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Wow, to think that we’ve already reaped this much iron from our ironmonger:

For those of you who have seen the Starlight Resources Facility at its humble beginnings and have watched its development erect from the ground up (literally), it’s possible that you’ve wondered at some point what this unfinished business would elicit:

How do you figure it’s unfinished? Well, all three other sides have other segments attached, so naturally you would assume that we’d continue expanding the SRF in the one direction that we have not. This assumption, though over eighty sessions overdue, happens to be somewhat accurate.

There is a reason that I’ve waited so long to develop the SRF in this direction, though. Simply, we didn’t have enough time in Season 2 to actually build everything that this development would entail. However, with Starlight HQ rapidly expanding, we now require this expansion. What is it, you are begging to know?

Today, we’ll finally start constructing the second floor of the SRF, which will be considered the control floor because it will serve the purpose of controlling everything inside the SRF. This includes the connections it will soon have to the modular system.

First and foremost, let’s talk schematics. The SRF is a weird smorgasbord of shapes including this massive dome. So, when I say that we’re building a “second floor,” what do I mean? Well, I refer to a floor of higher elevation consisting of yet another smorgasbord of shapes. There is no traditional build structure to this facility; it just is.

The control floor, as I begin to dig it out, will encircle the main dome-shaped hub. This is because we’ll require access to all the farms for things like restocking bonemeal, activating outputs, changing settings, and the like.

^ See here, the restocking chest for shears in the Sheep Processing Facility, previously unreachable.

The second entrance to this floor will be from the MRD, but maybe we can rework it since we no longer have the environmentally unfriendly animal furnaces.

As I continue digging around the SRF, I am greeted with a lovely surprise. We can apparently connect this floor right up to the Power Museum’s tangent floor!

More specifically, with this entrance (which, if you recall from the previous two sessions, is the location of the modular system), we can now foster communications between the Power Museum and SRF quite easily. The two are seamlessly intertwined. Oh yeah, and the modular system is right around the corner.

Here’s the sugar cane farm. I don’t really know how to bypass that to finish the circle.

So, thanks to the control floor, there are a couple things we can close off now, starting with this opening to the wheat/carrot/potato farm restocking chamber.

The control floor now gives us bountiful access.

The chicken farm opening for checking on chickens no longer needs to exist…

…because we have it in the control floor now.

I use white concrete to lay the groundwork for this floor. A smooth finish is what I require in a floor so vast as this one. With as many technical elements as this floor does (and will) consist of, we’ll want to be able to read everything easily.

Here’s a great example of how snugly fit everything is. Above, you see the roof of the dye storage room. But we need to redo it in white concrete to match the floor of the control floor’s entrance.

We have to redo the entire roof to match, in that case.

Concrete is a pain in the ass because you have to use water to make it and you can’t place it over open spaces (or water), or it will drop like gravel and sand. To circumvent these issues, we create a pool of concrete in the big room and then dig it out. We can then place blocks at ease.

The marrying of quartz and concrete is coming together nicely, I think.

Regarding the specific architecture of this floor, well, I initially wanted to create a perfect circle. However, upon digging it out, I realize that such a plan is not possible. There are simply too many obstacles we have to dodge in order to prevent wrecking other builds. That’s why, I’ll just be happy with a relatively clean, but disorganized, layout.

On the topic of clean, I am finishing up the main entrance to the control floor, which features stone slabs. I’ve been wondering what we could do with the walls. Could stone slabs be a viable solution? After all, we’ll need a lot of whatever block we choose.

It’s not bad, backed by a layer of black concrete powder. The robust texture of the concrete powder separated by the neat texture of the stone slabs gives us that sharp contrast to the smooth and clean white concrete floor. This contrast makes for a comfortable space, visually.

Check out this window, overlooking the SRF.

Here is our completed chicken farm technical entrance, in which I am now heavily attracted to the “stacked stone slabs” aesthetic. Also, the black concrete powder, while I never thought of using it, works well here. Glowstone lamps are my preferred lighting source for this floor, since they bolster the technical aspect of the floor and give it a more industrial feel. But sometimes, lanterns are necessary.

This floor is starting to come together quite nicely… but notice I said “start.” Hah, we are just in the main lobby. We still have the entire circle to renovate!

Today, though, we’ll be focusing on some specific sections that are most relevant to the floor’s functionality. The rest can be tackled later. Probably the biggest concern to me right now is this mess:

The four flower farms exist in the main hub, and you previously could not access the dispensers to restock unless you destroyed the flowers first. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but I want a more organized approach that doesn’t require destroying and replanting the flowers every time you want to restock bonemeal. That’s where this chamber comes in.

Renovating this is quite tricky because there’s a lot of redstone and not a lot of room.

Utilizing a similar tactic as with the now defunct breeding cockpit, I place fence posts to prevent accidentally falling into the holes. We can access the dispensers here.

But wait… the redstone is ridiculous and several years old. I forget that we have observers now for this kind of pulse-clock stuff. Why don’t we update the farms?

Literally, that’s the new farm. Press the lever, and the damn thing goes haywire. Flowers for days. You still will see some of the redstone, but that’s okay on this floor because you’re supposed to see the redstone. This floor is the “behind-the-scenes” for everything in the facility.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Big improvements, I’d say.

I’m even using item frames to stylistically denote which flower farm is which.

Note that this chamber exists parallel to the control floor; it’s not part of the framework.

Turning our attention now to the back side of the control floor, we need to finish connecting it up to the main lobby. This means finding a way across the sugar cane farm.

Sometimes, the only way over is up.

As I begin to conceptualize aesthetic possibilities here, I want to acknowledge that the control floor is allowed to be sporadic and impulsive. I don’t want a perfectly symmetrical design, or a pitch-perfect architecture. I want it a little messy.

Above the sugar cane farm, I’m experimenting with variations of the concrete/stone slab combinations.

From the sugar can farm, we trek back down in elevation to the cactus farm wiring.

And then we’re back where we started! We can now run a perfect loop around the control floor.

Oh, and we can make a path to the top of the tree farm now. I don’t know what we’ll do with that, but we can do something.

Focusing on the transitional entrance between the control floor and tangent floor, which includes the wheat/carrot/potato farm restocking room, I’ll try to merge the two aesthetic designs in a coherent fashion. You may recall that the tangent floor also utilizes concrete as its floor, but it uses diorite for walls. This section obviously hasn’t been renovated yet.

I’m liking these twelve-block-long slab arrays, again backed by concrete powder. This look feels both futuristic and industrial.

Slabs as flooring will help separate the two floors.

The corners are easy enough, and I’ll clean up this pathway which ascends above the sugar cane farm. We have yet to make a proper technical entrance to the farm’s redstone.

I could dedicate an entire session to the aesthetics of this floor, because as you can see, there will be a lot of time required for that. It’s a big floor, and it will allow the SRF to get bigger. However, we have other things to do today.

Here we are back at the Modular Interface Specifications System (denoted MISC). We are not going to do any technical computing stuff today; I need a break from it as much as you do. However, we do need to make some moves on this project. It’s time to get the first few modules linked in.

Recall that the MISC allows for eight inputs and four outputs for you to choose. This link map will keep track of which is what, and vice versa. What we must do today is create some very long redstone lines that connect our chosen modules in HQ to the link editor. The first input: iron farm.

I’ll maintain the color-coded lines in the event that we end up running into them in the future (say, as we continue building stuff underground) and need to know what they’re for. Additionally, to help prevent the chance that we’ll break into these lines, I’ll try and keep everything snugly fit. This means that the iron farm tangent line will “follow” the tangent floor down to the link editor. Even if this results in a slightly longer wire, I’ll take that over having a random wire stretched through an undeveloped part of HQ (which may be developed later).

To generate input, I’ll use a comparator that detects when the farm receives iron ingots or poppies from the golems.

And here you can see that the wire follows the tangent floor all the way down to the link editor. I did run into Landing Pad (doesn’t everything nowadays?), but I circumvented the course without much hassle. Interruptions should be minimal from this point.

It works! We’ve created our first link! It doesn’t do anything yet, but hey – one step at a time.

For the second input, I’ve chosen the multi-purpose mob farm in the Power Museum. This is marked with dark green clay.

Again, we use a comparator to detect mob drops for input. Later, I’ll setup a unit that decides which drops will generate output (since we may desire different applications dependent on certain drops), but for now this will work.

This was an easy line, since it starts right behind the MRD (already on a similar y-coordinate). I just run it underneath the SRF until it reaches its slot in the link editor.

Yay! Another link! One to go…

…and this time, we’re wiring up our first output.

Above, you can see the Night Lights connectors that we set up back in Session 223 when the lights were first built. However, they have yet to be completed. We won’t be doing this today since the project is largely technical, but we will install the tangent line from the link editor to the lights. This way, when we do complete the project, all we have to do is plug it in.

Not located too far from the iron farm, I take the output line and have it follow the iron farm tangent line all the way up to the outback. This, again, keeps everything nicely wound together and reduces the chance of running into it in future builds.

Three tangent lines done, but we have yet to figure out how exactly to create links with the desired behavior that I want for the MISC. We’ll get there. For now, I’m happy having connected parts of HQ together, and I’m thrilled to theorize what uses we might create with the new control floor.

Yet, at the end of today’s session, you wonder back at my claim from earlier – that Starlight HQ now needs this floor because it’s getting bigger. My guess is that you don’t see the correlation, and that’s because I haven’t told you what this floor is really for.

It’s time to install the Starlight Transit Authority System, aka STAS.

Let’s think about transportation for a moment, and what it means within Starlight HQ.

At this time, considering the entirety of the base, Starlight HQ is roughly 300x250x150 – that is, 300 blocks long (north to south), 250 blocks wide (east to west), and 150 blocks high, more or less, consisting of the entire land mass from bedrock up to the sky upon which it occupies. And honestly, though I always planned for it to get this big, I could only theorize how transportation around the base would work. I never thought I would need a subway system inside a survival base.

Most of the issues regarding transportation in this base are actually vertically-based. The Starlight Resources Facility and Starlight Castle occupy the same horizontal coordinates (x, z). But to get from one to the other, you have to climb flights of stairs and ladders, and even then you’re maneuvering way too many hallways to get to a room that might just be directly above you.

Our recent additions – the tangent floor (Power Museum) and control floor (SRF) – certainly don’t help alleviate this issue, but they do allow for a creative solution. Indeed, it is true that I created both floors to cooperate with a new system of rail transportation around the base.

Across the last couple sessions, I had begun to refer to something called STAS – that is, the Starlight Transit Authority System which will be one of the principal targets in the modular system we are currently developing. But STAS will consist of two main parts. The first of these will be a system of transport pods that will transfer items from one part of the base to another. For example, say I want to move all that stuff from Starlight Treehouse down to storage. A transport pod from the treehouse down to the SRF would allow this to be a stress-free process.

The second system will be the subway that will get me around the base more quickly. It will be designed like a traditional subway in this sense, with each major construction of the base acting as individual stops across the railway line. These two railway systems together, collectively referred to as STAS, will theoretically improve transportation within the base on a radical scale, and it’s one development I cannot wait to see in action.

Today, we are starting on the transport pods, because these will require more mappings. With there being a limited economy of space underneath Starlight HQ, I have to be careful about how I construct the railway lines, especially considering the amount of redstone that is (and will be) occupying more of that space. Transport pods will nonetheless be essential, though, because as many of you know, we have projects all over the base. This means we need to constantly be moving resources around very quickly. That’s why the transport pods will all be based in the Starlight Resources Facility – specifically, the control floor.

The SRF will become a hub for transportation as much as for resources. Using the control floor, I’ll install a number of individual transport pods that will connect the SRF to different hotspots around the base. This will make the transportation of items much more efficient.

Here, I install the first three pods: (1) Nether Temple, (2) Starlight Room, and (3) Starlight Treehouse. Remember that brief anecdote I shared about vertical transportation? The Starlight Room is right above us but getting there is a pain in the ass. With that single room acting as the center of the entire base, we need it to be as connected as possible to achieve maximum efficiency. Because it houses the Essentials Room (the contents of which change all the time depending on what projects are in progress), moving items around between the two floors is a constant hassle. Not so anymore. Now, I’ll be able to fill a chest full of resources from the SRF and send it upstairs, and vice versa. When we install the subway, well, that will complete the puzzle.

Having lines to the Nether Temple and Starlight Treehouse are obviously important because those are the two distant ends of the base, one of which connects the base to several pocket factions around the world. If I come back from the Nether with a full inventory of stuff from somewhere beyond, I’ll want to quickly deposit all that stuff where it belongs: the SRF. A transport pod will make that easy.

Bye, pumpkins.

Starting with the Nether Temple transport pod, I’ll install the other end in one of the temple’s vacant atriums. Not like there is much else that lives inside it.

Water spilled into my railway several times, which is a damn shame. But in other news, I have learned that in order to ensure that even the heaviest of minecarts make the entire trip, I must install a powered rail once every eight blocks. Good to know that my gold supply will deplete (Gold farm? Are we there yet?).

I need to be creative with this transport pod to the Starlight Room, because there isn’t really much room left to put anything at all, let alone a railway. And this is only one of two – the subway will feature a STAS station also inside this room. Golden apples for you if you figure out where that will be.

Normally, a minecart will not move off a powered rail unless it’s backed by a solid block. Because I choose to use an iron bar to halt the cart on its return, this means the minecart will not move once triggered to return back to the SRF. Hence the exercise that I have to perform, giving the minecart a push every time I want to send it back. Considering how well this transport pod fits, I’m willing to compensate.

Starlight Treehouse is an easier situation because there is simply more room to work with. Having said that, though, I continue to be mindful that this space needs to be shared with other projects that will require it (i.e. Night Lights, modular system). I figure that placing this transport pod directly adjacent to the treehouse’s entrance shall be fitting.

As I build the actual railway, I am tucking it neatly beside one of the tangent lines that connects the Night Lights to the modular computer in the basement. This way, I am maximizing the underground space. This railway has to circle around the SRF, but my key here is to keep it placed above the SRF vertically so that any future expansions don’t accidentally destroy the railway. Is it not fun to have to ponder these sorts of issues? I guess that means we’re at a rich spot from a development perspective.

For the testing run, I’ll take all my items and transport them from the Starlight Treehouse down to the SRF. We’ll see if they make it.

At first, they did not. I have to keep in mind that the carts cannot fit through half or even one-and-a-half block spaces. They need a lot of space! Some tweaks will fix these minor inconveniences.

