Author: Stargrace

I have a smeltery! It works, too. Well, sort of. I figured out how to make blocks (I made one just for fun) but I have no idea how to make casings or actual things instead of just blocks. For some reason the tap that leads to my table doesn’t seem to want to spit out any of my bronze. I plan on going to visit P to see what his set up is like, and probably steal his design. I may just be using the wrong components on the table, but I’m not really sure. Or maybe my block container needs to be empty before I use the table part. Again, no idea.

I spent very little time playing yesterday (boo, real life) plus our server went down for a while. By the time it was back up it was time for me to get some sleep before work. Short term goals include trying to figure out what’s wrong with my smeltery, and maybe making some bronze armor. It would be a big improvement over my current leathers (which I stole from some bandits).

I also haven’t made any progress in decorating my castle, but hey I’m not in any rush. I’ll try to get some screenshots posted here later today. As always, happy gaming, no matter where you find yourself!

It’s not pretty (yet) but pictured above is the start of my tinkers’ workshop. I decided that if I was ever going to get comfortable with minecraft mods, I would have to actually start taking advantage of them and not just building manual farms. This is me taking one very tentative step. I started off by reading a book I had in my inventory. It taught me the basics like how to create a blank pattern, a stencil table, a part crafter, a pattern chest, and a tool station. I also learned how to create a tool forge but I don’t have the seared bricks for that yet, so it’s not pictured. Pictured is also one of those neat lamps that I stole from the dungeon I was in yesterday, they provide great light and are way better looking than the torches I have scattered around. I will probably replace the rest of the torches with those lights tomorrow, and I may make the walls all one matching stone (maybe using builder blocks) instead of the ugly miss matched dirt stone and marble. In the center I plan on creating the Smeltery, which uses a lot of supplies that I just don’t have.

53 Sand, 52 Clay, 52 Gravel and 105 units of fuel

I have the gravel, but I have had a rough time trying to get clay. There’s sand in abundance, so I should be able to collect everything tomorrow.

All of these stations allow me to create new types of tools, and customize them. They also let me repair said tools at the tool station so that I don’t have to worry about constantly breaking them and creating a new one from scratch. The more I read the more interested I got – and then I got completely confused as I read on automation of this system. Honestly, I think I’m far from automated-anything in Minecraft, but that is certainly a “one day” goal.

It feels weird to be so “old school” when it comes to this game and then come face to face with so many ‘new’ types of technology through mods. It has changed the game (for me at least) quite a bit, and requires a thought process that I wouldn’t have expected previously. I find that I need to focus a bit, or else things just don’t get done. Speaking of which. Still no success in getting components to breed my chocobo’s. Those lovely greens are just way too dang rare. Maybe I’ll have better luck tomorrow.

Building things is great fun and I could probably spend hours (and in fact have spent hours) doing it – but there’s more to minecraft than just that. Especially if the server you’re playing on is using mods (which of course as I have mentioned, mine is). One of the fun things to do is randomly find these dimensional doors and step through them. If you’re lucky you’ll end up in this really awesome dungeon looking type place (I may have stolen some of the lights) with neat things all around to look at – but eventually you’ll probably walk through a door and end up in limbo, which is not so fun. Limbo includes eyeballs teleporting you as you frantically try to walk towards a spot of red water on the mostly black map – that will port you back to civilization, some place also random.

I escaped, without any new treasures to boast of besides the screenshot but where I ended up was just a few feet away from another bandit castle. I had to be sneaky, their ranged arrows always hurt me pretty bad (what do you mean I need to get some armor..) so I built myself a little fortified wall and dug my way into their castle after they killed me the first time. See, I can be taught.

I was richly rewarded for my adventure in their domain, and it was awesome. I found another catapult which I placed atop my own fortress of laughter, a bag of force, a music CD and last but not least – an entire boat.

I’m on a boat!

I love exploring. There’s so much to see, especially when that involves going over to the neighbours (who are a few thousand paces away from my location) and nosing around their homes. I found a cow and chicken on the road (the chicken of course was attempting to cross it) and accidentally stole some potatoes. My neighbours place take advantage of the tech mod packs, which I have no idea how to even get started with. Automatic mob farming systems? Complex power grids and all sorts of weird awesome stuff that I have never heard of before. I know it won’t be too long before I sink my teeth into all of it, but for now I have been focusing on the ‘basic’ aspects of the game.

I set up a farm, started breeding cows for meat and leather, and have a few chocobo hanging around while I grow their food of choice so I can attempt to breed them (my ultimate goal at this time) because I want different coloured ones. Why? Because I can.

While all that is going on, I’m also attempting to decorat my (so far) very bare castle. I added a rainbow bed and a beautiful desk yesterday, but besides the craft room which is completely covered in storage chests (plus my forge and craft station of course) the place is empty. It’s time to fix that!