Minecart Rail Stations

I'm still playing with minecarts and trying to build better rail stations. I've built quite a few now.

The minecarts can now travel everywhere in Apvia including Lakewood!

I've learned a few things since my last post on minecarts.

Trying to make minecarts that continuously travel from one destination to another is possible and looks pretty cool, however, since they don't travel that far empty building them is really super expensive! The other problem is, well.... this:

So I'm going to stick with the button method in my builds, however that is annoying too. The carts stop when they reach unpowered power rail, so you have to push it back or break it down and replace it.

My solution is to add a second switch at the end of the booster rail. That way I can hit the button and nudge the cart and it'll return to the starting position.

So I get in the cart and hit button 1 and I'm off (in this case to Empire Station) but when I return the cart will stop right away. To get it back against the starting block I just hit button 2 and nudge the cart. It works pretty well.

The other thing I discovered was some magic squid that could float in the air!?!

Oh well, they made me laugh.

Java... go figure.

>

Minecraft Powered Rail

I thought I would post about the best way I've found to use powered rail so far.


There are stations all over Apvia to save walking time rail has become really important.


To start: this is the basic starter booster I have been using. It is a chest to hold minecarts, a block and switch and 5 powered rails (which minecraft wiki says gives the biggest boost).

Below are examples of  two way powered boosters (they'll boost a cart traveling either direction. The one on the right uses switches that turn power on when a cart runs over them. The one on the left is permenantly on by way of a redstone torch.

Below is an illustration of how a permanently running station works. The cart is always moving between the ends of the line.

I added two redstone torches per booster because sometimes the cart will stop. I'm not sure if it's a bug or I'm doing something wrong. Either way two torches fixes the problem

There is a loading platform where travelers can get in and out of the carts with a right click. Users simply wait at the station for the train to arrive and get off wherever it is they want to go. You can have many platforms and make the lines as long or short as you want or even make it go in a circle. I'm not sure if this is too disruptive on a server though since minecarts tend to use up a lot of clock cycles.

Mobs will, however, gum up the works on occasion. I'm waiting for the first creeper to arrive on a platform.

Thanx for following :)



.

Minecraft Desktop Wallpaper

I took some screen captures to use as wallpaper and thought I'd share.

This is a little beach house. In the back is a huge cave and dungeon. I built a mob trap there that'll produce feathers all day. I have hardly even begun to search the cave. It's huge!

This is the triforce temple (spawn area) from the water. I added lava to make it easier to see. In multiplayer mod it seems half the time I spawn in the lava!

More triforce temple and Waterfall Cove (my first build).

This is the main entrance to Waterfall Cove.

This is my giant mob trap as seen from inside. You can watch the monsters and animals getting burned up and then collect whatever they drop on the beach. This is only one half of the trap. The other collector is accessible through the door.

This is the other collector.

This is the center of the giant mob trap. You can see both collectors from here.

This is the topside of the mob trap. The other side is built the same way. Monsters and animals get trapped in the water and swooshed into the lave. Anything they drop is swept into one of the collectors.

This is the mob trap from above. As you can see it's fairly large. I intend to make the river that feeds it much longer.

This is a view from on top of the mob trap looking up the river.

A tower I built. I'm probably going to build a few more.

This is inside Gravehome which is located below the large mob trap. For some strange reason the server removed all the pictures I had placed everywhere. They looked pretty good... really they did. The stairs beside the chest and ovens leads to the next picture via a dungeon.

The stairs above lead here. I have torches up so the box won't make monsters.

This is the very bottom level of Gravehome and beyond the first dungeon. There is another dungeon located up an underground waterfall further ahead.

And finally here is a pic of some neighbors taken from the top of Waterfall Cove. It looks like quite a party but I don't see any beer so I think I'll pass.