I'm not 100% sure yet if you need to visit the nether to collect what you need to cure a villager.
Yes, you will, unless you make the villager trade for gold and/or the potion of weakness, there would be no way to get either of the materials to cure a villager...as you would need a golden apple which outside of the nether...unless there is gold ore block somewhere...NO way to get gold outside of the nether...and villagers don't trade for a brewing stand, nor the potion to use...( for those that don't know, you cure a zombie villager by throwing a splash potion of weakness at him, then giving him a golden apple (the regular one), then you have to wait for around 5 - 10 minutes for him to be "cured."
I think the way you have it now is just fine! except the lack of extra soul sand, which is easily fixed...(hint near the *cough*glowstoneandnetherrack*cough*)
EDIT: and to MegaTrain...welcome to the OceanBlock LP maker community! Well, your welcome for the half-slab idea...you're welcome to use any of the ideas or methods used in my videos, as long as credit is given...(or else it'll feel like stealing...)
Yes, you will, unless you make the villager trade for gold and/or the potion of weakness, there would be no way to get either of the materials to cure a villager...as you would need a golden apple which outside of the nether...unless there is gold ore block somewhere...NO way to get gold outside of the nether...and villagers don't trade for a brewing stand, nor the potion to use...( for those that don't know, you cure a zombie villager by throwing a splash potion of weakness at him, then giving him a golden apple (the regular one), then you have to wait for around 5 - 10 minutes for him to be "cured."
The current idea is to have the villager have several trades, including, say, an emerald for a gold ingot and some emeralds for a weakness potion. I'm toying with also having emeralds + iron pick = iron pick with fortune 3, and then only having 2 diamond blocks.
I think the way you have it now is just fine! except the lack of extra soul sand, which is easily fixed...(hint near the *cough*glowstoneandnetherrack*cough*)
The funny thing is, that's where I *thought* I had put extra soul sand
While I could see releasing a 4.1 update to this map with a minor change like soul sand (or correcting that typo in the book), there's no reason to make a whole new version unless there is some sort of significant change. Altering the order (and method) for getting to the Nether, and making the starting villager a LOT more obviously important to the success of the map, is a good reason to make a 5.0 version.
well, thats an interesting concept...and if you don't want that specific villager to get more trades then you want...make the last trade end portal block > end portal block...its like a trade stopper, since that block is impossible to get...its very commonly used in other custom maps with custom trade options with villagers.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisemen say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.
well, thats an interesting concept...and if you don't want that specific villager to get more trades then you want...make the last trade end portal block > end portal block...its like a trade stopper, since that block is impossible to get...its very commonly used in other custom maps with custom trade options with villagers.
Won't that eventually end the ability to trade with the villager, because you can't make the last trade and reopen earlier trades?
Though really, that may be a good thing. How much gold should you be able to get on the cheap?
Won't that eventually end the ability to trade with the villager, because you can't make the last trade and reopen earlier trades?
Though really, that may be a good thing. How much gold should you be able to get on the cheap?
yup, thats the point...if you keep refreshing the trade, that trade option makes it easier to get gold then making a zombie pigman trap...so limiting the number of trades...makes a limited source of gold to "get you started" then if you want more, you'll have to farm it!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisemen say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.
Well I built my roughly 17 x 17 or 18 x 18 room to put my blaze spawning system in tonight - swam in lava for most of the 6 hour stream. Once I remember my pw to imgur I'll post some photos for you all!
it would be cool if you could move spawners with pistons...then making a blaze farm would be much easier then having the spawner block just 1 block above bedrock...I'd have to play around with it to get a good effective design with that limitation...
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisemen say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.
It would have taken me a bit less time if I'd have had a bit more resources created when I started working on it but overall it turned out fine. It's a very effective and safe system though not exactly one that's easy on your sword durability. Once I get enough redstone I can add in some pistons up top but I also still need slimeballs for that too really. Enjoy the pictures
It would have taken me a bit less time if I'd have had a bit more resources created when I started working on it but overall it turned out fine. It's a very effective and safe system though not exactly one that's easy on your sword durability. Once I get enough redstone I can add in some pistons up top but I also still need slimeballs for that too really. Enjoy the pictures
Nice! Easily the nicest blaze farm I've seen for this map. Nobody's yet done my idea, which I will some day reveal on video if I ever start my series up again. I'm hoping to record some tomorrow, though the Overworld needs some TLC before I even think about the Nether.
