xp farms and anvils

[Thorin]

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Anvil

The anvil is something new coming in 1.4.  It allows us to repair almost destroyed items by adding in more material (awesome, no more losing the best-enchanted-item-ever due to wear!).  More importantly, it lets us combine multiple enchanted items, removing the enchantments from the second item and adding them to the first (or increasing the levels of enchantment already there).  The cost for doing so can be pretty high - one screenshot showed 46 levels to move from Efficiency IV to Efficiency V:




source: www.minecraftwiki.net

This is where xp farms can be useful - your awesome uber pick is almost destroyed?  You're still 10 levels away from what you need to fix it / copy enchantments?  Off to the xp farm!

I dunno if I'll actually use the xp farm all that much since level gain is pretty quick these days.  However, I think the xp gain rate from smelting has been reduced a bit, so we'll see.

[Mr. Analog]

Level gain is so fast I don't see much need for farms, but dammit I want anvils badly!!

[Thorin]

Yeah, I was just talking about if we have to hit 50+ to create the top-end enchanted items.  Efficiency V, for instance, is not attainable using enchanting.  You have to use an anvil and two picks with Efficiency IV already on them.  Two picks at Efficiency IV generally requires 25+ levels per pick.

I wonder if we could just do this:

The number (eg "01") is the pick number.  "Eff" is short for Efficiency, "I", "II", etc are the Roman numerals depicting the enchantment power.

enchant: 01 Eff I, 02 Eff I
combine: 01 + 02 = 01 Eff II (02 cleared)
enchant: 02 Eff I, 03 Eff I
combine: 02 + 03 = 02 Eff II (03 cleared), 01 + 02 = 01 Eff III (02 cleared)

enchant: 02 Eff I, 03 Eff I
combine: 02 + 03 = 02 Eff II (03 cleared)
enchant: 03 Eff I, 04 Eff I
combine: 03 + 04 = 03 Eff II (04 cleared), 02 + 03 = 02 Eff III (03 cleared)

combine: 01 + 02 = 01 Eff IV (02 cleared)

enchant: 02 Eff I, 03 Eff I
combine: 02 + 03 = 02 Eff II (03 cleared)
enchant: 03 Eff I, 04 Eff I
combine: 03 + 04 = 03 Eff II (04 cleared), 02 + 03 = 02 Eff III (03 cleared)

enchant: 03 Eff I, 04 Eff I
combine: 03 + 04 = 03 Eff II (04 cleared)
enchant: 04 Eff I, 05 Eff I
combine: 04 + 05 = 04 Eff II (05 cleared), 03 + 04 = 03 Eff III (04 cleared)

combine: 02 + 03 = 02 Eff IV (03 cleared)

combine: 01 + 02 = 01 Eff V (02 cleared)

So, five diamond picks, one enchantment table (doesn't even require bookcases), sixteen level one enchantments (if you stick to level one you will only get Efficiency I) requiring two mob kills per level so thirty-two mobs, one anvil, fifteen uses of the anvil (anvils are expected to last for twenty-five uses).

And you have an Efficiency V pick out of the deal that you can just keep fixing.

[Thorin]

I wish there was a way to remove enchantments.  For instance, I don't want both Fortune and Silk Touch on my pick, because Silk Touch will mine a diamond ore block, whereas I want Fortune to give me multiple diamonds (not diamond ore) per block mined.

[Mr. Analog]

If you change the order of the items on the anvil it will prefer the enchantment on the left over the one on the right so you may be able to remove it by adding new enchantments.

Otherwise, just frame the pick you don't want and make another one

(are Item Frames added now?)

[Pants]

This is where xp farms can be useful - your awesome uber pick is almost destroyed?  You're still 10 levels away from what you need to fix it / copy enchantments?  Off to the xp farm!

I hear there is a pretty awesome Blaze XP farm somewhere.

[Thorin]

Hi Pants!  Yeah, I heard something about that, too.  I thought it was just a legend, a myth whispered amongst the Usamot lords in the dead of night to scare the younger ones.

How are things going down in your neck of the wood on the server, by the way?

[Pants]

I've actually been playing with my son on our 2 person server ever since the 1.4 snapshots popped up.

[Mr. Analog]

I've actually been playing with my son on our 2 person server ever since the 1.4 snapshots popped up.

