I want to start off by saying that I do not expect anyone to go to the trouble to making all of these additions to the game. I am merely explaining what would be my perfect set of mods for the game, and maybe some of our ideas will inspire other ideas and perhaps some good may come from it all.
Frontier-Craft: the premise
When I talk about Minecraft or play it with my friends, we frequently bring up how similar it is to games like Oregon Trail and Harvest Moon. When pretend we are settlers in a new land, trying to make a homestead for ourselves. We rarely make a town except for aesthetic purposes, and we visit each other's far away areas of the world to see what neat things they have made.
There are a few things that would make this better, or things that we have said would be "cool" to have.
Advanced Farming and Food
We absolutely love the idea of the Hunger Bar that is coming soon(or is in game depending on when you read this). We would like some rustic veggies that we can farm, and new recipes for that match the Frontier. What would be cool is to have food spoilage. Some kind of limited time food is usable, or raw meats are edible. This would make a difference between food recipes that could be added. Rustic recipes for stews and roasted meats that last only a short time before they have to be thrown out. This means there needs to be a way to preserve food, so pickling, canning, and drying would need to be introduced.
This will increase competition between players for food, but it may also increase trade. The ones that spend more time on clothing can trade that clothing for the food someone else has preserved for the winter.
Advanced Animal Utility
We would like to see many of the creatures that are in Mo' Creatures, but tailored for our uses. Animals that were commonly hunted and trapped for trade with civilization would be needed. Beaver that spawn around water that could be trapped and skinned for their pelts. Bears that can be killed for food and clothing. Deer, elk, hare and buffalo spawning in correct biomes so that those living the rough life in the mountains would benefit with higher bear spawn rates.
Beasts of burden would be nice as well. Donkeys and mules that follow like the in game dogs, but have storage chests built in. Horses to ride is a must as well. Maybe too advanced for minecraft, but an animal to pull carts would be cool too.
Advanced Weather
Number one would be a cold meter. This will give a reason to hunt dangerous bear and other fur animals. You would need fur to stay healthy in the cold climates and high up mountains. Also it would facilitate the very real need of heating in a home... and introduce the very serious threat of fire in a homestead. This means we would need to gather and store wood for our heating before winter, another crucial aspect of making the game feel like the frontier.
The ideal situation would be that there are seasons. The seasons dictate how strong the cold is. It would also change what animals spawn during these times. Bears would be harder to find in winter, meaning you need to stock up on food and clothing in the earlier months in preparation. The scarcity of supplies is the number one reason humans compete against each other... or cooperate in peace.
NPC Villages become Native American
Ok, if we're being politically correct, I'm sure we could come up with a more "correct" kind of housing for them. The American Frontier did exist near the tribes that used teepees though, so I do not see that too far out of the question. Either way, replace the European NPC villages with native american ones
The best would be if they would randomly be created as hostile or peaceful so that it was dangerous to even approach them. The reward for being brave and finding a peaceful tribe would be some sort of trade for food and supplies. These NPC can't hunt, so they would easily agree to trading food for bear skins or beaver pelts.
The River, the Plains, the Mountains
It would be nice to have a major river in any created world. One that would act as a highway between players and a dividing point between the flatter lowland hills and the mountainous region. Work could be done to make them their own ecosystems. Farming works in the low hills, but the hunting is bad. The forest around the river is great for trapping fur, but hard to keep food around. The mountains would be the hardest of all to live in, without an ability to grow food, the constant need for fire, and the lack of people to trade with. But that would balance out due to the mining, the big money bear skin trade, and other riches found in hard to live places.
Guns and technology
It would be easy enough to ignore redstone, I pretty much do when I'm RP'ing the Frontier. Adding a single shot gun of some type would fit the flavor of the frontier. Maybe some water pumps for the mines? I would like a way to make a panning sleuce for getting gold out of the river or other waters. It would be slow, time consuming and take a lot to maintain, but it would spit out gold at a decent rate.
If you read this, thanks for reading it. I know that much of this is more work than anyone would undertake just for me and my friends, so like I said at the start, the best I hope for is to maybe give people ideas.
If someone could find the time and effort to create this mod, I'd love them, for life. Seriously. Kudos to you for the time and thought put into this post.
I am thinking of gathering a list of mods, then list what to include and exclude in them, and finally a rule set similar to the Ironman and Survivorman rule sets that people like to "Let's Play" to. It would not be perfect, but the best I can personally do
i have noticed that there aren t any "real life" mining mods
i like the idea of adding placer gold mining but why not add a dolly pot or stamp mill for ore processing ?
just a thought and i would differently use this mod if it was made
Frontier-Craft: the premise
When I talk about Minecraft or play it with my friends, we frequently bring up how similar it is to games like Oregon Trail and Harvest Moon. When pretend we are settlers in a new land, trying to make a homestead for ourselves. We rarely make a town except for aesthetic purposes, and we visit each other's far away areas of the world to see what neat things they have made.
There are a few things that would make this better, or things that we have said would be "cool" to have.
Advanced Farming and Food
We absolutely love the idea of the Hunger Bar that is coming soon(or is in game depending on when you read this). We would like some rustic veggies that we can farm, and new recipes for that match the Frontier. What would be cool is to have food spoilage. Some kind of limited time food is usable, or raw meats are edible. This would make a difference between food recipes that could be added. Rustic recipes for stews and roasted meats that last only a short time before they have to be thrown out. This means there needs to be a way to preserve food, so pickling, canning, and drying would need to be introduced.
This will increase competition between players for food, but it may also increase trade. The ones that spend more time on clothing can trade that clothing for the food someone else has preserved for the winter.
Advanced Animal Utility
We would like to see many of the creatures that are in Mo' Creatures, but tailored for our uses. Animals that were commonly hunted and trapped for trade with civilization would be needed. Beaver that spawn around water that could be trapped and skinned for their pelts. Bears that can be killed for food and clothing. Deer, elk, hare and buffalo spawning in correct biomes so that those living the rough life in the mountains would benefit with higher bear spawn rates.
Beasts of burden would be nice as well. Donkeys and mules that follow like the in game dogs, but have storage chests built in. Horses to ride is a must as well. Maybe too advanced for minecraft, but an animal to pull carts would be cool too.
Advanced Weather
Number one would be a cold meter. This will give a reason to hunt dangerous bear and other fur animals. You would need fur to stay healthy in the cold climates and high up mountains. Also it would facilitate the very real need of heating in a home... and introduce the very serious threat of fire in a homestead. This means we would need to gather and store wood for our heating before winter, another crucial aspect of making the game feel like the frontier.
The ideal situation would be that there are seasons. The seasons dictate how strong the cold is. It would also change what animals spawn during these times. Bears would be harder to find in winter, meaning you need to stock up on food and clothing in the earlier months in preparation. The scarcity of supplies is the number one reason humans compete against each other... or cooperate in peace.
NPC Villages become Native American
Ok, if we're being politically correct, I'm sure we could come up with a more "correct" kind of housing for them. The American Frontier did exist near the tribes that used teepees though, so I do not see that too far out of the question. Either way, replace the European NPC villages with native american ones
The best would be if they would randomly be created as hostile or peaceful so that it was dangerous to even approach them. The reward for being brave and finding a peaceful tribe would be some sort of trade for food and supplies. These NPC can't hunt, so they would easily agree to trading food for bear skins or beaver pelts.
The River, the Plains, the Mountains
It would be nice to have a major river in any created world. One that would act as a highway between players and a dividing point between the flatter lowland hills and the mountainous region. Work could be done to make them their own ecosystems. Farming works in the low hills, but the hunting is bad. The forest around the river is great for trapping fur, but hard to keep food around. The mountains would be the hardest of all to live in, without an ability to grow food, the constant need for fire, and the lack of people to trade with. But that would balance out due to the mining, the big money bear skin trade, and other riches found in hard to live places.
Guns and technology
It would be easy enough to ignore redstone, I pretty much do when I'm RP'ing the Frontier. Adding a single shot gun of some type would fit the flavor of the frontier. Maybe some water pumps for the mines? I would like a way to make a panning sleuce for getting gold out of the river or other waters. It would be slow, time consuming and take a lot to maintain, but it would spit out gold at a decent rate.
If you read this, thanks for reading it. I know that much of this is more work than anyone would undertake just for me and my friends, so like I said at the start, the best I hope for is to maybe give people ideas.
i like the idea of adding placer gold mining but why not add a dolly pot or stamp mill for ore processing ?
just a thought and i would differently use this mod if it was made
:laugh.gif: :laugh.gif: