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2000 days of survival Minecraft

A flower farm might not be worth it’s own post. But 2000 days of survival Minecraft sure is!

With the passing of another 500 days I expand my Spanish style town with another build.

In this post I share a 1 chunk flower farm and the artifacts it holds from my last 500 days of survival Minecraft.

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Survival Relevance/build goals

As work progresses on my guardian xp farm; I’ve started covering the monument with a single layer of water. This water will be supported by a layer of blue glass (yes that’s clear glass in the image).

A drained ocean monument surrounded by a sand wall. A small strip of glass extends over the area with a layer of water.

I have collected enough sand; however, I’m well short the blue dye I’ll need. With the easiest way to get blue dye; at least renewable, being cornflowers, I started work on a flower farm.

Searching for a chunk

What flowers generate in a chunk when bone meal is used on grass varies and is limited based on the biome. Most of the town is built in a plains biome and I found a chunk that produced cornflowers nestled against the tree line beside the [eventual] river.

The player stands atop a happy ghast looking down on the town. The new build is in the right half of the image. Paths wind towards the other 500 day builds and the castle atop the hill. A forest flanks the south and east of the town and a mountain the north.

This town expands every 500 days functioning as a museum. This 1 chunk flower farm will house my day 1500-2000 artifacts and produce the blue dye I need for the guardian xp farm.

Measure twice, farm once

I could have built the farm larger and still been within the boundary of a chunk (16 x 16). That would have made it more efficient; yielding more flowers per piece of bone meal.

Particles light up a rectangular area of dirt and grass. Flowers lay atop the area. Pistons are retracted on one long side exposing redstone below. Hoppers are along the short side of the farm near the reader.

If you’re new to the blog, I keep within a 1 chunk build limit as much as practicable with builds. Since the farm had to fit within a building that had to fit within a chunk; the farm was limited by the houses interior space.

I had originally planned for a roof with more overhang; which would further reduce the interior size available. When I am building I have to start with 16 and subtract for each block I use on the exterior. For example an overhang of 1 block reduces my space by 2, leaving 14 blocks, 2 of which are walls, leaving 12. Whatever is left over is my interior space and I work with that.

I originally accounted for 2 blocks of overhang when laying the redstone for the farm. The design changed as the building sprung up and the new design could have allowed for a bigger building allowing a bigger farm. I’m glad I didn’t make it bigger; however, as I soon found a new challenge.

A lesson in scale

I started this 1 chunk journey 18 months ago thinking a chunk was tiny. After 18 months I’m seeing things differently. A 16 x 16 footprint is actually quite large for some buildings. Especially when more prominent builds are also 16 x 16.

A building of cyan terracotta, pale moss and stone dominates the image. Flanked by tall oaks and corn flowers in the foreground. A small covered walkway is on the left of the building, a small window centre with bamboo trap doors in place of glass and a balcony atop with campfires as an awning.

The castle on the hill; a centrepiece of this town, is 1 chunk in size. As the flower farm building sprung up; the building was visually dominating the town. Taking attention away from the castle; and looking disproportionate to other builds.

I began making changes to the design to make the building appear smaller; making it shorter and rounding corners and cutting pieces off where possible. I probably should have taken the approach I have with other town builds; having multiple structures within the chunk.

A yellow grid highlights the chunk boundaries. Bottom centre is a fenced area with chickens of each variant. A path leads to an entrance of this L shaped building. A chimney, entry way, second story and main floor are all very distinct. Lessening the structures presence against more prominent buildings.

For example the bakery, while technically a single structure demonstrates the multiple structure well. It is visually divided and has a chicken pen taking up space. It’s separate sections are small resulting in a less impressive structure. When we think about prominent buildings they oppose themselves on the public with large features.

A recap of the last 500 days

2000 days in survival Minecraft is a major milestone. For me it hasn’t been the typical YouTube speed run. I haven’t gone to the end or beaten the dragon and it’s been very building focused.

There hasn’t been a rush to build over producing farms that turn survival into creative mode. Most thing’s I’ve built require some player interaction to work, and I spend sometime playing the game, not just building.

I hope this resonates with how you play the game and I can provide a realistic timeline for progress or for a specific build for those of us who aren’t professional gamers.

Below is an update on some of that slow progress and more details on the interior of the new build.

1. I’ve started ancient ruins

The pyramid structure at the centre of this new area is a 1 chunk build. A post will be coming soon; however, more work is needed to make the concept work. Rather than focus on the pyramid; I am working on a post with tips on how to make ruins more realistic.

I hope to save a lot of time with this project by leaning into over growth. Most buildings will be partially overgrown and only require parts of them to be built. The idea will be to give the impression of a full settlement without building all of it.

The player, flanked by polished tuff, looks at a mayan style pyramid in the distance. Framed by a tree on one side and another temple type structure. The area is clearly unfinished with exposed stone from player manipulation of the landscape.

I’ve been reading a lot on the Mayan and Aztec culture and their precolonial history. Much of what I had read has influenced my approach to how this area is progressing.

2. Mycelium storage is almost done

A post you can expect before day 2500 is the completion of the mycelium storage. I’m a river away from having the build complete (yeah.. maybe a little bit more).

Custom mushrooms line the right hand side of the image and spruce trees the right. A path leaves the viewer and crosses a bridge. The payer is seen here interacting with a stack of chests built into one of the custom mushrooms.

From a blogging perspective there’s 2 stories here:

  1. The biome and cosmetic side
  2. the storage system and redstone side

Let me know if you’re particularly interested in one of those aides of the story in the comments. I’m trying to figure out how I want to write about it and could use your input.

3. A heavy core

It hasn’t been entirely 2000 days of building; I have occasionally pursued some power. I decided to put a push for one of the newer additions to the game and jumped into a few trial chambers.

The player holds a mace as he interacts with a chiseled bookshelf. A heavy vore sits atop a shelf in right of the image. In the background a cake, dried ghast and cold chicken egg flank a window.

While I can’t say I’ve done any epic smashing to date; at least I have a mace. The first core I looted sits on a shelf. Biome variants have been added and a cold chicken egg now hangs on the wall. A dried ghast sits in the corner.

Other notes

A two tall flower farm is on the first floor; with its redstone on the second. A piston extends an observer creating an observer clock. The flowers are planted on mud blocks allowing a hopper to pull them into a chest.

A two tall flower farm spans the 1st and 2nd floors of the interior. The flowers are encased in glass next to chiseled bookshelves. The player operates a lever on the second floor to activate one section of the farm. A lader is used to access that floor with an atrium allowing a view of both floors of the farm.

And of course, the 2000 day map update (see 1500 days here):

Maps show the build progress and slow change on the island. A large island with a smaller island and a drained eater monument stand out. Relative to 500 days ago the smaller island now shows outlines of structures and this buildings addition to the town.

Build stats

Real Life Days: 118

Minecraft Days: 436

Hours: 9

This build was a 1 chunk build, if you’d like to see more 1 chunk builds click here.

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