Minecraft! (single player dwarf fortress)

epthegeek · 2011-09-21T08:31:10.000Z

Zylon:

Christ, link that shit would you? You’re not posting on GameFAQs.

Looks like the same old Nether we’re used to. What’s supposed to be different about it?

Why they insist on releasing screenshots so dark you can barely make anything out, I don’t understand – but there’s a big auto-generated bridge through the middle of that darkness.

Black_Isis · 2011-09-21T08:33:18.000Z

epthegeek:

Why they insist on releasing screenshots so dark you can barely make anything out, I don’t understand – but there’s a big auto-generated bridge through the middle of that darkness.

It looks like there’s at least one or two new Nether brick types as well.

Zylon · 2011-09-21T08:38:58.000Z

/casts Brightness

Ah, now that looks pretty cool. A bit overdone though… part of the unique character of the Nether is how bloody difficult it is to work your way around all the lava. I would have been happy if they’d just turned down the Ghast spawning by about 90%. Last time I bothered with the Nether, trying to get anything done was like working in the middle of a live artillery range.

PeterK · 2011-09-21T08:58:27.000Z

pg:

That’s just how Minecraft development is these days. They add a gimmick and see what happens. Many seem totally unrelated or untied to the rest of the game. You’d think instead of just adding more random stuff they would go back and concentrate on things already in the game like the Nether. Does anyone ever go there anymore?

Seems to be, sadly. I hate to criticize Notch because he’s made a game that many of my friends and family have gotten enormous value from, but he sure seems to be ADD with Minecraft development. I don’t understand the point of half implementing features. It boggles my mind that there is XP in 1.8 when it doesn’t do anything, even if it is technically a beta.

pg:

Anyhow creepers blow shit up but they can be managed better. Instead of caving to players who want to play creative mode in survival why not make players a way to better protect against Endermen (like a lot of people here are suggesting).

That wouldn’t do anything about the annoying tree trunk removal, unless it is changed to only move specific blocks. I wish he would just give the mobs more purpose and intelligence. Make the Endermen collect certain blocks and hoard them, or build traps like I suggested earlier.

Black_Isis · 2011-09-21T09:49:20.000Z

Zylon:

Ah, now that looks pretty cool. A bit overdone though… part of the unique character of the Nether is how bloody difficult it is to work your way around all the lava. I would have been happy if they’d just turned down the Ghast spawning by about 90%. Last time I bothered with the Nether, trying to get anything done was like working in the middle of a live artillery range.

I think the ghast spawn rate is just the same issue I see in the “real” world. Too many monsters to the point where they aren’t something to be avoided or confronted, because there’s no way to avoid them and confronting them doesn’t buy you anything, not even a temporary reprieve, because there’s 4 more of their friends right around the corner. At least in the Nether, it’s supposed to be very hostile…but the environment itself is pretty dangerous already.

The Nether really just needs more purpose to make you want to go there. The blocks there are good resources that can be useful in the real world, but there’s also no way to survive purely in the Nether. You can’t make tools there, and you can’t make food – you can get mushrooms, but no wood to make bowls, and killing zombie pigmen is pretty close to suicidal (plus, they’re my friends!). And building anything with the (current) blocks available in the Nether is going to end poorly, since they all have almost no explosive resistance, so a ghast fireball will vaporize your entire building in one or two shots. Hell, if your portal is broken in the Nether and you don’t have any obsidian or flint and steel, you can’t even make a new portal back to the surface.

Hopefully the latter will be solved with these netherbrick things, but that doesn’t solve the others. The Aether mod went too far in the other direction (making things from the real world totally useless in the Aether) but I definitely though it was a better way to go, making the Aether a place you could actually live if you were cut off from the real world. The Nether doesn’t really stand on its own.

Theodore_Rex_DX · 2011-09-21T09:51:11.000Z

New spoiler mob looks rad.

Fugitive · 2011-09-21T10:06:05.000Z

Jeb also tweeted that we may get another ‘leaked’ release tomorrow, though it’s not clear if it’ll have all the expected 1.9 stuff or just this recent tomfoolery.

Zylon · 2011-09-21T10:16:32.000Z

Black Isis:

The Nether really just needs more purpose to make you want to go there. The blocks there are good resources that can be useful in the real world, but there’s also no way to survive purely in the Nether.

