Gunnerman21 wrote:Maybe i just shouldnt eat animals... I'm thinking of starting a world, making tiny bases and such, but not eating animals. I die so much that the food i do eat doesnt matter, so it basically goes to waste. Eventually I'll find a ravine or something similar with a lot of exposed iron, hopefully more than 18, so there ill start my true survival, mine the ore, kill animals and such, get a pumpkin/chicken farm going, and then after a while ill move the trapped animals to my base. Then ill have lots of animals to work with right from the beginning.
It's really not that hard to get an iron pick, so long as you follow the general guidelines of avoiding danger and being smart about your resources.
In fact, I'm quite certain you can get to an iron pick with just an hour of gameplay.
Gunnerman21 wrote:Maybe i just shouldnt eat animals... I'm thinking of starting a world, making tiny bases and such, but not eating animals. I die so much that the food i do eat doesnt matter, so it basically goes to waste. Eventually I'll find a ravine or something similar with a lot of exposed iron, hopefully more than 18, so there ill start my true survival, mine the ore, kill animals and such, get a pumpkin/chicken farm going, and then after a while ill move the trapped animals to my base. Then ill have lots of animals to work with right from the beginning.
Haha, noob.
But seriously, if you die that often, you are doing something fundamentally wrong. Avoid all confrontation, only engaging when absolutely necessary. Never go out at night, and always make sure you have enough food to last the night. I go on hunting trips during some days to stock up on large amounts of food until I am able to lure animals in. Don't ever sprint unless running away from something, and jump as little as possible to conserve food. While caving, never turn your back to darkness, and always be on the lookout for secondary tunnels that could let you be surprised by mobs, and light them up or block them off. Also, try to get some form of armor (cloth or leather) as soon as possible for that small amount of damage mitigation.
Best survival strategy I can think of "DON'T PLAY LIKE ICY!" Seriously, that dude does crazy crap that *should* get him killed constantly. It doesn't. But it should.
DNoved1 wrote:In fact, I'm quite certain you can get to an iron pick with just an hour of gameplay.
Heh, I should time myself next time I die. I think I usually clock in at about 2 hours. (1 hour alternating between hunting/chopping and digging, and 1 hour straight up caving)
Gunnerman21 wrote:Eventually I'll find a ravine or something similar with a lot of exposed iron, hopefully more than 18, so there ill start my true survival,
A ravine? For your first iron? Yikes. Good luck with that.
My experience with ravines has taught me to leave them alone. The 5% of it that's in the shade will try its damndest to kill you. Not to mention that wide open space above you...
I estimate average recovery from a HC spawn at about 3-4 hours. In other words, if you die more than once every 3-4 hours in the early game, you're not making any forward progress (more or less).
I think i have about 5 hours of gameplay in the world im in now, and i never confront anything. I think i've died 20, maybe 25+ times. All i do is spawn, punch wood, make a stone pick, make more tools, make a hole in the wall/ground to be my home, then kill two or three animals with just enough time to quickly walk inside and block up the door. Then i spend the night mining stone and hopefully coal, next morning look for more animals, get shot up by skeletons waiting in the shade by my entrance, get finished off by creepers. That's just about how every hcs is in my play. And i havent played multiplayer in a long while after i lost a couple stacks of iron ore and iron tools below someones base that i mined.
ExpHP wrote:Heh, I should time myself next time I die. I think I usually clock in at about 2 hours. (1 hour alternating between hunting/chopping and digging, and 1 hour straight up caving)
Gunnerman21 wrote:Yes it does, but im talking about hcs's close together enough that the time limit sets in and i spawn during the night
I think this one calls for a "haha noob" :)
Basically, you need to be more careful and not die. Don't alter your play style to the fact that you will die, alter your playstyle, so you stop dying.
If you have access to recording software, maybe you can record a video of your first day(s), so we can help you out?
Gunnerman21 wrote:I think i've died 20, maybe 25+ times.
So...the objective here is, figure out why you died, and don't do that again.
Gunnerman21 wrote:get shot up by skeletons waiting in the shade by my entrance
That should tell you, "Shade in the morning is dangerous!" So, make sure there's no shade near your entrance.
Gunnerman21 wrote:get finished off by creepers.
That should tell you, "Creepers are still around in the morning!" Since you know -- or should know -- that you can run faster than creepers, don't walk out your entrance and stand still. Run to a spot where you can see everything around you and avoid those creepers.
In short? If you repeatedly die for the same reason, it's because you're repeatedly doing the same thing you shouldn't be doing. Stop doing it, and you'll be fine.
I almost always make my base on the border of a forest and plain biome. That way I can chop down trees near my base and also have a mob-free flat area on the other side. Also creepers can give you free dirt if you get away fast enough.
jkievlan wrote:In short? If you repeatedly die for the same reason, it's because you're repeatedly doing the same thing you shouldn't be doing. Stop doing it, and you'll be fine.
