My weekend was assassinated by Minecraft

[msduncan]

Went deep into a huge cave complex.    The thing stretches out into multiple directions.   Managed to find some ore deposits and craft another sword.    I was about to trek back to the surface when I spotted a single block hole in the floor.   Until this point I thought I'd explored everywhere in this cave.     I got my pick out and broke a couple blocks around the hole and bingo:




It opened up another huge chamber and what appears to be an underground river.      I have to come back here at dawn when I have a full day to explore it.

[msduncan]

It's hard to see, but is this one of those green badies you guys have been talking about?     



It seems to be hopping around under that waterfall at the deepest point of the cave that I've explored (so far).

[CeeKay]

Funny moment from last night:  I'm digging upwards from a tunnel that I had dug as a mining offshoot from my underground lair. I finally make it to the surface, only to discover a creeper was on the block above me.  On the plus side it did save me a bunch of digging 

[CeeKay]

If it's green and hopping it's a baddie.

[msduncan]

Dang.   This cave system goes on an on.    I found lava at parts of it.... and lots of underground streams and one underground river that is pretty darn big.

Deep in a remote part of the cave, look what I found:

[CeeKay]

I saw one of those before but it was green. Due to the amount of zombies around I figure it was a zombie generator. I destroyed it, but each time I hit it I took damage.

[Vidiot]

I hate you guys. Hours of my life just disappeared.

[MaxSteele]

Dang.   This cave system goes on an on.    I found lava at parts of it.... and lots of underground streams and one underground river that is pretty darn big.

Deep in a remote part of the cave, look what I found:

Congratulations!  You found a hidden dungeon!

Yes, those blocks are monster spawn blocks.  You can either destroy it, or you can rig up some type of "collection" system to kill the monsters and retreive their drops.

Don't forget to open the chest, as well as hit it until you can carry it.  Free chest as well.

[Gratch]

Is there a trick to finding coal?  Not really sure what I'm looking for, which I suppose is part of the problem.

I've spent 2 full days looking for it and have come up empty, which means 2 torchless nights just huddled in the corner of my cave listening to monsters roam around outside.  Boooooring.  I read that you find it in caves, but how am I supposed to explore a dark cave without a torch?  

[Destructor]

Is there a trick to finding ore?  Not really sure what I'm looking for, which I suppose is part of the problem.

I've spent 2 full days looking for it and have come up empty, which means 2 torchless nights just huddled in the corner of my cave listening to monsters roam around outside.  Boooooring.  I read that you find it in caves, but how am I supposed to explore a dark cave without a torch?  

During the day, tunnel into the rock near you (there is some mountain somewhere nearby, right?). It doesn't get dark for a few squares at least. That's what I had to do in my opening days until I got lucky and found coal.

[Gratch]

Aren't the monsters supposed to disappear during the day?  Daylight finally hit, I walked out of my cave, and was immediately assaulted by a creeper and two spiders.

[baelthazar]

Is there a trick to finding coal?  Not really sure what I'm looking for, which I suppose is part of the problem.

I've spent 2 full days looking for it and have come up empty, which means 2 torchless nights just huddled in the corner of my cave listening to monsters roam around outside.  Boooooring.  I read that you find it in caves, but how am I supposed to explore a dark cave without a torch?  

Depending on your starting world, you can find coal veins just on the side of cliffs. If you see a nice tall mountain rising, just go around it and look at the expanses of rock on the mountain. Very frequently you will find at least two or three pieces of coal (and sometimes much more).

[Arkon]

Aren't the monsters supposed to disappear during the day?  Daylight finally hit, I walked out of my cave, and was immediately assaulted by a creeper and two spiders.

Skeletons and Zombies burst into flames in the daylight, Creepers and Spiders can survive the daylight.

[msduncan]

After a harrowing experience where I got totally lost and accidentally found my way back to my Base Camp, I have begun construction on a huge beacon tower so that I can find my way back home after exploration.

[CeeKay]

Gratch- coal blocks are gray with black specks.

[Gratch]

Gratch- coal blocks are gray with black specks.

Got it, thanks.    Found one deposit, now looking for more.  Stuff is tough to come across!

Managed to build a little hut, and furnish it with a workbench, furnace (haven't quite figured out how to use this yet), and storage crate.   I'm now out exploriing to see what I can find

If I understand correctly, monsters can't bother you as long as you're in torch range.  Is that right?

[CeeKay]

They cannot spawn in a lighted area but the can walk into one and attack you. You can craft doors that they cannot open to keep them out of your base.

[Zarkon]

Helpful goodies.

http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=16120

[Destructor]

My memorable moments so far:

Day 1: Built place out of dirt, plopped down a door, and at night had a Creeper decide that even though I was on the other side of the door, I looked juicy. The skeletons nearby took me out before I could patch the wall.

Day 2: Made house bigger to prevent Creeper from doing that again and started digging. I now have light!

Day 3: Learned how to take care of Creeper before it explodes on me. Unfortunately I died learning how.

Day 4: House is now built out of Stone (smelted Cobblestone). Decided to start working on second floor. And decided that I want a garden. Now I just need iron...

Day 6: Started digging down into one of the many holes in nearby mountain - found iron.

