Minecraft! (single player dwarf fortress)

[Pogo]

Haha! The visual of that cracked me up.

Even in DocLazy's survival map a creeper explosion will cause me to jump.

And that map looks like THIS every night:

[Wholly Schmidt]

So I'm new to this and only read the last five pages of this thread.

I've got a fairly methodical mining pattern of just tunneling downward in a large squarish area, one "floor" at a time. It gives me big chunks of time of clearing an area without having to think too hard about torch placement, or how crooked my stairs are or something. Clear an area (27x7x3, somewhat arbitrarily but there's a pattern to my torches to be consistent), make some stairs at the end of the room, and clear the next 27x7x3 area directly beneath a 1-block floor it, repeat.

How does water work underground? I've heard of stuff getting flooded, so I never work more than two floors down without sealing off completely with a wall and a door behind me, assuming that if I manage to flood things, the damage will be contained and not rush all the way back up into other parts of my tunnel infrastructure. I'm also hoping that by moving in a basically downward direction (instead of laterally or diagonally down in one direction) I'm more likely to come across an underground river/spring/lake safely from above than to bump into the side of a lake and flood the whole place, but I don't know if that logic is actually sound in Minecraft.

Next up, I've just hit my first (apparently) large existing cavern. Scared! How do you guys safely explore something like this? I'm throwing torches out left and right, but I've already run into four or five different branches, and I feel like every unlit corridor I turn my back on to light another is leaving me exposed to all sorts of nasty things coming up behind me before I can get back to it. I thought of walling up all but one path as I come across branches, continuing till a dead end, then going back and repeating the process with the next area I walled off (depth first vs. breadth first, if my comp sci 102 is to be trusted), but I feel like I'm going to waste a lot of time walling things up, and likely forgetting which areas I closed off myself to boot. I try to use dirt for my walls to stand out against the natural rock walls, but then I run into an area that's already dirt, and well, there we go. Plus I've got to work on some system to remember how to get back out.

So far I just ran into two creepers, but I've only just poked my head into a bit of this cavern. It's kinda paralyzing!

So, tips? Strategies?

[Pogo]

Build yourself totems or markers to show which way is which.

Water is not volumetric. It does not "fill" an area below it based on how water works in real life. Actually dying by breaking through the bottom of an underground stream is pretty hard to do. The worst that happens is you get pushed back by the incoming water.

Water will fall until it hits a block, and then it spreads outward 6 or 7 squares. It will not continue onward unless it drops down another block within that 6 or 7 squares.

[nlanza]

I really hope Notch eventually fixes the way water works in this game. I hate ending up accidentally breaking a lake or ocean during underwater construction and ending up with an area in the middle of the water that's inexplicably 2-3 blocks lower than the surrounding surface.

[Pogo]

That happens if you create a square area and remove the ability for adjacent water springs to create more springs. Break a block on the inside, fill it with water, then break the next block, and so on.

[nlanza]

Yeah, it's fixable, but it's still annoyingly immersion-breaking. I like solving engineering problems in the game's world, but this particular one just feels too much like I'm working around an implementation bug.

[Pogo]

That's sorta true. It's working correctly, it just goes against common sense.

[DocLazy]

I'm not sure why notch changed that. His original implementation worked much better. Having spring blocks spawn even if there was a water block underneath worked much better. It was even possible to dam up a valley without too much work.

[Marcin]

I think the previous implementation made it too easy to flood an entire world from a single spring block. Erm, as long as it was flat.

[barstein]

Regarding Wholly Schmidt's question...

Marker solutions work pretty well for me until the moment I get turned around and confuse myself. Do you guys go a step further and create waypoints pointing to other waypoints, within a deep cavern?

Ladder shafts to the surface are also an option that has occurred to me on occasions where I think I might end up getting lost, but that seems like a potentially costly, inefficient and probably overkill one (or at least, in that context).

I still spend the vast majority of my Minecraft time on the surface. I bet some clever entrepreneur could make a killing off of Minecraft therapy. ("So tell me about these caverns you mentioned.")

[Marcin]

I've never had a cavern quite that deep, I guess. I did find one that branched in 3 directions - I promptly walled off two branches and continued until the first one petered out, then repeated with the others.

Or at least attempted to - the middle one turned out to have subsystems and lava and creepers and DOOM. Still exploring it, but I never felt like I was lost in it, really. I just torch the crap out of every place I explore, and if I find a dark passage, I clearly haven't visited it yet ...

[Major Icehole]

My strategy has changed after suggestions is this thread, with regard to finding one's way out of large caves. I try to place torches on my left as I explore and keep them on the right to get out. This almost always works. Combined with the occasional wooden sign and liberal use of picks to open confusing areas up. Pretty much works to keep myself from getting lost these days. Also, even underground I carry a compass. I have to say it would be easier if there were a bit more variety of block types.

[wonderpug]

If I find a new tunnel or cave I want to explore at a later date, I mark it with two torches, one above the other. When I do finally decide to explore the path, I take one torch down on my way in.

[pg]

Uhm, yeah that looks pretty awesome. Can't wait to see the Halloween update...

[BiggerBoat]

I'm going to give the "place torches on left" trick a try next time I boot up the game. I've been exploring this ridiculous cavern network that just doesn't quit. Every time I think I've finally explored it all, I stop to grab a block of coal and break into a new section. I've been lost down there so many times, and lost so much loot to creeper and skeleton attacks.