Well, let's be fair. Finding out how to adapt your playstyle is difficult when you're making so many mistakes.
I mean, gunnerman's feelings about BTW pretty much mirror my feelings about DF. There is such a large number of things I have to learn that, in my attempt to become better at one aspect of the game, another aspect of the game will often kill me before I get to see the results.
But just because you're failing doesn't mean you're not learning. Gunnerman, try focusing on improving one aspect of your playstyle at a time; for instance, checking your back to watch for dogs/creepers, or getting rid of the shade near your hidey hole on day 1. If you live long enough to see what works and what doesn't work, then good on you. If not, then so be it; just try, try again.
Though I will make one suggestion that I think will reduce frustration: Go axe first. Really. Much less punching, and you get an earlier start at cutting down those evil shade-giving trees and those meat-hoarding animals.
ExpHP wrote:I mean, gunnerman's feelings about BTW pretty much mirror my feelings about DF. There is such a large number of things I have to learn that, in my attempt to become better at one aspect of the game, another aspect of the game will often kill me before I get to see the results.
There's no shame in dying multiple times -- after all, there are an awful lot of things that can kill you. The "Haha, noob!" part comes in when you die over and over for the same reason. There's no reason that should happen unless you're just doing the same thing over and over hoping for luck to strike. In BTW, luck doesn't have anything to do with not dying, because it's specifically designed that way.
I had a friend who stopped playing BTW after a couple of months because he just couldn't keep his Steve alive for more than a day or two. I asked him to play through the early game on LAN with me so I could give him some tips. The first night, we're mining stone and we start to run low on sticks. He says, "I'm gonna go get some wood," and before I can stop him he digs out the block in our base entrance and goes running wildly out in the night to find some wood...
So yeah, people who repeatedly die generally just aren't stopping to think.
Yep, btw is an entirely different game. My friend really didnt like it because it was too difficult for him, so i said to just change his play style and treat this like a new game, but he keeped having close calls so we stopped playing for a while. And here i am trying to catch back up with you guys..
And as for the ways i die, its hard to remember them all but im pretty sure they're different every time. I guess most are from HCSing at night and not knowing what to do then. I dont see any animals anymore so i think i should start a new world.
jkievlan wrote:So yeah, people who repeatedly die generally just aren't stopping to think.
I still think there's more to it than that.
If somebody is repeating the same mistake, perhaps it's because they tried the alternatives, and those didn't work out so well for them.
In a situation like that, the most readily apparent alternative to going out and getting wood is to wait out the night. In the end, you'll end up without a furnace the first night. Especially if you're still making simple hunger-related mistakes, you may be hungry and unable to run from creepers come daylight. This is just a prolonged death sentence for a newcomer.
Ultimately, the best solution to that predicament is one of preparation: Make sure you have enough wood for the first night. Yet this imperative must be balanced against all the other imperatives that require your precious time and materials on day 1.
That balancing act is something that takes time to master.
ExpHP wrote:In a situation like that, the most readily apparent alternative to going out and getting wood is to wait out the night. In the end, you'll end up without a furnace the first night. Especially if you're still making simple hunger-related mistakes, you may be hungry and unable to run from creepers come daylight. This is just a prolonged death sentence for a newcomer.
We had a furnace. We had food. We had cobblestone. We had everything we needed, except for sticks to make more pickaxes. I don't see your point.
I just started a new world now, and right at the end of the second day i found the major flaw in something i cant change so easily. I have the worst sense of direction in minecraft ever. I went walking back to my hole in the ground after looking for iron (but finding none), on the way i saw that the animals all died off in one day except for one cow, 2 pigs, and a chicken. I ended up killing the cow but nothing else. So i went back to where my base was and found no base, because i went in the wrong direction heading back. I'm now stuck in a walled off cave, wounded because a spider got in, and only 3 steak left. But on the plus side i found 3 iron, so i got that going for me, which is nice... I also took the advice from above and got a golden poo in the beginning to help with luck. Idk if thats total bull or not, but its just one item.
Gunnerman21 wrote:I'm now stuck in a walled off cave, wounded because a spider got in, and only 3 steak left.
You're fine then :) Sit there overnight, nurse your wounds, eat a steak if you get hungry. In the morning, run out of the cave and avoid any creepers, and start collecting the other resources you need. 3 steaks should last you at least a full day or two if you don't do any jumping or sprinting.
Just remember, any place you can't see, or that is in shade, is very very dangerous.
jkievlan wrote:We had a furnace. We had food. We had cobblestone. We had everything we needed, except for sticks to make more pickaxes. I don't see your point.
...alright, then, that is a hopeless case.
Gunnerman21 wrote:So i went back to where my base was and found no base, because i went in the wrong direction heading back.
