You are on your private island, tending your garden, when, out of the blue, you see a stream of watery particles erupt from the ocean, and a large tail sinking back into the deep. This is the whale.
Whales would spawn in oceans, and only lower than level 48. They would spend most of their time below level 48, surfacing only occasionally. Of course, for this to be better implemented, the lower limit of the ocean depth would have to be extended, at least to the point that there are significant stretches of ocean at level 32. They would only spawn rarely, with a maximum of four in one ocean at any given time, and for all of those to be in sight at any given time would be even less common.
Because of their rarity, and for how the player is handicapped in water, both visually and movement wise, he'd be foolish to search for a whale in its own territory. Instead one should wait above water, preferably on a player-made platform in deep water, for the whale to surface. When it surfaces, it lets loose a stream of light blue particles from its back, simulating exhalation. If you were to be caught in this stream, you would be thrown upwards. Having spotted the whale, you can proceed to chase after it.
When provoked, whales will attack. They have one strategy, two main attacks, and one extra incidental attack. Their strategy is to get below you, and swim under you. You'll see why when I get to their main attacks. If you lower yourself to the whale's level, it rams into you, pushing you backwards, and dealing two hearts of damage.
If you are near the surface, the whale will, upon swimming under you, exhale, throwing you upwards into the air. This deals up to four hearts depending on how close you are when the whale strikes, and continues to deal half a heart every half second you are in the stream. These extra half hearts cannot be protected against by armour.
If, on the other hand, you are far beneath the surface, the whale will swim past you, and lash its tail upwards, throwing you up and back, and dealing five hearts of damage.
Now how should you go about fighting these whales? Firstly, once you spot the whale, chase after it in a boat. It will stay close to the surface for a minute or two, so you have some time to figure its exact location. Once there, hit it with arrows, or perhaps with yet-to-be-implemented harpoons. While in the boat, you have the advantage. Unfortunately, the backs of whales have some natural armour, making arrows there about half as effective. So using potions if it gets close enough would not be amiss.
The whale, as mentioned above, will try to get under you and exhale in this situation. If it does, it will break the boat, and send you flying. You will fall into its territory. Now the whale has the advantage. Now, you'll want to stay close to the surface. Whales have 50 hearts, so you'll need to resurface to breathe a few times during the battle. The ideal strategy for damage, is somewhat counter intuitive. The whale wants to get under you to attack you, so you want to get below it. The bellies of whales are weaker than their backs, since their backs have the natural armour. Unfortunately, this brings you further below the surface. So you have to balance out dealing damage with not drowning. And the whale has none of your handicaps while underwater.
Now, why should you go about fighting these whales? Aside from 250 experience (enough to get you to level 10 from nothing with the current xp scale), whales drop 4-8 fish and 2-4 bones. But the real prize is blubber. One whale will drop 32-48 blubber.
Blubber has a few uses. It can be used as furnace fuel, and will smelt 12 items, making it as effective as blaze rods. It can also be placed on the ground like redstone, and is slippery, though not quite as slippery as ice. Blubber in this state is also highly flammable, meaning it catches fire quickly and burns up quickly, making it good as a fuse.
But all of these functions can be filled by other blocks. What makes blubber unique? Blubber, when brewed into an awkward potion, makes a potion of mining haste. Why? Blubber is high in fat, and fat is used for long term energy storage. So, while sugar is good for the short and light things, like running, blubber should be good for the heavier tasks, such as mining. When brewed with a mining haste potion, glowstone, redstone and gunpowder behave as normal, and fermented spider eyes turn it into a potion of mining fatigue.
Regarding those potions, when used on mobs, they would make creepers blow up either faster or slower, and they would affect the speed at which zombies break down doors.
Thoughts? Comments? Criticisms?
Please be polite in your responses, and if you don't like this suggestion, please say why.
Good thing that Mining Haste is in the game, eh? It's simply called "haste".
I'm aware of that, which is why I picked haste specifically. I specified the mining haste for the benefit of those who are not as informed.
Yes, now that blubber is a brewing ingredient, that amount does seem excessive. When I'd determined the amount, I hadn't thought of it as a brewing ingredient yet. What amount do you feel would be appropriate? 8-16? 16-24?
