Topic: Spawn

[Superman]

Purpose
Provide a safe central point to store resources, produce renewable resources, and a transportation hub to get those resources where you need them.

Ground Floor
Use: Being pretty?
Status: Pretty much all paved over. Probably need something done with it aesthetically at some point, but it fine for now.

B1
Use: Storage, Train Depot, Sleeping, Smelting, Brewing, Enchanting,
Status: In progress. Storage reworking is done. Smelting, brewing, enchanting, and repairing done. Trading area is done. I still have about 2/3 of the space left to work with.

B2
Use: Tree Farm
Status: Pretty much done. Corners are still rough, but everything is lit and the designated areas are planted.

B3
Use: Farm
Status: Wheat, melon, pumpkin, cactus, reeds, brown mushroom, red mushroom, flowers, netherwart, cocoa beans, potatoes, and carrotsall have designated space.

B4
Use: Livestock
Status: Cows, mushroom cows, sheep, pig, and chicken pens completed. Chicken pen could use some sprucing up. Three corners left if there are more mobs added. Fixed fences so animals stop glitching.

B5
Use: Colored Sheep
Status:  No work done.

B6
Use: Portal Room
Status: Operational. 75% completed. It is symmetrical, so it will be easy to finish. There is a little bit of rock to clear out, a little bit of roof to complete, and one wall left to build.

Overall
Still working on getting stairs all the way down. Adding in skylights so you can see the bottom floors.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Ground Floor
[…]
I'm hesitant to finish it in hopes someone will come up with a prettier design for it. Currently, the quarter holding all of the animals is what I proposed.

Really?  I was staying away for fear of interfering with your grand plan.  I love to step and add my own ideas.

[Superman]

Absolutely. There's a quadrant that's done the way I would do it. It doesn't stay lit enough to keep mobs away though.

There's another quadrant that has the roof for B1 in and I think that line of lava.

The other two are mostly untouched. Grab the one with all the grass and dirt if you want to start the most from scratch.

[Superman]

Spawn Defense Plan

The goal is to safeguard the Spawn area from any hostile mobs. Preferably while being aesthetically unobtrusive.

Identifying Mobs to Utilize

By 1.2 there will be four helpful mobs. Two tameable (cats and dogs), and two buildable (snow golems and iron golems).

Dogs have not proven to be especially helpful, and do nothing when told to stay. Snow golems do repel enemies with snowballs, but do not do any damage. As such I do not see a use for these two mobs.

Cats repel creepers. As far as I know, they do even when told to sit. I believe a ring of stationary cats would serve to repel creepers from a structure.

Golems actively attack hostile mobs. They should be useful for defeating any other mobs near a structure.


Obtaining Mobs

Cats are obtained in jungle biomes in much the same manner as dogs. I believe they will also be breedable, so only two need to be originally obtained.

Golems are built by villagers or constructed by the player in a similar manner to snow golems. Golems currently drop iron when they die. I believe, if originals are constructed by villagers, we can construct more as golems die and iron becomes a renewable resource.

Maintaining Mobs

As far as I know, cats do not require a line of sight to ward off creepers. I propose building an enclosed tube just under the floor of the ground floor, making a ring around the entire perimeter of Spawn. This will keep the cats in position to prevent creepers from entering the perimeter of spawn and keep the cats safe and enclosed.

As stated previously, villagers build and rebuild golems. My understanding is that they do not do this directly, but that golems are manifested and resurrected near villagers in numbers proportional to the number of villagers. The option of setting up a proper village for villagers near spawn does not appeal to me aesthetically. I instead propose setting up a ring around B1 directly beneath the ring of cats. Villagers currently have minimal requirements for what they consider a house (a door and a roof) and will reproduce to match the number of houses. I believe it would be possible to set up suitable facsimiles of houses within this ring. Hopefully this will generate many villagers (out of sight) and consequently populate the surrounding area heavily with golems while also server to resurrect them when slain.

Auxiliary Benefits

There will always be a supply of cats at spawn. As long as one breeds a few to replace the one they take, we should have an infinite supply of cats for personal use in a central location.

Golems drop iron when killed. As long as golems are repopulated reliably, iron should be readily available near spawn and will become a renewable resource.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Wow.  That is an incredibly detailed plan.  I love your idea for the cats and I'm impressed by the idea to auto-generate golems.  I'm happy to try and pull it off.

[Superman]

I like the idea of making B6 look like the neather. I put some netherack in B6 and lit a few on fire to see what that would look like. I'm open to a more creative design.