I actually like this aspect. Establishing a beachhead in the Nether is pretty much like building a moon base-- you have to bring almost everything with you, and supply runs for consumables are a fact of life. This is in stark contrast to the regular world, where everywhere you go (deserts and oceans notwithstanding) everything you need to build a thriving fortress is within arm’s reach.

However, there should logically be Nether blocks immune to Ghast fireballs. Otherwise the entire dimension would be leveled when you arrive.

Eric_Majkut · 2011-09-21T10:35:05.000Z

Endermen should continue to steal blocks, but they need some sort of nefarious secret scheme fueling their theft. Maybe they actually construct some crazy structure or contraption somewhere on the map using the blocks they’re stealing. I mean, knowing they were actually DOING something with the stuff they’re swiping would make them so much creepier. Plus you’d have the incentive and excitement of finding their secret thingy and getting some sort of reward for it.

Marcin · 2011-09-21T11:37:08.000Z

Yeah, I’d have to crawl all over the tower - which reaches from sea level to the sky - putting up torches. Seems a little silly.

I like the quadrangle exclusion zone concept but I don’t see a way to make it work intuitively.

MrPerson · 2011-09-21T15:01:46.000Z

I finally tried out growing wheat, since the combination of the new hunger mechanic plus the shortage of animals seems to demand it (unless I fish, which I don’t desire to do).

Wheat really seems like it needs a shorter growing cycle, given that trees spring up full formed within minutes of planting. I think you’d be hard pressed to get a wheat farm humming along before you starve, unless you hunt skeletons to bootstrap the process.

The auto-healing when full makes the monster swarm less bad, with the exception of creepers. Getting jumped and losing some health is a non-issue, unless my structures get kerploded.

Eric_Majkut · 2011-09-21T15:05:20.000Z

Try surrounding your wheat fields with water. They grow a lot faster that way.

Pogo · 2011-09-21T15:17:55.000Z

Yeah I think it’s 3 blocks adjacent to water (flowing or standing) that gets irrigated more quickly, you should see plowed ground be a darker brown color when it’s irrigated.

Zylon · 2011-09-21T15:19:44.000Z

Better yet, just build a wheat field out over a lake/ocean. Then encase it in glass to keep animals from spawning in it.

Creole_Ned · 2011-09-21T15:24:04.000Z

Yeah, once your wheat farm gets established you’ll have wheat coming out your ears and water is essential for proper growth. I like having my wheat production contained in a nice-looking greenhouse to keep errant pigs and spiders out.

Or find an abandoned village and pilfer liberally from one of its wheat farms!

If you can find and plant a melon seed it will provide an infinite number of melons, too, though each melon slice only heals one ‘ham’.

For creepers, my tactic is this:

light civilized area appropriately.
fence off the area. Creepers cannot hop fences.
equip a bow and arrows.
use said bow for the inevitable creeper(s) that will be rubbing up against your fence come dawn.

If you’re out exploring, all bets are off, of course. The creeper will find you, oh yes. And then the boom.

MrPerson · 2011-09-21T15:27:16.000Z

Unless the code has changed, irrigation is binary. Either the block is in range, or it’s not, and my crops are in range and their land is irrigated. Nearby farmland modifies the growth rate, but not adding more water.

Pogo · 2011-09-21T15:52:39.000Z

Another way to combat a creeper problem… go to sleep as soon as you can at dusk, before monsters get a chance to spawn.

inactive_user · 2011-09-21T15:56:32.000Z

I would like the stupid animal spawning code to be less stupid. Nary a sheep in the freaking world.

Tierney is a fun seed regardless, though :)

MrPerson · 2011-09-21T15:58:31.000Z

Yeah. I need to venture off my little island so I can find some sheep so I can make a bed. I’m playing on the “Nightfall” seed, and animals weren’t immediately available. Soon I’ll set out with a boat and some sheers.

Or I could just put together a bunch of spider string. Spiders and skeletons are my animals ;)

Eric_Majkut · 2011-09-21T16:01:38.000Z

Saw the name “AmeriGas” on a grill propane tank and decided to use that as a seed for some silly reason. It’s a really cool medium sized island in the middle of a huge ocean. Flan just updated his airplane mod to 1.8.1 today though. Time for some aerial recon!