I want to build a castle in survival, but I don't exactly know how to...... So, can somebody give me a tutorial? I will send some screenshots when it's done.
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TheBear1987
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Castles are my favorite! No world is complete without one somewhere. I don't have a tutorial, though that sounds like a lot of fun and once I've finished my current project I just may do a survival castle tutorial. Until then, I'll leave some other resources for you and some advice I learned along the way. Just remember there is no set way of doing it, no step by step directions for building a castle (unless you want every castle the same). Just like every other build in Minecraft, use your imagination and be creative. No wrong answer here.
Some advice from my experience, number one is practice practice practice. Just like anything else you wont be good at it over night. I've done a lot of castles and each one is an improvement, each time I learn new stuff. Don't be afraid to experiment, change things, and start over as needed.
As for doing it in survival, stock up on whatever materials you want to use before you start, However much you think you will need, get more. Make use of enchanted tools and beacons when mining materials, and if you want stone block or smooth stone using Silk Touch will save lots of time and coal. Make a small base to work from so you have somewhere to craft, smelt, have food, and sleep at night until the castle is finished enough to move in.
Use ladders and make scaffolding with dirt to access higher places and be careful of falling. I think falling is my number one cause of death and the majority of my falls are off of builds. Learn to carry only necessary building materials and tools up high just in case. As you start to enclose towers and walls don't forget to light the place up or Mr. Creeper will help you redecorate.
I started with one single small tower to try it out. Then I built a sprawling monstrosity on top of a mountain. Then I started to get better at planning and aesthetics. Every build comes out better.
If I get around to that tutorial and this thread isn't dead yet, I'll post a link. Until then, have fun and good luck. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with, and for the heck of it here is a shot of one of mine.
The photo is of the house obviously (not built by me) but you can see my castle in the background. Done in survival, I cheated a little by making the castle around a mountain so I could just mine the mountain for all the stone.
Wow, that was a very nice post. I hadn't really thought about building another castle after I made a small scale one over a year ago, your post made me want to make one in my survival world. Those examples were nice. Thanks!
Some more closer shots of your own castle would be amazing:D That thing looks awesome!
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Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
I have spent a lot of time browsing castle floorplans from real castles in the web, as well as pictures. Use creative to try out arches and patterns for walls, polished andesite go well with stone bricks, as well as double stone slabs. Build walls at least two blocks thick, and remember that a wall is all the way up and down unless supported by pillars. Browse the Screenshot section in Show your creation to get closeups of nice details to include.
Some more closer shots of your own castle would be amazing:D That thing looks awesome!
Thanks, this build was on a server that has been discontinued in favor of a restart with 1.8, but I'll see if I can dig up the world file and get some more. It was a WIP, but I'm sure I can get some good ones. Will be starting another one (probably smaller scale but better detail) on our current server, maybe I'll use that one to do the tutorial.
You know, for an initial tutorial a step-by-step process of a simple tower might help others as it did yourself. From there you can give more detailed info about starting a small keep and then advice about going larger and larger. I myself would be interested in your tutorial should you create one as what little info you've given so far is great.
I haven't tried my hand at any build like this. I tend to stick with purely functional builds and I've gotten great at interior design, but my exterior aesthetics are crap. It's why most of my builds are underground or inside of mountains. I need to work on my landscaping more, too, but it's coming around. I did once make a rather nice pathway from one area to another 300 blocks away.
I love castles, as far as I'm concerned Notch released Castlecraft. "How" to build a castle depends on what you want from your castle. Of course anything dubbed castle will need A: walls B: see A. I'm hardcore into castles so I know IRL a castle is a strategic defensive instalation as well as a regional seat of government (helm's deep technically isn't a castle because its not an administrative center its just a fortress.)
Typical castle features include A: big walls and/or a keep (a single large multistory stone building) C: a courtyard (open land inside of walls, a castle composed of just a keep doesn't have a courtyard. You should decide if you want to build a keep by itself, a walled courtyard without a keep inside the courtyard, or a keep surrounded by a courtyard surrounded by walls.
