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Minecraft Construction Defense



Project aim

To completely merge all of the separate defense topics on the wiki

People Involved (feel free to add yourself to the list if you wish to help!)

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Uses

The main use of a snow golem defense turret is to keep enemies away from your house, they can also be deployed near NPC Villages to protect NPC villagers from hostile mobs and break up sieges. [edit] How to Build

1.Dig a 3x3x3 hole into the ground.


a 3x3x3 hole 2.From the center of the hole build up 5 blocks of a non-flammable material such as Cobblestone. 3.Surround the top block of the tower with non-flammable material so that there is a 3x3 square with one open block between the square and the hole. 4.Build another 3x3 square directly atop the last but without a center block. 5.On one of the non corner blocks build up 2 blocks, place a slab on all other non-corner blocks. 6.Build a snow golem in the middle. 7.On the 2 block tower from the top block place 1 block in so that it is above the golem's head and the golem cannot jump. 8.Delete the slabs and 2 block tower but leave the middle block floating, if you like you can make it a 3x3 square above the golem, however this is not necessary because after Beta 1.8 (The adventure update) Skeletons no longer fire in an arc, rather a straight line. 9.Delete the first 3x3 square (the one 1 block above the hole) without deleting the middle (the snow golem is standing on that!) 10.Delete the bottom 4 blocks of the tower but not the one your golem is standing on. 11.Place 1 lava on the bottom of the block the golem is on. Since the golem deals no damage (except to Blaze) and mobs will attack it if hit when they come up to it there is a chance they will die in the lava. 12.If you wish to make it more deadly you can place Cacti at the corners. 13. If you'd like to collect the drops, in the 3x3 hole, make the deepest layer have water on one side leading to a collection center, the middle layer signs, and the top layer lava.


If your house is often blown up by Creepers, this article is right for you! Contents [hide] 1 Murder Holes 2 Perimeter wall 3 Land Mines 3.1 Advantages 3.2 Disadvantages 4 Snow Golem Legion 5 Iron Golem Legion 6 TNT Cannons 7 Panic Room 7.1 Sticky Piston Crusher [edit]Murder Holes

Dig a hole close to your home. These holes should be at least 4 blocks deep. You could make a moat around your house. You could place these things at the bottom of the holes: Burning Netherrack Cacti Lava Traps (suffocating traps or drowning traps) For experience, dig the holes farther down so the mobs will be damaged by the fall, then simply kill them. Alternatively, use water to direct the mobs into a single area, where experience can be gathered safely and efficiently. [edit]Perimeter wall

You can build a perimeter (outer wall) by using strong bricks like: Stone Stone Brick Cobblestone Obsidian Brick Bricks and Stone Bricks are not recommended since they are expensive to create in large quantities. If you have obsidian, it is highly recommended for protection against many mobs. If you are low on resources, use a double wide or triple wide cobblestone wall. A strong wall is at least 6 blocks high, but the minimum is 3 blocks high. You can fence off your home area. Be sure to use 2 fences stacked up, because Spiders can jump your Fences. To prevent this, create an overhang so spiders cannot climb over. Optional: Dig murder holes around the perimeter wall to trap mobs. [edit]Land Mines

To create a land mine, you'll need: Some TNT Pressure plates Any block except obsidian or bedrock First, dig a 2 block deep hole, then you put TNT at the bottom, put a block on top of it. Put any pressure plate on top. When any mob/player steps on the plate, it will trigger the TNT! ...It'll be very ironic if a Creeper happens to step on your pressure plate. [edit]Advantages Mobs are usually killed in one blast Landmines are relatively easy to make They can be triggered from a safe location with redstone [edit]Disadvantages Landmines must be recreated after each use The blast may set off other landmines You or your shelter could be destroyed The mob may go past the TNT while chasing you To counter terrain or structures being destroyed, place water on a side of the TNT. This trap will still damage mobs, but the surrounding blocks will not be destroyed. However, the trap won't be as effective. If you want to make sure that the mob is killed in the explosion and that your base won't blow up, dig a deep hole (break the block NEXT to the one that you're standing on. Jump in, then replace the bottom block(s) with Obsidian and pillar back up. Break the blocks again, and put a TNT block two blocks down, followed by a gravity affected block (either sand or gravel). Put a pressure plate on top and you're done! [edit]Snow Golem Legion

