So this was one of my first castle builds... I lined the interior walls with lava and put up glass to keep me safe... The thought was that if you have a light source on your crops they will continue to grow even at night... Is this thought correct?
You don't have to go to all that work. Crops need a certain light level (I believe it's 7) to stay planted and after that they grow rather randomly based on whenever they get "hit" with a "growth tick." Lava emits a light level of 15, so you could space your lava 7 or 8 blocks away from the plants and they will still grow. Also, lava can ignite some items even through glass up to 4 blocks away if above the lava. (I've burned down trees in my tree farms by placing them too close to lava lakes that I covered over with glass. The fires started in the leaves that hung over the lava blocks after the tree had started growing.) I don't think wheat burns, however, because I've planted it right next to glass covered lava and had have not had any problems. I've never tried planting sugar cane underground myself, so I don't know about it.
If they are open to the daylight, they really don't need anything to stay planted, but if there is a light level of 7 still there during the night, they may get hit with a growth tick overnight as well. If there is no light at night, I think the growth ticks pass those ones over.
I used lava as a method for activated or deactivating a mob trap once. Pistons would release lava-falls out of the ceiling, which would then fall down and light up the interior of the trap. Which kept mobs from spawning, so I would think it would also grow crops. I also created a light sensor for a lava-fall, which was dependent on a grass dying or growing for the trigger -commonly known as a "bud switch"; but the sensor was so close to the lava-fall, it failed to ever turn on properly. I later figured out that the grass needed total darkness to make for a reliable sensor.
Lava is a good method for lighting, but in cases where it can be shut off and then back on. It's not so good. For some reason or another and unfortunately so, lava leaves behind lighting, even after it has dissipated. For a mobtrap, that was unacceptable. Also, high numbers of lava-falls, seem to increase the time it takes for them all to fully dissipate, or at the very least creates frequent irregularites. Could be a minute, could be twentty, before it finally turns off.
Yes, you can see in the second picture that walkways are wooden, they almost burned down that entire inside of the castle walls...
Yeah, it's something to be careful about... My friends kid (age 7) burned his house down 3 times in rapid succession before he figured out that it was his lava trash disposal unit. He had completely encased it in cobblestone, except for the top. Too bad the wooden plank floor of his second storey was only 3 blocks above the lava, not 4. Each time, he rebuilt everything but the trash unit. The second time, he blamed the fire on his netherrack fireplace and rebuilt that... then went mining only to come home to find his house again completely engulfed in flames. Learning from watching his painful experiences, I went ihome and checked my own main build world. I wasn't really worried because my house at that time was 100% sandstone (or so I thought). I had forgotten that I had built a light tower on the roof from wooden planks and mounted torches on them in a pattern (so I always new what direction I was from my base). My ceiling was also 3 block high. When I got up on the roof to check, sure enough, the wooden light tower was completely gone... but thankfully no damage to the sandstone roof itself and the rest of the house.
I just use torches, place dirt on fence posts and I always have wheat, Cactus and Sugar Cane. My Son made a "hidden" sugar and Wheat farm under ground with torches for light and it grows like crazy. About 12- 16 blocks down.
I just use torches, place dirt on fence posts and I always have wheat, Cactus and Sugar Cane. My Son made a "hidden" sugar and Wheat farm under ground with torches for light and it grows like crazy. About 12- 16 blocks down.
Do the underground torches still work with the new MC360 update? B/c I have an underground rail system that is built one level above bedrock and it is dark! Even with torches it doesn't illuminate more then 3 blocks in front of me! It's one of the things I don't like about the update... But at least no clouds in my height maxed towers...
Do the underground torches still work with the new MC360 update? B/c I have an underground rail system that is built one level above bedrock and it is dark! Even with torches it doesn't illuminate more then 3 blocks in front of me! It's one of the things I don't like about the update... But at least no clouds in my height maxed towers...
Although void fog affects visibility, I don't think it actually affects the numerical light level as a value. Regular torches emit a light level of 14 on the block they are sitting and that is reduced by 1 level for each block as you get farther from it. So, although you can't see more than 3 blocks ahead, I think the light level on block 4 is still considered to be 11.
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So this was one of my first castle builds... I lined the interior walls with lava and put up glass to keep me safe... The thought was that if you have a light source on your crops they will continue to grow even at night... Is this thought correct?
If they are open to the daylight, they really don't need anything to stay planted, but if there is a light level of 7 still there during the night, they may get hit with a growth tick overnight as well. If there is no light at night, I think the growth ticks pass those ones over.
Lava is a good method for lighting, but in cases where it can be shut off and then back on. It's not so good. For some reason or another and unfortunately so, lava leaves behind lighting, even after it has dissipated. For a mobtrap, that was unacceptable. Also, high numbers of lava-falls, seem to increase the time it takes for them all to fully dissipate, or at the very least creates frequent irregularites. Could be a minute, could be twentty, before it finally turns off.
Yes, you can see in the second picture that walkways are wooden, they almost burned down that entire inside of the castle walls...
Yeah, it's something to be careful about... My friends kid (age 7) burned his house down 3 times in rapid succession before he figured out that it was his lava trash disposal unit. He had completely encased it in cobblestone, except for the top. Too bad the wooden plank floor of his second storey was only 3 blocks above the lava, not 4. Each time, he rebuilt everything but the trash unit. The second time, he blamed the fire on his netherrack fireplace and rebuilt that... then went mining only to come home to find his house again completely engulfed in flames. Learning from watching his painful experiences, I went ihome and checked my own main build world. I wasn't really worried because my house at that time was 100% sandstone (or so I thought). I had forgotten that I had built a light tower on the roof from wooden planks and mounted torches on them in a pattern (so I always new what direction I was from my base). My ceiling was also 3 block high. When I got up on the roof to check, sure enough, the wooden light tower was completely gone... but thankfully no damage to the sandstone roof itself and the rest of the house.
Do the underground torches still work with the new MC360 update? B/c I have an underground rail system that is built one level above bedrock and it is dark! Even with torches it doesn't illuminate more then 3 blocks in front of me! It's one of the things I don't like about the update... But at least no clouds in my height maxed towers...
It sure was! But then again that's one of the reasons I play MC!
Although void fog affects visibility, I don't think it actually affects the numerical light level as a value. Regular torches emit a light level of 14 on the block they are sitting and that is reduced by 1 level for each block as you get farther from it. So, although you can't see more than 3 blocks ahead, I think the light level on block 4 is still considered to be 11.