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Quote from Zeno410»

No, I didn't mean *on top* of the Nether roof - I'd never do that either - but just below it, above y = 110. There are very few caverns of any size up there and you can pretty much tunnel anywhere you want without being hassled. It came up in my Return to Minecraft journal where I went hundreds of blocks and eventually reached a Nether Fortress location without ever being attacked by a hostile mob. All I ever saw was Zombie Pigmen.

Quote from Zeno410»

Another strategy difference here - I'd have dug down to deepslate there, at the new base, rather than traveled back to an old one. I figure it would work out to be less time, plus if in the future I ever wanted mined goods there, I could get them relatively easily. In my case there would also be my predilection for traveling long distances via underground tunnels. I don't know how far your new base is, but I'm pretty sure it's more than the slightly over 2000 between mine.

Quote from Zeno410»

My understanding is that Polar Bears are a neutral mob, but I find them quite aggressive. I've had to kill them from time to time, against my ecological preferences.

Using this old map from when it was still on the wall...



My settlement seems to be three maps in and two to the right from where that column of maps is. And then the new settlement location is also on the very bottom right corner of the map below that.

And then my original trek had me coming down in the column to the left, and I did a map there, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was closer to 10 thousand blocks of actual travel.

To be fair some significant stretches of that were boating on ocean though, with some small river travels.

But if it makes you feel better, this detour will only take up an update and a half or two, depending on how I split them, and then I return and make quick progress on the house. Or maybe that makes it worse, since I did that long trip twice in such a short time? haha, depends on whether you see it as bad for the length of the trip, or the delay it adds on my progress in my new location. Either way I think I make good progress here, but from a pure efficiency rate (especially because, and minor spoiler alert, I still need a bit more deep slate after having returned!), you may be right.

I think sometimes I just do things according to what I feel is better for my current mood or desire rather than what might be the most efficient I guess. Running back for most of the materials needed to give the house a burst start sat better with me than having to start digging a random mine just to get started.

Season 3: Episode 7

After arriving back in Rubyville, I set off to my branch mines in the nearby, still unnamed (!)?), village and began mining mostly for more deep slate but also for diamonds. I had a fair bit of deep slate still in Rubyville, but not enough, and I also needed diamonds.

I think I was pretty far down the last branch I started, so I just started a new one.

I was lucking out pretty early on the diamonds.

That was half a dozen, and then I quickly found another eight more.



Not long after, another two.



It was basically a dry spell after that for diamonds, but a quarter of a stack for one trip wasn't awful. I've come out with worse. And the real necessity here was the deep slate. I would be making a new branch mine at the new location anyway so the diamonds were sort of a bonus, although I was low and needed some.



I wonder if the length of my branches is too much? I notice I was pretty lucky early on, but then got some stretches of very few diamonds. My branches are spaced three blocks between each other, and then I make them very long. I figured this wasn't harmful, so one way or another I should be crossing new chunks, but once I find a diamond in a given chunk, i wonder if that lowers my chances for the next few branches in that chunk? Maybe I should make shorter more more branches off of one main branch, instead of fewer but longer branches when I do this at the new location? Or does this not matter much?

I head back to Rubyville, and since enchantments will be on the table now, I use two of them for this.



I don't enchant anything yet though. That's probably a ways off. My current armor is approaching half gone, and I might just go for Netherite. Either way I'm waiting until I have a new set.

I focus my attention to the oak wood and ender chests. I'll need eyes of ender for the latter, and I need blaze rods for that. Uh oh. I figure I'll go after the trees first, but looking towards the portal, I see my cat is in a tree! Uh... I mean on the roof!



So I head back towards that-unnamed-village since it's probably one of the closest clusters of oak trees (it's that or the slightly closer flower forest).

I have a video here, but this one is definitely complimentary rather than unique content on its own, so feel free to skip it by all means.



You won't miss much. I run to the other village and start gathering trees. That's all it shows. It does show why I go through so many hoes, probably more than most players. I clear leaves with them a lot.

The reason for the video is because I've noticed before I'd get reduced performance when recording. Not too abnormal, but it felt far lower of a drop than I think should be expected, and happened more often at higher render distances. Normally I'd use something called Afterburner for recording but I noticed there's some commotion on some video encoding thing called AV1 which my graphics card seems to have (I don't pay much attention to the video side of things), and the drivers seem to offer functionality of all of that, including recording, right within them, so... I thought I'd give that a try instead. And to my delight, I was basically able to record with no performance loss. The bonus on top of this was the video sizes are far smaller than the raw ones Afterburner was creating, and quality doesn't see to be lost much either. Maybe my "I can't record more than a day and a half or the game crashes when I stop recording" issue will be gone with this method too? But basically I just started recording while heading to that forest and decided to keep it here.

So maybe I was doing myself a disservice to keep using Afterburner instead of my graphics cards drivers for this (still new to what AMD offers because nVidia really didn't offer all of this stuff in their drivers unless you used GeForce Experience which I never did). At any rate, I'm happy about it. Just crossing my fingers that the primary issues I was having before don't remain and that they were just caused by a bad graphics card. If so I'll finally be sorted on things.

Here's some of the progress of gathering the oak wood. I anticipate I'll be needing a lot of these. I'll mostly be needing it in log form too which makes it worse.





This might be the first times in this world I've mass taken down trees as opposed to taking just a few or growing some temporary ones for the sole purpose of farming. Usually I like the nature alone when I can.

And here's what I decided to settle with.



My hoe has just broken and I was down to just a couple of open spaces so I figured this would do.

Heading back home gives me a view I will never get tired of. When the cherry stuff was added, my initial reaction was "I like it, but I'm not quite as crazy about it as some others" and that's mostly still true, but now I think I need the trees at least for scenery even if I don't build much with it.



I focus my attention towards my ender chest needs, and decide to head to the nether for blaze rods. I still get shy when I have to go to the nether in this world, knowing it could be the last time I see the overworld here...



I head to the nether fortress, but I don't have torches. And the wither skeletons I see aren't helping.



So I go to head back.

I don't immediately head back to the nether, though. I notice it's night, and I also need ender pearls, so I decide to try my luck for those while I can.

A rare night shot in Rubyville.



But I won't stay near here. I run to the bridge between my village and the one nearby, since the fields between them should be a good and safe place to look for them. The bridge between them gives some momentary light safety if I need it, and the other village is... let's say slightly more expendable (I feel awful saying that) to keep nearby. Though I think it is leaning towards a low number of villages and maybe only one golemn and I do want to renovate this village later (my new expedition plans put this off), so I still need to be careful.



It is also a closer village (to the bridge and fields) so if I see an enderman, I can get its attention and run into a house doorway for safety. Like so...



Unfortunately, things start getting out of hand.



And then more so. I'm in control of one creeper in front of me, but while back up from it to stop its explosion, a skeleton behind me knocks me just close enough to where it doesn't stop itself from going off. Ironically, I puts it at a safer distance from one behind me that was also about to go off. Not too threatening for me, but the village was getting destroyed.



As the night goes to ends, the nonsense only escalate.





