Incredibly useful early-game builds

[jkievlan]

I thought it might be fun to hear about simple builds that make the early game easier to survive. I have a few, but I'll start with one: watchtowers.

Build a hollow tower with a ladder inside that goes down into your base. Make it tall enough that skeletons can't shoot you from the ground. Build a platform at the top, and place a torch there so mobs can't spawn on top. I always build one at any base. It serves a dual purpose: it's both a landmark and a way to look around outside without the slightest possibility of getting killed (well, unless you fall off it -- so don't :) ).

[eternal8phoenix]

Waypoints ad markers are so useful pre-compass. (Or no compass, as I am too lazy to make one)

Simple (preferably cobblestone, but wood will do) rotated L shapes (schematic below) pointing home with ( if you can spare it) a torch on the homeward side are my prefered design, with each marker pointing to the previous.

T[][]
__ []_____

Whenever I remember, go particularly far or get a full inventory, the next marker becomes a waypoint. I add a 3 high tower crowned with a chest. Bare minimum that goes in there is a stone axe and pick. Dirt slabs are a common addition. Food if I can spare it, and wool/leather armor if I got lucky. Means that if I die and Hardcore spawn, I know that if I find my trail I can get home. Plus some tools to use along the way. Past me is so good to future me. I did used to build bases instead of waypoints, (little huts etc) but right now I'm too scared to wait around for it. Also makes finding home more difficult as I'd forget which way the previous marker was while building.

Also means that later on I have a definitive path to follow when building roads.

[JakeZKAM]

Covered animal pits are a fairly obvious one, drawing away zombies and possibly spiders from you till morning. I also tend to make lots of "Hill forts" that dot the landscape near spawn that I can use for quick shelter during night if in a pinch. They don't really need to be big, just 2 blocks high and possibly with a lip if you want to avoid fighting spiders through the night.

[Six]

It can be quite handy to stick mushrooms under the wall next to hallways you use a lot. Cross section:

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[]    []
[]    []
m [][][] 

With a few of these, you can just pop any mushrooms that have grown as you regularly walk past, rather than having to go check on a specific mushroom farm. Plus with them hidden under the wall, you never need to think about accidentally breaking the seed mushrooms.

[johnt]

I think it would be helpful to list pre-requisites for early game builds as you post those as in:

Early game Mob-trap

Requires:

Vines, Water source, Redstone, Chickens.

(or whatever)

[Mr_Hosed]

I've found 2 REALLY useful builds for early game.

Underground Food Pen

Requires:
Pumpkin/Hemp Farm, Shears, Grass Floor, Door/Fence Gate, Chickens, Cows, Bucket

Pretty simple, just a large room with a grass floor. One trick is to line the walls with fence posts (or glass, but I prefer the look of fence posts) to prevent cows and chickens from suffocating and protect your source grass blocks from being eaten. Be sure to line the walls atleast 2 blocks high, otherwise cows will still suffocate.

Also, zombies will be attracted to the room so you may want to put a piston door in rather then a fence gate or wood door. Buggers keep finding some magic spot to spawn in. The advantage of a piston door is 5 less iron then an iron door. At the very least block the door with dirt in front. I had zombies find their way in twice in my world.

Provides scrambled eggs and, when combined with a mushroom farm, egg omlets and mushroom soup. Top-tier food until you find wheat seeds.



Piston Doors

Requires:
2 Sticky Pistons, some redstone, a pressure plate, and a button

Basic piston door. Saves 4 iron over an iron door and removes the need to replace dirt blocks all the time. Combined with a fence you can actually do it with only 1 piston and save even more iron.

[KittenToaster]

Piston Doors

Requires:
2 Sticky Pistons, some redstone, a pressure plate, and a button

I thought the thread title was "early game" as when you have enough iron to throw into making pistons that is "mid game"
Why not use 4 non flammable blocks arranged 2 units high with a 1 block jump gap between them, there is no need to pause and press a button as any human can path over them quickly without any thought. Unless you are a bat there is no mob that can path over that arrangement as vMC mob AI is thick as s***. ;P

[eternal8phoenix]

Depends on when you define the mid game to start. The 3rd iron linked thing I made was a piston for a really simple piston door.
It was a single piston and a lever in my wall, as below.

