Hey. Why not before you do any update, figure out where your spawn point in the sky is, and build a platform there with some stairs leading back down to the ground. That way, even if your spawn point resets, and even if for some crazy, inexplicable reason backing up the world doesn't work, you'll still always be able to get back down to the ground again safely.
Hey. Why not before you do any update, figure out where your spawn point in the sky is, and build a platform there with some stairs leading back down to the ground. That way, even if your spawn point resets, and even if for some crazy, inexplicable reason backing up the world doesn't work, you'll still always be able to get back down to the ground again safely.
I'm amazed nobody has suggested automation to help you both with your wheat and with your sheep.
Wheat farms can be made so that you can run water over then once the whole thing is grown and have water wash the whole thing to a single point where you can collect it just by going to that once point a minute or two after you throw the level. You can google that one, since there's plenty of pretty simple designs avalible.
As for sheep, there's a method where you can push a couple of the sheep you need into minecarts and set up a holding system where you press a button, are presented with two sheep in minecarts, feed them both wool, have them breed, and then press a button again to send one of the sheep over to an area for shearing and the remaining sheep and the baby are put back into the system where the baby should be grown by the time it's that pairs time to breed again.
Lemme do some googling for you.
This isn't exactly the machine I was thinking of, but it does what I was talking about and I'm pretty sure this is just the next version of the one I was looking at before.
Really hope that helps. It might be a bit intimidating to build if you've never done redstone stuff before, but I'm sure it would be a *huge* help to you.
Keep it up Swervish! That courtyard looks impressive from just size alone. Once it's detailed it will be amazing I'm sure. Great job again, can't wait for the next update!
Cucumber
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"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
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Join Date:
2/8/2011
Posts:
243
Location:
US East Coast
Minecraft:
CPCondor
Member Details
Awesome. Even more awesome is that your doing all this Legit. If only you built it on a hill though, it would make it easier to picture with the real thing. But your doing good so far, keep it up :smile.gif:
BTW I just voted your post up and made it "Popular" No need to Thank me
Awesome. Even more awesome is that your doing all this Legit. If only you built it on a hill though, it would make it easier to picture with the real thing. But your doing good so far, keep it up :smile.gif:
BTW I just voted your post up and made it "Popular" No need to Thank me
yeah, the castle in real life, is a breathtaking beauty, especially the interior, as it is stunning!
But you must walk aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllll the way up the hill, on a windy old path, it is a bit of exercise to say the least, as I recall the walk took more than a half an hour.
I am taking a little artistic license here. The actual castle doesnt have a grotto... but mine does. You will notice if you go back to page 1 that I planned from the beginning to include this little feature. No reason in particular... just wanted it.
Right here is where I will cut a path to the sea.
The cut is in down to sea level (always need the cobble anyway :smile.gif: )
Ant the Grotto itself. I will dig it deeper into the foundations when I start the interior builds
So take the cut down one more level, and break away the earth dam.. let the water roll in.
And after 30 minutes of bucket work, the cut is full. I will deepen the canal later (maybe)
This is the part of teh structure that ties the Guard Tower to the Gatehouse. It is the smallest part of the white Castle itself, and went up in under two hours (not counting shearing lol)
The first section is up... I gotta stop taking pictures in the dark.
And the outer wall is done
On to the inner wall (facing the inner courtyard).
The staircase REALLY didnt want to fit aesthetically. It took almost two hours to build/rebuild re-rebuild etc.
And a roof, meaning I can tie into and finish the roof on the Gatehouse
I went ahead and took the time to finish the Gatehouse tower roofs as well.
The Gatehouse is officially done except glass and interiors.
And a shot from inside
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Knights Tower
So now its time layout the Knights Quarters footings so I can place the Knights Tower.
I am going to try to introduce a different building technique that I started using on the Gatehouse Hall walls, and have been using almost exclusively for tall parts of the structure. Im sure it has been used by legit builders since about day 2 of MC. But I just discovered it, and Im going to try to show it with pictures.
First empty your inventory completely, cause your gonna die in a second. Then, put the right number of blocks in one inventory space, stand on the right spot and hold your jump key and your 'action key' (whatever key you use to place a block) and build what I call a jump pillar that is exactly the right height.
Then... jump off and die.... when you respawn, come back and place a ladder all the way up your pillar.
Then just build a series of pillars right next to each other. But each time you finish a pillar to the right height, instead of jumping, just slide back down the ladder and run to the next spot, and back up you go. It takes a WHOLE lot less clicks and a lot fewer fall-off deaths.
Before you know it:
You'll notice in the top of the pic, just behind and to the left of the tower, I had to make a significant lowering of the ground by making a diagonal cut, just to make the Knights Quarters fit.... gonna be a WHALE of a lot of earth/stone moving here when final elevations go in.
So, the Knights Quarters Tower, footings and basement floors are done, time to build the foundations
I used a combo of jump pillar building and click click click building.
