your way home

Start with the Hearthstone. It teleports you to your personal spawn point, or to the world spawn if you have no respawn point. In this pack the world spawn fallback is on (misc.hearthstone.allow_world_spawn) and the range is unlimited (misc.hearthstone.range is -1). Set your spawn point first, or you may get a "couldn't find anywhere to teleport to" message.^[4][5]

HearthstoneMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Polished Deepslate	Empty slot
Polished Deepslate	Amethyst Shard	Polished Deepslate
Empty slot	Polished Deepslate	Empty slot

Recipe id: gag:hearthstone

Currently its durability is 64 (misc.hearthstone.durability) and it takes 5 seconds to charge (misc.hearthstone.warmup). The cooldown is 60 seconds (misc.hearthstone.cooldown). Using it across dimensions has a damage multiplier of 2 (misc.hearthstone.dimension_multiplier). These are the same as the mod defaults, so the pack leaves them alone.^[5]

Escape Rope, out of caves

Next, the Escape Rope. It teleports you out of caves and buildings to the nearest point on the surface. Currently it has 512 durability (misc.escape_rope.durability), a 3 second warmup (misc.escape_rope.warmup) and a 10 second cooldown (misc.escape_rope.cooldown).^[4][5]

Escape RopeMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Chain	Tripwire Hook
Chain	Empty slot
Chain	Lead

Recipe id: gag:escape_rope

Temporal Pouch, speed up slow things

The Temporal Pouch has its own quest, "Temporal Pouch" quest. It slowly stores time while it sits in your inventory. Sneak-use it on a ticking block to speed that block up, spending some of the stored time. It is worth crafting early so it can start filling up.^[3][4]

Temporal PouchChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Raw Gold Block	Nautilus Shell	Raw Gold Block
Leather	Ender Eye	Leather
Leather	Leather	Leather

Recipe id: gag:time_sand_pouch

The pack changed this recipe, so do not rely on the mod's default.

As the config currently stands, each click uses 600 grains, set by temporal_pouch.grains_used.^[5]

Currently each use accelerates a block for 30 seconds, set by temporal_pouch.duration_per_use.^[5]

Using it repeatedly in a row raises the speed, and the current maximum is x256, set by temporal_pouch.max_rate.^[5]

The pack changed temporal_pouch.level_filter, the list of dimensions where the pouch will not work, and it is currently an empty list.^[5]

'No Solicitors!' Sign, stop traders

If Wandering Traders keep showing up at your base, follow "No More Traders!" quest and make the 'No Solicitors!' Sign. Right now, in this pack, it stops them from spawning within 64 blocks (misc.no_solicitors_radius). Right-click it with wool to toggle silent mode.^[3][4][5]

'No Solicitors!' SignMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• any sign
• Emerald
• Flint

Recipe id: gag:no_solicitors

Dynamite and the Labeling Tool

Mining Dynamite is a throwable explosive that is very effective against stone and drops every block it destroys. Its explosion radius is currently 7 blocks in this pack (dynamite.mining_radius).^[4][5]

Mining DynamiteMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

any deepslate cobblestone	any deepslate cobblestone	any deepslate cobblestone
any deepslate cobblestone	Tnt	any deepslate cobblestone
any deepslate cobblestone	Firework Rocket	any deepslate cobblestone

Recipe id: gag:mining_dynamite

Fishing Dynamite is a throwable that only works underwater and is made for fishing. Its explosion radius is currently 4 blocks (dynamite.fishing_radius).^[4][5]

Fishing DynamiteMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Gravel or Sand	Dried Kelp	Gravel or Sand
Dried Kelp	Tnt	Dried Kelp
Gravel or Sand	Fishing Rod	Gravel or Sand

Recipe id: gag:fishing_dynamite

The Labeling Tool renames any item in your inventory at no cost. The pack changed its recipe too, so use the one below.^[4][6]

Labeling ToolChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Paper	Paper
Paper	any wooden rod	Iron Ingot
Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Chain

Recipe id: gag:labeling_tool

Gadgets Against Grind is a set of utility items and blocks, each built to reduce the grind in your day-to-day modded play. Some of its help is only temporary, like the items that stop mobs from spawning near you. So the core mechanics here are about how each gadget behaves and which settings the pack uses for it.^[1]