[Superman]

Some tree farm, wheat farm, and mushroom farm pictures.

I don't know how to grow mushrooms. How do you get it light enough for no mobs, but dark enough for mushrooms? How do I get the stuff that let mushrooms grow in the light?

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Because mushrooms will not grow into squares where the light level is greater than 12, the farmer must consider carefully the placement of light sources. Mushrooms are placeable everywhere but well lit areas or non solid / transparent blocks, and do not require water, sand, or extra space like crops, cacti or saplings.
The main danger in basic mushroom farming is that they must be low-lit indoor rooms, often allowing monsters to spawn in the same area (except in peaceful mode).

[For] a hostile mob in the overworld [to spawn], then...
the light level of the spawning block must be 7 or darker, and more light increases the chance that the spawn will fail

So basically we need between light level 7 and 12 on a block to satisfy both conditions (i.e. let mushrooms grow without letting hostile mobs spawn).  Redstone torches give off a light level of 7, which means that they can still spawn in the presence of redstone torches..  We'll need to design a regular torch layout.

P.S. You have been doing so much in Minecraft… I have to catch up.

[Superman]

Dangit. Okay. I'll fix that.

I get 10 calls a day to come play. Playing every other day is me being a letdown.

[Superman]

I did some research and found out how Mycelium works. I'm going to get silk touch, find a mushroom biome, and come back with a few blocks and some mushroom cows.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Silk touch?  Let me guess—it's an enchantment of some kind.  Something that let's you dig up grass or mycelium blocks without reverting them to basic dirt?  Or even ice blocks, so that you can place them in the Nether and release water?  Am I on the right track?  Haha.

Do you mean you get 10 calls a day from your cousin?  I haven't seen him on yet.

[Superman]

Exactly. It picks up smoothstone without turning it into cobble too.

I camped out in front of the spider spawner Lanky found and I had enough XP in no time. I even got a bow with flame on it. That's pretty badass. They have effectively convinced me to change my play style. I like that they did it by rewarding change instead of punishing me for not changing. If I wanted to, I could keep playing the exact same way if I wanted with no consequence.

Yeah, if I ever can't answer my phone in the evening, I return to find at least 10 missed calls.

My cousin came with me in search of a mushroom biome. We're probably about 5k south east of spawn. He had to log out so I couldn't keep looking without ditching him, so we camped at a little island. With time to kill, I decided to try out my skill at building from scratch. It's been a while since I've built without the aid of infrastructure. I have a couple little houses, a little wheat farm, a giant reed farm, an expanding stand of trees, a productive mine, and even started in on a probably-too-big-for-the-island lighthouse. I'm happy to know I haven't gone soft.

[Superman]

• regular wood (not birch)

There's a good chunk of pine growing in the tree farm. Take anything you want as long as you replant everything. I'll plant some regular trees when I get back to spawn.

Yah, pine wood would also be good.  Thank you!

If anyone really wants to start in on the oak tree quadrant while I'[m gone, feel free. The template is pretty simple. Just copy the pine and birch ones.

Also, now that we're 1.2, I'll keep an eye out for jungles and bring one of those back for planting too.

[Superman]

Jungle! That was on my list. Can you grab a few saplings for me?

Done!  I didn't realise, at first, that I was carrying jungle saplings.  I use the Painterly texture pack and I'm always tweaking my textures.  However, I can tell you that was already trying to grow these without any success.  Maybe they need to be in jungle surroundings?

By the way, I planted these near the birch trees underneath spawn.  I got confused about where you wanted the jungle sapling section.  The spawn base you're building is mind-bogglingly endless.  Especially the chasm that falls to bedrock (which I can't even see from the tree level).

Each type of tree gets its own quarter. It looks like you may have put them on the same quarter as birch. The other quarters haven't been built, but the layout will be the same.

Sorry about the pitfalls. I should probably make those the first priority if I'm going to ask for help. I'm just so eager to build sometimes, I skip the foundation stuff.

P.S. You seem to have a chest for everything except... zombie flesh?

I think I'm missing a lot. I had a good plan written out, but apparently I just winged it anyway. Feel free to grab an unmarked row or rearrange or even combine if it makes sense.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I think I'm missing a lot. I had a good plan written out, but apparently I just winged it anyway. Feel free to grab an unmarked row or rearrange or even combine if it makes sense.