Day 7: Created bucket, made an area for a garden, started gardening. Realized I did a lousy job planting said garden and it's a pain in the arse to get grown plants. Whoops.

Day 9: Found first large hole in the ground by tunneling into it. Found lots of coal and iron. I now have iron items, which will make return much easier.

Day 10: Decided that I wanted a moat around my two story tower. Why I decided on this, I don't know, but moats are always cool. Now building.


Question - what determines if a newly planted tree will grow or not?

[CeeKay]

I haven't been able to figure out the water physics well enough to get the water a uniform level in my moats.

[CeeKay]

and wait... you can smelt stone?  LOL, ain't no way I'm replacing every block in my complex 

[msduncan]

My beacon tower construction:



And the finished tower with construction supports removed:



I'll be damned if I get lost and can't find my way back to my base camp again.

[CeeKay]

Nice. I may just do it the easy way, leave all my stuff in a chest except some blocks plus a torch and jump upwards while looking straight down and putting blocks under me. Once I plant the torch I'll go skydiving 

[msduncan]

Well, I managed to get myself lost anyway.   

I wandered for two days.... made it through a night outside on a cliff side where nothing could get to me.  I finally rounded a bend and saw my tower as it was getting dark on the second day.  I limped back with 1 heart left.

[CeeKay]

Well, I managed to get myself lost anyway.   

I wandered for two days.... made it through a night outside on a cliff side where nothing could get to me.  I finally rounded a bend and saw my tower as it was getting dark on the second day.  I limped back with 1 heart left.

do know you can kill pigs to get pork to cook for pork chops to regain health?

[Arkon]

Well, I managed to get myself lost anyway.   

I wandered for two days.... made it through a night outside on a cliff side where nothing could get to me.  I finally rounded a bend and saw my tower as it was getting dark on the second day.  I limped back with 1 heart left.

do know you can kill pigs to get pork to cook for pork chops to regain health?

You can also eat the raw pork.

[msduncan]

Well, I managed to get myself lost anyway.    

I wandered for two days.... made it through a night outside on a cliff side where nothing could get to me.  I finally rounded a bend and saw my tower as it was getting dark on the second day.  I limped back with 1 heart left.

do know you can kill pigs to get pork to cook for pork chops to regain health?

You can also eat the raw pork.

Yeah.   I was caught out without many supplies.    I didn't know, however, that you could eat raw pork.

[Zarkon]

Started a new world:

http://s3.photobucket.com/albums/y72/shininokage/Minecraft/ for the pictures.

The two on the right are where I started.  The first ones are the vantage point from the top of the world.  That thing sticking way the hell up is my marker for my base

[CeeKay]

snow?

[Arkon]

snow?

Yup, every world you create has a random chance of being a snow world.

[Hrnac]

Snow worlds are very cool. You have a random chance each time you generate a new world of getting a snow world. I think the snow is the first biome that Notch has added to the game except that we get it for a full world at the moment. Down the road worlds will have different regions with different weather conditions.

-Hrnac

[MaxSteele]

Question - what determines if a newly planted tree will grow or not?

If you plant it out in the open, it will grow.  Trees won't grow underground.

[Hrnac]

That is one impressive beacon tower msduncan. 

-Hrnac

[Destructor]

snow?

Yup. There's two different 'terrains' that Survival can generate up - snow and not-snow. Grass is replaced with snowy tiles, you can create snowballs (which don't do much of anything), and it's always snowing outdoors. Beyond that it plays the same.

And yeah, you can smelt stone. Looks great when used for a house.

Attached is my current house - a 3 story 'castle' (2 indoors, open air roof). Has an uneven moat surrounding it (as you said, it just doesn't work well), two sets of front entrances (the door to the main house is behind the door you can see), and an emergency exit out the back via the second floor (and more doors to keep it secure).

Not seen (off to the left) is my walled in garden filled with food. And to the right is my mountain which I've tunneled into many ways to find supplies. My last excursion I found this absolutely gigantic cave system (spent a full day at least down there and didn't see it all) filled with minerals and such.

One question though - mobs just don't seem to be spawning much underground, or in the overworld either. Yeah, I know that torches are supposed to keep them away, but I also read of plenty of stories involving breaking through a wall and finding mobs all over the place. I haven't had any of that at all.

Oh, and I haven't seen a single slime either (which are supposed to spawn even within light). I checked, and I'm playing on Normal difficulty. And I had plenty of baddies around until I got down a few torches.

[Zarkon]

Don't complain.

I'm loving the fact in my Snow world that I've only seen 2 mobs (skels when I examined a dark overhang). 

[Vidiot]

I have a tower/dungeon complete with skylight (so I know when it is day time while working at the bottom).  I just keep going deeper.  I recently ran a road to a second shelter built into the face of a cave.  This one needs to be explored further for sure, right now it is a pretty empty cave full of lights and with a door.

[CeeKay]

so far all the caves I've been finding haven't been much of a cave once I got inside.

[Vidiot]

What happens when you die?

[CeeKay]

What happens when you die?

all your items you are carrying drops on the spot you die and you respond back at the spot where you first entered the world.

[Octavious230]

Wow this looks right up my ally. I then went to the site and saw that a future release would include zombie survival mode. Sold! It kind of reminds me of Underworld when I watch the underground stuff.