Castle walls typically have towers at their corners and in the middle of longer stretches of wall, these towers are taller than the walls and extend out from the wall a ways so that soldiers in the towers have enfilade (crossfire: ie if a soldier approaches the wall behind a big shield to defend himself from arrows shot from the wall an archer on a tower can shoot him in the side) on troops approaching the walls as well as the ability to drop nasty hurtful things on any enemy soldiers who manage to reach the top of the walls. (Soldier avoids boiling substances and heavy falling rocks from defenders on the wall and congratulates himself on reaching the top of the wall when he is then doused in boiling bad-juice and crushed by large rock dropped from tower.)
Castles also famously have moats around their outer walls these should be deep enough that people can't wade accross them and preferably much deeper, their main purpose actually isn't making it harder for siege towers and such to reach the wall (though it does this fantastically) but to discourage some knave from tunneling under the walls (water seeps through the ground and floods tunnels kind of like SURPRISE gravel in MC). Note: please don't put your moat INSIDE the curtain wall, it makes baby Jesus cry.
Your walls or keep should be at least ten meters (blocks) tall and about 1/2 to 2/3rds as thick as they are tall (as height of wall increases that ratio falls so short walls look the squat-est). if you have a keep inside the walls it needs to be taller than the walls and the towers built into the walls.
Castle buildings should never have wooden roofs and the land around the outside of the castle should be cleared of all trees and other obstructions approaching baddies can take cover behind.
Is this helping at all, if so let me know and I'll write an actual fleshed-out type guide?
I don't know about OP, but it really helped me. I guess understanding what you are building is just as important to know as how it looks. With what you said in mind, I feel like I can build castles a bit better now. Thanks!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
Some more closer shots of your own castle would be amazing:D That thing looks awesome!
I could only find an older world save for that server at the moment, so the castle is very incomplete but you can get an idea on how it will look and how I used the mountain as my supply of stone to build the castle. If I come across a more recent save file I'll add more.
Here is the road and retaining wall leading to the main entrance, this road was eventually extended past the castle a ways and lead to another village we built.
This is the main entrance to the castle, stained glass was added to the windows at the top of the towers and grass blocks replaced the dirt to the left (the castle sits on the border of biomes and for some reason grass would not grow on those blocks, but once replaced with grass blocks gotten with silk touch it was fine).
Here is an overall pic showing the total size of the castle, here in a very unfinished state. Eventually the space contained in the first 4 towers became a grand staircase from the entrance to the top of the walls complete with water features, park-like areas, and jungle trees.
My problem with starting on bigger builds is that I don't think big enough with the initial design. I think I've cleared enough land, but I haven't. I think I've gathered more than enough materials, but I haven't. I now know why people create such large storage rooms.
My problem with starting on bigger builds is that I don't think big enough with the initial design. I think I've cleared enough land, but I haven't. I think I've gathered more than enough materials, but I haven't. I now know why people create such large storage rooms.
Some tips for that would be:
-Don't clear land. Build with the landscape. This would give room for much more creative castle designs.
-You don't have to get everything before. Just build what you think you are going to build, and if you run out of materials, just get some more. It doesn't have to be a build where you have to finish it in one sitting.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
Thanks for the guide Falsor_Wing. And thank you for the tips TheBear1987. I'm currently working on getting the supply of resources that I need for the castle.
I could only find an older world save for that server at the moment, so the castle is very incomplete but you can get an idea on how it will look and how I used the mountain as my supply of stone to build the castle. If I come across a more recent save file I'll add more.
Here is the road and retaining wall leading to the main entrance, this road was eventually extended past the castle a ways and lead to another village we built.
This is the main entrance to the castle, stained glass was added to the windows at the top of the towers and grass blocks replaced the dirt to the left (the castle sits on the border of biomes and for some reason grass would not grow on those blocks, but once replaced with grass blocks gotten with silk touch it was fine).
Here is an overall pic showing the total size of the castle, here in a very unfinished state. Eventually the space contained in the first 4 towers became a grand staircase from the entrance to the top of the walls complete with water features, park-like areas, and jungle trees.
