LinkX - Been messing around with a water trap concept for our walls. Originally thought lava might be a better idea since it's quiet and provides exterior lighting, but we don't get to collect loot. With water they get sucked in, get trapped and loot flows through to us on the inside. So here's some screenshots of a cross section that works pretty well (city interior on the right):
And the outside looks like this:
Seems to work ok with a depth of two, but at the third block depth water stops flowing.
I also used Painterly pack, but although it's a very good looking pack I think it deviates a bit too much from the original feel. That's why I went to Quandry instead, which is not that much of a difference from the original, but still very good :).
I tried Painterly but stuck with Quandry because I like how they aimed to preserve the original feel of the graphics.
For anyone who wants to spice up the minecraft experience I would definitely recommend getting a texture pack, especially now that they can be easily dropped into a texture pack folder and selected in-game. After trying a bunch I settled on http://www.retributiongames.com/quandary/ - they even recommend a texture rotator that simulates "seasons" in the minecraft world.
I never had a chance to use carts, are there any limitations? Like, can you destroy them and pick them up like workbenches? Do they roll foverer on even ground? Can you stop at any time?
They're still buggy in SMP (survival multiplayer). You should be able to pick them up like workbenches using a pickaxe I believe, but that isn't working right now. If they run off the rail, they will eventually stop from friction or they will stop when they bump into an npc, player, or wall. If either of those things are on the track, they will be stopped too when bumped into.
It would seem hugely ineffective to just throw up rails everywhere in the actual branches, we ought to get it more ordered than that. A rail running down the main hallway seems like a good feature once we branch off pretty far, but the corridors themselves?
Not every corridor, but just the main arteries - this all depends on the breadth. Once you start getting more than 40 blocks from the access point it becomes a long walk.
(If Notch ever fixed the powered minecarts to actually enable to push other carts up an hill.)
Just make a few carts that have chests, people that mine put the stuff in there and send it up. Then somebody can easily take the goods and send the cart back. Makes mining a whole lot faster.
The downside is we need somebody to make huge and advanced red stone circuits and we need a lot of iron.
I believe this is fixed for empty carts (pointless), but I can't get it to work consistently on my test track for carts with containers in them. It's likely related to the lag and server/client sync issues.
Should we be designing the mine branches to eventually support inner-rail travel? Not necessarily for transporting goods, but it would cut down on travel time between the work front and access elevators.
Edit: and if so, we should go with a 3-block height on the mine branches for clearance.
Ok everyone, I threw up a mine design based on what Apoc had already done. It's right next to the huge water tower (the one with the sign outside that says it was a volcano or something). I made a stone arrow in the air as well so you'd see it once you're close.
It's basically a Low Density Branch Mine, but with slightly tighter branches. Branches will go off in western and eastern directions, with a main path that stretches from north to south from which all other braches start. The brilliant thing is that we can easily append new mine shafts to the existing branches when we want to. When we restart we'll probably want a waterlift instead of a huge staircase.
The mine is very safe, as the floor of the lower branches will be on lvl 11, and lava starts to spawn at lvl 10. So whenever HP comes into MP, we won't have to fear dying from sudden lava valves opening. This also means that we basically cover the entire safe spectrum where diamond can appear.
Toches in the branches have all been placed on the northern walls, so you always know which way you're heading.
Water lift good.
I wanted to suggest that we actually go a level deeper even if there is lava, because it's something we're going to want to gather as a resource as well. It makes mining more exciting too and increases our access by diamonds by almost 50%. Lava can be managed - just bring a lot buckets or pour water on it and mine out the Obsidian. If people are worried about getting burned, they can stay on the kiddie levels
You can ease the lag when you're mining a little by performing a new click each time you move to another block instead of holding the button down continuously from block-to-block. This seems to help the server realize you've completed mining a block and it behaves better.
Heh welcome Phrozen... If you want you can use my mine across the lake form the /home spawn or emulate it somewhere else.
And speaking of which, I wanted to share some info regarding mining efficiency: Bedrock & Branching vs Spelunking. From what I've read and seen on youtube vids, Spelunking (scouting natural caves for exposed ore) is a good way to get started. Later on however when you're looking for gold, diamond, and other valuable stuff you will need to work in the lowest layers because that's only where it spawns. Natural caves don't always give you access to those layers so it makes sense to just bore until you hit bedrock then carve out a horizontal grid between layers 6 and 16.
Sadly, obsidian forge and infinite lava spring are not possible anymore.
Noticed that but in a way I'm happy with it too since it makes finding natural lava sources more valuable also with the need for miners to create obsidian onsite.
Now that I like. I do have to ask though, exactly what is the Commerical/Industrial area for? Just Forges and Chests? o.O
And any structures that function as an infinite source of material: water springs, lava spring (if still possible), cobblestone forge, obsidian forge... etc.
And the outside looks like this:
Seems to work ok with a depth of two, but at the third block depth water stops flowing.
I tried Painterly but stuck with Quandry because I like how they aimed to preserve the original feel of the graphics.
They're still buggy in SMP (survival multiplayer). You should be able to pick them up like workbenches using a pickaxe I believe, but that isn't working right now. If they run off the rail, they will eventually stop from friction or they will stop when they bump into an npc, player, or wall. If either of those things are on the track, they will be stopped too when bumped into.
Not every corridor, but just the main arteries - this all depends on the breadth. Once you start getting more than 40 blocks from the access point it becomes a long walk.
I believe this is fixed for empty carts (pointless), but I can't get it to work consistently on my test track for carts with containers in them. It's likely related to the lag and server/client sync issues.
Edit: and if so, we should go with a 3-block height on the mine branches for clearance.
Water lift good.
I wanted to suggest that we actually go a level deeper even if there is lava, because it's something we're going to want to gather as a resource as well. It makes mining more exciting too and increases our access by diamonds by almost 50%. Lava can be managed - just bring a lot buckets or pour water on it and mine out the Obsidian. If people are worried about getting burned, they can stay on the kiddie levels
And speaking of which, I wanted to share some info regarding mining efficiency: Bedrock & Branching vs Spelunking. From what I've read and seen on youtube vids, Spelunking (scouting natural caves for exposed ore) is a good way to get started. Later on however when you're looking for gold, diamond, and other valuable stuff you will need to work in the lowest layers because that's only where it spawns. Natural caves don't always give you access to those layers so it makes sense to just bore until you hit bedrock then carve out a horizontal grid between layers 6 and 16.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=28299
Noticed that but in a way I'm happy with it too since it makes finding natural lava sources more valuable also with the need for miners to create obsidian onsite.
And any structures that function as an infinite source of material: water springs, lava spring (if still possible), cobblestone forge, obsidian forge... etc.