I did not expect a 1.12.2 pack to captivate me so

I'm a modern guy. I usually run away from modpacks that are 1.17 and less, much less 1.12.
I decided to give it a try after being pestered by a friend, and oh boy. When I woke up again, I had built a biblically accurate ME controller, was deep into chapter 3, my sleep schedule was hanging by a thread, and two and a half weeks had passed without me even noticing.

It is, in a word, incredible. Especially if you follow the Java 22 guide, it loads in practically 3-4 minutes, and runs at a steady high fps (around 100) with little to no issue.
It is important to note that you should host a server for this. It is not kind to the space on your computer, and I am pretty sure something will burn if singleplayer is attempted with a sufficiently old pc. I managed to finagle Java 22 onto the server as well, and have had steady 18-20 TPS with 4-6 active players at the same time being absolute bafoons. For 3-4 people, having a 20GB RAM / Ryzen 7 CPU server was fine, but as we advanced and got more players I switched to 30GB and Ryzen 9. Haven't had problems since.

The pack is hard, yes, but it is also unforgettable (and really satisfying). I remember early game was quite terrorizing, and my friend fell into limbo and had his own little existential horror show while I was making donuts to not die of hunger. Fun times~
And don't get me started about the dragons! Man, they are something else. We hunted for a spot where there were none, built a base, and when we finally settled in and got a pet lizard, one erupted from under the earth. It was quite traumatic (and funny) (We then exterminated all dragons in a two mile radius out of that fear). Point is, it keeps ya on your toes. Never, ever forget to do a dragon-check. They could be anywhere. There could be a dragon, right NOW, salivating over you while you are reading this. Beware.