Minecraft Forums

Let's face it, one of the key appeals to Minecraft (at least to me) is that you can build about anything you can dream up.

For me, it's usually castles. The bigger, the better. Huge multi-level structures that pierce the clouds.

Vanity aside, there's two top reasons we create castles/houses in Minecraft. #1 is to create a base to store our supplies, and #2 is to provide a location that is (supposedly) safe from monster spawning.

And the fact of the matter is, you can do both in a very small hovel.

Most of us have seperate rooms for enchanting, crafting, treasure storage and so forth, but honestly, we don't need them. You could just put a bunch of chests in a room. Levels of chests stacked up on stone shelves.

Experience has made me put my workshop as the easiest room to get to. After I lay my castle groundwork, my workshop is usually the first room I build, and it's usually the first room off the great hall. And I realized this is also where I spend most of my time in-game.

Yesterday I finished the ground floor of my biggest castle yet (50x50 footprint, which in the scheme of Minecraft things, is a lean-to compared to some of the magnificent structures players have built)... and I grimly realized whatever I build on the upper floors, I'll probably never actually use.

So there's the practicality issue first up: do you really want to spend inordinate amounts of time traipsing across your castle to get to specialized rooms when it could all be in one handy location?

But then there's the issue of safety. One thing that's a pain in the butt about building huge cavernous rooms in Minecraft is that they tend to be hard to adequately light to stop monster spawns... unless you want to scatter torches on the floor, which looks awful.

Ironically, the more I build big magnificent castles in Minecraft, the more I start to wonder if a simple house would just be easier.

We build the castles for the thrill of building it. To show the world that: Hey! I have a massive castle, i am cool! We also do it to express ourselves. I mean the whole joy of minecraft is gathering the resources, and then building your castle, then living in it. It produces a fantastic sense of accomplishment.

I agree - At first it was always a huge this and a huge that when I built. As we continue to get updates and have to start over. I have scaled back my creatioins and toned down the detail I am putting in my "House / Castle". I now only provide my self the basics needed (I can't remeber the last time I slept in a bed)? No need for a room full of furnaces when 5 or six will do. How many times I have created a massive tower to the heavens filled with decorated rooms (with no one to occupy them). I love to play but have found I'm more of a hermit and my space is under ground.. and dug for purpose..

I live on a platform in the ocean, It is used mostly for basics and gathering resources.
While I have lived there I have mined enough iron to make two and a half stacks of iron blocks.
Now the currency is iron and gold.

I've stopped making big builds, instead mostly focused on village building. All of the buildings are smaller, but each serves a purpose. With a decent fence and street lighting, my towns are probably safer than a huge castle.

I really enjoy building Modular bases. Meaning you add to it as the need (or desire) arises. Granted, I reside mostly underground, which makes this much simpler, but can have a very interesting effect above ground as well. Just start off finding a place to start, A huge cave or overhang that would make an awesome looking entrance, a double/triple+ spawner you found that you can turn into an EXP farm at some point, a big cave system you found underground that you want to progressively transform into your hallways and corridors, or even just a badass looking mountain. Build your basic essentials, couple storage chests, crafting table, few furnaces, but make sure you leave room for expansion. When you decide you want a wheat farm, find a nearby place to build it and connect your two builds. This produces a highly functional and unique base.

Yeah there's something about villages that I like, but I always get too defensive..

It starts with fencing, but then I want more safety so I switch to log walls, and now I've got a fort vs. a village..

So then I start covering the ugly logs with stone, removing the logs as I go, using them to forge smooth stone, then I replace the stone walls with smooth stone walls..

Oh hey, it's a castle.