It would be a great idea for a clan potion expert to to research the most efficient potion combinations, and make an assembly line of potion stands.
If you hollow out a large area, nether wart will become efficiently farmable and practically free. The toughest ingredients to get will be blaze rods and ghast tears. Lava does not kill ghasts and blazes, and there is no known nether mob grinder.
Speed potions will be almost free since sugar cane grows like weeds.
Fire resistance potions will be pretty interesting because it will prevent reliance on simple lava walling.
I still think that if not cooked beef, grain is the most efficient crop. Although mushroom stew heals 4 points, it is not stack-able and thus very cumbersome, especially with the need for bowls. Once you have a large enough wheat farm, it is practically free, even if it took 10 grains to make bread. It can also be used for animal breeding.
EDIT: I just looked at the extended fire resistance potion. It lasts for 8 minutes! This will make slime farms much more important, and bases will be much harder to protect. The regenerating cobble wall may now be more important than before, because lava alone is not enough.
That's awesome! I am working on a Nether grinder but haven't come up with anything yet. Right now, you can get ice with silk touch, break it in the Nether and get water. IDK if this is on purpose or not. I hope it is. Also, we all know about the common potions, but what about blindness and night vision and invisibility? Anyone know how to brew them?
As for the nether warts, I think the best farm design would be to have a row of cobble, then 2 rows soulsand. Repeat this. Then you can get as much as possible. As for the Enchantments and Potions, I think it will take a while, but once someone makes a guide, bleh. No one will have to research them again. Just memorize the found combos. But, I already have a few members of my clan working on them so I'm ahead of the curve.
I still think that if not cooked beef, grain is the most efficient crop. Although mushroom stew heals 4 points, it is not stack-able and thus very cumbersome, especially with the need for bowls. Once you have a large enough wheat farm, it is practically free, even if it took 10 grains to make bread. It can also be used for animal breeding.
EDIT: I just looked at the extended fire resistance potion. It lasts for 8 minutes! This will make slime farms much more important, and bases will be much harder to protect. The regenerating cobble wall may now be more important than before, because lava alone is not enough.
You forgot melons. Melons are great for all the reasons you just went over, but you get something like fifteen times as many slices as loaves of bread from the same area of farmland.
Lava walling would still be effective. Lava walls aren't only great because lava burns. Remember that water walling is a great defense as well. Lava walls are the same, except that lava is slower to swim through and you can't see the wall behind it.
A good design might be an inverted regenerating wall, with the lava on the outside and the water on the inside. There's probably some problem that makes that design easier to break through, but who knows.
Well before, lava was always better than water for walling with no question.
Now assuming that one has a fire potion on him, they each have pro's and cons.
Lava: Thick and slow to move through. Cannot be seen through.
Water: Can make strong currents that push players back. Flows much more freely, and thus, is harder to clog up with blocks.
So, yeah, we'll just have to figure out which should be placed first.
I think wheat is better than watermelons because bread heals more than a water melon slice, which is important for traveling and invading because you want to save inventory space and get the most out of your food. And if both can be grown easily enough, why not choose the one that heals more, even if it is a little bit more effort? Also not to mention that melons are blocks that must be broken, while for grain, you can run by and harvest each one with a single punch.
Also,
I see that art of war empires server you want to bring up. How close are you and kevin to actually being able to start it up? Once the server is actually running, it will be easier to get donators probably. But what costs do you currently have to get through to get it online?
Well before, lava was always better than water for walling with no question.
Now assuming that one has a fire potion on him, they each have pro's and cons.
Lava: Thick and slow to move through. Cannot be seen through.
Water: Can make strong currents that push players back. Flows much more freely, and thus, is harder to clog up with blocks.
So, yeah, we'll just have to figure out which should be placed first.
I think wheat is better than watermelons because bread heals more than a water melon slice, which is important for traveling and invading because you want to save inventory space and get the most out of your food. And if both can be grown easily enough, why not choose the one that heals more, even if it is a little bit more effort? Also not to mention that melons are blocks that must be broken, while for grain, you can run by and harvest each one with a single punch.
Also,
I see that art of war empires server you want to bring up. How close are you and kevin to actually being able to start it up? Once the server is actually running, it will be easier to get donators probably. But what costs do you currently have to get through to get it online?
