what are rubies sapphires and emeralds?

[cannon4747]

I've been trying to learn the tekkit mod pack by just playing it and looking up new items that i don't know of. and i've been looking up tutorials for more extensive mods like industrial craft (btw is is ic1 or ic2?) and equivalent exchange but couldn't find anything about these weird gems anywhere. i've found out that they could be used to make regular tools but what else can they be used for?

[Valkon]

Tools and EMC.

[MechaCrash]

It's Industrialcraft 2. The original Industrialcraft is no longer supported.

The gems you're finding are from RedPower, and work basically like diamonds. You can use them to make picks, axes, shovels, and hoes, and they will work like their diamond equivalents, but with two major differences. They are one third as durable as real diamond tools, and the pick doesn't work on obsidian.

You can also use them to make handsaws (see the wiki for more details), and they will function just like diamond ones, but again, with two differences: they're less durable, and you can't use them to cut silicon boules into silicon wafers.

However, they are basically obsolete right from the start. You might want to make a gem pick early on, but once you get a mining drill, basically all other picks and shovels are obsolete. Once you upgrade it to a diamond drill, well, there you go. Diamond drills are only surpassed by Equivalent Exchange's dark matter and red matter tools, and those are pretty damn expensive (assuming your server even left EE on; a lot don't because of the grief potential and other reasons). Likewise, gem handsaws are useless, because you can just make a diamond handsaw and keep it in good shape with a Talisman of Repair, which is relatively cheap as well.

There are other uses for gems planned in the future, I think, but Eloraam has not said anything about those plans.

[Pilchard123]

What are rubies, sapphires and emeralds?

Well, the first two are varieties of the mineral corundum, with the colours being caused by the presence of chromium and iron, respectively. An emerald is a an impure variety of beryl, containing traces of vanadium.

OH! You mean the ones in the game! Yea, use them for tools or to get EMC.