Preparing for death and Hardcore Spawn

[CrimsonStorm]

Hardcore Spawn seems to me to be one of the more fundamental parts of BTW's design: it gives death a very large cost, and reinforces a theme of slowly building up and conquering the dangers of the world. Given that, it makes sense that *responding* to death--both the actual event, and the threat of it--is something that would drive a lot of players' decisions throughout the game. This has only become more true with the recent (past 1-2 years) changes to early- and mid- game which make the time to build a new base up to compass tech significantly longer.

For those who have played a lot, especially with recent versions: How do *you* handle death? In particular:

1. When you die, do you "rush" to get a compass ASAP so you can get back to your main base? Does this mean you skip some steps you'd normally take when starting a fresh world? Do you take more risks in a hardcore spawn, to e.g. get redstone fast? In general, how long does it take you to get back to a main base?
2. How developed does a base need to be before you prioritize returning to it (i.e. label it as your primary base), rather than building a "new" main base at your hardcore spawn location? Or do you always try to return to original spawn so you can find your primary base with a compass?
3. What sorts of preparation do you make for deaths, if any? Do you build lots of waypoints and/or hidey-holes that can help you survive and find your way back to your main base without building up from scratch? If so, how do you space those out such that you can reliably find them, especially as the HC Spawn radius increases as you progress?

I'm curious to think how others think about this, since it's something that feels so important to the game design but I struggle with a lot personally. I personally find a lot of stress from death, and the prospect of restarting from (sort-of) square one kills my motivation to keep playing BTW for a while when I do die. I'd love to learn from others' experience!

Also, if it's not clear--I'm mostly thinking about single-player, as I think multi-player changes a lot of the relevant calculations here.

[dawnraider]

1. I try to get a compass as soon as possible, but without taking unnecessary risks (some risks are necessary). It usually takes me about 8-10 hours to get back from a HC spawn.
2. I always pick my seeds for their spawn terrain so there is very little that can make me make a primary base outside of spawn. Spawn is also far easier to get back to than anywhere else. If I had a base else where I would have to spend the time getting back to spawn, and then again to get to the base. I also try to never get invested in a base until I can make it to spawn from there because if I die at spawn I can find it again, but if I die again on a HC spawn, I'm never finding it again unless I get lucky, so any progress there is effectively lost.
3. Not really. I die so little that I would be taking more time prepping for deaths than I would just doing a full HC spawn. Any time I come back from a HC spawn though I mark a path back to spawn. I leave food in HC spawn bases before leaving, and I sometimes go back to them and put permanent torches in them. Once I have an iron beacon in the nether, instead of getting a compass and going home, I usually go for diamonds too to make a nether portal to get home, which helps immensely when dying post-end when the HC spawn radius is massive.

[EpicAaron]

An orderly portal grid in the ceiling of the nether is tedious to make and expand, but it is a very useful thing to have. Spawning next to a portal connected to the network can save hours. In the very late game, when the HC spawn range becomes massive, I suspect this strategy is less useful.

Marking up coastlines may be a good idea, but I never bother to take the time to do this when I am alive and well.

[dawnraider]

A strategy I've heard, I believe from Gil, is to put markers at each 3 biome intersection telling you which biome border to follow. Seems like a solid strategy, though I never end up thinking to use it.

[EpicAaron]

tbh, preparing for death is boring. Sometimes you just have to enjoy the game and accept death when it comes.

I do encourage everybody to take each respawn seriously. Rather than immediately AFKing for 20 minutes when you land in a desert/jungle/tundra, try wandering around. You never know what kind of adventure you will find yourself in. (ignore this advice if salty)

[LannyRipple]

Running away from a hard-core spawn is only gonna hurt you (and your server of on one) in the long run. I usually find the closest useful area (plains ideally) and spend time up until an oven before I try to get home. I also don't try for a compass. PIck a cardinal direction, have a bit of food, and head out for half a day or so and dig a hobbit hole. Build that up until an oven (maybe you brought some extra bricks?). Rinse-repeat. After 3-4 day of doing this (i.e., 3-4 b bases) I head back to the original HCS point and pick a new direction. It takes longer but it gives you a good feel for the terrain which has let me spawn at the edge of HCS and just run home (passing all the bases I'd made to know the area). And when you DO spawn late in the day, and there's a safe base with an oven... priceless.

Given the *live* area at spawn now, my primary base (not that there might not be a second to keep a swamp or jungle farm producing) is always at spawn.