Mobfarm platform design

A place to talk to other users about the mod.
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

So I'm at the point in my singleplayer world where I should really build a mobfarm for all the delicious goodies I won't need to hunt for again. I'm lacking a good spawn platform design that preferably emphasizes vine trap efficiency as I'm not producing those extremely quickly.

I haven't decided how big the mobfarm will be so any size of spawning platform would do.

thanks in advance.
Mason11987
Posts: 1159
Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2011 11:03 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Mason11987 »

DiamondArms wrote:So I'm at the point in my singleplayer world where I should really build a mobfarm for all the delicious goodies I won't need to hunt for again. I'm lacking a good spawn platform design that preferably emphasizes vine trap efficiency as I'm not producing those extremely quickly.

I haven't decided how big the mobfarm will be so any size of spawning platform would do.

thanks in advance.
I've always went with 3x3 platforms, arranged in a 3x3 grid, with two blocks between, and each floor is two blocks high. This allows spiders to spawn and fall, but not endermen. If you're short on vine traps just do one layer at first, you'll be able to get more vine traps once you have a bunch of iron.
Sandrew
Posts: 175
Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 6:49 am
Location: Netherlands

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Sandrew »

I went with 3x3 platforms with a single block in the center to prevent spiders from spawning, one block spaces between platforms and a complete uninterrupted walk-around where mobs can spawn. The idea was to save on vinetraps and build a chicken-powered spider trap on a different occasion because spiders ignore terrain for pathing anyway. I suppose that efficiency largely depends on the amount of contact there is between spawn spaces and spaces where mobs drop through, so there's probably a better design than simple 3x3 platforms.
Mesh
Posts: 210
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 6:24 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Mesh »

I do 3 rows of 4x4 pads with a 2 block width gap between them, making the area 20x20 in total. I made a mob trap once with 1 block gap and the mobs would sometimes catch the edge when falling down and die (this was a monstrous 20 floor mob trap though, total overkill). My current trap using the 20x20 design is 5 floors high and producing well.

It might be worth investing in a couple of extra saws and making yourself an auto vine farm. We tend to do that after we have the first floor or two done in our mob trap.
User avatar
dawnraider
Posts: 1876
Joined: Sun Dec 11, 2011 7:00 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by dawnraider »

I have two different designs, for the two mob traps I have in my world. The first is three wide strips with three wide vine traps between, the second is four triangles with an open x, with water on a timer to push mobs off the platform rather than waiting for them to walk off.
1st Design, still under construction (warning large images):
Spoiler
Show
Image
2nd Design, mid activation:
Spoiler
Show
Image
Come join us on discord! https://discord.gg/fhMK5kx
Get the Deco Addon here!
Get the Better Terrain Addon here!
Get the Vanilla Mix TP here!
Get the Conquest TP here!
User avatar
William the tuba
Posts: 35
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2013 11:28 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by William the tuba »

I went with 4 4x4 platforms arranged in a 2x2 pattern, surrounded by vine traps, with two blocks worth of padding between the solid blocks of the platform. This has the bonus of requiring exactly 64 blocks for the platforms, and 64 + 16 vine traps, which makes for an easy 4 stacks of blocks and 5 stacks of vine traps for every four layers of my mob trap.
(@Will on the discord)
Parents of young, organic life forms are warned that towels can be harmful if swallowed in large quantities.
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

Hm. I think dawnraider's first setup has me interested. I can reshape it slightly to use 64 vinetraps through 4 strips and 5 strips of blocks. it sounds easy to build on top of later.

This has definitely been very helpful. Thanks for all the ideas. I'll soon be on my way to building my first mobfarm.