To create an individual Snow Golem, you'll need: A pumpkin Two snow blocks Place 2 snow blocks on top of each other, then place a pumpkin on top to create a Snow Golem. Unfortunately, Snow Golem legions don't do damage to mobs (with the exception of blazes). However, placing snow golems in fenced off "watch towers" may help protect you from hostile mobs as: The mobs will then attack the Snow Golems as opposed to you, and Snow Golems snow balls push away hostile mobs. See more about this strategy on the Snow Golem page. [edit]Iron Golem Legion

To create an Iron Golem, use 4 iron blocks in a T shape, then put a pumpkin on top. These are more powerful than the Snow Golem, but also much more expensive, since they use 36 iron ingots. [edit]TNT Cannons

TNT Cannons: The best weapon usable. This should be put outside your perimiter. Go to Tutorials/TNT Cannons to find steps to build these.

[edit] Panic Room

You can make a room made of obsidian, with an iron door and the lever in, you need to have at least: 2 stone pickaxes a sword a bow and some arrows food a set of iron armor an infinite source of water some TNT a bucket of lava Optional: wheat farm (a hoe would be needed) trees (although you can always keep saplings and wood in a chest) a cow for milk [edit]Sticky Piston Crusher If a mob crosses your perimeter, you can use pistons to crush those Hostile Mobs like insects! However, you cannot get their drops.

Non-explosive resistant houses

If your house isn't made of one, you should always have a moat, a man made lake, or something of that sort around your shelter to protect from creepers. To make a moat you can dig a 2 wide and 3 deep row that stretches along the perimeter of your house. Depending on how deep your moat is, as well as the availability of water (which should be available), sometimes it is not a good idea to fill your moat with water. Mobs can swim, making your work useless. You could also fill your moat with Lava, but lava is a bit expensive (due to availability and you cannot make an infinite lava source) and you will lose all mob droppings in the lava. It can also be dangerous for yourself, if you somehow fall in. Alternatively, make a fence with iron bars; it defends the house and catches the explosion. [edit] Explosive resistant houses

Explosive resistant houses are fairly easy to build, and aren't extremely expensive. However, they can be time consuming, depending on the materials used. Stone or Cobblestone is an easy, cheap way to build a home, but it can be destroyed by an explosion close by. A home made out of Bricks is as effective as cobblestone against explosions, but is expensive and very time consuming. Clay and a Furnace are required to make bricks, but you must have a good supply of Clay. The choice between using brick and cobblestone is solely aesthetic. Obsidian is another blast-resistant block, but is extremely expensive and hard to modify your house once built. Explosive resistant houses can be pointless if your house is small and you have a good supply of light for the area. You can also use End Stone, the most explosion resistant block after Obsidian and Bedrock, but to do this, you must have reached the End and defeated the Enderdragon. [edit] Other houses

You should have many windows, so as to be aware of any Mobs around. Light your houses and surrounding area well! It is suggested to have an automatic door and protect the surrounding area with a minefield. [edit] Security

