Minecraft

Paleocon, tree leaves will decay fairly quickly if they're not attached to a trunk -- so if you just cut out all the wood in the tree, the leaves will go away, as long as they're not connected to another tree.

Good playing with you guys on the multiplayer server. I freaking LOVE putting lava sources on stuff. Particularly very high places so they fall a long way and then fan out over a hill and destroy entire forests. If you log in and see lava, that was pretty much me.

I renovated Danjo's fortress with a few lava fonts and also kind of blasted out a new basement for him, with all sorts of interesting waterfalls and lavafalls pouring into it. Druidpeak gummed up all the lava with giant walls of sand, though.

Today's wanderings... I finished the epic bridge, put a plate-glass window in one wall of my home base, tunneled to the far side of the mountain then started digging down to see what I could find. I met these guys...

Gaaah! (This didn't end well)

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4079/4864488631_4f406aeea2.jpg)

Long stairway is long

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4865107294_cd2809d06e.jpg)

Not these guys again.

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4076/4864488917_b741d935a9.jpg)

My first lava flow. Now, what do I do with it?

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4080/4865107860_30a1f9fd8b.jpg)

Relaxing in my hot tub

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4864489191_fac4111b0c.jpg)

Epic bridge

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4139/4865108328_2b838567c9.jpg)

Outside view of my home base

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4100/4865108098_7f1d0eddc9.jpg)

Another day gone in World of Minecraft

IMAGE(http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4075/4865108522_327e78224d.jpg)

Man, the MP has been a blast so far!

Couple of notes:
*Since there's no persistent inventory we've set up a stockpile at the base of the slender high dive tower near the spawn. There's wood, coal, and diamonds there, just /iron to get some bars and make an iron pick axe so you can break the diamond cubes to make a diamond pick axe. Please don't be greedy and just take what you need to get started.
*A useful bug is that you can throw down worn equipment and you'll pick it up at full strength.
*There's a common issue where over time the server starts slowing way down. Notch, the dev, is on vacation a lot through August so I don't know how long that'll take to get fixed. In the meantime the server requires a periodic reset to get all freshified. Everything is saved in the process, but your inventory is lost. If I call for a server reset, plant torches, set all your blocks and stuff down, then when you come back all you need to do is build new tools.
*If you don't know who made something, please don't go ramaging through it, find your own sandbox. If you mess up my cave forest I'm going to summon up a bunch of TNT and lava generators for LobsterMobster and tell him you didn't tip his mom.
*Also, I'm basically tethered to my machine for most of the day for work. Even if I'm not in game if you need some resources just use chat and if I see it in the server log I'll help you out. I can't summon in mobs or food, but I can drop in all the world generated blocks and materials easily.

Oh, and if you haven't bought this game yet, what's wrong with you that you hate fun so much?

For some reason I decided to dig a giant hole to test out diamond tools. I used the resultant rocks to build a pyramid. I also build a nice barn for the resource shed.

Feel free to destroy either... just leave not with magma.

I built a tunnel to no where behind your weird pyramid. It's near the HI! sign on a small island. It's easy to find. Look for the big parallel towers. I ran into some nice underwater springs and since it's all under the ocean anyway, there are some nice waterfalls. Feel free to keep on digging

Okay, I have a 4-5 block high stone wall completely around my area that is pretty well lit with torches all around. The doors are locked and I've enclosed (with door access) to my mine entry. Even still, my courtyard seems to get infested with livestock. Pigs, sheep, cows, and chickens just seem to appear all over my yard. Even more puzzling, I have a 30 block tall castle keep and notice that chickens seem to be spawning INSIDE even when the doors are locked. I double and triple check my perimeter every night before going down to mine. It's made me paranoid. And it isn't a small amount of livestock either. It's like 10-12 animals. I harvest them as soon as they appear, but they just seem to keep coming.

So far I have not encountered any hostile mobs spawning in my home, but I'm worried that is coming.

What's going on?

I think livestock will spawn anywhere there is grass.

And if I'm not mistaken the mobs will only spawn where there is darkness. So if you keep your fortress of solitude well lit you should be monster free.

Norfair wrote:

I think livestock will spawn anywhere there is grass.

And if I'm not mistaken the mobs will only spawn where there is darkness. So if you keep your fortress of solitude well lit you should be monster free.

Excellent.

I have grass all over my inner sanctum and it is well lit. I was just afraid they were getting in from the outside. I'm glad that is not the case.

Robear was telling me I should just count it as a blessing since I was getting free resources out of it. I think I have like 20 porkchops, 12 hides, and 15 feathers now. What do I do with wool? It seems a pretty worthless resource.

Sorry I hopped on the server last night then promptly logged off; my 'net connection picked that point to suddenly start dropping every few minutes so I gave up after the second or third drop.

I was having some trouble with what I'm guessing are lag issues. I would be digging a tunnel when the blocks would suddenly re-form around me (and kill me). Or is that a "feature" of the multi-player version?

hehe I have a new crack game. I built my fort in Liquids server last night and then decided I could not have a grass as my floor in my fortress and then started to do a Mosaic on the ground floor. But I need to expand my fort to make sure I had enough room. So if you see a now 1/2 built fort don't trash.

But the floor looks nice!

LiquidMantis wrote:

*If you don't know who made something, please don't go ramaging through it, find your own sandbox. If you mess up my cave forest I'm going to summon up a bunch of TNT and lava generators for LobsterMobster and tell him you didn't tip his mom.

