Minecraft Thread

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:21 am

Thanks to Wozzak for helping me finally get started in minecraft, including a place to build upon.

I may actually be on more often now.

Baconlabs · Post by **Baconlabs** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:08 am

I finally finished the gravel path between New Jerusalem Plateau and New Jerusalem Valley!

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 1:52 am

That temple was screwed up and laggy.
Logging back in made me spawn somewhere else, surrounded by monsters, and promptly mauled to near-death, poisoned, and tossed into the sea in which I swiftly perished from poisoning.
Also, part of it was chewed away anywho, so it was ruined form the get go.

Baconlabs · Post by **Baconlabs** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 2:16 am

That is unfortunate. Creepers must have gotten to it. I suppose I'll take it upon myself one of these days to run through and clean it up.

That structure was made a long time ago, before we got access to many of the more refined tools that made Adventure Maps more fun and accessible. It's pretty obsolete, but it does still have a lot of treasure in it that we'll need to retrieve someday.

My next project, the snow castle, ought to be much more reliable and enjoyable, since mobs will spawn by means of Dispensers rather than Spawners.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:50 am

I wonder why it is laggy? Or maybe the serve just happened to be laggy at the time.

Baconlabs · Post by **Baconlabs** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:10 am

It was probably because of the high number of mob spawners in the building. I didn't have any lag at the time Meowskivich was exploring.

BMR · Post by **BMR** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:16 am

So I caved. I went and downloaded Minetest last night to give myself a feel of how Minecraft plays. I loved it, and I was hooked. I will most probably go and buy Minecraft once I scrounge up enough extra cash, hehe.

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Wed Jun 20, 2012 4:29 am

A good idea there, mate.
Tis a good game it is.

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 3:56 am

Anyone care to help me with a supply of an extreme amount of cobblestone and dirt? like, now would be the most convenient time.

Baconlabs · Post by **Baconlabs** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:09 am

As in, you need some cobble and dirt, or you need to get rid of it?
You can check just about any chest on the server, sooner or later you'll find out that over time, everyone on the server has accumulated TONS of the stuff in excess. Take whatever you can find, I'm sure most of us would actually thank you for lightening our load and putting it to good use.

(this applies strictly to cobble and dirt! I wouldn't recommend looting anything else in bulk, or at all, without permission!)

Meowskivich · Post by **Meowskivich** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 4:28 am

Eh, if you say so. But I'm so incredibly far away from the masses that it's not an easy haul. Where's your place, if you have so much yourself? I'll take all dirt and cobble you desire gone.

Baconlabs · Post by **Baconlabs** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 5:00 am

Directing you to a specific location would take too long. I'm serious, stop at any established structure - house, castle, quarry, whatever - in the server and you're almost guaranteed to find a "trash chest" of cobble and dirt. If nothing else, I know Woz and I have left a lot of those behind in Spawnerton, Keble College, Oxford, and of course New Jerusalem. And James leaves a lot of "Take a Penny Leave a Penny" chests in checkpoint landmarks and safety houses that you can find neat things in.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Thu Jun 21, 2012 2:59 pm

Dirt and Cobble can be pretty easy/quick to mine. I have been running a pretty extensive cobblemine in the far north to fuel my work at paving roads in the nether.

My favorite technique is to cut a staircase down to bedrock level. Then I will make a long horizontal 2-block tall tunnel in one direction, starting one or two blocks above the bedrock. This is also my diamond-hunting strategy, because it uncovers a maximum of surface area, it just happens to be a convenient side-effect that also generates a ton of cobblestone.

I bring plenty of wood for pickaxes and torches (and I find more than enough coal for a vast supply of torches) and since my passages are simple and narrow, it is nice and easy to keep them well-lit and creeper-free.

If I break into a cave or a mineshaft, I usually don't bother exploring it unless I am hungry for iron. It is easy to just build a door or a wall and leave off the exploration for another day.

If I break into lava, I just plug the hole with a cobblestone or two (or glass if I have it) and then I back up a bit and tunnel in a different direction.

I very frequently mine cobblestone using cobblestone picks. I know this is slightly slower, but I like being able to hoard my diamonds and iron, especially when I am after such a pickaxe-intensive resource as cobblestone.

As for dirt mining, make 6 or 7 stone shovels, and go to town on a patch of topsoil that you don't care about. Sometimes when I want dirt, but I don't want to wreck the landscape, I will dig down to the division between the topsoil and the smoothstone, and strip the bottom 2-3 block layer. This leaves the surface untouched-- of course if anybody ever gets creeper-blasted over one of my hidden topsoil mines, the crater could open it up, but I think that would be more cool and surprising than annoying. I might even leave a treasure box in there to reward anybody who stumbled upon it.

Post by **TMC** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 9:44 am

Bob the Hamster wrote:I very frequently mine cobblestone using cobblestone picks. I know this is slightly slower

What?!! You're even crazier than Jabber! At least he knows how to do things efficiently. I'm never mining cobble with an unenchanted diamond pickaxe again!

Also, Efficiency 2+ diamond spades are great for collecting dirt. It's nearly as quick as collecting leaves with shears.

If anyone needs cobble, we have 6 full double chests of the stuff at the cathedral. Powered minecarts are good for shipping it around (not sure if the rail to Oxford is done yet though). Dirt isn't so plentiful, due to all the terraforming of the desert.

Post by **Bob the Hamster** » Fri Jun 22, 2012 2:08 pm

Yeah, I guess using stone pickaxes is pretty crazy (except on netherack). I guess I have been suffering such a diamond drought lately that I can't bear to use them for picks. I have one diamond pick that I have been milking for more than 2 months, just for the odd block of diamond and gold.

I guess I have enough iron right now that i shouldn't be afraid to use it, I just tend to hoard it because so much is needed for long rails.

EDIT: I am amazed at all that diamond. I think that one screenshot represents more diamond than I have collected in my entire history of playing the game.