I might try but I was absolutely bewildered.  I finally comprehended the amount of rock you must've torn through to make that hole.  I don't know how you did it so quickly and I'm surprised you didn't burn out faster.

[Superman]

It was hardly fast. I think it took me a month to get a general hole shape. Once I had the first floor done, I resorted to killing creepers and using their guts to blast giant holes.

I think I kept my sanity by going out and adding to roads now and then. Or gathering animals when they added breeding. The constant upgrading of the game helped a lot.

[Superman]

Mushroom dirt has been delivered. Mushroom farms have been planted. The mushroom dirt seems to be spreading, but not the mushrooms. I don't know how long they take.

I checked on the jungle trees and they were growing.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Yeah!  Go jungle trees, go!

Hey, I've been lazily wondering of late… is there any purpose to providing everything at the spawn base?  Or do you just enjoy that particular task you've set yourself?  Don't get me wrong, I love spawn.  I'm just wondering if you're doing it for a particular reason.

[Superman]

In theory, it's a central point. If you were out and about building something and needed a stack of sand, four pigs, or a jungle tree sapling, spawn would have those things for sure and you'd know where they are, probably faster than finding them in the wild.

Once a good rail line is implemented, it'll be even more convenient.

I suppose the mass production of renewable materials is the main draw, but I was hoping it would also become a central storage and distribution point for everything.

[Superman]

Pigs have been moved into the basement.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

How in the Nether did you move them all the down there?

[Superman]

I put the stair case down that far a couple weeks ago. I just had a little pig parade through spawn.

[Superman]

The cow habitat has been built. (I have pictures at home.)

The only problem is that a certain someone really wanted to go into the animal pen and didn't bother to find a gate or put the fence back after breaking that open instead. I patched it up quite a few times, but there aren't many cows left.

If anyone passing through spawn wouldn't mind dropping down a couple levels, harvesting some wheat, and then bringing that down one more level to breed the cows, it would be most appreciated.

Also, I've been slowly patching up the ceilings, so it should be getting safer to work inside of spawn. There are still some big gaping holes though

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Would that certain someone be your young family member? Heh.  S'ok, we can breed the cows.  Do they need grass to eat?

[Superman]

No, they don't need grass. I've started some growing for them anyway.

[Superman]

Yes. The offender happens to be a young family member.

If you're heading west on the main road, take a look out on the ice at the now well established sheep community.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

If you're heading west on the main road, take a look out on the ice at the now well established sheep community.

West from Spawn or West from Temple?

[Superman]

West of spawn. Where the sea is ice.

[Superman]

Sheep pen added, sheep moved.
Chicken pen added, chickens moved.
Mushroom cow pen added... yes, mushroom cows moved. Insanity.

All the farm animals (other than colored sheep) are in the basement now. Breed and eat to your heart's content. There's a huge wheat farm one floor up.

I roughed out an idea for a chicken coop. I'm not really a fan of it. If anyone wants to build another, they're welcome to it. It's the only pen that I wouldn't consider finished yet.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I'll check them out next time I'm around spawn.  I've been feverishly extending the road out to the east 5k point.

[Superman]

I was already pretty unhappy with the chest system I put in. It's just too spread out to be useful at all.

Now that Lanky put his train depot in, I'm moving further towards condensing it into a quarter or half of that floor. That gives a quarter of the space to train station, a quarter to a half for storage, and one or two quarters open for whatever.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Me likey.  I also didn't enjoy the spread out storage.  It's hard to design a condensed but still accessible storage solution that isn't confusing.

[Superman]

Something just horrible happened to the gigantic disgusting mob grinder that was looming over spawn. Oops.

I've done some really extensive landscaping around spawn. Compare then to now.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

What a shame *choke*.

[Superman]

Cocoa beans kick ass and I added a cocoa bean farm at spawn, and continued working on the tree farm, and a sugar cane farm... Spawn is shaping up a little more every time I go back.

I've been rethinking the layout a lot. The whole first floor is going to ultimately get a major overhaul. I think the train station should go in the center, storage should only take up a quarter, and I have to figure out the rest.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Agreed about storage.  It would otherwise sprawl too much.

What about melons?  Everybody needs melons.

[Superman]

There's a spot set aside for them, but I haven't planted any yet.

[Superman]

Creepers will not run away from a cat if there is a block between them.

Dangit.

12w27a   Nether wart can now grow outside of the Nether

Yahoo!

