Minecraft questions for the newbie

So, I’m not a minecraft player, but I like the IDEA of being one. I’ve tried to play it a couple of times with mixed results. So I have a few questions, and would enjoy reading others peoples thoughts on the game in general.

It started off as a PC game (I think), but now it’s available on major gaming platforms.
How does that affect playability? In YOUR humble opinion, does it suck on anyplatform except PC?

The complexity of some of the things you can build is amazing to me.
Do most people just figure out those “recipes” as they go along, or is it one of those things that people immediately use a companion app or website to help them along?

Is there an end goal in mind? Or is it more like the sims where the goal is more or less to create an empire, the more complex, the better?

If I get these answered, that will pave the directions for more questions.

Thanks,

Only every played on the pc.

There are online recipe lists and thousands of tutorials on how to build everything imaginable.

There’s kind of a goal. You can kill a dragon, but that’s almost entirely secondary to just creating things.

If there weren’t tutorials I wonder how long it would take for someone to kill the dragon. Hmm.

You will not guess the crafting recipes you should use a website that lists them. I use

It also has some tutorials you should look at at least the first few.
There is sort of an end goal of destroying the ender dragon but mostly people just expand their bases or explore around. There are tons of mine craft servers where people have set up worlds where you compete with other people to do various things. I personally haven’t done much of that.

Most sandbox games like Minecraft are all about the fun you have being creative and finding out all the little secrets the game drip feeds to you. As mentioned, there are a few goals in the game, but’s not really about completing them, at least not for most.

As far as I know the PC version is the only one that fully supports mods. It’s also the only version where the world size is only limited by your hard drive space. That makes it the best version, IMHO, but there are a lot of people having fun with the console/mobile versions too.

I’ve played the PC version (actually computer version. It works on nearly any OS), the Xbox 360 version and the pocket (tablet) version. It plays much better on the computer version. I won’t say it sucks on other platforms, but it’s certainly lacking.

The XBox version seems bang-on for playing the game in microcosm, maybe better than the PC even. But it won’t have all the mods that extend the game in 1000 different ways - I don’t do any of this myself, so it’s not like you need it to enjoy the game, but it does seem like this is where the frontier of the game is, where the development takes place. Heavily modded game structures seem standard on all the youtube minecraft vids my son watches, which are crazy popular.

I’m prob a bit against the grain in that I don’t place high value on the open-ended, sandbox nature of the game for it’s own sake (I find creative mode boring - maybe I was an accountant in another life), it’s more that I like how it meshes with the task-driven ‘storyline’ [for want of a better word], so you can tackle things freely in your own way.
The evolution of the game seems to be on hiatus with microsoft at the moment, from this point of view - seems like they could do a huge amount here but have chosen not to. Maybe the majority of gamers aren’t interested in this side of the game, or it’s taken care of by all of the third-party stuff, don’t know.

It’s not so much of an empire build as it is making things like mansions, dungeons, gardens, sculptures, inventions, farms, temples, and so on. I started off by making a 55 x 55 mosaic of the Eye of Jupiter from MSG. Not only did I have to search for materials and constantly strip mine the landscape, I had to figure out ways to keep Zombies, Creepers and Skeletons from attacking me while making it. (Cobblestone fence with a really wide area)

The world you play is as large as Uranus, so there’s plenty to explore. You can bypass a lot of time journeying by creating a Nether Portal and a rail system. You have to make sure you can survive normally too, like by growing crops and keeping livestock so you don’t starve. It’s mainly a way to creatively express yourself while playing in a dangerous fantasy world made out of building blocks.

Yeah, nothing like feeling invincible on the Overworld and going on some expeditions to the Nether to make you feel that sense of danger.

When you see a creeper and all you feel is mild annoyance that he might ruin your carefully built pyramid and roller coaster, try going to the Nether and facing ghasts and blazes and packs of zombie pigmen.

The console versions aren’t just missing modability - they’re generally a couple official updates behind the PC version. Last I checked, there are entire biomes that haven’t been ported to the consoles yet.

Does the console version have things like the F3 key to pull up things like your location light levels etc? I know that the windows 10 version which is separate from the normal PC version doesn’t.

I am not certain if I would go so far as to claim that it “sucks” on other platforms, however as another has suggested it certainly is lacking in different areas on other platforms.

I am sure that there are some recipes that you could figure out on your own, however there are some that you would only discover by sheer luck, or others that you would not discover how to use at all considering that they are part of a mod.

