Mites

A picture of a mite, its resource, and a honey block in a desert.

Mites are a new species of silverfish that have mutated to become enthralled by certain materials. As they mature, they adapt their lives to producing more of their favorite item.

We can only speculate on the hows, but some things are clear:

Not only do mites look different, but they don’t seem to be able to breed with silverfish either.
Even though mites seem to pick their favorite item based on whatever they encountered first, some mites are born with inherent favor for one item over all others.
Recent experiments with mites isolated from their favorite items demonstrated that they still produce the items, disproving earlier theories that mites eat the items. The only factor that seemed to affect their ability was their access to honey.

Get started as a Miteologist

After downloading the mod to your mods folder, craft a mite inspector:

The crafting recipe is two sticks, two browned-stained glass, and a diamond.

Then, find some mites in their known habitat: the desert.

Thanks to brilliant miteologists before you, we know a little about mites:

mites will follow people holding honey
mites will breed when fed honey
mites will nibble on placed honey blocks
after nibbling on honey, mites eventually produce items

Even though you paid a premium price for your mite inspector (and had to assemble it yourself), it’s pretty basic. The Mite Inspector Co just has a monopoly on mite inspectors. Given that, some features of the tool:

use the inspector on a mite to observe its behavior
take a closer look (sneak and use) to make predictions based on its anatomy

We’re so glad to have you on the team. We haven’t heard from the others in a while, so it’s just you for now.

Answer Sheet

Bought your Miteologist degree online and therefore have no interest in exploration? Or still don’t know what this mod does?

For Modpack Authors

This mod is released under the MIT License, so feel free to include it in your modpack. Some info:

In response to similar mods that I think cheese the game, balancing was always a first-class feature. So, the default configuration is built solid with vanilla-like modpacks. However, be ready to adjust balancing if you have any mods that do the following:
- Allows blocks to be placed automatically, like Quark's dispenser. This would make automating mite feeding easier than intended.
- Removes vanilla desert biomes. Currently, mites can only naturally spawn in desert biomes.
Because mites can produce resources like diamonds out of thin air, precautions have been taken to make it difficult to cheese the game:
- There will never be a “factory block” you can place mites in. Mites are meant for the physical world.
- Mites can only produce resources by nibbling on honey blocks. Over time, they will consume the honey blocks. Not only do honey blocks have similar quirks to slime blocks with movement, but honey blocks themselves require intermediate farms to properly automate.
- Not only is the path to the most valuable mites long, but with each new type bred, it becomes more difficult to get the next type. Even if players speedrun a diamond mite, obtaining a second one, while easier, will still take some time.
- Mites have individual strengths. Players have to be careful which mites they breed so they’re not stuck with the most useless emerald mite possible.
- Mites are neutral creatures. They will attack if you touch them the wrong way.
- Since mites live in the physical world, they breed in the physical world. Breed too many too quickly and it'll be hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
If you disagree with my opininated balancing and think it’s too harse or too lax, there is a config. If you think something’s missing, let me know!

Breeding Guide

A flowchart describing how to obtain each mite.

Personalities

Mites have their own personalities. While it’s normal to grow attached to any particular mite, the fact is that some mites are objectively more useful than others. Fortunately for you, the beneficial traits are dominant and often are passed down when breeding.

Greed

How many resources they produce each batch. The worse the mite absorbs nutrients and lives a life of malnourishment, the more resources for you!

Worst: “Plump and sluggish”
Bad: “Healthy and energetic”
OK: “Likes to play but can be moody”
Good: “Frail and slow-moving”
Best: “Looks like it will starve at any moment”

Appetite

How often they produce batches. The more the mite spends its life obsessing over its next meal, the more resources for you!

Worst: “Does not appear to be interested in food”
Bad: “Does not eat often”
OK: “Likes to eat”
Good: “Spends most of its time eating”
Best: “Does not stop eating, even in danger”

Yeah, but your miteologists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.