Indeed, all three transport pods function! Now, when I want to continue building the Starlight Treehouse (because we still have a long way to go), I can just stock up this minecart with everything I need and send it up. That’s the goal here – maximizing efficiency.

I plan to incorporate at least three additional transport pods throughout the base, but where they will go I am not yet certain. I am considering the prospect of placing one pod in the Aqua Lounge, but I don’t know how useful that would be since the Aqua Lounge isn’t exactly a hot spot for development. One thing I might do is replace the railway line to the Mob Processing Hub with one of these (if you recall, the original line starts from the Power Museum, taking up a lot of space that could be used for something else).

For now, these three lines are the most important, as I’d prefer to get the foundations built before spending too much time on details. Besides, we can make adjustments later. For example, I’ll need to come up with a way to install a two-way call system (so that I can call the minecart from either end).

While I am still working on the control floor, some aesthetic adjustments can take place. You’ll notice that I am interested in using a combination of stone slabs, black concrete powder, and white concrete for most of the floor’s design. The arrangement of these blocks, though, is based entirely on the shape of the room. The longer walls have a different design than the shorter walls and corners, for instance.

I enjoy playing with different designs like this one, which is the staircase that ascends above the sugar cane farm. Speaking of which…

I now install a proper entrance to its redstone, you know, just in case you ever need to look at it.

Sea lanterns coat the baseboards so as to keep everything off the floor, which will remain the goal for this entire base. The ceiling will not yet be touched, because I want all of that to be black concrete. Trying to install that will be a b*tch without some type of concrete generator first. We don’t have to get it all done at once. We just have to get the foundations in place. And that’s exactly what we have. From here, building off the SRF will be straightforward and easy.

We have implemented the first part of STAS – the transport pods for items. Next, we’ll hit the Starlight subway… but not until a few other things are wrapped up first.

There are officially too many projects in progress at this point within Starlight HQ. But can you blame me? Ever since returning to Starlight HQ and realizing the potential that the Secret of Stonewall could bring to the base, I couldn’t help myself. This base is rich with possibility, but that potential has brought about the current consequence that is unfinished business. We have a lot of things started, but very few things finished. Today, we’ll address some of this and that.

Right now, Starlight Treehouse is my priority. Yes, we took some time off to build a computer, which is fine. But, the rest of the outback faction cannot develop until the centerpiece is completed, because the treehouse acts as our main hub for this side of the base. So I need to treat it as such.

Overlooking what we have already built, I’ll reiterate what we have going on. The treehouse is built up of two floors, but there will be a third. That’s three rooms in the front and three rooms in the back. Protruding from the sides of the treehouse will be a total of six rooms (three on each side). You can see that two of these are already built (cat and dog houses).

For the third room, I’ll prepare some items from the SRF, utilizing the new transport pod that we set up last session.

The final room on the north side will extend from the second floor outwards, facing north.

It’s a larger room, because…

It’s going to be where I watch the sunrise and the sunset, when I wake up and when I go to bed, respectively.

The new bedroom will have a comfortable leaf roofing, complete with togglable lights. As in, I’d like to have the ability to turn off the lights before going to bed, much like what you would traditionally do before going to bed. Monsters can’t spawn if I’m right here sleeping.

Windows are installed to allow me the beautiful views of the sun.

Other amenities to this bedroom include: a chest to store apples and bottled water. Often times, I’m thirsty when I wake up. A cauldron will support my thirst. Also, I don’t like going to bed with my armor – I’ll just hang that up.

Here, I install a nightstand to act as the final light to turn off before bed. Maybe I’ll do some reading in one of my many tales before snagging the Z’s.

Some flowers decorate the bedroom. After all, what’s a comfortable space without plenty of flora?

Maybe this parrot can keep watch while I sleep. You never know if there might be a creeper on one of the branches.

Lights on!

Nighty night…

And good morning!

So because the entire room is actually well lit from the sky (thanks to the leaves), I can keep all the lights off during the day and save energy without worry of any mobs spawning. However, in the event that I’m not here by dusk, I need a way to automatically flip the lights on to prevent anything from spawning through the night. The solution is easy: a daylight sensor to trigger that safety switch. I just need to remember to turn it on whenever I wake up.

The treehouse is still a bit disproportionate from the outside, but we haven’t gotten that far yet. When we do, the plan is to cover most of that with leaves and add more aesthetic branches.

Moving on for now, I’ll go ahead and build the fourth room – the first which will protrude from the other side.

Due to the spiral staircase we have here, the way in which we arrange the three rooms on this side will have to be different. For this first room, I’ll utilize the spiral staircase to get it down to y-level 109 – in line with the bottom-most room on the other side.

The other reason I want this room to be so low is that I want that spiral staircase to be visible from the outside. If the room is too high, then the roof will cover it up.

The shape and size are equivalent to the doghouse on the other side. But the aesthetic choices I am making are very different.

Probably best to not look at it from the outside right now, because inevitably it won’t look very good. I guess I’m just trying to see how it will look against the other rooms.

In the back of this room will be a large wall.

What goes on the wall, you ask? Good thing you asked…

Our new adventure map! Isn’t that what treehouses are for? The old map in Starlight Castle never gets used because I hardly ever visit the fourth floor of the castle (nothing I need is up there because it’s not a convenient place to put things). Now, we have a much larger space to work with, and some motivation to continue exploring Quintropolis beyond the currently mapped lands (which exist in the room beneath us).

The number of times this has happened is not even funny.

Building and housing the branch to get to this room involves more creative effort than building the room itself.

I have hidden most of the glowstone lighting behind the leaves, which I will also have to do from the outside.

And, we get a beautiful view of Starlight Castle and Co. from here.

I think that’s enough work on Starlight Treehouse today. We have other things to do.

Last session, I mentioned that one of the transport pods we could install would be a revised (shortened) track from here to the Mob Processing Hub. If you recall, we built one such railway a long time ago when the MPH was first built (Session 140?). But now the location of this railway makes no practical sense since we have the transport pod system.

I’ll remove most of the railway up until the part where it crosses into Starlight Arcade (because I still love that aesthetic detail).

Check out how perfectly this works out: the existing railway was that close to the transport pod stations. All I have to do now is connect it up.

Easy, and now we’ve saved a lot of rails.

Okay, finally, I want to complete a project that I started in Session 217 – the new skeleton farm storage room.

Now, as you may recall, part of that build included an automated item sorter to carry the items into chests. What that build forgot was a way to automatically move everything that isn’t bones and arrows. When I’ve got 200+ skeletons in the kill chamber, I typically yield a lot of broken bows and armor pieces that I then have to manually sort out. That’s too much grunt work. Besides, we have a solution right in front of us:

^ That’s the storage room for those items. I just never got around to extending the item sorting unit to this room.

This is currently the end of the line – a final hopper in which I have to take all the remaining bows and armor pieces and move them to the junk armory.

Originally, I thought that I might have to move the items upward because the junk armory is a few blocks higher than the storage room. However, this need not be the case.

There is no way to sort the bows from the armor pieces, because every single piece of junk is different and none of it stacks. Thankfully, I don’t need to worry about that – my goal is just to get all the junk automatically stored – not sorted. I can worry about that later if I wish, but honestly most of it really is just junk that might be used to repair something else down the line.

That makes the rest of this process very straightforward – just hoppers, ice, and water currents to carry the items beyond all the way around the room.

What happens when all the chests inevitably fill up with junk?

Not more chests, that’s for sure. I’m not a hoarder.

To test the system, I make a bold risk: throwing in my sword. If it works correctly, then I should find my sword stowed in the bottom-most hopper of the first column of chests. Let’s see…

Needless to say, there were some issues elsewhere, and my sword never arrived. Also, I don’t know where it is. Maybe it de-spawned. Oh well – I’ll just get a new one from my amassed stash of thirty or so. Regarding the system, well, it works now.

I must admit that having these junk items sorted at the skeleton farm proves useful, especially because I get so much stuff that I don’t need. Now that everything is automated, I won’t have to deal with sifting through all that nonsense. Building this today was most definitely the right thing to do.

Now then, we shall head back to Starlight HQ to continue work on the treehouse. But it’s been a while since I’ve taken a stroll across the island. Maybe we’ll go the long way and observe how the base’s skyline is developing from afar.

It feels like ages ago since I carved this hub into the jungle. But damn if that foliage isn’t thick!

Wait… in the distance there… do you see it?

I need to get a bit closer. It looks like some type of animal.

Is that… a villager? But how? Ever since the day Techtropolis fell, there hasn’t been a single villager on this island that I could—

…wait…

I accepted that day was a dream conjured up in my own head. I accepted that I was crazy, and that Techtown’s council never existed, and that the gods were messing with my head. That’s the reality… right?

“Are you lost? Where did you come from? How did you get here?” I ask.

“Say something, damn it!”

“Fine, die out here in the old jungle. I don’t give a—"

“Violet,” she speaks.

She speaks?

“My name is Violet.”

“Alright then, Violet, please tell me from what village you came, and I will escort you home,” I kindly respond, my chivalrous nature kicking in.

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“It’s time that you know the truth.”

“The truth? To what truth are you referring?”

“About the survivors.”

“It was so cold that day… I think the weather patterns shifted dramatically before it happened. A guard was screaming from across the clearing. He told everyone to get inside where it was warm. There wasn’t much time before the snow started.”

“Everything froze, for an instant. Some of us stuffed ourselves in the temple, others in the castle. There might have been 150 or so of us. Two guards escorted me to the beacon in the center of the castle, where many of us stood, waiting anxiously to see if the prophecy had come true – the one that the Secret of Stonewall foretold.”

“A scream broke the silence. It came from a councilmember in a back room – he had found a body. A body of the councilman who audited the premises. The one you murdered in cold blood.”

“Things got rampant; nobody was safe. The snow turned to a thunderstorm, which bore heavy lightning. The other councilman advised that we take cover as far beneath the ground as possible.”

“We found the underground facility and figured it would house everyone. But we needed to safely get the folks who were in the temple moved to the castle. I volunteered to help.”

“Nobody dared enter beyond the strange portal. We didn’t even know what it was, other than that it must be some type of black magic. The thunder grew louder; the skies became darker.”

“I never wanted to be here. I only wanted the madness to end. I pushed through the torrential rain to get the other villagers to safety. Monsters began to chase us around the premises, but thankfully the castle had sufficient shielding.”

“After escorting the last group down, I told the councilman that I would scout out the area to make sure nobody was left. He disliked that idea, of course, and he urged me to fall back. I should have listened.”

“I was the last villager outside when a bright light rose over the beacon. It was so bright – it nearly blinded me.

Emerging from the light was a thick shadow that began covering the sky – like a cloak hiding this section of the world.”

“Eventually, the entire island was covered in this cloak. I could do nothing but stand there and watch in shock as the forces of nature overtook my instinctual judgment. And then it happened…”

“What happened?” I ask, anxiously awaiting to hear the news myself, after having spent so much time in the shadows.

But she shut down and wouldn’t let me hear it. I could see the look on her face – it was sheer terror. Whatever she knows is eating away at her very existence and being here with me certainly is not helping. Clearly, she knows something about the questions that I have been asking, and though I am so adamant on prying that information, it might not be the best route.

“Stay here and rest,” I respond to her. The fortress is rather safe after all – more so than the jungle. How she survived out there all that time, I don’t know. But for now, I’ll give her a break and take a run back to HQ.

Today, we are working on the Night Lights because production on the modular system needs to continue if I want to get any closer towards upgrading Starlight HQ. So far, if you recall, we have built the principal linking mechanism and adder, but we have yet to install an actual processing unit. This will take place later. There are still two more modules that need to be linked to the system: Night Lights, and of course, STAS.

Recall from Session 223 that we built a total of six glowstone lights surrounding Starlight Treehouse, all of which are connected here at a central unit underneath the treehouse.

Inside the treehouse is the control panel which will allow us to toggle different modes for the lights. Their behavior can be completely changed by the press of one (or several) among the seven buttons. That’s the idea, anyway. Let’s see if we can make that happen.

This small wooden room is the only space we have to work with, and it’s small. I know what seven features need to go inside, though, which means that we’ll need to engage some creative mind games to fit everything inside.

First is the invert button, which basically means that it’s the master ‘on’ and ‘off’ switch. The wooden button will allow us to toggle the lights, while the bottom right-most button will lock whichever state we choose. That’s the only way to replicate a T-flip-flop in this small of a space.

The next feature that must be added is the daylight sensor. They’re called Night Lights after all, because ideally they will be active at night. There is only one spot wherein we can manage to fit a daylight sensor and get redstone wire back into the control box, and that one spot happens to work out.

To toggle this mode, I install a piston that will either block or enable the wire to pass through to the master circuit (which descends underground to the lights). Simple enough.

Here, I’m installing two clocks that will create animation for the lights. It’s not recommended that slower systems use this feature, because it will lag like hell. The piston (middle-top lever) changes which clock is used. One clock is already installed right here (fast), but the second clock will be much more involved.

I will be utilizing observers throughout the next few feature implementations, which means that I’ll need to brush up on my quartz content.

Observers are useful for many things – that I am finding. Today, for instance, they allow me to quickly transport a signal downward.

I used the iron door trick when I built the elevator, and I’m using it again here because it’s incredible fast and efficient, not to mention compact. The only downside is that it isn’t cheap, but that’s not really an issue here in HQ.

In order to turn that button into a lever, I have to channel that redstone pulse from the observers into a T flip-flop. I am using a new design – one that filters an item through three droppers and a hopper. The comparator acts as the output, which changes states per pulse received.

Now that we have finally gotten the redstone signal underground, we can begin crafting this next feature. Basically, I want to give the Night Lights an animated ability similar to the tunnel we built in the Blaze Blaster and Starlight Arcade.

An interesting property of fire is that it will randomly transmit updates, meaning that an observer will receive and output a pulse on completely randomized intervals. This creates a sense of spontaneity – the lights will animate on their own accord.

A dispenser will light the block in front until the fire burns out, at which point it will repeat so long as the dispenser is allowed to continue firing. That’s what our button controls – whether the redstone output can reach the dispenser again to continue the clock.

Some beautiful animations, but they certainly induce a bit of lag even on the strongest machines. Maybe lower-end systems should stay away from this feature.

I also need to install a mode for when the lights are off by default – the behavior will be inversed. To do this, I’ll engage a piston that both blocks and powers the master circuit, so that both modes can be executed at once. The output behavior will therefore depend on whether the circuit is already powered (or, whether the lights are on or off).

