1. Fully formed Continents, instead of the Endless Sponge pattern of Land and Ocean generation.
2. A larger volume of Islands and Archipelagos to populate the dull monotony of ocean.
I really miss this part of 1.6.4's generation and prior versions, and unfortunately the only way to replicate some feeling of it today is to use Large Biomes (which I understand does not replicate the generation at all, but the increased size of the "oceans" can at least make it feel a little more spread out, since that's exactly what it is). Thankfully in my main world I still have some 1.5 chunks - but, this is such a small portion of the world (only about a square mile estimated) that it makes no big difference except for the caving.
Additionally it would be ideal to have such continents maintain some consistency in temperature/biomes - this would make other continents worth exploring, in the event that your main continent is home to temperate/colder biomes (as opposed to deserts and jungles).
Archaeology was confirmed to not be coming in 1.19.
In any case, I'm against any addition of lore to the game, because the whole point of it being a sandbox experience is that you create your own lore. Mojang mentioned during Minecon that one purpose of archaeology was to exist as another avenue for players to create their own stories, and I think that the focus should remain on that. As such it is highly unlikely that anything lore-related will ever be added.
Following the events of the previous session, how will we move forward?? Well, I always say that with great trauma comes the opportunity for great therapy.
That's where Starlight Compressor comes into play.
Session 284 - "The Compressor"
I wake up and wonder what is going on.
“Staz! Staz, where is everyone?? Is Mayor Sensha okay??”
“Joey, what’s this troubling you? Did you have a nightmare again?” he asks.
“Is Drexel still alive??” I ask, unable to differentiate what’s real and what’s not.
“Joey, are you okay? Come inside – let’s make you some tea,” Staz’s comforting words always help me in times of trouble.
“Böshtok, Joey is having a manic episode again…” he says as he brings me inside the Council Clubhouse – as though I have these episodes often. But I’ve no knowledge of that.
Böshtok already has tea and milk waiting for me. Ibram closes the doors and alerts Shadrack and the golems outside. Staz brings me to the bed. This is all some kind of ritual that I’ve never seen before, even though it has everything to do with me. They’ve done all this before – many times before. Which means so have I.
“Joey, what’s the last thing you remember?” Böshtok asks as I drink the tea.
“Everyone. Dead,” is all I can conjure at the moment, my heart still racing with the vivid picture of everyone drowning to Enderquin’s terrorizing chant still fresh in my mind.
“Okay…” Böshtok heads outside while Staz stays to watch. I don’t see Drexel, so that must have actually happened. But where did I fall asleep? The fact that I cannot tell where my life ended and where my dreams began is the part that terrorizes me.
Böshtok returns with some potions and a golden apple from Maker’s Wellness Center.
“Here, take these and sleep here for the night.” He gives me a potion of weakness and a golden apple – the same tools that I use to cure villagers who have been zombified (a trauma I do not wish to experience). Böshtok is a genius – of course, it could have the same restorative effects on me.
I take the medicine and rest, letting the chemicals do their work to fight against the raging voices in my head, which have been completely thwarted by “All hail Enderquin.”
The next day, I feel refreshed – almost a little too much. The council has been incredibly hospitable for me. Although we disagree on a lot, when they see I am in a state of turmoil, all of them are quick to help. This is what friends are for, superseding any political and spiritual conflicts that exist. And it didn’t end there…
“Joey, maybe you should go back to Starlight HQ today. I know that building the base calms your mind. Take a break from us – we’ll be okay,” Böshtok reassures me. He has notoriously been against the creation of Starlight HQ, yet here is, telling me to do exactly what calms my mind and brings me peace.
“That’s a good idea. Thanks, Böshtok.”
I take the railway back to Starlight HQ, which is very quiet. Only after building the Inner Circle do I realize just how quiet the base is – Tetraquin will fix this, however we need to complete the Tetraquin Project first before we introduce that. But for now – we have work to do.
All this comes at a weird time, because while we’re very close to completing Starlight HQ 3.0, there is still a lot of work to do – most of it technical stuff. Today, we’re going to focus on the biggest part of that technical work: Starlight Compressor.
This plugin has been a pain in my ass for a long time because its functions are very broad, with the contraption being quite complex. If I leave it for long periods of time, as I’ve done now, then I tend to forget what everything does and have to spend time relearning the mechanics. That’s exactly what I’ve just spent a great deal of time doing. Thankfully, reading back over Session 259 was helpful (this was the last time we really did work on the project).
To recap, the entire purpose of this plugin’s existence is rooted in two main necessities for Starlight HQ:
The need for an automated storage/smelting system to control large quantities of items
The modular functionality’s desperate need to have regulation when it comes to consistently changing modular states
The former functionality has already been achieved – it’s the latter stuff that we need to work on, which requires a deep dive into some rather complex redstone.
First, while going through the plugin’s mechanisms, I realized that somewhere between updating from 1.12 to 1.15, comparator detection was broken such that single items moving vertically through hoppers move too quickly to be detected – however, they can be detected if moving horizontally. What the hell is that about?
It’s a huge issue here, because there is literally no space to move things around, and the entire basis for this plugin is hopper comparator detection.
OKAY, thankfully I was able to adjust that – otherwise this entire machine would need to be reworked, and this bit was frustrating enough (it took me a long time to realize it was broken, because it worked perfectly fine in 1.12).
We’re moving into the Dropbox now. I mentioned in a previous session that hooking up Starlight Compressor to Dropbox was going to be a little more involved. That’s because I intend to use Dropbox as an input for Starlight Compressor should it be plugged in.
Basically, Dropbox is supposed to be a drop-off point for such high-volume items as stone, cobblestone, etc. What if you want to smelt those? Well, you would need to use Starlight Compressor. By plugging in Dropbox, Starlight Compressor will unlock a separate hopper chain for the items to funnel through. They will funnel directly into Starlight Compressor from Dropbox, and from there will be processed according to the settings of Starlight Compressor.
From here, all items will make their way down to the furnace room to smelt as normal. Note that there isn’t a way for me to send these items back to the Dropbox storage room – this would require a very complicated setup which is not necessary right now. I do plan to eventually install the Dropbox’s own version of a smelter – but again, this is not necessary right now.
Recall that Starlight Compressor also activates pulse limiters at the end of each output. This has not yet been hooked up to Dropbox, but we’re about to do that now. To reiterate, this means that regardless of the length of the incoming pulse, Compressor will reset the output after seven or so ticks. This is useful especially for Dropbox because a constant stream of items flowing through would cause pistons in our farms to remain extended, not allowing new pumpkins and melons to grow (as an example).
^ Above, I am installing a new redstone line that locks all incoming inputs from the MISC. This makes Starlight Compressor the most invasive modifier because it directly locks the machine from use during active compression. ‘Active compression’ refers to the state that the Compressor goes into after reaching a certain threshold of items (this is decided through the threshold and amplitude levers), causing the pistons in the plugin to extend (a visual indicator that active compression is taking place), see here:
I am retesting all the Compressor’s modes, and there have definitely been some bugs which I have done some work fixing, mostly related to switching consistently between ‘amplitude’ and ‘hold’ mode. In general, the machine is still fragile in the sense that you shouldn’t switch any levers too quickly, or all the time (especially during compression). I think I’ll put this note on the handbook.
Aha, the destination swapper was broken, too. And due to the comparator detection bug I noted earlier, I had to add another hopper at the end of the line just so that it would work:
Maybe you’re wondering: what’s the point of locking the plugins from being used during active compression? Isn’t that just confusing?
It’s necessary to ensure that the modular state is preserved, which is especially important when I choose to log out of the world. See, one major issue (and also a source of some bugs) has to do with leaving chunks, logging out while some contraption is busy, and other things like that. Starlight Compressor’s ‘active compression’ mode does the job of keeping everything stable, such that it becomes safe for me to log out without worry of anything breaking, because anything still working will complete its cycle, and nothing new will start during compression.
Unfortunately, this is a side effect of having an extremely advanced redstone base. Starlight Compressor has only become necessary as a result of this, and for right now it’s the best way to ensure that Starlight HQ remains as bug-free as possible. But I imagine that I’ll be fixing bugs underneath the hood all the way up until the world download.
^ One other such function that active compression will have is preventing overlap among multiple modular functions. This means that, for example, if the potion brewer is activated by the MISC, then all other modular outputs for the MISC (like the SRF farms) will be blocked – and vice versa. This is another method regulating and reducing lag in the base.
On another note, I found a zombified villager which I actually have some plans for; I’ll be keeping him in the SCPC until we expand on this at a later date.
I’m starting the process of over-stocking Starlight HQ as I prepare for the season’s end and imminent completion of Starlight HQ. Even the small stuff like the flower farms is important because flowers make dye, which is extremely versatile (from terracotta to concrete among other things).
Additionally, I’m adding bamboo shoots as decorations around HQ.
Turning my attention back to functionality, the sugar cane farm has long been in dire need of an improvement. Recall that the farm was built back in 2015 before the advent of observers, which meant that it used this messy and ugly BUD-switch based design:
It’s such a mess! I’ve been able to update it for a while and have not done so (in fact, I’ve already made new sugar cane farms in the Inner Circle utilizing the popular observer-based design).
Say goodbye to all that old garbage. We’re saving a lot of pistons, too.
The new design is not only much better, but it saves a ton of space. Real estate is a major issue now, with little to no room left within the Starlight Faction to build new farms/machines. I’ve had to start using spectator mode in a backup copy of the order every time I plan to build a new redstone contraption.
Of course, I needed to hook back up the on/off switch, which is also automated by Dropbox.
I am also getting better at labeling all the various AND gates underneath HQ so that I am not completely lost when running new redstone lines. Yes, it has become an event trying to sneak new wires throughout this area. Tear down literally any wall, and you’ll see a web of wires infesting as much block space as possible.
I’m building up supplies here at the SRF food hub, which is going to be updated in the coming sessions as well. An old farm built way back in Season 2, it’s actually still very powerful, producing crops faster than the villager-run crop farms. The only downside is that it requires a lot of bonemeal – it also requires player input, which the modular farms do not.
I’m making a mental note that our cocoa bean farm no longer works, so I’ll need to build a new one later.
One way I have been dealing with the overflow of bone drops from our mob farm is by turning it into bonemeal and stocking every farm to hell. It’s a bit of grind work, but it’s necessary.
Today’s final task will be completing an old piece of the MISC that I started a while ago but never finished: hooking up the mushroom farm! The old automatic farm from Season 1 is now the oldest farm that I still use in this world, and we’re upgrading it to be used automatically through the MISC. Why build a new one when it still works just fine? Besides, I already have new ones through Starlight Overdrive. I can then plug in Starlight Overdrive if I want to activate them.
What you’re seeing is the installation of the farm’s MISC output wire, with all associated modifiers built into it (Limiter, Echo, and Compressor being the main ones required here). This is a process, because I then need to run redstone lines from each of those modifiers down to toggle whether they’re used, and the mushroom farm’s location in-between the Power Museum and SRF isn’t exactly the easiest to get new wires into.
…and I’m doing the exact same thing for the bamboo farm!