As for why this is my first mobfarm, everyone around me is really good at mobfarms and I have a tendency to just pay visits to people :)
User avatar
Samorost
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:51 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Samorost »

I have 48 floors of this, it is pretty effective like 1-2 mobs every seconds
Spoiler
Show
Image

Image
Czech Republic :)
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

Looks expensive. I estimate 1.3/4 stacks of vine traps per level at least. trying to build 2 levels alone will bankrupt my vine trap stock. I'm still working out how to make the mobfarm work so I'll stick with simpler designs for now.
Niyu
Posts: 265
Joined: Tue Mar 20, 2012 7:15 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Niyu »

If you are low on vines and don't have the resources to autofarm them try and cover a big wall with them. i had enougth vines planted to almost break a new pair of shears harvesting them and it really helped with making the first levels of my mob tower. And i had a pretty expensive design going with 4 4x4 spawn pads surrounded with 3 wide vinetraps by all sides. If i remember properly I needed more than 4 stacks of vinetraps per floor.
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

Niyu wrote:If you are low on vines and don't have the resources to autofarm them try and cover a big wall with them. i had enougth vines planted to almost break a new pair of shears harvesting them and it really helped with making the first levels of my mob tower. And i had a pretty expensive design going with 4 4x4 spawn pads surrounded with 3 wide vinetraps by all sides. If i remember properly I needed more than 4 stacks of vinetraps per floor.
Well I kind of already have several walls with vines on them, but I don't harvest regularly.

I have attention span issues. Spending too much time babysitting harvests...not when I have things more distracting to do. Its one of the reasons I put off building a mobfarm for so long.

Side note: I have extremely basic vine farm running over my saw when I'm not using it. crucible for collection. I check every now and then but its hardly ludicrous.
Mesh
Posts: 210
Joined: Sun May 12, 2013 6:24 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Mesh »

DiamondArms wrote:
I have attention span issues. Spending too much time babysitting harvests...not when I have things more distracting to do. Its one of the reasons I put off building a mobfarm for so long.
Yeah I have problems remembering everything to do in game so I make ToDo lists with signs. I even make it into a feature, and build a "Notice Board". It helps to be able to see everything written down so I can decide what to do next. I mainly use it for future projects, auto chicken feeder, jungle spider trap, bat trap, etc etc.
rumkex
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 5:40 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by rumkex »

Vine problems are solved really easily by a day-long (or overnight) trip to a swamp. Provided you have means of crafting/resmelting a lot of shears. I think you can get around 3-4 stacks of vines per 2 ingots, and those trees provide you with an almost infinite supply of vines.
User avatar
ion
Posts: 550
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2013 2:56 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by ion »

i use the dawnraider first design. 3 rows for 4 or 5 levels is enough for my needs. best thing is to light the caves after and you'll see a big difference in drops.
abculatter_2
Posts: 122
Joined: Sat Jul 13, 2013 11:37 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by abculatter_2 »

ion wrote:i use the dawnraider first design. 3 rows for 4 or 5 levels is enough for my needs. best thing is to light the caves after and you'll see a big difference in drops.
I would also just like to emphasis that it'll be easier to light the caves AFTER the mob trap is built, rather then before.
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

Mesh wrote: Yeah I have problems remembering everything to do in game so I make ToDo lists with signs. I even make it into a feature, and build a "Notice Board". It helps to be able to see everything written down so I can decide what to do next. I mainly use it for future projects, auto chicken feeder, jungle spider trap, bat trap, etc etc.
This sounds nice actually. I have a fairly open compound with not much sitting on it atm. A notice board will definitely look nice and perhaps inspire more aboveground buildings.
rumkex wrote:Vine problems are solved really easily by a day-long (or overnight) trip to a swamp. Provided you have means of crafting/resmelting a lot of shears. I think you can get around 3-4 stacks of vines per 2 ingots, and those trees provide you with an almost infinite supply of vines.
Okay, spending that much time just harvesting really doesn't appeal to me. Especially since there's no swamp near my base, so I can't get any automata running while I hack away at nature. Even if its slow, I'd rather run a tiny vine farm.
Side note, large jungle trees have vines too and can be homegrown. I should consider slicing those up for vines. assuming my attention span lasts long enough.