There is no predefined end goal, really–the end goal is whatever you have in mind.

What you can do in Minecraft is really limited only by your imagination, for the most part.

My kids enjoy the Xbox version. That way, they can all play on a shared world.

My oldest son has a small laptop and he saved up his allowance to buy a license. He likes the PC version. He’ll open his world to the LAN every once in a while, and I’ll join him on his world.

The end goal for me is community! If you’re playing on pc, join a server! Have all your questions answered as you go and enjoy some company. If I may be permitted to suggest, check out sheep.I’m we’re a friendly bunch.

I ended up adding NEI (a mod that gives you recipes among other things) to my vanilla account because it’s too much of a pain otherwise, especially when they do things like change the FENCE RECIPE to be more expensive!

In many ways I feel much safer in the Nether than I do in the poorly lit regions of the overworld, the zombie pigmen are neutral and won’t attack you unless you hit them first(but if provoked they will indeed ruin your day), ghasts loud, their attacks are slow and easy to dodge.
The only really dangerous mobs are wither skeletons and blazes but they only spawn in Nether Fortresses.
The main danger is the environment itself, lava flows much faster and is everywhere.

Ooh, Minecraft! Haven’t done that one in a while. Sure, I’m game.

Enright 3, one very basic, important fact (and one that most well-meaning helpers and even some guides miss) is that there are two modes in Minecraft, Creative and Survival. Creative is pretty much what it sounds like; you have all the tools, terrain types, objects, items, etc. at your disposal and can set and destroy them at will. You can even fly (provided you’re not on a server which specifically prohibits it). It is possible to get killed, but that’s no big deal since you can just replace everything you lost. All those amazing constructions you saw were made in Creative, and this is pretty much its main purpose. It’s also good for testing out potions, working out tactics for killing enemies, practicing breeding, etc. It is possible to reach the Nether Portal and even The End, though for the latter you’ll need the actual End Portal location; making your own doesn’t work. Survival is where you have to work. You need to harvest, mine, and collect everything you need, you can’t fly, and death can really throw you for a loop (more on this in a bit). Note that despite anything you may have heard, achievements can only be earned in Survival.

There are four difficulty levels, Peaceful, Easy, Normal, and Hard. Peaceful has no enemies whatsoever other than the Ender Dragon, your food level never decreases, and all damage heals instantly. The only way to die is to fall off the world in The End. (Yes, of course I learned this the hard way, why do you ask? :slight_smile: ) Easy has the weakest enemies (still do a lot of damage if you’re unarmored, so watch out) and your food level decreases slowly. Normal and Hard are correspondingly more challenging.

So my first advice to you is SPEND PLENTY OF TIME IN CREATIVE ON PEACEFUL DIFFICULTY. (I know all the guides tell you to start with Survival Normal. They are deluded morons. Ignore them.) Make stuff, beat up foes, set trees on fire, explore underwater, and in general be a complete goof and have fun. When you’ve had enough of that, do Survival on Peaceful and get a good feel for collecting resources, crafting, growing food (very critical once you switch to Easy), and forging paths. Oh, and there’s tons of stuff to be had and you only have limited carrying capacity, so at some point you must also learn the art of handy storage. Put your chests in places where you can reach them easily, and have a system so you remember what’s in what. (Later, when you get serious and play on Easy, you’ll want to make the very handy Ender Chests so you don’t have to keep running to this or that location, but set that aside for now.)

If you decide that Survival is too much work and just want to stick to Creative from now on, that’s fine. A lot of players do just that. This is one of the least hardcore games ever, practically a mobile game (well, strictly speaking, it is a mobile game now, but you know what I mean), and playing around and seeing what you can come up with is perfectly acceptable.

But if you do decide to make the jump and start playing Survival on Easy (don’t take on the harder difficulties until you’re ready for them), I can offer the following tips:

  • You do not need to use the same difficulty level for each session. Therefore, you can get your resource-gathering work done on Peaceful, build what you need for long-term survival, and proceed into Easy ready to rock. I recommend at minimum mapping out the entire world, making several chests, collecting plenty of food, and making a full set of iron armor and an iron sword before proceeding to Easy.

  • Each seed produces the exact same world every time. If you found diamonds or a lava pool in a certain area in Creative, it’ll be right there in Survival. This is great when it comes time to mine those hard-to-find resources. Absolutely find out where the End Portal is in Creative before you even THINK about tackling it in Survival!

