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Funny enough, that wasn't for insurance in case I forget one. It was mostly because I plan to make my bed a double bed (I usually do). I definitely could have skipped that though, since I'll likely need to shear some sheep for carpet. The shears were more for leaves.

Quote from Zeno410»

I'd have brought more stuff for making stuff and less product. Some sugarcane rather than paper, a stack of diamonds rather than extra tools. Less food, and no stone brick - I'd slap together a shack on arrival and roast up some stone once I was there.

Definitely something I'm guilty of being bad at. I guess I'm too used to building locally and it shows?

The stone bricks were one intentional choice though, despite knowing I could get it later. It'd save on some mining, and they would save on coal (which I'm relatively low on, hence I brought a stack and not blocks). Funny enough, I'm not yet decided on what materials I'll build with, but if I use regular stone at all, it will definitely be as bricks. So I figured they were worth the space they claim.

Quote from Zeno410»

This is to establish a temporary (and perhaps later staging) base for further mapping, right? Now that your trips to mappable areas are so far

Correct, but back when I started the world, I decided I wanted to to make multiple houses in different regions, partly for the variety of it, and partly because my main settlement was never intended to be large (and it's still not, even though it was larger than initially planned), so I wanted to make up for that with more builds.

In other words, I still want to make something relatively nice and not just the bare minimum for function. But yes, it will definitely lean towards simple rather than large, grand, or elaborate. At least, that's the plan. Watch this change knowing me.

Quote from Zeno410»

I have a simple system to set my update size: I have a "format" document with spots for 20 pics. I copy it to each update, and when I start getting to the last picture slot I start thinking about how to end it. I notice this has 18 pics so perhaps our prefs are similar.

That's not a bad way to do it if it works, but I like to remain flexible. Some updates can be longer, and some shorter. This one actually felt shorter but I'd like for it to be a norm. If I make my updates too long, it makes me want to procrastinate on typing them, but I also don't want updates so short they don't tell much progress. See, my updates include what I feel is a sufficient word to picture ratio, but I do lean into pictures a lot at times, so if I base it on picture count, some updates might be short on content or progress rate. So I think "just winging it" has worked for me.

One thing I notice I do vastly different from how you said you do it is not being so far ahead on updates.

Season 3: Episode 2

A lot of places to go... a lot of things to see. I've been playing a lot lately (my replaced graphics card came back and I've been playing more in Gaia for now, but it's been, uh... long term inconclusive) so I'm unusually ahead on updates. Not as far as Zeno, though, but I have a lot to show still.

Without further ado, let's begin our first reference map before setting further on and searching out a place to settle at. I started the map here (just a few further steps away from the prior mentioned bear for my safety).



Oops. Unfortunately, the far West position indicates I'm not on the Westernmost column of maps. It's not really a big deal at all so it's fine, although I was initially trying to make the map below the Southwestern-most map the spot of the map I made here.

This will work, but it means I see pretty much all snow region instead of a mix. Speaking of which...



I really like this blend. You have four things going on and meeting.

There's the taiga forest, which is split into cold and cool regions.

Then there's the oak forest.

Then there's the snow plains.

All four come together here.

While vanilla forests are pretty boring (because I don't say this enough, right?), seeing scenes like this still make me stop and appreciate it at times. Even with the flaws of the current iteration of terrain generation (again, mostly due to the decorators like biomes and the climate region size of them rather than the terrain itself, which is close to perfect for me), it's time like this I can't help bu think "the game really has come a long way".

But I decide to turn and head back North to get this corner above me, and then I'll probably consider East to West sweeps, depending on what the terrain does. I know it's a lot of snowy plains and taigas, with plateaus, and the latter could encourage detours.

I begin heading down the West slope of the plateau I'm on, and this cavern opening at the bottom forces me to take a long way around, and a bit off the map.



There's a White fox there, and while I'm not certain of this, I think i caught a white motion moving downward after this picture (I was focused elsewhere plus turning my view). I hope the fox didn't jump in.



Here's the village to the West I've explored before.



Heading East now, I see the "wall" the once denoted the edge of my map. It's sort of fitting, as I'm now pushing beyond it.





As mentioned, I expect a lot of snowy plains and taigas, especially in the Northern half. I do expect the Eastern edge to give way to some frozen ocean with glaciers though. That was what I found, but I totally missed pictures of it the first pass. I get more the next time though.

On my Westward sweep back, I am greeted to this passage.



If you look at the frozen river to the right of in the two images above, that's where I am returning now. That's how far close my passes are to one another because the render distance is still 32 chunks here (I set it to 24 after this map, especially since performance seems worse than I remember [I mentioned this replacement video card seems inconclusive...]), but maps only chart 8 chunks.

Since I already had the spot ahead charted due to it being where I was to start the map, I now needed to head up the plateau.



I decided to use this water spot to aide me in that.



Unfortunately, it didn't get me up there. A full inventory meant I couldn't break and replace blocks to get up, and I decided it was easier to wander back and find a less steep spot to climb up. I was hoping to finish the map and then find a spot to settle so I could get a chest down and have some spare inventory space back.

Interestingly, the spot I found had this occur...



I had taken food out to eat, and was wondering why a dog was looking at me with a sideways turned head until I realized it.

Of course, this meant I had to feed it. And the one it had with it.



Which resulted in a little one running at me (it's either not pictured, or that's what is under the wolf to the left).

Getting back to the East, here's the frozen ocean full of glaciers I forgot to show above on the first pass.



