This is a good post, but I think that you undershined the usefulness of a bow. With skill you can take out targets from over 100 blocks away without them even knowing. (Stand on a hill behind an outcropping, hold shift, shoot, move behind the outcropping, wait, repeat) If you are in a jungle all you need to do is climb a tree and shoot at your foe while they attempt to climb. Also, bows do 9 to 10 damage (4.5 to 5 hearts) while a iron sword only does 6 (3 hearts) and diamond sword only does 7 (3.5 hearts),
the sand fall is caused by a block update. And (i do believe) a block that's updated will not update another block (sorry for the confusing words). so if you place a dirt under one of the sands it will update that one sand, but that one sand wont update the others, for if that was true then if you mine out one block then every other block loaded will also be updated.
you can make it just like a overworld mob farm and replace water with lava, as lava flows 8 blocks in the nether and pigmen, like all nether mobs, are fireproof.
I like torches for caving because just carry a stack of logs and mine some coal and you have practically infinite lighting but glowstone you can put on ceilings, and its more expensive (common in the nether, with most on the ceiling).
Torches: Large amount=little inventory use=practical.
Glowstone: Aesthetic. Use it in your mansion.
dont build blocky (i know that's kinda hard in minecraft). go organic. build into your environment (jungle= treehouses, mountains= build a tiered system within the mountain and surrounding it) the seed Giant Crator spawns you south (refrence to a map) of a large overhang, so im building a hanging district.
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Torches: Large amount=little inventory use=practical.
Glowstone: Aesthetic. Use it in your mansion.
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