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Yes, dang on the hidden cat fence.  However, imagine the amazingly creepy bases you can build in the overworld now?  Imagine it: mycelium ground, Nether wort patches, netherrack fires… muahahahahaha.

[Superman]

And a row of cats. Just staring.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Maybe you don't need to hide the cats underground... maybe... maybe you can just fence them in!  That's bound to scare creepers away, right?

[Superman]

Or just have them sit. You can make them sit like dogs. Though I think they're still pretty glitchy. I went and found one right when they came out, but it just disappeared not long after I tamed it.

I'm all about hiding things, like tucking in stereo wires. That's why I wanted them to embed them in a wall. Now I'm thinking maybe little pedestals so it looks like cat statues.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Now I'm thinking maybe little pedestals so it looks like cat statues.

..................... DO IT!

I've made wolves sit and come back a month later to find them still loyally awaiting my return.

[Superman]

I just need to find a cat. I've found a grand total of one so far and I pretty much instantly lost it.

I just really quick put in my latest idea to breed villagers at spawn. Didn't have time to stick around to see if it works.

[Superman]

New idea for getting villagers to make golems to protect Spawn.

[Superman]

Tree farm progress.

[Superman]

Flowers, melon, pumpkin, netherwart, cactus, reeds, brown mushroom, wheat, red mushroom, cocoa beans.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Spawn has turned into an obscenely all-encompassing base.  This is the part you really enjoy, isn't it?  Mining out huge areas and turning them into giant playgrounds for obsessive compulsion?

[Superman]

Haha, you haven't even seen my major landscaping project yet.

I think that is part of it. The southwest village and that weird little testing ground next to the temple are all about testing mechanics of the game. The east village is very much a creative exercise. Road is 100% about providing utility. Spawn is sort of a creative challenge to come up with something utilitarian. I set out a space and then challenged myself to fit damn near everything a base could have into that space to a borderline ridiculous scale while still being mostly visually appealing. It's sort of a mash up of everything.

I do look forward to the day where I want to build a whatever 7k from Spawn, and I just load up almost all the supplies and food I need at Spawn, take a train with all of it to my destination, and just start building.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I do look forward to the day where I want to build a whatever 7k from Spawn, and I just load up almost all the supplies and food I need at Spawn, take a train with all of it to my destination, and just start building.

This is what I tend to do.  Looks like we do things in reverse of each other.  I'm getting to the point where I want to build huge secrets from you guys, just waiting for you to uncover them.

[Superman]

I find weird little huts here and there and I try to figure out if they're your doing or someone that only played for a while. The map is big enough that small things like that are hard to pick out from above.

Landscaping around Spawn is going well. All the villager buildings I wanted are in and seem to be working. Now I'm just blening everything in. While I'm at it, I'm flattening out the hills where you spawn so it'll be easier to get to 0,0. I think I did an okay balance of producing lots of villagers without overly noticeable structures. There is the problem of the villagers congregating around the southwest area. Hopefully that bug is fixed soon.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I find weird little huts here and there and I try to figure out if they're your doing or someone that only played for a while. The map is big enough that small things like that are hard to pick out from above.

Take a screenshot next time you see one and post it.

[Superman]

Landscaping at Spawn.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

It's amazing how big that place has become.  I remember logging on with you and your roommate for the first time and you were starting to build a stone floor for what would become the spawn dome.

[Superman]

As I'm moving stuff around, I've been coming across these old abandoned mineshafts with floating blocks covered in torches to mark them. Then I turn around and outmost edge of Spawn is around 100 blocks away. The world seemed so huge then.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

The world seemed so huge then.

I'm with you.  Minecraft doesn't hold the same wonder as when I first played.  I was still discovering things then.  Now I feel jaded.  I do catch it now and then when the music plays, though.  It almost feels like I've become too good at surviving.

[Superman]

I don't know. I haven't touched a fraction of the 1.3 stuff, and they're already talking about 1.4 stuff. I'm still working on stuff that I started in Beta. I'm not too worried about getting bored.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I'm not bored at all.  I just remember how excited I used to get exploring caves.  In fact, that still is exciting.  I should do that more.

As for all the updates… I have soooo much to catch up on.

[Superman]

Jeb gave a shot at bringing that back with these new temples. It's not there yet, but it's getting there.

I was thinking about setting aside a 5kx5k area for pvp. No settings, just set aside a huge section for a different kind of gameplay. I'm not sure we have the numbers, but it might be fun anyway. Man is the most dangerous game.