Thankfully, its location is much easier, being mostly out of the way. The SCPC is basically the outer limits of underground HQ at the moment, meaning it’s unlikely that I will run into anything other than STAS and a couple wires running to the Night Lights and iron farm.
With that, I can now finish adding the remaining MISC links for these farms (and other targets I’ve just been neglecting). I won’t bother writing on these here because this process is grind work at this point. Check out Session 270 if you want to see the whole process of adding a new link. Each and every link is a process with multiple components, and then with each one introduces the possibility of new bugs I need to iron out.
It’s as I said, I’ll be fine tuning the MISC until the end of the season and even beyond most likely.
But for now, I’ve made major progress, finally completing all of Starlight Compressor’s functions and improving many core components of Starlight HQ. Now that the principal technical features of the base are effectively done, save for finishing some MISC links, I’m ready to get the rest of the base done, too.
Finally completing Starlight Compressor, and improving a broad range of Starlight's core components, the base is officially in fine-tuning phase as we look through the entire Starlight complex aiming to complete all the unfinished projects that have accrued throughout Season 3. And on that note, one in particular immediately comes to mind...
it is clear why Mojang isn't going to spend that much time on optimizations because people want regular updates.
This is exactly why, and also why they didn't release Caves and Cliffs as a single update that would've been fully released around this time. But even in splitting the update, people still aren't happy (I still see complaints everywhere that "1.18 adds nothing," and it's being treated as a complaint). Although Mojang's practices here are definitely terrible (the game has run worse with every update), there is definitely something to be said about its fanbase. Mojang has conditioned its players to expect regular huge content updates every 6-9 months, and by doing so it is immediately considered disappointing if they were to put out an "optimization update", for example (like 1.15). It's frustrating because they're ultimately going to do what they think the fanbase wants (though maybe not perfectly), because they're a business after all; yet this negatively impacts the game which just gets more bloated with each update.
It would be great if they spent an entire update focused on optimization and refactoring, not on "new stuff." But they're not going to do that because in their minds, it will be disappointing to players who consistently expect bigger and better every single time. This stems from the culture of instant gratification that has consumed most facets of modern society, such that we (speaking generally) expect the latest and greatest in the shortest amount of time, and the idea of patience and waiting causes us to completely lose interest (my laptop which I've only had for four years is considered old now, the same way old iPhone versions are considered obsolete immediately when a new one comes out, which is just absurd to me).
I think Mojang fears that should they do an optimization update, this is exactly what would happen - people would suddenly get bored, because that's what happens every time not even a month after a new update drops. Not even a day will go by after November 30th, and people will start talking about 1.19, which will put immense pressure on Mojang to churn out snapshots before people get bored. It's really unfortunate, but also Mojang conditioned players to be this way especially with the new tradition of announcing future updates at Minecon Live before the current one is even released, with no discussions on optimization at all. What I want to see is the fanbase getting on the same page about what's necessary in terms of optimization and actually improving what is already here, but that's never going to happen (I would love to be wrong though).
Wait, any biome can be flat or mountainous? The heck do you do with flat mountain biomes or mountainous swamps? Huh?
Yes, here is a better explanation:
Basically, terrain generation is independent of biome generation now. Prior to 1.18, you had all kinds of biome variants like Forest Hills Plateau, etc., with the only differences in these variants being related to terrain generation. Those variants no longer exist. 1.18 uses a new algorithm that generates terrain first - then, biomes will adapt to the terrain that exists. This means that mountainous terrain will be generated before it adopts the mountain biome type. Check out the following photo of this Plains biome:
It is actually the exact same biome as this, not too far away:
Here's the seed if you want to see this in practice: 7911647233737562058
You spawn in what feels like amplified terrain, but it's just a Plains biome. Head north and then west, and you're given about 1,000 blocks of flatland, plus a village! A little further north and you get the beautiful river gorge in the first photo.
Now, if you want to see flat mountain biomes, you actually can! It's a bit rare in normal worlds, as biomes adapt to the terrain generating, however if you create a single-biome world (maybe do jagged peaks as an example), you'll see the same type of terrain generation: mountains here, peaks here, then flatlands, sometimes for hundreds to thousands of blocks. This is more common for Grove and Meadow biomes in a normal world, but it's possible for the more extreme variants as well. In fact, just for fun, create a single biome with that seed I listed above - you may be surprised to see that it's the exact same world (well close enough) in terms of the terrain generation!
With these changes, 1.18 is the real Exploration Update - it encourages you to explore and find new areas that you do like. The two photos above can foster wildly different home bases, cities, etc. - but they're in the same biome. It's pretty incredible IMO, because it's no longer easily possible to predict what you're going to find (this was the issue with terrain before, because if I find a forest biome, I pretty much know what I'm getting, and it's quite boring).
Some of you really need to take the time making some seeds. Worlds are incredibly varied now, seeds are no longer like one another. If you take the time to generate some seeds and actually explore them you're probably going to find what you want because there's a good balance of everything now.
"Too hilly" is a weird complaint when hills didn't even exist before because they were tied to a biome and could not organically appear anywhere like alpha and beta. Pre-1.18 terrain was too predictable, every biome was flat except for artificially made biomes which made things even more predictable (extreme hills, foresthills, etc). The presence of natural hilly terrain in 1.18 does not mean it is too much, it means we are now striking a better balance and worlds aren't going to be looking the same anymore when it comes to terrain features. They did not remove terrain that looks like 1.17, they only added more possibilities and unshackled the terrain.
There are plenty of mountains with plenty of flat land in between them, or even just thousands of blocks with no mountains to be found. The multi-noise per seed is completely random, but landscapes that resemble 1.17 were not removed can still be found. It's just very random and unpredictable, as it should be. You shouldn't be able to guess what a random seed looks like before you generate it, and that was their goal.
Exactly - I think some folks might be forgetting that biome and terrain parameters have been separated, such that any biome can be as flat as it can be mountainous. It's not that terrain is more mountainous - it's that the parameters that used to govern mountainous terrain (i.e. Extreme Hills biomes and "shattered" variants of biomes) have been separated from biome-specific code. This makes exploration more interesting, and despite some of my gripes about game changes on a micro scale (i.e. some of the nonsensical changes that have taken place across the years mostly related to redstone and mechanics) - this is a good one.
I think they re-added Amplified so that you could have that experience if you wanted, but by no means is terrain generation amplified by default. People who don't like 1.18 terrain may not like certain parts of the terrain, perhaps - that just means you need to keep exploring to find terrain you like (because yes, flat lands do exist, and actually in some seeds they exist for thousands of blocks before you see any mountains!).
Oh man, this is the session I have been waiting to release for a very, very long time. It's a completely different reading experience that will propel our story to some new levels, and it should play some mind games with you... that's what Enderquin does best.
If you thought the previous session had a dark ending, well, things are about to get a lot worse for Quintropolis.
Session 283 - "The Community"
“And so, on this day, we commemorate Drexel’s influence on Starlight, the Inner Circle, and Quintropolis as a whole. He fell victim to unfortunate circumstances which cannot be explained, but he will always be a hero in perpetuating the development of our sacred island.”
Staz rushes outside, with Ibram chasing him close behind. “Joey, is it going to happen to me, too? Please don’t let it happen to me!”
Staz’s fear is something I did not expect. One could say that it’s a wrinkle in my plans. But it’s a wrinkle I should probably start acknowledging, because otherwise the entire world will collapse to Enderquin’s control. Something very cryptic is happening.
“Staz, I am here to protect you. You’re safe here – don’t worry,” I try to reassure him.
“Drexel wasn’t!” he quickly retorted. “What is the GAUNTLET?? You owe us an answer!!” he starts yelling.
“Staz, you’re panicking – here, let me brew you a potion.”
“No, you’re dodging the question. Tell US why Drexel went insane.”
Staz has me in a box, and neither Ibram nor Boshtok are fighting his request. They stand alongside him, waiting for me to speak on what they think I know… what I do know.
“You all know that Quintropolis was created by gods. Celestial beings without a corporeal form. Yes?” I first need to know if they will even be able to conceive the concepts about which I consider sharing.
“Of course – you never stop talking about how much you plan to destroy them, and now look at what has happened!” Staz responds.
“Yes… We’ve all been trying to warn you, Joey,” Boshtok joins in. “Please tell us what is going on here. We know that you have an idea.”
I wait for a moment to decide how to best approach this delicate situation.
“Enderquin is here,” I answer. “I thought I defeated him… I did defeat him, a long time ago, in a sky dimension which he claims home. I slayed him with my own hand. Violet helped me get there, and then she died. Ever since my visit, I’ve been experiencing hauntings of my own. They’re the same hauntings that eventually drove Violet to her death.”
They all pause in disbelief, then hurry inside the clubhouse without another word. I knew this was not going to end well. What I did not realize was the extent to which Enderquin’s power has grown. Why did I think the dragon was his physical form? Perhaps it was my pride.
There is not much I can do now to reason with the council. They’ve already decided long ago that I am a villain. Perhaps it is best I accept that no matter how much I try to help them, I will forever be the bane of their existence, and my own.
I’ll continue my work on the Inner Circle, and maybe they will come around to rejoin this discussion.
Today, we need to complete Maker’s Wellness Center. This will be home to Maker – our recently acquired cleric. It will house all the materials which he trades, and a brewing stand to brew potions. I also intend to have potions of weakness and golden apples stored in here. After all, it’s clear that we need them on standby all the time.
The challenge here is making sure that Maker doesn’t attach himself to one of the barrels instead. Needless to say, this part took a bit of trial and error.
Boats are actually an easy way to transport villagers around – so long as you don’t have any elevation changes.
Look at that! Michelle offers Feather Falling books! Not that we need those, since we have a double chest full of them already, but still.
Thinking about the best way to integrate trades with Maker (a cleric), I’m reminded that the Mob Processing Hub, which we built way back in early Season 2 (this was in 2015), is not more than 200 blocks east from here. What if we were to install an underground connector to this build, such that we could easily transport mob drops?
Obviously, it’s the zombie flesh that comes to mind. Actually, trading that with clerics is probably its only use at this point in the game.
Still, bonemeal is also good to have here, and since this hub is home to our original skeleton XP farm, we have ridiculous amounts of bone drops here.
Please also welcome Moosa, a fisherman who just appeared out of nowhere… In any case, coal is a useful trade as well, if not slightly wasteful. I’ll keep Moosa’s things here in Jacque’s Agricultural Center.
Now then, although I’ve no interest in fully completing the connector today, I am interested in getting started with the trades. As such I will be moving a significant amount of zombie flesh from the MPH over to the Inner Circle. This is a great way to revive the utility of the MPH, which has gone largely unused throughout Season 3.
Welcome Maker to the shop!
Moving on down, there is one more major shop I want to install: the Inner Circle Produce Market. This will be a useful source of pumpkins, melons, beetroot, potatoes, and more carrots to increase trading volume with our farmers.
The market is largely carved into the mountain here, which is great as it keeps things nicely hidden from the outside.
Maintaining stone themes with the overall look, but I’m also adding bricks and clay where appropriate.