Another creeper had gone off, and two skeletons were involved, one of which hit a zombie. Said zombie decided to take the remains of one of them and go after his friend while walking away from the site of the explosion, while another zombie was just focused on me. And... I wouldn't be surprised if a spider or creeper were behind me here (nothing happened after this though).

Worst of all? No ender pearls.

So I decided to try the next night. And oh my, a full moon. This will probably dial things up to eleven... but at least I get a pretty sky?



I find an early night enderman and charm it for attention and then run to my routine house. Unfortunately, a spider was giving chase, and a zombie was also nearby. I ran in, and... was slow to shut the door, so the zombie walks in and the villager in here panics and runs out.



While this is going on, a spider is loitering along the edge of the roof being noisy, and a very unhappy and very vocal about itenderman is outside the house. Wonderful job I'm doing with this village here (this is why it's happening here and not at my village haha).

Unfortunately, another night of no pearls, and this also happened without my involvement.



Luckily... third time is the charm?

I find a pair of enderman early into the next night and both of them drop pearls. That's all I need.



Going to head back to my village, I see two more though. I decide the opportunity is worth trying, so I take it, but none of them award any further pearls. Not a problem though.



I head home and make another trip to the nether, and coincidentally, the torches don't end up being necessary. That same nether fortress runs into the terrain and has a partially exposed blaze spawner spot in the soul sand valley.



So I get my needed things and quickly make my way out.

I slightly modify my room and move my resources into my formal, larger storage room, and add an ender chest here. Here's what I decide to bring with me.



Good enough, I figure. I would have brought another stack or two of food, but long term, I need to get a food supply going there anyway so it won't be necessary.

Next time we head back off (see, this detour took only one update, but the next one is partially occupied by some mapping so one and a half until I get back to progress on my new location).

I was far too lazy to build anything here, haha.

The creeper in front of me was supposed to be far enough away to cancel its explosion, but a skeleton behind me knocked me just close enough to prevent it from canceling it, but not close enough to be anywhere near threatening (plus I had a shield but I don't think I was using it at the moment since, you know, I wasn't expecting to be knocked forward and I was expecting the explosion to be canceled).

The one behind me was just one I was unaware of, and likewise wasn't close enough to be very threatening. I think I took between half a heart to a heart and a half of damage in the whole situation (including whatever the skeleton arrow and regeneration factored in). I would have been cautious to see two creepers, but with how it happened, I was sort of like "whatever". If there was any surprise on my part, it's where the creeper and skeleton came from. I glanced in that direction a second or two ago and the creeper I might have missed due to it being darker and Green but I would have thought the skeleton should have contrasted the darkness and caught my eye more.

Quote from Princess_Garnet»

My branches are spaced three blocks between each other, and then I make them very long. I figured this wasn't harmful, so one way or another I should be crossing new chunks, but once I find a diamond in a given chunk, i wonder if that lowers my chances for the next few branches in that chunk?

In the past there was a strategy called "chunk mining" which was based on the fact there was only one vein of diamond per chunk but that is no longer the case since 1.18, which has up to 14 veins per chunk (12 before 1.20.2), and the benefit seems rather low based on the results given here, unless you also did what they referred to as "up-dig", or digging 1x1 pokeholes in the ceiling (they could also be to the sides), with gains of up to 1/3 more diamond per block mined due to the higher ratio of blocks exposed, but you also have to keep track of the chunks you'd previously found diamond in (or rather, "offset-chunks", due to features placed offset by 8 from a chunk border, this means that the "borders" are effectively at chunk-relative 7-8, with offset-chunks areas always having one attempt but 0-4 per physical chunk. There is/was a thread somewhere where somebody found 3 veins in a single chunk and I explained how it happened).

Much more significant is how far apart your tunnels are; the Wiki claims that with a high enough spacing up to 1.7% of blocks mined can be diamond ore; their results are from 2012 and are only applicable for versions up to 1.7 in terms of blocks removed per diamond ore found (1.8 increased the size of all ore deposits by about 20%) but the overall conclusions should still apply; the increase in efficiency with spacings above 3 blocks between tunnels (one every 4th block, the minimum spacing to avoid exposing the same 2 block wide vein in two adjacent tunnels) may reflect the fact that you are covering more chunks with less tunnels, although the increase seems rather high to me and I'd expect a much larger increase going from 2-3, then a smaller increase (my experience does match what they show for a spacing of 3, an efficiency of about 0.009, or one diamond ore per 111 blocks mined; at 0.017 you are averaging one every 59 blocks mined. For perspective, this is about 14 times the per-block abundance of about 0.12% in pre-1.8 versions; the Wiki hasn't updated their ore distribution chart for 1.20 but it suggests it is now closer to 0.2% at the peak layer, just above bedrock).

I have no idea if anybody has ever tried replicating these results, or just gathering general data on branch-mining efficiency, in newer versions, but any spacing above the maximum size of a deposit should be good (2x2 blocks for most, with a "spawn size" of 4 or 8, the same as the "original" small veins, with a 1/9 chance per chunk of a deposit of up to 23, which would be up to 4 blocks across based on the "spawn size" of 12 and structure of quartz (size 13) veins in 1.6.4; the table given here shows similar values to what I got using the code for 1.6.4 so they likely still use the same general algorithm. These are probably rare enough that it doesn't matter if you use a spacing of 3 or 6).

You do also want to consider the ores extracted from a given area at some point, even if you have the entire world to yourself (I don't know how large my mines would be for the average player, the last one I made was 50x185 blocks; the total number of blocks removed from the tunnels themselves would have been around 5000, with this as the yield (plus 16 of my amethyst ore, the primary target and the only ore I actually used Fortune on, which I suppose is another thing that sets me apart from most players, who will only mine a few diamonds until they get Fortune and use iron or even stone tools for most of their mining until they get end-game, or at least well-enchanted, gear).

Season 3: Episode 8

Unfortunately, I can't rely on methods that need me to know chunk boundaries, and I probably wouldn't want to keep track of that anyway (unless it was super simple). I'm not too interested in anything that needs a lot of tracking when it comes down to it, or making constant "extra" spots for increasing efficiency. I was just wondering if my results were just luck, or something more. I remember my first trip down there someone commented on how lucky I was, and for the most part, it seems like my recent trips down there yield me less and less (exceptions aside). I noticed my branches get very long and most other players seem to do more numerous, but shorter branches, and I was wondering if I should too.

Anyway... short update covering the trip back the new location, where I can cover progress from there. Being set back two updates (really one and a half since this one is shortish) isn't too bad in my eyes, especially since 9spoiler alert?) I get the house up rather quick as a result.

I think part of the reason I also went back is I thought I might stay a while and get started of laying the foundations for enchanting, but... I never did.

So I instead stayed for a short while, blew up the nearby village, and ran away before I got caught! On the way back, where it begins to transition to the cold climate, I find this surface cave opening. I've been through this approximate area a few times now but never noticed it. It's not very large but it's not tiny either.

I decided at one point to do a map, and this was sort of to see if there was one or two maps worth of space between my main core map and the new area I'm starting. I wouldn't know until I got back and went to join them all, but even if it was more than one, I'd be one closer.