Back in the treehouse, I can cover up the tower with wood but leave a small window for aesthetic purposes.

The next feature I want to add is similar, but different. It requires another T flip-flop, of course, but this time I choose a different method of getting the signal to the ground. Rather than build a tower of observers and iron doors, I have the master switch toggle a dropper which drops an item to the ground. A hopper receives the item, toggling the T flip-flop and activating this mode.

So what’s this mode?

Well, it will involve rewiring the lights, actually. I’d like a mode in which the odd/even lights alternate states. That is to say, I’ll separate the master wire into two wires that control three lights each.

This mode will toggle a hopper timer that animates three lights before swapping to the other three. Like so:

In order to toggle this mode, I’ll install a master wire which keeps both pistons extended. This way, all lights remain active otherwise.

The seventh and final feature is an oddball – one that I had some trouble configuring. Basically, I wanted a mode in which I could simultaneously switch the animation states dependent on the daylight sensor (as a way to automate those modes if I so desire). Limited space (and you can see just how limited) requires me to think outside the box about how to achieve this.

Two more pistons are installed here, because I’ll need this most to both connect the master wire to the iron door and allow/block the wire coming from the daylight sensor. Configuring the redstone this way is the only thing that will work, but it introduces some undesirable behavior.

Having a repeater here means that the doors are actually toggled twice when the button is pressed. Since observers take input based on block state, that means two pulses are being received per button press (one when the repeater is active, and one when it’s not). The result is a mode that doesn’t reset (or activate). I can change the button to a lever, however, and that eliminates this issue. Not ideal, but it works.

A compact assemblage of redstone wizardry completes this project, finally. Let’s take a recap of what we have built.

Night Lights – Control Panel - CLOCKWISE from top-left lever:

A) Master state animator – animates/de-animates lights based on current behavior. If night vision mode is enabled, then lights will animate upon automated activation. If manual mode is enabled, then lights will animate indefinitely.

Clock selector – selects between the animator clock (F) or the high-wire clock (not recommended for slower systems). If selecting the animator clock, it will remain inactive until F is pressed.

C) Night vision mode – Night Lights will activate upon nightfall and turn off in the morning.

D) Master invert switch – manually force inverts the signal of the lights. Must be powered with E to take effect.

E) Invert lock state – press before D to lock lights in the ‘on’ state. Press after D to lock lights in the ‘off’ state.

F) Animator clock – randomized clock that animates the Night Lights. Can be used together with G, A, and/or D to create new patterns.

G) Swap mode – animation mode that swaps between even and odd lights. Can be combined with G, A, and/or D to create new patterns.

H) Night Lights user guide – a guide to using the Night Lights.

Thoughts? I’m very thrilled to introduce the Night Lights into Starlight HQ. They really do transform how the base looks at night…

Now to check back in on our friend…

“How are you feeling? Don’t feel obliged to talk,” I offer. “I understand that you’ve been through- “

“I don’t even know how to describe it,” she interrupts. “A creature of some sort… it spawned in thin air above the beacon. It had huge horrific wings and a terrible cry and blistering pink eyes. I felt my heart sink into my stomach as I stood in shock, unable to move.”

“It grabbed me and soared through the troubling wind far beyond the surface of the earth.”

“Then it showed me something terrible – a vision of what will happen in the future.”

“How can you be so sure?” I ask concerned, for such realities must always be taken with a grain of salt.

“Because I felt it. Every part of my slow death.”

“Death?” Something does not sound right.

“None of it does. But when I returned to reality, to this island, everything was normal, but everyone was gone. The beacon had closed. No survivors.”

“How did you survive this long?”

“I took shelter in the stone fortress you build out in the jungle – the one you found me near. It seems that you don’t visit it much.”

“You got that right.” At that moment, I realized that Violet knows my island better than I do. I needed more from her.

“Please, Violet, tell me what will happen.”

“But if I tell you what will happen, then you will attempt to change that undesirable fate which will only yield destruction.”

“You say time is a fixed reality. What you call a vision might just be a warning – a warning that I might need to heed. Now tell me – what should I expect?”

“Death, everywhere.”

“The demons of Stonewall will rise against you, and the only thing you’ll be able to do is watch as they burn everyone and everything sent to hell.”

“That’s… not possible. How can that happen?”

"I see... a portal..."

“Somewhere on the face of the earth is a portal to the mysterious land which you seek – a portal once closed before by the creature. I can’t tell you where it is, because I don’t know. But I know that it’s a death trap, because it’s the last thing I saw before the destruction. You will not escape the gauntlet once you enter.”

“The gauntlet? What do you mean? Why not?”

“There is no way out. The only thing that awaits us both is death.”

“How do you know? Why do I even enter the gauntlet?”

“You don’t, not by choice. You avoid it… because you’ll remember this conversation. That’s how you end up there – by accident.”

“Warning heeded. I won’t allow Enderquin to win this war.”

“You’re confused,” she clarified. “I said that I would show you what will happen.”

It’s official; we need to get Violet safe inside Starlight Treehouse. That’s the only way I can be rest assured that nothing will get to her, which is especially crucial now that I know what she knows – the end of all things and what not.

The Starlight Transit Authority System (STAS) becomes a major player here, because Violet isn’t exactly one to move on her own. I’ll need to get her moved to Starlight Treehouse. I can get her to HQ via the railway into Starlight Station, but from there I’ll need a way to get her all the way upstairs. Having our subway system installed is the key to completing this task. It was next on the list, anyway.

When STAS was first conceptualized, I thought of it largely as an interconnected rail network in which the route could change on command depending on where you want to go (i.e. an open circuit with several fork-in-the-road options). And although this may certainly be possible, I think that STAS will function much more effectively as a proper subway system. And this requires some planning.

Thinking about some of the areas in Starlight HQ that are the most popular, I am immediately drawn to the tangent floor, considering especially that most of the new developments this season are so far taking place here. We definitely need a station here.

At first, I thought that STAS could operate as a one-size-fits-all open circuit. But this is not true, the more I planned things out. We need two distinct railway lines, operating two individual closed circuits, in order for this to work. This is because the main purpose of STAS is to better connect the above-ground to the underground. Well, if I just have one railway line jumping all over the place, then it’s not really creating shortcuts between the popular destinations. Having two lines will allow me to be more creative.

The old horse stables will now serve as the central station for STAS – fittingly, Starlight Station. I’ll be carving out a full new addendum to the build.

We’ll try and reduce the cramping by installing a proper staircase that makes transportation easier between the floors. This will open things up nicely anyway.

I am happy to have an Efficiency V pickaxe under the Haste aura – this allows me to break through stone like popping bubbles. And we’re carving a lot of stone under here.

So, let’s go through the two railway lines.

Both lines will only intersect here are Starlight Station – the starting point. I initially thought about having them both meet at the tangent floor as well, but I dismissed that because of the fact that getting from the Starlight Treehouse to the Redstone Room quickly is going to be important. I’d rather have a direct line there. The Red Line will take you from Starlight Station to Tangent Station, at which point you can continue all the way to Starlight Treehouse (this station will actually be at the basin of the treehouse).

The Blue Line will be the connection points further underground. You’ll go from Starlight Station straight to Tetraquin Station – this will be the SRF control floor. Then you can ride straight to the other side of the facility to the Redstone Room. The last stop will be straight up to Starlight Outback. The red line will go straight to the treehouse, but the blue line will take you to the outback plaza. The faction is way too big for just one station.

Now, I will work on the other stations. Tetraquin Station will nest directly underneath the transport pods. This is a prime location and having this connection will be incredibly convenient (the x-z coordinates of this station is actually the same as Starlight Station – the entire ride is vertical).

Stone themes will be fine for the stations, and I’ll specifically use stone slabs to indicate where the tracks will go.

Remember that this is a closed circuit, which means that the minecarts will be running in a continuous loop. So, I need both a northbound and southbound track for each line.

For most of this, they will share the same tunnel. But in some cases, I’ll need to separate the north and south tracks.

^ Here, for example, is the tunnel that will run to and from Starlight Treehouse. This is an awkward spot, being positioned right next to the big computer we have started building for Starlight HQ’s modular interface. So, I am juxtaposing the tracks differently to fit them snugly around the mess of redstone wires.

Otherwise, designing the tunnels is fairly simple. I’ll need to go through and add redstone lamps to all the tunnels or something, but we’ll get there.

This is the current design of Tetraquin Station.

I have signs and wool identifying each line and station throughout HQ. And I’ll reiterate that I love this location for Tetraquin Station.

Beautiful sunrise.

Okay, so I am realizing that I don’t actually have that many tracks… nor do I have enough gold to make that many tracks. So that’s a new problem.

This will need to be moved.

Easy enough, I’ve tucked this rail line behind the subway.

One reason I love having the station so open is because that’s how real subways are designed – open with lots of room to see ahead. I like that, and it’s why I didn’t just want STAS to feel like a boring railway line. That’s okay for the lines currently running across Quintropolis Island, but not for what we’re wanting.

We’ll work on the other stations later – we have three to build – but first I’ll need to experiment with ways of automating the principal stop/go system that characterizes a subway. And this will require some extensive wiring.

I hope Violet is occupied.

I’ll go ahead and build the Redstone Station, since it’s right around the corner from Tetraquin.

Extending these tunnels all the way up to Starlight Treehouse will require some careful planning, largely because I must remember that I have several tangent redstone wires running all the way up to the Night Lights from the modular computer. My goal is to get STAS tunnels running directly adjacent to those wires – it will keep things more compact as we continue building underneath the outback.

This process was not so bad, and I have brought the north and south lines together into one tunnel. I did find those tangent lines, by the way. Next, we’ll focus on the station itself.

When I said that it would take us to Starlight Treehouse, I literally meant exactly that. Not the Starlight Outback which would then require you to walk to the treehouse. Nope, I want the station at the top of the mountain.

Surely, the height differences make this a tricky station to compose, but I think I’ve done okay. It’s a good thing we have an iron farm now, for all the rails we will need. But something tells me iron will not be enough for this.

The final station we need is, in fact, the Outback Station – the one I just previously made fun about. This will be the end of the blue line, coming directly up from Redstone Station. Having a station here on the ground will be just as helpful as having one at the treehouse, because the two can still feel so far apart.

This tunnel is much easier to build, mostly because there really isn’t much underneath the ground here. And, like Starlight Station, the outback is right above the Redstone Room.

You may observe that some of these railway lines are quite long – indeed, Starlight Treehouse is especially a considerable distance from the rest of the base. In order to maximize speed, I want the majority of rails to be powered rails. And for that, I need a lot of gold, which I don’t have.

^ Well, I thought I didn’t have any, but then I remembered exactly where it all went.

Some colorful adjustments made for now. And while I’m at it…

Got to put those diamonds to use somehow! I really don’t use them anymore.

With all the stations built, the question is now geared towards the stop/go mechanics that will make STAS a subway. Each time you press the button to ‘GO’, the idea is that every station will go – a minecart shall be seated at every station, rounding about the closed circuit. In this way, you will never have to wait for a minecart, make a new one, or call one. You just hop on and go.

The key mechanic that will make this work is the fact that rail tracks can be moved by pistons. We will take great advantage of this by constructing a complex machine that will stop incoming minecarts and start outgoing minecarts. The subway will be a fully automated stop/go system.

Each minecart will stop on a center unpowered rail. When a button is pressed, a specific sequence of things needs to happen:

• First, the next powered rail needs to be pushed forward for the minecart to go.
• Second, the back slabs need to be retracted so that third, the regular rail can be pushed on top to complete the circuit. This is for the oncoming minecart.
• Then, the regular rail needs to be retracted before the slabs are then pushed back up. Otherwise, the rail just breaks if the slabs are pushed too early.

In order to have the slabs pulled down first but pushed up last, I install two inputs to that piston. Notice the right-side repeater at one tick above. This occurs first, albeit after the powered rails are activated.

^ Then, set at four ticks, the piston above pushes the rail forward onto the track. Once the oncoming minecart passes it and onto the center powered rail, this piston then pulls the rail back.

^ Looking back here, on the left-side, the repeaters amount to six ticks. The slabs will then be pushed back up, so that this new minecart can propel forward again.

After some tests, I found this setup to work beautifully. I have to play with the aesthetics quite a bit to make everything fit evenly and look good, but essentially this exact same design needs to be replicated across every subway station. A total of ten terminals need to be built.

Let’s now look at the oncoming minecart. We need a detector rail for it to activate this same mechanism – to lower the slabs so that it can pass onto the center powered rail. This is relatively easy to install – we’ll just send a wire with a repeater (if necessary) to the terminal.

We do not want the rails to be powered as the oncoming minecart approaches, so we’ll send an additional signal to turn these off.

One thing I notice upon testing, however, is that simply having the powered rail pulled back does not stop a fast approaching minecart from jutting way too far forward! We need to install another piston to push up the slabs in front of the center resting rail.

We therefore will not need to de-power the rails. Instead, I simply have to make sure that the detector rail does not move the powered rail in front. I accomplish this by having the redstone wire long enough such that it powers everything else except that piston (because it’s under 15-blocks long, meaning it is too short).

Yes! The oncoming minecart stops perfectly on that center rail, regardless of its oncoming speed. Note that the ‘go’ button will of course not activate the new piston we’ve just installed – that’s only necessary to stop the incoming minecart.

Okay, now I just have to replicate this… nine times.

Here is under the hood on the blue line, which will be mirrored.

Here, I am completing the railways to and from the outback station.

One feature that we won’t work on today, but that will be added as we complete STAS, is the addition of express lines. Once we connect all the stations together, we will then be able to choose which station we stop at. This feature is just for convenience – like how the express trains in New York skip stations to get you right at the one you want. It will be the same way here.

I am making the toggles now to give myself an idea about how many will need to be crafted. I also want all these to be togglable from within the minecart.

Here is the Outback Station, terminal-ready! I’ve used the exact same design.

Redstone Station will require a slightly different setup, only because the northbound and southbound trains are too close together. We will need to install a redstone torch tower first, and then we’ll wire everything together under the terminals.

I like maintaining a window to see both sides of the terminal, which is particularly why I enjoy building with slabs.

The entire system is delayed just a few ticks at Redstone Station, since the wire is a lot longer (it has to go over top and down the sides of the station before finally getting underneath). But it works just as well!

Redstone Station is looking good, and in fact I’ll go ahead and complete the aesthetics.