Teleport items

The Escape Rope teleports you out of caves and buildings to the nearest point on the surface. If it can't find room up there, it tells you so. Using it takes 60 ticks (3 seconds) of warmup, and afterwards you wait 200 ticks (10 seconds) before using it again. Its durability is 512. These are set by misc.escape_rope.warmup, misc.escape_rope.cooldown and misc.escape_rope.durability, and they match the mod defaults.^[4][5]

Escape RopeMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Chain	Tripwire Hook
Chain	Empty slot
Chain	Lead

Recipe id: gag:escape_rope

The Hearthstone sends you to your personal spawn point. Because misc.hearthstone.allow_world_spawn is true, it falls back to the world spawn if you have no respawn point. If it can't find anywhere to send you, it asks whether you set your spawn point.^[4][5]

Here is how the Hearthstone is currently set up in this pack. All of these values are the mod defaults.^[5]

• Warmup is currently 100 ticks (5 seconds), and the cooldown is currently 1,200 ticks (60 seconds).^[5]
• Durability is currently 64 for the normal stone.^[5]
• Range is currently -1, which means unlimited.^[5]
• Crossing dimensions currently multiplies the damage the stone takes by 2. Setting misc.hearthstone.dimension_multiplier to -1 would disable cross-dimension teleporting.^[5]
• The stone uses a charge on your respawn anchor when that applies, and it still checks that your spawn block is valid and unobstructed. Both behaviours can be changed with misc.hearthstone.use_anchor_charge and misc.hearthstone.ignore_spawn_block.^[5]

HearthstoneMod recipe

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Polished Deepslate	Empty slot
Polished Deepslate	Amethyst Shard	Polished Deepslate
Empty slot	Polished Deepslate	Empty slot

Recipe id: gag:hearthstone

The Energized Hearthstone is the stronger version. It has channelled the energy of raw lightning and teleports you to a single bound location instead of your spawn. You reset it by hitting it with lightning again. Its durability is currently 256 in this pack, from misc.hearthstone.energized_durability.^[4][5]

Dynamite

Mining Dynamite is a throwable explosive that is very efficient against stone, and it drops every block it destroys. Its blast radius is currently 7 blocks here, and it currently gives the Haste effect to a player it hits, per dynamite.mining_radius and dynamite.mining_gives_haste.^[4][5]

Fishing Dynamite only works underwater and is built to hit fish. The pack currently keeps these settings:^[4][5]

• The blast radius is currently 4 blocks.^[5]
• It currently instakills fish. If dynamite.fishing_instakill were false, it would deal 2x damage to fish instead.^[5]
• It currently also damages every other entity, not just fish, because dynamite.fishing_damage_all is true.^[5]
• Up to 5 additional fish from the vanilla loot table can drop. The amount is random and tends to be lower the more fish the blast already hit.^[5]
• dynamite.fishing_targets is set to hybrid, which combines the abstract fish check with a tag filter. The config notes this should be the most reliable option for modded fish.^[5]

Temporal Pouch

The Temporal Pouch slowly accumulates time while it sits in your inventory. Use it on a ticking block to speed that block up, and it spends some of its stored time. The stored time is shown as Grains of Time in the tooltip.^[4]

Temporal PouchChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Raw Gold Block	Nautilus Shell	Raw Gold Block
Leather	Ender Eye	Leather
Leather	Leather	Leather

Recipe id: gag:time_sand_pouch

The pack changed this recipe.

The pouch's numbers as currently set in this pack:^[5]

• Each click uses 600 grains, which the config currently equates to the ticks a player accrues. Each use accelerates the block for 30 seconds.^[5]
• Using it several times in a row raises the speed. The maximum is currently 8 uses in a row, a speed of x256.^[5]
• A pouch can hold up to 2,147,483,647 grains.^[5]
• Random ticking blocks such as crops and saplings can be accelerated, because temporal_pouch.allow_random_ticks is true.^[5]
• temporal_pouch.random_tick_chance is currently 4096, the same as the mod default.^[5]

Keeping mobs and traders away

Sacred Salt, Sacred Salve and Sacred Balm are ways to temporarily stop mobs from spawning near you. The Repelling effect stops nearby hostile mobs from spawning. The salve lasts a bit longer than the salt and covers a larger area. The balm lasts considerably longer than either, but its radius is reduced.^[1][4]

4× Sacred SaltMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Gunpowder or Redstone or Glowstone Dust
• Fermented Spider Eye or Poisonous Potato
• Glow Berries

Recipe id: gag:sacred_salt

Sacred SalveMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Glow Ink Sac
• Honey Bottle
• any small flower
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt

Recipe id: gag:sacred_salve

Sacred BalmMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Honeycomb
• Phantom Membrane
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Bowl

Recipe id: gag:sacred_balm

Sacred BalmMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Phantom Membrane
• Sacred Salve
• Bowl

Recipe id: gag:sacred_balm_from_salve

You can also upgrade a salve into a balm.