The current idea is to have the villager have several trades, including, say, an emerald for a gold ingot and some emeralds for a weakness potion. I'm toying with also having emeralds + iron pick = iron pick with fortune 3, and then only having 2 diamond blocks. ... While I could see releasing a 4.1 update to this map with a minor change like soul sand (or correcting that typo in the book), there's no reason to make a whole new version unless there is some sort of significant change. Altering the order (and method) for getting to the Nether, and making the starting villager a LOT more obviously important to the success of the map, is a good reason to make a 5.0 version.
Hmm, interesting ideas. Not sure if I'm crazy about it, though:
If you hack the villager to have specific trades, then that villager is not replaceable via villager spawn eggs if anything happens, you'd have to restart the level over from scratch.
Also, the Fortune enchantment increases the chance of more than one drop from diamond ore, but even with Fortune 3, there is still a 40% chance of only getting a single diamond. You could do everything right, and still end up with only one drop from each ore. I did some calculations, here are the results of using a fortune 3 pick on 2 diamond ore:
So while I like having this as one of several options to achieve bonus objectives, needing it to accomplish primary objectives probably isn't reliable enough.
But more than both of those, I think that doing things like hacking in specific trades that wouldn't normally be available (live emeralds for Gold or a weakness potion) seems to be a violation of the fundamental genre of this map, which is "doing the most that the game allows from the least amount of original resources."
Maybe its just me, but that's the same reason I don't play big, complicated custom adventure maps that have hacked spawners and all sorts of crazy custom hacked stuff like super-enchanted weapons, special items with required customized texture packs, etc. I'm sure they're cool and all (and my kids totally love them), but to me that makes them feel like "not vanilla minecraft".
That's kind of what attracted me to SkyBlock, which, despite the fact that it is pretty out of date, is still the prototype of the "doing the most with the least" challenge.
Anyway, that's probably more about me and my own preferences than it is about you and this map, but take that for what its worth.
Not sure when it will come out, but might be worth holding v5.0 for the 1.5 redstone update and see if there are natural ways to incorporate some of the new blocks and/or requirements. (Nether Quartz Ore is the only new fundamental block, as far as I know. It can be used for lots of new contraptions, though.)
So besides wanting to grow tons more netherwort, why do we need more soul sand? Or is that the main reason?
If you hack the villager to have specific trades, then that villager is not replaceable via villager spawn eggs if anything happens, you'd have to restart the level over from scratch.
That's actually the point I miss having something so critical that you simply must restart without it.
Also, the Fortune enchantment increases the chance of more than one drop from diamond ore, but even with Fortune 3, there is still a 40% chance of only getting a single diamond.
This I did NOT know. I thought it was a straight "extra drop per level" thing. This essentially torpedoes that idea. Thanks for saving me the work!
But more than both of those, I think that doing things like hacking in specific trades that wouldn't normally be available (live emeralds for Gold or a weakness potion) seems to be a violation of the fundamental genre of this map, which is "doing the most that the game allows from the least amount of original resources."
I actually thought on this for a long time. The current villagers are "genuine" in that I threw down a ton of eggs and killed a ton of villagers until I found 2 trades I wanted. Later, I found you could quite easily make your own trades.
My sharing of your desire to keep the map "pure" is why I changed the Nether to not have that little house with a dispenser. For some reason, a blaze spawner (which I fought for a long time) at the bottom of that hole is more acceptable than a pre-made house.
The starting trees are "fake" though. I pillared up the trunks and then built the canopies with planks. Then, I replaced the planks with their leaf types in MCEdit. I was planning on doing the same thing in any future versions, but beefing up the jungle trees even more to give you a better chance at a sapling drop.
Somewhere between "Fully hand-made world" and "everything is doable in-game" is a line of acceptability. Your line may be in a different place than mine, but finding that line is as important to me as it is to you. I don't think having a villager with a couple otherwise unattainable trades is off the table, but you've assuredly given me pause. I'll think on it some more, but currently I'm on the side of allowing it if it truly makes the map more fun and gives a unique experience. But it'll have to genuinely do that before I'll put it in.
