So, I need to light up a large area of land in my new .14 survival world. Mainly to stop mob spawning, what you think is the best way? While still being discreet or not spamming torches u know.. to hide the lighting would be optimal, I was thinking glowstone under carpets? It's a big grassy field pretty much that needs lighting..
So, I need to light up a large area of land in my new .14 survival world. Mainly to stop mob spawning, what you think is the best way? While still being discreet or not spamming torches u know.. to hide the lighting would be optimal, I was thinking glowstone under carpets? It's a big grassy field pretty much that needs lighting..
For land, I use a grid of jack-o-lanterns set into the ground every forth block diagonally. [Note extras may be needed where elevation changes sharply.]
The advantages over glowstone are better early game availablity and not needing silk touch to move them (particularly helpful as the grid is also useful for maximizing tree plantations and one occasionally gets blown-through with high efficiency axes.)
For water, place the top level at 61 and extend downward with a jack every 5th level. [Uglier than sin, but the best solution yet found to midwater drowned spawning :bletch: ]
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"Why does everything have to be so stoopid?" Harvey Pekar (from American Splendor)
WARNING: I have an extemely "grindy" playstyle; YMMV — if this doesn't seem fun to you, mine what you can from it & bin the rest.
Okay, are you dead set on literally lighting such a large place up? There are plenty of ways to spawnproof an area that don't involve light at all, so if you don't particularly need to see the area at night you might want to consider these lightless options:
1)water. Dry land mobs do not have ability to spawn in water, and the Drowned don't spawn in water that is in other biomes than beach, river, or ocean (there's some slight difference here between Bedrock and Java, but I believe neither allow them to spawn in lakes/ponds/manmade pools in plains/tundra/etc.) You would want a lot of stuff (lilypad walkways, in-pool statuary, etc) to break up the vast expanse of water, but you could do a base concept centered around a wading pool (or just a sprawling zen/japanese garden full of tiny, distinct features). You want to be extra careful about exploding creepers in these areas, as creepers exploding in water will still affect lily pads.
2)mobs cannot spawn on bottom slabs, glass, or upright stairs. While you're severely limited in the available palette here, you can build whimsical shapes all over or even in a scattered fashion to pare down the spawnable area. It generally would not look sensical, but it definitely would be interesting to look at.
3)if you're more interested in coloration, consider carpeting the entire area in appropriate colors of carpet. I think carpet by itself will block spawns, but you could also use fences and place the carpet on that. Doing it this way would mean no mobs could hop up onto your platform, though players could still do so. I forget if fences also block endermen teleporting, so you could get a boon in that department as well (no more base griefing).
4)mobs CAN spawn on leaf blocks, but this only happens in jungles (the attempt to spawn happens in every biome, but outside of jungle biomes they just automatically fail) and only ocelots and parrots can do so. This means leaf blocks can be used as a pack spawning centerpoint so you'll want to spawnproof about a chunk and a half away from any leaves you use (mobs in a pack can spawn up to 20 blocks away, though they bias towards the centerpoint). Dot the area with some low sprawling bushes or the occasional fallen tree to cut down on the number of blocks you'd need to light up.
5)mobs cannot spawn on blocks that are less than a full block in height (exception: soul sand, but generally the main reason to use soul sand in the overworld is bubble columns and as previously mentioned mobs can't spawn in water). Path blocks or tilled dirt could create a trodden aesthetic, and would eat up some of the block area you'd otherwise light up.
Mobs CAN hop onto carpets on top of fences though they are unlikely to, I think it's mostly the same as with ladders, they don't pathfind through them but if they are jumping and get pushed in that direction they can do it.
In my test with wolves in a pen with carpets on fences and sheep outside the pen most of the wolves got over the fence, in other cases it's probably very unlikely but one shouldn't count on it never happening.
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If you're trying to keep mobs out it would be better to leave the carpet off the outer ring of fences since most mobs can't jump/climb over fences. Spiders are probably an exception.
(try to ignore the tower / keep thingy).
