User:Mbartelsm/Tutorials/Shelter types

For the sake of your survival, get a shelter!

This page lists types of shelters.

Navigation Help
For ease of navigation, it is suggested that you use the "Contents" above to navigate through the shelters. This makes the page much easier to use.

Organization
These shelters are organized by how long it would take to build them. Obviously, these can vary, depending on how detailed you make them.

Note that a day only includes the daytime portion, not the night. Also, material collection time is not included.

Nomadic: The easiest type of shelter to build. Doesn't offer much protection, especially from creeper attacks. These are generally the type you would build while the sun is setting. Time: Almost none.

Easy: These usually work with the map. They offer some protection. Time: 1/2 day.

Medium: These are freestanding structures. They offer a good amount of protection. Time: 1 day.

Hard: These structures can be very time-consuming to make. However, they offer a great amount of protection. Time: 2–10 days.

Innovative: Although these structures are the toughest to build, they do not always offer the most protection. They focus on feats of engineering. Time: variable.

Add-ons: While not structures, they add important features worth mentioning.

Emergency shelter
Materials


 * None

Description

The simplest shelter can be made by digging 3 blocks straight down and then capping off the hole with a block of dirt. This requires only a few seconds. While digging down isn't normally recommended, it's extremely rare to run into a cave when digging 3 blocks from the surface. It is safe to expand the shelter from there on. This type of shelter can be done also when your base is already established, but you are caught by the night while far away from your base. This method is safer than it seems; zombies, skeletons, endermen and spiders can't get in, but creepers may blow in, which may lead to a raid on your shelter. Another problem is getting out; you could dig up into a creeper. One way to fix this is to put a little hut above it. Diagram below:

D=Door B=Block S=The Hole itself

BDB DSD BDB or you can expand it like this:

D=Door B=Block  S= the holes themselves

BDDB DSSD DSSD BDDB

Location

On the ground level in a place with dirt.

Extras


 * Torches
 * Bed
 * Ladders (For getting out)

Cliff-side Cave
Materials


 * None

Description

A cliff-side cave is probably the most popular shelter for the first night. It takes only a few seconds to make, and once inside, the creator is safe to expand it. It also offers good protection against most mobs (excluding creepers - they can blow up your rock walls). Since it's a structure inside the ground, building material will be gained instead of lost.

Location

The best part of this shelter is that you can build it anywhere there's a cliff. Make sure there's a solid wall (preferably straight up). Mining down does not usually make a good shelter. A cliff by a large body of water is preferred as hostile mobs cannot spawn in the water.

Construction Extremely simple. Mine a 2x2x1 hole in the wall, then enter the hole and close it off. From there, you may start mining deeper.

Extras


 * Torches
 * Mine extension
 * Link to an above-ground base

NPC house
Materials 6 torches 1 bed

Description

Steal an NPC house and live there.

Location

NPC village

Construction

The first part is the hardest: first find an NPC village. Seeds that spawn you near an NPC village in 1.2 include 'lostlostlost', '1.2.3abc', '324402544', 'smurf', and 'Blade Runner'. Then just customize the inside of the house! Make it home.

One downside is that the villagers may block your way while trying to get around the village.

Extras
 * Second floor (which some of the houses come with)
 * Furniture (which some of the buildings come with)
 * Occupy the whole village! The buildings that have a chance of being generated in the village include the Library, which includes bookshelves (which you can later mine using the Silk Touch enchantment) and a crafting table. There's also the Smithy, which comes with two furnaces, a small pool of lava, and a chest of goodies. The Church is a three-story building, the third of which you can use to look over the entire village.
 * Light up and build a wall around the village to ensure that you will be safe while going from house to house.
 * no need to put a workbench or furnace in your house!if there is a smithy and library, just build a house with a bed and a chest. And when you get an enchantement table, place more bookshelves in the library then place the enchantment table.

Images

Pillar
Materials

Lots of dirt. Or lots of any kind of non-entity block.

Description

A pillar of blocks, occupying a 1x1 space. Great when you have lots of one type of non-entity block. Only use a block that is affected by gravity, e.g. Sand, Gravel; if you want to remove the pillar later on. Remember, not a short pillar. A cloud-level pillar.

Location

Anywhere! But preferably an open space.

Construction

First, equip your NON-ENTITY block. Then, point at the ground, hold your right-mouse button, and jump. Repeat until you are at cloud level, or any other level that Skeleton arrows cannot reach you. After that, it's all up to you on what you want to do with the shelter. For the Nomadic, just stay up there until the sun rises. Mine the blocks below you, until you reach ground level.

Extras REMEMBER!!! If you are planning on building a real shelter up there, do not build above layer 250.


 * Shelter (basic house)
 * Ladders

Watchtower
Materials


 * About 40 blocks of dirt.
 * A few torches.

Description

A good shelter should not only protect you from any type of hostile mobs during the night, but also prevent a surprise Creeper ambush in the morning. This shelter type achieves this without the need for sophisticated materials such as glass or doors, and can be set up pretty quickly.

The design is essentially a tower with a rim for nighttime protection, but with some gaps between the tower and rim to see what is going on below in the morning, and have a slash at any assembled hostiles before leaving the shelter.

Location

This shelter is best suited for wide open terrain or hilltops.

Construction


 * Build a simple 3x3x2 solid tower.
 * Add a single block atop each edge of the tower, then attach yet another one to the outside of each; remove the former blocks again, leaving the latter semi-free-floating. Atop these, build a 5x5 rim.
 * Add torches.
 * Dig a 2x2x1 shaft in the center of the tower. Wait for dawn down there.


 * At dawn, work your way back up out of your foxhole; have a thorough peek though the gaps between the tower and the rim, and finish off any assembled mobs before leaving the shelter. (Note that the rim will be just too high above ground to jump off safely.)

Open-Air
Not what you think.

Materials

Description
 * Dirt

Sure, it might not stop invading spiders, but at least it works for the first night! The Open-Air is basically walls surrounding you. No roof. Feel free to add a roof, after you build the walls, if you want. But then it's not an Open-Air anymore. It's a house after the roof.

Location

Flat, open ground.

Construction

First, gather your dirt and basic necessities. Place your dirt in a (preferably, size is up to you) 5x5 area. Once you've built a 1-layer 'wall', build until you have a 3-layer wall. By this time, it should be sunset. Again, the time will vary, depending on the number of layers on your wall. After you have built your wall, jump down to your 'shelter'. Done! Note that spiders will be able to climb over the walls and enter your shelter, but adding a rim will prevent them from invading your home. Enjoy your night. REMEMBER!!! Don't fill the area! An optional way to do this is to instead dig a pit and dig out the blocks around where the wall is. This way you're gaining materials instead of using them.