It can come in handy if you have some security systems up. Here are some ideas: • Alarm, to make a alarm you will need: At least 1 pressure plate Lots of redstone At least 1 note block First, place pressure plate(s) around an area you would like to protect, try to keep them separated as much as possible (optional). Then attach the note block(s) to the pressure plate(s) with redstone wire. From now on, whenever a mob or a player walks on a pressure plate(s) the note blocks will generate a sound notifying you. • A self destruct system might be useful, to prevent others in SMP from stealing your belongs. For this to work, the TNT has to be concealed in a wall, and there should be redstone (that is concealed) attached to a button to activate the TNT. It is also recommended that you have a blast-proof room where you store/hide in before you activate the self destruct. The button should also be in this room. • If you have a lot of iron ingots and pumpkins, then you can make the perfect defense. Iron Golems have 50 hearts and can kill most mobs in 1-2 hits. Make sure to keep them near your house though; as they may wander away. To prevent this, put the iron golems inside of a trench surrounding your house. The trench should be 2 wide and at least 4 deep, otherwise the golems will fling mobs back out of the trench. You could use dispensers to defend your home but that would mean gathering lots of arrows and string, but you could if the mobs fell in a moat and then stepped on pressure plates [edit] Snow golem towers

To prevent any mobs getting near you, you can put some towers with snow golems behind a hole with lava, the snow golems will throw snowballs at the mobs and they will fall into the lava. This will NOT work with skeletons because they don't need to be near in order to attack. Note: Snow golems will die in rain so be sure to make a roof.

Minecraft introduces many threats to a player's creations in multiplayer and survival mode, being able to defend your belongings is almost as important as making them in the first place. Many methods have been invented to deal with these threats although there is no absolute solution other than sealing yourself in a bedrock box. Rather than focusing on one particular method use a variety of defenses to protect your creations.

Lava defense system Lava defense is a good way to keep your house safe and light up your area. You simply have lava pouring from a perimeter wall. To prevent the lava from flowing in make sure that there is a ditch before you place the lava. The area will be too bright for any threats to spawn. The only problem is that this doesn't defend your house against lava. Perimeter wall defense system Perimeter wall defense system is simply just a wall made of Cobblestone, Wooden Planks, Stone, et cetera. If you want to make it explosion resistant build it out of Obsidian. Golem defense system A weak and resource-consuming defense is composed of creating an army of Iron and Snow Golems. If you make a perimeter defense system you can trap the golems in the courtyard. You can also make the ground out of a tough material, such as cobblestone, or perhaps a more expensive block such as obsidian to prevent the exploding creepers that are hit by snow golems to cause serious damage. Trench Defense System A deep trench is a very good defense system because nothing can get across (with the exception of Endermen, who can take blocks from the trench and flood the place). To make it even better you should make it flowing downward with Water or Lava so the mobs will die from drowning or burning. Here is a side view of a Lava or Water trench: 0 = Air H = Solid Non-Flammable Block & = Water or Lava H 0 0 0 H (top level) H 0 0 0 H (2nd level) H 0 0 0 H (3rd level) H & & & H (4th level) H & & & H (5th level) Fire and Cactus defense Fire and Cactus defense consists of Cactus, Netherrack, and Fire. It is made like so: F C . . . F = Fire C = Cactus . = Continued Pattern

Blender Defense System Make a 10 by 10 hole in the ground 5 feet deep,then in the center put 4 blocks in a square.Then put blocks inside the hole by the edges on block high.Plant cacti on the blocks that were builts up,then fill in the rest of the hole with water. The current will push mobs in a circle and then mobs will touch the cactus,making it look like a blender.Keep doing the process until it surrounds your house. Anti Monster Spawning This simple defence is easy,requiring only torches.Just put a lot of torches around your house and basically everywhere on your island so no monsters will spawn,If your house isn't on an island then build a trench 5 feet deep to separate your house and the rest of your piece from the rest of the land so no monsters can get to your part of the land. Alarm System A good defence for people who have a lot of redstone. All it requires is a few noteblocks, some redstone and some wooden pressure plates. Set up the pressure plates around your house, then link some redstone back to a noteblock in your house. You may want to put some noteblocks in different parts of your house. This also works well with the wall defence, you can set up pressure plates just in front of your wall, and then link redstone on the other side. You may also want to put up a more complicated system with redstone torches on a board with numbered signs, corresponding to certain parts of your house and the surrounding area. This is better suited for experienced players.