Here we have the new beetroot and potato farms – however, some of the new farmers have gone over to Shadrack’s plot and have since acquired carrots in their inventory spaces. This is evident as I notice carrots and things popping up in here!
Finally, I am adding the pumpkin and melon farms here. I was going to make an automatic farm for each, but I think this will be fine for now (an automatic farm requires much more space here, which I am not prepared to dig out or house above ground).
And here is the completed produce market! With our new farmers.
Having done more work on the roof for Michelle’s Paper Shop (though it’s still not done), overall the Inner Circle’s downtown strip is coming along quite nicely.
There is still one more important addition I’d like to make before concluding my work here today.
Bees have been in Quintropolis for a while, but I’ve not bothered to utilize them and make a farm that brings honey, honey blocks, honeycomb, and honeycomb blocks into the world. That’s about to change.
Next to the underground connector that takes us to the MPH, I’ll be building the small but cozy new Honey House, which will house several bees to begin our resource production of honey. This will be a manual farm for now – I’ll look into some automated options later.
I don’t like the look of the crafted beehives, so I’m going exploring out west to find a total of seven additional bee nests to add to the house.
That took less time than I expected, but elytra make everything fast nowadays.
A small storage area underneath the hill here, and I think that’s pretty good for now.
WHAT? How did you get in here??
Aha – sneaky little *******. I’ll be patching that up nicely.
Suddenly, I notice everyone in the Circle trying to leave…
STAZ!! OH NO!! What happened??
Ibram?? Where’s your librarian outfit?
Nobody is responding to me. This is very strange – I need the mayor’s help.
“Mayor Sensha! We need to hurry. Something strange is happening on the island…”
“Joey, thank goodness you’re here. I’m afraid I don’t understand what’s going on!” he speaks in sheer terror.
“Wait, where is everyone??” I ask… because nobody else is here.
“They’re gathering at the chunk border. Everyone is at the chunk border. From everywhere.”
“The chunk border? What are they doing there??”
“Come, let me show you.”
Mayor Sensha walks me to the chunk border, and I feel my heart begin racing at an uncanny pace as I hear what I can only describe as a chanting of sorts.
…The kind of chanting that echoes for hours in the air miles and miles away, carrying from community to community, until everyone has received the message.
We inch closer, but Mayor Sensha cannot believe what he is seeing. He stops for a moment. He is having a panic attack.
“I’m here, Mayor.” I grab him and lay him against the cliff wall. “How can I help??”
“Joey… I… I- AHHH!!” he startles and jumps back from me. “GET AWAY!!”
“Mayor, it’s me!! It’s Joey!”
The mayor does not appear to recognize me at all. He shakes in agonizing terror as he backs into a corner but has nowhere else to go. He starts clawing away at the rock wall with such passion to escape whatever he sees in place of me. I try to inch closer and comfort him, but it is of no use.
“STOP!! Please, please just kill me,” he screams.
“What? No! Can you hear me??” I ask. “Mayor Sensha – do you hear me??”
“Yes,” he responds, eyes wide and breath heavy. “But that’s not you anymore.”
Oh no. He is hallucinating. The only way to save him is to leave. I am not losing two friends today.
“I’m leaving, Mayor. Just turn away – don’t look at whatever it is you see. Close your eyes, and breathe. It’s not real. Please, just… just breathe and keep breathing.”
In the background, I hear the chants. They’re louder. I leave the shriveling mayor to rest in hopes that he will be able to overcome this mental game Enderquin is playing. In the distance, I see everyone that the mayor was talking about. They’re standing in a line – a straight line, completely unwavering, not more than a block from the chunk wall border which separates them from the deep waters below. Not a single movement.
As I get closer, the thunderstorm worsens. I’m close enough to make out the words they are saying, and to say that I have been shaken with such fear would be an understatement.
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
Mayor Sensha!! Where are you??!!
“All hail Enderquin.”
“Mayor Sensha! Snap out of it!!”
The mayor is no longer responsive to anything I say or do. He might as well be a puppet just like the rest of them. Enderquin has taken everyone – every single villager that I have met and made relations with – and brought them here to the border of Quintropolis Island. But why??
Mayor Sensha begins walking to the border with everyone. I push him away, but he pushes me back with a force that could only be described as… supernatural.
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
I have no power here. All I can do now is watch as these people’s minds and bodies have become entirely violated, many of them now zombified.
“Tell me, is this a dream? Or is it a vision?” The voice of Enderquin emerges, as does the chilling hallucination of multiple dragons encircling the edge of Quintropolis Island. I call it a hallucination, because I refuse to believe this is real.
“Enderquin! You’re alive! But how??”
“You did not listen. You never listen. And now, you will need to answer for your sins.”
One by one, the villagers jump off the chunk wall border, drowning to their certain demise as their last words echo across the entire world, much to Enderquin’s sadistic pleasure.
“NOOOOO!!!”
I sprint to save them, but I can’t. They’re already dead. The chanting ceases, as does the rain, the sun rising and the birds chirping as if nothing had happened at all. Because maybe it didn’t, and maybe this was just a dream. And I am still asleep.
Here is a night view from the front (I've also been working on the landscape surrounding it, and here you can see five of the six Night Lights):
And from the back:
Thankfully this is an SSP so no worry of any griefers (I would never build this on an SMP for that reason). However, if you're curious what a lightning strike would do, well, I did a test in a creative copy backup, and this is what happened by just one strike in the wrong place:
It is for that reason that I went the extra length to secure it with nether brick slabs on top, though the only way to fully protect it is probably to put a glass dome over it or something. A strike to cause this would be rare, but it's still possible even with the slabbing, and not something I want to risk given that 95% of the treehouse is flammable. So I am continuing to run tests to try reducing the chances of this happening to an infinitesimal percentage. If I do need to build a giant glass dome around the treehouse to protect it, then that's what I will do (just depends how much the nether brick slabbing will ultimately impact the look from the outside).
Surely some of y'all have some things to share, too.
But I've been particularly active as of late (still very behind in my journal but I'll catch up eventually), and have just completed what I would say is easily my best build to date.
Introducing Starlight Treehouse:
A little context about this project:
This has been one of the longest-running incomplete projects in my world now, started somewhere in 2018 at the beginning of the journal's Season 3. Only now has it been completed at the end of the season, because the scope of the project far exceeded what I originally intended. The aesthetic challenge of this build was insane, because it goes against rules of orderly, cube-oriented symmetry that are so easy to fall into. There is an incredible amount of detail, but the challenge was focusing on the exterior just as much as the interior (since I build underground a lot, it's easy to forget about that). This treehouse looks like your average clubhouse, but it's actually a complex redstone house disguised as a primitive treehouse. It features more than 15 micro farms, all my pets, the "map room" that houses all my adventure maps for various lands, the full control center for the Night Lights (those glowstone pillars you see surrounding the treehouse, which can be connected to anything in the base as a visual indicator of their use), and serves as the Overworld hub for my gold XP farm on the other side. Indeed, it was designed as its own ecosystem - although it is part of the larger Starlight HQ complex (which I will show in a different post later), you actually get everything you need inside the treehouse itself, as it's completely self-sustaining. Think of it like a Skyblock base... kind of.
The entire treehouse is slabbed with Nether brick slabs to protect it from lightning. I am playing in 1.15, so I don't have lightning rods. It's not 100% protected, but I always sleep during thunderstorms anyway.
A closer look inside (lots to see!):
You'll start by entering the slime block elevator at the base of the treehouse:
You will be greeted by Greta - our librarian - and a bountiful view of Starlight HQ. There is also a block swap contraption that reveals a crafting table in this main meeting area:
The treehouse is wound together by three main central floors and lots of winding paths:
^ The paths above take you to the homes of my cats and dogs, respectively.
On the second floor, you have a few choices:
The main canopy is a great place to watch the sunset, and is home to my parrots who tell us if mobs spawn anywhere on the branches (I have about 15 parrots). Of course you have a jukebox for jamming - and all the music discs in the game as of 1.15.
Take the path to the left, and you'll head to the Ecosystem:
The Ecosystem is where most of the farms are - above, you can see a view of Starlight Castle on the right, and the split paths which place some farms on top of others (this is how I get the automated storage to work). Let's check everything out:
^ Automated storage for melon, sweet berry, bamboo, and sugar cane farms, plus regular storage for various other items. These farms are all in the room directly above this. On the right side wall is the full world map, but it isn't done yet.
^ Here, you have bees (honey, honeycomb), wheat, potatoes, carrots (also supports beetroot farming), and cocoa beans on the right. A suspicious stew farm is also on the right tucked behind those ladders (one for night vision and one for saturation). On the far right, you have our fox friend, and an automatic composter. The best practice is to craft cookies, which make for high-efficiency compost (you get eight cookies per craft, and each cookie has 85% chance to generate compost):
I don't like leashing any animals, but I also don't want to see her accidentally fall to her death outside the treehouse. So this is the solution for now until I secure every possible guardrail, etc.
^ Small tree farm, with all two-tall flower types directly underneath (these are easily farmable with bonemeal).
Above, you have bamboo, sugar cane, and sweet berries. The melon farm does not need to be seen, so it's completely hidden. A nice view of Starlight Castle is out to the right.
Below, the bonemeal from the composter and honey items funnel directly here:
Storage is automated - with the hopper chains hidden in these branches from the room above:
You get amazing views of some other builds inside HQ from the bedroom:
During the day, the bedroom does not need to be lit - so, the lights are controlled by a daylight sensor to conserve energy - this is the case with 90% of the lamps in the treehouse, including the ones in the floor.
^ The portal to the Gold Grinder, and my map room (which is yet incomplete, since I need to finish mapping the world out).
^ Night Lights control panel, with a book telling you how to use it and what all the buttons do. Various methods of vertical transmission are used here, such as utilizing observers, and droppers which drop items all the way underground to a mechanism that further controls the lights. These lights can be hooked up to any of Starlight HQ's farms so that you can see when it is running.
On the top floor, you have a sun roof - press a lever to toggle the horizontal 3x3 piston door:
The top floor is mostly for the Gold Grinder. In addition to the Nether portal that takes you there, we have:
Enchanting room and anvil station.
Full gold storage room - I have stacks and stacks of gold blocks, ingots, and nuggets, plus full enchanted golden armor, tools, weapons, etc. Even though I'm not playing in 1.16, this area will become incredibly useful when (or if) I upgrade to deal with piglins. This also makes the treehouse my main source of golden carrots as I can make them pretty quickly.
Finally, we have this feature:
If I have large amounts of items that I want to transport back to my main storage facility underground (closer to central HQ), all I must do is drop the items down this hatch. A hopper funnel collects them at the bottom, then a minecart takes them away to the storage facility.
...oh yeah and my charged creeper pet that I obtained prior to 1.13 named Sparky lives up here. Don't make him angry.
