I started this modpack right after I finished ATM10 and thought I was ready for an expert Modpack and the first one I saw was meatballcraft and after playing for 2000+ hours, I can say that it was amazing. It was so unique and you can tell how much love was given to it, and for an expert ModPack, it was very beginner-friendly with 95% of the time. If I didn’t know how something worked, there would be a tooltip built into the game to tell you how to do it for 1000s of items. I can’t explain the satisfaction I have after making infinity armor witch is where I stopped. witch is just before chapter 10.

I loved all the puzzles even if some took me a wile to figure out. And how it forced me to learn mods I really did’t want to learn like Thaumcraft, Astral Sorcery, and NuclearCraft.

One big drawback was the performance, maybe it’s because I had never played a pack like this before but by the end game, the lag was almost unberabe. It was mostly AE2, and when making the defined ingot, I had to disable channels because of how AE2 works witch made my game a million times better I really recommend turning them off because of how they’re coded it makes the game so much laggy. Another big problem was how repetitive it became in the midgame to late game, it just felt like I was making multi-block after multi-block witch became annoying with me taking big breaks because of this. also do NOT update your game version I did this 3 times and it caused a lot of issues. Throughout my play, I almost lost my work 10+ time do to corruption, so make sure you keep a backup.

This pack was really amazing, and I think everyone should give it a try and try to at least make it to chapter 4

I want to start out by saying that after 200+ hours I am still in early game (Chapter 3) and have probably not reached the main gameplay loop yet.

But anyway, Meatballcraft has seemingly infinite content to offer and makes a lot of use of Content Tweaker and Modular Machinery. So even if you are already experienced in the world of expert modpacks you will still have a new and more or less unique experience. If you are looking for a comparison Divine Journey 2 would probably be the modpack that is most comparable as it too has a rather large amount of RPG content.

The RPG content would also be my first criticism, because while not being a majority or even large part of the pack, it is still there and required for progression. And to be honest I am not the biggest fan of those sections. But that is my fault and not the modpack’s fault, as it literally describes itself as a “tech-RPG” modpack. I still think this is a great modpack, but if you are here just for the automation it might not be the right pack for you. A couple of friends that enjoy exploration playing along with you could also be a solution if you should suffer from this problem.

The questbook might also not be everyone’s jam, as it is pretty linear, while also having kitchen sink characteristics. The main concept is, that there is the central quest line, that roughly guides you through progression and tells you what you should do. And then there all other quest lines which are basically just a wiki of what is in the pack and how it works. This can be just the right way for you, if you want only little regulation/direction, but if you need more guidance you should look into the discord or consider playing with someone more experienced. The same applies for the other direction. Large amounts of content are locked behind progression and you are forced into certain mods at times. That is probably also not for everyone.

The aestectics while they all look like they were done with love and care are stylistically on the older side, with less shading and less saturated colours. For myself this is perfect as I enjoy this sort of texturing, but if you are used to modern mods and modpacks with JAPPA like textures it might feel a bit weird or dated.

All in all Meatballcraft is a great modpack with some unique twists and features, but not one that suits everyone. I can certainly recommend you to try it. But as with almost every modpack I advise you take at least one friend along, especially if you are not the biggest fan of RPG or exploration elements.

— The central gameplay loop of the pack is passively crafting increasingly complex and expensive items, but from beginning to end, you explore new, unusual mechanics to unlock these items, giving you breaks from building up your factory and infrastructure.

— Despite hating combat, I find it a fun puzzle in MBC, because you don’t have to be skilled if you can design a weapon build strong enough to beat bosses (at your current stage) in one or two blows, and craft it (which usually requires tech and magic infrastructure). The pack maker changes the metas regularly–the kind of build you’ll need in chapters 9 and 10 is very different from what you’ll need in 6-8, etc.

— About 75% of the pack is factory building. But the factory building is extremely varied. I love GregTech, but GT tends to consolidate all things into itself, while in MBC you’ll juggle single-block machines from multiple different mods and MBC’s own sprawling multiblocks for every build.

— The other 25% is exploring, doing magic crafts, solving puzzles, dimension hopping, and fighting bosses–just often enough to be a good break from the tech, more than varied enough that you never feel like you’re doing the same thing over and over again.

— The automation challenges are always changing. Some setups will be straightforward, but every now and then you’ll face something new, weird, and puzzling, and this never stops, especially not in the final chapters.

— I’ve never felt so committed to finishing a pack and so little like it’s a slog. The packmaker is very anti-machine spam–instead of building dozens of assembly lines, you upgrade different parts of each process, or upgrade multiblocks to run faster by solving puzzles or fighting bosses.

— Vibrant and helpful community in the Discord. Lots of beautiful textures from artists in the Discord, and coders are actively contributing mods to improve performance and push the limitations of 1.12.2 Minecraft. Feels like we’re all in it together.

– The balance is alright for an expert pack.

– The progression well thought out without letting you easily tier skip between ages due to locked recipes.

– The performance is not very good, but for a hefty mod pack like this this is to be expected.

– The aesthetic is not bad, having a pretty… let’s just say rustic, older minecraft modpack vibe.

– The quest book… There is a reason kitchen sinks do not usually come with a linear quest book and if they do, it is usually to make an amalgamation of the big mods end game items. The quest book is the main problem I have with this pack. It is good in telling you what you can do, but as a kitchen sink it has a ton of content and every main quest opens up ~6 side quests while also having other questlines for supporting the main one. While I like the concept and understand that it is hard to do, the quest book just does not do it for me.