So when I initially made my trip down this way, which was only done to test the graphics card I had originally sent in, this is where I came through. So I'm expecting my "area of interest" to be almost entirely South, but also a bit West, from this mapped area. So I'll probably head South after this map from the Western side. The area I passed through back then was a continuation of this frozen ocean for a great distance South, but the right (West) of it was non-frozen ocean. My boat will come in handy.

Heading back West, we experience deja vu.



Here's the look back at the forest we just crossed, with the frozen ocean and glaciers just visible in the distance.



And here's the center of our doughnut plateau (again?).



I don't want to get too close to the pillager outpost. And I'd rather not go into a valley and have to climb out unless I [i]have[/i] to, so I try and skirt around the North, despite mostly having been there, to fill in the missing spots on the other side from the top. It works out for me.



Here's another angle of that meeting of four biome/climate combinations.



From the Southern portion of the "doughnut", I look South and get a good overview of that the remaining Southwestern portion of the map will hold. I can see a village in the distance. That would make a good place to end the charting adventure and head South from, I think.



To the East though, there's this.



Again, I think of the way of least resistance and decide to head down and then try and go around to the South 9right) of the other plateau.

I notice a pretty big cavern opening here, and there's some more to come.

This is one of them (might be the same larger one shown before?).



Here's a smaller one, which I am thankful for the fact that it has something slowing the creeper down (I think it doesn't notice me this far anyway, but still).



Going around the plateau wasn't sufficient to map it all, so I had to head up at one spot. I got a majestic picture of this thing at the top in the evening.



And beyond it, during the start of the next day, this lays beyond. A bit more forest, frozen ocean in the distance, and some open frozen rivers. That should be pretty simply to traverse.



Heading back, and almost looking where I was in the picture above, I spot a ruined portal. It must be behind my pickaxe in the above image, but I didn't spot it until I approached it from here.



Unfortunately... I have a full inventory! But this doesn't prove to be a big issue.



I can perfectly take the golden apple and leave it at that. Normally I might otherwise take the obsidian, but it's hardly a big thing to have to skip out on.

Heading back East now, we see the forest opening up into the plains that I expected from what I saw with the village earlier. But the frozen ocean can also be seen extending to the South of here too.



Here's a view to the North, towards the pillager outpost (yes, still visible all this time later) as the sun sets, and another to the West where we're heading.





I still have the area just North of the village to fill in too, and there's some cavern openings in this area.





Quite a bit, actually, and there's even one just North of the village that has claimed part of it.







I sort of remain here for the remainder of the day, and decide it would be best to wait to head out after resting so I have a full day of light ahead. If there's indeed a lot of ocean ahead, then I'd rather not be out on it and waiting to land while it's night.

Yeah, four biomes meeting might not be too rare, especially when the border of climate zones is involved like here, but I still thought it was worth pointing out.

Plateaus are definitely a very regular underlying part of current terrain generation, yes. But it's still far more variety than "all of this specific biome has altitude and elevation like this every time except for the rare M type that is still barely different and just adds mini extreme hills here and there". I don't think I mind the plateaus though, even if they are an obstacle when exploring. That just comes with the territory for me. If you want enough variety on a small scale, you'll have to sacrifice having that and ending up with repetition sooner, and I do explore a lot so it exposes it. I noticed in your world that the terrain seems largely flat or more gradual compared to modern vanilla, which might be why you feel that way. Maybe you prefer it that way and the stark contrast of modern vanilla sticks out in an undesired way.

And yeah, the biomes themselves aren't that large (it's almost like I've been saying this forever, haha). It's the fact that "regions" are a bit large and can sometimes result in a low pool of biomes repeating a lot and appear bigger. And then stuff like Chunk Base doesn't visually differentiate this at a glance so if you just look at it and base your opinion on it, it looks far worse than it is.

I still think the climate zone sizes can be toned down a bit, but I'm fine with both the biome size and the occasional larger "biome repeating as a region" size being able to occur. In old versions, it was almost impossible to really "nest" a location deep without a greater biome or terrain type because biomes were just frequently changing too much on a smaller scale.

Oh, yeah, a little more variety in those would be welcome. You do get gradual transitions, but they seem to be the exception instead of the rule. What gradual transitions there are also tend to be either very gradual, or very steep. That middle ground isn't too common.

I still don't mind the plateaus but I might be biased there. And an upcoming example might be one example of why.

Season 3: Episode 3

I was getting further ahead so here's more updates.

With the start of a new day, it was time to set out. We're heading South.

I anticipate a lot of ocean, but I wasn't expecting the trek through the forest to be that short and to come across it so soon. Not that I minded. Ocean is far easier and faster to travel, after all.





After traveling for some time (maybe a map or so worth?) I started seeing land. And not long after that, higher terrain started emerging from the fog behind it (I love when this happens, and maybe it explains my love for the plateaus).



I noticed there was dark oak, and I don't remember this from my earlier expedition down this way, but I was also heading down from a bit further to the East where the ocean was frozen too. So i started following the shore a bit West, which exposed Zeno's favorite forest. I do think birch forest looks "alright" as far a vanilla goes. The gound just needs to be full of grass, the trees taller, and spread a bit more thin.



Most of the shore was pretty steep, and I wasn't even sure what I was looking for at this point, since I didn't remember how the "new land" down here was when I initially arrived. Maybe just a less steep spot to land?



Looking inland, I then saw some cherry blossom trees.



These were promising, because the are I'm roughly looking for, and the plains I would recognize, had these scattered among them.

