10/24/2011

In an ongoing effort to streamline the weekly minecraft updates, I have created this blog to archive the server's progress.  The weekly emails worked for a progress monologue, but it lacked in picture presentation.  Please note, you can click on pictures to make them larger.  To view them in their original format, click the View Original link at the bottom left when in slideshow mode.  Without further ado, below is our progress report for this past weekend. 

Server / Times:
Our original intent with the server was to bring it online for a few hours Saturday night, and again Sunday afternoon.  However, in the month since we started, Monday night have become integrated as well, since it was the only time Pierre was consistently available.  This upcoming weekend, I will be out of town for a wedding so "Maptimus Optimus" will probably go online Saturday morning, and will stay up until Sunday night.

Current Events:
Nether say Nether: Pierre has made it widely known that the underworld is his domain.  While I routinely deliver maps of the overworld, it is much harder to capture the essence of the Nether.  Below is my best poor attempt at capturing it.  The grey near the center, hidden by all that red, is our 'hub'.

Boat ride to Mike's island

Dwarf Fortress: Mike has been a VERY busy person.  Not to be outdone by a pesky tunnel, he has taken Kenny's island hovel by force. In this particular case, "by force" appears to mean dropping roughly 10,000 cobblestone to completely surround the island on which Kenny's base resided.   If that's not a hostile takeover, I don't know what is.




Having planted a castle around the entire island, Mike proceeded to learn from the previous owner's mistake, and decided to build a portcullis.  With that in place, he should be able to keep all those pesky solicitors away.  Unfortunately, that relies on people's failure to recognize that his walls are very shallow, allowing for aquatic invaders.  Oops?

Inside Mike's Walls. Portcullis deactivated

Outside the Castle, Portcullis Active. Good thing you totally can't swim under that wall. . .

Holly Grove:
Mining into the bowels of the earth was not satisfying enough for "Player", so she decided to create a "natural" cave. Her terrace garden includes grass, wildflowers, pumpkins, and even trees!  Noticing, however, how easy it was to fall into her ravine, she created glass shelves to eliminate potential slipping.  Who would have guessed that glass would be used in making a no-slip surface?

Wait, is this underground?  IS THAT LAVA?!?

This glass shelf extends beyond the bend.  Several hundred glass blocks were used in its creation.

Matthew's Narcissistic Mayhem:

Floating pumpkins?? My favorite!

The disadvantage of one person running both the server, and the weekly updates is that person gets to choose what is highlighted every week.  After reviewing the screenshots, I noticed that many of *my* structures were the ones that got screencapped.  Go figure?  So, what did I do this past week?  Pumpkins.

Having harvested several hundred pumpkins the previous week, I set about using said pumpkins.  I started with moving my piston-based wheat farm inside, and converting it to a flood-operated system.

Draw bridge in action (flip switch, kill creepers)

What good are crops if you can't defend them though?  Next, I built a drawbridge in front of my home to keep the creepers out.  Take that you explosive fiends!

Having secured my location, I subsequently built a new house, out of pumpkins. 

Hey look, a neat orange build.. pumpkins??

Lastly, I started working on a new pumpkin farm.  This time, I've placed pistons underneath the fields to drastically reduce the amount of time spent harvesting pumpkins.  This is very important if you plan on harvesting several hundred at a time.

Man, I bet these pumpkins popped because they felt like they'd been piston.

"I'm just a lovely Pumpkin. Please don't hurt meh."

Green With Envy:
While no new D.C. Metro lines were laid this weekend, Kenny modified his "Green Line" so that it comes to rest inside his mountain house.  This has the marked advantage of not being creeper bait when you arrive.

Choot Choot!  The Mountain house railroad now ends inside Kenny's base.

Upon arrival at Mount Kenny, I noticed that there was a new structure.  Across the ravine, a brick building has started to take form.  There is no word yet as to what its purpose is, or why it is being built.

Hey look, a brick building!  Not really sure why this is here though. . .

The Day Star:
Who needs the giant ball of fire in the sky when you can make your own version of it in your back yard??  Mordor's latest news is that it has combined forces with the Galactic Empire to construct a fully operational battle-station. Even more unfortunately, no exhaust vents have been spotted yet in this design.  Ignoring this growing threat may be disastrous down the road.

IT'S A TRAP!!!

Totally Tepid:

Tim got jealous of Marian's grove, so he planted a tree

I went on a visit to Tim's house, to see what he's been up to.  When I arrived, I noticed that his dirt house is still that: a dirt house.  Upon further inspection I noted that his interior has changed, and by that I mean there is a tree now.  Otherwise, his building has not changed at all, except for maybe some wheat.  Most of Tim the Digger's energies seem to be spent exploring and mining.










What a Treet:

This tree house is under water.  Where else would it be?

Master of both sky and sea, John has expanded his range to include the forrest as well.  An encapsulated tree has been spotted in the depths beneath John sky kingdom.  While many blame the tides for the enormous size of the tree, my bet is on those pumpkins are in the process of creating their own God.