So, you’re playing All the Mods 9, and you’re absolutely sick of staring at a progress bar. We’ve all been there. You craft the Time in a Bottle, thinking it’s the holy grail of efficiency, only to realize it’s actually kind of a pain. You have to keep it in your inventory, it takes ages to charge up, and the moment you use it on a machine, you’re basically tethered to that spot like a dog on a leash for 30 seconds.
If you’re looking for an atm9 time in a bottle alternative, I’ve got some good news and some bad news. The bad news is there isn't one single "god item" that does exactly what the bottle does without any drawbacks. The good news? There are actually three or four better ways to speed things up that most people completely ignore because they’re too busy waiting for their bottle to hit that x256 boost.
The Just Dire Things Time Wand
Honestly, this is the one people are sleeping on the most. If you've played older packs, you might remember the Wand of Acceleration, and this is basically its spiritual successor. The Time Wand from the mod Just Dire Things is probably the closest thing to a direct upgrade you’ll find.
Unlike the traditional bottle, which accumulates time just by sitting in your pocket, the Time Wand runs on Time Fluid. You gotta set up a little infrastructure for it, involving Time Crystals and a bit of world-interaction, but once you have it, it's incredible. You don't have to wait hours for it to "recharge" just to use it once. If you have the fluid, you have the speed. You can even put this thing into a Clicker (also from Just Dire Things) to automate the tick acceleration.
Industrial Foregoing: Souls
If you want something permanent—like, "I never want to click this machine again" permanent—you need to look at Industrial Foregoing: Souls. This is a newer addition that a lot of veteran players might miss if they're used to the old 1.12 or 1.16 versions of the mod.
Basically, you extract Souls from Wardens (yeah, it’s a bit of a late-game project) and use them to power a Soul Surge. This creates a localized area of tick acceleration. It is arguably the best atm9 time in a bottle alternative for static setups like your Productive Bees or a massive Mystical Agriculture farm. You set it up once, and the machine just runs faster forever as long as it has soul power. No clicking, no waiting, just pure speed.
The Magic Route: Roots Classic
Believe it or not, there is a magic solution. In the Roots Classic mod, there is a spell called Accelerate.
- Craft a Crystal Staff.
- Imbue it with the Acceleration spell.
- Charge it up and blast your machines.
The wild thing about Roots is that, in some versions of ATM9, the acceleration from this spell actually stacks and occasionally persists through world reloads. It’s a bit "glitchy" compared to tech mods, but it’s dirt cheap to make in the early game. If you're struggling to craft the Time in a Bottle because the recipe is too expensive, go talk to the trees and get into Roots.
Why you might be doing it wrong
Sometimes the best alternative isn't a new tool, but a different approach. ATM9 is a "kitchen sink" pack, which means there are fifty ways to do one thing. If your Thermal Series machine is too slow, don't just reach for a time-warping bottle. Are you using the Integral Components? Have you shoved three Speed Upgrades in there?
✨ Don't miss: The Xbox Portable Console: Why Microsoft is Finally Playing for Keeps
For Mystical Agriculture, people often beg for a time bottle, but a field of Lily Pads of Fertility stacked underneath the dirt will actually outperform a manual bottle click over the long run. If you're trying to speed up a GregTech machine... well, good luck. GregTech is designed to be a slow burn, but even there, moving to a higher voltage tier is usually more effective than trying to tick-accelerate a lower-tier machine into oblivion.
Specific replacements for common tasks
If you're using the bottle for one specific job, there's usually a better block for it.
- Growing Crops: Use Growth Accelerators from Mystical Agriculture or PneumaticCraft Crop Supports.
- Ore Processing: Don't speed up one furnace; build five and use a Modular Router to split the items.
- Bee Production: Use Omega Productivity Upgrades. Seriously, a bee with 4 Omegas is already moving faster than the game engine likes; adding a Time in a Bottle to that is just asking for a lag spike.
Actionable Next Steps
If you're ready to ditch the bottle, here is exactly what you should do right now:
- Check JEI for the Time Wand: See if you have the materials for the Just Dire Things setup. It requires some Sculk-related items, so head to a Deep Dark biome.
- Automate Soul Extraction: If you're mid-to-late game, set up a Warden spawner and start piping those souls into Soul Surge blocks around your main resource generators.
- Upgrade your machines natively: Before looking for external speed, ensure your Mekanism machines have 8/8 Speed Upgrades and your Thermal machines have the best Augments available.
Stop waiting for a bottle to fill up. The pack is called All the Mods for a reason—use the other ones!