The Meaning of Life, the Universe, and Everything.
Join Date:
8/9/2013
Posts:
42
Minecraft:
Elddron
Member Details
Caving is fun, right? There are more ores in caves, mobs pose a challenge, and terrain can be tricky with lava pools and such. However, what is so unique about caves that can't be easily recreated by hand? Not the ores, which can be manually placed in a hole. Not the mobs; just don't light up the thing and you will have dozens in no time. And certainly not the terrain; with a good enough pick, anyone can just rip out a cavity underground, maybe stick some lava in it, and call it a cave. All of a sudden, caving is boring.
My solution to this is to add more life to caving. And by "life" I mean anything from flooded caverns to glowworms to new mobs and mushrooms. Things that could really spice up caving, as well as adding some danger, since "caves" have remained unchanged since Beta 1.2, not counting some new noises in 1.4.2, which had bats as well (and bats, to this day in nearly 1.7, have absolutely no uses except for bugging gamers with their repetitive noises). So here we go, a list (although not a wishlist- these are all related suggestions) of things that would add a whole lot of depth, as it were, to caving.
1) Flooded Caverns
Before anyone says how Minecraft already has water lakes underground, note this: those water lakes are nothing more than a small, circular room with some water in them. Also, caves do have random water source blocks in the walls which flow downward, but those are nothing more than that: single, random sources of water. By flooded cavern I mean an actual cave, akin to the current ones (also note: a cave network is a huge, intertwined jumble of caves; and individual cavern is actually quite small), that generates solid water below a certain point in it. From what I can tell, coding this would be no problem, just take a pre-existing generator and replace the air blocks with water sources. The no-water-above-y would probably be the most difficult part.
Edit: see (4) New Cave Mob.
2) Glowworms
Maybe not what the name implies. By "glowworm" I do not mean a new mob. I mean blocks, similar to upside-down reeds, hanging from the ceilings of caves. Maybe they would emit a faint light, but glowing in the same way spiders' eyes do (i.e., looking exactly the same regardless of light level) would be much more interesting. They don't have to be purely aesthetic, either. I could see them slowing down entities stuck inside, the aforementioned emitting of light (block light 1 in the space they occupy), or being an ingredient to a new crafting recipe or potion (string, Potion of Haste, etc.). But how would these be difficult to obtain and implement into some artificial cave? For starters, one could make them biome-specific, only in certain chunks, or just plain rare. Regardless of where they spawn, they must spawn in clusters or else risk losing the "wow" factor. Also, it could be made so that they can only be obtained with silk-touch shears, which adds another block that needs these for harvesting. I don't know how coding something like this would work, but similar things have been done, like reeds, cobwebs, and torches, so it shouldn't be crazy hard combining them.
3) Shelf Mushrooms
With all the new flowers being added, a new mushroom ought to be in order. Why not make it appear in caves? Super-realistically, these mushrooms grow on sides of dirt or decaying vegetation. Taking the former here, they would spawn on dirt pockets underground that a cave cut through. Another option is for them to spawn just above the water in those boring water lakes I mentioned in the flooded cavern bit. It would make more sense for them to grow near water and on dirt, but with Minecraft, exceptions are often made, and this wouldn't be the first (I'm talking to you, roses). Now, the other mushrooms have giant versions made by bonemeal or spawning naturally in Mushroom Biomes. With some difficulty, a giant shelf mushroom could be made, allowing the player to hop on these like platforms underground or just some really impressive-looking monster trees and cliffsides. As for uses, they could be implemented as a potion ingredient for a Potion of Nausia or Potion of Dullness (mining fatigue). Shelf mushrooms wouldn't necessarily be difficult to obtain and used for decoration, and would spawn with about the frequency of existing mushroom patches in caves. I have no idea what programming would be like, but still it shouldn't be ridiculous.
4) New Cave Mob
Apart from bats, no mobs are strictly limited to spawning in caves. Slimes used to be, but now they spawn in swamps as well. There are literally no hostile mobs that spawn only in caves... and no hostile mobs that spawn in water, like squids. Do you see where I'm going with this? Would a troglodyte work for you? Taking inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons, troglodytes (meaning "cave dwelling") are subterranean fish-people. Statistics for them are as follows:
Spawning- groups of 2-3, underwater, bl<8, y<33, fairly rare
Edit: only in Flooded Caverns, perhaps?
Dimensions- 1x2x1
Combat- 26 health points (13 hearts), 4 armor points, 3:4:6 damage (easy:normal:hard)
Equipment- can spawn with and equip random swords and tools, but not armor (then they would sink!)
Behaviour- lurks around underwater, enters pursuit mode when a player comes within 24 blocks, alerts others
To get one of these guys in an artificial cave would be difficult, as they would spawn in relatively harsh conditions, are hostile, and therefore despawn. Troglodytes would be a truly unique threat to cavers. Coding them in would be difficult, as were squids, but would certainly be worthwhile.
5) Better Dungeons
Soooo many people will think "better dungeons" means huge, elaborate underground citadels with dozens of spawners. What I mean is the standard rectangular room (circular rooms would be great too), but with traps. One of the most satisfying feelings of caving is finding a spawner chest that has a saddle and/or horse armor. Therefore, the most distressing feeling would be losing that loot. With the trapped chests from 1.5, chest-opening is detectable. It would be fitting of a dungeon to let unwary cavers a quick peek at their loot just to have it all blow up in their face, along with their own equipment, and the spawner itself. All it would take is a trapped chest, the block below it, and a 3x3 tnt bundle below that- no redstone involved. Not every single spawner would have the trapped chest/TNT combo, because then a), players would always expect it to explode, and B), the tnt could easily be looted beforehand. Spawners, of course, cannot be moved, so a trapped dungeon (spawner and all) is another local feature of caves. Since this is just a modification to pre-existing structures, coding them should be quick and painless.
6) Better Bats
Everyone who knows about Minecraft bats knows they are unfinished and must be revisited. Besides a better AI that doesn't constantly have them flying into lava pools, bats need to have some new feature. Probably suggested before, they should drop some ingredient to brewing. Be it a bat wing for a Potion of Leaping (jump boost), or a bat fang for some other new thing, something must be done. Bats are already unique to caves or underground things in general, so nothing new here. The coding for adding new items and brewing recipes is so simple, I could do it, and the jump boost effect already exists so I could probably do a potion for that, too.
7) A New Ore
No. No new ores. Don't comment about these at all. The overworld has enough ores as is, and if a new unique one is to be added, it will be in the Nether (or maybe even the End) anyways.
Flooded Cave what are you going to do with that?!? (unless they added some type of scuba gear...)
There is an enchantment for helmets called aqua affinity and respiration I-III, the former allows faster underwater mining and the latter allows for longer stays underwater, and recently was added the ability to see better underwater as well. Potions of night vision allow better underwater vision also. Alternatively, use buckets/ blocks to remove the water or just ignore the flooded caverns entirely.
1) Flooded Caverns
Before anyone says how Minecraft already has water lakes underground, note this: those water lakes are nothing more than a small, circular room with some water in them. Also, caves do have random water source blocks in the walls which flow downward, but those are nothing more than that: single, random sources of water. By flooded cavern I mean an actual cave, akin to the current ones (also note: a cave network is a huge, intertwined jumble of caves; and individual cavern is actually quite small), that generates solid water below a certain point in it. From what I can tell, coding this would be no problem, just take a pre-existing generator and replace the air blocks with water sources. The no-water-above-y would probably be the most difficult part. I may like this feature, perhaps a new mob for spawning in this cave?
