Zombie siege



Sieges were introduced in Minecraft 1.2.1. At night, Zombies have a chance of invading a NPC Village in packs and attacking the Villagers. Usually, a whole pack will concentrate on one door or villager, and will break a wooden door down on Hard difficulty. The villagers, when attacked, will run out of their houses. The Zombies are known to spawn around the outer section of the Village, rather than the original mob spawning in the wilderness and dark areas, then invading a Village. Currently, only these functions are known to be implemented to the game, but there may be more features in future updates.

Defense
Iron Golems defend Villagers from Zombies and other mobs during such attacks and all other times, and can naturally spawn in a 16x16x16 area around the center of the villages. Iron Golems have 100 health (50 hearts) making them rather tough to get through.

Recovery
As of Weekly Snapshot 12w07a (or 12w07b?), Villagers repopulate if their is open space in the NPC Village. This means that Villagers can recover from sieges by having children to repopulate the NPC Village, provided there are at least two Villagers and enough space in the NPC Village. Player-made houses can also cause Villagers to repopulate, as long as it is within the NPC Village, has a Wooden Door, and has a 3x3 space inside.

Iron Golems cannot repopulate, but are a Utility Mob, meaning they can be built by the player. Iron Golems also spawn in an NPC Village that has at least 15 Villagers.

History
On June 10th, 2009, he promised to have an expansion pack for Zombie Siege, but never achieved it. The first part of the project was added in Snapshot 12w07a by Jon. In Snapshot 12w08a, Iron Golems were released to specifically protect Villagers against attacks such as a Zombie siege.

Trivia

 * When a Zombie is attacking a Villager or door, it usually cannot detect the Player unless the player attacks it.
 * Zombies also attack Villager children.
 * Villagers themselves do not defend others or themselves at all, and only flee from hostile mobs.
 * Although Zombies are the only mob that attacks Villagers, Iron Golems still attack other hostile mobs. This is probably because they can be created by The Player for self-defense, not for defending a village; it could also mean that other mobs may lead sieges against villages.
 * Zombies cannot break down iron doors in villages.
 * Amusingly, in creative, if you spawn a lot of zombies, they will eventually start a seige and all crowd one door.