Minecraft home defense

[danzibr]

My son got Minecraft PE on his Kindle recently. First time I ever played it. We play it together, have fun. Discovered recently you need a pick to get stone... that makes life an awful lot easier. Now we can make like iron armor and stuff.

Anyway, I digress. We built a mansion, even surrounded it by a 3x3 ``chasm,'' even surrounded it by torches, but somehow the freakin' mobs still get close. Creepers blowing up our stuff, skeletons and zombies somehow get right up next to our doors.

Any pointers for home defense? But more than that, any pointers in general? I hear PE is going to get The End in a future update. Currently just having fun building and exploring.

[Jasdoif]

We built a mansion, even surrounded it by a 3x3 ``chasm,'' even surrounded it by torches, but somehow the freakin' mobs still get close. Creepers blowing up our stuff, skeletons and zombies somehow get right up next to our doors.Off the top of my head, do you have your mansion's roof lit by torches too?

[danzibr]

Off the top of my head, do you have your mansion's roof lit by torches too?
Oooh good point. Nope sure don't.

I don't see how they get next to my door. Like, I have torches in either side of my house, and on either side of the path to my house, yet still they get up next to my house.

[Triaxx]

On the PC version, Torches throw a diamond shaped block of light that prevents mob spawning. Three blocks in each cardinal direction from the torch itself, and diagonally between those corners. So you should be able to work out a proper grid pattern to ensure no block is skipped in lighting up your base. Might want to check the official wiki to find out if light thrown by PE torches is different.

[Jasdoif]

Oooh good point. Nope sure don't.

I don't see how they get next to my door. Like, I have torches in either side of my house, and on either side of the path to my house, yet still they get up next to my house.I've seen it happen where mobs spawn on the roof, and then wander off the roof and fall to ground level, making pests of themselves. In particular, zombies and skeletons burn when exposed to direct (from above) sunlight, so when the suns come up their pathfinding tries to take them into the shade...which, unless your house is right up next to a forest or something, is probably an overhang right along the outside of the house.


Anyway, if lighting the roof isn't appealing, you could also try covering the roof with slabs or stairs. I don't play PE specifically, but I believe it follows the same spawning rules as the PC version. Mobs need an opaque block to spawn on, and a bottom-half slab or a not-upside-down stair aren't considered opaque; so if you can manage to actually cover every spot on the roof you don't need to have it lit. For more ideas, the wiki's safe home tutorial (http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Tutorials/Safe_home) might be of interest.

[Emperor Ing]

Mobs also don't spawn on half-blocks like wooden slabs. Cover the ground, your roof, and your floor with wood or stone slabs and you should be golden. No torches needed.

[danzibr]

Ahh, thanks for the help! I already have it in mind: half-blocks around the house, stairs on the roof. Nice.

And helpful link.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Also, here's a good protip:

Chasm that is two blocks wide. Use a pair of trapdoors as a drawbridge, facing each other. you can use the trapdoors to raise them, cross, then lower it again so no enemy gets within.

Also, if you need mob drops, make a lower level that is on eye level on the bottom block of your chasm, then put in murder holes at your eye level. Attack the feets! Just don't make any holes two blocks wide or spiders may get in.

[Triaxx]

If you want to make your chasm crossing easier, but still mob impossible, put a pressure plate on the outside. The trap door will expand for you to run onto and jump across, the flop back down automatically once you're across.

[danzibr]

Thanks for the tips!

Another question. I just learned about seeds the other day. Do you suggest starting a new game using the MPE default random generation stuff (I assume it's random, anyway), or a seed?

[Triaxx]

It's not entirely random. The seed on PC is generated as a function of the system clock if nothing is entered.

[danzibr]

It's not entirely random. The seed on PC is generated as a function of the system clock if nothing is entered.
Ahh I see. Thanks!

Niche question: has anyone had success playing multiplayer cross platform PE with one device being a laptop using BlueStack? Or whatever it's called.

In short, my laptop emulating an Android + my son's Kindle Fire = functional multiplayer?

[Triaxx]

Only have PC myself, but you might be able to swing it. Probably want to host from the laptop, since I bet that's the more powerful system.

[Wookieetank]

Couple of things on torches, they only prevent Mobs spawning nearby, they don't stop mobs from coming close. So you can surround your base/house/whatever with torches to keep mobs from spawning near, but they can still spawn outside the torches and then walk up to your house.

If you can find them, Cacti make for great home defenses. They cause damage when walked into and can be used to line moats, or just make a wall o' hurt around your area. They do have to be staggered, when placed so you'll want something like this:
C-Cactus O-open

COCOC
OCOCO
COCOC

Lava is also great fun but has the potential to be hazardous to your own health if not careful.

Once you get redstone you can get all sortsa creative with your home defenses (and in general). Secret entrances, ability to toggle lava flows on and off, cannons, death machines, etc. If you have some(okay a lot) of free time, just search for redstone creations on youtube, people are crazy inventive.

[Triaxx]

I did a Redstone actuated machine gun. Arrows in a dispenser. Pressure plate flipped a not gate and kicked it off to fire as fast as it could go.

[Wookieetank]

I did a Redstone actuated machine gun. Arrows in a dispenser. Pressure plate flipped a not gate and kicked it off to fire as fast as it could go.

Nice, most complex thing I've done is a gate/drawbridge set up, where if the gate is closed the bridge is a moat of lava, and if the gate is open the bridge is up. I tend to get distracted by looking at all the things others have done than getting around to making things myself ><

[Winter_Wolf]

Best home defense I had was a small island just off "the mainland" which was well lit and had short bulkhead/walls. The only access point was heavily fortified and eventually iron door with button. Separated from the near shore by five squares of water. Eventually I filled it in with gravel because I was tired of swimming to shore every time I needed to go over. The basement eventually led to a mineshaft. After about three security doors.

My experiments with active home defense were clumsy overblown redstone things, but I do like piston doors. That house had a trapdoor in the corner that dropped about six squares into water swamp outside. I considered a piston lava trap that would burn everything inside, but probably it's best that I didn't.

[Triaxx]

I setup a neat little piston fence gate for some one. Step on the plate, and it drops the gate, then you can run out and it closes behind you. I setup a button on the outside to make it mob proof.