2) Glowworms
Maybe not what the name implies. By "glowworm" I do not mean a new mob. I mean blocks, similar to upside-down reeds, hanging from the ceilings of caves. Maybe they would emit a faint light, but glowing in the same way spiders' eyes do (i.e., looking exactly the same regardless of light level) would be much more interesting. They don't have to be purely aesthetic, either. I could see them slowing down entities stuck inside, the aforementioned emitting of light (block light 1 in the space they occupy), or being an ingredient to a new crafting recipe or potion (string, Potion of Haste, etc.). But how would these be difficult to obtain and implement into some artificial cave? For starters, one could make them biome-specific, only in certain chunks, or just plain rare. Regardless of where they spawn, they must spawn in clusters or else risk losing the "wow" factor. Also, it could be made so that they can only be obtained with silk-touch shears, which adds another block that needs these for harvesting. I don't know how coding something like this would work, but similar things have been done, like reeds, cobwebs, and torches, so it shouldn't be crazy hard combining them. Sounds interesting!
3) Shelf Mushrooms
With all the new flowers being added, a new mushroom ought to be in order. Why not make it appear in caves? Super-realistically, these mushrooms grow on sides of dirt or decaying vegetation. Taking the former here, they would spawn on dirt pockets underground that a cave cut through. Another option is for them to spawn just above the water in those boring water lakes I mentioned in the flooded cavern bit. It would make more sense for them to grow near water and on dirt, but with Minecraft, exceptions are often made, and this wouldn't be the first (I'm talking to you, roses). Now, the other mushrooms have giant versions made by bonemeal or spawning naturally in Mushroom Biomes. With some difficulty, a giant shelf mushroom could be made, allowing the player to hop on these like platforms underground or just some really impressive-looking monster trees and cliffsides. As for uses, they could be implemented as a potion ingredient for a Potion of Nausia or Potion of Dullness (mining fatigue). Shelf mushrooms wouldn't necessarily be difficult to obtain and used for decoration, and would spawn with about the frequency of existing mushroom patches in caves. I have no idea what programming would be like, but still it shouldn't be ridiculous. Large Shelf Mushrooms may cause trouble in thin caves, but for the more spaced-out Ravines, they could be used as stepping stones to get up the Ravine! I like this idea.
4) New Cave Mob
Apart from bats, no mobs are strictly limited to spawning in caves. Slimes used to be, but now they spawn in swamps as well. There are literally no hostile mobs that spawn only in caves... and no hostile mobs that spawn in water, like squids. Do you see where I'm going with this? Would a troglodyte work for you? Taking inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons, troglodytes (meaning "cave dwelling") are subterranean fish-people. Statistics for them are as follows:
Spawning- groups of 2-3, underwater, bl<8, y<33, fairly rare
Dimensions- 1x2x1
Combat- 26 health points (13 hearts), 4 armor points, 3:4:6 damage (easy:normal:hard)
Equipment- can spawn with and equip swords, but not armor
Behaviour- lurks around underwater, enters pursuit mode when a player comes within 24 blocks, alerts others
To get one of these guys in an artificial cave would be difficult, as they would spawn in relatively harsh conditions, are hostile, and therefore despawn. Troglodytes would be a truly unique threat to cavers. Coding them in would be difficult, as were squids, but would certainly be worthwhile. Perhaps spawning in the flooded caverns? And what kind of sword would they spawn with (A Wooden Sword? Or perhaps a special one?)?
5) Better Dungeons
Soooo many people will think "better dungeons" means huge, elaborate underground citadels with dozens of spawners. What I mean is the standard rectangular room (circular rooms would be great too), but with traps. One of the most satisfying feelings of caving is finding a spawner chest that has a saddle and/or horse armor. Therefore, the most distressing feeling would be losing that loot. With the trapped chests from 1.5, chest-opening is detectable. It would be fitting of a dungeon to let unwary cavers a quick peek at their loot just to have it all blow up in their face, along with their own equipment, and the spawner itself. All it would take is a trapped chest, the block below it, and a 3x3 tnt bundle below that- no redstone involved. Not every single spawner would have the trapped chest/TNT combo, because then a), players would always expect it to explode, and , the tnt could easily be looted beforehand. Spawners, of course, cannot be moved, so a trapped dungeon (spawner and all) is another local feature of caves. Since this is just a modification to pre-existing structures, coding them should be quick and painless. Good idea here. I like the Trapped Chest idea as it is never used naturally.