Overview: A Good Defense

Considering the upcoming Adventure Update and the introduction of new creatures, there's a good chance that your base will need defense structures more advanced than just a cobblestone wall. Thus, I propose:

1. All tutorials or mechanisms of defense are brought here.

2. Said articles are organized into chapters

3. Add more defense mechanisms as the game updates or the mind wanders.

By doing this, we can centralize the defenses and make it easier for all players, particularly those new to the game. It will also make updates more manageable as we don't have to scramble all around the wiki.

The best defense measures are those that prevent hostile mobs from spawning entirely or at least prevent hostile mobs from ever getting close to the protected area. As such, integral to all defense systems in Minecraft are:

  • Completeness - all defenses need to completely defend the protected area, so that mobs entering from any side or angle and of any type will not break through
  • Light - a regular system of lighting is needed so that, during the night, hostile mobs will be prevented from spawning within the protected area
  • Sustainability - defenses should work regardless of player input and, ideally, would be able protect an area indefinitely, either by never degrading in the first place (e.g. walls) or by renewing themselves automatically
  • Easy to use - The best defense in the world is useless if it kills the owner. A good defense must be safe and easy to use. If you have to press 2 buttons and destroy a block to activate it, it is too complicated.


Passive Defenses

Passive defences consist of those defences that, without any input or sensory devices, prevent hostile mobs from entering the protected area. The most common example is walls - they do not have to sense a mob coming or sense its position to prevent it from entering a walled off area. The following sections discuss various types of passive defenses, their construction, maintenance, and applicability.

Passive defences generally fall into one or more categories, sorted by their impact on an aggressive force.

  • Delayers slow down the progress of an enemy inwards. A ring of torches is a delayer because it increases the distance mobs must spawn from the structure (and player), thus increasing the time it takes for them to reach the next layer of defence. Soul sand can also slow down mobs.
  • Obstacles are structures that mobs cannot move past without somehow overcoming them. The quintessential obstacle is a wall; a zombie cannot move past a wall without somehow creating a breach or slipping in through an unclosed door.
  • Damagers cause harm to an enemy, in addition to just stopping or slowing them down. They might also do neither, letting the mob through without a reduction in speed, but hitting them for damage as they pass. Currently, damagers either inflict direct hit point damage on a mob, or set them on fire. If additional status effects are added (for example, if the player can create a block which poisons anything that moves over it), these would also fall into this category. A damaging delayer could be a moat of lava; while a damaging obstacle could be a wall of cacti.

It is important to note that each mob type will treat each defence differently; for example, a ring of burning netherrack is a damager to most mobs, but does nothing against zombie pigmen. Likewise, a wall is an obstacle to a creeper, but is a delayer to a spider (and not a very effective one at that).

Walls

Walls are simple vertical barriers and are the most common means of stopping mobs from entering an area. They can be constructed of just about any material, with varying advantages and disadvantages.

These are simple to make, just make sure to:

1) Make them at least 3 blocks high
2) Add an extension around the outside to defend against spiders.
3) Torches should be added to the top or sides of the wall, unless low-visibility is desired (for example, to reduce the chance of other players noticing a camouflaged wall on an SMP server).
4) Ditches or moats can be added on the inside or outside of the wall as an extra barrier.

Materials

Cobblestone and dirt are the most common materials for making walls, due to their abundance as a waste material from mining, and ease of obtaining, respectively. Walls made in desert biomes may also be made of sand or sandstone.

While dirt does not resist explosions well, for most purposes it is suitable. Both dirt and sand walls are frequently used to surround "first night" shelters.

Cobblestone, and the more aesthetically pleasing smooth stone, are the preferred materials for established miners. It has a respectable blast resistance, while being plentiful.

Sandstone is only marginally better than sand, and should be avoided except for aesthetic reasons.

Glass, ice, glass panes and iron bars are useful as they can be seen through, revealing threats on the other side without exposure. These blocks can also be used to view Endermen without attracting their aggression. The drawback is that these blocks are vulnerable to damage by creeper explosions.