The 'No Solicitors!' Sign is a placed block that wards off certain intruders. In this pack it currently stops Wandering Traders from spawning within 64 blocks, set by misc.no_solicitors_radius. Right-click it with wool to toggle silent mode.^[4][5]

Renaming and coloring items

The Labeling Tool renames any item in your inventory at no cost. The pack changed its recipe.^[4][6]

Labeling ToolChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Paper	Paper
Paper	any wooden rod	Iron Ingot
Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Chain

Recipe id: gag:labeling_tool

The pack changed this recipe.

A filled Pigment Jar can be used in the labeling tool to change the color of an item's name. Combine jars with each other to mix colors. An empty jar needs filling first. The in-game hint is to grind up some dye with flint, then add milk.^[4]

Gadgets Against Grind doesn't have a tier ladder like a tech mod. It's a set of small utility items, and the pack's quest book only points you at two of them. The one real chain is the Sacred line, where each item is built from the one before.^[3][6]

What the quest book covers

Both quests sit in the "Useful Items & Tips" chapter, which is chapter 2 of 31 in the book and has 30 quests. It's a chapter of handy extras rather than a progression line for this mod.^[3]

• "Temporal Pouch" quest asks you to get the Temporal Pouch. The quest says it stores time while it's in your inventory, and you spend that time by sneak-using the pouch on something to speed it up.^[3]
• "No More Traders!" quest asks you to craft the 'No Solicitors!' Sign, the answer to traders spawning and getting in your face.^[3]

The pack changes the Temporal Pouch recipe from the mod's own, so don't rely on a recipe you remember from elsewhere. This is the one the pack uses:^[6]

Temporal PouchChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Raw Gold Block	Nautilus Shell	Raw Gold Block
Leather	Ender Eye	Leather
Leather	Leather	Leather

Recipe id: gag:time_sand_pouch

The sign uses the mod's own recipe:^[6]

'No Solicitors!' SignMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• any sign
• Emerald
• Flint

Recipe id: gag:no_solicitors

The Sacred line

This is the closest thing to tiers in the mod. You start with Sacred Salt, then move up to Sacred Salve and finally Sacred Balm. The pack leaves all three at the mod's own recipes.^[6]

4× Sacred SaltMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Gunpowder or Redstone or Glowstone Dust
• Fermented Spider Eye or Poisonous Potato
• Glow Berries

Recipe id: gag:sacred_salt

Sacred SalveMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Glow Ink Sac
• Honey Bottle
• any small flower
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt

Recipe id: gag:sacred_salve

You can make the Balm straight from Sacred Salt, or upgrade a Salve you already made.^[6]

Sacred BalmMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Honeycomb
• Phantom Membrane
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Sacred Salt
• Bowl

Recipe id: gag:sacred_balm

Straight from Sacred Salt.

Sacred BalmMod recipe

Crafting Shapeless

• Phantom Membrane
• Sacred Salve
• Bowl

Recipe id: gag:sacred_balm_from_salve

Upgrading an existing Sacred Salve.

Everything else

None of these items has its own quest in the chapter. Apart from the Labeling Tool, which the pack has changed, they use the mod's own recipes.^[3][6]

• Labeling Tool: the pack changed this recipe from the mod's.^[6]
• Hearthstone^[6]
• Escape Rope^[6]
• Mining Dynamite^[6]
• Fishing Dynamite^[6]
• Pigment Jar^[6]

Labeling ToolChanged by the pack

Crafting Shaped

Crafting Shaped

Empty slot	Paper	Paper
Paper	any wooden rod	Iron Ingot
Empty slot	Iron Ingot	Chain

Recipe id: gag:labeling_tool

This recipe is changed by the pack.

