I have a number of ideas for enchanting compasses. If any of these are to direct you to something that doesn't yet exist, they might just lead you to spawn by default. Or perhaps they just aren't available until you've gained the capability of using them. ie, until you've made a Beacon, you can't figure out how to make a Beacon Compass.
* Beacon Compass: Directs you to the nearest Beacon beam. Probably a fairly cheap enchant, since beacons are rare.
* Nether Compass: Directs you to the nearest Nether portal. Especially useful in the Nether itself!
* End Compass: Directs you to the nearest active End portal or End return portal. It doesn't lead you to incomplete End portal frames, though. That's what Eyes of Ender are for!
* Biome Compass: Several kinds. Most useful for rare biomes like jungle, mesa, mushroom island, ice spikes, and so on.
{* Temple Compass: Zeroes in on temples, naturally. (But not ocean monuments, so as not to steal the cartographers' thunder.) EDIT: I'm withdrawing this suggestion in favor of new cartographer maps. I'm leaving it here purely for historical purposes.}
* Anchor Compass: By setting down a gold block and touching the compass to it, it will lead you back to the block as long as it isn't moved. Probably a high-level enchantment, since it's very flexible.
With the advent of compass enchantments, perhaps "Spawn Compass" becomes a low-level enchantment as well, and a newly-crafted compass just points north.
I know someone's going to suggest adding Ore Compasses, but I see that as too cheap.
This sounds like a very interesting idea. I don't think there should be a temple compass though. I think that the cartographer should sell a map to temples instead.
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"The moment one gives close attention to anything, even a blade of grass,
it becomes a mysterious, awesome, incredibly magnificent world in itself"-Henry Miller
Some of these would be a bit difficult to implement, such as pointing to the nearest Nether portal; how would the game find it? Currently, the only way to do so is to load every single chunk in an ever-increasing radius around the player until one is found, or some limit is reached (set low enough to avoid lag or out of memory). This is how the game currently finds a matching active Nether portal when you enter/leave the Nether, and is one reason why it only does so within a limited range (the code literally iterates over every single block within the search range, as seen in the method "placeInExistingPortal". The game does cache the locations of portals but as with maps in item frames not showing up until the chunks they are in are loaded it only does so when you use them).
The reason why you can use /locate and maps to find structures is because chunks do not need to be loaded or generated in order to find them; the game only needs to call their "canSpawn" algorithm (which can still be intensive if a large area is involved but even 4 million chunks (a 1000 chunk/16000 block square radius) only takes around a second, based on code I used to count the number of mineshafts in a modded game, which uses a much more complex algorithm). Biome-specific structures can check the biome at a point without generating chunks, much as AMIDST can.
Some of these would be a bit difficult to implement, such as pointing to the nearest Nether portal; how would the game find it? Currently, the only way to do so is to load every single chunk in an ever-increasing radius around the player until one is found, or some limit is reached (set low enough to avoid lag or out of memory).
As a somewhat messy workaround, it can note the locations of nether portals in NBT somewhere when you activate or travel through them.
That's pretty much what I had in mind - since portals and beacons are only created or destroyed by player action, you write the coordinates in a file, and the compass looks up the nearest one.
That said, I just remembered that Nether portals can be deactivated by flowing water, which is a bit awkward. But some game event has to take notice of the portal turning off, so just have the same event erase the entry in the file.
Beacon Compass: Kinda ruins the point of the beacon itself. I mean the light coming out of it is a guide in itself.
Nether Compass: I think this waters down the intended difficulty of the Nether. The compass freaking out in the Nether isn't an accident and having an enchantment just 'getting around that' spoils the purpose.
End Compass: Same as above.
Biome Compass: Ehhh, this is alright but simply finding a rare biome and just getting it on your map is enough. Mushroom biome should be excluded from this suggestion altogether.
Temple Compass: Temples can have some very useful and rare loot, an enchantment pointing you straight to one is cheap in my opinion.
Anchor Compass: Why is a gold block specifically used for this enchantment? If we could customize our compasses like this, I don't think we should need an enchantment to do so.
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Yeah, that guy in the avatar is me. I'm *that* strange. It happens. Sometimes people act like that. Just go with it. I can offer help with suggestions even before you post them - NOT make your suggestions - but help you with them.
Beacon Compass: Kinda ruins the point of the beacon itself. I mean the light coming out of it is a guide in itself.
When it's in render distance, sure. A compass can operate from farther away, though.
Nether Compass: I think this waters down the intended difficulty of the Nether. The compass freaking out in the Nether isn't an accident and having an enchantment just 'getting around that' spoils the purpose.
End Compass: Same as above.
Exploring for long periods of time isn't difficulty, it's just tedious.
Biome Compass: Ehhh, this is alright but simply finding a rare biome and just getting it on your map is enough. Mushroom biome should be excluded from this suggestion altogether.
Temple Compass: Temples can have some very useful and rare loot, an enchantment pointing you straight to one is cheap in my opinion.
Anchor Compass: Why is a gold block specifically used for this enchantment? If we could customize our compasses like this, I don't think we should need an enchantment to do so.
When it's in render distance, sure. A compass can operate from farther away, though.
It just comes out to be being a longer beacon then. Perhaps the beacon just shows up on the HUD no matter what? I know that's the whole different idea, but you do have to go through a lot to even have a beacon.
Exploring for long periods of time isn't difficulty, it's just tedious.
The difficulty comes from the dimension as a whole. Just trying to explore the place is a risk in itself, especially if the game decides to activate 'troll mode' and spawn you on an island. It's like the idea of mixing potions, it's just worming around an entire deliberate choice of having the inability to stack potions. That's what the enchantment does. You can still help yourself to find your portal by leaving a trail as you explore outward.
