User:McClaw: Difference between revisions

An early player of ''The Blockheads'' (starting October, 2013, with version 1.4), McClaw is something of a dilettante wiki editor, hoping mostly to get things organized and going strongly enough for those with more dedication to expand it to higher forms. He usually plays offline, vanilla/survival games.

*[[User:McClaw/Actions]] (planned page)

*[[User:McClaw/Back Wall]] (planned page)

** Bronze, steel lantern, and kelp to make a diver's helmet. Provides mobile light and air. Maybe it gets recharged with kelp? Or is a two-part device -- the helmet and a jacket/backpack.

I thought I'd share some of my strategies, tactics, and opinions here so I'm not tempted to put them in the regular articles. (This section is likely to be revised in light of 1.7.)

** When I've tried multiple blockheads on a single player world, I tend to keep one active while the others serve as a sort of "meditation factory," waiting their turn unless tasked with crafting projects. (In 1.7 with a Trade Portal, Jobs become an option.)

** When my active blockhead grows too tired (or tired enough to be put to sleep), I activate a meditating one before putting the tired blockhead to bed. Once it awakens, I set it to meditating. This actually speeds in-game results from meditation, as game time isn't sped up.

** Make your first priority at least three blocks of dirt, one stick (don't use the shovel), and two blocks of flint (use the shovel). Use these to warp in a Workbench, then make a Tool Bench, and then a machete.

** Now you use the third dirt (and a stick) for a Craft Bench to make baskets, one per Inventory slot. (I like to make three extra for item sets.)

** This would probably be a good time to make an axe and collect some wood for a woodwork bench, wooden bed, and either shelf or chest (or both).

** Dig down and use the pickaxe to mine all the stone it can (at least sixteen), ignoring limestone and anything else. (There's always stone in a column below the Portal.)

** Use that stone to upgrade the Tool Bench, make a stone pickaxe, and maybe a stone enclosure for your campfire. (I like to use limestone for habitable structures, as the lighter color seems cheerier and easier to look at.)

** A campfire will do for an initial source of light and heat, but it's not difficult to bypass torches and go straight to a kiln and press to start making oil lanterns. When you have those, the campfire can actually be more of a hazard than a help. Still, it's useful for cooking raw dodo meat.

* A growing tree will produce blocks of leaves to either side. Harvesting them (for sticks) from either side of a young tree is an easily renewed source until the tree matures, especially if you don't have a big pine or maple to harvest.

* A simple barrier against wandering animals is a two block deep hole; on level ground it barely slows a passing blockhead. (If there's a back wall, a stairs placed over or in the top space of the hole works even better.) Another is a door; give it the appearance you want by stacking a sample of the desired block as the top of a three-high column, remove the two below, place the door, then remove the top block. I also like to put a lantern on top of the result. (Use the door to block scorpions from shooting at you.) Version 1.7 introduces the gate, which is even more effective, as an animal can be ridden through it but won't pass on their own.

* Use two barriers surrounding trigger plants (carrots for donkeys, apple trees for dodos, pine trees for dropbears, cacti for scorpions, wheat for yaks) to make a breeding farm. Keep track of it so you can nab their resources when you want, and to prevent the plants from spreading outside the barriers.

* A ridden donkey can jump a 2-3 high barrier, so you can make a corral surrounded by doors and planted with carrots. You'll probably have a donkey available when you want to ride. The gate is even more efficient, but a door can have a lantern placed on top of it.

** A level 3 trade portal has gold nuggets available, so you could buy three and upgrade your furnace to level 3 to start crafting steel and gold (and gold coins). (Version 1.7 nerfs this, as you can't buy items you haven't found on your own.)

** A level 5 trade portal sells titanium ore. It's expensive, but it means you don't have to go mining (more than one) to be able to make a jet pack.

** A level 6 trade portal sells the components for trains, electrical generation, and elevators. You still have to make your own electric crafting surfaces, though. (And in 1.7, the first of each item.)

* Wood stairs are a lot faster to make, and wood can be plentiful with a little forethought. But stone should be plentiful if you're digging diagonal passages.

** Carrying a wooden chest avoids confusion, as wooden ones don't spawn in the unexplored world. They can also be painted for color coding.

* Don't use coal to fuel a furnace, save it for making steel. It may seem plentiful and efficient, but charcoal and wood are infinitely renewable (even without a Trade Portal), coal isn't, and becomes scarcer if harvested with early or non-gem pickaxes.

* Put a shelf by a crafting surface (but not a Campfire). Use it to store common resources or products, especially if you don't need your blockhead to carry them around most of the time. The advantage over a chest is you can see what's there.

** If you're not mining or don't have an efficient gem pickaxe for ores, make an electric press (for turning stone into gravel and sand) and an electric sluice (for turning gravel into ore). Stone is a lot cheaper in a trade portal than ores, and more plentiful in a world, too. If required, you can even manufacture black sand with those two and limestone, if you're able to store all the side-products.

** Use the diamond pick to mine those time crystals (18TC each now! Only 29 to recover the cost of the portal chest and the rest are bonus!) and any ores or stone variants you think rare or important. (For me that can include titanium, platinum, marble, red marble, sandstone, oil, and gold).