I did had to guess a bit blindly this time, but passing a village I somewhat recognized gave me a clue I was near the edge. Unfortunately...



...I was just off my guess. oh well. I tossed it and made a new one a bit further South. That's more like it.



I should have filled in the Northwest corner to start and didn't. I don't know what I was thinking, but I started heading East. I found a big stretch of ice, which gave me a chance to experience the ice boat again.



Just beyond it I see some more high terrain. Not quite mountains, but something resembling that. Remember that I caught a glimpse of some mountains to the Eastern edge of a map on my last charting adventure. At first I thought I might be charting a map in the column one over to the East, but this made me start to think it was the same column. It has to be... or else the mountains extend quite a ways. Which, actually that shouldn't surprise me since I did see very high mountains along the Southern edge of the center of the cold region.

I see quite a few drowned here, and the ocean ruins would be why. I'm not after checking it out though.



Not long after, I get started (as always) when the elder guardians debuff gets me. Not good. That will slow me down too much, so I decide to stay in m boat and chart what ocean I can until it wears off, instead of making sweeping lines to chart.



This results in me getting most of the Eastern center and formal center of the map filled. Eventually I come across a ruined portal. Was this... the one I saw on the last charting adventure? I thought it might be, but wasn't sure.





It's good there's nothing substantial here since I can't afford to take anything. Even the gold block must remain.

Near the Southwestern corner, I see a familiar shipwreck.



This makes me certain that the ruined portal i saw earlier was the same one, but it also let's me know this was the edge of where I stopped mapping last time. And since I started this map at the Southern edge of my core region, it would appear there was just one map worth of space between them. I was thinking it might have been two, but maybe it just felt like it since I was so tired from traveling that it made it feel longer at the time.

A little while later, I find an igloo. I end up sleeping here, and there's no basement in this one.



Along the Southeastern corner, I see a familiar pillager outpost. Also checks out with this map being to the direct North of the last one I did.



Right as I finish the map, it starts snowing. I have my bed ready in case it shifts to a storm again, but this one never does.

I see this near the surface, and hear tridents being thrown. That's my cue to leave.



I put the snowy frozen fields behind me, and say hello to beautiful, sunny, and warm fields of Green!



We're almost back. Once again, the last stretch seems to get longer the closer I get, but eventually I return. And thankfully the pillagers listened to me, because of course they would, and left my island.



Now I've got a house (and more!) to build.

Season 3: Episode 9

We're back! I mean, to the island.

The above update was short so here's a quick follow up. I was going to halve half of this update with the above and then delay the rest until a following update, but then I felt it'd split awkwardly. I'm getting quite a bit ahead though so here's another fast one to stave that off.

I said at the end of last update that the pillagers left. It seems they were just hiding (I know they actually despawned and then respawned but it fits the story better).



This island isn't big enough for all of us. And I don't see your tower of claim here, so it's mine!

I decide to fight them off, despite having no immediate shelter to retreat into if things go sideways. I consume a golden apple and have at it.



This should be "safe-ish" but if I die I'll do so defending my island in order to facilitate what I love, and that's exploring.

It's a bit less threatening than I imagined, actually, but I was a bit less careless than usual as well.



Something I didn't think about, well, not much, was the debuff. I didn't plan to enter a village soon, and I could always make a bucket (which I'd need eventually anyway) and find a cow to cleanse it.

Huh? the full timer shows no. It used to be a bunch of stars in Java until it got lower. I can probably just let this one wear off. I'll be building and only venturing out for any needed materials so i shouldn't be done anywhere near before then.



Speaking of which, I do need to venture out. I need dark oak wood, and I head to nearby one. I have to cross the river near the village to the West of me, but I don't have to get anywhere near close enough that it'll cause a raid to start.



Hm... I remember remarking that I never found a woodland mansion in this world yet (and somehow found one instantly in Alexandria, go figure). I was thinking I might find it first in the very Northwest, but now I'm venturing way, way down South. Maybe it is down here I'll eventually find one?

It's a pretty valley, but thankfully I don't need to stay here long enough to get that many. It looks dangerous, and this near a cliff side.



I plan only to gather a few trees and then make my way back. I can grow trees for any further needs on the island.

I make my way back, use my newly acquired dark oak wood for the floors (the only place I'll need it thankfully, and not for the roof so that lessens how much of it I'll need), and get a staircase up for what will be the second floor. The spot underneath it is where the basement will start for where the portal, map room, and branch mines will go. I also get a bit more done to what will be the kitchen (the beds there are temporary) and add the planters for the bushes outside, the trap doors which required me to grow a bit of spruce for (pictured beyond the house).



I get the walls up for the first floor, and it's unusual in that it's all stone bricks. I usually vary the walls in layers, but I'm doing something different here. I'm just going to have the first floor be the "foundation layer" and then the upper floor will be the layer situated atop it. Maybe you can guess now why i needed all of the oak logs, and specifically in log form.

I'm also kind of "decorating" as I go by putting in the plants, furniture, and such instead of building the structure first and doing that later.



That lone sheep on the island has supplied me with so much wool, which I've used for carpets to cover some glowstone for lighting in the floor.

I get the external corner logs up, since the upper floor will stick out one block beyond the foundation layer, and start adding the connecting logs, the ceiling beams which will gold lanterns for the first floor, and some other support arches (like the stone one between the kitchen and main room on the first floor).



Of course it starts raining and gets my new carpet wet.

I fill in the floor for the second story, put the lighting in for the first, move my bed upstairs, and prepare the real reason I needed all of this oak wood. Hopefully it was enough!



I extend the support corners and lay an initial layer and take another quick picture. You can probably get an idea of what I'm going for here?



The very large gaps are for windows. I wanted to do something with a lot (but not entirely comprised of) very large windows for views and light, as opposed to many smaller windows.

I start copying the layers up to add the walls, and while running down to my chest for some reason I forget (likely supplies, or possibly this was when I was moving it inside), I hear a very welcome noise. I have visitors!



And welcome ones they are.

I continue work on the walls, which includes beyond the top floor to accommodate how the roof will be. It won't slope to all sides like in Rubyville but will be a more traditional and standard for Minecraft style roof.



I'm making my way back down again, and I hear... huh? It's a little too noisy, and from a spot where I didn't expect it.

You're still by the main door...



So who are you!?



Sometimes a second can spawn in, and I guess that's what happened here. Not that I mind. It completely skipped my mind to see what they had for trades, but I was focused on building and didn't have anything offhand I was thinking of needing.

I start adding the roof, and here's where all the deep slate really comes in. You didn't think the kitchen was it, did you?



A fall like this would be worrisome.



I soon run out of deep slate. It wasn't enough! The good thing was I had a bit more than enough oak wood so i didn't have a mass need of multiple things. Time to start that basement for the branch mines?

But first, I did some local shallower caving. I needed coal. I had a few surface openings I noticed on my island so this would allow me to clear them and make them safer too.



Sorry friend, but the coal is mine. There were quite a few skeletons in these caves, and nothing else. The caves were short in length and number and many looped back on one another. It was fine since I was able to make the island a bit safer by lighting them, and I had a fair bit of coal now. I needed more though, so I headed across the river and did some exploring in other nearby cavers for a bit more. The zombie that approached me while I was gathering the cherry trees a few updates back? I ended up searching that cave too by accident, as I entered in a different place and came out where I was gathering the trees.

