IMO IC2 is for beginners. Now, take Thermal Expansion which is a bit slower but pretty simple to use too. You want to go further into machines then go into Mekanism mod and ofc Atomic science (which is much better than IC2 nuclear stuff) which both provide tons of way of producing power( windmills with their epic look, fission,fusion reactors and ofc the antimatter and redmatter endgame stuff). All in all the new Big Dig goes into an era of much more end-game machines, items and so on. That's equal to MORE FUN and more time invested (= again with less boredom).