[]/[]
P-l[]

Which saved me bunging a piece of wool in my door every time I left the house. Plus by putting the lever in the doorway itself I save all the trouble of complex wiring for double sided opening. I consider that as still a part of my early game as I had yet to find diamonds, get a nether portal set up, get enough hemp for a windmill or get more than 1 chicken in my eggy hole. I'd still call it early game until you have the resources for a nether portal.

Some seeds are just lucky and there's plenty of surface iron. That or mugging a zombie for an iron pickaxe.

[jkievlan]

Another interesting little trick (which I'm sure FlowerChild will nerf eventually, since he already mentioned something about not liking how water is so safe) is to always build bases on shorelines. Why? Because, once you have a few built, and you die and respawn in some freakish, terrifying wilderness, you can simply collect 9 wood, build a workbench and a boat, and sail happily down the coastline looking for watchtowers in the distance. It might take a while to find a base (and if you don't find one you might just give up and build another lovely waterfront property), but chances are you'll stumble on one of your vacation homes sooner or later.

Also: always, always familiarize yourself with the nearby terrain when you build a base. Remember what it looks like. It's ridiculously easy to walk right past a base and never see it, unless you can recognize nearby formations to get your bearings.

Edit: Can't help wondering if FC is planning on making those squids attack us poor, defenseless Steves? They look pretty scary, if you ask me. But in the meantime, boats are a great way to explore :)

[Mr_Hosed]

I thought the thread title was "early game" as when you have enough iron to throw into making pistons that is "mid game"... <snip>

Redstone is incredibly easy to get. For instance, in my world I've got 10 piles of redstone, but I've only found enough diamonds for 2 picks and a sword. Likewise, I've got a double chest nearly full of used up iron picks, but I've yet to reach beyond a couldron. Partly this is because my play style has been to explore every nook and crany of the abandoned mineshaft under my base and I've yet to get dung. Point is, "early game" is hard to define, but although I've been in this world for 30 hours, my tech level isn't very high.

Also, I like the idea of building little 1-block wide moats all over. I frankly hadn't even concidered it.

[jkievlan]

Redstone is incredibly easy to get.

It is? Are you playing the latest BTW? Redstone is in the third stratum. That's diamond-pick level. The only way to get it is to either get a diamond pick or find AND explore a cave or ravine that goes three strata down. That's not "incredibly easy" in my book.

EDIT: And, of course, the only way to get a diamond pick is to explore down past the second stratum. So, yeah...you gotta get that deep before you can even think about having redstone. I'll grant that once you do find it, there's plenty -- but finding it is the hard part.

[Sandrew]

Redstone is incredibly easy to get.

It is? Are you playing the latest BTW? Redstone is in the third stratum. That's diamond-pick level. The only way to get it is to either get a diamond pick or find AND explore a cave or ravine that goes three strata down. That's not "incredibly easy" in my book.

EDIT: And, of course, the only way to get a diamond pick is to explore down past the second stratum. So, yeah...you gotta get that deep before you can even think about having redstone. I'll grant that once you do find it, there's plenty -- but finding it is the hard part.

I had two stacks of redstone by the time I got my first diamond pick, and I didn't even mine all the ore I came across.

[ExpHP]

For those who can't spatially reason their way out of a one-bedroom apartment, I find that making ladders and building arrows helps a great deal in caves. Slabs may be great for smoothing out unruly passages and tunnels, but if you're about to drop down into a big dark scary place with tunnels in every direction, you want to make something that unambiguously shouts "I am the way out!"

[Ulfengaard]

I had two stacks of redstone by the time I got my first diamond pick, and I didn't even mine all the ore I came across.