Extras


 * Torches
 * Roof (which will turn your Open-Air into a house, in which you're free on expanding)
 * Improved wall (Stone, anyone?)
 * Windows (which is highly recommended to be built only if you want to add a roof)

Mushroom house
Materials


 * A mushroom (Either kind works) and some bone meal

Description

Using a red huge mushroom, you can quickly make a tent to spend the night in. When mining some of the mushroom blocks you can get more mushrooms that you can use to make more mushroom houses later, or some mushroom stew to eat.

Location

Pretty much anywhere flat. Or use a mushroom biome and skip planting.

Construction

For a red mushroom tent, make sure there is plenty of flat space around, dig a single block hole in the ground, plant the mushroom, and use bonemeal on it. Be sure to stand only one block away so you will not be suffocated when it grows. Then remove the stem, and wait until morning, then dig yourself out. Sometimes the mushroom will leave a gap that spiders can fit through, or sometimes even a 2 high gap, just fill it in with dirt. For a brown mushroom tower, just plant the mushroom and fertilize it. No need to dig the hole. Then pillar jump to the top with dirt or sand, or to make it spider proof, place ladders up the stem and a hatch to stop monsters.

Extras


 * Bed
 * Torches
 * Door
 * If you grow multiple mushrooms on top of each other, you can create a tower - see below.
 * A 'Smurf' village
 * Multiple floors and basements-connected by a central ladder

Mushroom tower
Description

For extra security and visibility, why not make your mushroom into a tower? Stacking both Red and Brown Giant Mushrooms can make a great instant landmark/safe haven while traveling (especially in forests or mountainous areas) by growing 3-5 giant mushrooms on top of each other.

Materials


 * 3-5 Mushrooms
 * Bonemeal
 * Torches
 * Dirt
 * Lots of Ladders

Location

A space with nothing above it for 12-15 squares, or the mushroom won't grow.

Construction

When its dark enough, plant a mushroom in a space with nothing above it, use bonemeal to enlarge, put ladder up the side, punch one hole at the top of the ladder. Put a square of dirt directly above the stem and repeat earlier steps two to three times. Since nearly any type of block or useful item can be placed on top of a mushroom safely, a brown mushroom can be easily used as a waystation, with torches to prevent enemy spawning and to aid in visibility, beds to sleep in as well as chests and crafting table/furnaces. Extremely fast process can be used to escape enemies at sundown. Red mushrooms are best used as a very visible landmark, but can be expanded using dirt or cobblestone to use as a waystation as well. Safe from skeleton archers! Be careful of creepers hanging around by the base.

Extras


 * Bed
 * Crafting Table
 * Chest
 * Furnace, especially if built by a mine as a landmark/waystation
 * Torches
 * Trapdoor

Emergency Treehouse
Materials


 * About 5 dirt or sand.

Description

Find a tree (the bigger the better) and pillar jump up on it. This is a great nomadic shelter, as it takes seconds to build and has a nice view of the outdoors and you can shoot monsters down from it. The biggest drawback is the inability to mine, so a cliff-side cave or cave shelter may be preferable.

Location

A forest biome, in a tree. Spiders may be able to climb up smaller trees, so used a branched one if possible. If outside a forest you can also use a sapling and bone meal, but this is not recommended, because chances are, the tree will not be tall.

Extras


 * Bed, torches, crafting table
 * Stairs or a ladder up with a trapdoor or door to keep mobs out.
 * A sniper nest to shoot monsters from.
 * Bridges to other trees. Make a treetop village!
 * Walls and a roof.
 * Make it a treehouse (see next)

Treehouse
Materials


 * ~80 wooden planks

Description

Treehouses provide a high base. They are useful especially against creepers, because most are too high for a creeper's explosion to reach. They are often used with a bow and arrows, because they are excellent sniping spots. Another advantage to treehouses is that they are a great lookout point. They give you a good view of the map, helping you find the place for your next shelter. Also, if you are thinking as making a treehouse as your permanent home, you could expand it by linking it to other trees, giving the player an extremely large and good lookout view.

Location

With the 1.2.1 update come a great opportunity for advanced players- Jungle treehouses! This method of shelter does not only help you stay away from mobs at night- It`s a great look-out position, especially if the Jungle borders a Desert or a Plains biome. You can even, after a while, bridge gaps from other trees to make a whole network of treehouses! An added bonus also comes with the location- an almost endless supply of wood!

Construction

The first thing you will build when constructing a treehouse is the staircase. Without a staircase, you cannot reach the treehouse. The amount of stairs you build will vary depending on the height of the tree you are building in. Make these stairs and place them. Remember to place wooden planks under the stairs to support them. (Not only does this make them easier to build, it also makes the staircase look better.) Now you should have a staircase that leads to the top of the tree. Climb this staircase and lay down a 4x5 base of wooden planks. One common practice is to remove a layer of leaves and then build the base. This maintains the same level as you would have had without a base.
 * In 1.2 now vines act like ladders(without a hit box).

Next, build a layer of outer walls. These should only cover the border. To be economical, you could skip the corners, as they are not necessary. Build two more layers on each of these.

Now you will construct a roof. You don't need to add another border level; this was compensated for in the last step. Instead, fill in the top border with wooden planks. This roof should block out most of the light - look in the "Extras" section for ways to counter this.

Alternate No-Stairs Method

A more effective and easy method to construct a pathway for access to the treehouse would be to use ladders placed on the trunk of the tree to reach the entrance of the treehouse instead of stairs to access the treehouse which makes it less likely for mobs to climb onto the treehouse and also the benefit of using this method is that it uses less materials. It is strongly recommended that you use a trapdoor at the very top of the ladders to prevent mobs from gaining access to the treehouse via the ladders.

Alternate roofless method

This method is best in high trees. Simply the same as before but only build walls one high and then place fences on top. It is useful when fighting mobs like creepers.

Extras


 * Staircase to top
 * Window
 * Treehouse link - Multiple treehouses linked together. Best if treehouse is built in a forest.

Igloo


Materials


 * A lot of Snow
 * A shovel.

Description

If you live in a snowy biome, why don't you use what you have around you?

Location

Any snow biome

Construction

First get some snow, you'll need a lot. Use a shovel to get snowballs by breaking snow. After you have collected enough, place them in a 2x2 square in the crafting grid. Get the Snow Blocks. Build your shelter with that.

During construction it might start snowing, but hey, free resources! Note that snow can fall on snow blocks, causing a snow layer to form on top.

These snow shelters often look great in snow biomes.

