[1.7.10] Marooned

[Spaman]

@Spaman addressed that at the top of the page:



Although I do wonder if that quest could be change from a killing quest to a 'detect X Wither Skulls', perhaps?

Yes I'm afraid when I did that quest and tested it I managed to find wither skeletons and never actually came across the regular black skeletons so was unaware of their existence. I've since discovered like you that mine was an anomaly and the regular black skele's abound and the wither skele's don't. Although I can't do anything about the 1.4.3 version as its already released, wither skeletons have been taken off the kill requirement in the 1.5.0 version and replaced with something more suitable. I mean Blizz's do live in the Nether don't they? lol.

EDIT: Its getting bad when I don't remember how I'd already made a workaround for the wither skeleton challenge isn't it? But I had and it still involves killing a solitary wither skeleton but I have made an allowance for those that just can't find one. You'll have to play the game to find out what it is though..........

 

[Spaman]

Oh, I gave myself a little 'bonus' of copper bushes as a reward (and to replace those eaten by silkworms), but I'll be abstaining now as I'm into the sifting phase. Speaking of, I've played three runs so far, and noticed I hit the same bottleneck each time: Copper bushes are significantly harder to get from reward pouches than the other four (as in ten of each before I got one copper), so I end up unable to complete the stone saw and the gold berry/nugget/ingot quests for quite a while. I'm past that now [Iron Hammer+Vanilla Dungeon breaching the bedrock = Cobblestone+Iron+Copper+Silver], but it may be worth double checking the probability of getting that bush. Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to restarting (if necessary) when the update hits.

Actually they have a similar chance to get than the others. Its just the luck of the draw. I'm currently testing the savanna for 1.5.0 and am still waiting to get a gold bush grrrr. I'm seriously thinking of making recipes to allow players to swap a couple of surplus other bushes for one they need. Or perhaps do what I did with the crop bushes and give players an' either or' choice of the 4 non iron bushes as a reward. Actually the more I think about it the more I'm wondering what I'm doing on here talking when I should be deciding which option I prefer. Thanks for reminding me that bottlenecks shouldn't have to be endured just because we've been unlucky with our reward bags.

As for the update, I think you'll enjoy it more than the current worlds as I've whacked a dungeon at each spawn point and placed quest gates in 3 areas to allow players gradual access to it and the underground 'middle' layer that I've introduced to let you decide whether you want to have underground access to other ruins that just happen to have openings at that level. Not all of them, no no no, but some like those fiendishly designed wells. the third gate when it opens gives access to the world below. Completing certain quests opens the gates. These ones should actually work because I've manually activated each one individually using the quest book, fingers crossed......

EDIT: I've just now added a couple of new quests to allow players to swap some unwanted oreberry bushes for ones they can use.. The 101 page is looking rather crowded these days.... especially when playing the skyworld version.

 

[Swat_Raptor]

Well I'm defiantly going to try the new World types when they come out.

my early fishing strategy keeps paying off in new ways. I was fishing and got like 13 fish in my first 2 days, I said well I guess this is a fish only area, then I fish up a water bottle....

 

[Guineafluff100]

Sounds nice, might download.

 

[cannajan]

I like the idea of being able to swop ore bushes, cos theres always one type that RNG holds out on!
Sounds like you've done loads of work for this update, thanks for keeping this pack interesting

 

[Swat_Raptor]

I like the idea of being able to swop ore bushes, cos theres always one type that RNG holds out on!
Sounds like you've done loads of work for this update, thanks for keeping this pack interesting

Yea the less we have to bow down to our RNG idols and pray for the specific drops for quest the better.

 

[Spaman]

I like the idea of being able to swop ore bushes, cos theres always one type that RNG holds out on!
Sounds like you've done loads of work for this update, thanks for keeping this pack interesting

Your very welcome cannajan. Since i play the game myself [I'm my biggest fan lol] I often spend ages waiting for one of the ores to complete my collection, so I'm aware of how frustrating it can be. You can thank Zerias for prompting me to think about a workaround for the missing ore. Prior to this latest update, I was stuck with having to either juggle around the 200 quests that HQM had limited me to or doing a complete rewrite of the book and adding a heap more before starting to active any of them, so changes like this weren't really an option. With the advent of the skyworld I had no choice other than to do a rewrite as there are now sections of the book that are used exclusively for either the regular worlds or the skyworld. Hard to explain but not too hard to implement, thankfully.