The ultimate in wall construction without cheats or ops privileges is obsidian. When constructing, it is faster to position buckets of lava and cool them with water than it is to cool a pool of lava and mine it.

If the player spawns near a desert, it is quite easy to make a wall of cacti, provided the rules for cactus placement are followed. One cactus block will be required on each sand block, which will then grow to be 3 blocks tall, and damaging to mobs which run into it.

Special Notes: Fences can be used to make walls that act higher than they really are, since a fence block is treated as 1.5 blocks high if something is trying to jump over it.

Spiders (both the normal and the cave varieties) effectively ignore walls, since they can move vertically. However, the addition of protrusions and overhangs on the wall will prevent the spiders from climbing further.

Moats and Ditches

These obstacles, like walls, present a vertical barrier to incoming (and outgoing) mobs and players. The difference between a moat and a ditch is that a moat usually has some kind of liquid in the bottom; so far, only water and lava are available.

Dry ditches, like walls, should be at least three blocks tall on the inside edge, with an overhang or protrusions to prevent spiders from climbing them. Ditches should be (at least) three blocks wide at their narrowest point in order to prevent spiders from jumping over them. It is recommended that players leave a means of escaping the ditch to the outside (not the inside, which would defeat the purpose of a ditch), in the eventuality that they are knocked into it by injuries, explosions or simple mistakes.

Moats are constructed identically to ditches and are filled with water or lava, depending on whether harming the mobs or obtaining their drops is required. A water-filled moat, while itself harmless to mobs, slows them down and allows them to be easily picked off with a bow and some arrows, after which the player can swim out and pick them up, or have water currents deliver them to a pick-up point.

Moats can also be made so that water currents push mobs away; while this makes the moat ill-suited for drop collection, any mob which lands in it will be directed away from the wall, since mobs do not resist water currents unless they are trying to attack the player.

A lava-filled moat, on the other hand, will kill any mobs in short order by itself, but also destroy any drops. Lava-moats have the additional benefit of producing light, stopping mobs from spawning nearby without torches. However, it can be laborious to collect large quantities of lava, which requires at minimum buckets and the discovery of a sizable source of lava. Structures over a lava moat (bridges, overhanging walls, etc.) should have fences or a raised edge to stop players from falling or being knocked in. Lava should not be used where there are flammable blocks nearby, especially trees, plank blocks or wool (among others).

Another form of ditch, witch is a lot more compact and uses less space is a cobweb ditch. It only has to be one deep and one wide and mobs will get stuck in the cobwebs immobilizing them to be killed when you walk by. The moat can be easily jumped over. This ditch is useful for making a border for your safe area that outside of you do not need to light up. This method is currently unavailable in legit single player but on servers sometimes you can get someone to spawn you in some. Hopefully cobwebs will be made available in a few updates with silk touch (come on notch!)

Fire

Walls and ditches of all types can be enhanced with burning Netherrack. In the case of walls, the base and/or top can be lined with the burning block, so that creatures running into the wall stand in the flames, or creatures that make it over the wall must pass through flames on the way.

A ditch is easily enhanced in the same way, with the row of fire placed either before the ditch, so that burning mobs fall into the ditch and cannot escape (leaving drops to be collected later), or in the base of the ditch itself, where drops may be destroyed by the fire.

Take note that by itself, burning netherrack is not an effective barrier, as mobs with lots of health can simply run through the flames and attack the player before burning to death.

Miscellaneous

Light

Light, in the form of evenly dispersed source blocks, should not be underestimated. Even without any physical defensive measures, a wide ring of torches will prevent most hostile mobs from spawning, and if the area is large enough, their random wanderings will not take them all the way through to within attack range of the player by the next sunrise.

Torches are by far the most commonly used light source for this purpose. Moats of lava, glowstone and jack-o-lanterns can also be used, though the scarcity of glowstone in SSP is a limiting factor, while pumpkins (which,while hard to find initially, can be farmed) are required to make jack-o-lanterns. Lava is sometimes problematic to use because it ignites flammable material within two blocks.