I soon found a beach, and made my first steps on the "new" continent (?). Yes, with my winter boots still apparently.



Looking right over the trees, I see a pillager outpost.



Huh? This was unexpected. The one I know of, if this is the area I'm referring to, would be in a plains biome. Is this "forest" more of a thin line of trees? And is this the area I first arrived at the first time?



Yes! Yes, it was. So I knew where I was.

While it's going to take some time to get to it, now the terrain will get real interesting! Just wait...

Now I needed to find a place to settle to serve as my home away from home mapping base of operations. One of many I'd be establishing all over this world if I get my way.

So I started heading South into the plains, avoiding the pillager outpost. Who needs 'em!?



There's a pretty neat and substantial split style cavern opening here where I'm looking. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture of it. I was going to get a short video, but that also got scrapped. I will be doing some initial mapping in a couple updates which covers this area, so it won't be long before you get to see it and I make up for this omission.

I did find a Pink sheep right near it though, and I got that!



You can now see that my marker is no longer on the map I did in the prior update, giving a hint that I've traveled quite far from the rest of my charted area now.

This really is a wonderful spot.



The split opening is right under my crosshair, and yes, it absolutely runs the entire length of the plains shown! Well, sort of. Some of it doesn't formally extend the length shown here but the overall cut into the surface absolutely does.

This is an example of why I love how 1.18 can have greater regions of similar biomes at times. I'd have half a desire to settle here... but that would be too similar to my main settlement, so I won't. But it was at this moment while thinking about the fact that I had to find a place that made me decide I knew where I wanted to. And it wasn't far from here, either. So I turn around and start heading South again.



While the cherry trees are lovely, it's the emerging tree line in the distance over them the signals that what I'm looking for is drawing very near.

We're almost there now...



This is it. This is where I'll make my settlement. And without rivers steeply cutting through high terrain and being so common, I might not find something like this.



It's not very large, but I don't need it to be. The hardest part will be connecting it to the surrounding land, and especially because the bridges will need to be something other than flat. This will be a bit rare for me, but all the more reason to make this a place to settle. While the larger purpose of this world is mapping, that doesn't mean I won't spend time building places. And when I do that, I want to do different things instead of putting the same style houses down everywhere. No minimum effort, same style houses for me in this world.

First I would need to clear some of the forest and level the top a bit.

Well, first things first... I had to get over there!

So I carefully make my way down at a spot that was a bit steep, and discovered this area actually has a lot of cave openings exposed to the sides of the cliffs.

As I cross the river and begin making my way back up the island, it starts raining. And while the sky didn't look too dark, I often do a bed test when rain starts anyway, and sure enough I started sleeping. Enough time had passed that some mobs may have spawned, and there were also cave openings on the island, more near the shore level, so I had to be careful.

Namely, for this...



I carefully dispatch it with three hits and avoid any terrain or tree damage.

I am swiftly turning and looking out at this point, and eventually climb a tree. Maybe I'll put a chest down here. I need to lighten the load already!



And it's a good thing I climbed the tree.



I was able to drop onto the block in front of it and take it out without it even noticing me? Whatever works, I guess.

As I began taking some trees down, right when I was thinking of a pillage patrol possibly showing up now that I was more stationary, they showed up...



That is more welcome!

After some days, I was checking his trades and found he had teal dye! Noooo!



I had no emeralds. Oh well.

I finished leveling the forest and the terrain and had an initially clear area before long.



This will do for a start. Until I decide what exactly I want to build, I decided to get a first map started of this area. Next update will be that.

Quote from Zeno410»

Did I say Birch was my favorite vanilla forest? I'd say it was Spruce, although Birch is better than Oak.

I wasn't actually sure what you're favorite was. That was more of a joke since you said you found nothing but birch forest one time.

Quote from Zeno410»

A-hem!

I was wondering why you waited so long to start a base. So the plan was to go well beyond your current mapped area and then start mapping? I would probably build a base in my existing explored area, even though that's more base building work per map.

Yes, the plan was always to go well into uncharted area before making a new place to settle. I think I mentioned this intention at one point, but at times I have a tendency of poorly wording things so sorry if I did. The reason I'm doing it is because I feel like I'll still be having to build at more than enough locations to make a variety of places in different types of locations, but it won't be so often that it detracts too much from exploring. I feel like it will give a good ratio of building to exploring.

What I didn't know was exactly where I'd settle. I'm sort of making that part up as I go, but once I saw that field and thought "I would want to choose here, but it's too similar to my main one" it made me think of the nearby spot I ended up choosing. If anything, I might have wanted to choose a spot just a bit further out, but this will work.

Season 3: Episode 4

Before starting on building, which I'm still in the "what am I going to do" phases, I decided to do an initial map. I knew what the North and Northwest from my chosen spot would be like, but I had never seen anywhere within the Southwest to Northeast circumference, so... I thought an initial map was proper.

So I started the map, and... of course I'm in the Southeast. That means a lot of what I'm going to map is stuff I've seen, but it's still stuff I'd have to map eventually, and I've never formally shown it, so this wasn't a disappointment for me or anything. I was just hoping I might chance having this spot near somewhere towards the center (and small spoiler, but the next update consists of me doing another map to the East, so I make up for it and find out what's that way, but the South is still largely unknown... for now...).

So I start by filling in the Southeast corner since this is approximately where I'm at.



There's dark oak forest here, and in the distance we see what looks like a tiny (cute!) mountain, but remember I'm at a rather high elevation so the formal "mountains" can occur in small types.

In the birch forest South of my soon to be new settlement area, I find some rose bushes.



I decide to gather these in case I might use them somehow. I had no set plans to look for them beforehand, but I'll probably try and incorporate them somehow. I did bring lily of the valley with me from my main settlement, but if I decided to use cherry wood or trees on my island somewhere (which I may), then I think the Red of these roses would provide a good compliment to it.

Just a bit beyond this, looking Southwest, there's more dark oak and another small grove mountain top.



Needing to head West, I make my way down the cliff side and across the river. And while I'm about to make my way out of the river and up the other side, i hear a familiar and unpleasant sound.



Thankfully none of these happened to hit me. I stood there and observed its terrible aim for a moment, and then continued on.

The forest at the top was narrow as another rive (or the same one?) cut through here. And a village I was aware of from my much earlier exploration in this area is observable beyond it. This was also just barely observable in an image in my prior update, but I forgot to mention it because I didn't notice it either I mean, I wanted to see if people would catch stuff like this if I put Easter eggs in but don't say anything.



Rather than going towards it, I continue West along the edge of the map for now, and soon the forest breaks to some plains in one spot, though there's still forests and a lot of variable terrain altitude around here.



For whatever reason, I shift my traveling North and then start making my way back East towards the village.



I spend the night here, and then continue a bit past it the next day. This is looking into the one spot surrounding my island where the terrain isn't obstructing it, because this is where the river flows in.



From here I started heading North, basically reversing the path I took to get here from "the great lands to the North" (meaning my initially mapped area of this world so far). Something I never noticed in my few passes of this spot before was the cavern opening on the side. Another look will be gotten at this from another angle when i come back while mapping to the North.



That little "valley" there is where I'll go through (and often did) to the plains beyond.

Here's that better look at the massive split cavern opening that I promised before.





I told you! The part that actually goes down into the save isn't the full thing (that would be something if it did!), but it's still absolutely massive regardless. It runs the entire distance, if diagonally, of these plains and even cuts into the sides of the cliffs some. Unreal.

I reach the North of the map and turn to look back. This area is absolutely a perfect spot to settle, even though I neglected to since I have a rather similar one in the last place I settled. You can see on the map I'm holding too how large that surface scare is.



Looking North is the pillager outpost, but I now also spot a ruined portal.



I won't be heading to it now though, since it's off the map. I'll get to it when I do the map it is within later.

For now, being up on a plateau, I continue along the Northern edge of the map moving West, and when it ends, I survey my surroundings to see where I might head next.

This forest is spotted to the South, and it has many flowers to offer.



To the East is more plains.



I initially consider the latter, but looking at my rough "reverse C" shape I've filled in so far, I instead decide to head South through the forest to fill the center in, and then do the Western half to finish. I also anticipate there might be some more flowers I can gather here.

And indeed, I do find some. It's mostly lily of the valley or rose bushes I'll take. Tulips are nice, but I'm not yet sure if or what ones I might want. Since the forest is rather close and I can come get them if I later decide I want them, I skip taking any tulips.



Here's the other angle of the cavern in the side of that cherry blossom grove plateau, and the ridge and hill line here is pretty.



Back within the forest, I find some caves, although they're pretty routine for 1.18 (but being included for some variety here).



I find more lily of the valley, and take these too.



I then work my way South, and upon reaching the Southern edge of the map, I turn to look West where I'll head now. I'm up on higher terrain and overlooking a forest. I might be vanilla forest, but it's still nice looking to a point.

What's just visible in the distance is a ruined portal.



So I start heading that way to chart the Southwest corner of the map, and to check that out.





Nothing much, but I take the Obsidian and the gold since I have the inventory space for it now. I don't plan on elaborate nether connections in this world, but I might want to make other portals for other purposes, so this might come in handy anyway.

Now it's time to head North. The remaining uncharted area is a width that's too wide for one pass, but not wide enough to make two passes worthwhile. Uh! More than 8 chunk mapping, please!? So I sort of do awkward side to sides for a bit, and eventually come across another village, one I also knew would be this way.



This small split with the river flowing a bit into it was just before it.



Getting to the village now, i find one unlucky resident is losing their home. Also, am I that bad at noticing villager houses sometimes include regular stone, or... is something going on there? I know mossy cobblestone can occur but I feel like if regular stone does, it's pretty rare. I may have unconsciously noticed it before, but I'm not sure.



I finish mapping the rest of the Northwest corner, which includes a plateau beyond the village, a bit more forest to its East, and the plains I spotted earlier. Heading back, it starts raining.



To the West, yet another village (yes, seriously) is visible. Again, I was aware this would be near here.



The rain works in my favor, as I somehow missed a ruined portal in the forest.



You may have to check the full size image, but it's faintly visible above my crosshair. The lighting against the darker scene is what drew my attention to it, so I may have missed it were it not for the rain.

It has some gold and iron, which is "decent".



After checking the chest, this was right next to me!



It wasn't dark enough to be near night, and it wasn't storming, so either a forested area spawned it, or more likely, one of the many nearby caves did.

With this map finished, I head back towards my chosen spot to settle. Next update will be a map to the East. The real good stuff will come later and lies further to the West, but unfortunately that's not for now. I want to explore a bit more of my immediate surroundings and then work my way out to it. And before doing much more exploring, I want to have a place to live!

Quote from Zeno410»

I wish the Cherry Groves weren't always at altitude. They'd be nice in the lowlands sometimes. Had I been designing, I'd have made them something more like a structure, so they could show up in more places.

I'm curious as to why Mojang put them in mountainous regions; from looking up real-life cherry trees most of what I find just says they grow pretty much anywhere, with the main restriction being temperature (not too hot or cold, so temperate biomes), and if I added them to TMCW I'd probably make them sub-biomes of regular forests (I initially did this with "Poplar Grove" as well until I also made it its own full-size biome, which means changing the overall biome layout, though there is a way to circumvent that).

I miss important things too. Often while sorting images and deciding what to keep or discard, and how to split them up for updates, I'll mentally and roughly think of key things to describe some, and then often i forget to mention it. Sometimes I edit this in after (but most of my edits are for typos, grammar, or better phrasing of things rather than missing or changing content).

Village frequency doesn't need to be this high and pillar patrols don't change that much. Unless you plan to settle in a village, which is an option, you'll likely have to move them anyway. Sure, it will be further if there's less villages, but if you're already moving them then you're already moving them, and the nether cuts this down still. It's also not a need to have a village. Sure, pillagers will come around, but they're more annoying than threatening. They never approach you unless you first get too close to them which triggers them to give chase. Otherwise, they either spawn in and begin walking away, or they notice you from afar and stop moving and stare at you.

And yes, I've seen others make requests that cherry blossoms being at lower altitudes would be nice, and I agree. I guess Mojang wanted to add them where biome variety was lacking (mid altitudes) and didn't want to make them too common if they added them to lower altitudes? no idea.

Also, there's something pretty important I have to announce. I've been thinking of this for some time, and I might have loosely mentioned something along the lines of it, but I'm changing a restriction I've been playing under in this world. Enchantments are no longer disallowed, although mending in particular is most likely not going to be allowed. No other major restrictions are being changed. Villager trading (minus wandering traders) will remain disallowed, so I will have to source enchantments from either the enchantment table or as loot, and I won't be able to trade for them. Potions and elytra remain disallowed.

The reason for this change/drop of restriction is as follows. When I started this world, the purpose was mostly to mirror my first hardcore world, but to be more risky and dangerous and to remove some further things that made my first world far too easy. The irony was I ended up dying in that first world instead. And before that even happened, the restrictions in this world didn't really result in me attempting to repeat my challenges, but instead it led to me avoiding risk entirely, and I started exploring. And now I have a third world to replace my recently lost first one. In other words, this world shifted into something other than what I planned from the start, and this is totally okay with me, but I want to then change the restrictions accordingly to better accommodate the purpose it now has. Maybe in turn I'll disallow enchantments in my other remaining hardcore world, but that's another decision to be made for another time. For this world, the restriction is being dropped and they are allowed now. I still want to keep the spirit and risk of hardcore in place, so it will remain a hardcore world, but given my investment and now that I've lost my other hardcore world, I have been putting thought into this and decided that allowing enchantments (minus mending) would be a good compromise.

Also, I should have another update soon, probably tomorrow, and I'll be sort of caught up. After showing the second map I've charted, I can spend some updates working on my home (not sure when I'll fit in going after some enchantments), and then I can use it as a staging area for mapping the greater region. Then the "real adventures" begin again. Super excited to show what's out West...

Season 3: Episode 5

But first, let's check the local East.

I notice my little island is right along the eastern edge of the map I just finished, so crossing the river will be enough to start the other one. So I do that, and get an initial map started, and then just run back to my cartographer table to zoom it out (instead of bringing it with me, not that I anticipate inventory space issues).



The extra detail on a fresh map is always refreshing, especially when there's unique or uncommon qualities like these caves here.

I decide to get a better look at those since I'm starting here anyway. I've never actually looked into them, especially the higher one behind the closer one.





Well, the second one is more of a pit than a cave, and has upward facing drip stone spikes despite not being a cave, similar to one I found in this same world way back near the start. It's still neat, especially how it results in that gradually curved terrain line when looking at it from my island (I'll get another view of this from this other side later and I'll point it out if you're not sure what I'm referring to).

Here's a better overview of the island since I've cleared it.



I'm torn on lowering it another couple of layers, both for a bit more room and to get some dirt, but then I'd have to either lower the other sides (if attempting even bridges) or just have a more angled bridge.

Speaking of which, I've decided to go the more boring route and do flat bridges here. I'm probably going to have one to the North (right side in the above picture) and one to the East (coming towards me at the bottom in the above picture).

I'll then have another stair/path route heading down towards the water, probably near the Southwest.

The reason I went with these locations is I figured a bridge to the West (where I'm looking in the above picture) would be a bit pointless because a lot of the time I might ant to go that way, I'd have to then go down that ridge (or climb up it) anyway since the West beyond that is lower terrain. And if I do want up there (say, for the cherry grove or to head North towards those plains), a bridge to the North would serve that as well.

The other bridge could have gone towards the East or South, but since the South is level with it, I chose that. Plus, the river sort of cuts around the spot to the South and so similar to the West ridge, I'd be running that direction just to always turn, so functionally a bridge to the East made more sense. I wanted to have the bridges be opposite but the terrain doesn't functionally serve that as well.

Moving on, I start with the Southwestern corner. Here's another "drip stone cave with bottom spikes not in a cave" like before.



Here's a good example of where river immediately cuts back on the opposite side of the South, and why a bridge here would seem less useful. I can also see there's more caverns cutting into the sides of the cliffs even over here. They do that a lot in this general area.



I get closer and get a better look. There's a smaller, and rather close to me, cave on the same side I'm looking from.





Crossing the river and heading up on the Southern side, I turn East and look at what's ahead. The birch forest transitions to oak forest, and there's dark oak behind me and a bit to my right (South). The little valley here is nice, and I'm wondering what's beyond.



I don't have to travel long to find out. The forest is rather short, and opens to some breathtaking rolling hills with steep cuts mixed in. There's meadows and more Cherry blossom groves in the distance to the South, but beyond the map I'll be charting now. This local area just keeps getting better... and this is the opposite direction of the "known good stuff" I am anticipating showing eventually. My sample size might be small, but between the three hardcore worlds I've started, and the many creative tests, this has been my favorite 1.18 era world. See why I don't want to lose it just yet?



Looking more East, I spot a ruined portal. I initially took a picture, but it didn't make the cut. Why? Because I stepped forward a bit more to check it out and saw another another one in the distance! So instead I just kept this picture of the two.



I can't recall what it had, but I didn't save it, so... probably not much? I think maybe some obsidian and nuggets of either gold and/or iron. Next time I show my inventory (too lazy to look ahead while typing this now, and it's funner to guess) I'll be able to see.

For reasons I don't remember (maybe to try and explore what's up on this higher terrain first to cut out any up and down all the time?), I don't continue further East and head back a bit and start moving North. And for "just boring vanilla forests", I quickly get graced with a very pleasant and scenic surprise .



I do think birch forests only need minimal changes to be better, so them being present here helps. The steep river cutting through the high terrain, another of Zeno's favorites, is here too. The forest type transitioning looks nice, the terrain line along the horizon is lovely, and the way it blends into the fog in the distance always helps. Oh, and there's not only a village, but it also occurs where the two forests meet and extends into the birch forest a bit. That's very nice.

On this side, I catch quite a bit of foxes playing.



They are quick to run, so actually getting pictures is sometimes tough. Even here, one is behind the tree a bit.

I decide to explore what I can on top of the plateau on this side of the river before heading down and towards the West (near the village), and eventually run into this...



I hear it no sooner than I see it, and I'm too close so it gives chase. I dispatch it with ease, and see no others. Since it was at the top of the cliff, I wonder if they spawned scattered on the side of the cliff and many might be either stuck or working their way down?

I soon find out this is the case (notice the banner down below) while also seeing these spawned in right after them. These lovely things are always welcome.



Going to head down now, I get a view of that "ridge line" the terrain covered by birch trees produces, partly due to that cavern and hole spot. So my island is opposite of this little gradual "valley" here.



Given the village just a bit North of here, and the other one to the West of my village, that means I am very close between two villages. Not at all close enough to cause disruptions with either of them if I decide to bring villagers back to my island, but close enough that a nether portal should hopefully make it very easy.

I might end up doing that. I plan to make a house and not a full village, but a few of them would liven the place up and keep pillager patrols away. And since enchantments are on the table, and the nether portal I already made is both far away from here, and leads to a rather disappointing nether area, I might make one here anyway for some ancient debris farming a bit down the line. So it won't be going out of my way much to bring villagers here.

Progressing towards the village, I see the forests in the distance give way to grasslands (meadows and/or plains). This terrain, I swear...



As I arrive, I find there's quite a bit more villagers than I would have expected. I mean, it is gathering time, but there were more than expected, especially since I suppose I would have guessed the dense trees would be interrupting or delaying some of their pathing.



Hello, friends. They were pretty chatty.

I rest here, and head up towards the grasslands to continue charting the Western edge of the map towards the North. I get a pretty late-morning view.



In the formal Northwest of this map, we see the larger plains area from earlier; the one that I charted and passed through on my way down here. The massive split cavern can be observed from here.



I have a lot of expected forest now (oak transitioning to taiga) and that's largely what there is for the Northern central and formal center of the map, so there's not much to show here. I did routine sweeps and filled the forest I overlooked earlier in.

I did find more lily of the valley, which yes, I took.



And just beyond that, towards the Northeastern corner, I saw it transitioning formal cold! Huh? it had a village as well.



Well, it's certainly different than just more forest being up here. The frozen ocean from up North did extend all the way down to this land mass, so I wasn't especially shocked when I saw it, but it still wasn't something I was definitely expecting either. I thought maybe the cold region would terminate by now.

Heading back South into warmer temperate (or just "cool"?) climate, I find it is hotter than expected. Run, little bee! I mean... fly?



Further South, I eventually come across that second ruined portal I found earlier.



And I noticed only after going through these pictures that I didn't take the gold block here, but oh well. I also see it was one obsidian and some iron nuggets that the previous ruined temple had.

So this one had a bit better of offerings even minus that than the first one did.



More nuggets, and another golden apple.

I fill in the Southeastern corner and make my way back North, which is largely oak forest but there's quite a but of lakes, and even a small bit of ocean, mixed in.

It seems that frozen ocean may continue (or end just beyond) down here but turns temperate, and the plains and high altitude we saw glimpses of earlier go South. I thought I might see more of it in this corner.

Reaching the North, there's just the Northeast corner left, and it's the cold region.





I put on my snow boots out of habit, and fill what little of it there is. I don't visit the village, hence no more pictures, since it's on the map beyond, so I'll wait and do that then.

Though my island is to the Southwest, there's a lot of forest and constant up and down with the terrain if I take a direct path there, so I instead try and skirt around the Northern bit of forest and towards the plains in the Northwest, from which I can take my "initial" journey path back home. It ends up working well as the plains cut further East above the map and there's not much forest to go through. Looking further North from there, I can more glimpses of the edge of the formal cold region, this time as taiga.



While heading towards these massive split cavern opening, I happen across some rather small (especially comparatively) cave openings in the same plains field.



I then work my way back home, and after a second half of the day of rain, I sleep and begin a new day.



For now, the mapping was just to get an initial local feel of the surroundings, and with my location situated so close to the Southern edge of this map, I really didn't even fully do that yet. But for now, I'll stop and want to work on getting a shelter up, so the next many updates will probably be progress on the house and bridges (I haven't started those yet so I'm actually caught up with where I am).

Well my initial settlement didn't occur until well after I had many maps done, so only doing two here is a bit better off. I did it more because I wanted a local overview for familiarity of things like biomes and resources, but it turned out I was in the very corner so I ended up doing two (though i admit I had fun doing the first and it was partly what encouraged me to do a second).

I've been experimenting in creative and I think I have a house I want to replicate. The downside is it will need quite a lot of oak wood and deep slate. It's also a bit larger than it needs to be, but... oh well. I'll probably do different "tiers" of settlements.

The greater ones will be larger and may include more, like a nether portal, map room maybe (?), may or may not have villagers (I'm actually shifting to think this one won't though), or they might just be bigger builds with more done to the surrounding area to accommodate them (like bridges and paths) because I like the location better.

The lesser ones will just be smaller and provide bare necessities only to give me something that serves a purpose and doesn't interrupt my exploring as much.

I'm actually excited to get started on exploring but at the same time, I want to build a bit since it's been a while. I also can enchant, so... maybe shifting away from exploring for a bit is good for now.

I likely won't be connecting nether portals. The nether is just too risky, and I'll be doing way too much exploring and making too large of a world for it to be worth setting it back further by linking overworld locations like that. I don't plan to run back and forth between them often, which is the main reason for these extra locations to begin with. After having another "greater region" done, I'll go back to my primary home to add the maps, but that will mostly be it.

That makes me still undecided about what to do there. If I do map rooms in some of my external locations, they won't be as big and I might just limit them to their own area and then copy them to take back home. That might be what I do.

Season 3: Episode 6

I'm definitely not doing copies of the entire map room, haha. As it is, maybe only some of the settlements will have local map rooms, but maybe I'll convince myself to do it at all of them. I will at this one at least.

And no, I never tried the nether roof, nor will I. It goes against what I'd consider the spirit of natural gameplay. It's bypassing what is intended to be a gameplay boundary but was probably left in because Mojang feared the vocal backlash if they fixed it. Stuff like that might be naturally "allowed" by the game but it's clearly not intended. I put at even further than farms (which I find as less of an exploit, per se, but still something I avoid as it bypasses survival requirements and nearly gives creative levels of access to things).

Buuuut... no need for that now I guess. Another update, and it involves me going home manually!

But before I had formally decided that, I was planning my shelter as other accommodations to it. Namely, the bridges. For those, I decided I might mimic the cherry bridges I made near my main settlement. So I headed over to the cherry grove to get more cherry wood.

This is on the opposite side of the narrow ridge (peninsula ridge?) looking West from my island.



There's a lot of these style and size of cavern openings, most of them drip stone style, all around.

At the top of the ridge, I catch a pretty sunset.



The next day I start gathering some trees. It's high terrain near some cliffs, and there's a fair amount of small cave openings scattered up here too. Since I have a few stacks of cherry logs already, I decide it would be best to only get a few more and then grow more to fulfill any remaining needs at my island.

Which wasn't a bad plan, because this reinforced my idea right after I decided it.



I heard it coming early. A creeper wouldn't have been so accommodating.

I stop after having around a couple stacks, and multiple stacks of flower petals (these are easy to amass since they drop one to four depending on the density, so it looks like I did more than I actually did).



I wanted a bit more, but my hoe broke and I don't like leaving floating, deteriorating remains when I can help it. Especially in an area that may be visible to my local area but not close enough to deteriorate. That would bother me.

So I head back, and after a long break (read as, a different play session in a creative world to experiment with house ideas, and then another day in real time), I start breaking ground on the outline of the house. Here it is.



That stone came in useful? And yes, I'll need even more, so bringing those stacks was worth it (sort of; you'll see in a moment) and the cobblestone I got while flattening the top of this island is being smelted for even more.

I was going to skip the above picture and just show this since there's not much difference, but the early one for being the bare minimum foundation of a new place felt important enough to leave in, and I also wanted to show this one.



That's it as it is now. Why now? Why isn't it further along than this right now? That's because I'm going to need a lot of two things in particular, and a fair bit of many others. Oak logs (specifically logs) and deep slate. I had some of the latter, plus a branch mine at/near Rubyville, and there's other things that would be helpful. I paused to consider it, and decide that yes, let's get it over with and head back home for a bit.

I also decided this would let me make an ender chest. Without silk touch, and without a plan to make multiple settlements, I had no use for one before. Now I will. So I'll also make a pair of them, leave one at Rubyville, and bring one with me. I could now bring up two inventories worth of stuff back.

So I began my trip back, literally rushing down the hill, and...



That's a late picture! I actually ran almost into one, which had me frantically turn and run up the hill. I was shocked to turn around and see none were attacking me or giving chase.

So I made my way down elsewhere, got in my boat, and headed off.



"Be gone from my island by time I get back!"

I saw this from the river on the opposite side of the ridge to the West of my island (basically same area the first picture of this update was from, so maybe a linked cave?).



But I was doubling my purpose here. Since I was heading home, I decided to get a pair of maps through what I expected was mostly frozen ocean. This will be a bit less thorough for two reasons; they're pretty much mostly frozen ocean with some other cold forests mixed in, and I'm sort of doing these two maps on the side. That's not to say there's nothing to show; far from it. Just expect some big jumps in what I've charted between pictures more often than usual.

I had to guess a bit where to start, but I saw this forest line to the North I saw not long back, and at that point I was in new map territory.



Since it's closer now, I should definitely be, yes?

Let's find out.



More than I need to be, but better safe than sorry here. I had extra maps and a cartography table on me but still, I'd rather not waste maps.

I fill in the plains corner I'm in, and observe a small area that opens into the ocean i used to travel down here.



Approximately North (and running North and South) should be the border where it becomes frozen. I head North instead of going east and doing bottom to top sweeps, and indeed that's what I found.



From some of the last edges of the temperate (or cool, but either way) terrain, I get this nice (to my mind) picture of overlooking the frozen region from the Greenery I'm still within... for now.



This bottom map is still a little varied overall, but the next one is mostly frozen ocean (and some snowy taiga).

There's some of that here too between the oak forest and frozen ocean, and... what!?



I have no idea why they are here... but I'm excited anyway!

I don't understand llama spawning rules in Java. I've noticed them in savanna, taiaga, and... whatever those "minor extreme-hills-like terrain near swamps" are (?) and I thought it was only rarely at low mid to mid terrain, but they're in a rather unexpected place to me here. A lovely surprise, though.

They are protecting the little one.



I begin filling out the upper half of the frozen ocean to the North, and eventually come across the first of a few shipwrecks I'll find.



I don't end up checking this one, nor any of them. Many have bears nearby (not that I couldn't work around this if I wanted, but it's another layer that would slow and serves as deterrence), and I just figure the time and risk (drowned or drowning) isn't worth it. The occasional diamond would be the best I could get of it, and I plan on mining for deep slate back home so I'll get more of those anyway.

In the Southeast corner, I come across that village I saw in the last mapping update. I don't do nor take anything here, though. Chests rarely have anything worthwhile, and even the wheat I skip on.



I find another shipwreck just North, and with all the times I've been using my boat lately, this long stretch of ice reminds me... I've never done the boating on ice thing. No, seriously, never. I never had a situation to want to, and it seems silly to me.



I decide to hear, and... it's much faster than expected! Silly, for sure.

There's a bit of taiga to the North, and I watch a rabbit or wolf (I forget) make its way between some trees, which makes me notice this well hidden ruined portal. Thank you, little animal.



I remember the golden block here, and the rest isn't bad either. There's another golden apple.



These animals were a bit less nice though. Poor sheep (there were three).



And there's another well hidden structure, this time an igloo. It has no basement, so no quick extra golden apple.



I finish charting the taiga and conclude the first map. Now to the frozen ocean to the North.



This time I do start with side to side sweeps.



And it is indeed a lot more frozen ocean, at least for the first half. I come across my third shipwreck around this point. It comes with a guard bear.



A bit towards the North and off the eastern edge, I find some variety versus the frozen ocean, and it's a pleasant one. Mountains. This sort of shocks me, but will make this area a little more interesting when I go to formally map the rest.



There's a welcome break of the frozen ocean with more snowy taiga to the Northwest, and apparently there's a lush cave under here, haha.



There's also a small floating land mass in the back.

And here's another one, but less small.



Here's another look at the mountain, with glimpses of a pillager outpost to the North (left). There's more land beyond it, so I won't mind if I'm getting the repetitive frozen ocean out of the way now. It will be amazing to see the size of this on the map eventually.



As I finish the map, I see another shipwreck.



I'm not sure how many maps I could do without doing one I've already done. This seems to be new, and it probably is, but I decide to just head home anyway.

Based on the distance of endless frozen ocean I cover, I figure it must have been uncharted, but there was also a lot I did chart. Either way, it was a lot more to pass to get home.

Eventually it starts precipitating, which is snow.



I do a weather test, and it's not a storm, but not moments later, I know I'm not imagining the sky darken. And it wasn't yet near night before the snow started. I do another bed test and this one confirms my thoughts, as I sleep and am able to pass it.

I started getting chased by a bear here. This happened doing one of my earlier maps, and I was actually hit (first time that ever happened so I have a rough idea of the damage they do, at least in full diamond).

"I'm sorry, okay, I wasn't going to hurt the little one!"



I eventually spot a ruined portal, but I decide not to check it.



I've come some way, maybe two more maps worth, which is far. I would expected to be back in charted land by now, but perhaps I'm not. So either I'll check it when I char tit, or it's been charted and I've done so. Either way works.

Eventually, I finally find the sign I'm looking for. Temperate (or cool) land. And it's in a very recognizable spot.



I can take my snow boots off! This village, if you remember, is one I showed in like a five or ten second video of me looking back and forth between two close villages. The other (not pictured) one is also the one near where I sort of "first" went caving.



I'm home! I haven't been gone that long... but that trip back sure was long. That last stretch from the above area (which I'd say is "local enough" to me settlement) took what seemed to be forever, just because it had already been so long up to that point.



Those extra settlements are definitely going to be needed. And speaking of which, accommodations for that are why I'm back here.