Extras
 * Windows made of ice
 * A well of liquid water.
 * A fire place. (Snow blocks do not melt, but ice and snow do)
 * A wooden door. (Although I feel it makes it feel less like an Igloo)

Portable House
Materials


 * Wood, Cobble or Stone any basic material except dirt. Preferably Cobble
 * Ladders
 * Wooden/Iron Door
 * Trapdoor

Description

Don't want to spend 5 minutes in a hole? Build this mobile fortress that takes 5 minutes to build and 5 minutes to destroy!

Location A 6x6 or 9x9 flat space

Construction

First, build a 1x1 tower 6 blocks up on all the corners. Next connect each corner together. Now build the wall and dig a 1x2 hole for the door do NOT use windows. Now fill in the roof but leave a 2x2 space at a wall for the trapdoors and ladders. Place the ladders under the hole and then on the roof of the house make some battlements. Now place the trapdoor and you're done! You now have a mobile fortress that's safe from creepers! And if a spider gets in you can run down the hatch!

Extras


 * Mine
 * Utilities
 * Extra story
 * Defence Turrets
 * Trapdoor traps

Camouflage House
Materials


 * A stack or two of dirt


 * Wood Planks for the inside wall (optional)

Description

A house made out of dirt that blends in with the environment.

Location

A forest or plains biome.

Construction

Use the dirt to blend in with the environment. Make sure to adjust to elevations. Grass will grow on your roof, so it looks even cooler. For maximum security, conceal your door behind a 1x1x2 stack of dirt and don't add any windows. If you're really ambitous, make a piston door with dirt and sticky pistons. Hide the lever behind a block of dirt. This is perfect in SMP as it hides your shelter from griefers and thieves.

Extras


 * Bed, torches, crafting table
 * Underground shelter underneath the dirt.
 * Tunnel to other camo shelters!
 * Piston door made out of dirt and sticky pistons.
 * Hidden chest full of valuables.

House
The expansion to the Open-Air, in detail.

Materials


 * See Open-Air, in the Nomadic section, for walls but made of something preferably stronger like wood. For the roof, any non-entity. (If made out of glass, will be better than windows for lighting)
 * Torches
 * Sand (for windows)

Description

You've played the game with the walls, now play it with the roof! A basic house.

Location

Flat, open ground.

Construction

First, build a wall, just like the Nomadic Open-Air. After that, close the roof, add windows (smelt the sand with your furnace), and you're set for expansion! If you like, dig your floor and replace it with any block you like.

Extras


 * Mine
 * Upper Levels
 * Lower Levels
 * Traps
 * A door
 * Corners are made out of wood
 * Make the roof out of stairs
 * Chimney
 * Colored Wool for a carpet

PS. This is basically the Open-Air WITH a roof.

Cave Home
Materials


 * Fair amount of construction-type blocks(Cobblestone, Wooden Planks, Dirt all work fine).

Description
 * Ample supply of Torches.

A house constructed using a surface cave as its base structure. Can be dangerous due to its initially dark state, but allows for easy expansion. Being a cave, contains a mine already within itself.

Location

This type of house can be built in any surface cave one finds. It is a bonus if you find one with Coal already in it, as you have your supply of torches supplied by your house. A cave with multiple surface entrances can be used, but may prove more difficult to secure.

Construction

Once you have found a suitable cave, the first step is to seal off the entrances. Use any building material to create a complete seal to keep out night monsters. A wooden door may be added if you have enough wood and time. Otherwise, just seal the entrance off completely(make sure to use torches first, or you may find yourself in the dark) leaving no gaps.

If you proceed deeper into your cave, and monsters are found, it would be wise to seal off the rear end of your cave as well. That is unless you are able to deal with the monsters.

After this, you can hollow out the cave to your liking.

Extras


 * Explore the entirety of your house/cave, and extract the riches hiding in your basement.
 * Add more rooms by hollowing out more of the cave. No materials required!

Freestanding
Materials

64-256 Wooden planks, Cobblestone, Stone

Description These Freestanding shelters are not usually the first shelter that the player builds, because it usually consumes the time fast. These shelters provide good protections against Mobs.(Creepers).(Watch out for creepers! They can spawn behind or on top of your house. Best way to make sure that creepers don't get on your roof is to put torches on it or make your roof from glass!)

Location You can build these type of shelters anywhere where there is flat ground. You can also clear out a flat area, but this will consume more time and leave you vulnerable in the night if you don't have your house built in time.

Construction The size of the shelter is decided by the player himself. The foundation can be any size you want, but bigger building takes more time. First make the foundation of the building and then you can make it wide as you want. Then you can make a wooden floor, or you can just keep the ground as your floor. Jump and place a block underneath you to make the shelter taller. When your shelter is complete, you can make an access to the rooftop if you like. Making a door is very important, because the aggressive mobs can come inside your house and kill you. Also make sure your shelter is well lit to avoid mobs spawning inside - The bigger your house is, the more torches you will need.

Extras


 * Watchtower (used for sniping and looking for resources)


 * Windows


 * Greenhouse (See Farming)


 * Skylight (extra light and mobs can't spawn on it. Also looks really cool!)

Two-Story
Materials about 6 stacks of wood 28 cobblestone

Description Just a two story house that has a deck and you can add some additions to it. It provides protection, and the bed is going to be on the second floor. It is very basic.

Location A flat area.

Constuction Make a 6x6 foundation and fill it with wooden planks, then make a simple frame for the first floor with wooden planks and cobblestone on the edges of the walls. Add 2x2 holes in the center of each wall for the windows but leave the front open with a 2x2 hole for the 2 doors. Do the same thing that you did for the first floor but but a single door on the left side of the front of the house on the second floor. Then add a 6x3 deck off of the front of the second floor. Add a railing and supports to the deck using fence blocks. Now make a staircase to the second floor to the right of the door if your looking at the doors from the inside. Add Torches

Extras
 * A basement under the stairs.
 * Extentions on the sides and back of the house on the first floor.

Hollowed-Out Mountain
Materials:
 * A pickaxe


 * At least 16 torches

Description The title says it all: a mountain, preferably not too big, hollowed out and converted into a shelter! Good protection, as watchtowers and a moat can easily be added after making a basic shelter within the mountain.

Location A small, freestanding mountain,not part of a large mountain range, preferably 25-40 blocks tall. A good advantage is that as you build, you are gaining material, and not losing. Time: 1–2 days.

Construction Find a mountain that matches the description above. Bring along a pickaxe or two, depending on its size. Hollow out the entire mountain, add a staircase/ladders and some floors, and you are ready to begin customizing!

