Background
LightningCraft is a mod by SBElectric and maintained by Rumaruka's that focuses on a mix of lightning power generation, a dimension called the Underworld which is very similar to the Nether with new structures, mobs and ores, multiple tool and armour sets and utility blocks.[1]
The mod has many tiers of alloys that can be made from common Minecraft resources in the Infusion Table or resources added by mobs, such as defeating Demon Soldiers to collect their blood or Ichor in the Underworld dimension in one of the many structures.
These alloys are used in the making of many of the tools, armour, machine tier upgrades and Underworld portal frame blocks as the progression steps of the mod.
Charging Items
There is a number of items in LightningCraft that require power before use. This includes the tiered batteries and the Kinetic Tools & Armour. These items can only be charged and not repair or consume durability like the alloy armour and tools.
To charge these items, the player must use a Charging Plate, this block needs to be placed on top of a Lightning Energy Cell block similar to the Air Terminals to receive power.
If the player wishes to keep power generating with lightning strikes on the air terminals and having a separate energy cell to avoid removing and placing the terminal and charging plate, transmitters and receivers can be used to transport power between blocks in a wireless way.
Power Conversion
Tier 1 Transmitter and Tier 1 Receiver connection between two Lightning Energy Cells.
The Tx/Rx Tag and the GUI of the Receiver
To convert between Power APIs in LightningCraft the player must create either the LE Export Bus or the RF Lightning Generator and have a Lightning Energy Cell next to it for the power to be accepted.
The RF Lightning Generator allows for RF or Tesla power generation blocks to have their power sit in the block.
Once the RF Lightning Generator has 50,000RF or more stored in the block, the text displaying how much is stored will turn green.
This is a sign that any power above this point will be able to strike lighting onto an air terminal, removing the amount stored to be converted to LE.
The LE Export Bus is a block for converting LE to RF or Tesla.
A LE Export Bus sending the converted RF power to a Powder Maker.
Simply having the block next to a Lightning Energy Cell will convert the power to RF and send the power to any RF/Tesla compatible block, unlike the RF Lightning Generator where LE must be generated from a lightning strike before the Lightning Energy Cell can accept the power.
Wireless Power Transport
To allow machines to access power in LightningCraft the player can either have the machines next to the Lightning Energy Cell or they can use LE Transmitters and LE Receivers to send and receive the power.
To make the connection between the blocks, the player needs to create a Tx/Rx Link Tag. By clicking the Transmitter the tag will be granted the enchantment glint.
Once the tag has the glint applied the player can sneak click the receiver to make the connection, without sneak clicking the player will open the GUI of the receiver (the transmitter does no have a GUI).
Mod Support
LightningCraft has different mod support depending on version. In 1.7.10 versions of the mod, ThaumCraft 4 (and 5 in 1.8.9) aspect support is available.
In 1.12.2 versions of the mod, Tinker's Construct fluid support is available for Electricium, Skyfather and Mystic alloys. The latest version has Patchouli guide support in version 2.9.7.
Many other notable mods have had support across versions such as Chisel, Just Enough Items and One Probe.[2]
Power API Support
LightningCraft has it's own Power API called LE (changed to not be confused with LP from Blood Magic in 1.7.10, versions 1.8.9 and newer will have LE present).
This can be generated from using an Iron or Gold Golf Club and swinging it over an Air Terminal to generate power or the Electrostatic Generator which uses consumable blocks and existing power.
LE can be converted between other power APIs, the power APIs supported are Redstone Flux and Tesla, these can be converted using convertor blocks for LE to RF, or RF to LE (when Tesla API is installed it will acknowledge the power as Tesla).
This conversion works by using the RF Lightning Generator to convert to LE to RF, and the LE Export Bus to convert RF to LE.
An active (left) and inactive (right) Underworld portal in a 2x2 (with and without corners).
Underworld Portal Crafting
The Underworld portal can be made with a small center at 2x2 (an 8 block frame) or later sizes similar to a Nether portal once the player has the appropriate blocks and portal igniting item.
To make the portal the player is required to make Demonstone.
To make Demonstone the player must make Thunderstone from Obsidian in the centre of the recipe, quartz in the corners and cobblestone in the remaining sides of the grid around the Obsidian.
Once they have Thunderstone crafted they must hunt down Demon Soldiers to acquire Demon Blood.
When Demon Blood is collected, the player will need to place the blood along with the Thunderstone in a Lightning Infusion Table.
If the player has placed them into the table and provides the table with 35 LE the crafting processing can beginning to infuse the materials.
Once infused the player can take the blocks out of the Infusion Table to make the frame. The final step is the creation of the portal igniting item, the Underworld Charge.
The charge can be made in the Infusion Table with Diamond dust (acquired from the Crusher with a diamond and enough power), Demon Blood, Fire Charge and Obsidian.
Once infused the player can strike the portal and a black nether portal will approach in the centre of the frame and lightning will strike down upon consuming the charge, allowing entrance to the dimension.
Removed Content
Arcadian blocks and key in latest 1.7.10 version that have since been removed in the first 1.8.9 version and never made a comeback.
During the 1.7.10 versions of the mod it was possible for the player to access sky dimension called Arcandia (or at least the blocks that would appear in the dimension), but this was removed in 1.8.9-2.0.0 in favour of the Underworld dimension instead or to focus on 1 instead of 2 dimensions.
One of the two books that would have covered Skyfather recipes.
The 2nd book that would have included Underworld recipes.
Another notable aspect of the mod that was removed was the 2 books that would follow up on the Arcadian and Underworld block information and recipes. As the current block information and recipes are included in the single guide book it is clear that the multiple book idea was scrapped.