For me it's a combination of things because I don't like to do the same too thing too much - I get bored easily, so if for example I have spent a lot of time on a redstone project, I'll move onto exploring and do that for a while (finish filling in some maps, find structures, etc.). But it all comes down to storytelling for me. Minecraft is a great canvas for that, and I tend to tie everything together with some kind of lore (I have a library in my world with just tons of lore I would write in my spare time - this is another avenue I do if I get bored of other stuff, but that boredom is always temporary; I find that more often than not I just get burned out rather than bored of a certain project).
Well, your incessant hostility is quite unwarranted - in any case, I wasn't going to respond, but you completely missed the point of my post by instead just highlighting stuff that triggered you. So for the sake of others, let's explore the important part as it's worth exploring:
If I updated from 1.12 to 1.15 (which is what I did), then nothing in-between really matters - just the result of the game being played and what I decide to do with it.
Most things added since [1.5] have been welcome in my eyes, but some of the things changed have not (the redstone behavioral change in 1.16 being one of them, and then another change that disrupted comparator detection in hoppers sending a single item vertically).
Even though the 1.16 update was very positively received by most, it contains an unwarranted and annoying change to redstone behavior which breaks a lot of things in my world - this means that despite all the good things that 1.16 introduced, my subjective experience would not be focused on this but on the redstone change that directly impacts me. If that change happened to be in any other update, then regardless of anything else in that update, I would not be thrilled about it. As such, it is not enough to simply discuss the update itself - so yes, it is completely arbitrary because your question inquires our subjective opinions about what's in the update itself (as evidenced by your incredibly biased poll). I never played in 1.13, or 1.14, so I cannot offer any opinion about those versions directly, except that I like most of the stuff they introduced which I only explored in 1.15. For me to have updated three versions - I focus on the things I like and the things I do not. This lends to a far more nuanced discussion that has nothing to do with, for example, claiming that pistons were added in 1.9? I'm not sure the argument you're driving at there.
Likewise, 1.5 introduced very important blocks for me - but that doesn't mean I would prefer to play in 1.5 versus 1.12 for example, because I also really like the concrete blocks and observers, and plenty of other things added since 1.5. However, the redstone change in 1.16 is enough to keep me away from it, so despite the fact that I really like the new blackstone (and the update as a whole without this change is fine) - it will not be an enjoyable experience for me right now as I'd first have to deal with that pointless change. Mojang's pattern of consistently changing details that don't warrant changing is annoying, but it is this premise which makes it important to dissect the features of the game itself. FWIW I don't know exactly when they changed hopper comparator detection behavior, but it was somewhere between 1.12 and 1.15, and that breaks a lot of my things, too - so, this is another example of a detail that I guess went under the radar, but it's incredibly annoying because I only found out about it by troubleshooting my contraptions which required this mechanic, that were now broken.
My world is on the brink of collapse in terms of its lore and story...
Enderquin is haunting villagers with hallucinations. Nobody knows what's real and what isn't, but that doesn't stop the villagers from being driven to madness when they see dragons appearing by the swarm to kill them, burning their houses, etc. It's exactly what happened to my character not too long ago. And we now know it's what happened to Violet (who was a long-time regular in the world - she warned us of this many years ago, but I thought she was insane... then she died right before my first visit to the End, in which I seemingly defeated Enderquin. Now we know that by killing the ender dragon, we have actually freed him from the End).
How far does it go? What exactly is Enderquin's plan? The prison of your mind is the blue screen of death which cannot be so easily reset.
All we know... is that the gauntlet thrives with infinite lives. And as Enderquin would say: "no soul becomes one with me."
In either case it's not really a question I can answer because the whole idea of updates is arbitrary. 1.14 is 1.13 with additions and changes. 1.15 is 1.14 with additions and changes. If I updated from 1.12 to 1.15 (which is what I did), then nothing in-between really matters - just the result of the game being played and what I decide to do with it.
If the question is what Minecraft features have been my favorite across the updates, then for me it's comparators, hoppers, and the other redstone stuff added in 1.5. Without those basic blocks and mechanics, so much of what I do in this game wouldn't be possible. Most things added since then have been welcome in my eyes, but some of the things changed have not (the redstone behavioral change in 1.16 being one of them, and then another change that disrupted comparator detection in hoppers sending a single item vertically).
Today's session marks the arrival of Day 6,000 in Quintropolis - and we've got a lot of stuff to check out as we turn our attention to the Inner Circle's development... and getting some necessary build permits from Mayor Sensha.
Does it all go well? That's a complicated answer...
Session 282 - "Build Permits"
Utopia is becoming an essential resource outpost for Quintropolis, and I’m realizing that if I decide to erect another major base in this world, then this is exactly where it needs to be. Sand, terracotta, plus reasonable proximity to the coral reefs that line the coastal desert village which has been designated as “downtown” – these are important resources for our bigger projects, especially today.
I’m visiting the Inner Circle to develop the neighborhood into a full ecosystem. This is what we need to sustain the production of resources here, not to mention provide a good security system for our council.
“Joey, welcome!” Drexel greets me on my arrival. “What brings you by today? Aren’t you busy as always?” A slight sarcasm is always welcome.
“It’s time to bring more life to the Circle,” I reply. We’ve got a lot of work to do.
“Good thing we were able to secure some build permits for you,” says Drexel to my surprise. “Mayor Sensha seemed adamant on providing these.”
“Interesting, did he say why?” He seemed very against that during our last meeting in Session 276.
“All he said was that these would keep the other villages off your tail…”
Well, he isn’t wrong about that. But for him to change his mindset so soon after telling me that I broke a bunch of laws… it’s out of the ordinary, like most things nowadays. We’ll address that later. Right now, we have work to do.
First, gray concrete to complete the road surrounding the central moat. I have mentioned previously that I plan to construct a large golden monument in the center – this will be the last thing we do when I acquire enough gold to do so.
Additionally, I’ve built the base for our gold center out of polished diorite.
Next, I am completing the road to the Council Clubhouse, lighting everything up as much as possible because zombies are a real danger here.
^ This ugly wall that digs into the mountain will become the setting for our downtown shops here in the Inner Circle.
Off the main road, I’ll build a stone brick pathway which will connect all the different shops. This is where many of our resources and farms will be located.
First, we will start with the building that connects Starlight Station to the Inner Circle.
Concrete and stone materials will be the basis for our constructions here. I’ll also try to incorporate bricks where they make sense.
Moving on down, the next focus is on agriculture. Crops and cows are arguably the most important resources in early development, so that’s our first order of business.
Thinking about what will go inside, I’m going with a basic wheat farm and cow farm. This will be a source of leather, which we can use for books to trade for Mending with Boshtok.
Guys… stop being so curious about the outside. It’s not safe out there!
…Or up top for that matter! I’m lighting up the roof of the clubhouse to prevent any unwanted visitors.
Let’s also provide some golems to the clubhouse to protect the council.
A nice sunset view of the Council Clubhouse, with Emerald Hills emerging in the background:
A lot of attention to detail and lighting is a big focus in the development of the Circle – I’m adding little touches like mossy/cracked stone brick nuances to the walls and floor.
…and a little welcome sign for the clubhouse!
You’ll also notice that I’ve begun surrounding the circle… with a BIGGER circle of hedges. This will fully protect and isolate the circle from the rest of the island.
Part of the challenge in this is dealing with trees – I need to remove most of the trees around the borders of the circle to prevent mobs from being able to climb up and invade the circle.
Aww, look at the golems playing games with the council!
I didn’t think any cows were left on Quintropolis Island, but I am mistaken! This is a huge relief.
Completing the agricultural shop, I managed to purify a zombie villager and give him the shop.
Welcome to Jacque’s Agricultural Shop! I’ve unlocked all his trades, posting them on the wall so you can get an idea what you want to trade.
Next on down the line is going to be the circle’s sugar cane farm – an important resource for paper and books to trade with the council!
I am doing a simple piston/observer-based design, but I plan to stack a few of these.
Get out of here, wanderer! No, we don’t want your childish trades.
The top of the sugar cane emerges from the mountain top, but I think this is a good opportunity to introduce a cool roof and give some depth to the Circle’s skyline. We’ll approach that later.
Nice – we’ve got some good resources going here! Leather, wheat, beef, sugar, and paper so far. Let’s see what else we can do! I’m having a lot of fun with this.
Get those phantoms!! Get them!!
How about a crop farm in front of the clubhouse??
Welcome Shadrack, our primary crop farmer – a child from two of our council members rather than a purified villager.
Boshtok tends to spend a lot of time trading out here during the day. It makes sense since he is practically the leader of the council.
Shadrack and his new friend now tend to the farms, and I have built a little house for them to sleep at night.
Unlocking all Shadrack’s trades, I note that he is now the only source of Blindness stew so far. He also trades Weakness stew, but I’m not sure why we would want that.
Another purified villager has been brought into the circle – welcome Michelle, who will be our librarian governing the sugar cane shop!
And just in time… we’ve reached Day 6,000 in Quintropolis!! The celebration is perfectly suited to our work at the Inner Circle, and I’m happy to be spending it with our new friends.
Unfortunately, the celebration immediately came to a sudden end on this day…
“Joey, Joey! Come quick!”
Huh?
“What’s wrong, Staz?” I ask the worried villager.
“It’s Drexel. He’s DEAD!”
“What? How is that possible??” Drexel being dead? That’s not possible! The house is secured with the very best protection. There is no way any mobs could have gotten to him! Especially not with me RIGHT HERE – did he die while I was working??
“Boshtok! Ibram! What’s going on?? What happened to Drexel??!” I ask in a raging fury. Drexel was the first member of the new council – a member with whom I had developed good relations, even if we disagreed on some things.
“Oh Joey, it was terrible. I wish we could have saved him… But there was nothing we could do but watch in utter dismay,” Boshtok is in shambles. I have never seen a villager so scared. They have dealt with zombies before, but I don’t think that is what killed him.
“What do you mean? Could the golems not defend or something?” I mean, they were built specifically to protect them.
“Joey, Drexel lost his mind. We woke up this morning, and he was speaking in riddles outside on the porch. We didn’t understand them,” Staz noted.
“We could not reason with him. It’s as if we were talking to a wall. The man we knew was completely gone. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ibram followed.
“We came back inside to prepare a weakness potion so that we could calm him down, but things got tense by the time we went back outside…” Boshtok continued.
Then the villagers were silent. Staz tried to hold back tears, but he failed miserably.
“I’m so sorry… Drexel had become a dear friend… I’ll be sure to prepare a proper gravestone for him. Can you tell me exactly what led to his… demise?” I’m trying to be considerate and not outlandish regarding the word “death.” But I need to know what happened.
“Joey, he lost his freaking mind. He was standing outside on the porch, with a sword drawn to his chest…” Staz started but couldn’t finish.
“It’s okay, Staz. He can extrapolate the rest…” Ibram tried to comfort Staz the best he could, but it was pointless. These people who had become my friends (with some boundaries) were completely destroyed. I had never seen this before, and it worried me greatly.
“What did he say? What was the last thing Drexel said?” I asked Boshtok.
“I couldn’t put it together exactly. Something about a gauntlet.”
“Yes,” Ibram knew. “He said that the gauntlet thrives with infinite lives. No soul becomes one with me… whatever that means.”
Mojang is against adding dynamic lighting, so any "glowing" effect on players would have to solely be a visual effect, much like glow squid or item frames:
Also, it would be impractical to make non-tile entity blocks, such as wool, "glow" (regardless of whether it just affects the texture or they actually emit light), as they would have to add an insane amount of new block variants (IMO, the "flattening" in 1.13 hurt the game by adding thousands of new blocks as each "variant" is now its own distinct block object; this even includes previously "render-only" states, such as snowy grass or fence connections, which were previously determined at render time).
Maybe a little off-topic here, but... Would this - "code bloating" I suppose - be a reason why the performance of the game seems to suffer beyond 1.13? I've noticed that in older versions like 1.8, even if I have more entities present such as mobs, item frames, etc., I experience far less lag than I do now in 1.15. It's one reason I even started a new world playing in 1.7, because the simplicity of the game even then allowed for far greater performance (though, I imagine it improves more in versions prior 1.7, but I haven't tested it that much). Can Mojang even optimize the game enough now to match those performance levels, especially with the terrain changes in 1.18? It seems to be less likely.
0
I really miss this part of 1.6.4's generation and prior versions, and unfortunately the only way to replicate some feeling of it today is to use Large Biomes (which I understand does not replicate the generation at all, but the increased size of the "oceans" can at least make it feel a little more spread out, since that's exactly what it is). Thankfully in my main world I still have some 1.5 chunks - but, this is such a small portion of the world (only about a square mile estimated) that it makes no big difference except for the caving.
Additionally it would be ideal to have such continents maintain some consistency in temperature/biomes - this would make other continents worth exploring, in the event that your main continent is home to temperate/colder biomes (as opposed to deserts and jungles).
1
Archaeology was confirmed to not be coming in 1.19.
In any case, I'm against any addition of lore to the game, because the whole point of it being a sandbox experience is that you create your own lore. Mojang mentioned during Minecon that one purpose of archaeology was to exist as another avenue for players to create their own stories, and I think that the focus should remain on that. As such it is highly unlikely that anything lore-related will ever be added.
0
Following the events of the previous session, how will we move forward?? Well, I always say that with great trauma comes the opportunity for great therapy.
That's where Starlight Compressor comes into play.
I wake up and wonder what is going on.
“Staz! Staz, where is everyone?? Is Mayor Sensha okay??”
“Joey, what’s this troubling you? Did you have a nightmare again?” he asks.
“Is Drexel still alive??” I ask, unable to differentiate what’s real and what’s not.
“Joey, are you okay? Come inside – let’s make you some tea,” Staz’s comforting words always help me in times of trouble.
“Böshtok, Joey is having a manic episode again…” he says as he brings me inside the Council Clubhouse – as though I have these episodes often. But I’ve no knowledge of that.
Böshtok already has tea and milk waiting for me. Ibram closes the doors and alerts Shadrack and the golems outside. Staz brings me to the bed. This is all some kind of ritual that I’ve never seen before, even though it has everything to do with me. They’ve done all this before – many times before. Which means so have I.
“Joey, what’s the last thing you remember?” Böshtok asks as I drink the tea.
“Everyone. Dead,” is all I can conjure at the moment, my heart still racing with the vivid picture of everyone drowning to Enderquin’s terrorizing chant still fresh in my mind.
“Okay…” Böshtok heads outside while Staz stays to watch. I don’t see Drexel, so that must have actually happened. But where did I fall asleep? The fact that I cannot tell where my life ended and where my dreams began is the part that terrorizes me.
Böshtok returns with some potions and a golden apple from Maker’s Wellness Center.
“Here, take these and sleep here for the night.” He gives me a potion of weakness and a golden apple – the same tools that I use to cure villagers who have been zombified (a trauma I do not wish to experience). Böshtok is a genius – of course, it could have the same restorative effects on me.
I take the medicine and rest, letting the chemicals do their work to fight against the raging voices in my head, which have been completely thwarted by “All hail Enderquin.”
The next day, I feel refreshed – almost a little too much. The council has been incredibly hospitable for me. Although we disagree on a lot, when they see I am in a state of turmoil, all of them are quick to help. This is what friends are for, superseding any political and spiritual conflicts that exist. And it didn’t end there…
“Joey, maybe you should go back to Starlight HQ today. I know that building the base calms your mind. Take a break from us – we’ll be okay,” Böshtok reassures me. He has notoriously been against the creation of Starlight HQ, yet here is, telling me to do exactly what calms my mind and brings me peace.
“That’s a good idea. Thanks, Böshtok.”
I take the railway back to Starlight HQ, which is very quiet. Only after building the Inner Circle do I realize just how quiet the base is – Tetraquin will fix this, however we need to complete the Tetraquin Project first before we introduce that. But for now – we have work to do.
All this comes at a weird time, because while we’re very close to completing Starlight HQ 3.0, there is still a lot of work to do – most of it technical stuff. Today, we’re going to focus on the biggest part of that technical work: Starlight Compressor.
This plugin has been a pain in my ass for a long time because its functions are very broad, with the contraption being quite complex. If I leave it for long periods of time, as I’ve done now, then I tend to forget what everything does and have to spend time relearning the mechanics. That’s exactly what I’ve just spent a great deal of time doing. Thankfully, reading back over Session 259 was helpful (this was the last time we really did work on the project).
To recap, the entire purpose of this plugin’s existence is rooted in two main necessities for Starlight HQ:
The former functionality has already been achieved – it’s the latter stuff that we need to work on, which requires a deep dive into some rather complex redstone.
First, while going through the plugin’s mechanisms, I realized that somewhere between updating from 1.12 to 1.15, comparator detection was broken such that single items moving vertically through hoppers move too quickly to be detected – however, they can be detected if moving horizontally. What the hell is that about?
It’s a huge issue here, because there is literally no space to move things around, and the entire basis for this plugin is hopper comparator detection.
OKAY, thankfully I was able to adjust that – otherwise this entire machine would need to be reworked, and this bit was frustrating enough (it took me a long time to realize it was broken, because it worked perfectly fine in 1.12).
We’re moving into the Dropbox now. I mentioned in a previous session that hooking up Starlight Compressor to Dropbox was going to be a little more involved. That’s because I intend to use Dropbox as an input for Starlight Compressor should it be plugged in.
Basically, Dropbox is supposed to be a drop-off point for such high-volume items as stone, cobblestone, etc. What if you want to smelt those? Well, you would need to use Starlight Compressor. By plugging in Dropbox, Starlight Compressor will unlock a separate hopper chain for the items to funnel through. They will funnel directly into Starlight Compressor from Dropbox, and from there will be processed according to the settings of Starlight Compressor.
From here, all items will make their way down to the furnace room to smelt as normal. Note that there isn’t a way for me to send these items back to the Dropbox storage room – this would require a very complicated setup which is not necessary right now. I do plan to eventually install the Dropbox’s own version of a smelter – but again, this is not necessary right now.
Recall that Starlight Compressor also activates pulse limiters at the end of each output. This has not yet been hooked up to Dropbox, but we’re about to do that now. To reiterate, this means that regardless of the length of the incoming pulse, Compressor will reset the output after seven or so ticks. This is useful especially for Dropbox because a constant stream of items flowing through would cause pistons in our farms to remain extended, not allowing new pumpkins and melons to grow (as an example).
^ Above, I am installing a new redstone line that locks all incoming inputs from the MISC. This makes Starlight Compressor the most invasive modifier because it directly locks the machine from use during active compression. ‘Active compression’ refers to the state that the Compressor goes into after reaching a certain threshold of items (this is decided through the threshold and amplitude levers), causing the pistons in the plugin to extend (a visual indicator that active compression is taking place), see here:
I am retesting all the Compressor’s modes, and there have definitely been some bugs which I have done some work fixing, mostly related to switching consistently between ‘amplitude’ and ‘hold’ mode. In general, the machine is still fragile in the sense that you shouldn’t switch any levers too quickly, or all the time (especially during compression). I think I’ll put this note on the handbook.
Aha, the destination swapper was broken, too. And due to the comparator detection bug I noted earlier, I had to add another hopper at the end of the line just so that it would work:
Maybe you’re wondering: what’s the point of locking the plugins from being used during active compression? Isn’t that just confusing?
It’s necessary to ensure that the modular state is preserved, which is especially important when I choose to log out of the world. See, one major issue (and also a source of some bugs) has to do with leaving chunks, logging out while some contraption is busy, and other things like that. Starlight Compressor’s ‘active compression’ mode does the job of keeping everything stable, such that it becomes safe for me to log out without worry of anything breaking, because anything still working will complete its cycle, and nothing new will start during compression.
Unfortunately, this is a side effect of having an extremely advanced redstone base. Starlight Compressor has only become necessary as a result of this, and for right now it’s the best way to ensure that Starlight HQ remains as bug-free as possible. But I imagine that I’ll be fixing bugs underneath the hood all the way up until the world download.
^ One other such function that active compression will have is preventing overlap among multiple modular functions. This means that, for example, if the potion brewer is activated by the MISC, then all other modular outputs for the MISC (like the SRF farms) will be blocked – and vice versa. This is another method regulating and reducing lag in the base.
On another note, I found a zombified villager which I actually have some plans for; I’ll be keeping him in the SCPC until we expand on this at a later date.
I’m starting the process of over-stocking Starlight HQ as I prepare for the season’s end and imminent completion of Starlight HQ. Even the small stuff like the flower farms is important because flowers make dye, which is extremely versatile (from terracotta to concrete among other things).
Additionally, I’m adding bamboo shoots as decorations around HQ.
Turning my attention back to functionality, the sugar cane farm has long been in dire need of an improvement. Recall that the farm was built back in 2015 before the advent of observers, which meant that it used this messy and ugly BUD-switch based design:
It’s such a mess! I’ve been able to update it for a while and have not done so (in fact, I’ve already made new sugar cane farms in the Inner Circle utilizing the popular observer-based design).
Say goodbye to all that old garbage. We’re saving a lot of pistons, too.
The new design is not only much better, but it saves a ton of space. Real estate is a major issue now, with little to no room left within the Starlight Faction to build new farms/machines. I’ve had to start using spectator mode in a backup copy of the order every time I plan to build a new redstone contraption.
Of course, I needed to hook back up the on/off switch, which is also automated by Dropbox.
I am also getting better at labeling all the various AND gates underneath HQ so that I am not completely lost when running new redstone lines. Yes, it has become an event trying to sneak new wires throughout this area. Tear down literally any wall, and you’ll see a web of wires infesting as much block space as possible.
I’m building up supplies here at the SRF food hub, which is going to be updated in the coming sessions as well. An old farm built way back in Season 2, it’s actually still very powerful, producing crops faster than the villager-run crop farms. The only downside is that it requires a lot of bonemeal – it also requires player input, which the modular farms do not.
I’m making a mental note that our cocoa bean farm no longer works, so I’ll need to build a new one later.
One way I have been dealing with the overflow of bone drops from our mob farm is by turning it into bonemeal and stocking every farm to hell. It’s a bit of grind work, but it’s necessary.
Today’s final task will be completing an old piece of the MISC that I started a while ago but never finished: hooking up the mushroom farm! The old automatic farm from Season 1 is now the oldest farm that I still use in this world, and we’re upgrading it to be used automatically through the MISC. Why build a new one when it still works just fine? Besides, I already have new ones through Starlight Overdrive. I can then plug in Starlight Overdrive if I want to activate them.
What you’re seeing is the installation of the farm’s MISC output wire, with all associated modifiers built into it (Limiter, Echo, and Compressor being the main ones required here). This is a process, because I then need to run redstone lines from each of those modifiers down to toggle whether they’re used, and the mushroom farm’s location in-between the Power Museum and SRF isn’t exactly the easiest to get new wires into.
…and I’m doing the exact same thing for the bamboo farm!
Thankfully, its location is much easier, being mostly out of the way. The SCPC is basically the outer limits of underground HQ at the moment, meaning it’s unlikely that I will run into anything other than STAS and a couple wires running to the Night Lights and iron farm.
With that, I can now finish adding the remaining MISC links for these farms (and other targets I’ve just been neglecting). I won’t bother writing on these here because this process is grind work at this point. Check out Session 270 if you want to see the whole process of adding a new link. Each and every link is a process with multiple components, and then with each one introduces the possibility of new bugs I need to iron out.
It’s as I said, I’ll be fine tuning the MISC until the end of the season and even beyond most likely.
But for now, I’ve made major progress, finally completing all of Starlight Compressor’s functions and improving many core components of Starlight HQ. Now that the principal technical features of the base are effectively done, save for finishing some MISC links, I’m ready to get the rest of the base done, too.
Finally completing Starlight Compressor, and improving a broad range of Starlight's core components, the base is officially in fine-tuning phase as we look through the entire Starlight complex aiming to complete all the unfinished projects that have accrued throughout Season 3. And on that note, one in particular immediately comes to mind...
Next up... Session 285 - "The Treehouse"
0
This is exactly why, and also why they didn't release Caves and Cliffs as a single update that would've been fully released around this time. But even in splitting the update, people still aren't happy (I still see complaints everywhere that "1.18 adds nothing," and it's being treated as a complaint). Although Mojang's practices here are definitely terrible (the game has run worse with every update), there is definitely something to be said about its fanbase. Mojang has conditioned its players to expect regular huge content updates every 6-9 months, and by doing so it is immediately considered disappointing if they were to put out an "optimization update", for example (like 1.15). It's frustrating because they're ultimately going to do what they think the fanbase wants (though maybe not perfectly), because they're a business after all; yet this negatively impacts the game which just gets more bloated with each update.
It would be great if they spent an entire update focused on optimization and refactoring, not on "new stuff." But they're not going to do that because in their minds, it will be disappointing to players who consistently expect bigger and better every single time. This stems from the culture of instant gratification that has consumed most facets of modern society, such that we (speaking generally) expect the latest and greatest in the shortest amount of time, and the idea of patience and waiting causes us to completely lose interest (my laptop which I've only had for four years is considered old now, the same way old iPhone versions are considered obsolete immediately when a new one comes out, which is just absurd to me).
I think Mojang fears that should they do an optimization update, this is exactly what would happen - people would suddenly get bored, because that's what happens every time not even a month after a new update drops. Not even a day will go by after November 30th, and people will start talking about 1.19, which will put immense pressure on Mojang to churn out snapshots before people get bored. It's really unfortunate, but also Mojang conditioned players to be this way especially with the new tradition of announcing future updates at Minecon Live before the current one is even released, with no discussions on optimization at all. What I want to see is the fanbase getting on the same page about what's necessary in terms of optimization and actually improving what is already here, but that's never going to happen (I would love to be wrong though).
1
Yes, here is a better explanation:
Basically, terrain generation is independent of biome generation now. Prior to 1.18, you had all kinds of biome variants like Forest Hills Plateau, etc., with the only differences in these variants being related to terrain generation. Those variants no longer exist. 1.18 uses a new algorithm that generates terrain first - then, biomes will adapt to the terrain that exists. This means that mountainous terrain will be generated before it adopts the mountain biome type. Check out the following photo of this Plains biome:
It is actually the exact same biome as this, not too far away:
Here's the seed if you want to see this in practice: 7911647233737562058
You spawn in what feels like amplified terrain, but it's just a Plains biome. Head north and then west, and you're given about 1,000 blocks of flatland, plus a village! A little further north and you get the beautiful river gorge in the first photo.
Now, if you want to see flat mountain biomes, you actually can! It's a bit rare in normal worlds, as biomes adapt to the terrain generating, however if you create a single-biome world (maybe do jagged peaks as an example), you'll see the same type of terrain generation: mountains here, peaks here, then flatlands, sometimes for hundreds to thousands of blocks. This is more common for Grove and Meadow biomes in a normal world, but it's possible for the more extreme variants as well. In fact, just for fun, create a single biome with that seed I listed above - you may be surprised to see that it's the exact same world (well close enough) in terms of the terrain generation!
With these changes, 1.18 is the real Exploration Update - it encourages you to explore and find new areas that you do like. The two photos above can foster wildly different home bases, cities, etc. - but they're in the same biome. It's pretty incredible IMO, because it's no longer easily possible to predict what you're going to find (this was the issue with terrain before, because if I find a forest biome, I pretty much know what I'm getting, and it's quite boring).
1
Exactly - I think some folks might be forgetting that biome and terrain parameters have been separated, such that any biome can be as flat as it can be mountainous. It's not that terrain is more mountainous - it's that the parameters that used to govern mountainous terrain (i.e. Extreme Hills biomes and "shattered" variants of biomes) have been separated from biome-specific code. This makes exploration more interesting, and despite some of my gripes about game changes on a micro scale (i.e. some of the nonsensical changes that have taken place across the years mostly related to redstone and mechanics) - this is a good one.
I think they re-added Amplified so that you could have that experience if you wanted, but by no means is terrain generation amplified by default. People who don't like 1.18 terrain may not like certain parts of the terrain, perhaps - that just means you need to keep exploring to find terrain you like (because yes, flat lands do exist, and actually in some seeds they exist for thousands of blocks before you see any mountains!).
0
Oh man, this is the session I have been waiting to release for a very, very long time. It's a completely different reading experience that will propel our story to some new levels, and it should play some mind games with you... that's what Enderquin does best.
If you thought the previous session had a dark ending, well, things are about to get a lot worse for Quintropolis.
“And so, on this day, we commemorate Drexel’s influence on Starlight, the Inner Circle, and Quintropolis as a whole. He fell victim to unfortunate circumstances which cannot be explained, but he will always be a hero in perpetuating the development of our sacred island.”
Staz rushes outside, with Ibram chasing him close behind. “Joey, is it going to happen to me, too? Please don’t let it happen to me!”
Staz’s fear is something I did not expect. One could say that it’s a wrinkle in my plans. But it’s a wrinkle I should probably start acknowledging, because otherwise the entire world will collapse to Enderquin’s control. Something very cryptic is happening.
“Staz, I am here to protect you. You’re safe here – don’t worry,” I try to reassure him.
“Drexel wasn’t!” he quickly retorted. “What is the GAUNTLET?? You owe us an answer!!” he starts yelling.
“Staz, you’re panicking – here, let me brew you a potion.”
“No, you’re dodging the question. Tell US why Drexel went insane.”
Staz has me in a box, and neither Ibram nor Boshtok are fighting his request. They stand alongside him, waiting for me to speak on what they think I know… what I do know.
“You all know that Quintropolis was created by gods. Celestial beings without a corporeal form. Yes?” I first need to know if they will even be able to conceive the concepts about which I consider sharing.
“Of course – you never stop talking about how much you plan to destroy them, and now look at what has happened!” Staz responds.
“Yes… We’ve all been trying to warn you, Joey,” Boshtok joins in. “Please tell us what is going on here. We know that you have an idea.”
I wait for a moment to decide how to best approach this delicate situation.
“Enderquin is here,” I answer. “I thought I defeated him… I did defeat him, a long time ago, in a sky dimension which he claims home. I slayed him with my own hand. Violet helped me get there, and then she died. Ever since my visit, I’ve been experiencing hauntings of my own. They’re the same hauntings that eventually drove Violet to her death.”
They all pause in disbelief, then hurry inside the clubhouse without another word. I knew this was not going to end well. What I did not realize was the extent to which Enderquin’s power has grown. Why did I think the dragon was his physical form? Perhaps it was my pride.
There is not much I can do now to reason with the council. They’ve already decided long ago that I am a villain. Perhaps it is best I accept that no matter how much I try to help them, I will forever be the bane of their existence, and my own.
I’ll continue my work on the Inner Circle, and maybe they will come around to rejoin this discussion.
Today, we need to complete Maker’s Wellness Center. This will be home to Maker – our recently acquired cleric. It will house all the materials which he trades, and a brewing stand to brew potions. I also intend to have potions of weakness and golden apples stored in here. After all, it’s clear that we need them on standby all the time.
The challenge here is making sure that Maker doesn’t attach himself to one of the barrels instead. Needless to say, this part took a bit of trial and error.
Boats are actually an easy way to transport villagers around – so long as you don’t have any elevation changes.
Look at that! Michelle offers Feather Falling books! Not that we need those, since we have a double chest full of them already, but still.
Thinking about the best way to integrate trades with Maker (a cleric), I’m reminded that the Mob Processing Hub, which we built way back in early Season 2 (this was in 2015), is not more than 200 blocks east from here. What if we were to install an underground connector to this build, such that we could easily transport mob drops?
Obviously, it’s the zombie flesh that comes to mind. Actually, trading that with clerics is probably its only use at this point in the game.
Still, bonemeal is also good to have here, and since this hub is home to our original skeleton XP farm, we have ridiculous amounts of bone drops here.
Please also welcome Moosa, a fisherman who just appeared out of nowhere… In any case, coal is a useful trade as well, if not slightly wasteful. I’ll keep Moosa’s things here in Jacque’s Agricultural Center.
Now then, although I’ve no interest in fully completing the connector today, I am interested in getting started with the trades. As such I will be moving a significant amount of zombie flesh from the MPH over to the Inner Circle. This is a great way to revive the utility of the MPH, which has gone largely unused throughout Season 3.
Welcome Maker to the shop!
Moving on down, there is one more major shop I want to install: the Inner Circle Produce Market. This will be a useful source of pumpkins, melons, beetroot, potatoes, and more carrots to increase trading volume with our farmers.
The market is largely carved into the mountain here, which is great as it keeps things nicely hidden from the outside.
Maintaining stone themes with the overall look, but I’m also adding bricks and clay where appropriate.
Here we have the new beetroot and potato farms – however, some of the new farmers have gone over to Shadrack’s plot and have since acquired carrots in their inventory spaces. This is evident as I notice carrots and things popping up in here!
Finally, I am adding the pumpkin and melon farms here. I was going to make an automatic farm for each, but I think this will be fine for now (an automatic farm requires much more space here, which I am not prepared to dig out or house above ground).