Extras
 * Wooden bridge connection to other nearby mountain


 * Greenhouse


 * Trapdoor drawbridge


 * Armory


 * Watchtowers

Floating
Materials:
 * Plenty (at least 200) of cobble, planks, or other general building material
 * At minimum, 1 door
 * Other material needed for house additions

Description: A house that floats in mid-air! Protects greatly, as mobs can't get in and spiders have nothing to climb on. However, it can take a bit longer to start building than freestanding structures, about 1–3 days.

Location: A cliff face, preferably over water, is the best place to build the structure. Any large hill is a good starting point (this option is assumed for the construction section). With more work, however, it can be built anywhere, using a staircase or water elevator for access.

Construction:
 * 1) Choose an elevation. Recommended height is over 10 blocks.
 * 2) Build a 1-block wide bridge out about 5 blocks from the hill, beginning the count from the furthest horizontal point on the hill within 3 blocks in any direction.
 * 3) If you want a house below the level of your bridge (a basement, perhaps), make a pillar from the ground up to the desired lowest elevation. Build around it to the desired foundation size. Remove the pillar when construction of the foundation is completed.
 * 4) From this base, build as usual, making sure to place a door at the level of the bridge, with an empty space above it so you can jump to and from the door. Don't forget you are still vulnerable to roof spawning if precautions aren't taken!
 * 5) Make a one or two block gap between the bridge and the door. This is the system that so secures the structure. Mobs coming to you will simply fall below if they attempt to reach you when the door is closed. It is unlikely that they would jump the pit, but it is still a possibility.  If you want Mobs to fall into a pit, place a sign on the block you would jump from to your door on the side facing towards the door and they will think it is another block and walk onto it.


 * 1) Continue building. One great thing about this type of shelter is that you aren't nearly as hemmed in by hills or other terrain! Generally, you can build in any direction for a great distance. The only concern is that you must build the new foundations, and therefore must use a few more materials.

Notes You may have some trouble getting into your house. One thing to make sure of is the door. Since the hinge area is solid even when open, you should jump to the door from the side opposite the hinge. Simply widen the bridge at the end to do so more easily. The area under the pit should ideally have some sort of fall-breaker in case misjudgment of the jump occurs. Once you are confident you can jump it consistently, you can build a mob trap for anything that approaches. Make sure that you can escape it if you DO fall, however.

Extras: These will be the same as a normal house- except anything to do with the underground. Just build that sort of structure on the area opposite the bridge/stairs. Even grass can be brought up with a stair of dirt. Do not use a full stair with lower support, as to prevent intrusion while you wait for the spread.

Also, when playing SMP, cover the outside of the floor with white wool. People that will look up at it will think that's it's a cloud! And you don't have to worry about greafers!

Bunker
Materials


 * 6-8 stacks of Cobblestone or Stone, depending on size
 * Torches
 * Iron Doors
 * Glass

Description This is a relatively simple shelter to build, although requires a fair amount of gathering and smelting to obtain all the required materials.

Location Can be built on any wide open flat space.

Construction The bunker is a single story shelter made entirely of stone, with the walls always being at least two blocks thick. Size is down to the player's preference, although a 12x12 outer wall perimeter will provide ample space inside for a bed, workbench and multiple chests and furnaces. Ideally an iron door should be placed on at least two sides of the building, in case a creeper remains lurking outside one door in the morning. Stone buttons or levers can be used to control the doors both inside and out. With the walls being at least two blocks thick, the player can safely sleep in a bed at night without having to worry about being awoken by hostile mobs. Windows should be added on all sides so the player can be certain that the outside of the shelter is clear before venturing out in the morning.

Bunker#2
Materials


 * 8-10 stacks of Stone Brick or Stone Slab, depending on location(Far or close to a stronghold)
 * Torches
 * Iron Doors
 * Glass

Description This is a harder shelter to build, mainly because it requires lots of stone or exploring.

Location Can be built on any wide open flat space.

Construction The bunker#2 is a single story shelter made entirely of stone, with the walls always being at least three blocks thick. Size is down to the player's preference, although a 12x12 outer wall perimeter will provide ample space inside for a bed, workbench and multiple chests and furnaces. Ideally an iron door should be placed on at least two sides of the building, in case a creeper remains lurking outside one door in the morning. Stone buttons or levers can be used to control the doors both inside and out. With the walls being at least two blocks thick, the player can safely sleep in a bed at night without having to worry about being awoken by hostile mobs. Windows should be added on all sides so the player can be certain that the outside of the shelter is clear before venturing out in the morning. This is especially effective against armies of players, as iron doors and stone bricks are much harder to break, plus, there's the added benefit of having silverfish coming out and attacking the attackers everynow and again.

Good idea would be to put guards on a bunch of these outside your pvp base, with tnt collaspable tunnels if someone breaks through.

Man-made Cave
Materials


 * Shovels and Pickaxes
 * Torches
 * Door

Description A relatively simple but long lasting shelter with excellent protection. Can easily be made at the beginning of the game, or later as a regional base.

Location Any large cliff with a space at least 3 blocks high

Construction Find a cliff that meets the above specifications. Dig a 1x2 tunnel 4 blocks deep. Then, make a 7x7 3-block high space here. Put up the door and some torches, and voila! Your cave is pretty much complete. Put all of your basic minecraft home items on the floor next to the walls. You may also want to replace the ugly dirt and stone in the walls and ceiling with some more aesthetic blocks, like wood or (for a more dungeon-like feel) stone bricks.

Notes Your cave's main weakness is that is has only one exit. You may want to dig a 1x2 "emergency exit" out of your base, so that you can sneak out if there are creepers patrolling your main one. It's also preferable to mark the base so that it can be seen from far away.

Extras
 * A "Balcony" protruding from higher up the side of the cliff, which you can use to snipe mobs.
 * Rooms, rooms, rooms. Make branches coming out of your main room leading to smaller (or bigger)rooms, like a bedroom, smelting room, storage room, etc.

circular village

 * this kind of shelter/village is very good on a multiplayer pvp server as it can be defended with a minimum of 3 people with little hassle, if you can't defend it, then you wouldnt be able to defend anything else short of a castle.
 * The one big drawback of this kind of dwelling is that it is highly visible, although it would be possible to create this in an underground cavern

Materials On ssp, it is possible to make this out of wood for aethetic purposes
 * Lots of cobble/or some kind of reasonably hard to break block, if possible use obsidian.

