Stardust Memories is a modpack originally created as a collection of magical-themed mods I enjoyed playing with, but eventually expanded into being equally "magical" and "scientific."
Recently, however, the focus has shifted; given the overwhelming power that the players can obtain if given enough time (and also the absolute lack of anything to do with that power), the pack has become more directed towards ever-increasing difficulty. While not as literally "ever-increasing" as, say, Risk of Rain (though I do have a mod in mind to create specifically that effect), the challenge is actually rather precisely balanced at the moment.
There's several "stages" of progression that a typical player will find themselves in, should they persist in a world for long enough while actively trying to keep up with the difficulty curve. They are as follows:
- Gamestart: you've just spawned in and are either exploring the world for quick loot items or have started harvesting the surrounding area for wood, stone and ores.
- Earlygame: you've got a base of sorts, possibly containing your items, that will ideally be capable of fending off the inevitable invasions that occur on the 20th day (and every 10 days after that). If you're thinking ahead and know what you're doing, you can achieve an early-yet-weak variant of either Technology or Magic in the form of Immersive Engineering or Electroblob's Wizardry, respectively.
- Midgame: this stage is defined by having acquired proper mechanical components to your base; be it an energy system and material manipulators for Science users (such as everything Thermal Expansion does, for instance) or a mana system and associated infrastructure for Magic users (such as an infusion altar for Thaumcraft users or a spell altar for Ars Magica users).
- Lategame: this stage is functionally an extension to Midgame, in that everything established during Midgame is expanded upon. Where you had non-renewable generators, you now have powerful solar energy. Where you had ammunition production, you now have firearm production. Where you had lesser spells to cast, you now have large-scale magic capable of altering the properties of blocks quickly (such as Thaumcraft's Portable Hole or Warding foci).
- Endgame is defined by achieving any "gamebreaking" power; Project E, Warpdrive, Thaumcraft's Curative Vat-based Immortality, 99% damage reduction from armour, etcetera. It is at this stage that most any goal can be undertaken, and the aforementioned Project E - the ultimate combination of the greatest magics and sciences - allows for total control over the world around you.
But is that enough? You see, the difficulty has been augmented to match the players; mobs are overwhelmingly more powerful than their vanilla counterparts, invasions occur every ten days where swarms of zombies break down your base using gear equal in potency to your combined offensive and defensive capabilities, anything and everything can attack you if you don't handle the situation correctly (including blocks; punching trees hurts), the Nether is flooded with already-hostile pigmen wielding firearms capable of punching through most any pre-Lategame armours and overworld mobs will deliberately target player-associated items and blocks such as light or crafting tables - destroying them even if the mob in question is a creeper (thereby blowing up) - all the while building to and mining through the base of the player.
Ultimately, this is a modpack about overcoming ridiculous odds by becoming yourself ridiculously powerful. Can you face the challenge and come out in one piece?