Soulsand

A ring of soulsand can be a highly effective delaying mechanism, useful for keeping mobs within range of an active defence or just away from a structure. A strip three blocks wide is the minimum for an effective delayer.

Soulsand also makes an excellent bottom for a ditch.

Waterfall

Waterfalls are an effective way to protect your doorway as a last line of defense. By using an over hang, a player can run a waterfall down and over the entrance to their home. A one block deep ditch as wide as the waterfall will prevent the water from flowing in unwanted directions. If a creeper, skeleton, or zombie walks into the waterfall, they will be pushed down into the ditch, effectively stopping them. Though the ditch can be made deeper, it is unadvisable since the player may accidentally fall into the ditch themselves. The downward presure of the waterfall will cause the player to swim upwards much more slowly than usual, so one block deep is recommended. To enter their home, a player must jump into the waterfall and keep moving forward. This will deposit the player safely on the other side of the waterfall.

File:2011-11-26 18.45.54.png

Combination Defences

Like historical defensive formations, the most secure perimeters are based around multiple concentric systems, and systems used in synergistic combination. A classic example is a moat surrounding a walled compound - creatures which might reach and breach the wall (eg, Endermen) are delayed or killed before they can reach the wall by the moat (water or lava). Any and all of the aforementioned passive defensive measures can be used to make an area secure; the only limit is the amount of time the player is willing to put into it at the expense of other goals and the amount of space and time available.

Chapter 3: Active Defenses

Materially Inexpensive

Creepers

A simple way to protect yourself against Creepers (or any othe 1X1X2 mobs) is a 4 door trap. Place four doors with left hinges around a pressure pad. place a block above the pressure pad to prevent the mob from jumping free.

Adding a waterfall layer around your wall will stop any explosions from damaging your wall.


           --
          |PP|
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Zombies and Zombie Pigmen

Zombies and Zombie Pigmen are only a threat should you be surrounded by other mobs (and other zombie pigmen) or if you are low on health. Their only way of hurting you are getting up close and personal or breaking doors to allow entry of other mobs. So use arrows... simple stuff. Protecting doors can be done in 3 ways. 1. Placing a column of sand above the door to seal it when it is removed. 2. Placing water next to the bottom of the door. When the door breaks the offending zombie will enter but other mobs will be slowed down. 3. Placing water next to the top of the door and doing the same for lava on the other side. 4. Pistons and pressure plates.

         1               2            3         D=door T= Tunnel wall
         S                                      S=sand W= Water
         S                                      L= Lava
        TDT             TDT          WDL       
        TDT             WDT          TDT

Skeletons

Since Skeletons attack from a distance, the best defense is a good offense. If you can get up and personal, the skeleton will not be able to damage you. Of course, when you attack them, they will be pushed backwards. If there are no blocks behind them, they will be able to shoot you again.

Spiders

An easy way to defend against Spiders is a 1*2 tunnel. Spiders cannot pass through it but players (and other 1*2 mobs) can. A clever way to fight them is to dig a one wide two deep ditch. You can simply destroy the underbelly of the spider.

Spider Jockeys

Spider Jockeys combine both range, climbing, a melee attack, and an urge to chase the nearest player no matter how far away they are, the best course of action when you are facing one is to kill it off with arrows before the skeleton notices you and starts shooting.

Slimes

Slimes may spawn above ground during the day. A good above ground defense is a 2 block wide moat of water that will drown them. Slimes can be easily defeated using bow and arrow. Due to their melee only attack, they can also be defeated by sword easily. Small slimes will not hurt you, though they will push you around.

To protect against them if they spawn underground, simply wait and see if any spawn. If they don't, you're fine. If not, try to find where in your mine they are spawning.

Try:

-Blocking cave systems

-Noting and cutting off slime chunks

Remember, slimes spawn in light.