Description
 * a circular radiating dwelling designed for defensibility combined with eyepleasing open areas

Location
 * anywhere flat, including large manmade caves and the nether

Construction This is the centre of your village, around it you will construct your other buildings There should be 2 L shaped ones and one straight one so that there are three entrances leading to your central building, like so:
 * On your first night build a small house
 * Next up you need to create 3 buildings around your centre one, this may take quite some time.

``````````` `####`####` `#```````#` `#``###``#` `#``###``#` ``````````` `#########` ```````````

` = empty
 * 1) = building


 * There should be no doors facing outwards so that the only ways into or out of the village are throught the gaps in the buildings, or through the buildings themselves.
 * The gaps are easier to defend if they are only one block wide. now all you have to do on a pvp faction server is to recruit 2 more people, and when you get attacked, stick one person at each gap.
 * As your faction grows you may wish to build a further group of encircling buildings, but remember to only ever have as many gaps as you have people and, when the outer circle falls, fall back to the middle

Notes
 * Always remember that those gaps arent impervious, and youre sure as hell going to get company with that size of village
 * An obvious thing to do with this design would be to cut out 2 gaps and just make a C shaped building all around the outside, you can do this to obvious defensive benifit, feel free but I feel that it detracts from the beauty of it all

extras
 * A panic room
 * Never put this in the centre, put it where they'll least expect it!
 * Farms
 * There are two places to put farms
 * The first is around the outer edge of your village, in the same style as the buildings, this adds to beauty.
 * The second is to place them in the gaps between the central house and the others meaning you're less likely to have them griefed or stolen, as players have to get past your cordon first!
 * Bonfire
 * On ssp, you can redesign your central building into an eating area with a bonfire and ovens, but this is purely aesthetic and will have no use in smp whatsoever, and make sure you don't put any flammable block near the fire.

Fort
A walled base capable of housing multiple players. It is built mostly for defensive values. Basically consists of a wall with buildings attached to it.

Materials 128 to 1000 material of your choice.

Description A square of wall with buildings attached to the inside of it. Towers can be put on the corners. My designs usually have an open yard near the entrance with no buildings nearby.

Construction To start off build a square or rectangle area of bricks (base). Then build walls around the edge (leaving room for an exit/entrance). The next step is to plan your shape and build the internal buildings, like towers, a bedroom, storeroom, etc. Lastly, put roof decks on each building by giving then a flat roof with ladders from inside the building. Give easy access to the walls which should probably be three bricks high, so that it's a safe fall and still spider proof.

notes
 * Holes can be built into the bottom blocks of the wall, to enable wolf (and chicken)access.
 * This is a fort not a farm. You can add farms if you want, though.
 * If you make your wall spider proof, make sure that you have a lip every second brick to prevent mobs from sneaking up on you/ ambushing you as you leave. Not leaving gaps does have the advantage of making skeletons walk under it, rendering them unable to shoot you from the towers (though they will probably ambush you later).

Extras
 * Add escape tunnels just in case that zombie siege happens.
 * With the use of the zeppelin mod, you can move your base (though this renders escape tunnels obsolete). Make a control tower.
 * A mine
 * Farms (doesn't have to be in the fortress)
 * Snow golem turrets (keep in mind that this won't hurt mobs)
 * Dog-holes (mentioned in "notes")

Atheist House
A nice looking house that stops all mobs and is somewhat easy to build.

"Materials" 128 blocks of cobblestone 64 Glass or glass panes 32 wood

"Construction" Make an outline of your building that is one block high out of cobble. Then make studs with the cobble and the glass/glass panes like this cobbleglasscobble. Then top it off with another layer of cobble. Once that is done use the wood to make a roof and you are set. You can use the roof however you like but make sure to prevent spiders from entering.

"Notes"
 * This designs is very good looking and will repel any mobs
 * To add more layers simply repeat the process.

Hard
These homes are very complex and some may combine other shelters with large add-ons, making them different shelters like the ones below.

Underground Shelter
Description

These shelters are built entirely underground, usually at a depth of 15-25 blocks under the surface. They have the advantage of being difficult to detect from the surface and invulnerable to attacks from above-ground mobs. Disadvantages include difficulty of construction - usually involving committing the cardinal Minecraft sin of digging directly down - and the fact that it is difficult to escape if a mob -especially a creeper - managed to enter or spawn.

Necessary Materials


 * Torches


 * Ladders

Location

The entrances to this shelter can be anywhere, but in SMP, care should be taken to avoid making your location obvious to griefers or thieves. The top of a mountain, the middle of a desert, or even inside another, well-defended shelter are great locations to place the entrance.

Construction

Dig a 2x1 tunnel downwards, placing ladders on the walls every block, and Torches in small alcoves to the side. Once a suitable depth has been reached (20 blocks is recommended, but anything below 10 is acceptable. If you dig below level 16, the shelter will work as your mine.), hollow out a chamber. The size of this room is a matter of preference, but a 5x5x2 space is ideal. Light this area with torches, and your rudimentary shelter is complete. Add-ons can be expansions to the original chamber or separate "rooms" of their own. Separate some of the rooms with doors so if a monster does get in, you can hide in another room where you can figure out how to deal with the mobs.

This type of shelter can also be easily converted from the player's first shelter, provided it was built in the ground or in the side of a hill or mountain.

Extras


 * An escape tunnel - Absolutely necessary, as mobs inside your house will spell doom otherwise.


 * Connection to mine


 * At the base of the ladder, make a pool of water 2 deep so you can just jump down without harm instead of having to go down the ladder.


 * Subway/railway station


 * Farms (Make sure to have plenty of torches)

Island Stronghold
Description

A large wall and ceiling over an island for lots of protection against mobs.

Necessary Materials

About 100-2000 blocks of any building materials depending on the size of your island.

Location

On a small-medium island.

Construction

Find a decent size island and get lots of stone. Then You build a 6-9 block wall with your stone. When you've done this place torches everywhere over your walls and floor and get rid of them afterwards if you need to build. Next you add your roof and you can live hostile free!

Extras


 * A small tunnel leading to a secondary base.
 * A mine.
 * Obsidian shelter in case that Creeper one day gets you.
 * Extra rooms
 * A walled off passage to the mainland

Underwater Shelter
Description

An underwater base for total protection from creepers and other mobs, along with looking good.

Necessary Materials

Any block; preferably glass).

Some form of light, glowstone, etc. if your house is made of glass, as torches cannot be placed on glass.

Location

In a deep lake or in the ocean.

Construction

