Minecraft Construction Defense
Project aim
To completely merge all of the separate defense topics on the wiki
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Types of defense
Delayers: These do no damage but slow down attackers
Obstacles: Something that forces a attacker to take a different route unless they can overcome it.
Damagers: These cause damage to the attackers
Misc: something that does not fit into the above categories
Intro/general notes:
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.
It is important to remember 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).
Delayers
Snow golem defense turret:
Use: [edit] 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. The mobs will then attack the Snow Golems as opposed to you or the villagers, and knock them back. See more about this strategy on the Snow Golem page.
Construction: 1.Dig a 3x3x3 hole into the ground.
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.Create 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.
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.
Water moat: A trench at least 3 blocks deep and 2 wide will slow mobs (and kill slimes). You can create a redstone drawbridge for safe crossing:
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 lever 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.
A man-made lake is even better!
N.B. Lava moats are classed as damagers.
Soulsand: A ring of soulsand surrounding your home will also delay mobs. Unfortunately this requires trips into the highly dangerous nether to obtain. A strip has to be a minimum 3 blocks wide to be effective.
Light ring:
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. even if the ring is not that wide it delays the mobs by forcing them to spawn further from the player.
Obstacles
Walls: The simplest obstacle is of course the wall. They 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 and a strong wall is 6 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).
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 but it is recommended to create them from cacti as they are also a damager. The player will only need to place a one block high cactus as it will then grow into a 3-block tall wall.
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. It is especially efficient if the wall is made quite thick as the dirt will absorb the force of the explosion.
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.
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.
- To prevent spiders simply climbing over the wall add of protrusions or overhangs to the wall to prevent them climbing right over.
- You can line the base and/or top of the wall with burning Netherrack, 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.
- To deter Endermen you can make the wall three blocks thick with a hollow space in the middle filled with water. To damage other mobs if the first layer of wall is breached you can replace this with lava.
- To stop explosions damaging your wall you can put a water layer on the outside of the wall to absorb the blast.
- A self-healing wall can be created with a cobblestone generator but is generally more effort than it is worth. it is awesome to watch in action though!
Ditches: Dry ditches, 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.
Materials to line the bottom with to make it more efficient:
- Soulsand
- Burning netherrack (destroys drops- for a method that does not you should: line the area before the ditch with burning netherrack so the attacker runs though the flame and into the ditch where drops can be collected later)
Damagers
Lava moat: 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).