The process here was nothing new; excavate, mark out with torches, lay footings, build foundations, add first story floors (I did not flatten the earth below, or lay basement floors on this section yet)
The footings are in, and mostly underground by 3-12 blocks. If you look closely, you can see the cuts in the ground
HEAVY excavations are required in some places here to reveal the structure.... but guess what... need the cobble anyway lol.
Exterior Foundation wall going up
The basic outline is done, and a few interior foundations as well... I was in the zone for about 6 hours here... forgot to take pictures.
All the foundations finished and up to final grade.
And the floors start going in... going to use all my remaining wood here Im afraid
Notice that every room has a ladder opening at the top... while building the foundation walls I got REAL tired of falling off and living, cause I would be completely lost. so I built a ladder in EVERY room so I could climb up and see where I was.
And the Kings Quarters foundations are done
Notice there are no floors in the two towers, spiral stairs (yet to be designed) will fill this, not floors. Also in one square room where a 'grand staircase' will eventually be, (also yet to be designed).
and
and
DONE!
The entire structure is laid out, the foundations are done and the first story floors are done.
That's it for now.
I have averaged 20-30 hours per week playing/building this project and about a month has elapsed to this point... about on the pace I expected. I have encountered WAY fewer problems than I expected. A project of this scope always comes with surprises. It has been relatively easy sailing so far. No major setbacks (.jar file catastrophe not withstanding).
I expect it to take about another month to completely finish the exterior. I have given myself a deadline goal of feb 20th mostly because as the weather warms in late Feb, I will be really itching to do a lot of fishing. Cabin fever will hit me HARD when the white bass start running, and I wont be as interested in sitting in the dark at a computer desk. :wink.gif:
So in a sense, this update constitutes a halfway point of sorts.
From here; full speed ahead.
Awesome. Even more awesome is that your doing all this Legit. If only you built it on a hill though, it would make it easier to picture with the real thing. But your doing good so far, keep it up :smile.gif:
BTW I just voted your post up and made it "Popular" No need to Thank me
I hear ya. The setting is the weak spot in my project. But the footprint is just SO HUGE at 300-120+ that building on top of an existing hill/mountain is impossible... mountains that size just dont exist in minecraft.
I considered building teh hill myself, but in a legit survival mode, there isnt enough dirt stone close enough to build up anything other than a bump in the grass. Do the math; 300 X 120 X say 30 high? = thats 100,000 plus blocks and doesnt include the slope of the hill that would be needed to make it look right. Not to mention that the castle itself is 80- 150 blocks high, so to make it look like it was on top of a hill 'to scale' would mean a 300 block high hill.... thats 1,000,000 blocks just to build the hill. Hell, at one block every 3 seconds (including tranport and storage deposit time) it would take 833 hours just to mine the raw materials. the another 800+ hours to build the hill... no thanks.
I will do my best to build up the slopes from the sea to the castle where it sits, and do my best to make it look right.
good idea. I will do that. thanks
How far are your mines from your castle, by the way?
Wheat farms can be made so that you can run water over then once the whole thing is grown and have water wash the whole thing to a single point where you can collect it just by going to that once point a minute or two after you throw the level. You can google that one, since there's plenty of pretty simple designs avalible.
As for sheep, there's a method where you can push a couple of the sheep you need into minecarts and set up a holding system where you press a button, are presented with two sheep in minecarts, feed them both wool, have them breed, and then press a button again to send one of the sheep over to an area for shearing and the remaining sheep and the baby are put back into the system where the baby should be grown by the time it's that pairs time to breed again.
Lemme do some googling for you.
This isn't exactly the machine I was thinking of, but it does what I was talking about and I'm pretty sure this is just the next version of the one I was looking at before.
Really hope that helps. It might be a bit intimidating to build if you've never done redstone stuff before, but I'm sure it would be a *huge* help to you.
Cucumber
BTW I just voted your post up and made it "Popular" No need to Thank me
its a diamond and gold bar sanwich you will need it, i will give you more food if you continue
yeah, the castle in real life, is a breathtaking beauty, especially the interior, as it is stunning!
But you must walk aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllll the way up the hill, on a windy old path, it is a bit of exercise to say the least, as I recall the walk took more than a half an hour.
m
a
z
i
n
g
Include in this update:
The Grotto
The Gatehouse Hall
The Knights Tower
The Knights Quarters foundations
The Kings Quarters Foundations
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Grotto
I am taking a little artistic license here. The actual castle doesnt have a grotto... but mine does. You will notice if you go back to page 1 that I planned from the beginning to include this little feature. No reason in particular... just wanted it.
Right here is where I will cut a path to the sea.
The cut is in down to sea level (always need the cobble anyway :smile.gif: )
Ant the Grotto itself. I will dig it deeper into the foundations when I start the interior builds
So take the cut down one more level, and break away the earth dam.. let the water roll in.
And after 30 minutes of bucket work, the cut is full. I will deepen the canal later (maybe)
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Gatehouse Hall
This is the part of teh structure that ties the Guard Tower to the Gatehouse. It is the smallest part of the white Castle itself, and went up in under two hours (not counting shearing lol)
The first section is up... I gotta stop taking pictures in the dark.
