I live here now

[Drbretto]

Got back on briefly for the first time since last week. Just poked in and started looking at the logistics.

It is 16 blocks for the wiring, but it seems like it paid attention in junior high school math and it knows the quadratic formula. On top of that, it seems like the lanterns have a tough time relaying too far up or down. And the third problem is that if it were to run over the whole village area, it would just be ugly.

The solution to all three problems was very simple. I need to run a network underground.

This is actually perfect on a bunch of levels. The max speed AA drill can dig a 3x3 tunnel as fast as I can run. Using the chunk border outline, which is my new favorite toy that I completely dismissed before, I can run a criss-crossing grid at the same level as the land I leveled out, only going all the way back beyond the village borders. I can set up all my power to go into the grid from my centralized, chunk loaded base of operations and I can use the chunk borders to dig myself an RF access point from anywhere in my village.

I will still run nice looking poles and power lanterns through the village wherever it looks good. I just don't want the whole place covered in wires.

 

[Drbretto]

And, man, I'm pretty happy with how that landscaping worked out. I'm still not sure how it'll end up, but when I popped in today a little wave of pride hit me. It's not a Picasso or nothin, but I can't draw a convincing stick figure and all of a sudden these things are working out right and I'm still not sure it's not just a weird fluke, lol. But I really love how it turned out. I hope I don't totally mess it up with the decorations. This part is new to me.

I have some neat ideas for that center piece, but I need to get some stuff from The End. What's the best way to find the fortress or whatever? I've only ever used an ender compass, but that's not one in this pack. Never did it on vanilla.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Make a stack of ender eyes. Toss one, follow it. If you're fancy, you can throw one, mark your position and it's direction, and then move quite a distance left or right of it's course, and then do it again. With three positions you can math out where the stronghold is. I usually get lucky and end up with my house over the top of it. It's happened like four times, and is actually kind of hilarious.

 

[Drbretto]

And then I was like "oh yeah, this will be easy. Three hours, tops!"

This is way bigger than it was in my head. I've also had to redesign the grid a few times.

Originally, the idea was every other chunk. But that's overkill. You can go lantern, relay, relay, relay, lantern as long as you criss cross it at the middle relay. This covers every block with just a little overlap.

The problem is, that is perfect for perfectly flat land. Minecraft does not have perfectly flat land, so I decided to put it underground. The problem there is that I believe the later work on a spherical radius. This means underground, it's safe, but above ground can be anywhere from 5 to 15 levels higher, which means there could be gaps. Not even including drastic elevation changes that would swallow the whole sphere.

So, since we live in a three (well, four, but let's not overcomplicate) dimensional world, so we need a three dimensional grid. Each relay point will need a line up to the surface with a pole and a lantern, and suddenly you've got an elegant solution with perfect coverage, little wasted, with some aesthetic light poles placed at regular intervals, but not enough that it looks like pollution. Each of these nodes also doubles as an access point for RF.

This will work, but it is most definitely not a 3-hour job.


But, the bigger problem is, I have no where to put anything but my backpacks anymore, so I have to stop everything and redesign an entire storage and processing system from the ground up. It's official getting cumbersome.

 

[Nuclear_Creeper0]

@Drbretto Why are you such a good builder? I always just dig into a mountain and expand from there...

 

[Drbretto]

I do have every intention of being good some day, but I've got a long way to go. I don't think any other game has ever commanded my attention like this one, so I intend to continue to improve and see what I can do over the next decade. I just don't see this game (meaning the whole Minecraft experience) getting old. I have had ideas cooking in my head for years now that I will need to get better to pull off.

But, one step at a time. Nothing to show yet for this weekend, even though I got a solid 12-14 in. But, a got a lot of prep work done. Fixed up a bunch of inventory cloggage. It was really bad. My base continues to look like a mad scientist's lab blew up, but at least I know where to find the stuff I need. One day, I'll redesign it all, but right now, just glad to have some automated ore processing so I don't get slowed down.

This "three-hour" job is one about hour 10 of straight work. I will record a tour of the system when it's done for now. I'm just covering the active area for now, but I can expand the network as I expand the village. It's a simple design, but I've run into complications.

The design changed one last time. For simplicity sake, I've gone back to the original idea of a lantern every other chunk, rather than the more spread out design I switched too. It was too clever by a half. The lanterns are pretty cheap to build. This way gives better 3 dimensional coverage and doesn't slow anything down.

But, it is causing one issue. I'm having trouble keeping up the power. I'm missing something. I'm not sure how much I'm pumping into the network, but I have like 40 lamps set and I can't keep up. There must be some loss from the connectors or something? I've got three water wheels and 3 or 4 windmills on it.

Whatever it is, I'll deal. I built a lightning rod, maybe that'll help, lol. I do wonder how practical it could be. I think if I keep it chunk loaded on the server, it might continue running it while I'm offline. I figure there might be a hit while im at work or something. If not, it's ok. I built it cause it looks neat, mostly. It could make for a neat effect in the center of the fountain-to-be.

