User:McClaw

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An early player of The Blockheads (starting October, 2013, with version 1.4), McClaw is something of a dilettante wiki editor, hoping mostly to get things organized and going strongly enough for those with more dedication to expand it to higher forms. He usually plays offline, vanilla/survival games.

He dislikes leaving:

Some links he's saving for convenience:

Wish/Idea List

Not being a member of the forums, I thought I'd put my wish and idea list for The Blockheads here.

  • An option to craft steel from iron and charcoal instead of iron and coal. Or maybe craft "coal" from charcoal?
  • Worms that crawl out of compost on their own?
  • "Weeds" that spontaneously sprout on compost and have to be removed before anything else can be planted?
  • A light source that works while being carried. Maybe a miner's hat made from copper and a steel lantern?
  • An "apex use" for flint. It otherwise become rather unimportant once a good supply of bronze and iron are available.
  • Aquatic tools and clothing:
    • Metal shoes to allow walking on the ocean floor.
    • Bronze, steel lantern, and kelp to make a diver's helmet. Provides mobile light and air. Maybe it gets recharged with kelp? Or is a two-part device -- the helmet and a jacket/backpack.
    • A copper or bronze "harpoon" that's more effective against fish and sharks. Say one blow for a fish, at most two for a really big shark? (Although just making the existing flint spear more effective than a sword against fish and sharks would work.)

Tips

I thought I'd share some of my strategies, tactics, and opinions here so I'm not tempted to put them in the regular articles. (This section is likely to be revised in light of 1.7.)

