Yesterday I made a post about the awesomeness that could be Danzilona's first portal, and I think for the most part our citizenry was receptive to the concept. Which is great. Unfortunately, my near-biblical appeal didn't really offer much in the way of actual information on how this was exactly going to get done. So it's time to get down to Brass Tacks.

What is a pylon, and what does it do?

This is a fairly important question for those who haven't ventured through the spreadsheet hell of the days prior to 3.0. Pylons aren't something ported in from 2.0, but rather an extension of the tech tree using Factory Mod that makes it so that the good old XP system of yore has a bit more nuance about it. A Pylon is a factory that has only one recipe: Burn charcoal, get Aether.

Now, what the hell's an aether? Aether is a lored ingredient in game that is required to run recipes in Transmuters (think 2.0 cauldrons) to give out emeralds, AKA XP bottles. Once a pylon is set up with it's ridiculous start up cost, the pylon just ticks away to create Aether at a steady rate. The Basic portal we are planning on constructing will produce Aether at a rate of 10 every 4 hours. 60 Aether per day at max capacity. That doesnt seem like a whole bunch, but an Apprentice Trasmutter can, with additional ingredients, transform that 60 Aether into 300 Emeralds. That ain't a bad return on investment.

But we don't have a Transmuter?

That is correct. NDZ does not have a transmuter in the city limits as of this moment. But our deal old pals on the other side of the donut in Endeavor will soon have access to one. They are ready and rearing to go on making themselves some green, but are lacking in the Aether department. You can craft 5 of your daily essence into a single Aether, of course, but that is woefully inefficient in making large quantities of experience.

The construction of a pylon in NDZ solves this problem! Suddenly, Danzilonans can supply Aether a plenty to our dear neighbors. The XP industry can boom.

How do we get anything out the deal?

This is a little bit on the rocks, but I believe that a deal can be made between us Danzilonans and Endeavorites. We will relinquish all of our Aether produced to the Endy Emerald Co-Op so that they may run the recipe 15 times, creating 300 emeralds. In return, they will grant us 100 of the emeralds produced, or a third of the product. 100 emeralds?!? You can do a lot with that kind of green lining your pocket.

Where do I come in?

This is the most important part. One man does not a pylon make. The costs are astronomical. However, I do believe that we, collectively, can unite to gather the ingredients to build a pylon fairly easily, and start cranking out the dough.

I need volunteers to join me on this quest. Right now, we have two confirmed participants in myself and /u/peakman2, but we need more manpower and items. So here is where you sign up to help contribute items to the cause.

Right now, we are still in want of the following materials for the Pylon:

• 192 Redstone Dust OR 128 Redstone Ore
• 400 Iron Ingots OR 384 Iron Ore
• 128 Gold Ingots
• 10 Poisonous Potatoes
• 512 Sand
• 640 Nether Quartz Ore
• 20 Obsidian
• 10 Diamonds
• 5 Books
• 16 Apples

Other items are necessary for the end recipe, but they have been mostly covered. Also, this list does not take into account the crafting, smelting or compact yet needed for the Pylon.

Yet I know that we have the manpower and the desire to start pumping some investment into our town so that we may all prosper.

Where do I sign up?!?

Right in the comments! As of now, we are looking for either 8 or 12 members to join up in the pursuit of the pylon. For 8 members, we're looking at each member earning 12 Emeralds per person daily while for 12 members we're looking at 8 Emeralds per person daily. 4 Emeralds are kept from each trade to assist in the repair costs for the pylon.

If you think you can provide parts of the items listed above or have some rotting around any way, comment below with your IGN, the item you are most prepared/interested in gathering and whether or not you'd like to be added to the Trello, a neat little online organizing board that will allow us to get things sorted sooner.

I probably left a lot unanswered or unclear, so feel free to ask any questions, and I will be sure to answer you to the best of my abilities.

Here's to the pylon!