Thanks for the response - I'm really looking forward to hearing from blsimpson.
If I seem overly-deferential in my earlier post, it's only because I acknowledge that I'm "new" to this community (long-time lurker, but recently becoming more visible). I didn't want to stir the pot or cause undue controversy, as I have seen the "vanilla vs. modded" discussion get out of hand and divisive. I firmly believe there's a place for both, and I'm glad to see that this group agrees to some extent.
As for being overly-complicated, FTB is really not all that bad. I'm still working it all out, but I've found that focusing on one mod at a time really helps with the confusion. IC2 is a long-time favorite of mine, and I can recall all of the recipes and how the machines play together. From there, I moved to Buildcraft, which was basically the same thing, but with different recipes and item names. Now, I try to avoid IC2 and focus primarily on Buildcraft until those machines are committed to memory. Once you figure out these two mods, the rest are easy by comparison.
I'm always available to assist with understanding how something is crafted, used, or how it synergizes with something else, and get excited when others begin to understand and embrace these new concepts. Just the other day, I was helping someone figure out how to make a "stake" for traincraft. What would normally be a simple task was quickly complicated when it was discovered that similarly named items were not interchangeable; for example, crafting coal into coal dust on a train workbench (not macerating it - that's the "wrong" coal dust), then mixing clay and coal dust to make graphite, which is used with iron ingots to make steel dust, which can finally be smelted into steel (not the blast furnace steel, that's the "wrong" kind again). The steel can be crafted with iron to make the stake, which is used to link train cars together. Figuring it out can be headache (especially when NEI isn't showing recipes), but I was happy to share the knowledge I had gained, and my companion was happy to receive it
Anyways - I'm rambling, so I'll wrap up. I look forward to hearing about the FTB server (if you're whitelisting, my MC name is also JGouldie), and even more so into sharing what knowledge I can to encourage others in their exploration of these new mods.
I am SO in love with the hats! 