This is a Creole-style plantation house loosely based on the famous plantation house Laura in Lousiana, about halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge on the Mississippi river. Creole style building is rather different from the stereotypical "Gone With the Wind"-style plantation. Some of the creole features you can see here include an elevated first floor, a wide covered porch (or gallery) extending the length of the building, an open interior plan with many double doors for ventilation, and vivid colors even on the outside. Some elements I've changed include raising the first floor and making the first floor stone for creeper resistance; converting the upstairs windows to balconies so I could enjoy the view more; wrapping the gallery around the entire house because I wanted to, and a number of changes due to the constraints of minecraft. It ended up with something of a Caribbean feel but I'm still pretty happy with it.
The idea for this build started from a need to collect some slime balls. I also wanted a mob grinder away from my main base as with the new zombie spawning I was concerned that zombies might spawn in my village during my overnight hunting and slaughter the villagers. Since slimes show up in swamps, I immediately thought of a Louisiana plantation. I decided to look at Creole style because I wanted to do something different but as soon as I looked at a few I realized it was a really good fit for a Minecraft plantation. The sloped wood roofs are easy to do with stairs, the open understory is perfect for a monster trap, and open floor plans are good when any wall has to be 3 feet thick (six if you want different wall colors).
I had recently found an excellent location while digging clay for some thorn-themed towers in my main base. It was a largish land area in a swamp (sometimes hard to find with all the ponds and bayous). There are large swamps in two directions, so I'll be able to dig a lot of clay. There's an adjacent extreme hills with basically a ridge next to the site which provides views and settings for pictures. Finally, it's adjacent to water on two sides, one of which is a deep inlet from an ocean, so it's a good base for exploration.
The first thing I built was an overseer's shack to sleep in during construction. This was based on the slave's quarters from Laura but I added a back porch and exit to the water for direct boat access.
Next I started the plantation building itself on a small hill. I thought the hill would make for better views from the building and a more imposing appearance on approach. The views did come out great, but it turns out this building style is best viewed from the first floor level. From ground level off the hill you mostly see the underside and porch fence and miss most of the details. My west side views ended up being taken from a tree. Here's a picture of the east side under construction showing the dirt scaffolding.
As expected the views are great. Here's a sunrise off an attic balcony over the ridge:
Initially the attic balconies were open to the attic but that looked a little odd from the outside. Later I put in walls for the balconies. The attic looks like it could be made into a really cool room although I haven't had any ideas yet so it's unfinished. In practice it's a hangout to use up the last minute or so of the day once I'm done with what I want to do and am waiting to sleep. (I walk out to the balconies and enjoy the views.)
The galleries have a nice shaded look with plenty of plants. My understanding is that the gallery shouldn't be spider proof but in practice spiders never try to come in.
The first floor has the functional items. There's a furnace room disguised as a kitchen with eating area.
A sleeping area. The blue area rug helps with color balance for all the brown and yellow.
The crafting table is in a work desk with work chair and panels for a journal, maps, and a clock.
This is a working plantation as well. This tree hides the trapdoor down to the monster grinder.
The grinder itself is built as a fence spiral.
I can snipe monsters to make them notice me and come into the spiral. Monsters navigating the spiral fall into a cactus trap. I initially chose a cactus trap because I figured I could live with the inefficiency and it won't kill me if I accidentally fall in (unlikely, but possible, and catastrophic in hardcore!) However, the disadvantage to a swamp with water access is that there are a lot of waterfalls in the caves underneath, plus it seems like there's even more than the usual number of caves down there. I'm not even close to lighting everything up down there and I'm not seeing many monsters, not even zombies. I may convert it to a drop trap with some shifting ledges for safety. OTOH, the only drop I really want now is string and this trap doesn't catch spiders so maybe I'll just leave it.
And, finally, the money shot. Sunset from an attic balcony:
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Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
RTG plus - All the beautiful terrain of RTG, plus varied and beautiful trees and forests.
Thanks! I'm finding hardcore actually encourages detailed building. Hardcore is a big disincentive to caving or Nether exploration, so I spend more time building and planning.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
RTG plus - All the beautiful terrain of RTG, plus varied and beautiful trees and forests.