Start by filling the space where you are going to build your house, then dig out the inside,. Next start removing the wall and replacing it with the block of your choice. Then add your ceiling and replace the water on the top.For added ease build your house under water out of wood the cover it with any NON-flammable material. Now dig one block under your house and burn it which will remove all the water You now have a "creeperproof" house. (Unless it blows up the water without being in it, although this has only been proved with TNT.)

Extras


 * An underground base below this base.


 * Glass walls and roofs, as the strength of the blocks doesn't matter.

Freestanding - Hard
Description

The freestanding shelter, just bigger and harder to build and also with extra floors.

Neccesary Materials


 * Preferred building material (wooden planks, cobble. About 256-2048 blocks)


 * Log


 * Torches


 * Tools


 * Glass panes and blocks


 * Fences for patio and/or balcony


 * Stairs


 * Ladders (to get up or down your floors)


 * Doors


 * Trapdoors

Location

A large, flat area, with room for expansions, underground or to the side.

Construction

The size of the shelter is up to the player, however the bigger your house is the more room you will have for expansion.

1. Build the foundation of your house one block higher than the ground, so you can make a patio and as an added bonus you don't have to clear out the ground to make a floor.

2. Next, build your walls 5 blocks high so the ceiling isn't too low, and the windows don't look weird. The house will also feel bigger that way.

3. Make the ceiling. This means the inside of the house is currently 4 blocks high.

4. Make any rooms you want (crafting room, brewery, bedroom, etc.)

5. If you don't want a second floor, you're done! If you do want a second floor, continue on. Punch 1x1 hole in your ceiling. Pillar jump up on to your second floor, but as you keep going up and down you will have to destroy your pillar, so ladders are recommended here. For the second floor, repeat step 2, 3 and 4. If wanted, you can make glass skylights for both the roof and the floor of the 2nd level.

6. If you don't want an underground floor, you're done! If you do want an underground floor, continue on. Dig down 5 blocks from your floor. Next, hollow out the area you want to use. Dirt and stone don't really make great decor, so wooden planks is the preferred building material. Hollow out the wall and replace it with the planks. You can make entrances to all your expansions here. You may use ladders or stairs to get down to your underground floor.

7. If you don't want a balcony, you're done! If you do want a balcony, continue on. Go outside your house. Pillar jump to wherever you want to place you balcony. Use cobble or wooden planks. Extend your balcony about 3-5 blocks out. Add a fence and you're done! A nice extra is to put wooden steps and a sign by each side, so it looks like a chair.

Extras


 * Greenhouse made out of glass (consider adding a chest or two for keeping your seeds and tools and a crafting table to make quick bread)


 * Universal underground stopping point for all expansions (passageway to guardtower, entrance to quarry or mine, iron door to emergency bunker, etc.)


 * Craft Room - a room full of crafting tables and furnaces for quick crafting and smelting. Add a chest to store valuable ores and ingots.


 * Emergency bunker - Creeper invading your house? Make an underground shelter made out of obsidian or 3 layers of cobble and an iron door. A bed is a must. A chest full of food, weapons and tools are needed. A workbench and a furnace are useful as well.


 * Indoor fishing pond - Useful source of food if a greenhouse has not been created.


 * Storeroom. A room full of chests to keep less valuable materials (dirt, cobble)


 * Guardtower - Make a tall tower (5x4) and about 30 blocks high to survey the land. Add a chest full of arrows and a bow to 'snipe' some mobs.


 * Escape passage - This is a must! You can also add this to your bunker.


 * Emergency kit - Need to leave quickly? Found a group of zombies in your basement? A chest full of weapons, food, crafting table, furnace and tools is helpful if invaded by an army of monsters.


 * Tree farm. Although time-consuming, an indoor tree farm is very, very, very useful. Note the room will have to be very tall as trees are big. The room will have to be well-lit. Consider adding a chest full of axes and saplings.


 * Skylight. Extra light and looks cool. Why not even make your roof out of glass? No mobs can spawn on it!


 * Tunnel to another base - This is very helpful, if you need to go to another safehouse to collect more resources.

Ravine Shelter
Description A shelter situated in a Ravine. Rooms may either overhang on the side, or occupy the entire ravine. These are easier to build if the opening is close to (if not breaking) the surface, and more difficult if deep underground. Sometimes a ravine may spawn above another ravine, so you can use the lower as your shelter, and upper as your farm(s).

Neccessary Materials
 * [Torches]
 * [Ladders]
 * [Cobblestone]
 * [Pickaxes] (Preferably Iron but Stone will work)
 * [Water]

Location In a Ravine

Construction If there is lava on the bottom, freeze it with water. Any water/lava from the sides should be plugged. Make the floor flat, and then light up the ravine with as many torches as you can. Start the walls, and put in the items you want in the rooms (Bedroom, Craft Room, Furnace Room, Store Room, Minecart Room). Rooms should be 3 - 4 blocks high (Or if you're building a staircase, whichever suits the staircase best), and once all rooms are at the preferred height, build the next floor. Repeat until the house has as many rooms as you need. You may want to seal off caves, but you don't have to smoothen the walls. Farms can be easily built on the floor, too.A glass floor would also look interesting.

Extras


 * Surface additions


 * Branch Mine


 * Tunnel

Castle
Description

A castle capable of keeping out an army of monsters

Neccesary Materials

About 1000 blocks of cobblestone.

Location

A large flat plains, a man-made flat area, or the world type Super-Flat. If needed use map editors, unless playing survival(legit)

Construction

Take the cobblestone and make a 3 block wide, 1 block long, and 1 block high base. Continue across until the length stretches all across your flat area. Then clear out a 6 block long section for a primary entrance. Make the walls about 20 blocks high and make ladders or stairs leading up. Add an overhang to the walls to keep out spiders. Make shelters and useless buildings inside the walls. Takes about 3-7 nights, depending on size.

Extras


 * Castle Forge


 * Castle Home


 * Bed


 * Treasury


 * Castle Mine


 * Blocks on outer layer of wall, covering every other slot as a reinforcment from spiders, every five blocks change the material to something else.Huge castle basement.

Stronghold
Description

A castle built using a village with enough add-ons to become its own mass shelter. Can house many players and animals.

Neccesary Materials


 * Lots of Cobblestone (1000–10,000)


 * Water/Lava


 * Torches


 * Tools

Location

Any area with an NPC Village. The village will be a part of your home; keep that in mind.

Construction

Surround the village with Cobblestone. Be sure to add gate houses so you can enter and leave your stronghold. Optionally, leave room for some more structures in the village. When surrounding the village, create a two layer wall of cobblestone. Make the inner layer one block smaller than the outer layer. This will allow you to snipe mobs outside the castle.

Extras


 * Granary to Store Food


 * Quarry for Materials


 * Armory for Weapons


 * Extensions on NPC Blacksmith for Mass Smelting


 * Modify the NPC Houses with extra furniture, beds, etc.


 * Pistons to hold Water/Lava and release it when necessary


 * Farms (Melons, Wheat, Pumpkins)

Circle Shelter
Description

A normal, circle shelter.

Neccsary Materials

3-6 stacks of building material, such as Wooden Planks, Stone, Obsidian, etc. 2 Doors

Location

A flat area that is over 15x15.

Construction

