I just picked up Minecraft for the Switch a couple days ago. I figured I would probably play it for a bit and get sick of it. But it just keeps getting better.

There were 2 things that happened today that rank up there with some of my favorite video game moments.

First, I made a 3 story house, but it was too far from any good resources. So I found another spot far away, and made a second smaller house near a forest.

It hit me that I could probably make an underground tunnel from one house to the other to safely travel between them at night. So I mined a huge tunnel across the world, and when I dug up to the surface I ended up perfectly in the middle of my living room. It was incredibly lucky but such a cool feeling.

The second thing happened in the caves. I finally got the nerve to go deep into a cave. I got to a level with lava, needing to build steps with sandstone to get there. Just the process of feeling lost, but being able to find my way back using creativity was amazing. The feeling I got when I made it back to the surface was something that no other video game has been able to do.

Sorry for the long post. Just wanted to share these things because I've ignored Minecraft for far too many years, and I'm finally understanding what makes it so good.

Now that they are with the aquatic update development, I think they should finally add real beaches. Like, instead of having a beach being 3-5 blocks of sand, to have actual large amounts of sand before you go into the ocean. They said they won't be messing with world generation too much, but I think this is a needed change. If they're planning to make the ocean much more interesting, why not make its surroundings much more interesting too. If I'm going into the ocean I wanna have the feeling that I am actually going to a place like that before arriving. I wanna have and feel these giant beaches and cliffs that lie before the big ocean to make it feel more atmospheric. Dunno, just an idea. Let me know what you think about this.

Hi there

I'm challenging myself to beat the game in 15w14a, much like Dr_Monstaa beat Minecraft 2.0 about a fortnight ago.

For those who don't know what 15w14a is, it was an April Fools snapshot that stopped players from directly harming mobs (i.e. using a sword stone heart on a zombie). However, mobs can take damage from falling, suffocation and things that players throw excluding arrows (i.e. snowballs, eggs, etc.) Another note is that 15w14a is based on Minecraft 1.8.3.

This is what I have at the moment: * 11 blaze powder * 3 eyes of ender * 3 strongholds (explored 2.5 of them, couldn't find the portal in one of them) * 1 stronghold has 4 eyes in the portal already * Another stronghold has no eyes * 2 diamond pickaxes * Easy access to the nether and a nearby fortress with blaze spawner * ~4096 snowballs * ~300 eggs * A metric ton of various stones

I already know how to kill the ender dragon once I get to the end. Take out all the end crystals and then (without spamming) hit the ender dragon with 200 eggs.

I just need ender pearls first, and since I can't kill endermen directly, it's extremely difficult. I've been looking at enderman farm designs, but most of them are based in the end and/or for later versions of the game. I have been looking at this video, but seeing the sheer amount of resources this farm takes and the comments saying that it's extremely inefficient, I'm not really willing to build it.

I don't need a fancy farm, but I'd preferably want a farm that's okay on resources and will get me enough pearls to light the end portal in about an hour or two, but if I have to wait longer that's completely fine.

Unfortunately I won't have access to my PC for most of today and tomorrow, so I won't be able to try out any suggestions until then, but I can and most likely will reply.

Thanks for reading.

I first designed a stabilizing propulsion system in creative mode by channeling the explosive power of TNT through a tube, focusing the blast in a single area. This allowed me to levitate things such as falling blocks, and entities (Including players)

https://imgur.com/a/24ZxS

I then decided to try it out with thrown objects such as Ender Pearls and arrows. I found out that it was too unstable to levitate those objects in the air, so I added a glass chamber around the machine with water inside it, so that the projectiles would be slowed down.

https://imgur.com/se7mXtI

And it worked! The projectiles inside the chamber are able to be completely immobilized. All momentum is gone. This gives a new meaning to the word "Stasis Chamber."

https://imgur.com/7FUKr2i

https://imgur.com/QjDiulT

https://imgur.com/iZQRfjK

Now this is cool an all, but what's the point if it can't be made in survival mode?

Well you see... This is where I prove you wrong... Heh...

https://imgur.com/rRK7jar

https://imgur.com/4lNo28S

https://imgur.com/I3yB8eo

https://imgur.com/VXkqycl

It took a while to get it right because the speed of repeating command blocks is unmatched in survival mode. At first I tried using a simple comparator clock, but it simply wasn't fast enough. So in the end I settled for an old design which I call the "Triple Piston Engine," which achieves speeds that are still not as fast as repeating command blocks, but pretty close. The problem then was that dispensers have a set speed limit for how fast they can dispense TNT, (Or other items) so I had to hook up an individual dispenser to each piston in order to take advantage of the true speed of this clock. Another problem was that I didn't account for the fact that TNT spawned in with commands explodes instantly, so I didn't actually put anything in front of the cannons to stop it from going everywhere... That went well... (It didn't)

I ended up using a glass pane for the vertical cannons, and an upside down slab for the horizontal cannons. I tried using different blocks, but those seemed like the ones that worked best.
I didn't put a vertical cannon on top of the "Survival Friendly" version but I'm sure that it would help to make the propulsion more stable. It works anyway though, so it's not that big of a problem.

Was it worth it? I don't know, probably not.

Is this something you should build in your survival world? Oh Hell no, are you insane?

Was it fun to make? Yes! I really enjoyed making it!

P.S. This thing uses up TNT faster than a rocket burning rocket fuel to leave the atmosphere!