Not sure when it will come out, but might be worth holding v5.0 for the 1.5 redstone update and see if there are natural ways to incorporate some of the new blocks and/or requirements. (Nether Quartz Ore is the only new fundamental block, as far as I know. It can be used for lots of new contraptions, though.)
I held off my 4.0 for Minecraft 1.4, and I see no reason not to do the same for 5.0 and 1.5. I've not even put anything down for a potential 5.0 map, so I'm not even sure yet if it'd be ready before then. It wasn't too long ago that I thought Oceanblock was a completed project that would never evolve to a new version.
So besides wanting to grow tons more netherwort, why do we need more soul sand? Or is that the main reason?
Nope, that's it. Currently a netherwort farm can only be 7 blocks big. I don't think you need an 8x8 (or bigger!) farm or anything, but it seems restrictive to only have 7. And it fits the general theme, where you have a limited amount of stuff on the island but more is available if you're willing to put the work into it.
Nope, that's it. Currently a netherwort farm can only be 7 blocks big. I don't think you need an 8x8 (or bigger!) farm or anything, but it seems restrictive to only have 7. And it fits the general theme, where you have a limited amount of stuff on the island but more is available if you're willing to put the work into it.
exactly, and the soul sand was intended to be in the map somewhere "if you wanted more." and where it was intended to be isn't exactly easy to reach and harvest...and on where to put it, I'd say either above the netherrack, under the glowstone, or inbetween...and a sneaky way to rearrange the "hidden" resources in the nether is from top to bottom: Soul sand, glowstone, netherrack. my reasoning in this is making it slightly harder to notice since most people are used to normal nether where they see netherrack every where anyway, so "going looking for extra resources" is more interesting that way as alot would look up at the "ceiling" of the nether and see netherrack and just think its normal, but like the ocean floor, if you go up there and dig around, you'll find goodies! Since the ocean floor isn't really noticeable at a distance all the good stuff down there! But if you look around, its VERY obvious where the "hidden" stuff is. Just tossing that idea out there on how to incorporate the soul sand back into the map!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Wisemen say forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza.
So I did some testing, and I was able to get mooshrooms to spawn on grass in a MushroomIsland biome.
For test #1, I used flatland code 2;7,2x3,2;14;
This is a grass flatland, and you can find quite a few mooshroom groups, especially if you walk or fly around.
(no other mobs, friendly or hostile, spawned at all, during the day or night).
Just to make sure this wasn't happening just at level generation, I created a flatland similar to OceanBlock: 2;7,3,82,12,60x9;14;
In creative mode, I built to the surface with dirt, and built a grass island and a mycelium island, and a plain dirt island 25+ blocks away to wait. I got a single mooshroom spawned on the grass island:
I tried again using the "mushroom island shore" biome type, and am currently waiting to see if anything spawns.
So if this checks out, a few ideas on how to incorporate it: (OceanBlock 4.1?)
1. Change the desert biome to MushroomIsland biome. 2. Remove the red mushroom from the island, but leave the brown mushroom.
This makes it harder for people to get mushroom stew in the early game, even with bone meal.
To get red mushooms, you will have to get grass all the way out to the mushroom biome, spawn mooshrooms, and have iron for shears. You have to assume that the user needs to have a good food source by that time.
If you are still concerned about it being too easy, then you could move the biomes further away from the original island, requiring more resources to get there.
Edit: Looks like they spawn in MushroomIslandShore, too:
This makes it harder for people to get mushroom stew in the early game, even with bone meal.
To get red mushooms, you will have to get grass all the way out to the mushroom biome, spawn mooshrooms, and have iron for shears. You have to assume that the user needs to have a good food source by that time.
well it kinda does, and it kinda doesn't...since you can get mushroom stew from using a bowl on a mooshroom, that really doesn't make it that much harder...