I like this, with an express line option straight to Starlight Station, skipping Tetraquin Station if you so desire.

Now that I have built the same terminal several times, I can knock it out in five to ten minutes – that is, when I’m not constantly running out of materials.

Tangent Station is a pain in the ass, however, largely because of the lack of space. So I’m doing something unconventional, letting the minecart ride ‘off the cliff’ so to speak. The reason why is because I need a couple powered rails in front so that their power source (a lever) does not mess with the pistons. Plus, the piston in front would otherwise break the sloped powered rail.

The southbound train is equally odd, with the wiring sitting out.

^ I want this room to remain relatively open, so we’ll work on covering this up later.

Tetraquin Station looks cool now, with these being among the easiest terminals to compose.

And finally, we’re out at Starlight Treehouse. This station has not received much attention, mostly because I have spent a good chunk of time just digging out the tunnel to get here. We’ll deal with the aesthetics later. Let’s just install the terminal.

Done! I’m keeping the mountainside open right now, as I’m thinking about ways to connect this station to the ground as well. It would then act as a shortcut to Starlight Treehouse from this side of the outback, which will be very convenient.

We’re still not in a stage where we can test the subway, because one integral component is still missing: the closed connected circuit. I’m going to save that for later, because that’s going to be another round of extensive wiring underground, and I’ll be honest – I’m a bit exhausted with all this. Nonetheless, once we have it such that every ‘go’ button activates every other ‘go’ button at every other station, then we will be able to use STAS. We still need a lot more gold, though.

Let’s complete Starlight Station and call it a day.

Day called.

Starlight Arcade was never intended to be so small. That’s not an arcade. That’s barely a room. Let’s expand.

For the record, there are about ten total games that I’d like to build in here. Of course, this is not an expansion to take place overnight, but it gives you a slight idea regarding the intended scope of the arcade and its role in the base. When you want to retreat and have some fun, the idea is that you come here. So we need to make it more fun.

Location is a slight issue with the intended scope, though, because when I built the arcade originally, I didn’t plan on constructing STAS. The central station for STAS is located just below this new addendum – literally, exactly. This means we cannot have much vertical variation in the arcade, because directly above it is the plaza. I didn’t think much about this when first building the arcade, because I didn’t plan on adding eight more games later.

We do have options though, and we will make this work. For now, I’ll start with a small expansion, and then we’ll continue to build out as we add more games in the future.

The next two games on the list are ‘The Sandbox’ and ‘Time Tables.’ Today? We’ll be working on The Sandbox.

I’ve had this idea for a while, and to be fair, it is less of an arcade game and more of a puzzle. But hey – the arcade can be versatile. Sometimes, you want something that challenges your mind more than your wits. The Sandbox shall do exactly that.

OBJECTIVE: Using only the provided levers/pistons, your goal is to move the red sand to the green wool to escape the sandbox (using a redstone block in place for the time being).

Building this game is not very complicated from a redstone perspective. But this is a much more difficult game to construct from the others because it requires a lot of trial and error. I am not building a machine; I am trying to make a puzzle. It’s a lot harder than you may think, much like how Chambers required a lot of initial drafting prior to the build itself.

^ Some aspects of the puzzle are going to be tricky to compose, such as moving the block from one face to the next.

In order to fight this, as you cannot manually toggle those pistons in the back, I’ll install observers to automate them. This provides the opportunity for additional puzzle options!

This redstone puzzle will be prime to the game, as BUD switches make a common appearance. You’ll need to understand how they work and utilize them to win!

^ Additionally, some quick wits will be required to move blocks around certain tight spaces such as this, because I’ve wired it such that the pistons will move together, albeit with some tick-based delays.

Oh, and something I learned above: that stone block will not be moved by the bottom piston! That's unfortunate for this game.

A combination of skills will make The Sandbox a fun addition to the arcade, and to the world itself. A game that isn’t parkour, I’m excited to share the final product with you.

…but I need to be more careful for creepers!

I’ve sealed it all in, now, which will give me a visual cue of what space I have to work with.

That’s all for now; I’ve already spent hours on this game, and we have a long way to go. We’ll work on it in bits and pieces, but now you have a good idea how it shall be played! Alas, it will certainly be completed in time for the world download.

For now, it’s time to move on to our next project.

We’ve been sitting on the modular interface project for a while now, and it’s time we get back. After all, arguably the biggest upgrade to Starlight HQ this season will be this transformation into a modular survival base – likely the first of its kind ever. As a modular base, everything within the base will be influenced or controlled in some capacity by everything else. And it will be 100% customizable. How?

Well, that’s what we’ll work on today.

When we last touched on the ALU in Sessions 231-232, we spent a lot of time thinking through the mental obstacles of how exactly we would be able to create links between two machines within HQ. If you’re unfamiliar with this project, visit those sessions to see a clearer picture of what we are trying to accomplish.

Today, I have cracked the code. Every link will be represented as a binary number. All that discussion of adders will finally be put to some use!

I’ve referred to our system as a computer, which in some capacity it is, but it will not be a conventional redstone computer because we simply won’t have the space to build that. What we have currently is an 8-bit ALU, which would result in a computer so large it would not fit inside HQ. We’re not interested in that exactly.

What we achieve with an 8-bit adder is the ability to compose 256 individual settings, or in this case, links. By representing each link as a number, we simplify the process of building links, and we simultaneously gain the ability to create multiple links. How is this possible?

^ All of this is unnecessary, because I wasn’t thinking about the outputs correctly before. I’ll destroy all these now. We’ll make registers later.

These are the same adders that I showed you in the testing world over in Session 231. Notice that each of the eight adders features two inputs each. One is from the MISC to create the link; one is from the source machine to activate the link.

Above, I have computed 128 into the editor. This is the default number that results when you just activate the top-left button in the MISC (1). In order for any output to result, we’ll need to wait for the iron farm to send a second input to this adder. This will result in the addition of 128+128, giving us 256. We’ll wire that configuration to result in the activation of, for instance, the Night Lights. Make sense?

In total, only eight numbers will have no effect on the editor, and those are the binary base numbers used only to make addition: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 128. This is because we want those numbers reserved for the MISC buttons – this way, we can create links without disrupting base operations. Nothing will actually activate until the base itself behaves (such as when the iron farm receives input, at that point will its input affect the editor).

We’ll have two additional adders specifically for the output lines. Recall however that these ‘output’ lines are currently just wires running from the MISC. They don’t actually connect to their output sources (i.e. Night Lights). Remember, links will be created via a number. So, the link ‘Iron farm—Night Lights’ would be represented as 260 (256 + 4 from the output adders). Likewise, ‘Mob farm—Night Lights’ would be represented as 132 (128 + 4). And so forth.

Currently, here are the fundamental link options I want to have in HQ:

You haven’t heard of some of these yet, but basically these are things we do or will be using most of the time. However, this form of identification will actually be obsolete with the current way of doing things.

If we build links represented as numbers, then we may need to change how the MISC operates. Currently, you only select one input and one output. But that limits how many links we can make! We want to have the ability to take full advantage of the 260 link options, even if we don’t fill them all.

You know, since we’re fueling the base with redstone at the moment, I think it’s appropriate to revisit an old construction…

Now, the Redstone Observatory is actually a fitting title! And now with a ring of glowstone lamps on top. I like it.

We’re so close to the first functioning generator in the base. Welcome to the modular world!

All power needs a source. Sometimes, that is an electrical power grid. Sometimes it is solar power. For Starlight HQ, we will be composing a very unique system of power sources which do not come universally from any existing power grid. There simply isn’t enough room under the base for that. That requires us to get creative with the question: How do we provide power to the modular system?

I have come up with a unique system which can allow us expressive control over how power is given to the system. If we were to keep the interface running all the time, then the entire base would be lagged down indefinitely. This is why I will be introducing generators to Starlight HQ – redstone machines with the specific purpose of independently providing power to the interface, whilst not receiving input from the interface.

Think about generators as such: Right now, we have STAS and the Night Lights connected to the interface. Therefore, they are receiving inputs and providing outputs. They are not generating their own power but are instead governed by the input power. However, a generator produces only output power to the interface. Each generator we build can have different rules about how power cycles through the system, giving me complete creative control over, well, everything. Power is power, after all.

Today, the goal is to start things up with the first generator of the base, the Modular Interface Specifications Center (MISC), which will also be the face of the modular computer. Its power will be to generate links throughout the base, as we have been working on. A second generator may choose to generate power to a specific area of HQ (say, shutting on/off the beacon and locking down the base, or automating STAS based on a timed system, or perhaps turning Starlight HQ into a scavenger hunt). Making sense? The more generators we make, the more creative we get, the more powerful the base becomes. And this is obviously the idea.

First, I’m going to add some additional sources to the modular system. I would like to connect all my SRF farms together into one line (cactus farm, nether wart farm, pumpkin/melon farms) as a separate output, and then the Nether Temple door as one line (for when we enter/exit the Nether).

These lines are easier said than done to make; recall there is already a lot of wiring taking place under the base. So I’m having to be quite careful.

I will have to make some significant renovations to the SRF farms in order to make them fully lossless (so that they will collect all drops when they are harvested automatically), but for now, we’ll just focus on the wiring. After all, those changes won’t be necessary until the MISC is working.

Indeed, in order for me to automate the production of wheat, carrots, potatoes, and nether wart, I’ll need to make entirely new farms. This is because the current farms are designed for player interaction. You visit the farms and produce quickly. However, with modular farms, we need to be able to produce without player intervention. This will require new designs, and I already have some in mind. We’ll work on these later, building them all together here above the Redstone Room.

I’ve also hooked up the tree farm to this wire. Whenever it’s activated, all trees in the farm will grow, saving us at least a step later. When I go to test, I’ll see if this feature is necessary.

One final output wire we want right now is the transport pods. I’d like the option to link anything to these, so that I can automate the movement of items around the base. For example, I’d like it such that when I enter the Nether, the transport pods will automatically dispatch so that when I return from the Nether, the minecart is already here, ready for items to be dropped off. Likewise, maybe I’ll want the transport pods to dispatch when the tree farm is activated, since I may be harvesting to move wood items elsewhere. So you see, having the Nether Temple hooked up will allow some creative linking options.

Speaking of the Nether, maybe it’s time for a little adventure. We haven’t gone on one in a while, and I need to replenish my glowstone and quartz collections.

I’ll head south, because I haven’t done much exploring south as of yet.

Now aren’t these some uncanny sights?

The terrain here is so beautiful; I don’t really want to touch it!

I love when glowstone just sits here, waiting to be snatched up, easy to access. I think of it like free money.

Well, my inventory is full now, so I guess we’ll make a portal and see where we end up on the other side.

Whoa! Another mesa biome?? On the corner of a savanna and a desert?? Yes, please! I guess I’ll be building a railway here. The portal is barely 800 blocks from the Nether Hub – the length of Quintropolis Island. This mesa is apparently just 6,000 blocks south of the island, which is far closer than Candyland.

Beautiful terrain! This place is incredible. I am reminded of the joy about exploring which I have not felt in a while, because I haven’t gone on an adventure in quite some time.

Check this out – a desert temple completely submerged underneath the sand. It’s the second of two that I’ve found so far.

And, I suppose that I’ll grab as much quartz as I can.

Is that enough? I guess it will do for now.

As I haphazardly made all these redstone lamps, I realized something that I never thought would be the case in this world: I am running out of redstone. Granted, “running out” for me means I still have about nine stacks of redstone blocks, but given how much I use the stuff, those nine stacks will deplete quickly.

So, I’ll head over to The Bottom and mine a bit.

A decent two hauls for mining, plus I’ve lit up plenty of caves underneath the witch farm. A win-win!

I’ve been working on repairing many of the tools in my Adventure Arsenal, and I think I’ve done a good job. The first two rows are all Efficiency V tools, whilst the third and fourth rows are Efficiency IV. The goal is max out the entire chest, because obviously we need that many.

Alright, we’ve had our fun. Let’s get back to business.

One principal component that has been missing from the MISC is a register. Without registers, we cannot actually save any of the links we are creating. This means that, well, no links can be made.

In order to build registers, though, we’ll need to redo this entire mechanism. I have a much better idea for how this should work.

With pistons, the buttons essentially act as levers. I don’t want that, because that means you aren’t really saving information at all. And, I have to deal with BUD switches which can mess up the composition. That’s great for the Sandbox, not for this.

I’ve come up with a much simpler, sleeker design using observers. It’s also quieter, faster, smoother, etc. The joys of trial and error, right?

Observers will simply send a pulse which will be saved by the register. This way, each new link starts with a blank canvas rather than having redstone blocks all over the place.

I have to do a lot of testing here, because timing is key to making sure that the pulse gets through before the register locks again. The two registers (one for the input lines and one for the output lines) essentially replace the pistons that lock the system. So, they are activated by the same redstone lines. Choose one input, and they lock. Choose one output, and they lock. Easy peasy.

After some testing, I’ve managed to get every button synchronized such that it activates one line and one line only (a problem I had with the piston setup was that, due to BUD switches, some buttons would inadvertently activate two lines at once, which messes things up).

Currently, you’re able to make one link which is saved, but only until you go to make a new link. At that point, your saved link resets, and you start over. You may have noticed that the MISC will have a feature to either save or reset links, but this will require additional memory systems we have not yet created.

Right now, we need to actually compose the links – the one thing I have yet to actually do! Right now, the MISC is just an adder; it doesn’t do anything. But we have the numbers done, we have the tangent lines constructed, we have wires running all over the base, we have the registers built, and we have the link operations working. Connecting these together is the final step.

Binary addition is key here because each number can be represented with a combination of AND/OR gates, which is exactly how we will specify which links do what. The new observer-based system also trashes the old link map, in which we could only have eight inputs and four outputs. Those are just numbers now. We can have as many inputs and as many outputs as we want, up to 256.

This also means the four output lines must add onto the 8-bit adder rather than having their own. Again, the actual tangent lines mean nothing now. All that matters are the output numbers, which I can assign to anything I want.

Here is what the new link map will look like:

See what I mean when I say that each combination is a binary number, and that said number is not defined by any single mechanism wired up to the MISC? I can have it do anything with logic gates.

So, let’s wire the first few links. By default, linking has no effect, as I mentioned in the last session. A saved link is represented as a number which adds onto the input from whatever system we are linking (i.e. the iron farm input always adds 128). To link the iron farm to the Night Lights, I’ll create an AND gate which requires 128+128+8.

