When HopperBoy got Minecraft on PC, the first mod he wanted to try was ‘BuildCraft’, having seen it on several videos by DanTDM.

BuildCraft is a great mod which allows you to build more complex machines and structures, than the basic ones you can do with just redstone and switches in the vanilla game. The major feature of BuildCraft is pipes… You use them to transport items around the place, from fluids to blocks mined up – the pipes can move it all, transport it to new locations – even sort the items out – and then drop into chests… When you need resources, you can see how this could be a very helpful mod.

The pipes are made of different materials (such as gold, diamond, cobblestone) and each one has a unique function. Pipes can also be combined with Pipe Sealant, which allows them to become Fluid Pipes that can transport liquids; you can even combine with Redstone to make Kinesis Pipes which transport mechanical energy.

Once we had BuildCraft downloaded, HopperBoy spent time creating all sorts of machines. Some of the biggest were automatic mining machines which quarry out huge areas of stone and material and then feed it to pipes which carry it away to various hoppers and chests (I wonder how HopperBoy got his name?) With other machines piping water long distances for crops, or combining with lava pipes to create your own obsidian block maker…

Overall, this has been a great mod and has encouraged HopperBoy to get more and more creative with Minecraft machinery, creating bigger and more complex systems. He rates it 5* for the scope of what you can do with the machines and new things you can create, just by playing around with the features. Honestly, I’ve never even tried using this mod, so it’s certainly user-friendly enough for a kid to pick up and play with a little trial and error.

Want to try it yourself? Here’s how:

http://www.mod-buildcraft.com/   Official BuildCraft website, with all the information on how to download and use the mod

Check out HopperBoy’s first solo video, showing you the basics of the BuildCraft mod and how to use them, CLICK HERE