For my first day I craft some tools, go to the caves and descend, and then when I acquire a full set of iron armor, tools, and maybe potentially diamonds (if I decide to go deep enough), I ascend to the surface and start building.
I explore the surface, searching out potential base sites, noting where villages and other structures are, and generally gathering up all the farmables and surface resources I can find so I don't have to come out of the mines later. This gives me time to think about the "how/where/with what" of the base concept as well as some time to think about future projects to help with burnout.
Once I've crammed as much as I can into my inventory or the sun sets (whichever comes first), I then pick a base site and start working on the base concept. An underground base needs an entrance, so instead of building a hole-in-the-wall randomly I build the entrance I want and start expanding things from there. A surface base needs walls and a gate of some kind so I'll build that and work on the inside/roof later.
Gather a stack & half of wood for a full stack of wood, sticks, a crafting bench and a wood pick, mine enough stone for all stone tools (Incl a hoe), a sword and a furnace. Gather seeds for early food growing and go exploring to find a good place to build, I rarely build at spawn. Usually spend the night either inside of a mountain wall dug ir go mining for immediate coal for torches, future smelting and of course iron ore. Priorities in iron: shield, pick and bucket. Shears if I can.
Continue looking in the morning for a good place to build.
Like Minecraft forums or interested in my world? Try My message board, it's better moderated because I run it directly and have run Internet message boards for 21+ years! Better software and I have much more control to keep the content more up to date. Free to join, 13 years+.
I always remain right at spawn, digging down to make a temporary shelter/base below the surface with a staircase down to a branch-mine at bedrock level, which provides me with all the resources that I need (I do not do any caving until the "end-game", only exploring any that my mine intersects down to a dead end or intersection). After I've collected some resources I go to the Nether to get blaze rods so I can cure zombie villagers and make eyes of ender.
I then breed villagers and make farms to get the resources I need to trade for emeralds until I've gotten a Mending trade (only since TMCWv4, which is to say one world, though all of my worlds have a village I've built in my base for fun, in these worlds I just had to rename my items to enable repairing them forever, while TMCWv4 replaces this with Mending, unlike 1.9's version which only need XP; either way, it is essential that I have gear I can repair indefinitely). Around the same time I also go to the Nether to mine quartz for XP, which I use to enchant my gear, and locate a stronghold, which I loot (this was made much easier in TMCWv4 because I found an Enderman dungeon in a cave my branch-mine ran into, making it easy to get ender pearls, otherwise it can take many nights to collect enough).
Once I'm done making all of my "caving gear" I go to the End to kill the Ender Dragon (not using this gear yet, at this point I have iron gear with various low-mid level enchantments, plus a Power V bow for the Ender Dragon; unlike newer versions there are no iron bars or dragon breath but the obsidian towers are randomized (they aren't even tied to the seed so the number of locations differ every time you regenerate the End). After this, I build my main base (only base in many worlds) and only after this is done do I start caving for fun, and exploring the world past spawn (besides the path I took to the stronghold), which make sup the majority of the time I spend in a world (currently around 28 out of 30.5 days; it took 2.44 days over 15 sessions to reach the "end-game" with 171 out of 192 sessions so far exclusively spent caving).
Here are a couple journals for worlds that I've documented from the start; TMCWv4 (the last one) is when I also bred villagers to get Mending, otherwise they are pretty similar in progression:
Search the area and see how many sheep and llamas I find, as they are my good luck beacons.
By really, I get wood, look for sheep (for a bed), and search for some animals for food and coal. I guess my first day approach is pretty boring and standard. From there I work on getting something small but nice going for my initial house/base/location/whatever.
I need a sense of safety and security, so after making basic tools and collecting a bit of food I usually burrow into the nearest hill and mine down to get coal and iron. Sometimes I need to burn wood for charcoal at the beginning. Once I have iron armor and a shield, I venture out by day. I don't travel far looking for a better spot unless I have a bed. If I find a village, I often make it my temporary base while I secure it with fences and lighting and make it into a thriving trading outpost. This can take many days because I have to build farms, collect livestock, etc. I always sleep at night until the village is secured so the villagers are kept safe.
In my current world, which is the seed used in Hermitcraft season 7, I spawned on a tiny island and had to swim to shore to find a hill to burrow into. this ended up being my permanent cozy base, because it had woods and ocean and just appealed to me. It also had an abandoned mineshaft below which gave me tons of resources at the very beginning. I travel from there to various trading villages by railroad, by boat or by Nether portal.