Objection!!
Actually, one loaf of bread (which takes three wheat to grow) fills two and a half bars of hunger, while one slice of melon fills one full bar. Therefore, three melon slices fill half a bar more than one bread, and they both take up the same space.
And don't forget that they regrow much faster.
Other benefits of melons include the ability to make seeds from a melon slice, something you can't do with bread or wheat (you can also make one melon block out of nine slices, but that isn't very useful). And you can add a gold nugget to a melon slice to make a glistening melon, which makes the instant health potion. Plus, you don't have to replant after every harvest, so seeds can be used to expand your farm at a much greater rate than wheat.
As for the server, I think Kevin said we still need $25 or something to start the server. After that, we should start getting more donations.
I came up with an easily aim-able TNT cannon. It's fast to reload, and could probably destroy an enemy base in minutes. Best when built into a hillside, because it has a large visual profile.
Note:
[I have smooth lighting off for 2 reasons- easier to count blocks, and I'm used to this way. The texture pack is Nostalgiacraft, I like the old textures.]
With very little training, you can consistently aim this cannon up to 50 degrees left/right, depending on the direction it is facing. Let's begin.
First, start out with a 9 by 4 base.
Next, bring up a 1-high wall around 3 sides of the cannon base. Add 2 half-slabs onto the front, and place 2 water source blocks in the back.
This step is a bit longer than the others, but it's simple. Cover the 1 block high ledge in redstone, then make a layer above it and cover that, except for the frontmost block. Replace that with glass.
Add 2 glass blocks in at the back as well. Don't forget the buttons!
Next, we start on the timer to ignite the projectile. Make the path as shown:
Add 8 repeaters to it, each on setting 4. This ensures that the TNT detonates exactly as it hits the ground. Add redstone as shown:
Now we load it! Lets start out with the cannon firing straight. The loading process for this is slightly different in that you skip the middle row:
Next, do the top row and the projectiles:
Here's the view from the firing location.
By this point, you're certainly wondering, "Okay, how do I aim this?"
You do that by only loading certain sides of the cannon, and choosing which side to place the projectile in. If you're shooting straight, place both projectiles for a larger blast radius.
Bread is stack-able and thus heals more if you are comparing them to melon slices. I believe you were thinking that it was not and thus you had to make it on the way.
I do see though that if you took all the melon slices, and made them into melons with a workbench, you would have very compact food. You would have to place the melon and break it though, and you would have to eat every individual slice. Melons also have less food saturation, meaning you get hungry again faster
I wasn't saying you shouldn't grow melons, I was just saying the bread would be better as a food.
Nice design, but TNT no longer moves with the flow of water, the TNT farther back has much less effect. You might want to build more vertical.
Thanks. My design definitely isn't optimal, I just designed it to be quick to build and have a somewhat decent distance. It'd be simple to verticalize it though, so I might try that in the future.
Oh, and I put it in spoilers so it doesn't block everyone's screen.
Since Val's in an editing mood again, I'll repost my last article, with an updated diagram.
Locke_Erasmus on Distributing Your Forces
Fear of retribution can be just as strong a deterrent to attacking a weak position as actually having the strength to defend that position. Think of the game of Risk. I used to distribute all my armies evenly among each territory adjacent to the enemy, until I realized the enemy usually wouldn’t take advantage of an opening in my defense if I had a strong force nearby that could cripple him through his weakened territory. A smart enemy will reinforce his surrounding territories, and only attack if his opponent is soft inside his defending wall. This idea translates very well into a Minecraft context. When building and fortifying your holdings within your territory, try not to be “crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside.” Keep your last resort, your main base, well away from threats. Keep the core of your territory protected behind several “walls” of protection.