The same process as a freestanding shelter, but with the walls formed in a circle instead of a square.

Extras


 * 3 Floors
 * Floor
 * Kitchen
 * Bedroom
 * Attic
 * Chimmney
 * Mine

["Ultimate Seige Fort"] Ultimate Seige Fort has been deleted due to Grammar, Punctuation, and Capitalization problems. Also, one of the ingredients listed was "way to mani stack of stone brick" which is impossible to hold in one inventory.

Nether Shelter
Description

A shelter in the Nether.

Neccesary Materials

Lots of cobblestone.

Location

Nether, preferably next to your portal

Safe construction

It is recommended to build a small shelter before you start any of your construction area before starting to build your home, to ensure you won't get visited by "unexpected guests". If you build in the open, you can`t do this, but if you can you should.

Nether shelter types


 * 1 - Cave home

Safest, because you build it safely away from Ghasts and you are surrounded by walls. Making a Nether Cave home can prove much easier than building a similar home in the Overworld, because you won`t be attacked by mobs. The only mobs you will meet are zombie pigmen which will not attack without reason.


 * 2 - Free-standing

Difficult, as you are going to be attacked by Ghasts. Your walls MUST be made of cobblestone. Be prepared to fight at any time. Except on peaceful mode of course.


 * 3 - Fortress Home

This one is fairly easy - just find a Nether Fortress. Be careful, as fortresses will be hard to traverse. Be sure to clearly mark your designated "home" area, or spread your furniture around the entire building. Ghasts may or may not be a problem, depending on the location. Zombie Pigmen won't be an issue unless you attack them first. Magma Cubes and Blazes will likely not be too much of a threat.

 Windows 

A ghast cannot see you through glass (See: ghast). Thus you can build windows in the Nether as long as you stay inside it is safe, to protect your self and your windows, you might want to use Pistons to put some cobblestone in front of the window, which can be relocated by pressing a button. Allowing yourself to be inside the home safely and have a good view of the nether. And when you go exploring you "close" the window, for in case you get hunted by a ghast.

Extras


 * Tree farm


 * Mushroom farm

Innovative Dwellings
These types of dwellings are mostly to impress other players, or are amazingly dangerous to live in.

Description

This type of shelter can vary in location and security. For example, a innovative dwelling could be located within a double dungeon (with the spawners still there), built into the bottom of an overhang, or above a lava lake! Innovative dwellings are usually much more difficult to live in and build; however, they work with the map and are great for impressing other players.

Location

The location of this type of shelter can vary drastically, depending on the map, and on the player's preference.

Jungle Treehouse
This type of house is hard to make but almost no mobs can get you. first find a jungle and either pillar up a giant tree or use ladders (recommended) once on top of the tree just make a house. its an awesome idea to make bridges to other giant trees. make a huge treetop village!

Dungeons
Dungeon dwellings require very little setup on the part of the player. They are not very big, and there is also the risk of spawned enemies as well as caverns nearby. Many are located deep underground, so they can be relatively difficult to located and navigate to. Leaving the spawner in for decoration can serve as the player's death sentence. However, advantages of this type of home are little setup, free mob drops (if one decides to set up as a mob trap instead), and in SMP, difficulty by other players attempting to locate the home. A good map to use for this type of shelter is seed: 'Brock Obama' (pre 1.8) as you spawn near a sanded in zombie dungeon with attached alcove.

Overhang Bases
There are 2 types of overhang base.the first is built into the underside of overhangs of mountains. Unfortunately, suitable overhangs and ones located in scenic or easy-to-defend places can be difficult to find. Building is another problem, as you would either have to pillar upwards to excavate the home or enter from the top and use water to build on the underside of the overhang. Sand or gravel is recommended, as removing pillars made out of these materials is much easier and can be done directly from the ground. As difficult as this setup may be, one can use this type of base as a stealthy reconnaissance outpost, by dropping lava, arrows or even TNT on unsuspecting players or just for viewing epic scenery. the second is built by making walls that go from the ground to the top of the overhang.you can put in many floors and have tons of stuff.you can also connect it to a hollowed out mountain for even more space.

Lava Forts
These are arguably one of the most difficult bases to build, not only because aboveground lakes tend to burn wooden homes down,needing a lot of lava as well as the fact that returning home with a stash of diamonds could quite possibly be more risky than hugging a creeper on Hard difficulty. As the player must use nonflammable materials, such as cobblestone, players may not like how the home would look. On the other hand, the lava can protect against all types of mobs, allow animal spawns and is relatively easy to spot from a distance during the nighttime from a high perch.

Mountain Bases
These bases are some of the toughest to build because they are basically on top of a mountain. You're probably thinking, "Thats easy to build", but it isn't, because it requires a mountain range or at least two mountains. The idea is you link the two mountains together with 10 block wide bridge, and rooms inside the bridge. That's only the start, to make a proper base you could add floating island around the base and make it better to look at. Think of it as the floating mountains of Pandora but instead of Na'vi you get creepers. It's one of the toughest because it requires a lot of stone - and I mean a lot: the one I have built required nearly over 2000 stone and I am still making it bigger, but the only problem is most mountains are on flat lands, so it's very difficult to get wood. I suggest you get 200 saplings and plant them around your base as well as in it. When all this is done it will look amazing and easy to protect from mobs because they fall of the edge of the mountain and plummit to their death, but it will take time to build, it takes a lot longer to build than a Lava Fort. But there is an easy way. If you clear the top of the mountain and make it flat it will be easier and you can just build a simple house. Of course, this is less safe.

Sub-Terranean Stronghold
This type of base is very hard to conquer. One first has to find a Stronghold in their world (a difficult task as it is), light up the entire structure, patch any holes made by caves, and then make a safe entrance from the surface. You can also use a cave entrance, but this makes it harder to find when coming home after a long day of exploring. You also must be wary of silverfish, and be careful not to break any walls. However, once you do conquer the entire Stronghold, nothing can get to you. The main thing to be wary of are creepers waiting outside your exit, wanting to kill you as you foolishly walk up and out.

Extras


 * Windows by your exit are very good to have, to stop the above mentioned creeper attacks.


 * A mushroom, wheat, sugarcane, melon, or pumpkin farms for food and miscellaneous items.


 * Escape tunnels are must haves, to get away from anything that could spawn in that dark corner you missed lighting up.


 * You can also add a tree farm. This will take quite some time, but you will not really need to go above ground a lot.

Self-building house
This is a house that will build itself perpetually. It it will rebuild itself after creeper attacks if the redstone circuits and pistons arent destroyed. It's a good idea to make the entrance come from underground because doors are hard to keep permanant.