I've just spent a couple of hours making a new underground bunker for the spawn of regular worlds as I discovered the original one I'd made didn't actually penetrate the bedrock below for the final gate. Beats me how I missed it but its ended in a bonus for everyone as the new bunker is bigger and more open for using as a main base.

 

[Sandstroem]

Have been replaying this for two weeks now and I have to say that the pack keeps finding ways to kill me. Well or my stupidity does. Usually it is like "oh only three zombies, let's kill those too". Fortunately for me this is not 1.10 with the new combat mechanics, that would be even worse

What I don't like is that the pack relies too much on the questbook. What I mean is not the progression, that is fine. But that there aren't recipes for a lot of items. For example there is no recipe for a bed and I know that you get one later, but it would be nice to be able to craft one at some point. I usually don't like it if you have problems to progress, just because you lost some items somewhere. Also not being able to set my spawn point is quite annoying.

Not sure why you were planning to remove the crooks. I thought it was possible to remove drops from certain items, but maybe this is a bug with the oreberries.

 

[Spaman]

Have been replaying this for two weeks now and I have to say that the pack keeps finding ways to kill me. Well or my stupidity does. Usually it is like "oh only three zombies, let's kill those too". Fortunately for me this is not 1.10 with the new combat mechanics, that would be even worse

What I don't like is that the pack relies too much on the questbook. What I mean is not the progression, that is fine. But that there aren't recipes for a lot of items. For example there is no recipe for a bed and I know that you get one later, but it would be nice to be able to craft one at some point. I usually don't like it if you have problems to progress, just because you lost some items somewhere. Also not being able to set my spawn point is quite annoying.

Not sure why you were planning to remove the crooks. I thought it was possible to remove drops from certain items, but maybe this is a bug with the oreberries.

I can understand your frustration at dying in unexpected ways. This happens to me too, usually from a creeper that manages to spawn in behind me when I'm in the midst of battle with a number of other mobs. Or those blasted giant zombies, I discovered while testing out the new underground bunker that they can hit you from behind a bedrock wall. BEDROCK! gimme a break, how can you defend against that?

I also understand that you would like to make an extra bed or even sleeping bag and I have tossed up whether to bring in a new recipe for either or both of them, but to be honest, its a survival quest based on a quest book that is meant to be followed to some degree, otherwise there really wouldn't be much point in having one would there? I only ever remove a recipe if I think it unduly affects the way the game plays. I'm always open to making changes when someone requests something specific they'd like to see in the game. A bed and sleeping bag doesn't affect the progression in the game so I thought it would be acceptable to give players a reasonably early choice between having one or the other rather than making them wait until they get sheep for their wool.

As for your spawn point, the idea of choosing between the bed or sleeping bag is to give players the choice between the convenience of sleeping on the run or being able to set their spawn point using the bed. For me, whenever I used a bed to set my spawn point I generally made an enclosure that was rock solid safe from being destroyed before placing and using my bed. I've yet to lose one so being able to make a new one hasn't been an issue for me. As you mentioned, there's also a second quest that offers another choice between a bed and sleeping bag so if someone lost one, there is an opportunity to get another down the track.

I recently discovered that berry bushes get doubled when removed by crooks. I've looked into trying to find a way to remove this obvious flaw but to date have been unsuccessful. As it basically breaks the intended flow of the game my only option has been to remove them. The mod that has crooks is still going to be in the game however, just without the crooked crooks. I've had to change a number of quests that are affected by their removal so that players aren't unduly disadvantaged by their removal.

If you think there are some recipes that should be reintroduced due to you finding they have adversely affected your progression in the game, I'd like to hear about it. I'm no different to everyone else, I dislike bottlenecks and try to remove them if I can. My style of play is most likely different to others so a bottleneck for them may not be one for me. If no one tells me about their bottleneck I won't know there is one, therefore I can't fix it.

Thanks for your feedback, I'll take it on board and you might even be pleasantly surprised when the update comes out. If a bed recipes does eventuate, I can guarantee that RED wool will be part of its recipe......

Cheers...

 

[Sandstroem]

Thanks for your response. My concern about the recipes wasn't so much regarding early-game, it is nice that you have to work through the book to get your stuff. More about once you have it and then lose it, the only way to get it (if the questbook doesnt give another one at some point) is to reset your questbook, which would be kinda cheaty.