6) Better Bats
Everyone who knows about Minecraft bats knows they are unfinished and must be revisited. Besides a better AI that doesn't constantly have them flying into lava pools, bats need to have some new feature. Probably suggested before, they should drop some ingredient to brewing. Be it a bat wing for a Potion of Leaping (jump boost), or a bat fang for some other new thing, something must be done. Bats are already unique to caves or underground things in general, so nothing new here. The coding for adding new items and brewing recipes is so simple, I could do it, and the jump boost effect already exists so I could probably do a potion for that, too. Yes please! We need some purpose to Bats other than to fly in your face and jump scare you when you are near lava pools.
7) A New Ore
No. No new ores. Don't comment about these at all. The overworld has enough ores as is, and if a new unique one is to be added, it will be in the Nether (or maybe even the End) anyways.
For the waterfilled Caves: There could be a great new mob, the Axolotl!
They could drop their gills, and from them you can brew a water-breathing-potion!
It could either be very fast and manouvrous so it is hard to catch, or it could pull one under water so one would drunk. (I´´m for the first one, personnaly)
To clarify for multiple other people as well, the troglodyte was intended to BE the new mob in these flooded caves. And thanks for the support!
Yes, but "Troglodyte" is another word for Caveman! (OK, creeper is a synonyme for climbing plant, too...) Nethertheless, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troglodytae. I think´, the Troglodyte should be a new cave mob, generally. Maybe some sort of Cave-Villager?
Too many mobs would be an issue... and I looked up the image for Troglodyte. The fish people are what I am thinking of.
P.S. I can't help of thinking of Golem... lol.
Edit: Gollum.
I support fully! If Mojang is ever lazy/short on ideas, just take a couple looks at the minecraft forums for info. this way, they could practically keep mc up forever! XD
Also, I love the Mushroom/GlowWorm Idea! The fish thing was ok, but I kinda just skimmed through it! XD
Also, I love the Mushroom/GlowWorm Idea! The fish thing was ok, but I kinda just skimmed through it! XD
What do ya have against fish people? They aren't fish, they're more along the lines of mermaids... with claws and feet and a desire to rip out your throat.
Not that it matters, but one thing that bothered me is how you kept saying bats are cave exclusive. They spawn in any enclosed area with enough room and a low light level, caves are just the areas that fit those conditions easiest. So technically, there are 0 cave exclusive mobs, cause the bat could even spawn in the ceiling of a large house or something.
But then after a while, wouldn't this suggestion, if implemented, be boring after a while? We'd return to the former state we have now, and then it would be and endless ladder of unsatisfied people.
Seems I remember playing the free classic version before the save ability was taken away, and the water then would flood a whole area up to the water source. It wasn't limited to spreading out a short distance, so with some carefulness, you could create a large lake quick. But don't make the mistake of flooding an area you want dry! Though it was a pain, I think that was more realistic for water, but it should also have a limit too, like a small body of water above you would drain downwards and settle from gravity in a lower location, leaving it's previous location dry and free of the water that was there.
But then after a while, wouldn't this suggestion, if implemented, be boring after a while? We'd return to the former state we have now, and then it would be and endless ladder of unsatisfied people.
Oh well, looks like they would have to add even more features to caving... What a shame. XD
But seriously, any improvement is better. If we are bored now with nothing, it can't possibly be worse being bored later with more. The reason caving is particularly boring NOW is that it simply has been so long since they were updated, to the point where now the are outdated.