I wish you could build an atomic bomb. I'd just drop it down that damn hole and be done with it. It's the only way to be sure.

[Teiman]

I am tempted to use one of the maps editors, and make a map where all the air over the spawn is replaced by lava. So the player has to live underground forever. Maybe put in his inventory enough saplings, so he can start a tree farm.

[DeepT]

I hope that rare resources, IE: Diamonds are far more common in hell world.

Also, where is the post about DocLazy's map and what are the rules and where to get it?

[Tony M]

I love how everyone switches to diamond gear before they take a screenshot. Even in a game as basic as Minecraft people can't resist saying "dude, check out my phat loot".

I also switched to my only iron implement (sword) before I took the screenshots of my Motte and Bailey BTW, so I'm guilty as anyone.

[Zylon]

I usually switch to something silly, like a flower or a porkchop.

[barstein]

Also, where is the post about DocLazy's map and what are the rules and where to get it?

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-t...postcount=1630

[Pogo]

I love how everyone switches to diamond gear before they take a screenshot. Even in a game as basic as Minecraft people can't resist saying "dude, check out my phat loot".

I also switched to my only iron implement (sword) before I took the screenshots of my Motte and Bailey BTW, so I'm guilty as anyone.

Err... a diamond pick is pretty standard stuff. It's not exactly hard to get and it's the first thing anyone should make with diamond.

[jeffd]

Yeah I started using diamond tools a while back and I never looked back. If you've got a decent supply there's no reason not to; the upgrade from iron in terms of wear & tear is just ridiculous.

[Becoming]

I've actually not found diamond in enough quantity to make anything yet. I'm just happy that the massive cave system I'm still exploring has provided piles of coal and more iron than I've ever seen before.

I actually had enough for some buckets, a full suit of armor, a compass and some tools. I still have almost no diamond.

I'm starting to think I just have crappy luck.

[mok]

My strategy has changed after suggestions is this thread, with regard to finding one's way out of large caves. I try to place torches on my left as I explore and keep them on the right to get out. This almost always works. Combined with the occasional wooden sign and liberal use of picks to open confusing areas up. Pretty much works to keep myself from getting lost these days. Also, even underground I carry a compass. I have to say it would be easier if there were a bit more variety of block types.

I have found that if I use a little of the cobble stone I have gathered to seal up or build doorways to "dead ends" (fully explored areas) this helps greatly in reducing the lost factor.

If the cave system is obviously quite involved, I always lay a "main road" of those silver step blocks leading to my storage point. Then if I get lost, I only have to wander till I find that path. I always have spare wood blocks so that if I get lost but found lots of cool stuff, I build storage chests and offload things I want to save. Eventually I will find it again when I have better bearings.

[Dreamshadow]

Is the developer of minecraft trying to create a group of people who are prepared to live underground? :)

[Marcin]

I've actually not found diamond in enough quantity to make anything yet. I'm just happy that the massive cave system I'm still exploring has provided piles of coal and more iron than I've ever seen before.

I actually had enough for some buckets, a full suit of armor, a compass and some tools. I still have almost no diamond.

I'm starting to think I just have crappy luck.

Yeah, same here. I still rely on stone tools for everything. Then again, I did build a comprehensive mine track system, so my priorities may be skewed (tracks over tools :P).

[Pogo]

I've played around with this: MC Mapper and I find it to be kind of awesome.

It's a dungeon generator. You have to open the .jar file with Java (just right click and Open With > Java Platform), then do Data > Read Player Position, and set that as the Dungeon Start Chunk.

It generates a fairly complex dungeon that runs really deep, and has monster spawners for a challenge. Generates doorways as well, and glassed-in lava areas. Also has chests with some goodies that seem to get better as you go downward, though I wouldn't suggest going into one of these dungeons without being equipped to take care of monster spawners.

It also lets the world's original cave system cut out the generated dungeon, so there's still that flavor of old broken ruins type of feel going on. The generator also puts a sky-high stone pillar on the landscape so you can find the dungeon, though if it's generated more than 2 chunks away you'll have to do some exploration to find it.

Make sure you backup your world as the generator doesn't care if it chews into your underground buildings or whatever. I started a new world, walked around a bit (to generate some chunks), and then used the generator.

Fun stuff.

[Creole Ned]

I finally succumbed and got Minecraft. Here was my first time in-game:

1. Set game to Easy.
2. Find trees.
3. Chop trees.
4. Begin building hovel-like structure before nightfall.
5. Night comes much sooner than expected.
6. 5 million spiders show up to eat me. Also skeletons.
7. I am eaten.
8. The End.

I am refining my approach for attempt #2.

[Pogo]

That's the only way a first game works in Minecraft. I watched tutorials and had the Wiki open my first time through, and my game ended pretty much just like that.

[Fugitive]

Oddly enough, setting the difficulty to Easy makes *more* monsters spawn, and there's fewer on Hard. I'm not sure if it's a bug, or an attempt to balance out other factors (they should at least have less health on Easy).

I think I'm going to hold back a bit until the Hallowe'en update and then start a new world, using my current one more as a testbed for experiments. I wonder what happens if I drop lava over there...