Monday, February 5, 2024

My Minecraft Tips

I don't talk very much about Minecraft here, but I do play quite often. Whether it's perpetually sustaining my Java world from 2012 or playing Bedrock with friends, I've learned quite a few things to help me throughout my many Minecraft adventures. I figured since I've built up my own mini empire I would pass on some tips that have helped me throughout the years, in no particular order. As Minecraft is an ever-changing game some of these tips are subject to change. Hopefully not!

Tip #1: Ender Chests

I can not tell you how often an Ender chest has saved my bacon. Since Ender chests are their own contained system, you can use them as mobile storage while you're out adventuring, and not worry about losing your stuff if you die. The key is to take one with you everywhere, and always have one at your home base. I've made multiples as backups for adventures, but also placed one in every single base that I've built. This way no matter what happens while you're out adventuring, your loot will always be safe, and accessible, from the Ender chest. This also helps with transferring items. A few of the follow tips will expand upon this, one of which will also be required.

Tip #2: Tool Loadout

When it comes to my tool loadout I almost always take five tools. One shovel, axe, sword, and two pickaxes. Why two pickaxes? Because one pickaxe is silk touch, and the other is fortune three. Naturally everything has mending and unbreaking three enchantments, as well as efficiency five on everything but the sword. The silk touch pickaxe is used primarily to collect the Ender chest, otherwise it will break down into eight obsidian. There are many other reasons for a silk touch pickaxe, but it's purely up to you as to what enchantments you place on your items.

Tip #3: Shulker Boxes

Shulker boxes can be a bit tricky for the novice to obtain, but once you do you'll be opening a completely new world for yourself. Refer to tip #1, and just fill your Ender chest with shulker boxes. Voila! Each box offers 27 slots, and the Ender chest offers 27 spaces for shulker boxes. You do the maths! Tedious? Sometimes, but if you're planning on being out in the field for extended periods of time, it's very well worth it. This also allows for you to carry shulker boxes full of food, potions, tools, etc. It also allows for a shulker box filled with firework rockets, to use with the next tip. The only limit to this is your own imagination. 

Tip #4: Elytra

Elytra are your friend, and your enemy! This is another item that might be a bit tricky to acquire within the first while of gameplay, but eventually you will obtain a pair. As with everything in Minecraft, acquiring the first one is the hardest part, after that you'll be overrun with the darn things. Trust me! I enchant each pair of Elytra with unbreaking three and mending, but even so they seem to lose durability quite quickly. This is where the enemy part comes in, as if your Elytra lose all of their durability while flying three-hundred plus blocks high, you're going to fall out of the sky. You better hope you're quick with a water bucket, or you're flying over water already. If you happen to catch them before they're out of durability, provided you've enchanted them with mending, do what I do and use your pickaxe (the fortune three one) to collect coal, red stone, or any other resource that yields experience points. It might take a while, but you will eventually refuel (so to speak) your Elytra and be back in the skies. Also, try not to fly into things, as you will take health damage.

Tip #5: Automation

Automation is also your friend! My favorite automated farm is a passive sheep farm that is super simple to make, yields quite a bit of wool, and after I sell the wool off to the villagers, earns emeralds. Nothing is for free though, as you will need to sustain a good stock of iron to make the shears for this particular automated farm. However, there are tons of other ways to automate things, go AFK and come back to glorious amounts of items you'll end up needing, or you can trade for other things you'll need.

Tip #6: Nether Portals

Since each singular block traveled in the Nether equals eight blocks in the overworld, the Nether is a great place to use as a travel hub. Much of my Java world was generated throughout many older versions of the game, causing me to go out further to find new parts of the world with each update. Many online servers use the Nether as a travel hub and make things fancy, but I just build Netherrack bridges through the lava. Then I build portals, or repair broken ones, and screenshot the coords to use later. This cuts down on Elytra usage, and time spent trying to find new parts of the world. If you're a novice, bring fire potions and take your time. If you're experienced, still bring fire potions and take your time. The Nether is an unforgiving place, so I try to spend as little time in there as possible.

Tip #7: Villagers

Villagers are a great source of items you might need, such as enchanted books, or simply emeralds. They are also customizable! You want a villager that buys wool from your AFK wool farm? Find a villager and place down a loom. When they've accepted their fate, check their options. Not what you wanted? Removing and replacing the loom without performing any trades will reset the villager's career choice. Once you've found the initial trades you like from the newly hired villager, perform trades to lock them in and rake in the emeralds. I've read some trades can now only be found in certain regions, but the same trick applies. You may also want to take some time in trying to find the lowest rate on any given trade. It's all RNG when it comes to trades, so a little bit of work could pay off in the end.

Tip #8: Make Backups

This one is twofold. When you play Minecraft, expect things to go wrong. Don't let that ruin your fun, or your immersion, but always understand part of the adventure is anything can happen. I like to keep a few extra sets of armor and tools handy, in case I happen to goof and die. It's no fun trying to get back to your death pile without having the proper equipment. That is, if you can even get back to it at all. Aside from the in-game materials, back up your game saves! Yes, they can get quite large, mine being 20gb, but a good backup of your game save could potentially cut out the need for multiple sets of armor and tools. Whichever you find easiest, however I like to back up both.

Tip #9: Enchantments

I touched upon this with my tool loadout, but armor should also be enchanted. Just like my tools (and Elytra) everything has mending and unbreaking three. I understand enchantments are hard to sort out when you're first starting out, but don't rush and use what you can find. You can combine customized villagers, enchanted books from the enchantment table, and enchanted books you'll find along your adventures to have well enchanted armor in no time. With the aforementioned enchantments my helmet is respiration three, protection four, aqua affinity. My chestplate is protection four. My leggings are swift sneak three and fire protection four. My boots are protection four, feather falling four, depth strider three, and soul speed three. Protection variants are up to you, but with the ability to put one on each piece of equipment you might as well try to have one on at least something. There are a few enchantments I don't like, such as Frost Walker and Thorns, that just seem to be more of a hindrance than a benefit. Again, it's totally up to you as to how you enchant your armor.

These are just a few things I've gathered from my years of playing Minecraft that I figured I would pass along. If you don't play Minecraft, I'll get back to the guitar pedal builds here soon, don't worry. It is February, so I have to do my builds to get this month in the books. I've added a few builds to the schedule, as I tend to do. We'll see how 2024 goes!

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