  • There are NO zones, areas, demarcations, or partitions whatsoever. There is no distinction between “indoors” or “outdoors”, “aboveground” or “underground”, “high altitude” or “low altitude”. Anything can be anywhere at any time. That’s why, for the most part, making a “house” is folly, because there is no reason a creeper or other nuisance can’t appear inside it and completely mess it up (happened to me once).

  • The only limitations on the animals’ and enemies’ (collectively known as “mobs”) is where they can appear (“spawn”). Animals cannot spawn in deserts or snow, and enemies cannot spawn in areas with sufficient light or in daytime; neither can spawn within a certain distance of you. But once they appear, they can go wherever they want. Endermen can be particularly nasty because they can spawn just outside your protective region of light and instantly zip in to pummel you (and they hit like trucks).

  • You’d think that the best way to survive the night (assuming you don’t yet have the resources for a bed) would be to dig two spaces down, fill the space above you, and wait it out. This is, of course, a really, really bad idea. Why? Because you won’t be able to see when the sun rises! What you should do is create a rising pillar of diggable material (i.e. dirt, sand, or gravel). Jump, set, jump, set, at least several spaces high. Watch the sky and wait for the sun to rise…then keep waiting until the zombies and skeletons are done burning to death (it takes a while). Then dig your way back down and go about your business unscathed.

  • If you die, everything you were carrying gets dropped on the space you died on and you get zapped back to the last bed you slept in if it still exists and you haven’t moved it, your starting point otherwise. There is a limited time to go back and reclaim it all, but the limit doesn’t start until you are within a certain distance. So as long as you don’t die in lava, someplace deep and inaccessible, or someplace where you’re likely to get killed again, you’re hunky dory! As you might have guessed, those are the three most likely situations where you’re the most likely to die. So whenever there’s a whiff of trouble, save.

  • Your best food source is carrots, as they’re easy to grow and require no preparation. Granted, most other items have more food value. The catch is that there are very few situations where you don’t want the food bar to be full, because that allows you to heal…and trust me, you will need to heal A. WHOLE. DAMN. LOT. on Easy. (And trust me, it only gets worse once you reach the Nether.)

  • To create a “safe” area (well, as safe as anything can be on Easy), you need 1. light, 2. barriers, and 3. a door. A roof isn’t strictly required unless you’re building next to higher ground, but if you’re making a permanent structure you should definitely include one. Set sufficient light sources throughout the entire interior to ensure no unwanted guests, then place the door in a convenient location. A wooden door is sufficient; zombies can break them down on the harder levels but not Easy. If you want an iron door, just remember that you need some means of opening it on both ends (a pair of wooden buttons will do nicely).

  • Trading is where we separate the men from the boys. You can gain a plethora of emeralds by selling items to villagers, some of which are easy to obtain (particularly wheat), which you can then give to other villagers for various items, some of them highly valuable (diamond armor) and some of them insanely valuable (ender peal). The important things to remember are that 1. each type of villager has a preset list of items for sale, and 2. the next item offered is selected at random. So you want to make good use of save scumming (trust me, you’re not accomplishing anything meaningful without save scumming) to make sure you get something good. In particular, you want to get a diamond pickaxe from a tool smith ASAP; it’s worth it’s weight in gold. Well, even more than that, given how limited gold’s uses are in this game.

Whew! Went on longer than I expected. All right, have it, and good luck. If you need any help getting the achievements, just ask!

Has anyone played the 1.9 update much? I played yesterday for the first time in months and it seems like quite a significant change, particularly to combat. Went out at night to rinse through some mobs and ended up legging it back to base close to death. Plenty of other additions as well, such as endcities.

I miss spamclicking. :frowning:
I’m dying to get my hands on an elytra. (Literally. I keep mis-aiming when throwing ender pearls and falling into the void.)

DKW posted about saves as if you could “go back” to a save if you die. I haven’t been playing for several years and just came back to the game, but I must be doing something wrong because I couldn’t quit a game without saving it - even if I just closed the game window, it would save where I was at and I couldn’t restore from an earlier status.

Is there something I was missing?

Well, there’s a save file. You can proactively copy and move the save file if you think you are about to attempt something dangerous and then replace the save file if you don’t like the outcome.

I just leave cheats on and type in /gameRule KeepInventory true