The Spawn Chunks 140: Pointing Out Signposts

May 10, 2021

Joel and Jonny review changes in goat behaviour in the latest #Minecraft snapshot, as well as ore distribution in The Caves & Cliffs Preview data pack, then discuss the idea of more signposts to guide players in Minecraft.

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  • Joel
    • Constructed tower interiors for the south gate of the medieval town on The Citadel server.
    • Mining, mob spawning, and slow dripstone farming on the snapshot survival world, Dartmouth.
  • Jonny
    • Mapped out eighteen end cities on the Don’t Die Hardcore SMP.
    • Building Neo-Andean inspired builds out in The End islands.
    • Planning the Survival Guide Museum in Creative to stick the landing on the final build in the survival world.

Minecraft News

Chunk Mail

FROM: Mentat – Landscape Artist Member
SUBJECT: We’ve Been Thinking About Copper All Wrong

Greetings Joel and Jonny, 

After hearing Joel say that Copper is soft. I did some research, and I found some interesting things. There is a Mohs’s Hardness scale that lists how hard materials are. It’s important to note that how hard something is, is not the same as how brittle something is. Copper, Brass, and Bronze have a hardness level of 3, Iron is a 4, flint and most – but not all – forms of stone are in the  6-7 range, Where Obsidian is a 5.5, and Diamond is a 10. We can mine Obsidian with stone and iron, but we destroy the block because we’re literally chipping it to pieces.

On to the Copper.

The Incans used Copper in ceremonial tools and in Armor to signify rank. Where most of Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean used it as currency but mostly it was a decorative thing. Their uses ranged as wire to hold things shut, but also as, dinnerware, and jewelry. However, it’s the Jewelry part that got me thinking.

What if copper is a key ingredient not only in making an archeology brush but also in restoring artifacts. Copper doesn’t have a lot of use “yet” but may yet go hand in hand in archeology which could produce some neat game items that would only be obtainable that way.

Mentat fell out of the world.

PS:
Happy Star Wars Day
May the 4th be with you.

 

FROM: BYtheHORNs– Landscape Artist Member
SUBJECT: Item Augmentation vs. Enchanting

Hey Joel and Johnny,

After listening to episode 139 I’ve been thinking a lot about the idea of armour augmentation via use of the smithing table and how we could add more functionality to the idea outside of just aesthetics.

I have attached a general idea on how the process would work in vanilla Minecraft. [image]

My question however stems from some feedback I saw swirling around online when the interaction between leather boots and powder snow was added to the snapshots and the Bedrock beta; “Why not just have the frostwalker enchantment do the same thing (as leather) so I don’t have to wear leather boots?”.

Do you think Mojang has blocked themselves into a corner with enchanting when it comes to armor/tool augmentation being something that could be functionally useful ? Or if armour augmentation was introduced to the game would it have to remain purely aesthetic?

Uhhh… Something, something, Minecraft, something, goodbye…

BYtheHORNs

Signposts In Gameplay

Many features of a Minecraft world have ways to guide the player to them. Ruined nether portals now indicate access to the Nether. Maps purchased from cartographers or salvaged from shipwrecks can lead players to an Ocean Monument, Woodland Mansion, or buried treasure. In the upcoming Part 2 of The Caves & Cliffs Update, azalea trees will signpost the existence of lush caves beneath them. What features in Minecraft do we still need guiding to? Are some discoveries best left entirely to chance?