Topic: Beacon Block

[Superman]

I think the Beacon Block is in the 1.4 pre-release. It doesn't sound like it's polished enough for the 1.4 release though. I don't know.

Basically it's a block that radiates an effect, like healing or speed boost. It can be placed on a pyramid to boost its range of effect.

Depending on how it turns out, I'll of course have to add some into Spawn. The pyramid part sounds awfully expensive right now though.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

It can be placed on a pyramid to boost its range of effect.

Uuumm... wherrt??  Pyramid?  What's so special about pyramids?  For some reason I recall hearing something about pyramids in Minecraft.. Superman, what have I missed?!

[Superman]

The pyramid isn't something that exists. It's something you'd build to magnify the effect of the beacon block. Just a regular pyramid shape.

The problem is that the pyramid is supposed to be made of gold, iron, or diamond blocks. I can not afford that at all.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

We use gold for detector rail, iron for rail, and diamond for picks and other awesome.  I suppose I could spare some.  I have more than enough iron for it.

[Superman]

I use iron and gold for rail as fast as I find it. I usually use diamond or stone for tools. No middle ground there.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Agreed. For me, the decision is based purely on rarity.  Unless you can get a more powerful beacon from diamond than from gold or iron, I'd just use iron.

[gumstitch]

I believe you can also use blocks of emerald, which with all the villagers at spawn, would be fairly cheap.

Also, the affects of the beacon only last as long as you are near it, and even with a very big pyramid, the affects only go a very short distance from it.
I honestly don't get the point, other than the beam of light that shoots into the sky.

To make the beacon i think one of the required components is quartz. You get that in the nether as of 1.5 i think.
But as always, you'll need to travel to a previously un-generated chunk in the nether for it to appear.

[gumstitch]

AND i forgot, to make the beacon you need a drop from the Wither.
So it'll probably never happen, but the beam of light would look awesome coming from the top of spawn temple.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

So, in order to score a beam of light, we have to kill the most difficult enemy in the game? Surely there must be some better carrot than that!

I believe you can also use blocks of emerald, which with all the villagers at spawn, would be fairly cheap.

Now I'm glad Superman went all scientific on the generation of a million villagers. He practised a lot before doing it at Spawn.

[gumstitch]

That's it!
Most difficult enemy in the game. Realistically to beat it we'd need 2-3 people, all in full enchanted diamond armour, enchanted diamond swords, health potions out the wazoo.
And that's after obtaining three wither skulls, from nether skeletons.
The skeletons have a very small spawn rate, and their skulls have an obscenely low drop rate.

For a beam of light.

In all honesty the beam does look incredible, and would be a great addition to spawn temple.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Hahaha.

That's it!
Most difficult <snip>. We'd need enchanted <snip>, health potions out the wazoo.
And that's after <snip snip>.
The skeletons have a very small spawn rate, and their skulls have an obscenely low drop rate.

For a beam of light.

…In all honesty the beam does look incredible <snip>.

We tried to kill the Ender dragon once. We kinda failed dismally. We had diamond equipment, relatively unenchanted, and not much in the way of potions. I think I'll get into potions when I return to Minecraft, and build CNBMinecraft's potion dispenser. That thing is handy.

[Superman]

We'll also need to find a good place to fight the Whither. So much to think about.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I dunno what it was like when we discussed this a couple'a months ago, but the beacon now provides an area-of-effect power. You can build 1-, 2-, 3-, or 4-level pyramids, with the 4-level pyramid providing the widest area of effect.

Beacon powers include:
Speed: Increased movement (similar to a Potion of Swiftness).
Haste: Increased mining speed.
Resistance: Increased armor rating.
Jump Boost: Increased jumping distance and height.
Strength: Increased melee damage

4-level pyramids also offer a secondary power of regeneration or a boost to one of the primary powers mentioned above. Seems like an excellent incentive to go wither huntin'!

[Superman]

I started to build the pyramid part at spawn, but I had to salvage the blocks for the iron to make rail. I do want one of those though.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

You can build a pyramid from diamond, emerald, iron, or gold. It can be uniformly one type, or a mixture of them.

Remember when I was mad-dogging it and had at least 800 iron stockpiled? Mmmmm, stockpiles.

[Superman]

I use mine faster than I can find it. I've drained Spawn pretty much dry. I might have to try to find what stockpiles I might have sitting around and consolidate it.

Oh! That'll be easier with a rail line. First, I'm going to need some more iron.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Well, you might as well head out to my last base and pilfer the iron stored there. You remember how to get there? It's in the opposite direction from Casa De Lanky from spawn. I built a rail off the main road and you prettified it.

There are also many cakes in the larder. I hope they haven't gone off.

[Superman]

I'm sure they'll introduce that in 10.5.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Hah, sour milk, rotten eggs, and worm-ridden cakes.

Imagine if we built a network of pyramids? Power incarnate! E.g. to create a constant effect from spawn to the next major intersection 5k away, you'd need to build 100 pyramids. That's 100 withers we'd need to kill. Somehow I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.

[gumstitch]

Lets work on killed ONE wither first, and see how that goes.

[Superman]

Haha. Can they break obsidian? I can make a litte mini wither arena.

[gumstitch]

They can break everything except bedrock.
They cannot drown, they will break any block in their path to get to you, fire cannot hurt them, they cannot be poisoned.

They can be hurt by arrows, until their armour goes up. They can be hurt by explosions, they can take suffocation damage. They can be hurt by swords.

They are 4 blocks tall. If spawned in a room 3 blocks tall, they will spawn above that room in the next available space.


i can think of a few ways of dealing with it...

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I've seen a fight with them. They seem like the only truly terrifying beast in Minecraft. Even the Ender dragon pales in comparison.

[gumstitch]

Yeah...a buddy and i have killed the ender dragon.
But the wither? Scares me.