My solution to this is to add more life to caving. And by "life" I mean anything from flooded caverns to glowworms to new mobs and mushrooms. Things that could really spice up caving, as well as adding some danger, since "caves" have remained unchanged since Beta 1.2, not counting some new noises in 1.4.2, which had bats as well (and bats, to this day in nearly 1.7, have absolutely no uses except for bugging gamers with their repetitive noises). So here we go, a list (although not a wishlist- these are all related suggestions) of things that would add a whole lot of depth, as it were, to caving.
1) Flooded Caverns
Before anyone says how Minecraft already has water lakes underground, note this: those water lakes are nothing more than a small, circular room with some water in them. Also, caves do have random water source blocks in the walls which flow downward, but those are nothing more than that: single, random sources of water. By flooded cavern I mean an actual cave, akin to the current ones (also note: a cave network is a huge, intertwined jumble of caves; and individual cavern is actually quite small), that generates solid water below a certain point in it. From what I can tell, coding this would be no problem, just take a pre-existing generator and replace the air blocks with water sources. The no-water-above-y would probably be the most difficult part.
Edit: see (4) New Cave Mob.
2) Glowworms
Maybe not what the name implies. By "glowworm" I do not mean a new mob. I mean blocks, similar to upside-down reeds, hanging from the ceilings of caves. Maybe they would emit a faint light, but glowing in the same way spiders' eyes do (i.e., looking exactly the same regardless of light level) would be much more interesting. They don't have to be purely aesthetic, either. I could see them slowing down entities stuck inside, the aforementioned emitting of light (block light 1 in the space they occupy), or being an ingredient to a new crafting recipe or potion (string, Potion of Haste, etc.). But how would these be difficult to obtain and implement into some artificial cave? For starters, one could make them biome-specific, only in certain chunks, or just plain rare. Regardless of where they spawn, they must spawn in clusters or else risk losing the "wow" factor. Also, it could be made so that they can only be obtained with silk-touch shears, which adds another block that needs these for harvesting. I don't know how coding something like this would work, but similar things have been done, like reeds, cobwebs, and torches, so it shouldn't be crazy hard combining them.
3) Shelf Mushrooms
With all the new flowers being added, a new mushroom ought to be in order. Why not make it appear in caves? Super-realistically, these mushrooms grow on sides of dirt or decaying vegetation. Taking the former here, they would spawn on dirt pockets underground that a cave cut through. Another option is for them to spawn just above the water in those boring water lakes I mentioned in the flooded cavern bit. It would make more sense for them to grow near water and on dirt, but with Minecraft, exceptions are often made, and this wouldn't be the first (I'm talking to you, roses). Now, the other mushrooms have giant versions made by bonemeal or spawning naturally in Mushroom Biomes. With some difficulty, a giant shelf mushroom could be made, allowing the player to hop on these like platforms underground or just some really impressive-looking monster trees and cliffsides. As for uses, they could be implemented as a potion ingredient for a Potion of Nausia or Potion of Dullness (mining fatigue). Shelf mushrooms wouldn't necessarily be difficult to obtain and used for decoration, and would spawn with about the frequency of existing mushroom patches in caves. I have no idea what programming would be like, but still it shouldn't be ridiculous.
4) New Cave Mob
Apart from bats, no mobs are strictly limited to spawning in caves. Slimes used to be, but now they spawn in swamps as well. There are literally no hostile mobs that spawn only in caves... and no hostile mobs that spawn in water, like squids. Do you see where I'm going with this? Would a troglodyte work for you? Taking inspiration from Dungeons & Dragons, troglodytes (meaning "cave dwelling") are subterranean fish-people. Statistics for them are as follows:
Spawning- groups of 2-3, underwater, bl<8, y<33, fairly rare
Edit: only in Flooded Caverns, perhaps?
Dimensions- 1x2x1
Combat- 26 health points (13 hearts), 4 armor points, 3:4:6 damage (easy:normal:hard)
Equipment- can spawn with and equip random swords and tools, but not armor (then they would sink!)