[Superman]

They're adding carrots and potatoes to the game. I'm going to have to rework the farm already.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Don't lie: you enjoy it.

[Superman]

I love it.

My cousin said, "I think your cactus farm is bigger than it needs to be."

"Fuck you. Then don't harvest any cactus."

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Hahaha.  True.  Too true.

[Superman]

Oops. Another cobblestone monstrosity has been wiped from the face of the map (well, buried in dirt this time). I built him a tunnel in the tunnel to get to his house.

I'm pretty much done with landscaping other than that southwest corner there. The idea was to make it easier to find the Spawn building from the spawn point, but like all projects, it got away from me.

Also, I built a little mob grinder  under the south road that empties out into spawn. It has a pretty low output right now, but I'll keep messing with it.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

"It got away from me" is an understatement.  You've landscaped what was essentially our entire world when we first started.

[Superman]

Oh yeah. I rebuilt the storage and I think I'm really happy with it. It'll never be easy to find what you're looking for when you're trying to include everything, but I think I'm close to making it as easy as possible. There are rows of categories and then a chest for each item within those categories. I also tried to group things as logically as possible.

I'm thinking of adding little personal storage areas on the side. I don't know yet.

The next step is to move crafting, smelting, enchanting, and brewing over next to storage. I don't know exactly how I want that to look yet, but I think it should have a smaller footprint than it has now.

Another thing I thought of today was to move some villagers inside Spawn and lock them into trading booths. I've read up more about how trading works, and it seems the more you trade with them, the more they offer. It might be nice to have some dedicated traders with unlocked trades, instead of running through those crowds of villagers trying to find one making the trade you want.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

Another thing I thought of today was to move some villagers inside Spawn and lock them into trading booths. I've read up more about how trading works, and it seems the more you trade with them, the more they offer. It might be nice to have some dedicated traders with unlocked trades, instead of running through those crowds of villagers trying to find one making the trade you want.

That's fantastic. It'd be of benefit to lock them into booths even if they didn't improve trading.

I really like what you've done with spawn storage. It's definitely easier to find stuff already.

[Superman]

Yeah, the villagers are a pain to trade with as they are.

[Superman]

Mining suuucks. I went back to Spawn to do some work.

Here's the start of my trading area. Moving those jerks is all but impossible. I'm not 100% sold on it, but it works.

I have the roofs color coded to match the villagers. Also, I have it set up so there are more of the villagers that have more possible trades. Blacksmiths are on the longest row on the left. Priests are on the shortest row on the right. There's also room for some empty ones on the far right for future use.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

You're a freak. I don't know how you manage to do so much big stuff in Minecraft.

When you say "mining suuuucks," do you mean it's better to trade for what you need?

[Superman]

That's funny. My cousin always complains that all I ever do in mine for materials and that I never build anything.

It's not a new structure. It's just in that open space next to the storage area in Spawn. They're little 3X3 shacks that should hold the villagers in place.

I also started some skylights to combat the darkness down on the lower levels. They're really roughed in, so no falling.

When you say "mining suuuucks," do you mean it's better to trade for what you need?

I mean that mining for materials for the dragon fight was boring me to tears, so I went to work on something else for a little while.

[Superman]

Last night I removed the lava spire from spawn in preparation for the beacon. I'm going to build a pyramid(s) within the dome and have the beacon(s) shine through the oculus.

[Superman]

The ground area is all paved over. I'm still not sure what to put there, but it's done.

The smelting/brewing/enchanting/repairing area is done. The trading area is pretty much done.

The tree farms are all done. The corners are still rough, but I don't have anything to put there yet anyway.

I added blocks under the fences and it seems to have stopped the animals from glitching. However, a bunch of blocks were knocked out in the backs of the chicken and pig pens. There are tons of pigs and chickens trapped between the floors and dropped down to the next floor. Please leave the penned in pig population until we get some carrots. If you see any free range pigs, slaughter them for their betrayal.

I need carrots and potatoes to complete the farm. If anyone is out exploring, could you bring some back for me?

Slimes are still an issue for the farm. They like to trample the crops. If anyone has any ideas, I haven't thought of anything beyond a few drowning and fire traps.

The skylights are coming along pretty well. It really helps when you're on the bottom two levels.

[Poopyhead pianoman ♫]

I checked out your skylights a couple of weeks ago. They really do work well at bedrock.

I'm jealous of your slime population. I propose hacking them to death.

Apart from that, I had no idea we were getting potatoes.