Thursday, January 27, 2011

Zombie

The zombie is considered the least dangerous of all aggressive mobs. They don't have one specific attribute that makes them deadly, rather a mix of average attributes to make an average opponent.

The undead previously had a chance of spawning with armor(cosmetic only), we're the fastest mob before spiders, and we're the only mob that dropped feathers. They still lack intelligence, and make no attempt to avoid falls. So you may easily lure them off cliffs. If you encounter a group, hold the left mouse down and walk backwards while holding them off, luckily they also die in the sunlight, making them even less of a threat. If you successfully kill a zombie they drop 0-2 feathers.

Spider

The spider is an agile and speedy mob. It has a plethora of features that adds to this. It is by far the speediest mob, and has a pounce that allows it to cover several blocks at once

The first of these is the ability to climb walls. They can climb cacti, glass, stone etc. But there is one way to stop it, which is add a ledge to your walls. A simple lip will stop spiders from scaling your walls, or alternatively you can add a ladder to the top layer of your wall. The wall scaling ability is made even more efficient because now spiders can see through walls. With this, the spider can see you inside of your base, which can be quite a security threat if you have walls rather than a roof/house. When attempting to kill one, a bow will help as they are a huge target. If you kill one, it will drop string. But note you need not always engage them, as even if they don't die in the sunlight they become peaceful during the entirety of the day.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Skeleton

The skeleton is a bow wielding mob(unlike the picture below) that is considered highly dangerous. The reason for this is most mob you simply need to avoid close quarters, but this one you have to avoid line of sights all together due to range. Luckily, they die from sunlight, so they are only a nighttime threat.


The skeletons we're introduced in Survival Test, though at the time they had rapid fire arrows and when they died arrows spewed from their bodies. Currently, they shoot once every 1-2 seconds and when killed 0-2 arrows fall out. When taking them on walk diagonally, as if you walk head on they will hit you much easier. Be wary of the skeleton, as they are quite smart for a mob. They can strafe, jump, and even ride spiders. Yep, ride a friggin spider. If this ever happens, the spider will pounce at you while the skeleton will shoot. If you have a bow, kill the skeleton first. If you have a sword, kill the spider first.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Creeper

The creeper is the most iconic mob in the game. If you're unfamiliar with this, head over to the comics tab and check out the surplus of comics about the creeper. The creeper is a green, slow-moving, kamikaze mob, resembling the male genitalia, which awarded it the name "A Walking Penis".

The creeper was introduced in survival test, and is considered one of the hardest and scariest of mobs. If it gets within a square of you it lets off a "hHissSSS" sound and blows up. When trying to take it out, wait for it to get within your sword range, hit it, and go backwards. Successfully killing a creeper will result in it dropping 0-3 sulfur. Failure will result in an surrounding terrain being destroyed(do note that stone doesn't blow up), as well as taking away a huge chunk of your health. Sulfur aids you in making TNT, which means the only way to get TNT is to slay creepers.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Nether Creatures

The Nether, in my opinion, is an extremely annoying obnoxious excuse for something that is so hard to reach. The only rewards are some glowing stones and light-able blocks. You can make it somewhat more enjoyable by having some background knowledge on the monsters that dwell within.

The Ghast
A flying menace, it has the ability to shoot fireballs. These fireballs vary on strength, but are deadly and can destroy bloodstone. It's imperative to your survival that you put up some kind of wall. Cobblestone is the best. Dirt has a chance of breaking once shot at, but cobblestone doesn't. The best two ways to deflect the fireballs is to either shoot the fireball with an arrow, returning it to it's sender, or switch into 3rd person. The ghast aims at your camera. So it aims at you in 1st person, but will shoot aimlessly above your head in 3rd person.

Zombie Pigmen
Zombie pigmen are neutral mobs. Don't attack them. If you attack them, the whole group will swarm you. At that point your chance of survival becomes very slim. If you do engage, make a temporary home to get some height on them If you manage a kill there drops are 0-2 cooked porkchops, effectively making a renewable source of food within the Nether.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

"Farm" Animals

The first mob I will be covering is the only non offensive mob types in the game, animals. The five animals are pig, sheep, cow, mooshroom and chicken. Each offer unique rewards and serve a unique purpose in the game. They spawn on grass, and are attracted to light. The animals are also extremely humorous as well, and have been known to walk on water, hump walls, and jump off the side of mountains.

Pigs
The pigs main purpose is to supply a renewable source of energy. They've been around since Survival Test. They drop 0-2 pork, which feeds 1 1/2 hunger raw, and 4 hunger after being cooked in a furnace. They currently are the only animal ridden via saddle, but one cannot control them. If you are lucky it will fall into a minecart, and the player and the pig we'll be able to ride around.

Sheep

Sheep are mostly useless. They've been around since Survival Test, and the wool they drop can only be used as a building block, or to make a painting. When hit, they will drop 1-3 pieces of wool.

Cow
Cows have been around since indev. There main purpose is to supply a renewable source of leather, which can be used to create armor. They can also be used to get a bucket of milk. If you go up to a cow and milk it by right clicking it, you get a bucket of milk. This is useful for making a cake.

Mooshroom






Mooshroom have been around since Beta 1.9. They are cows that have mushrooms on them, essentially. They "moo" and have "shrooms". They only spawn in the mushroom biome though, but serve a very awesome niche if you can find them. Using a bowl on them gives you unlimited amounts of mushroom soup, shearing them gives you 5 mushrooms, and breeding them with normal cows gives you either a normal cow or a mooshroom.




Chicken


The chicken has been around since alpha, and are one of two sources for feathers. Another chicken drop is an egg. An egg may be thrown, and after being thrown has a 1/8 chance of spawning a chicken. Eggs are also part of the cake recipe.