For the most part I was dealing with creepers more than anything in these ones.



On my way back, I got my first view of the changes in the landscape my still incomplete house was making.



I needed to finish that roof though. Especially because I just kept getting wet! It really was raining a lot, which always has me more on edge for a sudden storm. That would be worse not until I can get the roof on and add my lighting rod.



So it was time to start the basement.

The location of the house on an island of raised terrain brought considerations. So for my basement, after the stairs head down under the ones leading to the upper floor, I turned them right, and then right again, for three equal sections of stairs. This put them basement central room a bit deeper but also nearer to the center of the island instead of where it might have come out of the surface (and likely into the river eventually) if I just went straight down.



Now to decide what goes where.

I wanted the map room in the center, as it would be the primary purpose of the lower floors.

I have no idea how accurate I was, but looking above ground, it seemed the center room was closer to the right (using the orientation of the above picture) than the left, and I wanted to try have the best chance of avoiding hitting the river, so I started on the left and decided that was where I'd try and put the branch mines. As long as I cleared the river, any further obstacles, like a massive cavern, might be able to be avoided with a turn. But I'd like to have it straight if I can.



Soon I reach deep slate, which is the immediate reason for this.

Surprisingly, I ran into only one single cavern on the entire way down. That was less than my first branch mine (which was three or so) but both were not large caverns so I could just block them off.

At one point I came across some tuff with iron ore in it, which I thought might be an iron ore vein, but I wasn't sure as I didn't explore it beyond what I needed to make my way past.

This one came near some diamonds.



It dropped down into a "Y" or "T" shape three way crossing.

One way led to a dungeon with a zombie spawner.



Between the merge of the three caves and the spawner at the end of one of them was another diamond and part of an iron ore vein! Seems that suspicion I had earlier was correct.





As for the other two caves? Well...





No! Nope! Nuh-uh! No way! Forget that!

So I block it off and continue making the stairway down to the needed level for the branch mine. I should be getting close, and maybe that lava in the second picture above is a clue of that.

I head back to the dungeon and check the chests.





The iron, coal, and bones are useful. I also take the gunpowder (not really a need to?), name tag, and horse armor.

With a pretty big supply of deep slate, I head back up for now to continue progress on the roof I desperately need.

It's night, and a full moon too, but I get a pretty picture through the window of the beautiful skies that come with it.



I finish the roof (finally!), and here's what I ended up doing.





For contrast, here's how I originally planned it the creative scratch test.



From the outside, I definitely like the shape and profile of the original plan. The reason I changed it was ironic. In all that time I was without a roof, I come to find the extra light from above was nice and I might miss it. So I went back to the creative world and tested it with an open glass top, but I wasn't too fond of the changed shape. I compromised and did it in one spot.

One sort of downside is that the shaders seem to use "can I receive direct skylight drom above" as the factor to determine if rain puddles form during rain, because glass blocks have it form beneath them (the rain drops falling themselves stop at the glass though). Or we can pretend glass ceilings leak. Either or. That's sort of why I also didn't want to do it too large of an area, but the big reason was preferring the original roof shape and profile. I compromised anyway to keep some sky light, and it worked out well because I have a carpet mostly under that spot and it seems to hide the puddle spots rather well. They almost aren't noticeable, so it worked out anyway.

With a proper roof I'm feeling cozy.

I think this zombie is too; it's burning!

Shouldn't have wandered out of that cave, friend (or it was a night spawn).

Now it was time to add the map room, the portal room, and work on the the other things on the island, like making a more traversal and safe path down to the river, a bridge, and a farm somewhere.

I decided, by the way, to cut the number of bridges from two to one. Not only would it be less work, but one of the two was one I could see very seldom being used and not that justified anyway.

I also considered adjustments to the path that would run down the river. I was either going to move it on the opposite side I originally planned (and where the scrapped bridge would be), or it would still be in the original spot (or maybe both?) but it would run there from another way.

The reason is mostly shown here, and this will be the conclusive picture of this update.



The spot in the front isn't much, and I'd like to make the most of it for farms.

The path where I'm standing is where the bridge will go.

Okay... does that make up for the detour Zeno?

I've found that if I try building with something new just to use it, it doesn't always turn out well. I haven't used bamboo yet but I'm sure the time will come. I find if I just try building something and happen to use something "new" (to me, at least), it might work well. That's how the beacon shrine in Azura came about; i just happened to try something with Quartz and found mud bricks worked well with it, especially when using dark oak fencing for trim. I liked it so much that I was surprised to find out mud stone bricks aren't too popular with many Minecraft players. I think I have the opposite feeling towards them, although they are definitely a block type that works either strongly with or strongly against things as opposed to being a "works good enough with anything" so I sort of get it.

I've yet to make a cherry house. I've only used it for bridges so far. I'm more crazy about the trees themselves than the Pink wood. But even if you're not using it directly for a house, it can still go a long way in fitting in with the color palette of a local area. For example, this house doesn't have cherry wood in it, but my plans were to make the bridge the same as the one i made near Rubyville, and that is made of cherry wood. I'm also considering adding some trees around the island (though not sure yet). The trees have a darker Purple bark, with Pink for the leaves, and along with Red roses, I think it might add some Red and pink color to the area despite not being in the central build itself. I try and keep the overall color palette of a local area in mind when choosing how to build. I don't tend to do any of the more drastic detailing like gradients and all that so I sort of try to accomplish color balance it other ways I guess.

This is also the first time I've ever used stripped logs of any type in a build.

Season 3: Episode 10

With the house completed (well, mostly), it was time to finish the rest. Time to figure out the farms. Time to finish the map room and portal room in the basement. Time to figure out the connectivity of the raised terrain of an island relative to the surrounding terrain (which would be important as I'd be running to and from it a lot), which means time get the bridge up and time to figure out the path from the higher elevation down to the water level. And then time to finalize it with detailing (terrain and landscaping). There's still a lot left, actually! And that's not counting any side things I might need to do to accommodate all of that! See why I made that trip back, now? I'm essentially "soft restarting" every time I move, so every little bit helps.

And then, after all that... I'll still need to ensure I'm supplied and well stocked on certain essentials, like food and material resources. Then I can start to think about adventuring.

But let's start at the beginning.

I decided to start with the bridge.

The terrain is my island was already set up for it, so that's one side ready. I put in the stone ends and started laying the bottom support logs.



That cave could pose a problem. You can see the remains of a zombie that walked out and started burning.

I decided to secure the area, so I ventured in to get some initial light down, and then figured if I might block it on the surface.

Not far in at all, it forked in two directions. One terminated nearly immediately.

The other went on.



It had quite a few creepers, around three or so, but thankfully they came at me staggered, one by one.



This cave didn't go far either, so I just lit it up and decided not to cover the opening.

I started leveling this side a bit, and got the second support down. I also put markers where the support beams running up from the ground level would be on each side.



And then started putting the fencing for the lesser support and details in.