 

[Drbretto]

Man, sometimes I really wish I could figure out a way to convey the fun involved in the less showy aspects of this game, but I really just can't think of anything. I've done a lot of work since the last update (between real life committments), but it's all in preparation for the next major build, which I promise will at least be interesting! Another one of my weird little inventions that I've had in my head.

But, before I can get to that build, I have so much boring stuff to do. I still need some tweaks to my inventory system. I still need to run all the wiring underground for the lanterns. And I need to finish up a basic wall along the perimeter to stop wandering mobs from killing my guards all the time (who's guarding who, huh??) so my village doesn't keep going from happiness level 9 to level 1 every time I log back in.

Now, good news on my power grid is that I solved my power problems in the most mad scientist way possible: A lightning rod right in the middle of my would-be fountain. I haven't seen it get hit yet, but I chunkloaded it and when I came back, it was full, so it's totally working. This should be more than enough to make sure my Windmills and Water mills don't need to be in any particular place because they're now officially supplemental energy. I think this project is FINALLY going to finish up in a couple of days.

And then, I need to conquer The End because I need a bunch of ender pearls and end stone in order to finish up the last parts of my plan for the fountain. I have finally gotten around to building a small mob spawner so I can collect some ender pearls to open the portal. This time, I'm not bothering to collect the XP from the mob grinder, so it doesn't conflict with my vision for this modpack. I'm OK with it.

And then, I need like 12 hours straight to build it. I'd really like to do it all in one sitting. But, this is hard to plan for with the pack being a bit buggy. There's an update out for it, though. That might help with stability. Or break my server for like 5 hours while I fix it. I guess we gonna find out!

I wanna go home!

Edit: Oh, and I've solved my dilemma with the science documentaries that keep taking up my minecrafting time. I have taken to listening to lectures and books on tape while I play.

 

[Nuclear_Creeper0]

Stop being good at building... Your making me look bad, I always just put a Mega/Magnum Torch down and don't even make a house..

 

[Drbretto]

Stop being good at building... Your making me look bad, I always just put a Mega/Magnum Torch down and don't even make a house..

I think you'll like my next video when I get to it, haha.

If it makes you feel any better, my "lab" looks like it was designed by a charged creeper.

 

[Nuclear_Creeper0]

If it makes you feel any better, my "lab" looks like it was designed by a charged creeper.

Everything I build looks like it was designed by a charged creeper. The number of holes in my worlds is ridiculous.

 

[Inaeo]

Remember that the LV Power lines have a max that they can carry, which effectively limits their working range, even with just Lanterns. Might be wise to step the power up to MV or HV lines to hubs or transfer stations to make sure coverage is uninterrupted. It's also a nice way to prepare your grid for larger projects which may consume more than a simple LV line can supply. Figured, I'd mention it before you were finished and had covered everything back up.

Everything I build looks like it was designed by a charged creeper. The number of holes in my worlds is ridiculous.

My OCD makes me replace the creeper divets as soon as I'm able (immediately, if within visual range of base, next trip by if in the wild). I get twitchy when I visit my friend's place and the ground is littered with craters.

 

[Drbretto]

I actually was thinking that myself. I think I'm going to put a halt on all wiring in general first. Then go in and dig the tunnels. I was going to run a high-powered line splitting the plot right down the middle with a bunch of capacitors for backup, and some transformers converting the power into LV quadrants. If I need more power than that later on, it's a super quick fix because of that central line, not to mention all the tunnels being dug already.

Everything I did before I was kinds testing the waters as I went through. Now I have a better idea of the whole goal here and I can go through the rest of it with purpose. NOW it should finally go relatively quickly. I still can't believe I predicted 3 hours, lol, but hopefully no more than 3 afternoons left, I think. To totally spawn-proof it, I mean.

 

[KingTriaxx]

I think my system has delivered more dirt for the purpose of filling creeper holes than it has items to craft things.

 

[Nuclear_Creeper0]

Drbretto I wouldn't recommend IE wires for any distance greater than 200 blocks. I know in sprout, RF tools exists. I would recommend using powercells for larger distances.

 

[Drbretto]

I'm not just running it at length, I'm running an entire grid. I think I can mitigate some issues by separating it into quadrants and selective chunk loading. If not, though, I'll look into other options, including that.

 

[KingTriaxx]

Nothing wrong with intermittent power sources. Thermoelectric Generators buried with water and lava and tied into the grid can provide small boosts without being anything you ever need to touch again.

 

[Drbretto]

Forgot about the thermoelectric generators. That's perfect because if I need any, they could easily hide with the underground cables so I don't have to worry about making them pretty. Good call.

 

[Drbretto]

Note: any references to the video being posted "tomorrow" are because I wrote 75% of this post before I zonked out last night. This is "tomorrow"




Took a break from the power grid to finally go ahead and work on the project I have wanted to do for a while. I think it's pretty neat. Can't wait to see the final product, but I have been playing for 19 straight hours an I think I've earned a nap.

I'll post the video first thing in the morning. You'll see enough to at least get what I'm trying to do, but it's basically just one leg done, out of 10. But here on out there's not more guesswork, so there's an outside shot of finishing tomorrow.