On the other hand, I made another interesting way to use soul sand...and it works 98% of the time.
every once in a while a single spider will get pushed through, but its rare. This is a Spider Mob Trap...its a great source of string and spider-eyes if you don't want to deal with the other mobs as they can't spawn in there!...the trick is the room is 1.5 blocks tall so spiders can spawn but nothing else. and the size is 10x10 and the front has slabs down to make a 1 block tall opening but 3 rows of soul sand, so the spiders run at you, get stuck on the soul sand and just jump up and down! (and rarely one will get pushed through, but spiders are easy to kill anyway)
well it kinda does, and it kinda doesn't...since you can get mushroom stew from using a bowl on a mooshroom, that really doesn't make it that much harder...
I'm aware of that. I admit that even on a well-established island, mooshroom stew might still end up being the go-to food choice, just for its convenience.
But you'll have to already have a significant source of dirt, and the time to let the grass spread, and the patience to wait for them to spawn. You'd definitely have to have another food source to get that far. And like I suggested, you could move the biome further away from the starting island, to increase the difficulty of getting there.
I don't mind the idea of having the extra biomes a bit farther away so long as it remains symmetrical in terms of where they are put into the map. It would also make you pick/choose a bit at the start if you really wanted to head to a specific biome for a certain type of spawn (maybe make the biome areas a bit larger too?) since you are so limited by torches.
Personally I think the one villager thing would be incredibly hard to deal with - mainly because I haven't done it yet at all. I would probably prefer a "Hardcore" version of the save file so if you die that's it. Start over. Maybe that's just me but I think it would be great to have
I actually thought on this for a long time. The current villagers are "genuine" in that I threw down a ton of eggs and killed a ton of villagers until I found 2 trades I wanted. Later, I found you could quite easily make your own trades.
My sharing of your desire to keep the map "pure" is why I changed the Nether to not have that little house with a dispenser. For some reason, a blaze spawner (which I fought for a long time) at the bottom of that hole is more acceptable than a pre-made house.
The starting trees are "fake" though. I pillared up the trunks and then built the canopies with planks. Then, I replaced the planks with their leaf types in MCEdit. I was planning on doing the same thing in any future versions, but beefing up the jungle trees even more to give you a better chance at a sapling drop.
Somewhere between "Fully hand-made world" and "everything is doable in-game" is a line of acceptability. Your line may be in a different place than mine, but finding that line is as important to me as it is to you. I don't think having a villager with a couple otherwise unattainable trades is off the table, but you've assuredly given me pause. I'll think on it some more, but currently I'm on the side of allowing it if it truly makes the map more fun and gives a unique experience. But it'll have to genuinely do that before I'll put it in.
That seems like a lot of work, you couldn't have just placed the leaf blocks directly in creative?
I certainly don't have a problem with using artificial means to make the level, even choosing the villager trades and rates, I guess in my mind it was the idea of selecting a villager trade that couldn't possibly have occurred naturally.
But you are correct, the degree of "purity" in a level is pretty subjective, and the line of acceptability might be different for everyone. After all, it wasn't that long ago that custom flatland levels weren't possible to do without hacking. And because of the benefit, I certainly don't have a problem with "hacking" in the four custom biomes, I think those have definite in-game benefits and am glad they are there.
I also appreciate the "emergency cache", it is a good compromise, in my opinion, between someone who wants to remain "pure", and someone else who doesn't want to start their whole world over because of one mistake. So maybe that's another possible route, to offer an in-game choice between "purity" and (whatever the opposite of that is)?
And don't worry, if I don't like a new version, I'll just keep playing version 4.0
That seems like a lot of work, you couldn't have just placed the leaf blocks directly in creative?
There was an early version of 3.0 where I did just that. The problem is, they are the non-decaying type and I'm pretty sure they never dropped saplings either. If you think jungle saplings are a problem NOW...
I certainly don't have a problem with using artificial means to make the level, even choosing the villager trades and rates, I guess in my mind it was the idea of selecting a villager trade that couldn't possibly have occurred naturally.
But you are correct, the degree of "purity" in a level is pretty subjective, and the line of acceptability might be different for everyone. After all, it wasn't that long ago that custom flatland levels weren't possible to do without hacking. And because of the benefit, I certainly don't have a problem with "hacking" in the four custom biomes, I think those have definite in-game benefits and am glad they are there.
I also appreciate the "emergency cache", it is a good compromise, in my opinion, between someone who wants to remain "pure", and someone else who doesn't want to start their whole world over because of one mistake. So maybe that's another possible route, to offer an in-game choice between "purity" and (whatever the opposite of that is)?
I can't think of a way to do that in the map in this instance. The single-villager thing would be the centerpiece of the map, the most important part that distinguishes it from 4.0.
And don't worry, if I don't like a new version, I'll just keep playing version 4.0
Version 2 of OceanBlock was obviously better than 1, and 3 was obviously better than 2. 4 and 3 were closer in quality (though I prefer 4's setup to 3's if only for the way the biomes are set up, and 3 isn't a flatland map IIRC). I expect 4 and 5 will be roughly equal in quality and would love for both to be valid choices going forward, even if 4 slowly becomes out of date as time goes on. And there are LPers who are still playing version 1 out there. I just watched an episode a few minutes ago and the guy's having a blast, so that's always an option no matter my opinion on which map is "better"
Never fear. His trade(s) will be tailor-made to both help and frustrate you. And yes, you'll have to cure a zombie before you can make your village.
I'm not 100% sure yet if you need to visit the nether to collect what you need to cure a villager.
Did you know I write Science Fiction? Well I do. Check it out at http://planetretcon.com/books/
Yes, you will, unless you make the villager trade for gold and/or the potion of weakness, there would be no way to get either of the materials to cure a villager...as you would need a golden apple which outside of the nether...unless there is gold ore block somewhere...NO way to get gold outside of the nether...and villagers don't trade for a brewing stand, nor the potion to use...( for those that don't know, you cure a zombie villager by throwing a splash potion of weakness at him, then giving him a golden apple (the regular one), then you have to wait for around 5 - 10 minutes for him to be "cured."
I think the way you have it now is just fine! except the lack of extra soul sand, which is easily fixed...(hint near the *cough*glowstoneandnetherrack*cough*)
EDIT: and to MegaTrain...welcome to the OceanBlock LP maker community! Well, your welcome for the half-slab idea...you're welcome to use any of the ideas or methods used in my videos, as long as credit is given...(or else it'll feel like stealing...)
The current idea is to have the villager have several trades, including, say, an emerald for a gold ingot and some emeralds for a weakness potion. I'm toying with also having emeralds + iron pick = iron pick with fortune 3, and then only having 2 diamond blocks.
The funny thing is, that's where I *thought* I had put extra soul sand
While I could see releasing a 4.1 update to this map with a minor change like soul sand (or correcting that typo in the book), there's no reason to make a whole new version unless there is some sort of significant change. Altering the order (and method) for getting to the Nether, and making the starting villager a LOT more obviously important to the success of the map, is a good reason to make a 5.0 version.
Did you know I write Science Fiction? Well I do. Check it out at http://planetretcon.com/books/
Won't that eventually end the ability to trade with the villager, because you can't make the last trade and reopen earlier trades?
Though really, that may be a good thing. How much gold should you be able to get on the cheap?
Did you know I write Science Fiction? Well I do. Check it out at http://planetretcon.com/books/
It would have taken me a bit less time if I'd have had a bit more resources created when I started working on it but overall it turned out fine. It's a very effective and safe system though not exactly one that's easy on your sword durability. Once I get enough redstone I can add in some pistons up top but I also still need slimeballs for that too really. Enjoy the pictures
Nice! Easily the nicest blaze farm I've seen for this map. Nobody's yet done my idea, which I will some day reveal on video if I ever start my series up again. I'm hoping to record some tomorrow, though the Overworld needs some TLC before I even think about the Nether.
Did you know I write Science Fiction? Well I do. Check it out at http://planetretcon.com/books/
Hmm, interesting ideas. Not sure if I'm crazy about it, though:
If you hack the villager to have specific trades, then that villager is not replaceable via villager spawn eggs if anything happens, you'd have to restart the level over from scratch.
Also, the Fortune enchantment increases the chance of more than one drop from diamond ore, but even with Fortune 3, there is still a 40% chance of only getting a single diamond. You could do everything right, and still end up with only one drop from each ore. I did some calculations, here are the results of using a fortune 3 pick on 2 diamond ore:
16% - 2 diamond
16% - 3 diamond
20% - 4 diamond
24% - 5 diamond
12% - 6 diamond
8% - 7 diamond
4% - 8 diamond
So while I like having this as one of several options to achieve bonus objectives, needing it to accomplish primary objectives probably isn't reliable enough.
But more than both of those, I think that doing things like hacking in specific trades that wouldn't normally be available (live emeralds for Gold or a weakness potion) seems to be a violation of the fundamental genre of this map, which is "doing the most that the game allows from the least amount of original resources."
Maybe its just me, but that's the same reason I don't play big, complicated custom adventure maps that have hacked spawners and all sorts of crazy custom hacked stuff like super-enchanted weapons, special items with required customized texture packs, etc. I'm sure they're cool and all (and my kids totally love them), but to me that makes them feel like "not vanilla minecraft".
That's kind of what attracted me to SkyBlock, which, despite the fact that it is pretty out of date, is still the prototype of the "doing the most with the least" challenge.
Anyway, that's probably more about me and my own preferences than it is about you and this map, but take that for what its worth.
Not sure when it will come out, but might be worth holding v5.0 for the 1.5 redstone update and see if there are natural ways to incorporate some of the new blocks and/or requirements. (Nether Quartz Ore is the only new fundamental block, as far as I know. It can be used for lots of new contraptions, though.)
So besides wanting to grow tons more netherwort, why do we need more soul sand? Or is that the main reason?
That's actually the point I miss having something so critical that you simply must restart without it.
This I did NOT know. I thought it was a straight "extra drop per level" thing. This essentially torpedoes that idea. Thanks for saving me the work!
I actually thought on this for a long time. The current villagers are "genuine" in that I threw down a ton of eggs and killed a ton of villagers until I found 2 trades I wanted. Later, I found you could quite easily make your own trades.
My sharing of your desire to keep the map "pure" is why I changed the Nether to not have that little house with a dispenser. For some reason, a blaze spawner (which I fought for a long time) at the bottom of that hole is more acceptable than a pre-made house.
The starting trees are "fake" though. I pillared up the trunks and then built the canopies with planks. Then, I replaced the planks with their leaf types in MCEdit. I was planning on doing the same thing in any future versions, but beefing up the jungle trees even more to give you a better chance at a sapling drop.
Somewhere between "Fully hand-made world" and "everything is doable in-game" is a line of acceptability. Your line may be in a different place than mine, but finding that line is as important to me as it is to you. I don't think having a villager with a couple otherwise unattainable trades is off the table, but you've assuredly given me pause. I'll think on it some more, but currently I'm on the side of allowing it if it truly makes the map more fun and gives a unique experience. But it'll have to genuinely do that before I'll put it in.
I held off my 4.0 for Minecraft 1.4, and I see no reason not to do the same for 5.0 and 1.5. I've not even put anything down for a potential 5.0 map, so I'm not even sure yet if it'd be ready before then. It wasn't too long ago that I thought Oceanblock was a completed project that would never evolve to a new version.
Nope, that's it. Currently a netherwort farm can only be 7 blocks big. I don't think you need an 8x8 (or bigger!) farm or anything, but it seems restrictive to only have 7. And it fits the general theme, where you have a limited amount of stuff on the island but more is available if you're willing to put the work into it.
Did you know I write Science Fiction? Well I do. Check it out at http://planetretcon.com/books/
exactly, and the soul sand was intended to be in the map somewhere "if you wanted more." and where it was intended to be isn't exactly easy to reach and harvest...and on where to put it, I'd say either above the netherrack, under the glowstone, or inbetween...and a sneaky way to rearrange the "hidden" resources in the nether is from top to bottom: Soul sand, glowstone, netherrack. my reasoning in this is making it slightly harder to notice since most people are used to normal nether where they see netherrack every where anyway, so "going looking for extra resources" is more interesting that way as alot would look up at the "ceiling" of the nether and see netherrack and just think its normal, but like the ocean floor, if you go up there and dig around, you'll find goodies! Since the ocean floor isn't really noticeable at a distance all the good stuff down there! But if you look around, its VERY obvious where the "hidden" stuff is. Just tossing that idea out there on how to incorporate the soul sand back into the map!
For test #1, I used flatland code 2;7,2x3,2;14;
This is a grass flatland, and you can find quite a few mooshroom groups, especially if you walk or fly around.