Nice! I started a 1.4 map locally before I rolled back to 1.3.2.

I wonder if there are any tools out there in candyland that let you manage different versions of Minecraft side-by-side?

[Thorin]

I've actually been playing with my son on our 2 person server ever since the 1.4 snapshots popped up.

Nice! I started a 1.4 map locally before I rolled back to 1.3.2.

I wonder if there are any tools out there in candyland that let you manage different versions of Minecraft side-by-side?

Beyond MCNostalgia, I dunno.  I customized my setup a little - instead of living in the %AppData% folder, I have my stuff on my D: drive just off the root.  I start Minecraft with a little batch file that has the following commands in it:

Code Select Expand


@echo off

Title Starting Minecraft

echo Starting Minecraft...
echo.

echo ..Set AppData to %CD%\GameFiles
set APPDATA=%CD%\GameFiles\
echo.

echo ..Run GameFiles\minecraft.exe
start GameFiles\minecraft.exe
echo.


My directory structure is like so:

D:
../Minecraft
....Start Minecraft.bat
..../Downloaded Mods
..../Downloaded Texture Packs
..../GameFiles
......Minecraft.exe
....../.minecraft


To do this, I just copied the %AppData%\.minecraft folder to D:\Minecraft\GameFiles\.minecraft, then made my little batch file that changes the AppData location.  Run the batch file, the AppData location gets changed to D:\Minecraft\GameFiles (for the batch file and any programs it calls, not for the rest of the computer), then start Minecraft.

If you did this, you could have two installed locations side-by-side, and you could update one while keeping the other at 1.3.2.  You could even put shortcuts to your batch files on your desktop, like I've done for the kids

edit: a word of caution, though, all of the single-player data is stored within the .minecraft folder, so you won't be able to share map data between them if you wanted to.  In my case I have multiple kids playing on the same machine, so keeping their maps completely separate is kinda nice.

[Melbosa]

Dn't you have to put AppData back when done?

[Thorin]

Nope, it's only valid for the session the batch file started in (and any other programs started by the batch file).  It works perfectly.  In fact, I can start Minecraft from one location, then start another Minecraft from another location, have them both log into the same server and play myself!

[Melbosa]

Nope, it's only valid for the session the batch file started in (and any other programs started by the batch file).  It works perfectly.  In fact, I can start Minecraft from one location, then start another Minecraft from another location, have them both log into the same server and play myself!

Hhmmmmm anyone else find that a bit disturbing?

[Tom]

Nope, it's only valid for the session the batch file started in (and any other programs started by the batch file).  It works perfectly.  In fact, I can start Minecraft from one location, then start another Minecraft from another location, have them both log into the same server and play myself!

Hhmmmmm anyone else find that a bit disturbing?

Everyone has their own way of relieving stress.

[LennyLen]

Nope, it's only valid for the session the batch file started in (and any other programs started by the batch file).  It works perfectly.  In fact, I can start Minecraft from one location, then start another Minecraft from another location, have them both log into the same server and play myself!

Hhmmmmm anyone else find that a bit disturbing?

Everyone has their own way of relieving stress.

He said play myself, not play with myself.

[Mr. Analog]

Nope, it's only valid for the session the batch file started in (and any other programs started by the batch file).  It works perfectly.  In fact, I can start Minecraft from one location, then start another Minecraft from another location, have them both log into the same server and play myself!

Hhmmmmm anyone else find that a bit disturbing?

Everyone has their own way of relieving stress.

He said play myself, not play with myself.

LOL!

[Tom]

Nope, it's only valid for the session the batch file started in (and any other programs started by the batch file).  It works perfectly.  In fact, I can start Minecraft from one location, then start another Minecraft from another location, have them both log into the same server and play myself!

Hhmmmmm anyone else find that a bit disturbing?

Everyone has their own way of relieving stress.

He said play myself, not play with myself.

LOL!

Ah Lenny has no sense of humour

[Thorin]

My way of relieving stress is dealing with being a coach and dealing with sports parents.

No, wait, that's the opposite.

Anyway, back on track, it works, it really, really works.  Go ahead and try it.