It was at this point that I was running up against being out of cherry wood a lot, and I still needed not only a lot more logs for the top supports and the ground supports, but the planks for the bridge itself and the edge fences! The ground supports could be added later if I wanted to spread the work a bit (which I do end up doing), but I still need a lot more, so I decided rather than growing a few trees at a time and either waiting or using bone meal, I'd head to the nearby cherry grove to get a bulk stock of some wood.

Eventually, I get the bridge in an initially complete state, minus the ground supports. I was still supplementing it with locally grown trees, but those were more to give a little extra towards my supply for the supports I'd need to add later.



I then do some small touch ups on the other side, like adding grass to some of the cleared area where the bridge is. Small details like this go a long way for me.

I started one of my mornings to these visitors at my door... but I hid inside and waited for them to leave.



Not long after, I spot this.



I think those are the same ones? I check where the others were spotted and they were gone, so... good! Get off my island! And stop coming back!

I decided to start on the farms next, and I decided to do a small crop farm on the side of the house. The path going to the river would cut in front of the house after all, and then I'd have a small pen for cows.

I was originally not sure if I wanted to go with cows, but I had a small stock of hay bales from villages, and I'd no doubt find more. On top of this, I could find some cows on initial mapping adventures to get me started. I was going to go through a lot of food adventuring, and I was quickly getting down to my last stack.

While putting in the what farm, I heard I had another visitor. This time, another unwelcome one.



It frightened me at first due to how close it was, so I immediately put distance between us, but... it didn't give chase? I went back out and dealt with it, and checked behind it for more. I didn't find any, and this was quite a distance from where I saw the ones walking away earlier. While looking across the other side (to the right of the above picture), I got my answer.



That's not an awkwardly split patrol. Notice the two banners; there are two captains, which means there are two active patrols?

I guess this is the unwelcome version of the double llama visitors.

This had me realizing that if they were near enough to not despawn, could even more come? Did they even have a timer on maximum spawn time like the llamas? Unfortunately, this fringe wonderment became reality!



Imagine my reaction to be sitting here in amazement at two patrols, and witness a third patrol showing up! What is going on here!? Are more going to show up!? What is this? Seriously! Are they trying to overrun me with numbers now?

I keep a close eye on them, but turn to actually getting things done. As long as they stay down there... I should be good. But how many are going to spawn, I wonder?

The next thing I work on is the pen for the cows.



And with the bridge up, I can go try and source some. Maybe the forest will have some not far within it, if I'm lucky.

The day is nearing its end, so I head out the next morning. If worst comes to worst, that field on the other side of it may have some. But I luck out and there's some not far within the forest.



I initially went to get a picture of just the one, but the second showed itself from behind a tree as I did. A third was later found just to the right. This would work.

I begin making my way back, and here's approximately how close they were.



Luckily, that distance had resulted in the patrols leaving. But with how frequently they were showing up, I was now always going to be on watch.

That left the map room and portal. I needed four more obsidian for the portal, and just a bit more glow stone for the map room. I could source the latter from the nether, so... I needed the obsidian first.

I also still needed some more cherry wood for the supports for the bridge.

So what I did was head back for more cherry trees. And while I was there, that put me halfway towards that portal I spotted near the pillager outpost to the South of my house. I decided to check it, despite it being in an area I haven't mapped yet. Unfortunately, it yielded no obsidian. And while you may be wondering "isn't the ruined portal itself made of obsidian", yes, it is, but my last diamond pickaxe broke some time ago. I at least got a golden apple, and the portal wasn't far from where I was already getting the wood, so it wasn't a total loss. I wasn't going to know there wasn't any obsidian until I checked, after all.

So I headed back to my branch mines to use them for diamonds for the first time.

Early in, I found something I was worried about.



Luckily no sensors were aware of me, but I decided this was a good sign to end this branch.

I decided to try my luck with shorter and more numerous branches. The result? Unfortunately, not good. Maybe it was luck (or a lack of it), or maybe it was due to my immediate need of diamond, but I wasn't finding any early. I went through my nearly four ion pickaxes and found none. On a successive trip with more, I eventually came across some. And it was exactly three.



I kept mining a bit more to see if I'd chance across more. What I instead found was some funny and cute noises that I knew were not funny and cute it those noises were picked up by something else. Oddly, while crouching, I was given the advancement that I was sneaking by one that was within vicinity of a shrieker, but while breaking further blocks or even just walking back and forth multiple times... nothing happened but the cute noises. Not the terrifying ones. I decided not to play with danger and headed out with my diamonds.

With a new diamond pickaxe, it was time to get some obsidian. Instead of heading back to the previously checked one, I knew of a closer one in the field nearby beyond the forest. My memory was a bit off as it ended up a bit further than I thought, but it was still much closer than the other one.

With the needed obsidian, I finished and activated the nether portal.



Time to get my glow stone. I activated it and feared the worst, but hoped for the best.

The result was boring... which is great! I appeared to be in a nether ravine of sorts in the nether wastes.



It was here that I realized two things.

The first was I didn't have a gold piece of armor.

The other was I didn't know if my return trip would take me back to the portal I used to come here, or if I'd end up in a bad spot, at a bad time, or both.

So I headed back while it was still day. I expected it would most likely return me at the same portal, but better be safe than sorry.

Thankfully, it returned me to my home. So I made a gold helmet and quickly returned.

I made my way to the top of the ravine, and there was a small pass of nothing but nether waste in the first direction i looked. Boring... but fine. I just needed glow stone for now, although eventually I'd want to use this to find a nether fortress. I'd need blaze rods to make an ender chest (I never mentioned it, but the initial one I brought with me was destroyed since I had to place it initially, and it was in a spot where it wouldn't stay).

The other direction had more nether wastes as far as I could see, but also some close glow stone.



To the immediate right, I finally something else. It was a crimson forest. I wouldn't need to venture there.



Through the small opening in the first direction I looked was the contrasting forest, a warped forest. I initially thought that might be helpful later for an ender pearl, but I already had one. Not long after completing the house, I heard an enderman during the day hiding out under the edge of my extended second story, so I tried my luck and it happened to drop one for me. But it was still pretty to see. I didn't know the trees glowed with these shaders for these two forests.



Nearby was some rather accessible glowstone, so I gathered it and headed back. I glimpsed a ghast heading away as I rounded an opening in the terrain, and I was heading back through the small opening, I heard it begin to fire, but then stop. Just in time, I suppose?

Back home, here's the room that matters now.



My initial plan is to get the two missing maps to the North, and then maybe the two to the South (these two so that I'll have the "local area" charted), both as separate adventures and updates. From there I'll set on larger ones.

I am going to have to redo the map I'm in though, unless I want the Green marker to follow me in the map I'll use back in Rubyville (and I don't). I wish it didn't behave that way...

Here's a look down towards the mines on the left.



The following morning started raining immediately after I awoke. I spend the first part of the day removing the natural trees on the island, minus the large oaks. Around halfway through the day, I saw the sky darken. I actually awaited a bit to hear thunder so I could witness the first time my new houses lighting rod did its job, but... nothing happened. The sky was definitely dark enough, and I did a bed test moments earlier and it was going to let me sleep, so it was definitely a thunder storm. Just... without the thunder and lightning. I didn't want to give too much time for many mobs to spawn, so i just decided to sleep and not witness it, and it ocured right as I was sleeping! Of course...

