One thing I love about the Experience addition is that now there's a reason to seek out and battle the monsters, even if you don't need their drops. As such, I build during the day and hunt at night. Here are some of my recommendations for people who like to do similar hunting:
1.) Build flat land around your castle, at least 25 squares in each direction. This makes it MUCH easier to keep an eye on all the monsters. Uneven land is how Creepers can sneak up on you.
2.) Building a lava moat is cool, but remember that monsters dying in lava isn't particularly useful to you. Their drops are going to be destroyed too, and you get no experience.
3.) When you are building a castle, and a floor is in progress and you're spending the night hunting.... close up the staircase. Creepers spawning, hopping down the staircase and blowing up while you're busy with a chest is not fun. Be sure to keep your base absolutely monster-proof.
4.) Consider using the bow more often than the sword. With the flat land, you can often pick off the baddies before they know you are there.
5.) Remember that spiders can see you at a great distance and like to literally get the drop on you. In fact, remember that when you are walking around your castle: a spider may be up in the battlements.
6.) Creepers really are easy under the right circumstances: hit them with the sword and back up and back up before they detonate. With a flat spate of land (see 1) this is easy. A Creeper cornering you is the worst situation, so be aware of what's behind you. Knockback swords are awesome for Creeper fights.
7.) Mushroom farms require darkness, so you'll probably have a few monsters in there. consider building an automatic turret linked with an iron door: so when you open the door the room gets peppered with ammo.
8.) Save your game at every 10 XP. If you get killed, you can recover SOME of the XP but you'll be set back quite a bit.
9.) Remember to use skeletons to finish creepers so you can use records. Remember that Skeletons fire pretty indiscriminately in your direction and that creepers don't change directions very fast: use those both to your advantage.
10.) Endermen are tricky because they like to get behind you. When waiting for an Enderman to come back, keep doing 360s until you see where he's gonna come from next.
All good pointers. I've have been building my latest survival homestead on a lake, and found that it keeps me very safe from mobs. Sometimes I even forget and get surprised when a random zombie wanders under it and starts moaning.
Another thing I like to do is build a really big wall around my property (moats are optional but a great defensive tool since lava or water absorb explosions). This allows me to build gates and bridges which make great choke points. You can prevent spiders from climbing your walls by putting a one block overhang on it every other block.
I'm still tinkering with the idea of using snow golems as lures, but can't find a way to make them skelly-proof. What's the point if they're just gonna be shot dead?
I like to get well away from my home base and other structures when hunting at night to avoid having creepers exploding in my key areas. I still suck at killing creepers and I hate filling in holes everywhere all the time. So, I'll either build a small "hunting" lodge away from everything or even just a sniper platform in an open area and work from that.
5. if spiders are spawning in the battlements then there is not enough lighting or you have no stairs/slabs covering the place. Best wall is the overhanging one, so if a spider spawns below they can't get past the overhang. Using a block as an overhang is not usually a good idea unless you put a slab or stair on it. If you just want a single wide and height in over hang, just use stairs to line the wall, and at corners connect those stairs with slabs...:D
Hope that helps keep the spiders on the right side of the wall, as they can climb but only vertically not upside down horizontally...
Like someone else mentioned, having a moat helps protect the wall against creepers as well. Just in case you get backed to your wall while fighting one; Use the water for cover and if they explode make sure they are in the water.
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My First World, always getting back to is a pleasure I enjoy with each new update that brings in more things to add in.
i don't hunt at all without a bow anymore. a bow with flame enchantment instantly cooks meat from passive mobs, very convenient. Also taking out creepers and anything else from a distance is easy with a bow. my sword is now my backup and used more in caves where close contact is more likely. if im low on arrows or don't have infinity on a bow then I save shoots for creepers and ghast. At least shoot a creeper once then finish them with a sword to save arrows.
Do pumpkins on your head prevent being spotted by Endermen? If so then just use those and go third person. I like to do this thing where, when I'm hunting monsters I hold the block button and when I attack I quickly let go of the block button and return to it after the attack. I feel as though I'm the only one doing it (haven't seen anyone else do it.)
Ive got a good one ok if u want to kill a enderman without being attacked or attacking dont use water cause then it will teleport away BUT if u use a flint and steel he will be set on fire and will keep walking around till he dies or till u want the finale blow
1.) Build flat land around your castle, at least 25 squares in each direction. This makes it MUCH easier to keep an eye on all the monsters. Uneven land is how Creepers can sneak up on you.
2.) Building a lava moat is cool, but remember that monsters dying in lava isn't particularly useful to you. Their drops are going to be destroyed too, and you get no experience.
3.) When you are building a castle, and a floor is in progress and you're spending the night hunting.... close up the staircase. Creepers spawning, hopping down the staircase and blowing up while you're busy with a chest is not fun. Be sure to keep your base absolutely monster-proof.
4.) Consider using the bow more often than the sword. With the flat land, you can often pick off the baddies before they know you are there.
5.) Remember that spiders can see you at a great distance and like to literally get the drop on you. In fact, remember that when you are walking around your castle: a spider may be up in the battlements.
6.) Creepers really are easy under the right circumstances: hit them with the sword and back up and back up before they detonate. With a flat spate of land (see 1) this is easy. A Creeper cornering you is the worst situation, so be aware of what's behind you. Knockback swords are awesome for Creeper fights.
7.) Mushroom farms require darkness, so you'll probably have a few monsters in there. consider building an automatic turret linked with an iron door: so when you open the door the room gets peppered with ammo.
8.) Save your game at every 10 XP. If you get killed, you can recover SOME of the XP but you'll be set back quite a bit.
9.) Remember to use skeletons to finish creepers so you can use records. Remember that Skeletons fire pretty indiscriminately in your direction and that creepers don't change directions very fast: use those both to your advantage.
10.) Endermen are tricky because they like to get behind you. When waiting for an Enderman to come back, keep doing 360s until you see where he's gonna come from next.
Comments? Additions? Corrections?
Hope that helps keep the spiders on the right side of the wall, as they can climb but only vertically not upside down horizontally...
Like someone else mentioned, having a moat helps protect the wall against creepers as well. Just in case you get backed to your wall while fighting one; Use the water for cover and if they explode make sure they are in the water.
In a manner of speaking. They will still see you, they just won't care if you make eye contact.
If you eyeball em (bring the crosshair near their eyes) without a pumpkinhead, they turn hostile.