Wait, holy crap! You cleared a whole mountain out????
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
-Don't clear land. Build with the landscape. This would give room for much more creative castle designs.
-You don't have to get everything before. Just build what you think you are going to build, and if you run out of materials, just get some more. It doesn't have to be a build where you have to finish it in one sitting.
I do build with the terrain. What I meant was when I clear part of it to say level out the area for the foundation, I find I'll sometimes miscalculate and need to expand later on. I'll think I need to count out 15 spaces and then I'll do exactly that, but later realize I needed to count out 16 and not include the back wall or some nonsense.
I also don't ever plan to do a build in one sitting. I just hate it when I go to work building and plan to build as much as I can in the daylight hours and I run out of something half-way through. I tend to build during the day and gather resources at night.
A good way to start is to take a picture of a castle and try to examine it from all angles if possible. Then just do your best to recreate what you saw in minecraft. Its a bit tricky, but its like drawing: tracing is a god way to practise.
I got a new computer, so I don't have that world any more. I'm just building a city out on the ocean. Also, I dug out a three-layer underground base. I think I might be able to catch up with my old world (not in diamonds, though. I have zero and I'm on day 110). I think I might add a wall around the city when it's finished, and try and make a castle. Wish me luck!
Also, thanks everyone for the advice. I will take it to heart as I try and build my kingdom called Lakelin. I'll also keep it in heart when I finally get the courage to go to a water temple I found.
A search of the forum turned up several castle tutorial threads, though many of them are long out of date with broken picture and video links. This one however is still good. Another thread links to this website which also has some good stuff. A quick search on google or youtube will yield some good results as well. Here is an actual layer by layer plan for a small sized castle that could get you started.
Some advice from my experience, number one is practice practice practice. Just like anything else you wont be good at it over night. I've done a lot of castles and each one is an improvement, each time I learn new stuff. Don't be afraid to experiment, change things, and start over as needed.
As for doing it in survival, stock up on whatever materials you want to use before you start, However much you think you will need, get more. Make use of enchanted tools and beacons when mining materials, and if you want stone block or smooth stone using Silk Touch will save lots of time and coal. Make a small base to work from so you have somewhere to craft, smelt, have food, and sleep at night until the castle is finished enough to move in.
Use ladders and make scaffolding with dirt to access higher places and be careful of falling. I think falling is my number one cause of death and the majority of my falls are off of builds. Learn to carry only necessary building materials and tools up high just in case. As you start to enclose towers and walls don't forget to light the place up or Mr. Creeper will help you redecorate.
I started with one single small tower to try it out. Then I built a sprawling monstrosity on top of a mountain. Then I started to get better at planning and aesthetics. Every build comes out better.
If I get around to that tutorial and this thread isn't dead yet, I'll post a link. Until then, have fun and good luck. Looking forward to seeing what you come up with, and for the heck of it here is a shot of one of mine.
The photo is of the house obviously (not built by me) but you can see my castle in the background. Done in survival, I cheated a little by making the castle around a mountain so I could just mine the mountain for all the stone.
Wow, that was a very nice post. I hadn't really thought about building another castle after I made a small scale one over a year ago, your post made me want to make one in my survival world. Those examples were nice. Thanks!
Some more closer shots of your own castle would be amazing:D That thing looks awesome!
Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-discussion/survival-mode/2372609-journal-the-ballad-of-dirtdog
Thanks, this build was on a server that has been discontinued in favor of a restart with 1.8, but I'll see if I can dig up the world file and get some more. It was a WIP, but I'm sure I can get some good ones. Will be starting another one (probably smaller scale but better detail) on our current server, maybe I'll use that one to do the tutorial.
I haven't tried my hand at any build like this. I tend to stick with purely functional builds and I've gotten great at interior design, but my exterior aesthetics are crap. It's why most of my builds are underground or inside of mountains. I need to work on my landscaping more, too, but it's coming around. I did once make a rather nice pathway from one area to another 300 blocks away.
Ropes: Leads, just better -Deonyi
Typical castle features include A: big walls and/or a keep (a single large multistory stone building) C: a courtyard (open land inside of walls, a castle composed of just a keep doesn't have a courtyard. You should decide if you want to build a keep by itself, a walled courtyard without a keep inside the courtyard, or a keep surrounded by a courtyard surrounded by walls.
Castle walls typically have towers at their corners and in the middle of longer stretches of wall, these towers are taller than the walls and extend out from the wall a ways so that soldiers in the towers have enfilade (crossfire: ie if a soldier approaches the wall behind a big shield to defend himself from arrows shot from the wall an archer on a tower can shoot him in the side) on troops approaching the walls as well as the ability to drop nasty hurtful things on any enemy soldiers who manage to reach the top of the walls. (Soldier avoids boiling substances and heavy falling rocks from defenders on the wall and congratulates himself on reaching the top of the wall when he is then doused in boiling bad-juice and crushed by large rock dropped from tower.)
Castles also famously have moats around their outer walls these should be deep enough that people can't wade accross them and preferably much deeper, their main purpose actually isn't making it harder for siege towers and such to reach the wall (though it does this fantastically) but to discourage some knave from tunneling under the walls (water seeps through the ground and floods tunnels kind of like SURPRISE gravel in MC). Note: please don't put your moat INSIDE the curtain wall, it makes baby Jesus cry.
Your walls or keep should be at least ten meters (blocks) tall and about 1/2 to 2/3rds as thick as they are tall (as height of wall increases that ratio falls so short walls look the squat-est). if you have a keep inside the walls it needs to be taller than the walls and the towers built into the walls.
Castle buildings should never have wooden roofs and the land around the outside of the castle should be cleared of all trees and other obstructions approaching baddies can take cover behind.
Is this helping at all, if so let me know and I'll write an actual fleshed-out type guide?
I don't know about OP, but it really helped me. I guess understanding what you are building is just as important to know as how it looks. With what you said in mind, I feel like I can build castles a bit better now. Thanks!
Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
You might say its still in Alpha though, no stair blocks or nothin' yet.
I could only find an older world save for that server at the moment, so the castle is very incomplete but you can get an idea on how it will look and how I used the mountain as my supply of stone to build the castle. If I come across a more recent save file I'll add more.
Here is the road and retaining wall leading to the main entrance, this road was eventually extended past the castle a ways and lead to another village we built.
This is the main entrance to the castle, stained glass was added to the windows at the top of the towers and grass blocks replaced the dirt to the left (the castle sits on the border of biomes and for some reason grass would not grow on those blocks, but once replaced with grass blocks gotten with silk touch it was fine).
Here is an overall pic showing the total size of the castle, here in a very unfinished state. Eventually the space contained in the first 4 towers became a grand staircase from the entrance to the top of the walls complete with water features, park-like areas, and jungle trees.
Ropes: Leads, just better -Deonyi
Some tips for that would be:
-Don't clear land. Build with the landscape. This would give room for much more creative castle designs.
-You don't have to get everything before. Just build what you think you are going to build, and if you run out of materials, just get some more. It doesn't have to be a build where you have to finish it in one sitting.
Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
Wait, holy crap! You cleared a whole mountain out????
Need a friend to play Minecraft with? Click me! Lots of players are looking for someone to play with as well!
Need a way to make survival more fun? Click me!
Don't know what to build? Here is a "What should I build?" generator!
I do build with the terrain. What I meant was when I clear part of it to say level out the area for the foundation, I find I'll sometimes miscalculate and need to expand later on. I'll think I need to count out 15 spaces and then I'll do exactly that, but later realize I needed to count out 16 and not include the back wall or some nonsense.
I also don't ever plan to do a build in one sitting. I just hate it when I go to work building and plan to build as much as I can in the daylight hours and I run out of something half-way through. I tend to build during the day and gather resources at night.
Ropes: Leads, just better -Deonyi
Also, thanks everyone for the advice. I will take it to heart as I try and build my kingdom called Lakelin. I'll also keep it in heart when I finally get the courage to go to a water temple I found.