And here is the completed produce market! With our new farmers.
Having done more work on the roof for Michelle’s Paper Shop (though it’s still not done), overall the Inner Circle’s downtown strip is coming along quite nicely.
There is still one more important addition I’d like to make before concluding my work here today.
Bees have been in Quintropolis for a while, but I’ve not bothered to utilize them and make a farm that brings honey, honey blocks, honeycomb, and honeycomb blocks into the world. That’s about to change.
Next to the underground connector that takes us to the MPH, I’ll be building the small but cozy new Honey House, which will house several bees to begin our resource production of honey. This will be a manual farm for now – I’ll look into some automated options later.
I don’t like the look of the crafted beehives, so I’m going exploring out west to find a total of seven additional bee nests to add to the house.
That took less time than I expected, but elytra make everything fast nowadays.
A small storage area underneath the hill here, and I think that’s pretty good for now.
WHAT? How did you get in here??
Aha – sneaky little *******. I’ll be patching that up nicely.
Suddenly, I notice everyone in the Circle trying to leave…
STAZ!! OH NO!! What happened??
Ibram?? Where’s your librarian outfit?
Nobody is responding to me. This is very strange – I need the mayor’s help.
“Mayor Sensha! We need to hurry. Something strange is happening on the island…”
“Joey, thank goodness you’re here. I’m afraid I don’t understand what’s going on!” he speaks in sheer terror.
“Wait, where is everyone??” I ask… because nobody else is here.
“They’re gathering at the chunk border. Everyone is at the chunk border. From everywhere.”
“The chunk border? What are they doing there??”
“Come, let me show you.”
Mayor Sensha walks me to the chunk border, and I feel my heart begin racing at an uncanny pace as I hear what I can only describe as a chanting of sorts.
…The kind of chanting that echoes for hours in the air miles and miles away, carrying from community to community, until everyone has received the message.
We inch closer, but Mayor Sensha cannot believe what he is seeing. He stops for a moment. He is having a panic attack.
“I’m here, Mayor.” I grab him and lay him against the cliff wall. “How can I help??”
“Joey… I… I- AHHH!!” he startles and jumps back from me. “GET AWAY!!”
“Mayor, it’s me!! It’s Joey!”
The mayor does not appear to recognize me at all. He shakes in agonizing terror as he backs into a corner but has nowhere else to go. He starts clawing away at the rock wall with such passion to escape whatever he sees in place of me. I try to inch closer and comfort him, but it is of no use.
“STOP!! Please, please just kill me,” he screams.
“What? No! Can you hear me??” I ask. “Mayor Sensha – do you hear me??”
“Yes,” he responds, eyes wide and breath heavy. “But that’s not you anymore.”
Oh no. He is hallucinating. The only way to save him is to leave. I am not losing two friends today.
“I’m leaving, Mayor. Just turn away – don’t look at whatever it is you see. Close your eyes, and breathe. It’s not real. Please, just… just breathe and keep breathing.”
In the background, I hear the chants. They’re louder. I leave the shriveling mayor to rest in hopes that he will be able to overcome this mental game Enderquin is playing. In the distance, I see everyone that the mayor was talking about. They’re standing in a line – a straight line, completely unwavering, not more than a block from the chunk wall border which separates them from the deep waters below. Not a single movement.
As I get closer, the thunderstorm worsens. I’m close enough to make out the words they are saying, and to say that I have been shaken with such fear would be an understatement.
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
Mayor Sensha!! Where are you??!!
“All hail Enderquin.”
“Mayor Sensha! Snap out of it!!”
The mayor is no longer responsive to anything I say or do. He might as well be a puppet just like the rest of them. Enderquin has taken everyone – every single villager that I have met and made relations with – and brought them here to the border of Quintropolis Island. But why??
Mayor Sensha begins walking to the border with everyone. I push him away, but he pushes me back with a force that could only be described as… supernatural.
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
“All hail Enderquin.”
I have no power here. All I can do now is watch as these people’s minds and bodies have become entirely violated, many of them now zombified.
“Tell me, is this a dream? Or is it a vision?” The voice of Enderquin emerges, as does the chilling hallucination of multiple dragons encircling the edge of Quintropolis Island. I call it a hallucination, because I refuse to believe this is real.
“Enderquin! You’re alive! But how??”
“You did not listen. You never listen. And now, you will need to answer for your sins.”
One by one, the villagers jump off the chunk wall border, drowning to their certain demise as their last words echo across the entire world, much to Enderquin’s sadistic pleasure.
“NOOOOO!!!”
I sprint to save them, but I can’t. They’re already dead. The chanting ceases, as does the rain, the sun rising and the birds chirping as if nothing had happened at all. Because maybe it didn’t, and maybe this was just a dream. And I am still asleep.
So, it’s okay.
Next up... Session 284 - "The Compressor"
1
Here is a night view from the front (I've also been working on the landscape surrounding it, and here you can see five of the six Night Lights):
And from the back:
Thankfully this is an SSP so no worry of any griefers (I would never build this on an SMP for that reason). However, if you're curious what a lightning strike would do, well, I did a test in a creative copy backup, and this is what happened by just one strike in the wrong place:
It is for that reason that I went the extra length to secure it with nether brick slabs on top, though the only way to fully protect it is probably to put a glass dome over it or something. A strike to cause this would be rare, but it's still possible even with the slabbing, and not something I want to risk given that 95% of the treehouse is flammable. So I am continuing to run tests to try reducing the chances of this happening to an infinitesimal percentage. If I do need to build a giant glass dome around the treehouse to protect it, then that's what I will do (just depends how much the nether brick slabbing will ultimately impact the look from the outside).
3
Surely some of y'all have some things to share, too.
But I've been particularly active as of late (still very behind in my journal but I'll catch up eventually), and have just completed what I would say is easily my best build to date.
Introducing Starlight Treehouse:
A little context about this project:
This has been one of the longest-running incomplete projects in my world now, started somewhere in 2018 at the beginning of the journal's Season 3. Only now has it been completed at the end of the season, because the scope of the project far exceeded what I originally intended. The aesthetic challenge of this build was insane, because it goes against rules of orderly, cube-oriented symmetry that are so easy to fall into. There is an incredible amount of detail, but the challenge was focusing on the exterior just as much as the interior (since I build underground a lot, it's easy to forget about that). This treehouse looks like your average clubhouse, but it's actually a complex redstone house disguised as a primitive treehouse. It features more than 15 micro farms, all my pets, the "map room" that houses all my adventure maps for various lands, the full control center for the Night Lights (those glowstone pillars you see surrounding the treehouse, which can be connected to anything in the base as a visual indicator of their use), and serves as the Overworld hub for my gold XP farm on the other side. Indeed, it was designed as its own ecosystem - although it is part of the larger Starlight HQ complex (which I will show in a different post later), you actually get everything you need inside the treehouse itself, as it's completely self-sustaining. Think of it like a Skyblock base... kind of.
The entire treehouse is slabbed with Nether brick slabs to protect it from lightning. I am playing in 1.15, so I don't have lightning rods. It's not 100% protected, but I always sleep during thunderstorms anyway.
A closer look inside (lots to see!):
You'll start by entering the slime block elevator at the base of the treehouse:
You will be greeted by Greta - our librarian - and a bountiful view of Starlight HQ. There is also a block swap contraption that reveals a crafting table in this main meeting area:
The treehouse is wound together by three main central floors and lots of winding paths:
^ The paths above take you to the homes of my cats and dogs, respectively.
On the second floor, you have a few choices:
The main canopy is a great place to watch the sunset, and is home to my parrots who tell us if mobs spawn anywhere on the branches (I have about 15 parrots). Of course you have a jukebox for jamming - and all the music discs in the game as of 1.15.
Take the path to the left, and you'll head to the Ecosystem:
The Ecosystem is where most of the farms are - above, you can see a view of Starlight Castle on the right, and the split paths which place some farms on top of others (this is how I get the automated storage to work). Let's check everything out:
^ Automated storage for melon, sweet berry, bamboo, and sugar cane farms, plus regular storage for various other items. These farms are all in the room directly above this. On the right side wall is the full world map, but it isn't done yet.
^ Here, you have bees (honey, honeycomb), wheat, potatoes, carrots (also supports beetroot farming), and cocoa beans on the right. A suspicious stew farm is also on the right tucked behind those ladders (one for night vision and one for saturation). On the far right, you have our fox friend, and an automatic composter. The best practice is to craft cookies, which make for high-efficiency compost (you get eight cookies per craft, and each cookie has 85% chance to generate compost):
I don't like leashing any animals, but I also don't want to see her accidentally fall to her death outside the treehouse. So this is the solution for now until I secure every possible guardrail, etc.
^ Small tree farm, with all two-tall flower types directly underneath (these are easily farmable with bonemeal).
Above, you have bamboo, sugar cane, and sweet berries. The melon farm does not need to be seen, so it's completely hidden. A nice view of Starlight Castle is out to the right.
Below, the bonemeal from the composter and honey items funnel directly here:
Storage is automated - with the hopper chains hidden in these branches from the room above:
You get amazing views of some other builds inside HQ from the bedroom:
During the day, the bedroom does not need to be lit - so, the lights are controlled by a daylight sensor to conserve energy - this is the case with 90% of the lamps in the treehouse, including the ones in the floor.
^ The portal to the Gold Grinder, and my map room (which is yet incomplete, since I need to finish mapping the world out).
^ Night Lights control panel, with a book telling you how to use it and what all the buttons do. Various methods of vertical transmission are used here, such as utilizing observers, and droppers which drop items all the way underground to a mechanism that further controls the lights. These lights can be hooked up to any of Starlight HQ's farms so that you can see when it is running.
On the top floor, you have a sun roof - press a lever to toggle the horizontal 3x3 piston door:
The top floor is mostly for the Gold Grinder. In addition to the Nether portal that takes you there, we have:
Enchanting room and anvil station.
Full gold storage room - I have stacks and stacks of gold blocks, ingots, and nuggets, plus full enchanted golden armor, tools, weapons, etc. Even though I'm not playing in 1.16, this area will become incredibly useful when (or if) I upgrade to deal with piglins. This also makes the treehouse my main source of golden carrots as I can make them pretty quickly.
Finally, we have this feature:
If I have large amounts of items that I want to transport back to my main storage facility underground (closer to central HQ), all I must do is drop the items down this hatch. A hopper funnel collects them at the bottom, then a minecart takes them away to the storage facility.
...oh yeah and my charged creeper pet that I obtained prior to 1.13 named Sparky lives up here. Don't make him angry.
1
For me it's a combination of things because I don't like to do the same too thing too much - I get bored easily, so if for example I have spent a lot of time on a redstone project, I'll move onto exploring and do that for a while (finish filling in some maps, find structures, etc.). But it all comes down to storytelling for me. Minecraft is a great canvas for that, and I tend to tie everything together with some kind of lore (I have a library in my world with just tons of lore I would write in my spare time - this is another avenue I do if I get bored of other stuff, but that boredom is always temporary; I find that more often than not I just get burned out rather than bored of a certain project).
0
Well, your incessant hostility is quite unwarranted - in any case, I wasn't going to respond, but you completely missed the point of my post by instead just highlighting stuff that triggered you. So for the sake of others, let's explore the important part as it's worth exploring:
Even though the 1.16 update was very positively received by most, it contains an unwarranted and annoying change to redstone behavior which breaks a lot of things in my world - this means that despite all the good things that 1.16 introduced, my subjective experience would not be focused on this but on the redstone change that directly impacts me. If that change happened to be in any other update, then regardless of anything else in that update, I would not be thrilled about it. As such, it is not enough to simply discuss the update itself - so yes, it is completely arbitrary because your question inquires our subjective opinions about what's in the update itself (as evidenced by your incredibly biased poll). I never played in 1.13, or 1.14, so I cannot offer any opinion about those versions directly, except that I like most of the stuff they introduced which I only explored in 1.15. For me to have updated three versions - I focus on the things I like and the things I do not. This lends to a far more nuanced discussion that has nothing to do with, for example, claiming that pistons were added in 1.9? I'm not sure the argument you're driving at there.
Likewise, 1.5 introduced very important blocks for me - but that doesn't mean I would prefer to play in 1.5 versus 1.12 for example, because I also really like the concrete blocks and observers, and plenty of other things added since 1.5. However, the redstone change in 1.16 is enough to keep me away from it, so despite the fact that I really like the new blackstone (and the update as a whole without this change is fine) - it will not be an enjoyable experience for me right now as I'd first have to deal with that pointless change. Mojang's pattern of consistently changing details that don't warrant changing is annoying, but it is this premise which makes it important to dissect the features of the game itself. FWIW I don't know exactly when they changed hopper comparator detection behavior, but it was somewhere between 1.12 and 1.15, and that breaks a lot of my things, too - so, this is another example of a detail that I guess went under the radar, but it's incredibly annoying because I only found out about it by troubleshooting my contraptions which required this mechanic, that were now broken.
0
My world is on the brink of collapse in terms of its lore and story...
Enderquin is haunting villagers with hallucinations. Nobody knows what's real and what isn't, but that doesn't stop the villagers from being driven to madness when they see dragons appearing by the swarm to kill them, burning their houses, etc. It's exactly what happened to my character not too long ago. And we now know it's what happened to Violet (who was a long-time regular in the world - she warned us of this many years ago, but I thought she was insane... then she died right before my first visit to the End, in which I seemingly defeated Enderquin. Now we know that by killing the ender dragon, we have actually freed him from the End).
How far does it go? What exactly is Enderquin's plan? The prison of your mind is the blue screen of death which cannot be so easily reset.
All we know... is that the gauntlet thrives with infinite lives. And as Enderquin would say: "no soul becomes one with me."
2
LMAO what is that poll?
In either case it's not really a question I can answer because the whole idea of updates is arbitrary. 1.14 is 1.13 with additions and changes. 1.15 is 1.14 with additions and changes. If I updated from 1.12 to 1.15 (which is what I did), then nothing in-between really matters - just the result of the game being played and what I decide to do with it.
If the question is what Minecraft features have been my favorite across the updates, then for me it's comparators, hoppers, and the other redstone stuff added in 1.5. Without those basic blocks and mechanics, so much of what I do in this game wouldn't be possible. Most things added since then have been welcome in my eyes, but some of the things changed have not (the redstone behavioral change in 1.16 being one of them, and then another change that disrupted comparator detection in hoppers sending a single item vertically).
0
Today's session marks the arrival of Day 6,000 in Quintropolis - and we've got a lot of stuff to check out as we turn our attention to the Inner Circle's development... and getting some necessary build permits from Mayor Sensha.
Does it all go well? That's a complicated answer...
Utopia is becoming an essential resource outpost for Quintropolis, and I’m realizing that if I decide to erect another major base in this world, then this is exactly where it needs to be. Sand, terracotta, plus reasonable proximity to the coral reefs that line the coastal desert village which has been designated as “downtown” – these are important resources for our bigger projects, especially today.
I’m visiting the Inner Circle to develop the neighborhood into a full ecosystem. This is what we need to sustain the production of resources here, not to mention provide a good security system for our council.
“Joey, welcome!” Drexel greets me on my arrival. “What brings you by today? Aren’t you busy as always?” A slight sarcasm is always welcome.
“It’s time to bring more life to the Circle,” I reply. We’ve got a lot of work to do.
“Good thing we were able to secure some build permits for you,” says Drexel to my surprise. “Mayor Sensha seemed adamant on providing these.”
“Interesting, did he say why?” He seemed very against that during our last meeting in Session 276.
“All he said was that these would keep the other villages off your tail…”
Well, he isn’t wrong about that. But for him to change his mindset so soon after telling me that I broke a bunch of laws… it’s out of the ordinary, like most things nowadays. We’ll address that later. Right now, we have work to do.
First, gray concrete to complete the road surrounding the central moat. I have mentioned previously that I plan to construct a large golden monument in the center – this will be the last thing we do when I acquire enough gold to do so.
Additionally, I’ve built the base for our gold center out of polished diorite.
Next, I am completing the road to the Council Clubhouse, lighting everything up as much as possible because zombies are a real danger here.
^ This ugly wall that digs into the mountain will become the setting for our downtown shops here in the Inner Circle.
Off the main road, I’ll build a stone brick pathway which will connect all the different shops. This is where many of our resources and farms will be located.
First, we will start with the building that connects Starlight Station to the Inner Circle.
Concrete and stone materials will be the basis for our constructions here. I’ll also try to incorporate bricks where they make sense.
Moving on down, the next focus is on agriculture. Crops and cows are arguably the most important resources in early development, so that’s our first order of business.
Thinking about what will go inside, I’m going with a basic wheat farm and cow farm. This will be a source of leather, which we can use for books to trade for Mending with Boshtok.
Guys… stop being so curious about the outside. It’s not safe out there!
…Or up top for that matter! I’m lighting up the roof of the clubhouse to prevent any unwanted visitors.
Let’s also provide some golems to the clubhouse to protect the council.
A nice sunset view of the Council Clubhouse, with Emerald Hills emerging in the background:
A lot of attention to detail and lighting is a big focus in the development of the Circle – I’m adding little touches like mossy/cracked stone brick nuances to the walls and floor.
…and a little welcome sign for the clubhouse!
You’ll also notice that I’ve begun surrounding the circle… with a BIGGER circle of hedges. This will fully protect and isolate the circle from the rest of the island.
Part of the challenge in this is dealing with trees – I need to remove most of the trees around the borders of the circle to prevent mobs from being able to climb up and invade the circle.
Aww, look at the golems playing games with the council!
I didn’t think any cows were left on Quintropolis Island, but I am mistaken! This is a huge relief.
Completing the agricultural shop, I managed to purify a zombie villager and give him the shop.
Welcome to Jacque’s Agricultural Shop! I’ve unlocked all his trades, posting them on the wall so you can get an idea what you want to trade.
Next on down the line is going to be the circle’s sugar cane farm – an important resource for paper and books to trade with the council!
I am doing a simple piston/observer-based design, but I plan to stack a few of these.
Get out of here, wanderer! No, we don’t want your childish trades.
The top of the sugar cane emerges from the mountain top, but I think this is a good opportunity to introduce a cool roof and give some depth to the Circle’s skyline. We’ll approach that later.
Nice – we’ve got some good resources going here! Leather, wheat, beef, sugar, and paper so far. Let’s see what else we can do! I’m having a lot of fun with this.
Get those phantoms!! Get them!!
How about a crop farm in front of the clubhouse??
Welcome Shadrack, our primary crop farmer – a child from two of our council members rather than a purified villager.
Boshtok tends to spend a lot of time trading out here during the day. It makes sense since he is practically the leader of the council.
Shadrack and his new friend now tend to the farms, and I have built a little house for them to sleep at night.
Unlocking all Shadrack’s trades, I note that he is now the only source of Blindness stew so far. He also trades Weakness stew, but I’m not sure why we would want that.
Another purified villager has been brought into the circle – welcome Michelle, who will be our librarian governing the sugar cane shop!
And just in time… we’ve reached Day 6,000 in Quintropolis!! The celebration is perfectly suited to our work at the Inner Circle, and I’m happy to be spending it with our new friends.
Unfortunately, the celebration immediately came to a sudden end on this day…
“Joey, Joey! Come quick!”
Huh?
“What’s wrong, Staz?” I ask the worried villager.
“It’s Drexel. He’s DEAD!”
“What? How is that possible??” Drexel being dead? That’s not possible! The house is secured with the very best protection. There is no way any mobs could have gotten to him! Especially not with me RIGHT HERE – did he die while I was working??
“Boshtok! Ibram! What’s going on?? What happened to Drexel??!” I ask in a raging fury. Drexel was the first member of the new council – a member with whom I had developed good relations, even if we disagreed on some things.
“Oh Joey, it was terrible. I wish we could have saved him… But there was nothing we could do but watch in utter dismay,” Boshtok is in shambles. I have never seen a villager so scared. They have dealt with zombies before, but I don’t think that is what killed him.
“What do you mean? Could the golems not defend or something?” I mean, they were built specifically to protect them.
“Joey, Drexel lost his mind. We woke up this morning, and he was speaking in riddles outside on the porch. We didn’t understand them,” Staz noted.
“We could not reason with him. It’s as if we were talking to a wall. The man we knew was completely gone. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Ibram followed.
“We came back inside to prepare a weakness potion so that we could calm him down, but things got tense by the time we went back outside…” Boshtok continued.
Then the villagers were silent. Staz tried to hold back tears, but he failed miserably.
“I’m so sorry… Drexel had become a dear friend… I’ll be sure to prepare a proper gravestone for him. Can you tell me exactly what led to his… demise?” I’m trying to be considerate and not outlandish regarding the word “death.” But I need to know what happened.
“Joey, he lost his freaking mind. He was standing outside on the porch, with a sword drawn to his chest…” Staz started but couldn’t finish.
“It’s okay, Staz. He can extrapolate the rest…” Ibram tried to comfort Staz the best he could, but it was pointless. These people who had become my friends (with some boundaries) were completely destroyed. I had never seen this before, and it worried me greatly.
“What did he say? What was the last thing Drexel said?” I asked Boshtok.
“I couldn’t put it together exactly. Something about a gauntlet.”
“Yes,” Ibram knew. “He said that the gauntlet thrives with infinite lives. No soul becomes one with me… whatever that means.”
Oh my God.
Next up... Session 283 - "The Community"
1
Maybe a little off-topic here, but... Would this - "code bloating" I suppose - be a reason why the performance of the game seems to suffer beyond 1.13? I've noticed that in older versions like 1.8, even if I have more entities present such as mobs, item frames, etc., I experience far less lag than I do now in 1.15. It's one reason I even started a new world playing in 1.7, because the simplicity of the game even then allowed for far greater performance (though, I imagine it improves more in versions prior 1.7, but I haven't tested it that much). Can Mojang even optimize the game enough now to match those performance levels, especially with the terrain changes in 1.18? It seems to be less likely.