Behaviour- lurks around underwater, enters pursuit mode when a player comes within 24 blocks, alerts others
To get one of these guys in an artificial cave would be difficult, as they would spawn in relatively harsh conditions, are hostile, and therefore despawn. Troglodytes would be a truly unique threat to cavers. Coding them in would be difficult, as were squids, but would certainly be worthwhile.
5) Better Dungeons
Soooo many people will think "better dungeons" means huge, elaborate underground citadels with dozens of spawners. What I mean is the standard rectangular room (circular rooms would be great too), but with traps. One of the most satisfying feelings of caving is finding a spawner chest that has a saddle and/or horse armor. Therefore, the most distressing feeling would be losing that loot. With the trapped chests from 1.5, chest-opening is detectable. It would be fitting of a dungeon to let unwary cavers a quick peek at their loot just to have it all blow up in their face, along with their own equipment, and the spawner itself. All it would take is a trapped chest, the block below it, and a 3x3 tnt bundle below that- no redstone involved. Not every single spawner would have the trapped chest/TNT combo, because then a), players would always expect it to explode, and B), the tnt could easily be looted beforehand. Spawners, of course, cannot be moved, so a trapped dungeon (spawner and all) is another local feature of caves. Since this is just a modification to pre-existing structures, coding them should be quick and painless.
6) Better Bats
Everyone who knows about Minecraft bats knows they are unfinished and must be revisited. Besides a better AI that doesn't constantly have them flying into lava pools, bats need to have some new feature. Probably suggested before, they should drop some ingredient to brewing. Be it a bat wing for a Potion of Leaping (jump boost), or a bat fang for some other new thing, something must be done. Bats are already unique to caves or underground things in general, so nothing new here. The coding for adding new items and brewing recipes is so simple, I could do it, and the jump boost effect already exists so I could probably do a potion for that, too.
7) A New Ore
No. No new ores. Don't comment about these at all. The overworld has enough ores as is, and if a new unique one is to be added, it will be in the Nether (or maybe even the End) anyways.
What has to be balanced, exactly?
With how common the caves are now, it be too easy to get the new mushrooms, loot from dungeons, etc.
Ya i agree dungeons would have to be rarer
I almost never find dungeons, and one of my favorite things to do is caving. Maybe I'm just unlucky, because I find about one new dungeon per week. :/
Flooded Cave what are you going to do with that?!? (unless they added some type of scuba gear...)
overall I think this should be left to the modders!
There is an enchantment for helmets called aqua affinity and respiration I-III, the former allows faster underwater mining and the latter allows for longer stays underwater, and recently was added the ability to see better underwater as well. Potions of night vision allow better underwater vision also. Alternatively, use buckets/ blocks to remove the water or just ignore the flooded caverns entirely.
Support!
Hi! I like shorts! They're comfy and easy to wear!
To clarify for multiple other people as well, the troglodyte was intended to BE the new mob in these flooded caves. And thanks for the support!
Too many mobs would be an issue... and I looked up the image for Troglodyte. The fish people are what I am thinking of.
P.S. I can't help of thinking of Golem... lol.
Edit: Gollum.
I support fully! If Mojang is ever lazy/short on ideas, just take a couple looks at the minecraft forums for info. this way, they could practically keep mc up forever! XD
Also, I love the Mushroom/GlowWorm Idea! The fish thing was ok, but I kinda just skimmed through it! XD
What do ya have against fish people? They aren't fish, they're more along the lines of mermaids... with claws and feet and a desire to rip out your throat.
Not that it matters, but one thing that bothered me is how you kept saying bats are cave exclusive. They spawn in any enclosed area with enough room and a low light level, caves are just the areas that fit those conditions easiest. So technically, there are 0 cave exclusive mobs, cause the bat could even spawn in the ceiling of a large house or something.
Proud owner of Silver Springs Survival <3
Oh well, looks like they would have to add even more features to caving... What a shame. XD
But seriously, any improvement is better. If we are bored now with nothing, it can't possibly be worse being bored later with more. The reason caving is particularly boring NOW is that it simply has been so long since they were updated, to the point where now the are outdated.