Ghasts

Ghast can not see through glass, so if in the nether with some glass, you could make a glass box around yourself. This is helpfull because you can see when the danger of a Ghast has gone. Building a glass base around your Portal in the Nether is a good idea, because you will be able to see the nether's epic terrain, and still be protected from Ghasts.

Players

Arrow Turrets.

They consist of any number of dispensers attached to a rapid pulsar redstone alternater. Simply add a lever to the side of the Pulsar, and switch it on or off at will. (needless to say, loading the dispensers is a must!)

These will give any player trying to grief, or steal from, one of your structures, a nice shock. This turret is fully automatic, and as long as you have the arrows to support it, it will demolish anything in front of it! Fire charges can also be used if you have the resources. However these are not recommended if your structure is made out of a flammable material! An easier (and lower resource cost) way to make the turrets more damaging is to put a lava curtain in front of them. This will set the arrows passing through on fire so they cause more damage.

Materially Expensive

Creepers

Creepers have an explosion nearly as powerful as TNT, so they can easly blow through a wall made of stone, and that opens the door for other uninvited mobs to enter your protected area. The only true WALL that will protect against creepers is a wall made of bedrock or obsidian, the former can only be used: on a multiplayer server with item spawning enabled, with a mod, or via creative mode. Also try filling the wall with water to dissuade endermen. A self-reparing wall can also be created when hooked up to a cobble stone generator but this is generally more complicated than it is worth.

Zombies and Zombie Pigmen

Zombies and Zombie Pigmen are difficult creatures to face when in a claustrophobic area such as a cave. They can only attack when they are near you which gives you an advantage and a disadvantage, Advantage is that you can take them from a distance and be safe, Disadvantage is when there are multiple of either one and they surround you. This leaves you unable to escape. If building a defensive structure to prioritize against Zombie you should try and stay away from them but in the case that you can't make sure you have an open area inside and out of your defensive structure such a courtyard so that you have alternatives of escape.

Spider Jockeys

Create a 1 (Or more) block wide hole in your wall and shoot the spider (Or attack with your sword) and when the spider gets killed shoot the skelly.

Slimes

You may defend against slimes by simply creating a long-ish 1 block wide, 2 block tall corridor as an entrance to a walled of area using: for the sides, dispensers full of arrows on bottom row, and any block that is solid on the top row for the floor, simply cover it in pressure plates. The said slime will travel through the corridor, and every time it lands on a pressure plate, it will be struck by two arrows, and if/when it splits, the process will simply repeat itself. To collect the spoils, simply remove the pressure plates, stroll on through (reloading as you go if needed) and then when you are done, simply replace the pressure plates on the way out. to help prevent mobs entering while you do this, it may be useful to place a door at the entrance/exit in the wall so you may close it when you are in the corridor and open it to begin the executions. This also works for most other mobs that will fit through the corridor.

Ghasts

There is no particularly expensive way to defend agains ghasts. Glass or cobblestone (which Ghasts cannot damage.) will do just fine, but you could use an expensive material like iron blocks, or obsidian. However, while glass panes protect you from being noticed and fired on by Ghasts, they are shattered in the event a stray fireball explodes near the panes. Glass blocks do not shatter even when hit directly. To fully Ghast proof a Nether fort use only glass blocks, iron bars, or nether fences for windows.

Although, Ghasts are easy to kill if you can hit them: two well-charged arrows or hits with an iron sword will take it down.

Endermen

Since Endermen can move blocks, but are hurt by water, make a moat instead of a wall. Also, its better if it flows through a 1x1 block hole in your house so you get the drops.

Players

When in multiplayer, with nothing to help you in combat with other players, it is best to have a /home point. Some servers also make it so that you can toggle PvP on and off inside your house/land, so it would be a good idea to have PvP off in your house, and set a /home point inside, so that if you're ever caught outside with a player in diamond armor, wielding a diamond sword, charging at you... you can just type /home and get out of there! Of course, if you are also wearing diamond armor and also have a diamond sword, you could choose to try and hold off said player. Blocking also helps in these situations.