Whales would spawn in oceans, and only lower than level 48. They would spend most of their time below level 48, surfacing only occasionally. Of course, for this to be better implemented, the lower limit of the ocean depth would have to be extended, at least to the point that there are significant stretches of ocean at level 32. They would only spawn rarely, with a maximum of four in one ocean at any given time, and for all of those to be in sight at any given time would be even less common.
Because of their rarity, and for how the player is handicapped in water, both visually and movement wise, he'd be foolish to search for a whale in its own territory. Instead one should wait above water, preferably on a player-made platform in deep water, for the whale to surface. When it surfaces, it lets loose a stream of light blue particles from its back, simulating exhalation. If you were to be caught in this stream, you would be thrown upwards. Having spotted the whale, you can proceed to chase after it.
When provoked, whales will attack. They have one strategy, two main attacks, and one extra incidental attack. Their strategy is to get below you, and swim under you. You'll see why when I get to their main attacks. If you lower yourself to the whale's level, it rams into you, pushing you backwards, and dealing two hearts of damage.
If you are near the surface, the whale will, upon swimming under you, exhale, throwing you upwards into the air. This deals up to four hearts depending on how close you are when the whale strikes, and continues to deal half a heart every half second you are in the stream. These extra half hearts cannot be protected against by armour.
If, on the other hand, you are far beneath the surface, the whale will swim past you, and lash its tail upwards, throwing you up and back, and dealing five hearts of damage.
Now how should you go about fighting these whales? Firstly, once you spot the whale, chase after it in a boat. It will stay close to the surface for a minute or two, so you have some time to figure its exact location. Once there, hit it with arrows, or perhaps with yet-to-be-implemented harpoons. While in the boat, you have the advantage. Unfortunately, the backs of whales have some natural armour, making arrows there about half as effective. So using potions if it gets close enough would not be amiss.
The whale, as mentioned above, will try to get under you and exhale in this situation. If it does, it will break the boat, and send you flying. You will fall into its territory. Now the whale has the advantage. Now, you'll want to stay close to the surface. Whales have 50 hearts, so you'll need to resurface to breathe a few times during the battle. The ideal strategy for damage, is somewhat counter intuitive. The whale wants to get under you to attack you, so you want to get below it. The bellies of whales are weaker than their backs, since their backs have the natural armour. Unfortunately, this brings you further below the surface. So you have to balance out dealing damage with not drowning. And the whale has none of your handicaps while underwater.
Now, why should you go about fighting these whales? Aside from 250 experience (enough to get you to level 10 from nothing with the current xp scale), whales drop 4-8 fish and 2-4 bones. But the real prize is blubber. One whale will drop 32-48 blubber.
Blubber has a few uses. It can be used as furnace fuel, and will smelt 12 items, making it as effective as blaze rods. It can also be placed on the ground like redstone, and is slippery, though not quite as slippery as ice. Blubber in this state is also highly flammable, meaning it catches fire quickly and burns up quickly, making it good as a fuse.
But all of these functions can be filled by other blocks. What makes blubber unique? Blubber, when brewed into an awkward potion, makes a potion of mining haste. Why? Blubber is high in fat, and fat is used for long term energy storage. So, while sugar is good for the short and light things, like running, blubber should be good for the heavier tasks, such as mining. When brewed with a mining haste potion, glowstone, redstone and gunpowder behave as normal, and fermented spider eyes turn it into a potion of mining fatigue.
Regarding those potions, when used on mobs, they would make creepers blow up either faster or slower, and they would affect the speed at which zombies break down doors.
Thoughts? Comments? Criticisms?
Please be polite in your responses, and if you don't like this suggestion, please say why.
http://www.minecraftforum.net/forums/minecraft-discussion/suggestions/2221090-incense-what-it-does-how-to-make-it-and-why-it
I like this, but that's an awful lot of blubber.
I'm aware of that, which is why I picked haste specifically. I specified the mining haste for the benefit of those who are not as informed.
Yes, now that blubber is a brewing ingredient, that amount does seem excessive. When I'd determined the amount, I hadn't thought of it as a brewing ingredient yet. What amount do you feel would be appropriate? 8-16? 16-24?