About all those deaths, I usually start over if I get killed in the first 15 minutes instead of using the rest of my lives to continue, that is probably part of my "frustration". (It is not as bad as it sounds )

But that gave me some insight in what you can get in the bags. One time I got a shovel and flint shards in the first bag, that was really helpful.

Hihi, and I can understand why Elder Sign gets so frustrated when he gets the fire upgrade on his weapon.

I am excited to see how skyblock is supposed to work, I can't really imagine how.

 

[Spaman]

Thanks for your response. My concern about the recipes wasn't so much regarding early-game, it is nice that you have to work through the book to get your stuff. More about once you have it and then lose it, the only way to get it (if the questbook doesnt give another one at some point) is to reset your questbook, which would be kinda cheaty.

About all those deaths, I usually start over if I get killed in the first 15 minutes instead of using the rest of my lives to continue, that is probably part of my "frustration". (It is not as bad as it sounds )

But that gave me some insight in what you can get in the bags. One time I got a shovel and flint shards in the first bag, that was really helpful.

Hihi, and I can understand why Elder Sign gets so frustrated when he gets the fire upgrade on his weapon.

I am excited to see how skyblock is supposed to work, I can't really imagine how.

There's an old saying that goes something like, 'One man's meat is another man's poison' Its a really old saying hence the gender specific language, but its true. Elder hates getting the fire upgrade whereas I love getting it on the Rapier. It really extends its life by not having to be used as much on mobs. On the flip side, it can't be used on Endermen and the Death creeper so some care has to be exercised when using it. Another advantage is it still inflicts reasonable damage when its broken so it can save you if its all you've got and you're caught out in the open. I think Elder also favours knockback wheres I hate getting it.

I may have underestimated how important that bed is to some players. I never even bother getting one and didn't make one even when there was a recipe for it. I originally created the sleep quest in response to a player requesting a way to get a bed earlier in the game as I had already removed turning string into wool to give more use to the Textile gardens. I even reduced the amount of cotton my original recipe required to make wool. Then when reviewing the sleeping bags recipe I thought beds should require a similar amount of material to make. Was half way through doing that when it hit me to make the dual quest instead. Anyway, just because I don't see the need to a bed is no reason to prevent others having one. I thought the quest would be enough. Seems I was wrong. I'll look into either making a recipe for beds and bags or perhaps either make the existing quest repeatable or introduce a new one that triggers after the first one is completed. Hmmm, will have to give this some more thought.

More importantly, how does one manage to get killed in the first 15 minutes. Assuming you're talking real time, that would be during the first night. don't you bother to make a shelter to stay safe in?

And resetting your quest book? Kinda cheaty? If you're still playing the same game, I would call that more than kinda cheaty.......

 

[Sandstroem]

I don't reset my questbook.

Well, maybe more like 20 minutes. Usually when I decide to go out for mobs. But I also have to admit that mob hunting was never the part I was interested in Minecraft so far, so I don't have that much experience in it. This pack is a bit outside of my Minecraft comfort zone I guess, but that has a special appeal to me.

 

[Spaman]

I don't reset my questbook.

Well, maybe more like 20 minutes. Usually when I decide to go out for mobs. But I also have to admit that mob hunting was never the part I was interested in Minecraft so far, so I don't have that much experience in it. This pack is a bit outside of my Minecraft comfort zone I guess, but that has a special appeal to me.

Glad to hear it. going out that early in the game is really taking a risk as there are some fairly powerful mobs in the 'Special Mobs' pack that your new rapier will struggle to deal with. I've had a lot of experience dealing with the mobs and I still set myself up with a 'sunken' base for the first few nights so that mobs can't get me but I can get any that come close enough. I find placing slabs a half block above ground level lets me see whats happening in safety. Putting a slab on the floor brings me up to a comfortable level to tackle them easily. The important thing is making the area big enough to back away from creepers that start their 'hissing' before they explode and tear apart your flimsy shelter.

Its good that you're expanding your comfort zone. There's nothing like the feeling you get when you accomplish something you thought was too hard for you to do. Keep up the good work.......

 

[Sandstroem]

Hm, I usually go out because I get to the point quickly where the questbook requires me to hand in all those bones, arrows, spider stuff and so on.
If I understand you correctly, then a good idea would be to procrastinate a bit on those quests and instead wait until the morning, collect the mobdrops from the burning mobs and go finding more stuff during the day.

Right now I mostly play Savannah. Your argument with the horses some posts back was very compelling.