The next morning, I decide to finalize the bridge by adding the supports.





All that was left was the path down to the river, and to redecorate the terrain. I'd use cherry trees and some more rose bushes for that.

I decided to get a local, not zoomed out map of this location too.



You may notice the path is done here, so here's how I ended up doing it.







I was originally going to do a less developed path just with scattered stone stairs and path blocks, as I felt it would be less work, but the terrain was too steep for that. I ran into a fair few drowned doing the dock, a pair of which had tridents. The barrel on the dock has some spare boats in it.

I'd like to detail a little more on the terrain by adding some more grass, but I'm out of bone meal. It's good enough for now.

With my island about done, I can look towards starting my mapping. I still have some final things to take care of, like stocking up on coal and iron. No, seriously, look at the last few images. i was down to using stone tools for a shovel and axe! Stone! At least I have that iron ore vein so I know where a massive amount of it is. I'd really like to amass some diamond too, but but that's not quite as immediate of a need, so I might put that one off until between some of my mapping adventures. I'm really looking forward to being able to start that soon.

The rate of spawn is strange itself. They seem to show up a bit inconsistently, and you encounter them more while stationary in my experience. That's not really a problem because they sort of have a choice to deal with them or ignore them, and if you do choose (or "have" to) deal with them, it's typically not hard, not time consuming, and you can deal with the debuff. All in all, it's not a big deal to me. I was just shocked that that not only did I see multiple, but... many multiple. I'm literally sitting there in wonder at two patrols and witness in real time a third one showing up at the same time I wonder "can more show up". Wow.

In modern Minecraft, diamonds actually aren't very valuable (though this changes a bit with 1.20 due to templates and armor trims but the latter is optional). Once you have your initial few, you're set and they're near worthless. The reason they are more valuable for me is precisely because I'm avoiding mending and thus have a recurring need for them. It makes it feel like Minecraft would have pre-enchanting and pre-anvils.

Quote from Zeno410»

I've also found diamond feel very variable in modern minecraft. Sometimes, nada, sometimes, half a stack.

Even in older versions there is a noticeable amount of regional variability in the average altitude of diamond veins, as shown in these examples from my first world (the area had been generated in 1.5.1 but 1.6.4 is the same):

An animation of layers 10-13 (the range you see when mining at y=11), which shows a noticeably higher amount of diamond on the left side:

Season 3: Episode 11

The time for adventure to begin has arrived! I say that lightly since these first couple will be sort of setup adventures, but they still count.

I'm going to start with the two missing maps in the gap to the North to start (this update), and then do two maps to the South (one in each column) to complete the "square of four" for a "local area". The rest that are done were done on my trips to and from Rubyville to get a bit of a head start, and to break up the updates, but my first "real" adventuring in this area will be when I tart to take bigger chunks (more maps done on single outings) after those two above areas are mapped.

So with that said, here's the first of the two.

I decided to head towards the pillager outpost to the near North in the field with the massive surface split, since I knew that would be in the area of a new map. I started a bit West of it and that indeed started me near the Southeast corner of a new map, though slightly a bit more to the West than I expected. Not enough to hinder me though, and I simply looped around the pillager outpost to complete the Southeast corner.



The sun was setting and I thought this was a pretty first picture.

I then planned to move up to another row to the North and begin working my way West until I got beyond where I started the map, and then I'd move South to the edge.

When I got to the spot on the little hill to the right of the ruined portal in the picture above, I looked over the ocean and decided to start a video.

That ends up being the majority of the first map, at least the land portion. I expected the Southern portions of the map to be land and to quickly transition to Ocean, and for it to stay that way until the very Northern edge of the second map above this. Remember, I did initially come down here around either the Eastern or central part of these two maps and I had crossed said ocean. The very, very West edge was where I thought this might vary.

Anyway, here's the video, and I'll of course be describing it too.



From the field I'm in, there's forest ahead (looking West), ocean to the North and Northeast, raised terrain with forest between them, and slivers of plains extending to more plains ahead, with the edge of more raised terrain to the South, with cherry blossom trees atop it.

I move South to the edge of the map and work my way up the plateau. I expect this will be the only cherry blossoms I'll formally go through on this small adventure.

I make my way back down the Western side into the field I chose to forgo in an earlier update (I showed a field and a flower forest and chose the latter). I see some cows down here, so I farm them. I'm hoping if I do this sporadically on this adventure, that it will get me a stack give or take of more food.

I reach the end of the map, and while I want to continue going West, that will come soon, but not this time.

So I head North and slip into the forest., There's a small stream here and the though crosses my mind to get in a boat, but it doesn't seem like a wide enough river, so I don't at first. I eventually do, only for me to need to get out soon since it turns off the map.

There's dark oak forest here, and now it's my turn to run through one of these. I do something I rarely do when mapping and that is take my map out of my offhand, so that I may have a shield out. A sudden creeper may be bad here.

I luck out and don't even see any mobs, and thankfully the dark oak forest doesn't go on for long before reaching the ocean. There's much more to the West, but that's a problem for me in a future map.

I initially head out into the ocean to do one column North and then another sweep back South. I should have just stuck to land since even on the very Western edge (and what I can see into the next map to the West), it's all ocean, so there's not much to show here. The real reason I came back to land was the sun getting close to setting, and I make it to land just late, but mobs haven't yet come out. A very slim beach makes me feel safe enough to attempt sleeping, despite a nearby dark oak forest.

Working my way along the shore, the dark oak transitions to birch, and then I arrive at the other plateau I saw at the start. I make my up, and at the top I see some rose bushes, and while I don't know if I'll need many more, I gather them since I almost used all the ones I had originally. I see some small cave openings on the way up, down, and near the bottom, and there's more rose bushes down here, so I gather those too.

The rest is finishing the bit of forest, birch which shifts to oak, and there's not much to add for the rest. I hear, and then spot, a zombie coming out of a cave, but I don't have time to play.

Once I run out of land to chart, it's time to fill in the ocean.



Which there was a lot of, and I'm expecting the majority of the second map to be like this as well. I started noticing some guardians surfacing at times, so I'd have to be ready for a sudden elder guardian debuff if I happen to run over a temple. At least with there being nothing but ocean for the foreseeable future, it wouldn't matter much if that happens?



There's a bad side to this. I need land to start to map, and then to place the cartographer table down to zoom it out. This is wonderful when I can do it right on the edge of the map, especially near a corner, but this is all ocean. Luckily there's an island just within the next map territory. It will require some backtracking, but not much. It was placed well.



Survival island, anyone?

I start the map, zoom it out, coincidentally end up in a starting spot similar to the first map, and likewise, move to start with the Southeast corner and then start with a same initial route.

There's more guardians around here, and worse, it starts raining. I dislike being at sea when it rains. I go to get a picture of this, and right as I do... I notice the sky darkening. Great!



Since I'm still nearby that island, I decide I might try and sleep past it if I notice an opportune spot.