This is a Creole-style plantation house loosely based on the famous plantation house Laura in Lousiana, about halfway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge on the Mississippi river. Creole style building is rather different from the stereotypical "Gone With the Wind"-style plantation. Some of the creole features you can see here include an elevated first floor, a wide covered porch (or gallery) extending the length of the building, an open interior plan with many double doors for ventilation, and vivid colors even on the outside. Some elements I've changed include raising the first floor and making the first floor stone for creeper resistance; converting the upstairs windows to balconies so I could enjoy the view more; wrapping the gallery around the entire house because I wanted to, and a number of changes due to the constraints of minecraft. It ended up with something of a Caribbean feel but I'm still pretty happy with it.
The idea for this build started from a need to collect some slime balls. I also wanted a mob grinder away from my main base as with the new zombie spawning I was concerned that zombies might spawn in my village during my overnight hunting and slaughter the villagers. Since slimes show up in swamps, I immediately thought of a Louisiana plantation. I decided to look at Creole style because I wanted to do something different but as soon as I looked at a few I realized it was a really good fit for a Minecraft plantation. The sloped wood roofs are easy to do with stairs, the open understory is perfect for a monster trap, and open floor plans are good when any wall has to be 3 feet thick (six if you want different wall colors).
I had recently found an excellent location while digging clay for some thorn-themed towers in my main base. It was a largish land area in a swamp (sometimes hard to find with all the ponds and bayous). There are large swamps in two directions, so I'll be able to dig a lot of clay. There's an adjacent extreme hills with basically a ridge next to the site which provides views and settings for pictures. Finally, it's adjacent to water on two sides, one of which is a deep inlet from an ocean, so it's a good base for exploration.
The first thing I built was an overseer's shack to sleep in during construction. This was based on the slave's quarters from Laura but I added a back porch and exit to the water for direct boat access.
Next I started the plantation building itself on a small hill. I thought the hill would make for better views from the building and a more imposing appearance on approach. The views did come out great, but it turns out this building style is best viewed from the first floor level. From ground level off the hill you mostly see the underside and porch fence and miss most of the details. My west side views ended up being taken from a tree. Here's a picture of the east side under construction showing the dirt scaffolding.
As expected the views are great. Here's a sunrise off an attic balcony over the ridge:
Initially the attic balconies were open to the attic but that looked a little odd from the outside. Later I put in walls for the balconies. The attic looks like it could be made into a really cool room although I haven't had any ideas yet so it's unfinished. In practice it's a hangout to use up the last minute or so of the day once I'm done with what I want to do and am waiting to sleep. (I walk out to the balconies and enjoy the views.)
The galleries have a nice shaded look with plenty of plants. My understanding is that the gallery shouldn't be spider proof but in practice spiders never try to come in.
The first floor has the functional items. There's a furnace room disguised as a kitchen with eating area.
A sleeping area. The blue area rug helps with color balance for all the brown and yellow.
The crafting table is in a work desk with work chair and panels for a journal, maps, and a clock.
This is a working plantation as well. This tree hides the trapdoor down to the monster grinder.
The grinder itself is built as a fence spiral.
I can snipe monsters to make them notice me and come into the spiral. Monsters navigating the spiral fall into a cactus trap. I initially chose a cactus trap because I figured I could live with the inefficiency and it won't kill me if I accidentally fall in (unlikely, but possible, and catastrophic in hardcore!) However, the disadvantage to a swamp with water access is that there are a lot of waterfalls in the caves underneath, plus it seems like there's even more than the usual number of caves down there. I'm not even close to lighting everything up down there and I'm not seeing many monsters, not even zombies. I may convert it to a drop trap with some shifting ledges for safety. OTOH, the only drop I really want now is string and this trap doesn't catch spiders so maybe I'll just leave it.
And, finally, the money shot. Sunset from an attic balcony:
Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
RTG plus - All the beautiful terrain of RTG, plus varied and beautiful trees and forests.
Geographicraft (formerly Climate Control) - Control climate, ocean, and land sizes; stop chunk walls; put modded biomes into Default worlds, and more!
RTG plus - All the beautiful terrain of RTG, plus varied and beautiful trees and forests.