It is an idea that works, but still has a cheapness factor.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Yeah, that guy in the avatar is me. I'm *that* strange. It happens. Sometimes people act like that. Just go with it. I can offer help with suggestions even before you post them - NOT make your suggestions - but help you with them.
I have a number of ideas for enchanting compasses. If any of these are to direct you to something that doesn't yet exist, they might just lead you to spawn by default. Or perhaps they just aren't available until you've gained the capability of using them. ie, until you've made a Beacon, you can't figure out how to make a Beacon Compass.
* Beacon Compass: Directs you to the nearest Beacon beam. Probably a fairly cheap enchant, since beacons are rare.
* Nether Compass: Directs you to the nearest Nether portal. Especially useful in the Nether itself!
* End Compass: Directs you to the nearest active End portal or End return portal. It doesn't lead you to incomplete End portal frames, though. That's what Eyes of Ender are for!
* Biome Compass: Several kinds. Most useful for rare biomes like jungle, mesa, mushroom island, ice spikes, and so on.
{* Temple Compass: Zeroes in on temples, naturally. (But not ocean monuments, so as not to steal the cartographers' thunder.) EDIT: I'm withdrawing this suggestion in favor of new cartographer maps. I'm leaving it here purely for historical purposes.}
* Anchor Compass: By setting down a gold block and touching the compass to it, it will lead you back to the block as long as it isn't moved. Probably a high-level enchantment, since it's very flexible.
With the advent of compass enchantments, perhaps "Spawn Compass" becomes a low-level enchantment as well, and a newly-crafted compass just points north.
I know someone's going to suggest adding Ore Compasses, but I see that as too cheap.
These are awesome. The vanilla compass is a bit of a joke right now if you use the F3 screen.
None of these seam to op exept for the temple one honestly I think that would be a pretty decent addition
Sorry for my cringy name i don't know how to change it my real name is Cringelord87
The anchor compass is something I've wanted forever!
This sounds like a very interesting idea. I don't think there should be a temple compass though. I think that the cartographer should sell a map to temples instead.
On second thought, I would prefer that temple hunting should be a role exclusively for cartographer maps. There should be more maps for those.
Upon further reflection, I agree that temples should be left to cartographer's maps instead. I'm updating the OP.
Some of these would be a bit difficult to implement, such as pointing to the nearest Nether portal; how would the game find it? Currently, the only way to do so is to load every single chunk in an ever-increasing radius around the player until one is found, or some limit is reached (set low enough to avoid lag or out of memory). This is how the game currently finds a matching active Nether portal when you enter/leave the Nether, and is one reason why it only does so within a limited range (the code literally iterates over every single block within the search range, as seen in the method "placeInExistingPortal". The game does cache the locations of portals but as with maps in item frames not showing up until the chunks they are in are loaded it only does so when you use them).
The reason why you can use /locate and maps to find structures is because chunks do not need to be loaded or generated in order to find them; the game only needs to call their "canSpawn" algorithm (which can still be intensive if a large area is involved but even 4 million chunks (a 1000 chunk/16000 block square radius) only takes around a second, based on code I used to count the number of mineshafts in a modded game, which uses a much more complex algorithm). Biome-specific structures can check the biome at a point without generating chunks, much as AMIDST can.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
As a somewhat messy workaround, it can note the locations of nether portals in NBT somewhere when you activate or travel through them.
That's pretty much what I had in mind - since portals and beacons are only created or destroyed by player action, you write the coordinates in a file, and the compass looks up the nearest one.
That said, I just remembered that Nether portals can be deactivated by flowing water, which is a bit awkward. But some game event has to take notice of the portal turning off, so just have the same event erase the entry in the file.
Beacon Compass: Kinda ruins the point of the beacon itself. I mean the light coming out of it is a guide in itself.
Nether Compass: I think this waters down the intended difficulty of the Nether. The compass freaking out in the Nether isn't an accident and having an enchantment just 'getting around that' spoils the purpose.
End Compass: Same as above.
Biome Compass: Ehhh, this is alright but simply finding a rare biome and just getting it on your map is enough. Mushroom biome should be excluded from this suggestion altogether.
Temple Compass: Temples can have some very useful and rare loot, an enchantment pointing you straight to one is cheap in my opinion.
Anchor Compass: Why is a gold block specifically used for this enchantment? If we could customize our compasses like this, I don't think we should need an enchantment to do so.
Yeah, that guy in the avatar is me. I'm *that* strange. It happens. Sometimes people act like that. Just go with it. I can offer help with suggestions even before you post them - NOT make your suggestions - but help you with them.
Unofficial Suggestions Guide (2.0) - by Theriasis
Unofficial Critics Guide - by yoshi9048
When it's in render distance, sure. A compass can operate from farther away, though.
Exploring for long periods of time isn't difficulty, it's just tedious.
I agree with these three.
It just comes out to be being a longer beacon then. Perhaps the beacon just shows up on the HUD no matter what? I know that's the whole different idea, but you do have to go through a lot to even have a beacon.
The difficulty comes from the dimension as a whole. Just trying to explore the place is a risk in itself, especially if the game decides to activate 'troll mode' and spawn you on an island. It's like the idea of mixing potions, it's just worming around an entire deliberate choice of having the inability to stack potions. That's what the enchantment does. You can still help yourself to find your portal by leaving a trail as you explore outward.
It is an idea that works, but still has a cheapness factor.
Yeah, that guy in the avatar is me. I'm *that* strange. It happens. Sometimes people act like that. Just go with it. I can offer help with suggestions even before you post them - NOT make your suggestions - but help you with them.
Unofficial Suggestions Guide (2.0) - by Theriasis
Unofficial Critics Guide - by yoshi9048