Oddly, like last time, the thunder and lightning RNG is resulting in none of it. Not a single one in what seemed to be about a minute now.

As I draw near the larger of the two islands, there's... not much for me here. Many creepers and skeletons, and an absolutely tortured and panicking enderman.



Maybe if it was minus the creepers and skeletons and was just a zombie far enough away, I might try, but not here.

I expect I'll just chart the ocean like this as it should be fine, but the very narrow peninsula on the other side has an opening. Only one skeleton (which I witness spawn in) and it's far enough away. I wish on land and sleep. Oddly, i witnessed not a single thunder or lightning strike.

In the morning, the skeleton cools off in the ocean.



I continue my task which is expected to me a lot of ocean. And it is. With a lot of guardians. There's way too many water temples around here.

Towards the North, the ocean starts to give way, still to ocean, but frozen now. I did expect a cold region here, but I wasn't sure much more frozen ocean there would be.

I found a confusingly crashed ship at one point.



I found two chests; one with paper which I took for maps, and another with the resources had a lot of iron.

Looking towards the Northwest, we see temperate (or at least "cool") terrain, so at least the cold zone, and more importantly the frozen ocean, will be ending on later maps in that direction. Not the raised spike of land and keep it in mind.



I fill in more ocean to the east, which is all frozen and it begins giving way to land.

As I land, I realize something. I forgot to pack my winter boots!



But the cows I've been gathering came in handy. I can make some, so I fell a tree for a crafting table and do so. The spruce wood itself will be welcome as I use that a lot for trapdoors.



One more sweep towards the west will finish this now.

I find more cows and continue gathering them, and one point I hear specific pitch zombie groan. Knowing what it is, and hearing damage zounds, I know it's spotted me and is running at me in the daylight, and I then see that it is, so I run.



This isn't a threat, but why fight what I don't have to?

Unfortunately, it would have been quicker too. I forgot how long it can take them to burn sometimes, and the little ones are fast. I had to kite him quite far. Every time I looped a tree and thought I could run through where it just chased me, it still wasn't dead.

The taiga ends for snowy plains, and a plateau to the North reminds me where I am. I then see a familiar village, and a familiar landmark, in the distance.



With the second map done, it's time to head home.

In another familiar spot for an update long ago, I find a new resident had taken up home in this small cave.



The following day, not far North, and not far South from home, I have an excited batch of friends running at me. I'm excited.



A pretty large cavern opening at the base of the plateau I'm near has this inside.





That straw hat equipped fellow is a zombie villager. More interesting to me is the glowing in the distance. It seems like it would too high of an altitude, but... unless that's glow lichen, it might be skulk! And I do think I see what appears to be the movement that skulk sensors make! I had no plans to go in anyway, but that would definitely seal it.

I finish the short rest of my journey home (better enjoy these shorter to and from trips while I have them) and add the two newest maps to my still small wall.



Amazing how even though most of both maps was ocean, as expected, it adds a lot to the "story" to have them present, huh?

More interesting is how the expected cold regions border seems to give way in the ocean like that. I wonder if there's something about ocean that causes that.

Two down, and two to go. Next we do some more local exploring to the South, and that will all be new terrain for me (contrasted to the two maps I just did, and a chunk of the ones to the West, which I was/am already familiar with).

Yes, lily pads should work, but I didn't have one on me (and likely won't keep one on me for the rare times this happens).

Hm, I just thought it seemed like there may be something to it. You can see how the border of the cold region is sort of running diagonally and then cuts in where the ocean is, but then goes back out at the bottom. My first thought was there was a limit to how far beyond land a cold zone could continue, but... the constant frozen oceans within that seem to go against that. It was something I observed and seemed odd regardless.

Regardless, I'm glad it did that because it meant that much less frozen ocean to deal with. It's pretty, but I've charted so much recently that "boring ocean" was a nice change for now.

Season 3: Episode 12

Okay, time for the beginning of the second "pre-adventure, adventure", and this will be split into three parts if that gives any tease as to how little of a pre-adventure this is. As a reminder, this is to chart the two maps below my house. With it situated near the Southeast corner of a map, I feel like four maps in a square would give me a good overview of the local region. The first map will be one update, and the second will be split into two.

So I set out using the bridge, which I anticipate will be an uncommon departure route for me.



I plan to do the East map first, so I'll be heading through the forest and to the large sloped plains (with the portal, and then heading to the lake in a forest beyond them. South of that will be beyond my mapped area and where I plan to start.

I do so, and the forest yields to taiga forest here. Unfortunately, there's a plateau here but it's small enough i can work around it, at least it seems so from this side.

I find a village on the other side.



I visit it, but unfortunately, there's no hay bales in a taiga forest (or at least there is none here; can they even have any?) so I merely move on.

I plan to chart to Eastern edge first, and then I'll decide what to do based on the terrain.

I indeed am able to avoid the plateau as it's small and round so I can chart it from the ground, but another stands between me and my route, so I make my way up this one. I'm rewarded with a good overview of what's towards the center of the map (and a good view).



The barely visible cherry blossom grove in the distance is the same one I saw just off the South of the map above this one a while back.

I make my way South back down a gradually sloping hill and into a forest. Unfortunately, there's carnage here. Poor sheeps.



There's more cherry blossoms ahead, but they'll be beyond this map. The forest gives way to plains in the Southeast, but again... an adventure for another map on another day.

I do spot not one, but two villages, and they are shockingly close.



If I had to guess, I could stand between them with a render distance as low as 6 (or 8 at most) and possibly see both of them. That might be the closest I've ever seen two villages? It's also just another reminder of how common they are regardless.

I head to the East, awkwardly halfway up a not shallow, not steep hillside covered in trees, and once I climb a bit, I get a good overview of what's ahead.



The plateau to the right was expected. There's a formal mountain the South (left) and a pretty unique hill, more of a "small mountain" in the center, with a low laying forest between me and all of it. There also just barely appears to be another mountain between the visible one and the center hill in the distance. Note the fire in the right of the forest.

I head down into the forest and then start heading back North. I have to make my way up the plateau, but it seems less effort than navigating between mountains from here. From the top of the plateau, yet another mountain is visible even further to the West (and unfortunately I'm half wishing I'd kept this picture since I'm describing it, but I had too many and it was one that failed the cut). I'm getting excited now!

But I make up for it because the Northern edge of the same mountain is visible here.



I make my way down the hill into the birch forest, back up the other side to another plateau, and reach the North edge where I'm overlooking the ruined portal (or rather, portals) I found near one another in the map above this one. I head over to the cherry blossom grove and begin making my way South again.



I'm in an awkward spot, because if I stay to this side, I'll miss some of the land to my left, but if I head back over, I'll be largely overlapping a pass I just did. Since I'd have to go down to do that anyway, I try and compromise and see if the river will let me and save me from having to go back up the other side, but the river ends. And it starts raining, and there's a dark oak forest to the North. I'd rather not be heading up a steep hill towards one of those in this weather!



I wait for the day to end since it's not long, and make my way up.

That other mountain I thought I saw from the Southeast corner? There it is again, still barely visible, but enough to be sure there is indeed yet another mountain. This is insane. Like with Rubyville, there's a cluster of peaks just South of my settlement it seems?