Basic Redstone Defense - Drawbridge

Very effective entrance mechanism for a SMP base. Works better if within faction land so it can't be destroyed.

8:8:8 = 8 blocks high, wide and long

Create a 8:8:8 pit next to your walls, then fill the bottom layer with lava.

Build a 4 wide, 8 long bridge over the pit, with one high blocks at each side.

Remove the floor of the bridge and place trapdoors instead, attached to the side barriers.

Place redstone all the way along the top of the barriers.

Place blocks one level above the redstone so players can not jump onto the sides.

Link the two lines of redstone at a lever.

Pull the leaver to open the drawbridge, not letting anything in; or close it so you and your faction can get out.

Spiders can't jump the bridge, players will fall in the lava, and zombies and other mobs can not cross it, unless it is left closed, so it pretty much keeps everything out, as long as it is built on faction land.

P.S Sorry if it wasn't explained well enough, I'll add some pictures to help explain it soon.

Mob Defenses

Mob defenses can be effective, when using the right mobs. various mobs you can use are, Iron Golem, Snow Golem, Tamed wolf, or a Tamed ocelot. Also the fact that these do not affect the player (with the exception of an annoyed iron golem) makes these defenses a little more useful.

Iron golems: The best way to use these is keep them in an enclosed space with a door operable by lever. If invading mobs get to close or comfort you can flick the lever and release the golems to clear the area. Or you can simply leave them wandering free in a walled off area.

Snow golems: The most efficient way to use snow golems (aka snowmen) is in a one block wide tunnel. The snowballs from the golems cause no damage (except to blazes) but push mobs back. This can be used to push mobs into lava or something else that damages them e.g cactus. Or it can simply be used to delay hostiles.

Note on snow golem venerability: Make sure you protect the golems from the rain or they will die. Also as mentioned on the snow golem page they will take damage in a desert or jungle biome so defenses utilising them cannot be used in these biomes.

All of The Above

A good dose of TNT, however dangerous and lag intesive, will destroy all mobs. Obsidian or self repairing land is useful in an area of little or no use to minimize damage. Most drops will also be destroyed.

You can make mines with TNT and Pressure Plates. It can be useful to place the trap above sand or gravel so that A player will be trapped with the charge and a mob won't be able t wander away.

Chapter 4: Defense on the Move

If stuck out on an expedition, always bring a torch. First, dig a 3x3 hole beneath yourself, then cover the top layer. Second place a bed 1 block away from 2 walls, there you go instant home.

Chapter 5: Tips & Tricks

1. Armor is highly underrated... even leather armor could save your life. Should you be going hunting for Ender Pearls, looking for Strongholds or Underground mines, or just going for a nighttime stroll... armor will be very handy

2. Keep at least two swords, a sword is your main source of defense (and offense) but they can run out in the blink of an eye. Keep a spare, just in case.

3. Mainly for the nether, have a bow and a stack of arrows, to defend yourself from those ghastly Ghasts (though use in the overworld is handy too)

4. A trick that I use is to have one window in your house open with a dispenser facing outwards, stacked with arrows, and a pressure plate directly in front of it outside, so that you can stand at your window at night, to draw a monster's attention, and it will walk onto the pressure plate... activating the dispenser... need I say more? (although you will regularly find raw food and leather underneath.

6. Though many players like to use gold for its color and value, it is unadvisable to use gold in armor or swords. It does not have very good defensive qualities,and is quickly diminished. If you do not have diamond to make armor, then use iron. Its defense for a full suit of armor or a sword is much higher than gold. (if you don't have iron or don't have enough then use wood)

Chapter 6: Troubleshooting

Most problems in your defense will likely stem from a poor light net around your base. Changing the settings to the classic lighting engine can help you find holes in your light pattern.

In the end a good defensive strategy is only as good as the people that run it. Remember a strategy requires discipline. If you plan on running out for a midnight stroll every night, then don't build a defense, it won't make you any safer.

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