This quick Paint diagram demonstrates the basic layout for the territory of a large army (ignoring terrain and territory shape). The circle labeled “MB” is your main base, and the blue line at the top is the shared border with enemy territory. Squares are forts (above or below ground), triangles are outposts (more for communication, supplies, and monitoring the territory than actual fighting), and rhombuses are terrain traps/alarms. Everything represented on this diagram should have some sort of position aboveground and underground. Otherwise, an invading enemy could walk right over or under a fort or a trap without noticing it or being noticed. The many structures and holdings shown are mostly for detection of an enemy force. Even though we don’t want the enemy to know the location of our holdings, we do want to stop them before they get too deep into the territory. Now, to explain the layout. Imagine an invading force crosses the border by one of the forward terrain traps. Hopefully they set it off, hindering their progress and alerting you to their presence. All forward manned outposts are put on alert, and the nearest fort sends a force to engage the invaders, while of course leaving a sizeable garrison at the fort. Think of the two forward forts as safeties in (American) football. They are in a perfect position to react to any threat. (that triangle in the middle should be bigger). If an invading force encounters an outpost before a trap, then it’s almost guaranteed you’ll be alerted. A force is sent from the nearest fort to reinforce the outpost. Meanwhile, the rest of your territory keeps their eyes peeled for any other enemy activity. Diversions are common. The three forts surrounding the main base are like Siam in Risk, protecting your last stronghold. If the fight is taken that close to home, chance are you know where all the enemy are located, so you are free to concentrate your troops.
Each fort (and your main base) should have its own division. A division should be made up of 24 to 40 soldiers in 8-man squads, plus a Commander. Squads should have a Squad Leader and a Lieutenant (or sergeant, whatever you want to call your officers is fine), and should be comfortable with splitting into two 4-man platoons, led by the Squad Leader and the Lieutenant. Each outpost should have an assigned squad, with one platoon always on duty at the outpost and the other at the division’s fort. Obviously, each division with a fort should be in charge of the region surrounding the fort, and all the holdings in that region. The division is responsible for keeping traps and alarms functional and outposts and the fort stocked with supplies. Of course, not all divisions will be stationed to a fort and not all squads will be stationed to an outpost. Any units not stationed are reserve and offensive units. These units are the reinforcements, and stationed troops are garrisons. I can’t stress how important it is to maintain a strong reserve. The arrival of fresh reinforcements with new armor and weapons will turn the tide in almost every battle. However, be careful how you spend your reserve, because the most important time to have them is at the end of a war or battle. If you send all your extra troops into the first battle of an invasion and they lose, you’re screwed. Only send what reinforcements you think are necessary, and try not to waste them. Reinforcements can either be the biggest P cost or the biggest N cost in a war. If you’re confident that committing more troops will win the battle and it does, then you’ve won the battle and you’ve kept the bulk of your reserve strength. Congratulations. But if they don’t win, then you’ve just wasted your best hope for victory later on. But enough of that. I’ll go more into commitment later.
-Edit-
It's also important to not focus your strength on your border. You don't want to have a soft inside, so to speak. If the enemy breaks past your shell, they can wipe you out at their leisure (another common situation in Risk). Be sure to keep the bulk of your strength well inside your territory.
My favorite is fire aspect. BURN!
Although Knockback is the most practical because it is the only one that works on players as well as mobs.
I think mining monster spawners with silk touch should still be in the game. Jeb is a noob if he takes it out.
If you hollow out a large area, nether wart will become efficiently farmable and practically free. The toughest ingredients to get will be blaze rods and ghast tears. Lava does not kill ghasts and blazes, and there is no known nether mob grinder.
Speed potions will be almost free since sugar cane grows like weeds.
Fire resistance potions will be pretty interesting because it will prevent reliance on simple lava walling.
I still think that if not cooked beef, grain is the most efficient crop. Although mushroom stew heals 4 points, it is not stack-able and thus very cumbersome, especially with the need for bowls. Once you have a large enough wheat farm, it is practically free, even if it took 10 grains to make bread. It can also be used for animal breeding.
EDIT: I just looked at the extended fire resistance potion. It lasts for 8 minutes! This will make slime farms much more important, and bases will be much harder to protect. The regenerating cobble wall may now be more important than before, because lava alone is not enough.
That's awesome! I am working on a Nether grinder but haven't come up with anything yet. Right now, you can get ice with silk touch, break it in the Nether and get water. IDK if this is on purpose or not. I hope it is. Also, we all know about the common potions, but what about blindness and night vision and invisibility? Anyone know how to brew them?
As for the nether warts, I think the best farm design would be to have a row of cobble, then 2 rows soulsand. Repeat this. Then you can get as much as possible. As for the Enchantments and Potions, I think it will take a while, but once someone makes a guide, bleh. No one will have to research them again. Just memorize the found combos. But, I already have a few members of my clan working on them so I'm ahead of the curve.
