Now I am aware of the distances that will spawn mobs and not despawn them. What I do not know is if I am moving while remaining within this range will that encourage more mobs to spawn? Another example that I think this will apply to is if I have a farm with identicle spawning pads of 16x16 stacked vetically, and I can not be within that range for all of the pads at one time. Would moving, with a minecart, into the range for each pad one by one over a long period be better than afk'ing in one spot?
Mobs despawn with probability 1/800 per game tick after they have been out of range for 30 seconds. If you can visit all the pads within this time you can prevent all despawning, or else greatly reduce it at least by resetting the time for extant mobs if it takes you longer than 30 seconds to make a round. Besides that, I can't see any real benefit.
If you want to spawn more mobs then it is a great idea to keep moving and then move back to where ever you previously were and mobs will have a hi chance of spawnning. Its like a mob spawner the farther u are away the more likely mobs are to spawn...not including the 24 block spawnning radius.
Village Mechanics: A not-so-brief guide - Update 2017! Now with 1.8 breeding mechanics! Long-overdue trading info, coming soon!
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