You're in good company there.
What I've learned to do is only travel in a straight line. Pick a compass direction, and do not deviate from it. If I have to turn, or if I find something I want to get that is off the path, I make an L-shape landmark pointing home, and make a 45 or 90 degree turn.
Sometimes I even put an extra landmark at the top of a steep hill before I walk down it, because on a couple of occasions I've accidentally gotten turned around after taking a detour to get back up :P
ExpHP wrote:...alright, then, that is a hopeless case.
Lol yeah, it was pretty bad. On top of that, we had had the following discussion earlier when I dropped a dirt block in our base entrance to keep the mobs out:
Him: "Dude, don't block up the entrance!"
Me: "Why not? If I don't, mobs are gonna get in and kill us."
Him: "Yeah, but if I'm running back to base with a pack of mobs chasing me, I'm not gonna have time to dig out the dirt to get back in."
Me: "You shouldn't ever be running from a pack of mobs, unless you're going out at night."
Him: "Yeah, you say that, but there are plenty of times when you don't have any choice but to go out at night."
Me: *rolls eyes and blocks up entrance anyway*
And then...I found out what he means by "not having any choice."
Ok, so this may be my first post, but have been playing BTW for quite a while.
I play as a nomad until I find a village and get my wheat and any goodies in the blacksmiths chest if there is a blacksmith there, then head back as close to spawn where there is a good place to settle in. Whether you play as a nomad or settle in within the first day or two, this will be relevant.
1. Location of your initial base and or your nomadic campsites is crucial. You want to have a field of vision out of your entrance as far into the distance as you can see. I try to be higher than the surrounding terrain inside a hill or cliff face. If you can see that the area is mob free at sunrise thats half the battle. Your ears will tell you if there are dangerous mobs out of sight. but don't count on it. Get out the door and keep moving until you are sure it is safe to look behind you. Sometimes you have to fight, but by following this method, you are reducing the chances of an ambush. Then make sure you block the entrance to your base. Too many times I have gotten out and have nearly been ambushed by a mob coming out of a hidden cave in the middle of the day. Also I have had mobs that were not fast enough to catch me, that tried to take shelter in my unblocked entrance.
2. Pay attention to the sun. For obvious reasons it will tell you when its time to start getting back to base before the mobs come out to play. Just as important is that it is perhaps the best navigational aid in the game, unless it is raining or clouded over. If I look out of my entrance and can see the sunrising, I know that my entrance is on the east side of a hill. I could use up a lot of space here talking about this, but in short, pay attention to it. Per chance, when you dig in for the night and could not see the sun, the moon works the same way.
3. Spiders are your friend. Well maybe not, but they leave good navigational aides, and string if you kill them and get it as a drop. If you wander too far away from home, get lost and the sun is starting to get low, Look for the spiderwebs. If you see spiderwebs in one direction and not the other, than your base is probably in the general direction of the webs as long as you stay in the same place every night, and don't clear them out just because you do not like how they look. I only clear out a web if it is within 4-5 blocks from my entrance. Of course as mentioned by a previous poster, build visible landmarks that will get you home. Better yet, mark where you spotted the iron with a landmark, and come back at first light. You may find more than you expected.
4. Use sapplings a breadcrumbs. At some point you will need a source of trees close to your base after you have cut them all down, and you can follow them back home if you space them properly.
5. If you must be a nomad, keep on the move. When I get out in the morning, I always travel east into the sunrise. This saves time trying to figure out which way I was going the previous day. I only kill animals that are in my line of travel, and cut short trees leaving stumps as markers. By not spending much time in one spot hunting or cutting, you are increasing the distance between the night time animal food source kill zones, thusly preserving a sources on the return trip. Avoid forests and jungles. Leave the last piece of meat you cook in the furnace. It may save your life sometime.
I could go on and on, but have to get on with some other projects. I havn't played in a bout two months, due to other commitnents, and waiting for HC villagers to be added. I suspect that pillaging villages for wheat and goodies will bring about bad things for Steve, of which I dread and look forward to at the same time!!
If in doubt- head west.
If you're lost- head west
New world- head west
Respawned? - well you get the idea.
If you build in the west, and always head west on death you've got a decent shot of finding your way back before making a compass- especially if you have a row of landmarks north/south of your place.
West is good- you get a nice warning glow telling you to turn in. Even if its raining.
Phantom screams echo through the ruined facility
A horrible silence builds an eerie tranquility
The souls of many innocent fill the air
The hope they all died with scattered down there
Make that two iron ingots ;) As soon as it becomes morning, im taking my shovels and making a farm plot by the water. Since im in a swamp the squids arent a problem, plus there should be a chicken or two somewhere to lead back... But the witchs are almost an issue. I've seen 2 so far but both have been under safe circumstances.
