Minecraft

[miokomioko]

So, has it been established whether or not

a) Ghasts detect you through a wall and will fire at you

or

b) What earthly materials can't be destroyed by Ghasts' fireballs other than obsidian?

I'm wondering if it's worth it to build a large stone tunnel through the Nether (maybe with occasional doors for outlets for farming lightstone) for distance traveling because Jesus H Christ, Ghasts are the most annoying things to avoid and they completely fuck up the landscape to no end if they happen to be around when you enter the Nether.

[miokomioko]

Well nevermind, it looks like Stone/Cobblestone can't be destroyed by Ghasts, along with Obsidian, Doors, and Diamond Blocks (lol). Thus it doesn't quite matter if they can shoot at you through it. It looks like I'm making a big stone tunnel through hell.

[RPGTyrant]

I don't particularly play single player, but I do browse the minecraft forums and thought this might be relevant to the current discussion. Also not sure how accurate it ended up being, maybe the coding is screwed up like the fire resistance is on Ghasts.

Ghasts won't shoot fireballs if they can't see you:
MisanthropX: "will it be possible to build a home in the hell/slip ? because ghasts let everything explode."
Notch: "they wont shoot if they can't see you. Just don't have huge rooms, or they could spawn indoors." (Oct 29, 2010)

[miokomioko]

What's this rumor about them being able to spawn in the upper world near portals?

Also, I would never build a "home" in the slip just because of the noise. It's like actual hell in there.

[miokomioko]

So, I gear up, stack up shitloads of cobblestone so I can head into the Nether and build my covered walkway so I'm not getting holes blasted in my shit every time I try to use it for travel... I get in there and of course there's a couple Ghasts in the vicinity, shooting fireballs at me. I run for cover and switch to my bow to take the closest one out so I can just make a quick shelter around my gate. I get a clear shot of the Ghast just over the little ridge I'm hiding behind, very near my gate. Just as I fire, guess what bounces up over the ridge in front of my arrow. Then, 5 or so pissed off zombie pig-men swarm the shit out of me from all sides and now I'm out all of my diamond tools/weapons that I just built because every time I enter, I'm getting assfucked by gold swords before I can even move. Fucking awesome.

Delete World.

[Moosey]

Dunno if it's been mentioned, but a well timed swing can knock the Ghast's fireball back in their direction.

[miokomioko]

It's just that Ghasts don't have very good aim like skeletons do, their projectiles are incredibly slow, they constantly move, and when you reflect a shot it only goes in the direction you were facing when you hit it... which all adds up to a lot of difficulty in actually hurting one with its own fireball.

[Moosey]

Still better than it hitting near you and blowing shit up

[Melchoir]

Dunno if it's been mentioned, but a well timed swing can knock the Ghast's fireball back in their direction.

Too bad minecraft doesn't have an empty bottle, those work well. (cookie to someone who gets the reference)

Now for something completely different: How do you guys build your large complexes/structures? I get an idea and build as I go but sometimes that leads to an idea being modified or canceled altogether because of lack of planning. Do you guys spend more time in the planning phase? Or do you do like I do and improvise?

[Moosey]

I half plan and mostly just wing it. Sometimes I build scaffolding, but I haven't even built anything super huge/high off the ground to need that much.

[Shiznicle]

I've never actually seen a Ghast get hurt by its own fireball. Everything I've read said that the reflected fireball will just pass through the ghast.

[Correction]

I don't think I've ever seen this many mobs on night #3 before. if I face another direction I can see another 3-4 creepers.

http://i55.tinypic.com/a4ra76.png

[miokomioko]

That's where you save the game, run INVedit, place a block of TNT in your inventory, load up your game, light it, and drop it on their heads...

[Imitarate]

Or just kill creepers for them? Not hard to get 5 gunpowders even with this spawn rate.

[miokomioko]

I'm saying to take advantage of the immediate situation. I doubt he's climbing down there to get some gunpowder.

[Correction]

I eventually killed all but two who blew up (one of which killed me) but yeah, 4 shiny TNTs in my storage chest now.

I still get about 15-19 monsters spawning every night, that one was just particularly bad with the creepers. Last night was 6 skeletons so yummy arrows to collect.

[miokomioko]

So often when I'm killing Creepers, I hit it and back away and end up backing into a block/tree/etc and being just barely in range for the creeper to detonate and put a bigass fuckin' ugly crater in my beautiful landscape.

[Correction]

I'm clearcutting and levelling everything around my spawn so I have enough room to run from this insane mass of monsters that spawns every night. I don't even have any iron left because of all the time I spend every morning cleaning up creepers and patching craters so I can escape them if/when I fall into one.

[Imitarate]

Three blocks, stacked on top of one another, under you. No creeper can touch you on flat terrain. The only monster that can hurt you is a skeleton (or, I guess, a ghast). All the others will jump around under you, but creepers won't be considered close enough to explode. Swing your sword at your leisure.

[Correction]

The only reason I'm clear cutting is so I can actually see the creepers coming. I'm next to a pretty dense forest that not only keeps zombies/skeletons alive but does an amazing job of hiding every creeper that spawns there so I get a nice explosive surprise when I venture into it to get more lumber. I know how to fight creepers, the troubles start when I die and have to beeline back to my workshop to build a sword, which is harder if there is still the possibility of a creeper lurking around a corner.