The point is that redstone is most definitely not early game.

[jkievlan]

For those who can't spatially reason their way out of a one-bedroom apartment, I find that making ladders and building arrows helps a great deal in caves. Slabs may be great for smoothing out unruly passages and tunnels, but if you're about to drop down into a big dark scary place with tunnels in every direction, you want to make something that unambiguously shouts "I am the way out!"

In caves, I just put all my torches on the right side as I'm going deeper into the cave. That way, if I want to get out, I just keep the torches to my left and follow it up and out. No arrows required :)

[danielngtiger]

In caves, I just put all my torches on the right side as I'm going deeper into the cave. That way, if I want to get out, I just keep the torches to my left and follow it up and out. No arrows required :)

This is certainly a good method, but where I've had it break down is minecraft's convoluted cave intersections. A hallway splitting into two isn't usually a problem but a junction with five or six tunnels branching off at different heights can be difficult to navigate through, particularly if you can't jump out, since you can't 'just pillar out' either. This is where I've found an unambiguous exit that I can find even when running in a panic from mobs is useful.

[FlowerChild]

I tend to just use two torches directly next to each other in a line to point the way out at intersections. This might be a tad wasteful, but I get the impression that it would be no more so than lining one side of passages with torches, since that doesn't maximize their radius.

You could probably do the same thing by *only* putting torches on sides of blocks at intersections in the direction of the way out (always putting them on the floor otherwise). Actually, I think I'll start doing that myself to save on the extra torch I normally use :)

[KittenToaster]

You could probably do the same thing by *only* putting torches on sides of blocks at intersections in the direction of the way out

Simple rule - place torches on the right hand-side of a wall as will lead you out of a cave and back towards "home"
Right is the right way home and anybody with more braincells than testicles can follow that. :)

[FlowerChild]

Simple rule - place torches on the right hand-side of a wall as will lead you out of a cave and back towards "home"
Right is the right way home and anybody with more braincells than testicles can follow that. :)

Ummm...dude, that's exactly what we were talking about above, and that's exactly the method I was talking about as being rather wasteful given it doesn't maximize the radius of your torches.

[jakerman999]

Simple rule - place torches on the right hand-side of a wall as will lead you out of a cave and back towards "home"
Right is the right way home and anybody with more braincells than testicles can follow that. :)

Torch on the left; towards the depths. Torch on the right; towards the light.

[FlowerChild]

Does your rhyme cover what happens when the tunnel loops back around on itself and you have multiple indicators pointing you "out" of the cave?

That method has definite faults guys, false information and excessive torch use included. Harping on it doesn't change that.

[Six]

Does your rhyme cover what happens when the tunnel loops back around on itself and you have multiple indicators pointing you "out" of the cave?

That method has definite faults guys, false information and excessive torch use included. Harping on it doesn't change that.

Yeah, it works well in long tunnels with low branching, but as soon as you start getting lots of height changing, looping and caverns it can fall apart. I've had long periods of time stuck underground trying to find my way out of loops upon loops upon loops of torches stuck to one wall. I quite liked the suggestion of ladders when descending down, they would act as a good 'up here' arrow.

[jakerman999]

I handle loops by treating it as a single dead end. If the loop is short enough to be recognized as such, no problems arise, and if it's longer then that threshold the torch method holds true. The only place left to get lost in is the mazes that are called mineshafts, and even then It works with only minor adaptation.

But if the thread can be put back it's rails at all, I find building just a large wall and running vines along the top is one of the best things to do early game. The kickstart on vine production is really needed.

[FlowerChild]

But if the thread can be put back it's rails at allneeded.

You do realize that you were the largest problem in that regard so far with the poetry right?

[Taleric]

The earliest build I make is an auto chicken feeder.

Using a tripwire over a hopper to detect egg drops. The chickens are standing on a powered hopper where the seeds drop next to them.

This is my favorite food build next to the cow grinder in late game. Once I have the chicken grinder up I have time to spare for early aesthetic builds.