 

[Spaman]

Hm, I usually go out because I get to the point quickly where the questbook requires me to hand in all those bones, arrows, spider stuff and so on.
If I understand you correctly, then a good idea would be to procrastinate a bit on those quests and instead wait until the morning, collect the mobdrops from the burning mobs and go finding more stuff during the day.

Right now I mostly play Savannah. Your argument with the horses some posts back was very compelling.

Well I tend to explore on the first day collecting enough wood to make a shelter. I prefer to make a below ground one rather than using a ready made one in a ruin. It actually allows me to venture out at night to lure mobs back to my shelter for easy dispatching as I don't like just sitting around waiting for something to happen. If you lay a slab on the ground beyond the edge of your shelter, you can use it for easy exit and access by removing the sand above it. If you have the time its a good idea to place sand all around the top edge of your shelter to stop regular mobs climbing on top of it. Spiders will still climb up and perch there. You can remove a slab from the middle area of your shelter and pick off the spider in relative safety. Its also a good idea to have a solid column around the middle area of your shelter to hide behind to prevent skeletons shooting you. An added bonus to this is they'll then come closer and let you pick them off as well. I'd suggest a minimum 5x5 shelter to begin with if you have enough wood.

I prefer the Savanna for a number of reasons. [and yes, I know it should have a 'H' at its end but this is the way Minecraft spells it] If you find even one regular cactus in the first couple of days and get it growing and regrow all its produce, you'll have enough cactus to make water by the time you actually require some, which can be an advantage over relying on rainfall to fill your barrels. Even when precipitation comes and grows your saguaro, mobs still burn in daylight, making your job easier. Horses are always a fun thing to have and they can spawn in your grassed area which is a bonus if they do. Much better than ocelots that kill your chickens grrr.

Don't forget to read each quest, rather than just completing it as there is heaps of information included that can help you progress in your game. this also applies when you are playing an update for the first time as I often discover stuff myself that i was unaware of between updates that I include in previously existing quests. If you get bored during the night , you can always read that Disclaimer book as there is also some information there that can help you out as well.

EDIT: Forgot to mention, if you come across a floating island, its a good idea to set up a shelter close to it. It will increase your chances of getting much needed slimes.

 

[Swat_Raptor]

I have to say that having a way to stab and slash the ankles of Door to Door mobs is a great boon, but my recent attempts at a mob grinder have taught me to make sure skeletons can't see you to fire arrows because if they do and that arrow hits a creeper, then boom and down comes your flimsy home security system. Thus a Half slab Gap at their feet is they way I go now until I can upgrade to obsidian.

 

[Spaman]

I have to say that having a way to stab and slash the ankles of Door to Door mobs is a great boon, but my recent attempts at a mob grinder have taught me to make sure skeletons can't see you to fire arrows because if they do and that arrow hits a creeper, then boom and down comes your flimsy home security system. Thus a Half slab Gap at their feet is they way I go now until I can upgrade to obsidian.

Not to mention those bow carrying zombies, easy to miss seeing them before its too late. At least when the sky platform comes out you won't have to worry about creepers destroying your platform, although its really annoying when a creeper blows up a precious enderman head before you can get to it.

 

[Swat_Raptor]

So not sure if this has been stated yet, but Creepers are SUPER DUPETASICLY generous now. I noticed that when it blew up 3 Apiary's I picked up 4, so I tried it with Clay and Dirt, same effect, the creeper explodes and breaks blocks but there are more blocks than there were before...... on other news I no longer have a shortage of Dirt or Clay.

 

[Spaman]

So not sure if this has been stated yet, but Creepers are SUPER DUPETASICLY generous now. I noticed that when it blew up 3 Apiary's I picked up 4, so I tried it with Clay and Dirt, same effect, the creeper explodes and breaks blocks but there are more blocks than there were before...... on other news I no longer have a shortage of Dirt or Clay.

Thanks for bringing this up Swat_Raptor. It has been fixed in the new update, so no more extras for you! One of the mods we used was causing this problem and thankfully we managed to fix it without having to actually remove anything.

The update is basically ready for uploading, I just need to get someone to test out the quest gates that are installed in the new underground bunker to make sure they'll work on other computers. It works fine on mine but then it was done on my computer so that's a given. Once I'm sure the gates will work as designed, I'll release the update for everyone to find new problems, lol.

Cheers...........

 

[Elder Sign]

1.5.0 is in active testing and I have been busy trying to find new ways to break the pack c: