Minecraft Forums

I've spent a good deal of time checking out everything about the mod... I have to say, marvelous work, Doc! I'm very impressed!

I do have a few questions, though, as well as a bug report and two suggestions for a future update. First, the bug, since it's probably more interesting to you than my idiot questions. =P

BUG REPORT:
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I haven't tried this with all tools or horses, but if you have a pickaxe or shovel equipped while riding a horse (this test excluded the Pegasus and breeding-only horses), right-clicking to perform the tool's action does nothing, but still lowers the durability. The durability goes down with every swing, I've found, so your tools get worn down VERY quickly. I know it's a simple matter of "Well, don't swing tools on a horse", but I'm sure it'd be annoying to not be aware of this and accidentally grind down your precious diamond tools without noticing.
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Next, my questions:

1) What exactly is the purpose of the bunny? Yes, I know that not all mobs need to perform a function, but it seems strange that putting the bunny on your head does nothing (that I'm aware of) for the player, yet drastically boosts jumping speed and distance while mounted. Am I missing something?
2) I have yet to see an Ogre while playing on Peaceful. This is something that I would expect, and I have no problem with it right now, since I'm still working on building my castle walls. However, I do plan to up the difficulty once basic fortifications are complete, and that's what worries me. I don't know the frequencies or locations that Ogres may spawn at, and I'm not particularly fond of the idea of an Ogre tearing down my stables or blowing a chunk of my wall away while I'm not looking. Add this to the fact that my supply dump (where I keep ALL my stuff for now) is blocked by a simple 1-block-high fence, and I'm worried that a random, unlucky spawn might cause serious damage that's beyond my control to prevent. Long story short, do Ogres spawn commonly enough to pose a threat to basic structures, and what tiles are they allowed to spawn on?

And finally, my suggestions:

FEATURE SUGGESTION #1:
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While horses are incredibly useful, their speed seems limited in the absence of bunnies to put on your head (the bunny-boost seems like a bug anyway, to be honest). The speed of a horse, while markedly faster than travel on foot, is a tad... consistent. There are some situations where one might want to travel in quick bursts; for example, maybe I'm far away from my shelter while the sun is going down, and I want to get back before dark, or perhaps I need to escape a horde of enemies quickly. In these instances, a method of applying a short speed boost to your horse would be helpful. I have two ideas for this that serve the function, but have different requirements.

The first would be a riding crop. In case you don't know, riding crops are small whips without lashes (like a baton), substituting the lash for a small leather paddle or loop meant to lightly whip the horse; this encourages it to go faster, but can obviously harm the creature if mishandled. Here's an image of one:
http://www.faqs.org/photo-dict/photofiles/list/4313/5748riding_crop.jpg
My idea would be to add a recipe for a craftable riding crop (also known simply as a "crop"), constructed out of sticks and leather, to allow the rider to make his mount go faster for a short period. However, *enters lore mode* since horses are a relatively new species in the world of Minecraft, humans have yet to master jockeying, and as such, they tend to mishandle the crop on a regular basis. This means, in effect that every use of the crop will not only damage the horse, but also the durability of the crop. Using it too much will kill the horse, so it's only meant to be used in extenuating circumstances, just like it is in real life.

The other idea I had was to incorporate a recipe for spurs, made out of iron. Attaching these to a pair of leather boots would make a new item; this new item would not be equipped in the armor slot for boots, but rather on the hotbar, in the same manner that the crop would be used. The same damage and durability restrictions that affect the crop would apply to the spurs; this is simply an alternate method of providing the same effect, albeit with different materials used.
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FEATURE SUGGESTION #2:
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Simple stuff this time. I wanna be able to use a bow while horseback riding, without hurting the horse. Being able to use swords (or even craftable lances!) would be swell, but the bow is the big one I'd like for now.
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Wow, I kinda went on a tangent there. Sorry to overwhelm you with my Wall-O'-Text™, but hopefully you can make some use out of it.

Again, your work on this mod is just sexellent, and I dearly hope to see this reach ever more compelling heights! =D