I appreciate the advice, even if it doesn't suit my current playstyle.
ion wrote:i use the dawnraider first design. 3 rows for 4 or 5 levels is enough for my needs. best thing is to light the caves after and you'll see a big difference in drops.
Thanks for the reassuring example. Good to know that something within my current budget is viable. I'll work on lighting up as well.
User avatar
Samorost
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:51 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Samorost »

DiamondArms wrote:
Samorost wrote:I have 48 floors of this, it is pretty effective like 1-2 mobs every seconds
Spoiler
Show
Image

Image
Looks expensive. I estimate 1.3/4 stacks of vine traps per level at least. trying to build 2 levels alone will bankrupt my vine trap stock. I'm still working out how to make the mobfarm work so I'll stick with simpler designs for now.
Yeah maybe look but is not. It is only 1 stack of vine trap on one floor and I dont know how about you but i have almost unlimited amount of cobblestone :o)
Czech Republic :)
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

Samorost wrote: Yeah maybe look but is not. It is only 1 stack of vine trap on one floor and I dont know how about you but i have almost unlimited amount of cobblestone :o)
Hm. Please elaborate. I'm pretty sure I see 2 wide gaps between each platform. each gap should be 4x2=8 vine traps, which makes the outer ring alone 8x8=64 vinetraps. The middle ring is another 4 gaps(4x4x2=32) plus 4 2x2(4x2x2=16) intersections.
1 stack for the outer ring, 48 traps for the center.

Unless this picture is larger than it seems, I'm wondering how its covered with only 1 stack of vine traps.

Edit: I'm not saying your way is bad or anything, It's just outside my practical range of resources atm. block supply aside, I'm not rolling in green.
User avatar
Samorost
Posts: 30
Joined: Sun Dec 25, 2011 9:51 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Samorost »

Sorry, sorry, sorry my bad. I calculated only with one column of vine trap in each row real number is 112 so you're right is not such a material effective :-)
Czech Republic :)
devak
Posts: 357
Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2011 3:19 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by devak »

So i'm the only one who builds it in a checkerboard design? 3 by 3?
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

devak wrote:So i'm the only one who builds it in a checkerboard design? 3 by 3?
Probably not, but checkerboard doesn't sound like its particularly efficient material or design wise. The vine trap in the middle of each 3x3 hole is rather defunct, plus mobs should be able to cross at the corners rather easily. That said, it is a rather simple and easy to remember design.

Actually, that would also make the 4 intersections in Samorost's design optional as well, reducing the cost of each level to 1.5 stacks of vine traps.

That said, I have no idea how mob pathing works. Anyone have any details for mobfarm efficiency with regards to mob pathing? How do diagonals work in pathing?
User avatar
Gilberreke
Posts: 4486
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:12 pm
Location: Belgium

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Gilberreke »

DiamondArms wrote:That said, I have no idea how mob pathing works. Anyone have any details for mobfarm efficiency with regards to mob pathing? How do diagonals work in pathing?
Well, mobs never path diagonally, but with vinetraps there, they actually might walk diagonally, as they consider the whole floor to be a single platform.
Come join us at Vioki's Discord! discord.gg/fhMK5kx
User avatar
magikeh
Posts: 945
Joined: Mon Jul 04, 2011 9:57 pm
Location: Top -o- the Tower

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by magikeh »

From what I understand and remember mobs path (when at idle) they pick a spot within a radius of themselves and then try to get there, so honestly the best trap would be to create a situation where the pathing algo succeeds every time it's run. This can be achieved by creating spawn pads then filling in all the other floor space around with vine traps (as pathing finds vinetraps as a valid path) However since we are trying to minimize our vine use with maximum spawn yield we will want to have a very high success rate for the pathing algo. This can be achieved by connecting all the platforms to eachother via vines, this way, wherever the mob randomly chooses to path to they will be able to find a way to get there (and with luck fall for our vine trap)

A while back Six and I were working on a nether farm where we needed a specific dimension for it to fit within a couple fortress hallways, we came up with something that looked like this:

Image

Green: Vinetraps (32)
Red: Spawn platforms (64) as We put a slab on the 3x3 platform
Black: Walls
White: Empty space (29)