  • Playing multiple blockheads in a world takes a lot of coordination. While it speeds results, it's too much for most players to run multiple blockheads to full effect.
    • When I've tried multiple blockheads on a single player world, I tend to keep one active while the others serve as a sort of "meditation factory," waiting their turn unless tasked with crafting projects. (In 1.7 with a Trade Portal, Jobs become an option.)
    • When my active blockhead grows too tired (or tired enough to be put to sleep), I activate a meditating one before putting the tired blockhead to bed. Once it awakens, I set it to meditating. This actually speeds in-game results from meditation, as game time isn't sped up.
    • The second biggest problem with multiple blockheads is when you need one blockhead to access items carried by another. Chests and shelves become very important, and shelves allow the items stored to be seen. For security in multiplayer, use safes and display cabinets.
  • When just starting a new world:
    • Make your first priority at least three blocks of dirt, one stick (don't use the shovel), and two blocks of flint (use the shovel). Use these to warp in a Workbench, then make a Tool Bench, and then a machete.
    • Use the machete to get a bunch of sticks more efficiently for making a campfire and a spare spade (the first will go fast).
    • Now you use the third dirt (and a stick) for a Craft Bench to make baskets, one per Inventory slot. (I like to make three extra for item sets.)
    • This would probably be a good time to make an axe and collect some wood for a woodwork bench, wooden bed, and either shelf or chest (or both).
    • With inventory space to spare (and more flint), make your first pickaxe.
    • Dig down and use the pickaxe to mine all the stone it can (at least sixteen), ignoring limestone and anything else. (There's always stone in a column below the Portal.)
    • Use that stone to upgrade the Tool Bench, make a stone pickaxe, and maybe a stone enclosure for your campfire. (I like to use limestone for habitable structures, as the lighter color seems cheerier and easier to look at.)
    • Your blockhead is now equipped to start branching out, but making stone tools is a good option. (You'll have to stick with flint machetes until you master bronze.)
    • A campfire will do for an initial source of light and heat, but it's not difficult to bypass torches and go straight to a kiln and press to start making oil lanterns. When you have those, the campfire can actually be more of a hazard than a help. Still, it's useful for cooking raw dodo meat.
  • Pine trees are an excellent source of sticks and wood, and getting rid of one removes the chance it will spawn a dropbear. (Very important if it's near your starting shelter.)
  • A growing tree will produce blocks of leaves to either side. Harvesting them (for sticks) from either side of a young tree is an easily renewed source until the tree matures, especially if you don't have a big pine or maple to harvest.
  • A simple barrier against wandering animals is a two block deep hole; on level ground it barely slows a passing blockhead. (If there's a back wall, a stairs placed over or in the top space of the hole works even better.) Another is a door; give it the appearance you want by stacking a sample of the desired block as the top of a three-high column, remove the two below, place the door, then remove the top block. I also like to put a lantern on top of the result. (Use the door to block scorpions from shooting at you.) Version 1.7 introduces the gate, which is even more effective, as an animal can be ridden through it but won't pass on their own.
  • Use two barriers surrounding trigger plants (carrots for donkeys, apple trees for dodos, pine trees for dropbears, cacti for scorpions, wheat for yaks) to make a breeding farm. Keep track of it so you can nab their resources when you want, and to prevent the plants from spreading outside the barriers.
  • A ridden donkey can jump a 2-3 high barrier, so you can make a corral surrounded by doors and planted with carrots. You'll probably have a donkey available when you want to ride. The gate is even more efficient, but a door can have a lantern placed on top of it.
  • Want another strategy tip? How about bypassing bronze tools? It's not that hard, and mostly needs just a little luck.
    • With your first five bronze ingots, upgrade your tool bench. That not only allows bronze tools but the tin spade.
    • Make a tin spade and go digging along the top of the bedrock. (May also be done with stone spades.) You're looking for golden chests, so sand deposits are a good place to start. You'll also find surface-reaching caves that may have more.
    • Find enough iron ingots (at least 10) in those chests and you can not only upgrade your tool bench again but make an iron pick -- and that will undoubtedly let you dig deep enough to find enough iron ore to continue.
  • For that matter, effective use of a trade portal can change everything.
    • They can be made with limited materials (portal, gold coin, and 100 time crystals).
    • You can dump unwanted materials "into" them for more coins. Finally, a reason to keep that over-producing farm in operation!
    • If you've only found one of a rarer gem (emerald, ruby, or diamond), upgrade your trade portal and then buy a replacement -- each upgrade unlocks the ability to purchase the gem just used. (Diamonds seem to be cheaper than rubies.)
    • A level 3 trade portal has gold nuggets available, so you could buy three and upgrade your furnace to level 3 to start crafting steel and gold (and gold coins). (Version 1.7 nerfs this, as you can't buy items you haven't found on your own.)
    • A level 5 trade portal sells titanium ore. It's expensive, but it means you don't have to go mining (more than one) to be able to make a jet pack.
    • A level 6 trade portal sells the components for trains, electrical generation, and elevators. You still have to make your own electric crafting surfaces, though. (And in 1.7, the first of each item.)
  • Make a fishing tank / kelp farm, a water tank three or more blocks wide and deep planted with kelp. If it isn't too big (I like three wide), the fish won't be able to resist your lure.
  • Shark harvesting made easy(er) (depicted on the Shark page):
    • On the edge of a large, deep body of water, arrange a one-deep channel at least half a dozen blocks long. There should be no "steps" in the sea floor greater than one block high leading up to it (to make sure the sharks don't turn around).
    • Place a solid block level to the surface of the water, leaving a one-block high/wide channel underneath and into the trap.
    • Above that platform, arrange a back wall and ladder to another platform 8-9 blocks above the water. (Usually best done before placing the platform.)
    • Equip a blockhead with a spade, a sword (iron or titanium preferred) or bow, and at least one block of sand.
    • Park the blockhead on the upper platform. Up there, it won't cause arriving sharks to go wild.
    • When a shark passes the lower platform into the trap, place the sand block to block the gap (next to the lower platform is easiest).
    • The trapped shark is now in one-deep water and can't flee, making it much easier to attack with the sword or bow. (Or for small ones, catch in a bucket.)
    • Once the shark is disposed of, use the spade to remove the sand and then send the blockhead back up the ladder immediately to avoid nearby sharks (if any).
    • Don't worry if the water "inside" the trap is under one block deep, that actually makes it easier for a blockhead because it can stand and walk there instead of having to swim. But don't let it get too shallow or sharks won't enter. And don't let kelp grow, it can "snare" a blockhead's actions.
  • I like to organize my tools in baskets along with at least one of each of their common harvesting products or commonly useful items. (Spade with dirt, flint, and clay; machete with stick, trapdoor; axe with wood, ladder, and gem pickaxe; pickaxe with stone, coal, and gold pickaxe.) These are swapped in and out from a basket at the bottom of the inventory into the two slots above. Other items / special combo baskets are stored in the next basket up, while the upper inventory is used for special tasks and random pick-up.
  • There's a tip above that can help you keep your blockhead's inventory organized: If you expect it to pick up an item, place at least one in the desired slot before going harvesting. And if you expect to pick up more than one stack of something (such as stone when mining with a steel pickaxe), "seed" more than one inventory slot with said item.
  • Mining ores (except for iron or harder) is more productive when using a gold pickaxe to do most of the work (all but the last few of the needed strokes) and finishing with a gem pickaxe. It not only produces the occasional bonus (including 10x the ore), but gives you time to switch over to the gem pickaxe and abort just before harvesting. (Count and switch.) The gem pickaxe will give the multiplier only if it makes the final stroke; it doesn't care about the rest. (Why not iron ore or the other hard ores? Because they demand many more strokes to harvest.)
  • Diagonal tunnels are highly efficient for travel. A blockhead travels horizontally about as fast as it does on a level surface, and vertically probably faster than on a ladder. It's also not difficult to make cross- or side-tunnels with a minimum of disruption -- and no trapdoors, just short ladders! They're even better using stairs, as they're faster than walking and replace blocks when crossing caves.
  • Digging a (mostly) horizontal tunnel through the dirt across the top of the bedrock makes for a good way to find most of the clay (more valuable than flint in the long run) and buried golden chests. It also leaves a travel route to go from shelter to shelter without risking bad environments or dropbears.
  • Wood stairs are a lot faster to make, and wood can be plentiful with a little forethought. But stone should be plentiful if you're digging diagonal passages.
    • A trick with stairs: They can't go straight up, but they can go straight across (and leave the gap "open" for animals to balk at).
    • They can also zig-zag upward in a two-wide gap. The latter looks like a blockhead going up a spiral staircase.
  • Speaking of golden chests, why make wooden ones when you have (emptied) golden ones? Well, sometimes you want to be able to differentiate them. Or you could paint them.
    • I like to carry a wooden chest when mining (especially with a golden pickaxe) or exploring to stash things I find and keep my blockhead's primary inventory open for more new stuff. I've never needed more than three chests for that, and usually nest them.
    • Carrying a wooden chest avoids confusion, as wooden ones don't spawn in the unexplored world. They can also be painted for color coding.
    • When exploring, just collect all those golden chests and sort them out later when you get back to your base. There's rarely anything immediately useful in them.
  • The basic oil lantern provides better light than a torch and is easier to produce in quantity than steel lanterns. But only steel lanterns can be placed and give light underwater. Although once you've got electricity (and plentiful iron/steel), go with the brighter and more oil-efficient steel lanterns.
  • When placing lights, my "rule" is to set the next one out as far as I can confidently identify a path and space. The results will overlap and reinforce between sources, giving better results overall.
  • Yes, you can use amethysts for light, but they're short range only. They're not bad for lighting (and marking) a tunnel by placing them side-by-side. Amethyst chandeliers are even better.
  • Don't use coal to fuel a furnace, save it for making steel. It may seem plentiful and efficient, but charcoal and wood are infinitely renewable (even without a Trade Portal), coal isn't, and becomes scarcer if harvested with early or non-gem pickaxes.
  • Put a shelf by a crafting surface (but not a Campfire). Use it to store common resources or products, especially if you don't need your blockhead to carry them around most of the time. The advantage over a chest is you can see what's there.
  • For the most space-efficient storage of bulk materials (such as mined stone), nest chests. Baskets and shelves can work at a slightly reduced scale, but chests can be both stacked and nested and hold four times as much per chest.
  • Use the "watch video" option for free Time Crystals (off the Pause menu) as often as they're available. It's faster than mining the darn things and cheaper than paying for them. (Based on the least efficient pricing, watching an ad is worth about $0.10.) And check frequently; you may only get a few per check, but there might be more waiting just a minute later. (The new "Free" button during crafting is good, too.)
  • You don't need to leave ladders behind, but be careful how you remove them. It may be slow, but picking them up after passing them (three horizontally, four vertically) means you'll have more later. They can also provide a "skyhook" in open air (but only vertically once you're no longer adjacent to a solid block, and then you have to place them again going back down).
  • One of my habits when circumnavigating is to carry some reinforced platforms and use these to build the floor for small, aerial shelters at the top of the poles. Ladders up the pole, a trapdoor at the top, at least three platforms to either side, simple walls and roof (and trapdoor in the center for roof access, another of my preferences) with a lantern inside and there's space for setting out a bed or chests -- or crafting surfaces for resupply. (Note you can build like this almost anywhere by creating a column and removing the blocks below the top one. Just be sure to not remove that top block until you have something above it.)
    • Another is to have a stash of useful things in that carried chest I mentioned above. Ladders, lanterns, wood, crafting surfaces (or at least a Workbench)... I've heard some players load a full set of crafting surfaces and stay mobile.
  • Any, even the simplest, unimproved Portal can be used as a teleportation destination, they're made for only 120 time crystals and one stone, and they can be picked up for re-use. Carry one to mark a "save point" in case you find something you want to come back to later (such as your travel progress if you need to head "home" to resupply).
  • When a blockhead is traveling, one of the things I like it to carry is a bed, usually the best available. Set out a few blocks for safety/shelter, a lantern for environment, and the bed will quickly restore a blockhead's energy.
  • Speaking of which, a golden bed is almost as good as coffee. It's incredibly quick and requires preparation only once for repeated uses. Coffee is faster and gives a temporary action boost, but has to be recreated for each use. That said, I prefer coffee to revive a tired blockhead when it can take advantage of any "midnight sun."
  • Electricity is a game-changer, but it's also a resource-intensive start-up. And you'll need steel (and therefore gold nuggets) to do it.
    • You really need to start with a steam generator and electric furnace, the former for power and the latter for "cheap" iron. These two alone require 1 black sand, 3 tin ingots, 9 copper ingots, 22 iron ingots, 50 coal, and the use of both a lvl. 3 furnace and a lvl. 2 metalwork bench -- all made with non-electric crafting surfaces.
    • If you're not mining or don't have an efficient gem pickaxe for ores, make an electric press (for turning stone into gravel and sand) and an electric sluice (for turning gravel into ore). Stone is a lot cheaper in a trade portal than ores, and more plentiful in a world, too. If required, you can even manufacture black sand with those two and limestone, if you're able to store all the side-products.
    • Now comes an electric metalwork bench, both for easier processing and for making silicon wafers for the big goal -- solar panels.
    • It takes 25 sand and black sand (each) to make a silicon crystal, but the production of wafers doesn't match their consumption (that's 5:3). Fortunately, five solar panels provide good power. (Ten is significantly better.) Unfortunately, that's 75 of each type of sand needed.