[Pants]

Since this is a topic about XP farms, I thought I'd share with you a pretty easy-to-make XP spawner farm.  It only requires water, some redstone, 2 repeaters, a dispenser, and a lava bucket.  It's way easier to make than the standard "water elevator + drop" method.  You can use it to turn any spawner into an XP/item farm in about 30 minutes.  I really should use it on my double cave spider farm.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZBcopfWHIc
(not my design)

[Thorin]

Wow that's simple!  You don't even have to measure the up and down or anything...  You still have to set up the water to drag them over, just as before.

[Mr. Analog]

That is a brilliant design, so compact...

I had no idea a dispenser could suck lava back in

[Thorin]

Dispensers sucking lava back in is pretty new, I think.

[looks on minecraftwiki.net]

As of snapshot 12w21a, so I guess that's new in 1.3.2.

[Mr. Analog]

That's cool, I haven't really played around with dispensers much

[Thorin]

Me either.  You're supposed to have bows for dispensers, right?  I'll need to find some.

...



Hey, with the Anvil I'll be able to take all my Power I bows and make multiple Power III bows!

Pow I + Pow I = Pow II
Pow I + Pow I = Pow II
Pow II + Pow II = Pow III

So four Power I bows will make a Power III bow.  Did I mention I have a double-chest full of Power I bows?  Here come 13 Power III bows!

[Mr. Analog]

Reminds me of crafting in TF2 lol

[Thorin]

I just discovered the article that explains in detail how the level cost is calculated for anvils: http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Anvil_mechanics

Hey, with the Anvil I'll be able to take all my Power I bows and make multiple Power III bows!

Pow I + Pow I = Pow II
Pow I + Pow I = Pow II
Pow II + Pow II = Pow III

Cost:

(1+(1-1)*1+1+2*0=2) + (2+2*0) = 4 levels
(1+(1-1)*1+1+2*0=2) + (2+2*0) = 4 levels
(1+(2-1)*1+1+2*1=5) + (2+2*0) = 7 levels

To keep going after the above:

Pow I + Pow I = Pow II
Pow I + Pow I = Pow II
Pow II + Pow II = Pow III
Pow III + Pow III = Pow IV

(1+(1-1)*1+1+2*0=2) + (2+2*0) = 4 levels
(1+(1-1)*1+1+2*0=2) + (2+2*0) = 4 levels
(1+(2-1)*1+1+2*1=5) + (2+2*0) = 7 levels
(1+(3-1)*1+1+2*2=8) + (2+2*1) = 12 levels

So 42 levels total to make a Power IV bow if you have eight Power I bows (I have 60+ from my skelly farm).  All the level costs are below 17, so if I use the anvil as soon as I have enough levels, they're all at the cost of 17xp (aka 3.4 skellies).  So by killing 143 skellies I could make a Power IV bow.

I tried doing the math on my earlier example of making a diamond pickaxe with Efficiency V but HOLY COW COMPLICATED.

[Pants]

So by killing 143 skellies I could make a Power IV bow.

Power IV?  Why stop there?  Here's what I cooked up while idling by my lava bucket skeleton farm whilst watching a movie.  I just need to add Flame II to it, which I think is doable with some more idling.


When looking through my current Minecraft screenshots I also found one of my current house in my 1.4 world.  My son and I built a 7-layer hostile mob farm (as high as we could go before we hit the y=128) directly above our house and I think it looks pretty neat.

http://i.imgur.com/pn5N7.jpg

[Thorin]

The way Power works is Power 1 does 1.5x damage, Power II does 1.75x, II does 2x, IV does 2.25x, and V does 2.5x.  A fully-charged bow does 4.5 hearts (9 points) damage or somethmes 5 hearts (10 points).

So a Power IV bow normally does 4.5x2.25=10.125 hearts (20 points) damage, enough to kill a hostile mob in one shot.  It sometimes does 5x2.25=11.25 hearts (22 points), more then enough.  Meanwhile a Power V bow would do 4.5x2.5=11.25 hearts (22 points) or 5*2.5=12.5 hearts (25 points).

So it takes a lot less levels to get Power IV and yet Power IV can kill a creeper or zombie in one shot, without having to crit.

[Pants]

So it takes a lot less levels to get Power IV and yet Power IV can kill a creeper or zombie in one shot, without having to crit.

Creepers?  Zombies?  I'm thinking Ender Dragons and Wither bosses.