The plan is to either extend said keep to a larger castle covering most of the area within the wall. Or, to keep that structure as it is and fill the rest with sort of a town'ish medieval style build. Either way I won't actually have all this empty space to light up, but that'll take a while since its survival and in the meantime I'll probably use a mix of your suggestions. I'll definitely do some paths, some water, and I like the leaf idea, for some bushes and trees.
So, I need to light up a large area of land in my new .14 survival world. Mainly to stop mob spawning, what you think is the best way? While still being discreet or not spamming torches u know.. to hide the lighting would be optimal, I was thinking glowstone under carpets? It's a big grassy field pretty much that needs lighting..
For land, I use a grid of jack-o-lanterns set into the ground every forth block diagonally. [Note extras may be needed where elevation changes sharply.]
The advantages over glowstone are better early game availablity and not needing silk touch to move them (particularly helpful as the grid is also useful for maximizing tree plantations and one occasionally gets blown-through with high efficiency axes.)
For water, place the top level at 61 and extend downward with a jack every 5th level. [Uglier than sin, but the best solution yet found to midwater drowned spawning :bletch: ]
Okay, are you dead set on literally lighting such a large place up? There are plenty of ways to spawnproof an area that don't involve light at all, so if you don't particularly need to see the area at night you might want to consider these lightless options:
1)water. Dry land mobs do not have ability to spawn in water, and the Drowned don't spawn in water that is in other biomes than beach, river, or ocean (there's some slight difference here between Bedrock and Java, but I believe neither allow them to spawn in lakes/ponds/manmade pools in plains/tundra/etc.) You would want a lot of stuff (lilypad walkways, in-pool statuary, etc) to break up the vast expanse of water, but you could do a base concept centered around a wading pool (or just a sprawling zen/japanese garden full of tiny, distinct features). You want to be extra careful about exploding creepers in these areas, as creepers exploding in water will still affect lily pads.
2)mobs cannot spawn on bottom slabs, glass, or upright stairs. While you're severely limited in the available palette here, you can build whimsical shapes all over or even in a scattered fashion to pare down the spawnable area. It generally would not look sensical, but it definitely would be interesting to look at.
3)if you're more interested in coloration, consider carpeting the entire area in appropriate colors of carpet. I think carpet by itself will block spawns, but you could also use fences and place the carpet on that. Doing it this way would mean no mobs could hop up onto your platform, though players could still do so. I forget if fences also block endermen teleporting, so you could get a boon in that department as well (no more base griefing).
4)mobs CAN spawn on leaf blocks, but this only happens in jungles (the attempt to spawn happens in every biome, but outside of jungle biomes they just automatically fail) and only ocelots and parrots can do so. This means leaf blocks can be used as a pack spawning centerpoint so you'll want to spawnproof about a chunk and a half away from any leaves you use (mobs in a pack can spawn up to 20 blocks away, though they bias towards the centerpoint). Dot the area with some low sprawling bushes or the occasional fallen tree to cut down on the number of blocks you'd need to light up.
5)mobs cannot spawn on blocks that are less than a full block in height (exception: soul sand, but generally the main reason to use soul sand in the overworld is bubble columns and as previously mentioned mobs can't spawn in water). Path blocks or tilled dirt could create a trodden aesthetic, and would eat up some of the block area you'd otherwise light up.
Mobs CAN hop onto carpets on top of fences though they are unlikely to, I think it's mostly the same as with ladders, they don't pathfind through them but if they are jumping and get pushed in that direction they can do it.
In my test with wolves in a pen with carpets on fences and sheep outside the pen most of the wolves got over the fence, in other cases it's probably very unlikely but one shouldn't count on it never happening.
--
If you're trying to keep mobs out it would be better to leave the carpet off the outer ring of fences since most mobs can't jump/climb over fences. Spiders are probably an exception.
Just testing.
Thx for the elaborate replies. Some context,
(try to ignore the tower / keep thingy).
The plan is to either extend said keep to a larger castle covering most of the area within the wall. Or, to keep that structure as it is and fill the rest with sort of a town'ish medieval style build. Either way I won't actually have all this empty space to light up, but that'll take a while since its survival and in the meantime I'll probably use a mix of your suggestions. I'll definitely do some paths, some water, and I like the leaf idea, for some bushes and trees.