And there's no telling if there's even more beyond.

I reach the South of the map and begin making my way North again, but this peak could prove difficult.



I decide to navigate between the two and see what I can chart from the edges first, and then adapt based on what's needed.

There's some substantial cavern openings around here. I've seen a number of cave openings until now, but mostly insignificant ones, so here they are for variety.





The peak proves too large to chart skirting it from the ground, so I have to climb it. Not that i mind climbing these. Seems these mountains are home to the clouds!



Oh, and the goats. Please don't ram me!



It's funny, right as I had that thought about "these peaks are home to the clouds" the goats made noise like "hey, we live here too".

Kiss the clouds! I mean, the sky. "Kiss the sky" is a title screen splash I think.

To the North I get a very great overview of the terrain beyond. The taiga (grove) gives way to birch forest, with oak in the distance on the right, dark oak on the left (I expected this eventually in the Northwest corner), and the cherry blossoms in the far distance.



I decide to shift my travel West towards the dark oak. I manage to travel atop the trees, which is a strategy I'm employ a lot around here.

This... spot... is... gorgeous! (And spoiler alert, it gets better fast.)



The sloping hill that shifts to a dark oak forest, with a very wide and expansive low laying forest, with a steep cliff at one point with more to the top, with a valley of mountains to its South. There's some radical stony cliffs to the West (left) and what appears like it might be ocean too.

Just ahead I see a rather large fire and its consuming the treetops I want to walk on! As I draw near, I see it was started by a ruined portal.



I elect not to check it. A bit of gold and iron isn't worth my treetop safety. I'm a tree girl and I'm sticking to that for now! You can't get down! Not for nothing! (seriously, I was terrified of this forest which makes my recent "go on in... it's fine..." gesture to Zeno about this biome funny.)

I head East from here, and then North, and then turn West as the Northwest corner is all that remains.



There were a lot of dark oak forests and valleys in this part of the map. At least the constantly shifting terrain made it easy to find spots up to the treetops!



Where I'm looking is also the same area where I ventured to gather the bit of dark oak I needed a few updates back to get the material needed for the floors of my house. Or rather, the concluding image is a better showing of that.



You can see the valleys of dark oak I also pointed out when I was getting that wood too.

One map done, and one more to go. The mountains got me really excited, and the dark oak area did too (more the spot to the South, not the spot here at the end). Could the next map exceed this one?

Season 3: Episode 13

I'm starting to get a little too far ahead, if that's any indication to how much fun I've been having exploring ahead. I wanted to get these next two up without much delay as they complete the prior one, but now I definitely will (I'm still going to keep them separate though or it'd make too much of an update).

Picking up where I left off, of course still in the trees, I notice I have a small choice to make.



I'm in the corner and a river, and a steep one, secludes me from the rest of the map in all directions. So I guess the direction I head first is determined by which way seems like it has the closest way around it. If that's neither, I am forced to head down and then back up and pick one at random.

Looking both ways, one does offer a way around. It's to the South.



So it looks like I'm going that way.

The thought of all the mobs I might be further avoiding up here in the trees has been on my mind since I started traveling atop the trees, but especially as of late with there being a lot of valleys and steep cliffs has it been. And routinely, just as I coincidentally think of something, it is realized.



The bow is enchanted while I'm not sure if it's got extra knockback, arrows already do, so this could be bad. It's not as bad as a creeper, but it reinforces my idea to stay up in the trees. Not that I wasn't going to anyway. It's brighter, prettier, and gives better sight up here.

Seriously, that large gradual hill and valley portion last update before the cliff had me thinking it'd be a perfect spot to "double layer" some trees (this basically means digging the top of the canopy to the top of the trunk and then growing another atop it for a taller tree) and then build a tree top village/base/home of sorts. It's the perfect area too (just wait until I show more of the immediate area soon...) but I've already settled just nearby, so maybe another time in another place. Shame though as I doubt I'll find another so perfect like this.

I begin moving South and come across that same area, this time getting a look at it from atop the cliff side, and also getting a bit more of a look towards the body of water to its West (right in the picture).



I've got a bit of a gap between me and that area though, so once again I have a small choice to make.



Heading right is easier here, despite it pushing me off the Eastern edge of the map. I can always head back inward to it after moving around this if need be. As I go to move around it though...



Oh... my goodness! What is that!?

I was just talking about the treetops making this a good place for a location to settle, and then this makes itself known.

Years later and the modern generation brought by 1.18 is still flooring me and feels fresh and exciting. Absolutely unreal. I've seen some cliff sides like that by oceans by never with just a cavern exposed.

Instead of heading South along the Eastern edge, I turn around and grab the missing bot of territory above me. There's a "small mountain" here, wand while it's not a formal peak as it's a grove, the snow top has me personally classifying them as such. So I make my way to said "mountain" and yet another gap comes between me and my route. This one has a lush cave within it. Pretty... but not something I want a closer look at from up here.



I reach the Northern edge, and now I am formally at the spot where I gathered the dark oak wood for my house. This is also looking at said house... well, in the rough direction of it.



It's approximately on the other side of this ridge. You can just make the edges of another ridge out in the distance to the left behind it. That's the other side of the near doughnut shape that wraps around the island and has a break in it (where my route in and out by boat on the river takes me).

I head West and come across an expected land clear of any forests. While doing the map above this one, I stood atop a cliff and was overlooking a forest, with another plateau in the distance and fields strewn about.



Said area is actually further back, but here's where it starts. There's also a pretty large cave opening I never saw since I never came close enough on the last map, and it's up here so I wasn't able to easily glean it until I was.

Since I'd rather chart while I can while up here instead of heading down just yet, I head back South. The meadow up here is serene, and there's a birch forest beyond it.



Well, a very thin ridge of one. As I draw near, I see the dark oak forest over the edge of the cliff it sits atop.



This whole area... I swear...

We're departing this area for a moment though, as I quickly shift my direction again, determined by the terrain. I decide to head West after all, do the Northwest corner, and then work south and come back to the dark oak forest.

Heading East, here's that further plains area I saw while originally charting the map above this one. You can even just barely see the ruined portal in the forest that I found in the Southwest corner of that map.



The gradual hill up the higher terrain on the left looks fun. While heading up it, I see it was concealing a little lake. I didn't even note it at the time, but there's a bit of a split cavern cutting into it from the water. I wish I had gotten a closer look at it now.



I make my way around it and beyond it and come back across the body of water in the area near the dark oak forest.



Time to get do some water charting. There's a bot of a "river" creating a sliver of an island of sorts between where I first start exploring and the larger ocean below.

Beyond it is the massive cove of interest.



I forgot to point it out in the first picture showing it, but there was a shipwrecked turned upside down in front of the cove. I won't go back an add that above to leave it as an Easter egg to see if you noticed before now.



As the day is drawing near, I decide I'll sleep here (and this will be where this map gets split into two updates).

To the West, the silhouette in front of the setting sun shows another grove as the top of a "mountain".



The various landmasses, many of them as sharply cut along the shore as the one near me, indicate this ocean may not be large after all, at least not in this general area.