Use an auto cobblestone generator (those aboveground ones that are piston powered. Next make a floating structure for your ceiling. (the outermost block must be obsidian so you have an obsidian rim). Next put upwards pistons on the ground under the obsidian rim. The cobblestone generator should push cobblestone onto the pistons. At the corners, you can either put a piston facing the next side, or another generator. On the area surrounding the wall, you will need a perpetual redstone circuit going to each piston. If the repeaters have the right delay, they should build your house.

Skyscraper
This may sound pointless, but a skyscraper house can be seen from a long way away, provided it is tall enough. It can be both good and bad in multiplayer, the good side being it is visible from a long way away, the bad side being griefers can also see it easily. In singleplayer mode, it can serve as a spacious establishment, with countless rooms for storage, cobblestone generation (of course if you do build something this big, you should have a lot of cobblestone), smelting, and even a garden or tree farm on the roof. You can also dig a quarry underneath your skyscraper to replenish iron, coal, etc.

Mini-Great Wall of China
Even more pointless then a skyscraper,but in SMP, it will be rediciulously hard for greifers to destroy it whole,but also rediciulously hard to recover after greifer or creeper attacks.So,like in real life and for safety,build it in extreme hills.First make a 6x6 tower,then continue on the wall.Every 200 blocks,another tower must be built. Build until it covers nearly the entire biome if you wish!

Forts/Walls
These are often just normal on-ground homes with walls around them.

Description

These shelters offer far higher protection, and if there in no dark places on the walls or inside, then you can roam freely at night without fear of mobs(as long as you are inside the walls), ofter a place to attack from, and allows you to build at night.

'Location Large flat area

Materials
 * A normal freestanding home.

Construction First pick a perimeter for the wall so you will have space to build in later on, then build a 1 block high wall there. After that keep making it higher and higher until you have the desired height. Then you will build a lip that is at least 1 block over on the top of the wall to prevent spiders and Spider Jockeys from climbing over.
 * As many blocks as you need (Cobblestone is suggested)to at least build a 4 block high wall around your home (preferably higher) and a lip on the edge (optional, but recommended).

Extras


 * Towers can be included on the sides to make it look better and give a better point to attack from.


 * A larger lip can be used to give a better point to attack from.


 * Windows can be added to allow you to see outside.


 * A ditch can be added to trap mobs, kill mobs with lava, or transport them to a lava pit.


 * Walls can be made thicker to resist explosions (not needed if the wall is made of Obsidian or Bedrock).


 * By building by the sea, part of the wall may not be needed.

Ports/Harbors
These are quite obvious additions if you are by the sea, and can be quite useful if you happen to have many bases and mines offshore.

Description

These are built next to water, by a natural sea or possibly a man-made channel, and allow the usage of boats to travel in and out of your base.

Location

Virtually anywhere there is water, most usefully if next to a sea.

Materials


 * Water(If an artificial inlet is to be constructed)


 * Any material,amount dependent on size of the docks


 * Slabs (for landing boats on without destroying them)


 * Doors(Optional, but very highly recommended to stop your boats from floating away)


 * Chests(Optional,used to store materials for voyages and spare boats)

Construction

First, pick a suitable area on the sea or dig a trench you can sail through and flood it. Once you have a waterfront ready, build as many units for boats as you wish. These are generally 2x2 squares that can be dug into land or built into the water, and usually have a double door at the front to stop boats from drifting out to sea. Place boats in each of these and make sure you can sail in and out easily. Place wool or stairs at the opposite side of the doors to stop high-speed boats from shattering when they hit the wall. Add storage, dispensers, or anything else you want.

Extras


 * You can build a redstone wire connected to a music block to be alerted whenever something is coming.


 * Dispensers can be built for boats instead of placing them in storage.


 * Towers can also be built instead as a lookout post.


 * Walls can be built on the sea with iron doors in the water to keep unwanted guests from getting into your harbor.


 * You can have several different sets of docks in a concentrated area, with buildings for whatever purposes in-between, to build an entire large-scale base around the harbor.

Railway System
This is useful if you have several mines, bases, or other places of intrest that are too far away to walk to from your shelter.

Description

These are built when you've got plenty of resources and you have need of getting somewhere regularly that is at least a few hundred meters away, or you simply don't have the patience to walk there and back.

Materials


 * 4-30 stacks of rail


 * 6 powered rails


 * A couple of water timers (see here), although other timers do work.


 * 2 redstone torches


 * 2 track switches

Construction
 * A mine cart (if it's powered it will simplify the making of the stations).

First, build a booster with three powered rails(for more information, see here). Connect the T switch to the booster and make a water timer. Wire it up to the track switch. When you enter you press a button to activate the timer. You may want to activate the button when you get in and add a wire to the powering torch. Now make your track and repeat at the other end. If you have 400 meter track, you'll want a 12 second booster. You may want to build the majority of the track a few blocks above the ground and have heavily guarded stations to avoid mobs (particularly creepers) damaging it. With this track you'll go 8 meters/second (or 11.3 meters/second if your going diagonally), which, depending on the terrain you're traveling through, will make your journey 50-80% shorter.

Extras


 * Multiple stations allowing you to have more than two potential destinations.


 * Alarms allowing you to peform an emergency launch or ready your weapons.


 * Some powered minecarts (with enough fuel for the journey) to serve as engines for storage minecarts, to carry chests filled with loot to a safe place (i.e., you're base).


 * A system to remotely control all the stations you have built using levers and redstone wire, allowing you to make a cart go past a station without stopping (useful with powered minecarts as you don't need to start them again after they reach a station).


 * A back-up in case creepers or other players destroy it.


 * Stations that are effectively fortresses to be sure you're system is safe.


 * An emergency armory in case your station has some unknown flaw and you don't or can't carry around arms and armour.


 * Towers to snipe from (with ample arrow supply) or to make sure you can find the nearest station if you've gone exploring and you want to go home (or to a mine, libary, NPC village etc.).


 * A bed in your stations if you intend to take a prolonged visit to a point of intrest.


 * Automated turrets (TNT cannons or golems) in case mobs attack when you are not in the area.


 * A bunker with rations including a few pieces of steak, a farm, crafting facilities and an escape tunnel (useless if you have very well defended stations and not particularly useful if you have an alarm as you can perform an emergency launch, but if you are short on resources (while the railway itself is really to be made when you have plenty of resources you may not actually have that many resources) these have use).