It really is a very nice cave forest so please don't damage it much. Do feel free to damage it a little since I love turning buildings into lava waterfalls with crater basements.

tanstaafl wrote:

Sorry I hopped on the server last night then promptly logged off; my 'net connection picked that point to suddenly start dropping every few minutes so I gave up after the second or third drop.

I was having some trouble with what I'm guessing are lag issues. I would be digging a tunnel when the blocks would suddenly re-form around me (and kill me). Or is that a "feature" of the multi-player version?

Depends on where you were. A large area around the spawn point is protected so that you can't permanently remove (or add) stuff. There should be a trench in the ground demarcating its perimeter.

Paleocon wrote:

The doors are locked and I've enclosed (with door access) to my mine entry.

How do you lock a door?

Is there an easy way to build bridges? I can't seem to lean far enough over to expose the far face without falling off the end.

I did deepen the trench last night. Then I pondered building some sort of fortress around the spawn point out of something you couldn't normally break with your fists... but it seemed a bit too much like griefing.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Is there an easy way to build bridges? I can't seem to lean far enough over to expose the far face without falling off the end.

As far as I know that is about it.

Norfair wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Is there an easy way to build bridges? I can't seem to lean far enough over to expose the far face without falling off the end.

As far as I know that is about it.

I have had a lot of success building bridges using a boat to get to the correct angle.

Copingsaw wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

The doors are locked and I've enclosed (with door access) to my mine entry.

How do you lock a door?

Since I'm in single player, a closed door is "locked" for mobs. In multiplayer, probably the best way to lock a door is to put multiple mechanisms for opening it with all being boobytrapped but the correct one.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Is there an easy way to build bridges? I can't seem to lean far enough over to expose the far face without falling off the end.

It's tough but you can do it. Stand at right angles to the edge of the bridge (maybe turned inward just a bit) and carefully strafe sideways towards the edge. If you're careful, you can just see the edge of the row of blocks you are standing on. Once you get one block placed the rest for that row are easy.

It's a little tricky but can be done; see my "epic bridge" pic above. Yeah, you will fall a few times but it does work.

I picked up the game last night after reading this thread. Had a fun hour or so last night, just poking around and trying not to be killed by a burning zombie. I had a few minutes spare at lunch today so logged into the server to have a look at what you guys have done and I was really impressed. Hopefully, I'll have time to log in tonight and have a really good look around and help out.

Here is Goodjerworld as of this morning:

IMAGE(http://mantisonthemountain.com/bits/gwjWorld1Small.png)

Massive full-size version

[Edit] Broken link to full-size fixed now.

How do you generate your orbital view like that?

Paleocon wrote:

Since I'm in single player, a closed door is "locked" for mobs.

I've played enough to successfully survive the night. I found mobs waiting outside my door twice when I walked out during the day.

How far down do you have to dig to get diamonds?

wizard_in_motley wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

Since I'm in single player, a closed door is "locked" for mobs.

I've played enough to successfully survive the night. I found mobs waiting outside my door twice when I walked out during the day.

How far down do you have to dig to get diamonds?

The creepers (suicide bombers) don't burn in the sunlight. Neither do spiders. They will camp your door, so having multiple entry points is a definite must.

Study medieval castle design for good ideas. Most of them are easily implementable in Minecraft. Multiple wall rings for fallback positions, moats to restrict access or trap hostile mobs, ringed courtyards to keep livestock and grow/harvest trees unmolested even at night, towers to extend the range of your line of sight... One thing I've also noticed is that the bow and arrow allows you to engage hostile mobs outside of their activation circle. Once you have one, build barbutes (overhangs on your outer wall). Just make sure it is 5-6 blocks off the ground to prevent creepers from activating. Then you can snipe them along the length of your wall where you will have cover, but they will be out in the open. Once you kill them, the fact that they were camping your door will work to your advantage in that you won't need to be out for long to recover their dropped goodies.

I haven't found any diamonds yet and since my main base is an island port, I am wary about doing much more digging lest I run the risk of flooding. I made a bridge to the main island though and plan on extending my zone of control there when I get a chance. Another thing on bridges. Build gates and guardhouses on either side of them. You only want friendlies (in single player mode, that's you.) crossing it.

Paleocon wrote:

How do you generate your orbital view like that?

http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewto...

garion333 wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

How do you generate your orbital view like that?

http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewto...

Beat to the punch. Yeah, that utility. It's really easy and if you want you can use it to survey for particular resources, that's the 0-128 box.

LiquidMantis wrote:

Here is Goodjerworld as of this morning

I can see my flowers!

I've decided to call my creation the pillars of heaven complex. It'll be the undersea tunnel network

LiquidMantis wrote:
garion333 wrote:
Paleocon wrote:

How do you generate your orbital view like that?

http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewto...

Beat to the punch. Yeah, that utility. It's really easy and if you want you can use it to survey for particular resources, that's the 0-128 box.

Cool. Sounds like it is worth it just for that.

Also, I noticed that some folks are posting screenshots with stat texts. Do these stats include absolute position? If so are they on Cartesian coordinates using the spawn point as 0-0-0? If so, I might not need to commit suicide to find where I need to build an outpost. It would also be very useful (in coordination with the above utility) for navigating underground.

Who needs a compass when you have ground penetrating GPS!

COOL! You can see my Fortress with a now FULL GROWN tree on the top! This is very cool. I will try to be on tonight so I can get the walls repaired and looking respectable. Then I was thinking of adding a Tower or going down into the earth, we will see how hardcore spiral stairs are going to be.