2.5k+
At MineCon? Also, do you guys think it will be Minecraft 1.9 or Minecraft 1.0?
You forgot melons. Melons are great for all the reasons you just went over, but you get something like fifteen times as many slices as loaves of bread from the same area of farmland.
Lava walling would still be effective. Lava walls aren't only great because lava burns. Remember that water walling is a great defense as well. Lava walls are the same, except that lava is slower to swim through and you can't see the wall behind it.
A good design might be an inverted regenerating wall, with the lava on the outside and the water on the inside. There's probably some problem that makes that design easier to break through, but who knows.
Okay, then i wont say that, i'll say THIS:
FACE
Well before, lava was always better than water for walling with no question.
Now assuming that one has a fire potion on him, they each have pro's and cons.
Lava: Thick and slow to move through. Cannot be seen through.
Water: Can make strong currents that push players back. Flows much more freely, and thus, is harder to clog up with blocks.
So, yeah, we'll just have to figure out which should be placed first.
I think wheat is better than watermelons because bread heals more than a water melon slice, which is important for traveling and invading because you want to save inventory space and get the most out of your food. And if both can be grown easily enough, why not choose the one that heals more, even if it is a little bit more effort? Also not to mention that melons are blocks that must be broken, while for grain, you can run by and harvest each one with a single punch.
Also,
I see that art of war empires server you want to bring up. How close are you and kevin to actually being able to start it up? Once the server is actually running, it will be easier to get donators probably. But what costs do you currently have to get through to get it online?
Objection!!
Actually, one loaf of bread (which takes three wheat to grow) fills two and a half bars of hunger, while one slice of melon fills one full bar. Therefore, three melon slices fill half a bar more than one bread, and they both take up the same space.
And don't forget that they regrow much faster.
Other benefits of melons include the ability to make seeds from a melon slice, something you can't do with bread or wheat (you can also make one melon block out of nine slices, but that isn't very useful). And you can add a gold nugget to a melon slice to make a glistening melon, which makes the instant health potion. Plus, you don't have to replant after every harvest, so seeds can be used to expand your farm at a much greater rate than wheat.
As for the server, I think Kevin said we still need $25 or something to start the server. After that, we should start getting more donations.
...And?
Note:
With very little training, you can consistently aim this cannon up to 50 degrees left/right, depending on the direction it is facing. Let's begin.
Next, bring up a 1-high wall around 3 sides of the cannon base. Add 2 half-slabs onto the front, and place 2 water source blocks in the back.
This step is a bit longer than the others, but it's simple. Cover the 1 block high ledge in redstone, then make a layer above it and cover that, except for the frontmost block. Replace that with glass.
Add 2 glass blocks in at the back as well. Don't forget the buttons!
Next, we start on the timer to ignite the projectile. Make the path as shown:
Add 8 repeaters to it, each on setting 4. This ensures that the TNT detonates exactly as it hits the ground. Add redstone as shown:
Now we load it! Lets start out with the cannon firing straight. The loading process for this is slightly different in that you skip the middle row:
Next, do the top row and the projectiles:
Here's the view from the firing location.
By this point, you're certainly wondering, "Okay, how do I aim this?"
You do that by only loading certain sides of the cannon, and choosing which side to place the projectile in. If you're shooting straight, place both projectiles for a larger blast radius.
Here's a final view:
Bread is stack-able and thus heals more if you are comparing them to melon slices. I believe you were thinking that it was not and thus you had to make it on the way.
I do see though that if you took all the melon slices, and made them into melons with a workbench, you would have very compact food. You would have to place the melon and break it though, and you would have to eat every individual slice. Melons also have less food saturation, meaning you get hungry again faster
I wasn't saying you shouldn't grow melons, I was just saying the bread would be better as a food.
Nice design, but TNT no longer moves with the flow of water, the TNT farther back has much less effect. You might want to build more vertical.
Thanks. My design definitely isn't optimal, I just designed it to be quick to build and have a somewhat decent distance. It'd be simple to verticalize it though, so I might try that in the future.
Oh, and I put it in spoilers so it doesn't block everyone's screen.