I explore the surface, searching out potential base sites, noting where villages and other structures are, and generally gathering up all the farmables and surface resources I can find so I don't have to come out of the mines later. This gives me time to think about the "how/where/with what" of the base concept as well as some time to think about future projects to help with burnout.
This is exactly what I do, except I generally pick somewhere I later regret. Last time I tried to build a castle on a hill - I like the idea of building on a hill - but kept running out of space. The time before that I started near a jungle so I tried to make a jungle base and spent way too much time clearing trees. In my currently world I decided to go for something more modest and built a large house on a smaller hill (the downside of building on a hill is you're constantly going up and down it) and I still had to spend hours knocking it down and rebuilding it when I decided I wanted different rooms and ran out of space. I actually cheated and used online tools to scout out somewhere I liked the look of and teleported myself there right at the start, and I'm still not 100% happy with it.
Collect basic materials for tools, food and survival. Secure a temporary base for the first night(s), (usually a shallow hole dug into a hillside. ASAP, craft a bed, thus negating the need for secure base to protect against hostile mobs. With bed acquired, begin exploring overworld until suitable/desirable 'hub' base can be located. I prefer my hub bases to be in or near a village and preferably along the shore of a large body of water, thus allowing easy land and water access.
I tend to be more of an explorer than a builder. I typically tire of any region I spend too long in, and thus my worlds tend have numerous bases. My bases will experience greater or lesser development depending on how much I like the area and thus how much I am inspired to stay in that area and improve it. If I have two or more bases I'm rather fond of, then I will make efforts to connect those bases via rail, bridge, nether routes, etc. Rarely do I build more than a cozy storage building at my bases, though I do try to create unique and interesting structures when I do so.
find a place near water with an area to dig into the ground and make a starter base. Need the water for a farm since we play modded and it takes a bit before you can make a bucket. My wife normally makes the farm while I dig down to get our first ores specifically iron, copper and tin.
For my first day I craft some tools, go to the caves and descend, and then when I acquire a full set of iron armor, tools, and maybe potentially diamonds (if I decide to go deep enough), I ascend to the surface and start building.
What do you do?
I explore the surface, searching out potential base sites, noting where villages and other structures are, and generally gathering up all the farmables and surface resources I can find so I don't have to come out of the mines later. This gives me time to think about the "how/where/with what" of the base concept as well as some time to think about future projects to help with burnout.
Once I've crammed as much as I can into my inventory or the sun sets (whichever comes first), I then pick a base site and start working on the base concept. An underground base needs an entrance, so instead of building a hole-in-the-wall randomly I build the entrance I want and start expanding things from there. A surface base needs walls and a gate of some kind so I'll build that and work on the inside/roof later.
Gather a stack & half of wood for a full stack of wood, sticks, a crafting bench and a wood pick, mine enough stone for all stone tools (Incl a hoe), a sword and a furnace. Gather seeds for early food growing and go exploring to find a good place to build, I rarely build at spawn. Usually spend the night either inside of a mountain wall dug ir go mining for immediate coal for torches, future smelting and of course iron ore. Priorities in iron: shield, pick and bucket. Shears if I can.
Continue looking in the morning for a good place to build.
Closed old thread
Like Minecraft forums or interested in my world? Try My message board, it's better moderated because I run it directly and have run Internet message boards for 21+ years! Better software and I have much more control to keep the content more up to date. Free to join, 13 years+.
16yrs+ only
I always remain right at spawn, digging down to make a temporary shelter/base below the surface with a staircase down to a branch-mine at bedrock level, which provides me with all the resources that I need (I do not do any caving until the "end-game", only exploring any that my mine intersects down to a dead end or intersection). After I've collected some resources I go to the Nether to get blaze rods so I can cure zombie villagers and make eyes of ender.
I then breed villagers and make farms to get the resources I need to trade for emeralds until I've gotten a Mending trade (only since TMCWv4, which is to say one world, though all of my worlds have a village I've built in my base for fun, in these worlds I just had to rename my items to enable repairing them forever, while TMCWv4 replaces this with Mending, unlike 1.9's version which only need XP; either way, it is essential that I have gear I can repair indefinitely). Around the same time I also go to the Nether to mine quartz for XP, which I use to enchant my gear, and locate a stronghold, which I loot (this was made much easier in TMCWv4 because I found an Enderman dungeon in a cave my branch-mine ran into, making it easy to get ender pearls, otherwise it can take many nights to collect enough).
Once I'm done making all of my "caving gear" I go to the End to kill the Ender Dragon (not using this gear yet, at this point I have iron gear with various low-mid level enchantments, plus a Power V bow for the Ender Dragon; unlike newer versions there are no iron bars or dragon breath but the obsidian towers are randomized (they aren't even tied to the seed so the number of locations differ every time you regenerate the End). After this, I build my main base (only base in many worlds) and only after this is done do I start caving for fun, and exploring the world past spawn (besides the path I took to the stronghold), which make sup the majority of the time I spend in a world (currently around 28 out of 30.5 days; it took 2.44 days over 15 sessions to reach the "end-game" with 171 out of 192 sessions so far exclusively spent caving).
Here are a couple journals for worlds that I've documented from the start; TMCWv4 (the last one) is when I also bred villagers to get Mending, otherwise they are pretty similar in progression:
https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/survival-mode/2413767-themastercavers-caving-adventures-in-tmcw
https://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-java-edition/survival-mode/2780836-themastercavers-world-version-4-4-5
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?
Search the area and see how many sheep and llamas I find, as they are my good luck beacons.
By really, I get wood, look for sheep (for a bed), and search for some animals for food and coal. I guess my first day approach is pretty boring and standard. From there I work on getting something small but nice going for my initial house/base/location/whatever.
I need a sense of safety and security, so after making basic tools and collecting a bit of food I usually burrow into the nearest hill and mine down to get coal and iron. Sometimes I need to burn wood for charcoal at the beginning. Once I have iron armor and a shield, I venture out by day. I don't travel far looking for a better spot unless I have a bed. If I find a village, I often make it my temporary base while I secure it with fences and lighting and make it into a thriving trading outpost. This can take many days because I have to build farms, collect livestock, etc. I always sleep at night until the village is secured so the villagers are kept safe.
In my current world, which is the seed used in Hermitcraft season 7, I spawned on a tiny island and had to swim to shore to find a hill to burrow into. this ended up being my permanent cozy base, because it had woods and ocean and just appealed to me. It also had an abandoned mineshaft below which gave me tons of resources at the very beginning. I travel from there to various trading villages by railroad, by boat or by Nether portal.
This is exactly what I do, except I generally pick somewhere I later regret. Last time I tried to build a castle on a hill - I like the idea of building on a hill - but kept running out of space. The time before that I started near a jungle so I tried to make a jungle base and spent way too much time clearing trees. In my currently world I decided to go for something more modest and built a large house on a smaller hill (the downside of building on a hill is you're constantly going up and down it) and I still had to spend hours knocking it down and rebuilding it when I decided I wanted different rooms and ran out of space. I actually cheated and used online tools to scout out somewhere I liked the look of and teleported myself there right at the start, and I'm still not 100% happy with it.
Pick a suitable location for starter base.
Get some wood.
Make craft table and wood pick.
Get some cobble.
Make stone tools.
Try to locate some coal, grab a bit more wood.
Dig out starter base, usually in side of a hill.
Make a shaft down to diamond level.
Dig there for stuff.
Emerge with spoils, (mainly first iron) Make bucket, shears.
Go look for sheep for wool (bed)
Setup farms. Wheat, cane, sheep, cows,
Go looking for village to cultivate into a trading hub.
Nether base
Mob grinder in the sky over ocean.
Nether fortress/brewing.
Enchanted diamond gear.
End/Dragon/Elytra.
I want to explore strange new biomes...to seek out new life and new civilizations...to boldly go where no man has gone before!
Collect basic materials for tools, food and survival. Secure a temporary base for the first night(s), (usually a shallow hole dug into a hillside. ASAP, craft a bed, thus negating the need for secure base to protect against hostile mobs. With bed acquired, begin exploring overworld until suitable/desirable 'hub' base can be located. I prefer my hub bases to be in or near a village and preferably along the shore of a large body of water, thus allowing easy land and water access.
I tend to be more of an explorer than a builder. I typically tire of any region I spend too long in, and thus my worlds tend have numerous bases. My bases will experience greater or lesser development depending on how much I like the area and thus how much I am inspired to stay in that area and improve it. If I have two or more bases I'm rather fond of, then I will make efforts to connect those bases via rail, bridge, nether routes, etc. Rarely do I build more than a cozy storage building at my bases, though I do try to create unique and interesting structures when I do so.
find a place near water with an area to dig into the ground and make a starter base. Need the water for a farm since we play modded and it takes a bit before you can make a bucket. My wife normally makes the farm while I dig down to get our first ores specifically iron, copper and tin.