The Minecraft Thread

To make an enchanting table you need four obsidian, two diamonds, and a book.

I think you'd only be confused if you went straight into the 1.9 snapshots. Unlike the gap from Alpha to full release, nothing in the 3 years since 1.5 has majorly changed the game in such a fashion that any old major gameplay techniques have faded out of use. We're in 1.8. You'll basically just be playing the same way while noticing a whole bunch of new features. But as of 1.7 there's a sprint button now, so don't forget to use that.

Okay, now I have an Enchantment Table, as well as substantial amount of Lapis Lazuli.

What should I enchant?

Everything.

Books, too, if you can make them. ENCHANT. EVERYTHING.

Only enchant diamond gear if you can afford a max-level enchantment though.

Actually it's better to check everything first. Like, if you put every tool into the table and there's a really good enchantment you can immediately acquire, you gotta make sure it's the one you do right away. The enchantments for all tools cycle to some other random thing the moment something else gets enchanted, making the better enchantments feel like a rarity if you don't get them at first opportunity.

It's like, if you put a pickaxe in there and it's got Silk Touch available, you'll want to prioritize that over protection I boots. Because that kind of luck won't last long and protection I is easy to get.

If heavily enchanted iron is only slightly weaker than diamond. Diamond armor is mostly only necessary for bosses or huge mobs of monsters.

If you have an easier time getting diamonds than xp or just want something that will last and not break unexpectedly than use diamonds.

The exception is if you want instant mining, that takes a beacon and efficiency 5.

But if you mine for redstone enough you end up with enough diamonds that you can get away with using them all the time.

Today on Minecraft.

First, I built my third house and second temporary shelter. I'm going to keep on expanding my world further and further.

Then I looked around and found myself surrounded in a very lush forest, filled with dark oak wood and boy are they both thick and tall. Entering the forest was scary.

So I cleared massive chunks of forest with fire.

Say, how many diamonds will I ever need at this point? I have diamond sword and pickaxe, as well as Enchanting Table.

Well 1 for a record player. Then armor if you really want it, which is 24 diamonds for the set. Beyond that it's just a matter of replacing that what wears out.

You'll want at least three picks (one Silk Touch, one Fortune, one for general use). If you have the resources, I'd also get a shovel and axe (both enchanted).

The Fortune pick should be Iron, it's more enchantable, and you don't need that much durability on it, since it's a utility.

I also don't think Silk Touch is really necessary? Depends on what you're doing.

Well, what's Silk Touch for?

You know how mining certain blocks will drop something other than the block itself? (Eg., a redstone block drops redstone dust, or a stone block drops cobblestone)

A Silk Touch pick will make the block you mine drop the block itself, so that you can get a coal ore block, or such. I believe it also works with blocks that break and give nothing, like glass or ice?

Nice if, say, you found diamonds, and want to use Fortune on them, but you don't have your Fortune pick on you; or if you want to transplant grass or mycelium to a patch of dirt elsewhere; or just decorate with ore blocks, et cetera.

Ah, I see.

I should try getting the Fortune enchantment.

Hmm....now I'm in a dillemma.

Should I explore and expand further into new territory or just keep on digging in the same cave network?

You need two diamonds for the enchanting table, and then if you want two for a sword and one for a jukebox, but Iron Swords are fine and jukeboxes are totally optional.

After that the only thing worth using Diamonds on, besides as decorative blocks, is more pickaxes really. You can make a diamond axe or shovel, but it's really not necessary, and diamond armor is wastefully expensive (Plus you can buy it from armorers).

I already have a diamond sword, pickaxe, and Enchanting Table.

I considered making a Jukebox too, but learned how to make records and the process sounds utterly impossible, so there's that.

How do you get pure fire, anyways? Do you always have to have lava to spawn it with?

Getting creepers to drop records isn't as hard as it seems. All you need to do is build one of these mob spawners and wait until it drops both a creeper and a skeleton, then make the skeleton hit the creeper. I know this works because I have two double chests full of records on the tvtropes minecraft server.

Yea. If you want to do it the "natural way", deserts are good for it too. Best thing is to get them down to 1-hits first, otherwise they'll go after the skeleton.

If you don't want to build a spawner, get a nametag, some pressure plates, and doors.

I'll build a simple CD farm real quick and post a pic in a second.

You'll need a nametag, two pressure plates, some stone, and some doors.

First you'll want to build a skeleton trap like this◊. Get a Skeleton in there. Push one in, or punch one in with physical force, it doesn't matter. The moment it steps on the pressure plate, the door will close and it'll be trapped forever. Use the little window to apply a nametag to it and it will never despawn; that's important, so you'll want to get a nametag and anvil.

After that you may want to replace the door with more stone blocks just to further cement its inability to escape, though you have to be quick to prevent it from getting out. You'll also want to put a door over that window◊; that way you can keep it closed when not in use so he doesn't shoot at you.

Finally, build this simple contraption◊ out of a pressure plate, three stone, and two doors a little bit away from the Skeleton. Make sure it's a stone pressure plate, not a wooden one, this is important. Get Creepers to chase you and try to trick them into running through there. They'll be trapped, then you can stand behind them and the Skeleton will shoot them trying to kill you.

edited 6th Feb '16 8:18:49 PM by Anomalocaris20

Those...do not sound very simple to me.

That said, thanks for the tips. I will try it later.

Today...yesterday...and the day before that's playthrough.

So. Digging straight down is a bad idea. Digging straight up is a bad idea too.

What about digging straight forward?

Well, I just kept digging forward for hours, 2 blocks wide and 3 blocks tall so I can jump-run. I would often go through hills and result in tunnels. I actually built a door to the entrance to the tunnels, as well as a bed and chest.

So far I dug to the point where if I jump-dash from beginning to the end, it will cost me more than 10 pieces of grilled steak.

The pictures should make it very easy to build.

Getting a nametag might be tough, though.

The easiest way to get a nametag is by trading with villagers.

Librarians (the villagers in white) have nametags as their highest level trade. You'll have to do some low levels trades to unlock the nametags, but one of librarian's trades is paper for emeralds. And paper is incredibly easy to get in large quantities.

If you have a decent sized sugar cane farm and a librarian, it won't take much time at all to be able to get nametags.

Digging forward is fine as long as you don't go to fast. And there are tricks for going straight down or up.

If you stand on 2 block at the same time and dig one side a few blocks and then the other you should be fine. I suggest you put down ladders on the leading side ahead of yourself just in case.

Just putting a torch under your feet will protect you from falling gravel or sand. And lava and water can't flow through a block that has a ladder in it or set it on fire. So if you traveling straight up in the nether place a ladder above your head dig, pillar up, place another ladder and repeat.