(no other mobs, friendly or hostile, spawned at all, during the day or night).
Just to make sure this wasn't happening just at level generation, I created a flatland similar to OceanBlock:
2;7,3,82,12,60x9;14;
In creative mode, I built to the surface with dirt, and built a grass island and a mycelium island, and a plain dirt island 25+ blocks away to wait. I got a single mooshroom spawned on the grass island:
I tried again using the "mushroom island shore" biome type, and am currently waiting to see if anything spawns.
So if this checks out, a few ideas on how to incorporate it: (OceanBlock 4.1?)
1. Change the desert biome to MushroomIsland biome.
2. Remove the red mushroom from the island, but leave the brown mushroom.
This makes it harder for people to get mushroom stew in the early game, even with bone meal.
To get red mushooms, you will have to get grass all the way out to the mushroom biome, spawn mooshrooms, and have iron for shears. You have to assume that the user needs to have a good food source by that time.
If you are still concerned about it being too easy, then you could move the biomes further away from the original island, requiring more resources to get there.
Edit: Looks like they spawn in MushroomIslandShore, too:
well it kinda does, and it kinda doesn't...since you can get mushroom stew from using a bowl on a mooshroom, that really doesn't make it that much harder...
On the other hand, I made another interesting way to use soul sand...and it works 98% of the time.
every once in a while a single spider will get pushed through, but its rare. This is a Spider Mob Trap...its a great source of string and spider-eyes if you don't want to deal with the other mobs as they can't spawn in there!...the trick is the room is 1.5 blocks tall so spiders can spawn but nothing else. and the size is 10x10 and the front has slabs down to make a 1 block tall opening but 3 rows of soul sand, so the spiders run at you, get stuck on the soul sand and just jump up and down! (and rarely one will get pushed through, but spiders are easy to kill anyway)
I'm aware of that. I admit that even on a well-established island, mooshroom stew might still end up being the go-to food choice, just for its convenience.
But you'll have to already have a significant source of dirt, and the time to let the grass spread, and the patience to wait for them to spawn. You'd definitely have to have another food source to get that far. And like I suggested, you could move the biome further away from the starting island, to increase the difficulty of getting there.
Personally I think the one villager thing would be incredibly hard to deal with - mainly because I haven't done it yet at all. I would probably prefer a "Hardcore" version of the save file so if you die that's it. Start over. Maybe that's just me but I think it would be great to have
That seems like a lot of work, you couldn't have just placed the leaf blocks directly in creative?
I certainly don't have a problem with using artificial means to make the level, even choosing the villager trades and rates, I guess in my mind it was the idea of selecting a villager trade that couldn't possibly have occurred naturally.
But you are correct, the degree of "purity" in a level is pretty subjective, and the line of acceptability might be different for everyone. After all, it wasn't that long ago that custom flatland levels weren't possible to do without hacking. And because of the benefit, I certainly don't have a problem with "hacking" in the four custom biomes, I think those have definite in-game benefits and am glad they are there.
I also appreciate the "emergency cache", it is a good compromise, in my opinion, between someone who wants to remain "pure", and someone else who doesn't want to start their whole world over because of one mistake. So maybe that's another possible route, to offer an in-game choice between "purity" and (whatever the opposite of that is)?
And don't worry, if I don't like a new version, I'll just keep playing version 4.0
There was an early version of 3.0 where I did just that. The problem is, they are the non-decaying type and I'm pretty sure they never dropped saplings either. If you think jungle saplings are a problem NOW...
I can't think of a way to do that in the map in this instance. The single-villager thing would be the centerpiece of the map, the most important part that distinguishes it from 4.0.
Version 2 of OceanBlock was obviously better than 1, and 3 was obviously better than 2. 4 and 3 were closer in quality (though I prefer 4's setup to 3's if only for the way the biomes are set up, and 3 isn't a flatland map IIRC). I expect 4 and 5 will be roughly equal in quality and would love for both to be valid choices going forward, even if 4 slowly becomes out of date as time goes on. And there are LPers who are still playing version 1 out there. I just watched an episode a few minutes ago and the guy's having a blast, so that's always an option no matter my opinion on which map is "better"
Did you know I write Science Fiction? Well I do. Check it out at http://planetretcon.com/books/