This is my centerpiece fountain. It's primarily decoration, but it holds my lightning rod and will have two sets of 3 water water mills that will all run into the main power supply. That lightning rod is chunkloaded so it's almost always full when I get back to the game. It's pretty much just connected toy Energizer. Conveniently, it gives me 3 full charges of my 16m AA battery between the lightning rod, some hv capacitors and the battery itself.

But really this is about putting something neat looking front and center in my little kingdom. If you've seen any of my stuff before, this is definitely a DrBretto signature build. Just an evolution of some other ideas I've had in the past but couldn't do properly because I didn't have the tools.

There are two tools in this setup. First is the openblocks sky blocks. I use these to hide the floating mechanism that will run the show. These blocks look like the sky, which will make anything behind it look invisible if it's up in the sky. I always wanted to use these on older worlds, but I had troubles getting them to work. I'm finally going to get to put them to good use!

Speaking of invisible things, that's the second crucial tool. Invisible blocks. Or, more accurately, invisible bits. Yes, it's works! But it's a double edged sword. EnderIO has an invisible block you can craft. It's relatively easy to make a few of them, but to make the thousands I would need for a project like this, it would take forever. 4 fused glass and machine bits fir a single block. If it's not obvious from the video, the invisible bits are surrounding the water streams, giving them shape without cluttering up the view.

Put one of them in a bits drawer, though, and you have 4096 bits that are just as capable of diverting liquids invisibly as full blocks. But, you better set them right the first time because they are NOT easy to clean up. Pretty close to 'once you place it, it's permanent". I did try placing them as small cubes and that made it a bit easier. Then, for some reason, I stopped doing that and I shouldnt have, lol. You'll see my struggles whizzing across your screen on the video.

First half of the video was 8 hours of laying out the basic shape. I didn't really have a plan here and since starting this, I've come up with some more interesting designs I could have used, like with the lines weaving through each other like a pretzel, but there's always next time. This won't be the last one of these things I build, I'm sure.

Second part of the video shows the basic idea I'm going for. Specifically the last few seconds. From this point on, I need to do what I did with that one leg to the nine that remain. I may not do a whole time lapse of that, especially if this ends up taking me all week to finish up in little bites. The next video will most likely be the final product.

 

[Nuclear_Creeper0]

Note: any references to the video being posted "tomorrow" are because I wrote 75% of this post before I zonked out last night. This is "tomorrow"




Took a break from the power grid to finally go ahead and work on the project I have wanted to do for a while. I think it's pretty neat. Can't wait to see the final product, but I have been playing for 19 straight hours an I think I've earned a nap.

I'll post the video first thing in the morning. You'll see enough to at least get what I'm trying to do, but it's basically just one leg done, out of 10. But here on out there's not more guesswork, so there's an outside shot of finishing tomorrow.

This is my centerpiece fountain. It's primarily decoration, but it holds my lightning rod and will have two sets of 3 water water mills that will all run into the main power supply. That lightning rod is chunkloaded so it's almost always full when I get back to the game. It's pretty much just connected toy Energizer. Conveniently, it gives me 3 full charges of my 16m AA battery between the lightning rod, some hv capacitors and the battery itself.

But really this is about putting something neat looking front and center in my little kingdom. If you've seen any of my stuff before, this is definitely a DrBretto signature build. Just an evolution of some other ideas I've had in the past but couldn't do properly because I didn't have the tools.

There are two tools in this setup. First is the openblocks sky blocks. I use these to hide the floating mechanism that will run the show. These blocks look like the sky, which will make anything behind it look invisible if it's up in the sky. I always wanted to use these on older worlds, but I had troubles getting them to work. I'm finally going to get to put them to good use!

Speaking of invisible things, that's the second crucial tool. Invisible blocks. Or, more accurately, invisible bits. Yes, it's works! But it's a double edged sword. EnderIO has an invisible block you can craft. It's relatively easy to make a few of them, but to make the thousands I would need for a project like this, it would take forever. 4 fused glass and machine bits fir a single block. If it's not obvious from the video, the invisible bits are surrounding the water streams, giving them shape without cluttering up the view.

Put one of them in a bits drawer, though, and you have 4096 bits that are just as capable of diverting liquids invisibly as full blocks. But, you better set them right the first time because they are NOT easy to clean up. Pretty close to 'once you place it, it's permanent". I did try placing them as small cubes and that made it a bit easier. Then, for some reason, I stopped doing that and I shouldnt have, lol. You'll see my struggles whizzing across your screen on the video.

First half of the video was 8 hours of laying out the basic shape. I didn't really have a plan here and since starting this, I've come up with some more interesting designs I could have used, like with the lines weaving through each other like a pretzel, but there's always next time. This won't be the last one of these things I build, I'm sure.

Second part of the video shows the basic idea I'm going for. Specifically the last few seconds. From this point on, I need to do what I did with that one leg to the nine that remain. I may not do a whole time lapse of that, especially if this ends up taking me all week to finish up in little bites. The next video will most likely be the final product.

You're too good....

 

[Inaeo]

That's pretty cool. Thinking of lightning it? Having that backlit from the center should look cool after the sun goes down too.