To link the multi-purpose mob farm, that’s 64+64+8, or 136. This is also the number that results when you link the iron farm and Night Lights, minus the iron farm input (performing 1A, which is 128+8).

To combat this, I’ll add another inverted input from the 64s place that blocks an idle output. This way, only when the mob farm adds onto this place value will the 128 take effect.

The Nether Temple and SRF farms are linked with an AND gate to require 32+16+4, or 52, to take effect.

Likewise, the Nether Temple and transport pods use the same place values, minus 16. So, you need 32+4 or 36 to link those up. I’ll use an inverted torch off the 16s place, which basically says that you must have both 32 and 4, but not 16, in order to activate the top wire.

Those are the four links we have prepared so far, but many more are coming! I’m just immensely thrilled to have this system working.

Yes, I did say it works. The work was not futile – we have a fully functioning modular survival base, with the system’s first generator now fully operational! A few more features need to be added yet, but this is incredible progress so far. I have gone ahead and linked up the Nether Temple to the SRF farms, because that’s a very useful automation.

Now, let’s finish the look of this lobby!

I love black and white concrete blocks because they actually look black and white, whereas their terracotta counterparts don’t. Though speaking of terracotta, I’ll be using a light gray variant for the floor of the lobby. Lots of stone slabs, too.

I’m adapting a style similar to the SRF control floor here, using black concrete powder behind stone slab walls. White concrete lines the floor.

The wiring for this STAS station needs to be hidden, so I’ll work on terraforming this area to get a shape I am happy with.

Yep, I am using the MISC as a concrete generator, too.

The glazed terracotta is for the ground floor.

I like this pattern because it’s somewhat mechanical, which is the appropriate vibe for this room, being the center of HQ’s redstone engineering as of now.

However, this arrangement looks better lined with stone slabs.

White concrete walls line the inside while black concrete walls go outside.

I had to move these tangent wires of course, which gives me the opportunity to share a pro tip with you: have redstone repeaters power blocks first – this way, you actually get 16 blocks of power rather than 15.

Coming together beautifully, and I’ll use stone slabs to encircle this wiring. You’ll notice I’ve rearranged it a bit.

I’ve fitted it with iron blocks, mostly because I think that makes it look more mechanical, like a control box if you will. I’m going for that.

Looking beautiful, I’d say! Let’s finish it off with some glass paneling.

Voila, the completed MISC lobby to celebrate the completion of the base’s first generator! I can’t wait to see what we do with it from here.

Okay, so we need to definitely install a railway to the new mesa biome. It’s not too far from HQ, and I have enough blocks to do it. Only problem is…

Yeah, ghasts definitely tried to pick fights with me. However, I am no stranger to such fights, having been through a similar conundrum whilst building terminal zero. Here, we’ll begin terminal one, or expressway Q1. While Q0 travels southeast, Q1 will travel straight south.

I’m working on my curves here.

This is how far I made it before I ran out of blocks. I guess I didn’t have enough. Oh well, horse travel will be fine for now until we complete the tunnel.

So, there are two trips we need to take here. The first is to collect a lot of sand.

The second is to collect a lot of clay.

We’ll be using both, though largely sand to make concrete. That’s because we need to complete the tangent floor today.

First, we need more diorite. I'll take it from the SRF entrance stairwell and replace it with black concrete.

It's much sleeker that way.

At first, I started with black concrete for the roof. However, I find that it doesn’t match the intended aesthetic, which is an underground tunnel. This looks too tacky, and far too “futuristic.”

Sometimes, simpler is better. Stone slabs work much better, and the colors are much more fitting. I’ll keep the roof lined with glowstone lamps every six blocks.

So, we’ve got the look figured out, but you may have noticed that we have several unfinished segments of this floor! What are they all for? Today, we’re going to address that.

The introduction of generators beckons the need for another type of redstone machine within the modular system – that of modifiers. The behavior of modifiers is similar to generators, except that rather than generating power, they modify the inputs in some way. Think of modifiers as filters – if we choose to plug one in, we can add a modification to the generator’s input and further customize the way the base behaves.

I’ve constructed a diagram to help you visualize exactly what is happening, and what Starlight HQ can do with this new system.

We’ve already done the bulk of the work in the last couple sessions, completing the principal link editor and computer system. Today, we’re going to build a few small modifiers that can be optionally “plugged” into the computer, if you catch my drift.

The tangent floor is going to be home for all of these – after all, you didn’t think that long tunnel was for nothing, did you?

Two of the first modifiers we build have purely technical functions that regulate the modular system: Starlight Balancer and Starlight Inverter. Notice that each modifier has an ‘AUX in’ switch. This is the equivalent to plugging the modifier into the computer. These are plugins, after all. The reason we have the modifiers as separate entities is because we want the ability to use them on any generator, not just the MISC. Yes, there will be more generators coming.

These first two modifiers are very simple machines with just one feature each – an on/off switch. That’s because their functions are technical. The Starlight Balancer will regulate inputs/outputs that cause lots of lag in the base. Starlight Inverter is a simple redstone wire that will invert the output signal of whatever it is modifying – useful for essentially doubling the customizable options for the MISC (and future generators).

Let’s look at each in a bit more depth.

Starlight Balancer is essentially a very specific type of lock. For slower computers, you probably wouldn’t want to use some features like the Night Lights at all. Even good computers like mine can suffer from lag spikes when the Night Lights are animated, or when anything animates. Pistons also cause a lot of lag, such as the sugar cane farm. So, when you enable Starlight Balancer, you lock all of these things from being used. Links involving the Night Lights will not work, the sugar cane and tree farms will turn off (meaning anything linking them won’t work), the chicken farm will turn off, and Landing Pad will lock.

The balancer will also focus on redstone, keeping certain operations in the link editor from happening. You won’t be able to perform multi-link operations, which aren’t yet installed into the MISC. These will require additional memory registers, which will effectively be turned off by the balancer. Significantly reducing redstone usage in the base is the goal of this modifier – if you have a slower computer, or you simply want to keep the base quiet, you will turn this on.

Starlight Inverter is simpler to build; it’s a single redstone wire that essentially just inverts the signal. You can send that to the MISC to invert the state of output links.

We will build a third modifier today, Starlight Compressor, which will be quite a bit more involved as it will perform a number of functions.

The Compressor will modify signals based on item input. As such, it actually doubles as an item sorter, which is precisely why I’ve placed it here. It’s next to the MISC to shorten the redstone wires, and next to STAS to make it centrally accessible from anywhere in the base.

When the Compressor detects input, it will regulate certain activities in the base that relate to the items being processed. For example, if you are tossing in unmined ores to be smelted, the Compressor will override MISC links to perform actions that expedite this process (‘compressing’ the links and behaviors), such as moving them into a transport pod to have them automatically smelted. This means we’ll need to build a new furnace room which is automatic – something already overdue.

Note that in order for the Compressor to have any function, you’ll need to plug it in by enabling the ‘AUX in’ option. This will be the case for every modifier we add to the base, since they are not generating their own outputs but are instead processing input from generators. However, the Compressor is slightly different, because it’s actually two different machines built into one. Independently, it can just be an item sorter/smelter without being plugged in. It becomes a rather powerful modifier when you do plug it in.

To start on the wiring, I’ll first give you an overview of the six switches, so that you understand exactly what options you get with this machine. It’s going to be quite a flexible addition to the base with everything it can do, but that also means the wiring will get a little messy.

CLOCKWISE from top left lever:

1. Threshold – Sets the quantity of items necessary to begin compression. If the lever is off, then you need at least a full stack of items. If the lever is on, then you need at least ten stacks of items. Otherwise, if you input fewer items, there will be no compression input to the modular system. Note that this option refers to items detected on immediate input – so, you have to input the required amount of items right away, not over several trips, because the threshold is determined by a timer set to the amount of time necessary for a stack (or ten) to funnel through the hoppers. This is useful if you want to use the Compressor as an item sorter without taking advantage of any other features; you would set the threshold to ten and input fewer than that. Likewise, if you have a full inventory of items, but don’t want compression to start immediately, you will equally find this useful.
2. Amplitude – turns the Compressor output wire into an analog wire which will decide how much the Compressor will modify its target generator. For our purposes, this effectively means that a comparator will be used to determine how full the minecart is (dependent on how many items we throw in to be sorted), and that output signal strength will impart different effects on the generator.
3. Target destination – the hoppers will funnel items into a minecart, which will transport them to one of two locations. Keep the lever off to send them straight to a storage collection unit (this will need to be installed in the SRF control floor). Turn the lever on to send them to the automatic furnace room which we need to build. Items that don’t need to be smelted will be automatically left out and sent to storage.
4. Balancer – built-in balancer which performs the same function as the Starlight Balancer. While the Compressor works, other machines in the base can be turned off temporarily until compression concludes (i.e. sugar cane farm, Night Lights, tree farm).
5. Automate generator input – you can channel the output from the Compressor back into a generator of choice by enabling this feature, which will automatically activate the generator you wish to affect. For the MISC, this means that the Compressor will have the ability to automatically create specific links that relate to the items being sorted. We still have to build the furnace room, but when we do, we’ll give the Compressor the ability to automatically build the following temporary links: furnace room > transport pods, transport pods > SRF farms. This way, the Compressor is able to automate several base operations at once by modifying the MISC. As we build more generators, we can give the Compressor more functions with this feature, as it is generator-dependent.
6. Type – type of compression performed. If you leave this off, it will compress normally (hard). Turning this option on will allow soft compression – that is, items will be processed in batches rather than sorting. Useful if you have several types of items to smelt, such as ores, clay, and netherrack, and you don’t want to separate them. You would use hard compression to keep the clay and netherrack from smelting (because they won’t sort out on soft). This will also affect the other features, since everything is based on item input.

Notice also that you can plug modifiers into the Compressor. Not only can modifiers filter input from generators, but they can also filter outputs from other modifiers. So you could hook up the Balancer and Inverter to the Compressor to create even more interesting behaviors (though, this might not be practical since the Compressor already has a balancer built-in, and an Inverter would not have much effect as of now). Not all modifiers will allow this ability since it isn’t always useful, but some will.

Right then, let’s get to the wiring! We can’t do everything today, but we can at least get the principal functions working.

First thing’s first, the question: How do we choose which modifiers to plug into the generators? If they are essentially plug-ins, then we need the ability to decide which ones go where. This will be especially important once we start building more generators, so that we can choose what generators are to be modified.

For this, we need a separate component, which I’ll build right off the wall here.

This room will function as the modular mixer, where we decide what modifiers to add. This mixer also functions to connect all the machines together, as every component of the modular system will essentially be connected here in some capacity. For each generator we build, we’ll need a completely separate unit with gates for every modifier. This means that for every new generator, we multiply the number of new gates by the number of modifiers. Redstone fun, am I right?

We’ll be using a number of AND gates in order to allow the modifiers access to their respective generators. Simply, we’ll have an AND gate between the mixer and the ‘AUX in’ toggles (which plug it in), and then another AND gate between the ‘AUX in’ and ‘on/off’ toggles (which activate it). Now, again, we’ll need a separate set of AND gates for every generator. So, when we go to build a second one, guess what? Two more gates multiplied by however many modifiers we have. Right now, that will be three.

Above, you’ll see the third set of AND gates. These both collect the input from the generator (left side) and dispense the modifier’s output back into the generator. The top gate is for the Inverter; the bottom is for the Balancer.

^ The MISC feeds input into the modifiers through the locked repeater, which will keep the active state while it is generating power.

The Balancer will restrict access to the Night Lights for modular linking. Any links composed involving the lights will not work.

For now, that’s all we can do, since we don’t yet have multi-link setup on the MISC (wherein, you guess it, you’ll be able to compose 2:1 links). Let’s move onto the Inverter.

This is a simple wire, but it took me a hot minute to decide exactly what I wanted to invert, since any major inversions within the MISC will cause the generator to behave strangely.

^ That’s when I remembered this output line we installed a year ago, which uses comparators to detect exactly which line is receiving input. We’ll use the inverter then to invert this output signal, which has yet to be utilized. How do we accomplish this?

A XOR gate, which says that when both inputs are on/off, the output is off. The output is only on when either the MISC or the Inverter is toggling input, which allows us to invert the output signal.

My plan is to use this output signal to feed the MISC into other generators and other potential components throughout the base. This means that the Inverter does not yet do anything tangible in the base. But, we’ve set it up such that it will have some functionality later. Ideally, then, this will be useful when we build the furnace room, modular farms, finish STAS, and finish the transport pods – all things that need to be completed so we can hook them up to the MISC.

The Compressor will be a much more practical modifier, so let’s get to the wiring.

First we’re building the two hopper timers, which will send output to the rest of the modifier to begin compression after enough items are received. For the first timer, you need to throw in a stack of items (which is 32 items in the timer).

Likewise, the second timer requires ten stacks (or half the amount in the timer, all five stacks).

^ This timer is for the piston visuals, which we’ll work on next. This is essentially an array of nine pistons that move akin to a sine wave, acting as a visual aid to tell you that the compression process is taking place. I think the visual is quite fitting for this build, which is why I’ve chosen it.

It’s a simple timer that requires each piston to be one-tick off to create the ‘wave’ effect.

Here, you can somewhat see it in action now. It will activate when the timers receive enough input, because this is also a visual cue that the modifier’s other features are working (all options funnel through the torch that starts the timer, i.e. the on switch).

For the options, we start with the threshold, which just chooses between the timers. Whilst one is locked, the other is unlocked. Just don't toggle it after you throw items in, or you'll mess everything up.

Amplitude will need to be installed later when we get the minecart setup. For target destination, well, that’s an easy switch of tracks that must be completed later when we build the rail.

For the built-in balancer, I’ll hook it up to the Starlight Balancer to achieve the same effect – in this case, it is only temporary while the Compressor works. Easy enough with another AND gate.

Again, we need a total of two ‘AUX in’ gates, which serve the sole purpose of plugging the Compressor into MISC.

Above is the AND gate for the built-in balancer. To achieve output and activate the balancer, you need all three inputs: (1) the ‘AUX in’ from the MISC, (2) toggling the balancer feature in the Compressor, and then (3) comparator output from the Compressor itself when it is on. As such, the balancer works while the Compressor is on, and then automatically shuts off afterwards.

Other than that, the Compressor will perform functions of its own – it does not need a generator to do this. Generator input will feed into the Compressor and use its functions to modify its output.

The item sorting system is important, but it won’t matter until the minecart gets to where the furnace room will be. As such, the ‘Type’ option cannot be added until we build the rail. And we aren’t doing that today, because we need the furnace room first.

Finally, the ‘automate generator input’ feature, which will be a fun one to install. Basically, I have to figure out how to sneak several more wires into the MISC adder in order to unlock the machine, install several links temporarily, lock the machine, and then reset the links upon the completion of compression. Basically we’re building an AI.

So far so good, though I will say that the redstone wiring is indeed a mess, bordering several other builds like Landing Pad (which figures). Thankfully, we have enough room to build the remaining features; I’ve made sure of that. I like the challenge of building compact, though, because I am constantly thinking about how to preserve space for future developments. In this case, the Compressor is one such future development.

I’ve built another segment here to house three more modifiers: Starlight Limiter, Corkscrew, and Angler. We won’t build these today as we have other priorities, but I’ll give you a brief overview for what I intend each to do:

• Starlight Limiter: Same idea as the balancer, except this modifier will strictly limit how many generators are used at once. Obviously, this won’t be useful until later when we build more generators. While normally, you’ll be able to use as many generators and modifiers as possible, this modifier will only let you use one generator at a time.
• Starlight Corkscrew: Practical modifier which will allow you to create timers that control when things activate. With it, you can set delays on anything. Useful for if you’d like the farms to activate, say, twenty seconds after you return from the Nether, as opposed to immediately (twenty seconds is about how long it takes to get from the Nether Temple to the SRF using STAS).
• Starlight Angler: Proof-of-concept modifier which will let you create a chain reaction effect between two or more generators (one generator becomes a modifier for another generator, basically). Again, we won’t need this until we build more generators, but it should allow some cool behaviors.

You can see that modifiers are going to add explosive flavor to the modular system, which is the next step now that we have built the base system. I’m happy to have introduced several today, and to begin brainstorming more things we can have them do. Now that you have a comprehensive idea of how they work, and how the modular system works, I would invite you to brainstorm with me! What other ways can we manipulate the base behavior? I’m always looking for new ideas, because now the modular system gives me lots to work with.

Bleh.

I couldn’t resist. It was happening sooner or later.

Let’s also cover this up. We don’t need this area anymore, and it looks rather ugly.

Much better; we’ll add a new entrance later. After all, this now means our only access points to the control floor are from one side of the SRF (Tetraquin Station) and the tangent floor. We’ll need another access point.

We’re going to finally build that furnace room I’ve been just dying to see. It will be on the SRF control floor, next to the transport pods.

A total of eight furnaces, there is a series of functions that needs to take place in order for the Compressor to work as intended. First, the minecart needs to enter the area and disperse only smeltable items across the furnaces. It must remain here until it has been emptied, only at which point will it return to the Compressor to collect a new batch.

To start, we need a layer of hoppers to do the sorting of items. This is designed akin to other item sorters.

We also need an output wire to send feedback into the MISC. Recall that we’ll be linking the furnace room to the modular system so that it can automate other components within the base. To activate, we’ll have the bottom layer of hoppers send output to a single line, which will head back to the MISC.

Though, I realize this is unnecessary. We can actually install repeaters off the back of the comparators above, which will power upon receiving input from more than 22 items (i.e. new items from the Compressor). This is how the item 'sorter' functions anyway.

The minecart will run back and forth across the tops of the hoppers. But we need to first get it here.

Moving about the SRF is a challenging task, because everything is so tightly fit. Even here, the sugar cane farm access room has now become an access room for the rail track (and effectively the furnace room + compressor) as well. You’ll also notice that I’m trying not to place tracks above existing blocks, instead placing them on stone bricks. This is for safety – if we break blocks from inside the SRF or decide to change blocks down the road, I don’t want to be destroying important (and difficult to access/replace) redstone devices.

In several instances, I’ve had to move the location of levers that I use to power the rails, because they inadvertently are powering other mechanisms in the SRF!

Back at the Compressor, we install a mechanic which will keep the track unpowered until the hoppers have finished inputting the current batch of items. We accomplish this by installing two comparators on the last hopper. By default, we need the rail unpowered until the last hopper is empty. But if it’s sitting idle, then it is always empty! How do we keep it unpowered? We utilize a locked repeater, which has a three-tick delay. In this way, once the hopper is powered, it will then have two ticks to power the rail after it is emptied.

Upon getting it here, we now need to install a mechanism that keeps it running back and forth atop the hoppers until it is emptied. How do we accomplish this? We apply the same mechanism that we used to build the STAS stations, albeit with some slight changes.

Here, the minecart will send input to an RS (NOR) latch upon passing the detector rail. This will pull the rail back, push the block down, and power the powered rail in front:

The minecart will then move back and forth and disperse all the items across the furnaces.

To get it out, we need to utilize a lesser-known mechanic: when a chest minecart rolls across a detector rail, it can then be detected by a comparator (otherwise it cannot).

Each time it rolls over, the comparator will power, keeping the RS (NOR) latch from resetting. This is because we have two inputs from the detector rail – both power an AND gate. The latch will only reset once the minecart is emptied.

Once it does, I put this much delay on it so that the latch will not reset when the minecart passes over the rail again. If you have power going into the output side of the latch, then it will not change state.

After some trial and error, notably on the timing of the repeaters and such, I have found the setup to work beautifully. But now, we need to sort the items.

I’ll need to find some gold ore for this.

At first, I though I could have multiple items per hopper (iron, gold, netherrack, sand) to increase the speed of the system. But this won’t work because hoppers will take the first item in its slot upon receiving more than 22 items. So, we have to sort them individually. I’ll be interested to see if this affects the efficiency when I’m bringing back five stacks of iron ore to smelt. Currently, I have two furnaces for iron, two for gold, three for sand, and one that will take anything.

Here, we have the storage drop-off area for items from the Compressor. Think of this as the essentials room for the SRF.

We’ll set up a track-switcher which will move two tracks and allow the minecart to take two separate destinations. I’ve hooked this up to the ‘Target destination’ switch in the Compressor, this time going over top the SRF rather than around.

To have the minecart automatically sent back, we install a simple unit which immediately depowers the rail upon detection and powers it upon emptying.

I mean, we might as well complete the entire control floor aesthetics while we’re at it. We have the blocks to do it now.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

I don’t like the empty feel of the main transport area. Let’s fix it up a bit.

I never thought that the combination of quartz, stone, and concrete would work here, but I’d say it does fairly well!

The rest of the halls are a bit challenging, and I want the roofs high enough such that I can jump down the stairs without bumping my head.

^ Modular farms will be going back there soon.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Beautiful, and coupled with the tangent floor, we’ve got a wondrous canvas to continue expansion of the modular system. Both floors will be working together to accomplish this. And yes, everything is lit well enough. Next thing we need to do is compose a few additional links in the MISC with our new furnace room.

I am composing two new links denoted as 5A and 6A: furnace room > SRF farms and furnace room > transport pods, respectively.

Thinking ahead, I’ll install an array of new lines here, two of which will function as our furnace room links.

Additionally, I’m now considering having every tangent line input in the 1s place, rather than being all over, since that will reduce the likelihood of conflicts and simplify the linking process. I’ll think on that by installing the furnace room line here. I moved the fourth ‘output’ line to the 64s place value.

Slime frenzy!

I’ll go ahead and tear down the tree farm for testing purposes; I need more wood anyway.

There is still a lot of work to do on the Compressor. One main feature we need to install is its actual modifying feature, which is that when items are being sorted, the Compressor will ‘compress’ links by combining two or more links together. This is not one of the six switches we have been working on; this is an actual function, the principal one at that.

We cannot install this until we install both the multi-link and the ‘save/reset’ features in the MISC, but we can get an idea of how to do both. We need a second set of registers down below. Currently plugged into the Compressor, this set will hold all current links whilst new ones are made. Now, we just need a way to hold the new links and get them through the register without resetting the old ones. This is the basis for multi-link, but it’s more work than we can do today.

I’m happy with where we’re at. Though the Compressor’s current functionality as a modifier is limited, its function as an item sorter/smelter is effectively complete and working great. For reference, here’s a list of things we need to complete on both projects:

• MISC multi-link – ability to link two inputs to one output, such as having the furnace room automate both the SRF farms and transport pods
• MISC save/reset links – a new set of registers or another way of toggling them that lets us choose whether we want to save the current links (add onto them) or reset them. Currently, the MISC only resets links.
• Compressor link compression – taking current links and combining them together, effectively making one large link. You can see why we need both MISC features to build this. If you make two links and want to combine them, activate the Compressor, then build the links while it is compressing. The result will be one large link. You’ll be able to link everything together this way.
• Compressor timers – still need to finish the hopper timers and get them to reset upon the minecart returning.
• Compressor ‘amplitude’ – an analog wire which will determine the strength of the Compressor’s actions. Not sure how to implement just yet.
• Compressor ‘type’ – still need to figure out how to separate smeltable from non-smeltable items in a toggleable fashion. Currently, the furnaces only accept iron, gold, sand, and netherrack, with everything else going into the eight furnace. We need to get them back to the storage drop-off.
• Compressor ‘automate generator input’ – basically doing the work for us, creating temporary links in the MISC, compressing them, then resetting upon completion. Simply to install actually, but we need the other stuff first.

So yeah, I wasn’t exaggerating when I said the Compressor would be a powerful modifier. It’s going to be what lets us combine everything in the base if we want. But for now, let’s enjoy what we have done, and take a damn break.

I think it’s time we bring Violet into the base. She’s been hiding out at the Tropic Fortress for quite some time.

“Hello, Violet, how are you doing?”

“It’s quiet and cold,” she states.

“Not back at Starlight HQ.”

“What? You want to bring me back to that place? Where the prophecy is fulfilled?” my eyebrows raise just slightly.

“What do you mean?”

“The vision… I see a treehouse… and then it explodes.”

“Oh? That’s not in the books, rest assured,” though for me, I am just a slight bit concerned. There is no way that she could know about Starlight Treehouse, for I only just built it.

“What is the truth behind what you see? You are keeping something from me,” I demand to know.

“You are unfit. The gods tell me you are unfit for your goal,” she suspects.

“The gods talk to you?” Violet is beginning to raise my suspicions. She is no ordinary villager. She is a messenger. And I must know what she is to say.

“Perhaps you don’t understand,” I suggest. “Maybe there is a treehouse. And maybe I have something that can blow it up…”

I motion to reveal my friend, Sparky, which I recently captured just north of here, near Emerald Hills. I have my cat well trained to keep him off me, but not her.

“Oh no! Get it away from me!” Violet is afraid. She has clearly seen Sparky before.

“Tell me the whole truth or I will put you in the treehouse with Sparky and blow the hell out of it. Maybe your vision includes that part.” If her vision is true, then she does not tell me the truth, which means I will keep my word. But I have a safe feeling she will concede.

“Okay, okay…” I was right. “The gods don’t speak to me, not directly. Something was given to me.”

Violet presents a sparkling ender chest, which I have never before seen. I motion to peek inside, but she does not allow me that luxury.

“You must not,” she says.

“Who gave you this? How did you acquire such a forbidden object??” I have only read about ender chests.

“It was given to me by Enderquin, god of the sky. But he is no angel. He promises a day of reckoning upon Quintropolis, upon you.” I would be lying if I said I didn’t shiver just slightly at her comment. The prospect of Enderquin following me, knowing my every move, anticipating my responses – it’s a bit frightening.

“Grant me access. I told you that I can defeat him. I have already solved the mystery of the endermen.” Violet’s eyes light up. She has read the mystery before.

“You have visited the portal,” she concludes. Deductively, then, I conclude she also knows where it lies.

“I did not understand for what purpose it exists. But now, it is clear. Shall I take you to it?”

“No,” she hastily responds. “I cannot know where it lies. Your knowledge of it may very well be your downfall,” she assumes. “But, you are a strange, foolish, brave warrior. If Enderquin is to be defeated, perhaps you are the only one who can do it,” and I was beginning to think Violet was on Enderquin’s side. She is more terrified than I am, which is likely because she knows more than me. She still hasn’t shown me the truth.

“Help me defeat him, Violet, and prevent his siege upon Quintropolis. You think you have a vision, but it may very well be a threat. Like the threat I just made to you.”

Violet contemplates. She wants to help, but maybe she is afraid that Enderquin is watching. But I know that Enderquin can only see through the eyes of the endermen, and there are none here now. I won’t tell her that, because her fear is getting me answers. I’ll selfishly capitalize on that.

“Prove that you can connect heaven and hell, and I’ll give you the chest,” she finally responds.

Well that’s remarkably convenient timing. I’m about out of gold anyway.

A long time ago, in an era older than this one, we managed to successfully bust a whole in the bedrock layer of the Nether:

We’ve kept this staircase ever since, as a way to access the roof should we ever need to. It’s a good thing we did this before the gods decided to restrict exploitation of that ability using their dark oak trees, because today, we’re actually going up there.

I’d say that our gold farm is long overdue. Though, I’ve acknowledged that everything in Quintropolis is often overdue, because I spend so much time on such auxiliary projects as Starlight Arcade and the modular computer whilst not bothering to improve our actual resource haul. Notice I said “auxiliary” as opposed to “arbitrary” – these projects will significantly improve our efficiency, but how can we be efficient without resources to start with? As part of the “break” from these modular constructions, we’re going to focus on exactly that: hauling resources. Lots of them.

This means we’re going to make a very big farm. Big in terms of its size, not in terms of its redstone complexity. In fact, our gold farm will contain no redstone at all. Now isn’t that something?

Ilmango first designed this farm, and I think it’s a perfect concept for what we want to accomplish. I specifically want it to function as an XP farm, because I believe it will far outperform the Blaze Blaster as the fastest XP farm in the world. Oh, speaking of which…

Yeah, we’re just going to turn this back on. It’s been off since Session 223 because I couldn’t get the lights to completely keep blaze from spawning. But blaze are not even going to spawn unless we’re close enough to the farm. It’s pointless not to use the farm because of that. I want my damn blaster back.

I miss this. Those of you wondering why this farm works given the new entity cramming rule can look back at Session 217 – we bend all the rules there.

Though, it’s actually not fast anymore, something that we’ll need to address later. Before, we could easily get thirty levels after 15 minutes. Today, after 20 minutes, we got all the spawns, but only 24 levels. That’s because the minecarts are not keeping up with the blaze. Thankfully, I believe working on STAS has provided a solution: we can design a new block brakes system (or “mini subway”) inside here such that we can add four or five minecarts. That’s theoretical right now – we’re going to work on this later.

Today, for the Gold Grinder (as we’ll go ahead and call it), we are going to take advantage of the entity cramming rule. Because we want instant death. Here are the materials we need for this farm:

Told you we needed the iron farm first. I’m about to use almost all of it on these damn anvils. And iron golems. I’ll show you why later.

We’re starting on y-level 238, with the hoppers placed on 239. This is important because our AFK spot will be at y-242, which is the height necessary such that all mobs directly underneath the Nether will de-spawn immediately and free the mob cap. We want every possible mob spawning in this farm. Having it built just one y-level off could significantly reduce the rates. So, a word of caution, if you are building this farm design, do not underscore the importance of this.

First, we’re installing a total of 24 minecarts, because that’s the limit. The pigmen will fall into here and die from cramming. Their drops will funnel into a hopper minecart, and then into a storage system we’ll need to setup.

We have to “press” a block into the minecart so that we can place the other minecarts on top of a rail.

The anvils are necessary because of their block width – they are less than one block wide, meaning that more pigmen are able to squeeze into the space at a time. This is an efficiency trick – you don’t need them, but they will improve the rates quite a bit. Other people claim to use cobblestone walls instead – I have not tried this myself, but the anvils are also good because I can bring plenty of stuff with me to repair and do it right here.

When I placed the AFK spot and realized that I was at y-241, I was not very thrilled. I built this entire holding area one block too low.

This meant I had to move everything up, which is a pain since the anvils and minecarts are all affected by gravity. I’ll have to completely start over.

Yeah, this is a bit of a mess, but it will be worthwhile.

You had to see that coming.

Several minecarts are missing; I wonder if some flew so far out that finding them would be near impossible. This means I’ll need to get back to HQ to make more.

Only one area was missing a minecart, and the only way to find out? Stand inside, barely.

The completed holding area features gold carpet to prevent spawns. You’ll AFK on the trapdoor and let the XP drown you, theoretically.

Now for the platform party!

We’re building some large-scale platforms here, which must be filled with glass and lit up every four blocks to prevent zombie reinforcements from spawning.

Look at how many pigmen are already spawning. This is a good sign!

Yikes, I think I’ll need to prepare some invisibility potions to take care of these ghasts.

Ha, you can’t see me now!

So. Many. Pigmen.

Lighting up the platform, I’ll now need to repeat the process three more times, since we want three additional spawning platforms.

I am using stone slabs because that’s the one block of which I have the largest quantity. Getting the glass required me to take another trip to the mesa/desert/savannah utopia that we’ve been constructed a new highway to.

Four platforms complete, but we still need to keep the ghasts from spawning on top.

These glass arrays should do it!

…but this is a bit more embarrassing.

We’re going to install some iron golems on the edges here to lure magma cubes off it. This way, they won’t be so inclined to kill me.

Then, we need three pigmen named at each corner to be designated as “alarm” pigmen; they will alert the others that I am the enemy so that they continue attacking. Without them, the pigmen will stop being aggressive after one wave or so.

I’m installing a total of sixteen golems (eight for the first two platforms, and eight on top, four on each cardinal direction, four on each diagonal). Eye contact is important for the magma cubes to follow.

Alright, it’s time for a test run. First, we need to put some storage in place.

I’ll place some storage chests for now, though we’ll need a fully-fledged storage system later.

Here we go! One snowball is all it takes.

Okay, this farm was never going to be in competition with the Blaze Blaster. I just got thirty levels in thirty seconds.

And fifteen minutes later…

100 levels! This farm is absolutely insane. Now let’s take a look at what we got.

So much gold. And I’m seeing quite a lot of gold swords that we could smelt to get gold nuggets. We won’t go through all that now, but in our storage unit, we’ll need to sort out everything except gold swords so that we can smelt them.

And in fifteen minutes I got over half a stack of gold blocks. That’s ridiculous. And awesome.

For the levels, I haven’t even begun to think about what I want to do. I have lots of tools and armor sets that need to be completed, but let’s start with some books.

I’m improving my leather armor sets in the Aqua Lounge to be more suited for underwater travel (that’s putting Depth Strider III, Respiration III, and Aqua Affinity on all three sets).

Downside right now is the storage. We get so much stuff; I need to empty all chests manually to prepare for the next round. This time, I’m going to leave the farm run AFK and see how it does on its own.

I came back about forty minutes later to see that I was slain by a magma cube. But how?? Let me run it AFK again, once I go through all the gold.

Second haul:

After the third run, I notice the same result: my death by magma cube. I seem to die when I get around 130 levels, which is interesting timing. For the fourth run, I’ll watch and wait to see what’s going on.

Hmm, upon returning to the Gold Grinder, I see that several golems have fallen to the floor. This is not a good sign – it means the magma cubes are stirring up a frenzy. The lack of golems would then explain why a cube would make its way to my safe spot. But can it get inside?

Indeed, a large magma cube can jump a whopping four blocks high! But I thought I prevented the large magma cubes from spawning just like ghasts. That’s when I did some reading.

As it turns out, large magma cubes only need 2.5 blocks vertically to spawn! And since we’re using stone slabs, this means they are able to spawn. It’s therefore quite likely that the golems would have stayed put if large magma cubes were not spawning.

This means that we need to slab the entire bottom half of every platform. The top is already taken care of thanks to the glass stoppers.

I certainly could just slab it the same way I did the glass stoppers, but I’m a bit OCD about the aesthetics. I’d prefer it all look smooth and complete. So I’ll just take the time to place all the blocks.

I also need to install several more golems – twelve new ones, to be exact. Only four survived after that last run. What a waste of iron.

Whoa, these guys took me by surprise! Why did they start chasing me?

^ Apparently, this golem was targeting a pigman and wouldn’t let me push him onto the platform. The pigman was thus struck and fell to the bottom, causing this:

This angered the other pigmen of course, even though I didn’t have direct contact with the pigman. Still got the XP.

In either case, I am fine, and so it is time to restart the farm and try a new one, hopefully this time with no large magma cubes! They really caused some havoc on the system.

One hour and 154 levels later, things seem to be going okay. But we really need to do something about that storage.

I’ve got so much gold now, it’s not even funny. What are we going to do with it? Well, I know the first order of business.

I want all my iron back.

We’ve been spending some time in the Nether recently, not just now but also as we’ve been exploring and building a new highway to the mesa utopia we found just a few sessions ago. And you know what’s been missing in the Starlight? A proper storage room for all Nether-related blocks!

So far, I’ve just been storing them up here beneath Starlight Room. This was the very original Nether storage area from Season 1, but since the storage migration in Season 2, it has become completely obsolete and unfitting. Besides, it doesn’t even account for all Nether blocks – I’d actually like to eradicate this hall completely.

Where should Nether storage go? Easy: the Nether Temple. As one of my favorite build projects from Season 2, I’m happy to build upon it now. Why do you think we built these empty atriums? Well, now we have development possibilities.

I’m going to introduce a new block to Starlight HQ: red Nether brick. It’s not a block I have ever crafted or used before, but I think it will be a lovely addition to the temple. Over time, we may even renovate parts of the temple to adopt this new look.

The storage room will be a 9x9 square, featuring the same lightning techniques that we have been using across the temple: fire and lava.

Some braziers will coat the entrance stairwell, and I’ll use red Nether brick to accentuate the look.

Outside, I need to make some adjustments to the orchard to compensate the room that the storage room takes up.

The fire in the center may change yet, but overall I’m loving the lava floor that characterizes the rest of the temple. It lights up the room beautifully. Now let’s take a look at what we’re going to store.

On the left, we’ll house all Nether brick items – stairs, fences, slabs, and Nether brick items that we get from smelting netherrack. All netherrack will fill the chests on the right. The center section holds the various Nether blocks: red Nether brick, soul sand, magma blocks, nether wart blocks (also a new block in the world), quartz, and glowstone.

Very satisfied with the storage room, and it’s great to finally have a permanent place to store such items as glowstone and quartz. Though we do have a quartz storage section in the SRF, I like keeping it together with other Nether blocks – that way, I can drop everything off here after a Nether mining adventure.

Let’s get back to the Gold Grinder.

We’ve got the storage situation to fix today, because we cannot use this farm and go through this mess every round.

To amend this problem, we are going to sort out all nuggets, ingots, and rotten flesh to be stored. The remaining gold swords will go directly into a furnace to smelt, where they will become additional gold nuggets.

Building this takes a little time since we have to build downwards, but overall it’s a simple item sorter. I’m filling the hoppers with their appropriate items, and only upon receiving a 23^rd item will the hopper beneath take items.

I must also remember to slab everything, because we cannot have any spawns down here. Though, I must also acknowledge that some of these spaces will provoke the spawning mechanism, as the game may attempt to spawn down here, slowing down the rates of the farm. We will test that most assuredly.

I’m stocking the hell out of the furnaces as well – we may not require this much coal right now, but I have too much in HQ. Let’s put some here.

^ You can see the completed storage sorting units, one on each side. This should prove to be massively efficient keeping up with the intake that this farm provides, and it will make gathering the loot so much easier. Let’s go for a test run.

XP DROWNING LAG! Entity count over 1200! Holy ****.

It’s incredible. We’re going to do some enchanting. Fishing poles.

Then we’ll do all the remaining sets of diamond armor in the Hall of Armor.

What a crazy farm. Again, I am not sure why I underestimated it, considering that the Blaze Blaster would be any match for it. Perhaps it is because I am used to going slow, playing at the slowest pace possible, exercising patience for my rewards, that the idea of gold becoming a mass-produced block is uncanny to me. Yet, it is now the reality in Starlight HQ. It is exactly this level of production that will be necessary to propel the base into a new industrial revolution. If only my iron farm was this fast.

The Gold Grinder is finished as the third stage of the Tetraquin Project, of which each stage is a precursor for the next. Recall that the goal of the Tetraquin Project is to fulfill the aforementioned ambitions – to turn Starlight HQ into a resource hub. If you’re paying attention, then you may know exactly why this has been its primary objective over the course of the season thus far.

With that in mind, we’re going to start constructing a second large-scale farm, though we will be unable to get very far today.

You know, it would be nice if we could find a way to farm ghasts. In fact, there is such a way.

I’ve built this platform roughly 128 blocks away from the Gold Grinder, equidistant from the entrance point on the Nether roof. This makes it within the constructs of the Nether Hub, allowing us to choose which of the two farms we will use.

There are a few ways to farm ghasts, though none that we will be exercising today. As with any scientific process, the first step is observation. That’s what we’re going to do today: observe the ghast spawning behavior.

I am building a ghast defense above the platform because it is necessary, just in case we get in a firefight.

In fact, the ghast spawning rates are surprisingly high. The pigmen on the ground have a tendency to de-spawn quickly upon spawning, leaving room for the ghasts to make their presence known.

And they do that quite well! I’ve had a fiery time up here deflecting ghast fireballs for days. All part of the observation for the massive farm we’re going to build later.

^ This, however, is not part of the intended observation. Go away, please.

I’ve gone ahead and restarted the minecart on the Blaze Blaster, mostly because I am looking for where we need to improve. It’s possible that rebuilding the Blaze Blaster will occur, and this would only be the fourth or fifth time we have done so. With every new iteration of Starlight HQ, it seems that the Blaze Blaster has been destroyed and rebuilt. I’m hoping that won’t be necessary here.

It looks like we can improve the rates by installing a couple STAS-like stops that allow me to put at least four minecarts on the track, which would move the blaze more quickly.

I won’t be working on this today, however. Again: observation.

Ending this session, we are going to get some more work done on highway Q1 to the mesa/desert/savannah utopia. I’ve noticed that some projects are best constructed in pieces rather than all at once – this highway is among them. We’ve been doing bits and pieces on it since Session 240, and it’s coming along great.

And to think I thought the fireball frenzy was over. Far from it! At least the highway is better built now.

I’m all out of packed ice and andesite – two materials which will require a bit of a journey to acquire. We’ll save that for another day.

For now, we have made some good progress.

^ I’m also going to rename these. These may be terminals one and zero, but they don’t tell use about the destinations. As with real highways, you would want to know where you’re going. So let’s rebrand.

Indeed, now you can either take Q0 to Stonewall or Q1 to Utopia – a name that seems most fitting for the new vastly diverse land we have found.

With that, it’s time we bring Violet into the equation. She has been waiting to see this.

Hi there. I’m just chillin’.

The Gold Grinder has become the most powerful farm in this world, and rightly so. It’s going to be so good showing this to Violet. But how exactly do we accomplish that?

Basically, none of the storage is intended to stay here for long. When I finish a round at the Gold Grinder, I want to take everything, process it into gold ingots or blocks, and then bring it back to HQ, effectively emptying the storage chests (they aren’t likely to fill up after one single session).

To accomplish this, we need a quick exit point from the Gold Grinder. And I know exactly where that will be.

Starlight Treehouse is far enough away from the Nether Temple such that it could feasibly become the second point in HQ to receive a Nether connection. Indeed, with this to become Violet’s home, this is how we will keep our end of the deal.

The third floor will have some specific features dedicated to the Gold Grinder. Things like gold storage and enchanting rooms – I don’t want those in the Nether; I want them here in HQ.

Like the rest of the treehouse, the third floor will be a network of branches.

^ And this will be the enchanting room. After a round at the Gold Grinder, you’ll exit through the portal and enchant here.

^ Next, I’d like the option to drop all the gold loot off to the SRF. To do this, we’ll install a hopper here, so that items can be dropped down from here:

Perhaps I’ll need to add a tube of some sort (maybe a small tree with a hollow center?) to keep the items perfectly aligned, but this will work just well I think. Later, we can install an option to automatically send the transport pod on its way to the SRF.

The third floor is coming along great.

Variations in height are important to maintain the natural look of the treehouse. That’s why the other side of this floor is anything but flat.

Up top here is going to be the gold storage room. If I don’t need to drop items off, I’ll just store all the gold here.

You can see the shape of the branch a bit better from down here.

I’m hiding all the glowstone of course, but later we’ll need to go back and cover the exterior a bit better. For now, though, this looks good for the enchanting room.

Next, as always, we have to cover up the branches. This is always the more difficult segment.

I typically start with a log-based foundation to coat the branch before building it up from there.

Here, you can see that I’ve accidentally covered up this daylight sensor. We’ll need to amend that.

We’re so high up that the sunrise can be seen… before sunrise.

The branch is looking a lot better than I expected, but to be honest it’s difficult to anticipate exactly how this will look until it’s done. That’s why it takes a while to build.

Still needs work on the outside, but the inside looks great.

Now let’s work our way to the other side.

Ugh, I’m done with this rain! Now that we have the third floor, we should go ahead and cover up the second.

Using the roof from the Nether portal and building downwards, I’ve secured a fairly coherent-looking roof that is appropriate for the intended aesthetic.

The abundance of log supports makes it feel more like a treehouse, I think.

Like before, I’m building a log base, but this time with dark oak logs. They have a more ancient look to them, which is what I like for this narrower branch.

Hiding the glowstone is easy with this one, so I’ll just build downwards and see how this goes.

I’m exercising some different aesthetic choices here that are somewhat spur-of-the-moment. I figure we can expose some of this branch to the open sky.

As such, the branch is half-covered and half-exposed, but I think it looks good either way. However, see those leaves on the floor? That is where the daylight sensor is that we covered up. However, leaves actually don’t do the trick, so I needed to replace them with fences instead.

The completed branch, looking very clean for a treehouse.

Overall, the third floor looks great, perfectly prepared for the initiation of our new Nether connection! But wait… there’s still one more important feature I want to add…

A moonroof!

This moonroof design is interesting because it is very observer-based. And it’s incredibly simple.

Above, you see the full build – no redstone circuitry whatsoever. It’s incredible how far that redstone mechanics have come. You could probably build the whole door just from looking at the photo above.

And it works like a charm!

The third floor is done, and Starlight Treehouse is now fully sealed (not completed, I chose my words wisely there). This means it is now hospitable for Violet’s home.

I’ll complete the STAS red line that gets her here.

“Violet.”

“Yes, Joey?”

“I made you a promise. I hope you keep your end of the deal.”

We’re here.

Welcome to your new home!

“My oh my… it’s beautiful! This isn’t what I saw in my vision at all!” she exclaims, so genuinely surprised that it haunts me. What did she see instead?

“This is the map room. It shows all the lands of Quintropolis that I’ve mapped so far.”

“Wow, you’ve done a lot of exploring. You must know your way around,” she figures. She has no idea.

“And this, my dear Violet, is the proof you asked for.”

“What is this obsidian gateway?”

“This is a portal to the dimension you refer to as hell, but in fact is rightly called the Nether. A land of hellish beings and brimstone.”

“Interesting. I saw that in my vision, too…”

“Liking the view of Starlight Castle, no? Does this place ring any bells for you?” I ask, but I already know the answer. I did not forget the unsettling story she told of Enderquin’s reckoning.

“I’ve never seen it like this. It looks… beautiful.” I’m thrilled.

“Violet, it’s time to see the truth, and frankly to discover it for myself.”

On the other side, I’ll build the exit portal at the base of the Gold Grinder.

And voila! I have made it to Starlight Treehouse! If I go back through, I should end up at the Nether Hub.

Indeed, the portal is one-way. I cannot enter the Gold Grinder from here, but I can exit from here. That’s the important part, anyway.

“Now Violet, I won’t bring you through, for your safety, but…”

“I’ve seen enough,” she is quick to claim.

“So, what do you believe?”

“I believe you will know what to do with this,” she says as she presents her ender chest of relics. I consider a moment before opening it.

Well, there’s a lot to process here.

“Thank you, Violet, for your help. But just in case you get cold feet and try to escape…”

“For your own good.”

We now have the gold that we need to finish STAS. This would be most appropriate today, considering that I’d like to have at least one project at HQ finished before diving into the chest of Enderquin’s relics.

Completing the subway isn’t difficult, and I’m going to maintain a rather conservative list of guidelines for today. I don’t want to feel as though I have to finish everything. However, STAS has consistently been the one new upgrade that I’ve been excited to use. By the end of this session, I’d like to be using it.

We are going to ideally fill as much of the track with powered rails as possible to keep it running at max speed. This would be considered a waste of gold, except that the concept of rarity no longer applies to gold. So splurge it is.

These corners have to be dug out, because otherwise we will be slowed down quite a bit.

Here, you can see the blue line running to and from Redstone Station. It’s almost faster to dash across the SRF on foot… but it isn’t. This way we can get to the outback quickly.

Finishing Starlight Station, I add segments of three powered rails to propel the carts around the bend. This is the end of both lines anyway.

One important component that we need to add is a second detector rail at each station that ‘pushes’ the next minecart forward. You’ll recall that we already have a detector rail to stop the incoming minecart. That rail intentionally blocks the outgoing rail. However, because we’re going to set up minecarts at every station, we’ll need a way to automatically send them off before arrival.

This is easy to install at Starlight Station, because I just need to hook up the detector rails to the full mechanism right here. With these detector rails, it doesn’t matter how far away I am from the station – we just need to make sure that the minecart at that station is gone by the time I get there.

Things get a bit tight up at Starlight Treehouse Station, but the timing actually works perfectly. If the detector rails were just block closer, then the piston sequence would mess up, breaking all the rails at the station.

^ see above at Tangent Station.

Wow, I didn’t realize STAS was so close to all these lines of redstone. I should be more used to that by now, with Starlight HQ being a computer and everything…

Very interesting, but I got the timing right with this.

^ That’s a bit strange, no? Another version of what happens when the timing between the two detector rails is off. The cart dances a bit – not intended behavior.

From Redstone Station to Outback Station, I need to put the detector rail on the incline because there isn’t enough room in the station. This works well enough in fact.

At first, I attempted to have one detector rail activate both STAS terminals at Tetraquin Station. However, the issue with this is the fact that, unless every station is activated at the same time (which is possible, but not practical because we would have to run long redstone lines across the base, again), we could potentially pile up two minecarts at Redstone Station, throwing the system off.

With the mechanics working, I’d say it’s time for a test run.

Works great! Doesn’t look good, though – we still need to complete all the aesthetics! For example:

That isn’t very attractive. Let’s fix it.

Though fixing this is tricky due to space restraints, I’ve done my best here:

It’s not so bad.

Fixing up the rest of the tunnels, I’m really just replacing the stone with stone brick. Not hard, but it sure takes a while given we are dealing with thousands of blocks here.

Oops, I have been a little reckless. Thankfully, nobody destroyed my hard work.

The vertical tunnels at Tetraquin Station present a unique aesthetic challenge.

Wow, look at the gang! Too bad they can’t swim very well.

Okay, now I will present to you STAS, from start to finish, completed in all its glory. Let’s go for a ride!

Starlight Station:

RED line – to Tangent Station:

to Starlight Treehouse Station:

Starlight Treehouse Station:

SOUTHBOUND back to Tangent Station:

And back to Starlight Station:

BLUE line – to/from Tetraquin Station:

Redstone Station:

To Outback Station:

^ The build-up I was talking about. It's what happens when timing between the two rails is off. My testing quickly fixed that. Black glass keeps you from running through the tunnels. They aren’t meant for pedestrians!

I am immensely thrilled at the completion of STAS. It’s an incredible addition to the base that was rightly needed at a time when development is peaking in more ways than one. If you notice, STAS is the first completed major project of Season 3 here at Starlight HQ. We’re finally checking things off the list as we slowly unravel the truth about Enderquin.

So it is true – the land of Enderquin lies directly on the other side of the exotic portal we found way back when, underneath the Megapolis Canals. Enderquin promises a battle is waiting for me, and Violet warned me about it, too. The question then becomes how to prepare for it.

I’ve stockpiled potions and things that I think will be useful. Again, I am unsure exactly what to expect, but this is a god we’re talking about – the battle will likely not be without bloodshed. So then, how shall we get to the realm? The relics made it clear – we need the eyes of ender, which Violet has provided us.

It’s been a while since I was last here at the Megapolis Canals. Let’s take a look at the portal.

It’s a barren landscape, and I think it’s appropriate we find a way to turn it into something more. Indeed, if we’re about to fight a god – one that has consistently been teasing us over the last few years – then we need ample preparations. We need to form a base here.

^ Here is a view of the crater from the mountain.

^ And here is a view of the mountain from the crater. Both parts will work together to form a new base, one that we barely started last season: Enderquin HQ.

The base will be built up of these two principal parts: Quinone Castle (the mountain), and Skyland (the crater).

I am digging out the area for Q5, which will take us from the Nether Hub to Enderquin HQ. This is barely 100 blocks away, at the Nether fortress.

Skyland will be our first priority – we need to center a structure around the portal to help us visualize and observe it. After all, who knows how it might behave?

I am building a temporary staircase up to about y:100; this will serve as the base for Skyland’s ring-like architecture.

For this construction, I am not messing around with cheap materials. This build requires a lot of resources from Starlight HQ, which makes it an auxiliary construction. For now, that is fine – but we want to have Enderquin HQ producing its own massive haul of resources independent of Starlight. Eventually.

Quartz and iron are the principal building materials for the Skyland inner ring, which will be surrounded by – you guessed it – an outer ring!

I’ll still need to work on the walls and what not (I’m going for a torus-like shape), but this will do for now. We don’t have nearly enough quartz at the moment.

Looking good for a start, but now we need to begin building the supports.

I’ve started a nether wart farm inside the mountain to help us produce red nether brick – this will be an important resource for the supports.

These are the karma ducts, of which there will be three “holding up” Skyland twenty blocks outwards on each side except one.

Built primarily of red nether brick and purple stained glass, they certainly have an unorthodox look, but I think it blends well with the quartz.

You’re no doubt wondering what the hell is supposed to go inside? After all, I’m building the floor of slime blocks for a reason.

Ever since I first cleared the ocean monument at Stonewall way back in Session 203, you may recall that I never killed the three elder guardians. They have been sitting in the Nether at the end of a long tunnel for the past three years, waiting for their purpose.

I didn’t know exactly what I would do with them then, but ideas quickly formulated to have them serve as a mechanism for luck. The purpose of visiting Skyland is to observe and jump into the portal to Enderquin. For most purposes, it’s a short visit. So, during that short visit, will you be cursed by the karma ducts or not? You may not even know until after you’ve jumped… and that’s the point.

To get the guardians to Skyland, we need to make some changes. First, I’ll build a Nether portal above the Enderquin HQ portal which corresponds to the portal I just built inside the first karma duct.

Next, I need a railway to travel from the elder guardians to this new portal. I’ll utilize Q0 for this, temporarily stretching it across the Nether Hub and up to the portal.

I’m okay leaving it all exposed and such because it’s temporary.

Next, I need to close off the area so that the elder guardians don’t escape.

Finally, from here at the Stonewall portal, they are about thirty blocks below us, and fifty blocks out. We’ll connect them up to Q0 via a spiral rail lift.

^ At the end of the tunnel there, you can see the guardians.

Here is the railway I make for them that connects them to Q0, and ultimately, all the way to the karma duct. Now, let’s say hi.

Hello old enemies, it’s been a few years.

Time to get moving. You’re about to be freer than you realize!

Oof, that was a bad fall! I had better make a backup of Quintropolis right now in case I make a mistake. With how volatile these guys are, a mistake is very possible, and it isn’t something I want to risk – not with how long I have been holding onto these guys.

I ran back to Stonewall to get some health potions after this guardian nearly suffocated to death! Now I need to get him out of that hole without killing him.

Working around this a bit, I underestimated how difficult it would actually be to get them out of the minecart. I nearly killed him several times because he would fall through the hole and suffocate. Though I came prepared with milk to deal with his mining fatigue, it’s a challenge trying to stay prepared for all the possibilities.

Yes! I finally got him through! Only to have him die. The karma duct is too big! He splattered on the 3-wide ledge where the glass panes sit. Rather than be 5x5, I need to make it 3x3 so he cannot die. It’s a good thing I made a backup.

So let’s go again.

I am here remaking the karma ducts, this time at a size most appropriate for the bastards.

It’s appropriate that these new ender crystals be placed above. Hey, if one gets struck by lightning, then we can blame karma.

Looking better, but the challenge of getting all three guardians over remains. Let’s get to it!

I am building a dirt cage to house these guys, and the first one looks promising…

…but in fact, I miscalculated, and he suffocated in the 1x1 hole before I could remove the mining fatigue and save him! Too bad, because I didn’t make another backup after rebuilding all the karma ducts. This is one mistake I will have to live with.

Of course, I made a backup right away, and getting the second guardian inside was no trouble at all – not outside the usual flopping around that he did upon removing him from the minecart. The key is to force the minecart to spin diagonally – otherwise, it will just fall into the 1x1 hole you have to dig underneath it. That’s the only way to get them out of the minecart.

I only have one elder guardian left – let’s try not to kill him!

What a coincidence, and I thought the elder guardian was much stronger! He lets a small little pigman stop him from achieving his hopes and dreams.

I should kill the little guy. But I’m a pacifist by nature.

No!!!!!

Splash him! Splash him! You will not die!

My heart continues racing as I never know how much health he has left. Here is karma playing games with me, because that fire came from a ghast fireball. That wouldn’t have happened had I chosen to cover up the railway. EVEN THOUGH IT IS TEMPORARY!

Alas, after much struggle, I got him into the second karma duct. One remains empty since we only got two of the three guardians over, but honestly – that’s still pretty good given the difficulty. This was not something to which I was looking forward, but it was a fantastic challenge. A perfect start to developing Enderquin HQ.

I distinctly recall the relics telling me to create another Wither, but why? Won’t that set off another alarm across Quintropolis? I have already fulfilled the Secret of Stonewall, so why do I need to make more?

Hmm, “coax a craft spirit besides / The hope which it holds tight.” We need to take away its freedom.

Then it continues, “Find the weakness in which it confides; / Bring its true form to light.” The Withers hate to be confined. During the Battle of Stonewall, I noticed upon trapping the final Wither in an alcove that he tried so desperately to escape. My Smite V sword is much too powerful, and if the Wither cannot escape, then I can successfully defeat the demon by exerting my power over it.

But how can I do that?? Bedrock.

Specifically, a 3-wide formation of bedrock will trap its heads. In theory. Shall we risk testing it? If we fail, we may very well die, and destroy the Nether Hub in the process.

But life is all about risk.

It works! I killed this beast in ten seconds.

…So I made three more and killed them the same way. Suddenly, the Secret of Stonewall seems meaningless. I just farmed four more Withers, easily, extracting from them the Nether stars that grant me gifts from the gods. What is Enderquin trying to tell me? Is it all a hoax?

As I continue following the instructions of the relics, I realize what we are up against. Enderquin knows we’re coming. We need to surprise him. A little combat practice goes a long way.