And the outer wall is done
On to the inner wall (facing the inner courtyard).
The staircase REALLY didnt want to fit aesthetically. It took almost two hours to build/rebuild re-rebuild etc.
And a roof, meaning I can tie into and finish the roof on the Gatehouse
I went ahead and took the time to finish the Gatehouse tower roofs as well.
The Gatehouse is officially done except glass and interiors.
And a shot from inside
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Knights Tower
So now its time layout the Knights Quarters footings so I can place the Knights Tower.
I am going to try to introduce a different building technique that I started using on the Gatehouse Hall walls, and have been using almost exclusively for tall parts of the structure. Im sure it has been used by legit builders since about day 2 of MC. But I just discovered it, and Im going to try to show it with pictures.
First empty your inventory completely, cause your gonna die in a second. Then, put the right number of blocks in one inventory space, stand on the right spot and hold your jump key and your 'action key' (whatever key you use to place a block) and build what I call a jump pillar that is exactly the right height.
Then... jump off and die.... when you respawn, come back and place a ladder all the way up your pillar.
Then just build a series of pillars right next to each other. But each time you finish a pillar to the right height, instead of jumping, just slide back down the ladder and run to the next spot, and back up you go. It takes a WHOLE lot less clicks and a lot fewer fall-off deaths.
Before you know it:
You'll notice in the top of the pic, just behind and to the left of the tower, I had to make a significant lowering of the ground by making a diagonal cut, just to make the Knights Quarters fit.... gonna be a WHALE of a lot of earth/stone moving here when final elevations go in.
Plop on a cap room and a roof, and done.
And lay in the basement floors
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Knights Quarters foundations
So, the Knights Quarters Tower, footings and basement floors are done, time to build the foundations
I used a combo of jump pillar building and click click click building.
And lay in wood 'first story' floors and done;
_____________________________________________________________________________
The Kings Quarters Foundations
The process here was nothing new; excavate, mark out with torches, lay footings, build foundations, add first story floors (I did not flatten the earth below, or lay basement floors on this section yet)
The footings are in, and mostly underground by 3-12 blocks. If you look closely, you can see the cuts in the ground
HEAVY excavations are required in some places here to reveal the structure.... but guess what... need the cobble anyway lol.
Exterior Foundation wall going up
The basic outline is done, and a few interior foundations as well... I was in the zone for about 6 hours here... forgot to take pictures.
All the foundations finished and up to final grade.
And the floors start going in... going to use all my remaining wood here Im afraid
Notice that every room has a ladder opening at the top... while building the foundation walls I got REAL tired of falling off and living, cause I would be completely lost. so I built a ladder in EVERY room so I could climb up and see where I was.
And the Kings Quarters foundations are done
Notice there are no floors in the two towers, spiral stairs (yet to be designed) will fill this, not floors. Also in one square room where a 'grand staircase' will eventually be, (also yet to be designed).
and
and
DONE!
The entire structure is laid out, the foundations are done and the first story floors are done.
____________________________________________________________________________________
That's it for now.
I have averaged 20-30 hours per week playing/building this project and about a month has elapsed to this point... about on the pace I expected. I have encountered WAY fewer problems than I expected. A project of this scope always comes with surprises. It has been relatively easy sailing so far. No major setbacks (.jar file catastrophe not withstanding).
I expect it to take about another month to completely finish the exterior. I have given myself a deadline goal of feb 20th mostly because as the weather warms in late Feb, I will be really itching to do a lot of fishing. Cabin fever will hit me HARD when the white bass start running, and I wont be as interested in sitting in the dark at a computer desk. :wink.gif:
So in a sense, this update constitutes a halfway point of sorts.
From here; full speed ahead.
___________________________________________________________________________
As always, your comments, both suggestive and critical are most welcome.
Peace.
I hear ya. The setting is the weak spot in my project. But the footprint is just SO HUGE at 300-120+ that building on top of an existing hill/mountain is impossible... mountains that size just dont exist in minecraft.
I considered building teh hill myself, but in a legit survival mode, there isnt enough dirt stone close enough to build up anything other than a bump in the grass. Do the math; 300 X 120 X say 30 high? = thats 100,000 plus blocks and doesnt include the slope of the hill that would be needed to make it look right. Not to mention that the castle itself is 80- 150 blocks high, so to make it look like it was on top of a hill 'to scale' would mean a 300 block high hill.... thats 1,000,000 blocks just to build the hill. Hell, at one block every 3 seconds (including tranport and storage deposit time) it would take 833 hours just to mine the raw materials. the another 800+ hours to build the hill... no thanks.
I will do my best to build up the slopes from the sea to the castle where it sits, and do my best to make it look right.
yes, please do lol. I sent you a message awhile ago as well
Mail? whut?
OK I'll find my mail and try to reply.
Nice work Swervish! I just read the entire thread from page 1 to here!
Cucumber