    • It takes as many iron ore to make a black sand (if you can't find enough) as used to be needed to make an iron ingot. Making iron ore from black sand hurts a lot more than that. Going shopping at a trade portal is easier, but check the prices for processing converted stone into sand / pig iron, too.
    • Solar panels are nearly useless without a flywheel, preferably more than one. Flywheels can also serve as a segment of copper wire, so don't skimp.
    • Go ahead and put a roof over your solar panels if you want, but make it glass and leave at least a one-block gap between them.
    • You can power solar panels off artificial lights, but even chandeliers give barely a trickle. It's still a good use for all those amethysts you've been finding, as otherwise you get no electricity at night.
  • For the advanced "single player" player, use portal chests to shuffle materials between worlds. This opens up the possibility of creating a world specifically for "stripping."
    • To strip (as in strip mine but not literally) a world, make sure you can supply at least 520 time crystals and then create a new world. The world name and blockhead details aren't too important, as you'll eventually delete it when its usefulness is done.
    • Build up the blockhead's resources deliberately and efficiently, but don't touch any time crystals you find and avoid harvesting resources you don't have plans for.
    • The first big goal is to acquire (at least) one of each gem type from amethyst to diamond, then use them to upgrade a portal all the way (total cost 300TC) and then craft a portal chest (220TC: portal, portal chest).
    • Next, import from another world a diamond pickaxe and whatever other tools you think important and start off on a circumnavigation.
    • As you circle the world, pick up each of the unique clothing items, thoroughly explore any caves you notice (especially mining out the spotty sections), and search (dig) for golden chests at the slightest hint of sand.
    • Use the diamond pick to mine those time crystals (18TC each now! Only 29 to recover the cost of the portal chest and the rest are bonus!) and any ores or stone variants you think rare or important. (For me that can include titanium, platinum, marble, red marble, sandstone, oil, and gold).
    • When you complete the circumnavigation, pack up everything of value in nested chests and baskets (strip the blockhead, too), put it into the portal chest, switch to the receiving world and remove it, then go back and delete the stripped world.
    • Yes, it's a lot of effort, but I've used the above method to equip all five blockheads of a world with the "unique" clothing and deliver piles of rare materials and thousands of time crystal points.
    • For the really dedicated, try to completely disassemble a world.
  • Want to try a different approach to playing the game? Try being a non-miner.
    • The goal here is to not go tunneling through rock to find things.
    • Exploring caves found and removing a little rock between chambers is okay, but for the most part you should keep your blockhead above bedrock.
    • So how do you get things you need? Two words: Trade Portal.
    • There are two really hard parts here. First, finding a gold coin to make a trade portal. Second, finding at least one of each type of gem to upgrade said trade portal.
    • Until you have that gold coin (or 100 copper coins to exchange at a portal) from either meditation or golden chests (under sand or in caves), you're mostly preparing things for later. Once you have a trade portal, though, start generating renewable items that can be sold for more coins to buy what you want/need.
    • Digging a tunnel along the top of the bedrock will be one of the things you find yourself doing (and why I didn't call this the "farmer" approach). It lets you find golden chests under sand/beaches as well as buried cave mouths. Oh, and creating a quarry for stone (and maybe some ores) doesn't break the "rules" here, especially if it's out of exposed bedrock.
    • Although you can bypass finding gold ore (see above), eventually you'll have to find those rarer gems (rubies and diamonds) by getting into a deep cave if they don't appear during meditation. Fortunately there should be at least one in your world that curls around and goes both deep and to the surface -- somewhere. You might need to connect some traceries of cave chambers to get that deep, though. Or dig some rather long bedrock-top tunnels.
    • If you can find a ruby but not a diamond, don't panic, just go flying. A lvl. 5 trade portal has titanium ore available, so it's possible to build a jetpack and look for a gem tree growing diamonds.
  • If you thought electricity was a pain to arrange, just wait until you try to fly for the first time.
    • You could buy a jetpack at a trade portal, but it will cost heavily.
    • Including the craft bench upgrade, you'll need to start with about 1,000 units of oil, 300 coal, and nine titanium ingots.
    • If you're relying on solar for your electricity, you'll need a lot of solar panels to keep that refinery running. A faster way is to set up that steam generator you stopped using and keep it fueled, probably into your flywheel(s).
    • Most of the prep work is done at the refinery. Most of the assembly is done at the craft bench. But you'll have to make your jet engines at an electric metalwork bench.
    • So why bother? Because somewhere on the floating islands you can't see above you are gem trees. Yes, trees that produce gems like fruit. And if you don't fly, you'll have to climb -- on ladders. A whole lot of ladders.
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