For the first time ever in owning this game for many years, I bought a woodland explorer map from a cartographer.

The map told me to head south west. My dot was very small, indicating it would be a long, long journey. I crafted a new set of armour, sword, axe, pickaxe; I crafted a new shield bearing the holy symbol of the church, I stocked up on food, got a compass and a bed, saddled my best horse Antoine and waved my imaginary princess goodbye.

Departing from roughly 0;0 , I rode, straight south-westbound. I travelled farther than I ever had. I walked past the monument I had built to indicate how far my largest map in my base showed. I traveled onward.

At roughly -5000, 5000 I was met by a great sea of... water. A sea. I spent several minutes walking by the shores, hoping and praying it was but a lake, but no such luck I had. I crafted a boat from the nearest tree, unsaddled and unarmoured Antoine, told her she was free now. I think I saw a single tear prickle down her square face as she wandered off aimlessly -- or was it my own?

I sailed, straight south-westbound. The sea showed itself to be the largest I ever encountered. Its waves calm as watery planes, its shores forever beyond my 16-chunk rendering distance. I sailed and sailed, until -- until I was met by a lush green scene, straight from a painting. I was met by a jungle, of the kind I had not yet encountered in my world. Joyfully, I greeted the scene back, picked up my boat and set on on foot.

I walked straight south-westbound. I walked and walked, gawping at the awe-inspiring trees, laughing with the playful parrots, whose vibrant colours were new to me. I walked, I climbed, I fell, I set on. As the jungle ebbed away, I was met by a mix of plains, taiga and swamps. One of the taigas was a mega taiga, which I had never seen before either. The very ground I walked on seemed foreign, and though I thought I found an impossible mob spawner above ground, I quickly noticed that mossy cobblestone is surprisingly common in mega taigas.

In a desert, I found another village, neighboured by a long forgotten temple of rulers of old. I filled my pockets with their treasure -- gold, and even a full set of diamond horse armor! -- and sold part of it to the village townsfolk. May they never find out.

I slogged on, straight south-westbound. I was already at roughly -13000, 13000. I thought of home, of the cathedral, of the pub, of the unfinished palace, of the farms, of the airship station, of the intricate network of tunnels and portals in a world below, of my beloved city, which I had named Larusië.

I was greeted by yet another village, and another one. My food supplies were not yet running low, but I figured I needed some reserve. So, when nobody was looking, I stole ripe carrots, wheats and beets straight from the lands -- I hope they can forgive me.

In the plains, I came across a group of wild horses. Looking at my map, I could see I had not made significant progress yet, the tantalising dot was still as small as before, up in the north-east corner. One of the horses reminded me of Antoine -- white as a bride. I tamed him, which was no easy feat, and as it was a male, I named him Anton, saddled him with Antoine's old saddle and armed him with my new-found diamond horse armor.

I had reached -22000, 22000. The world around me was deteriorating. I had to refresh all chunks every two minutes to keep the lag at bay. Blocks were reappearing before my eyes as I broke them. My food would not fill me anymore; I bit, I munched, I ate; but it would not fill me. It was as if the baked potato, fresh as the day it left the Larusië pub, could not be consumed, no matter how long I chewed on it.

I rode on, straight south-westbound. My story ends in what is nothing but a common hills biome -- suffering severe lag, only just having refreshed the chunks again, I told Anton to jump up a two-block ledge, as it had done many times before.

But then, another lag spike, a flash of white, the sound of fall damage, and there it was: You have died! /u/GraafBerengeur fell from great height.

It was over. How far had I travelled? Was I over halfway? I cannot tell. I probably hadn't even gotten close. A simple bug had tricked the game into thinking me and Anton fell from great height, while all we did was jump up.

I find myself once again in Larusië. My journey had lasted roughly 5 in-game days, two real-life playing sessions. I had encountered around 5 villages, a desert temple, a jungle biome, a mega taiga. I had a diamond, lots of cocoa beans, several sets of horse armour, and so much more loot. I was going to build an outpost by the woodland mansion, I was going to conquer that thing and turn it into a beacon of enlightenment.

Right now, though, I'm going to the pub.

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Edit: I've never been to the end yet, so I dont have elytra. I'm kinda scared to go there, too :(

Edit: Yes it was a she, and yes her name is Antoine, and yes Antoine is a male name in French. I will assume my horses' genders and call them what I want, damn you.

Edit: also this

I had some ideas that would make great additions to Minecraft.

• After the Aquatic Update, I think we should have a Mining Update. As u/Toasty_McFloasted stated here, there have not been many underground updates, and it would be great to have new rails and ores.

• A small change to deserts. I think for deserts there is a lot of water. Maybe make dried lake/river beds could be added, along with bone structures (yes, those) sticking out of the ground instead of just being under it.

• New structures should be added, such as abandoned houses or treasure chests. The abandoned houses could have tools and other loot in them. Treasure chests could be rare, but maps could be bought from the cartographer. They could have rare materials or armor in them.

• The quark mod has many amazing features, and plenty of those features would be amazing to have in Minecraft, such as banners on boats or new stairs and slabs.

• Normal bears! Enough said.

Everything in the water update looks amazing. I can't wait untill it will arrive for console, or well, the java edition to begin with. Seas is probably one of the biggest and most visited biomes on Minecraft, and to see that it won't be empty for the 98% anymore is super cool! It's not even out yet, yet I want to thank the Mojang type sooo mucchhh. so thanks.