As you can see if a mob spawns on any of the platforms, they think they can path to any other within the cross section. There was a (96/125=.768) 77% chance that the pathing algo would select a block that was possible for the mob to path to. At the same time we were able to cut our vine trap use almost in half. So you have to look at your design you want to use, then fit traps in a way that connects each platform, the same time as removing as many as possible that still give a high likely hood of the pathing to succeed in selecting a block to path to. (Because the pathing algo may choose a block over air to path to, then say 'Nope can't do that' then wait for something else to happen)

Some additional notes: *warning these notes are dependent on my memory, don't take them as set in stone*
-Mobs have 5s to move after spawning before they freeze due to distance from player
-Mobs will try to move within the 5s if they do not find a target to attack
-After 5s the mob will stop and become still to save on preformance (Mojang preformance enhancement a while back had mobs that were a distance from the player stop moving what so ever to help render things that were closer and more noticable to the player, FC subsequently tweaked it so there was a bit of time[5s] after mob spawns that allowed them to move so the change wouldn't break mob farms)
-Vine traps do not count as valid spawning blocks, so they will not have critters spawn on them.

Please please please, if you find anything in the above that isn't right or seems off. Let me know, spreading crap information is bad and I don't trust my memory that much with details.
Magical Shit
Show
Syruse|Work: i like magic shit
MagikEh: ...
MagikEh: >.>
MagikEh: <.<
»» MagikEh walks to the bathroom
Syruse|Work: hahaaaaaaaaa
Syruse|Work: wait
MagikEh: xD
Syruse|Work: fuck
Syruse|Work: NO
Syruse|Work: DONT
Norton
Posts: 22
Joined: Wed Jan 29, 2014 11:41 pm

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by Norton »

Tried a few quick tests in creative, so the usual caveats apply in addition to tiny sample sizes. Things I didn't know in advance, though maybe common knowledge :)

Vine traps are considered a valid destination for pathing. Created a closed 5x7 box floored with 3x7 platform and 2x7 vine traps: spawned zombies and skeletons reliably wandered off the edge regardless of player location.

Appears that path length does not matter much. Created a closed 5x7 box floored with two 2x7 platforms, separated by vine traps: spawned zombies fell down at roughly the same rate regardless of whether that had one vine trap or more, and did not seem to care about where the vine trap was.

Suspect, but am not confident, that the random-walk is randomly triggered and then searches for a destination (rather than trying one destination and giving up). Created a closed 5x7 box with a U-shaped 1-wide ledge and a vine trap in the middle of the bottom of the U. Spawned zombies fell down at roughly the same rate as the larger platforms. Even saw a few push stationary friends off the edge.

The mob trap I used in my last world was 16x16 with a two-wide stretch of vine traps down the middle (TBH, smaller might be more efficient -- depends on how the random destination is picked). Tried adding a wall to cut it into quarters and force the mobs to detour into the vine traps, but got distracted before collecting meaningful results. Given the pathing being so cooperative, one should be able to lose the outer vine traps and simplify the collection system. (It took a long time to afford the 28-piston collection system in the Nether...)
User avatar
DiamondArms
Posts: 486
Joined: Sun Apr 21, 2013 9:04 am

Re: Mobfarm platform design

Post by DiamondArms »

Interesting. Theoretically that would make 4 square platforms with 2-wide traps in between the easiest setup.

4x4 platforms would make 2x4x4+2x2=36 vine traps per level.

Bonus Points Time!

Using animals to shift mobs: would a central tower containing sheep/pigs make the system any faster?

Known animal interactions
Zombies move towards sheep/pigs/cows
Skeletons move away from dogs/wolves
Creepers move away from cats
Spiders move towards chickens

Can wolves starve to death? If not, you could leave a wolf in cells at the corners to speed up skeletons moving into the gaps. Same for cats and creepers.

Can you fit a pig or sheep into the gap between 4 glass panes? Potentially the 2x2 space in the middle of the design mentioned above could be used to bait zombies and make the mobfarm more efficient, plus reduce vine trap costs slightly. If not, change of plans to 3x3 central section to bait mobs.

Not sure if spiders only target chickens. might affect bait tower if so.

I have the resources to make such an adjustment to the design, but need to weigh the convenience and effectiveness of such an addition.
Post Reply