Initially a friend and I landed on MeatballCraft because we were looking for a mod pack that would match our very different playstyles. I am a very tech/automation-focused player and he is a more adventure/combat/RPG-focused player. MeatballCraft is, to date, the only pack we’ve ever found has ever kept both of us interested throughout the time we both put into the pack and we only made it to roughly Chapter 3 or 4 during our approximately 1,500 (combined) hours of playtime (1,000 for me, 500 for him).

# The Early Game #

The mod pack starts of very in a very kitchen sink style with unlocks coming pretty quickly, mostly focused on cosmetic blocks and quality of life features. Things like ProjectE’s Transmutation Tablet and Philosopher Stone are available near the very beginning of the pack to aid in building beautiful bases and almost all cosmetic blocks have EMC values. EMC loops are easy to build and, in fact, are not only encouraged but an intended feature highlighted by the quest book. Many useful features like /dank/null storage, ProjectE’s Alchemical Satchel’s, and other early storage options are relatively easy to access in the early game.

# The Mid-Game #

This is where my friend and I spent the bulk of our time with the pack. This was split between questing through the many, many, **many** dimensions on offer and automating various items, materials, and other things to unlock the next dimensions in the pack. The automation was, usually, not too onerous **if** you had done due diligence, followed the quest books early recommendations, and automated or even passived the items from the previous set of quests. This pack rewards taking your time and doing your automation right the first time. Slap-dashing your builds together to rush through the pack *will* bite you down the road, no if’s, and’s, or but’s.

The difficulty curve is maintained by certain hidden recipes which are unlocked via special items that must be crafted to reveal them. Using these items increases mod difficulty in various ways (more health, armor, damage, and more). This keeps combat interesting, at least up to the point my friend and I made it into the pack.

The number of dimensions on offer also helps keep enemy variety up as well as keeps special bosses and other fun mechanics in play for the more adventure-focused players. Many custom set pieces are also present, summoned in or warped to via special items that are crafted throughout the pack. A very fun and unique mechanic and I wish more packs did.

Tying all this together is an overarching plot line that, while a bit arbitrary, does a decent job at providing a reason for all the shenanigans, arbitrary crafting recipes, and random dimensions to exist together in this one pack. It’s a bit of a shallow plot line, admittedly, but to paraphrase from a certain early days id Software developer, “Story in a video game is like story in certain kinds of ‘films’, it’s expected to be there but it’s not all that important”. The story is simply a vehicle to give the mod pack a reason to exist and, in that regard, it’s perfectly serviceable.

# Minor Criticisms #

I really only have a few small criticisms to hand out to this mod pack.

1. Some recipes were, at the time my friend and I were playing, quite simply unreasonable. These recipes could stand to be toned back. A good example of this is the Extreme/Bigger Reactor’s Turbine Casings. It’s a BIG investment to stand your first one up for where it is in the pack.

2. The placement of certain quality of life options feels… Off at times. For example, the placement of the Angel Ring in the progression tree feels far too late in my personal opinion. You can get creative flight earlier, though with a time limit, but anyone who can put in a bit of time can easily grind out essentially unlimited creative flight time with a hint of early automation. So why not just make the Angel Ring an earlier unlock? It’s just a bit odd.

3. Thaumcraft, while integrated, does not have enough early options to manage Taint. This is more of a Thaumcraft problem, to be a bit fair, but the mod pack does try to adjust things to deal with this. I feel more could be done in this regard as it’s far too easy to cause Warp-related problems and corrupt your entire world with no way to stop it. I realize that’s kind of the point of Taint but it’s also just flat out not fun to deal with after pouring so many hours into the pack to simply get to that stage.

As an aside, the pack, while developed on GitHub, is not developed in manner that feels welcoming to outside contribution. Not strictly a mark against the pack but it’s worth mentioning as I feel the pack could be so much more amazing with a more active community of developers than the one man show it currently is.

# Overall Thoughts #

I cannot recommend this mod pack enough. It’s well balanced and just flat out *fun* for pretty much all play styles, but particularly when differing play styles come together to cooperate to complete it!

#Meatballcraft is one of, if not *the best* modpack I have ever stumbled upon.

After 580hrs of gameplay and having reached nearly the end of chapter 6 of the quests, I am confident that this modpack is an all-time favourite for me.

The progression is almost perfectly paced with a fascinating story alongside it. Combat remains a challenge the whole way while giving a plethora of options to choose from that is actively being expanded upon. Of course, if you prefer one-shotting even early-end-game bosses, you can always use a shuriken! It also doesn’t leave you as a glass cannon, and has many armours to choose from wherever you are in the progression.

You unlock powerful technology that helps automation and generating resources and power.

Among them is AE2 is not too far into the questline and is a cornerstone for any and all automation in the pack, which is necessary unless you plan on actively hurting yourself. It also forces you to learn decent cable management as it can get pretty messy.

You also unlock EMC pretty early on but it is far from overpowered. Only base resources found in vanilla dimensions are included, with some exceptions.

There is also a *lot* of QoL mods and features included, so you can really make your life easy, or you can make it a living hell by giving yourself challenges. One such challenge is playing it without EMC, which is doable but requires *a lot* of automation and planning.

Above all, the discord community is one of the best there is out there, hands down. Everyone is welcomed and there are no stupid questions. The developer (the great Sainagh) is very active in it and frequently asks for feedback on upcoming features or changes.

Also, thanks to some shady magicians posing as ‘programmers’, this pack can run on java 22!

It will however need a lot of ram (I allocate ~8Gb and have host a local server on my pc for myself) and will take a lot storage space because of all the exploration. However, there are some dimensions you will never visit again and so you can probabledelete those dimensions outright.