This mod only shows up in one chapter of the quest book: "Useful Items & Tips". It's chapter 2 of 31 in the book and holds 30 quests, mostly one-off tips about handy items from many different mods. Two of those quests are about this mod.^[3]

Temporal Pouch

The quest "Temporal Pouch" quest asks you to get the Temporal Pouch. The quest describes it as a pouch that stores time as long as it's in your inventory. You then sneak-use the pouch on something to spend that stored time and increase the ticks of pretty much anything. If a machine or crop feels too slow, that's the idea: spend some stored time to speed it up.^[3]

No Solicitors Sign

The quest "No More Traders!" quest asks you to get the 'No Solicitors!' Sign. The quest pitches it as the fix if you're tired of traders spawning and getting in your face.^[3]

Same as in the FTB Skies 2 1.22.0 guide

Good news: this pack leaves almost every Gadgets Against Grind option at the mod's own default. Only one option in the main config is flagged as changed by the pack, so you can mostly rely on the mod's normal behaviour. Here are the options you are most likely to care about and the values the pack uses.^[7]

The one thing the pack changed

temporal_pouch.level_filter is the list of levels where the Temporal Pouch will not work. The pack currently sets it to an empty list, and the config file marks it as changed from the mod default. temporal_pouch.invert_level_filter is currently false, so the empty list means no level is blocked by this filter.^[7]

Hearthstone

• misc.hearthstone.warmup is currently 100 ticks (5 seconds to use the stone) and misc.hearthstone.cooldown is currently 1,200 ticks (60 seconds between uses). Both are the mod defaults.^[7]
• misc.hearthstone.durability is currently 64, and misc.hearthstone.energized_durability for the energized hearthstone is currently 256. Both are the mod defaults.^[7]
• misc.hearthstone.range is currently -1, which means unlimited range.^[7]
• misc.hearthstone.dimension_multiplier is currently 2, the damage multiplier for travelling across dimensions. Setting it to -1 would disable cross-dimension teleporting, but the pack currently leaves it at 2.^[7]
• misc.hearthstone.allow_world_spawn is currently true, so the stone sends you to the spawn point if you have no respawn point. misc.hearthstone.ignore_spawn_block is currently false and misc.hearthstone.use_anchor_charge is currently true.^[7]
• On the client side, misc.hearthstone.hide_position is false. Turn it on if you stream and don't want to show your base coordinates in the GUIs.^[8]

Escape Rope

As the config currently stands, the rope takes 60 ticks (3 seconds) to use per misc.escape_rope.warmup, then has a 200 tick (10 second) wait per misc.escape_rope.cooldown. misc.escape_rope.durability is currently 512. All three are the mod defaults.^[7]

Dynamite

• Mining Dynamite currently has an explosion radius of 7 blocks (dynamite.mining_radius). With dynamite.mining_gives_haste currently true, it gives Haste to a player it hits.^[7]
• Fishing Dynamite currently has a radius of 4 blocks (dynamite.fishing_radius). dynamite.fishing_instakill is currently true, so fish die outright. If it were false, fish would take 2x damage instead.^[7]
• dynamite.fishing_damage_all is currently true, so Fishing Dynamite damages all entities, not just fish. Keep that in mind when you blast near other mobs or players.^[7]
• dynamite.fishing_additional_loot is currently 5, which sets how many extra fish from the vanilla loot table may drop. dynamite.fishing_targets is currently "hybrid", which combines the abstract fish check with the fish tag filter.^[7]

Temporal Pouch

• temporal_pouch.duration_per_use is currently 30 seconds of acceleration per use, and temporal_pouch.grains_used is currently 600 grains per click.^[7]
• temporal_pouch.max_rate is currently 8, which the config describes as a top speed of 2^8 = x256.^[7]
• temporal_pouch.allow_random_ticks is true, so the pouch can speed up crops and saplings. temporal_pouch.random_tick_chance is 4096.^[7]
• temporal_pouch.pouch_capacity is currently 2,147,483,647 grains, effectively the maximum.^[7]

No Solicitors sign

misc.no_solicitors_radius is currently 64 blocks in this pack, the radius in which the sign stops Wandering Traders from spawning. The config file lists 64 as the mod default, although its own comment text mentions 32.^[7]

FTB Skies 2: Aero 1.10.0 ships Gadgets Against Grind 1.21.1-5.2.0. The mod has been in the pack since 1.0.3 or earlier, so it's a long-standing part of Aero.^[2]

Version 5.2.0

• Fixes some minor issues with component formatting.^[9]
• The EMI plugin now uses its own random instead of the world random.^[9]
• The version number format has changed, because the mod's developer switched to AlmostGradle for their build workflows.^[9]

Unverified Changes in earlier versions of the mod, and any pack changelog entries about it, aren't covered by the sources available for this guide.