I'm going to update to OP to include Potions and Enchantments..., and add Megaloneus' Cannon tutorial.
Enchantments, as far as I know now, are very overpowered... here's a video from my channel:
edit: LOL
@Voloder:
Lol.
We currently have one other newly-formed clan registered on the website, but the poll on the thread says we'll have 12 at some point.
Locke_Erasmus on Distributing Your Forces
Fear of retribution can be just as strong a deterrent to attacking a weak position as actually having the strength to defend that position. Think of the game of Risk. I used to distribute all my armies evenly among each territory adjacent to the enemy, until I realized the enemy usually wouldn’t take advantage of an opening in my defense if I had a strong force nearby that could cripple him through his weakened territory. A smart enemy will reinforce his surrounding territories, and only attack if his opponent is soft inside his defending wall. This idea translates very well into a Minecraft context. When building and fortifying your holdings within your territory, try not to be “crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside.” Keep your last resort, your main base, well away from threats. Keep the core of your territory protected behind several “walls” of protection.
This quick Paint diagram demonstrates the basic layout for the territory of a large army (ignoring terrain and territory shape). The circle labeled “MB” is your main base, and the blue line at the top is the shared border with enemy territory. Squares are forts (above or below ground), triangles are outposts (more for communication, supplies, and monitoring the territory than actual fighting), and rhombuses are terrain traps/alarms. Everything represented on this diagram should have some sort of position aboveground and underground. Otherwise, an invading enemy could walk right over or under a fort or a trap without noticing it or being noticed. The many structures and holdings shown are mostly for detection of an enemy force. Even though we don’t want the enemy to know the location of our holdings, we do want to stop them before they get too deep into the territory. Now, to explain the layout. Imagine an invading force crosses the border by one of the forward terrain traps. Hopefully they set it off, hindering their progress and alerting you to their presence. All forward manned outposts are put on alert, and the nearest fort sends a force to engage the invaders, while of course leaving a sizeable garrison at the fort. Think of the two forward forts as safeties in (American) football. They are in a perfect position to react to any threat. (that triangle in the middle should be bigger). If an invading force encounters an outpost before a trap, then it’s almost guaranteed you’ll be alerted. A force is sent from the nearest fort to reinforce the outpost. Meanwhile, the rest of your territory keeps their eyes peeled for any other enemy activity. Diversions are common. The three forts surrounding the main base are like Siam in Risk, protecting your last stronghold. If the fight is taken that close to home, chance are you know where all the enemy are located, so you are free to concentrate your troops.
Each fort (and your main base) should have its own division. A division should be made up of 24 to 40 soldiers in 8-man squads, plus a Commander. Squads should have a Squad Leader and a Lieutenant (or sergeant, whatever you want to call your officers is fine), and should be comfortable with splitting into two 4-man platoons, led by the Squad Leader and the Lieutenant. Each outpost should have an assigned squad, with one platoon always on duty at the outpost and the other at the division’s fort. Obviously, each division with a fort should be in charge of the region surrounding the fort, and all the holdings in that region. The division is responsible for keeping traps and alarms functional and outposts and the fort stocked with supplies. Of course, not all divisions will be stationed to a fort and not all squads will be stationed to an outpost. Any units not stationed are reserve and offensive units. These units are the reinforcements, and stationed troops are garrisons. I can’t stress how important it is to maintain a strong reserve. The arrival of fresh reinforcements with new armor and weapons will turn the tide in almost every battle. However, be careful how you spend your reserve, because the most important time to have them is at the end of a war or battle. If you send all your extra troops into the first battle of an invasion and they lose, you’re screwed. Only send what reinforcements you think are necessary, and try not to waste them. Reinforcements can either be the biggest P cost or the biggest N cost in a war. If you’re confident that committing more troops will win the battle and it does, then you’ve won the battle and you’ve kept the bulk of your reserve strength. Congratulations. But if they don’t win, then you’ve just wasted your best hope for victory later on. But enough of that. I’ll go more into commitment later.
-Edit-
It's also important to not focus your strength on your border. You don't want to have a soft inside, so to speak. If the enemy breaks past your shell, they can wipe you out at their leisure (another common situation in Risk). Be sure to keep the bulk of your strength well inside your territory.