Some machines and items are quite useful for your character; they make your time in Minecraft easier to manage. Let’s see what we can build!
Cobblestone Generator
Cobblestone isn’t hard to get, but there’s something nifty about making an infinite source of it. Having a Cobblestone generator in your base provides a limitless supply of the rock that you can harvest at will.
To create one of these generators, hollow out a decent room. Make a long trench surrounded by Stone; avoid placing anything that might catch on fire nearby. Bring two Buckets here, one with Water and one with Lava. Dump out each one at opposite ends of the trench, and watch the two fluids meet. Wherever they touch, Cobblestone forms. Break it, collect it, and repeat the process.
Water turns the actual Lava block into Obsidian if they ever touch, so avoid letting the water flow that far.
To make the generator more effective, use a Piston at the major point of contact between the two flows to push completed Cobblestone out of the way. This allows more Cobblestone to be created even when you’re not there to mine everything. Use Clock Circuits to make sure the system triggers at a smooth, even pace.
Clock Circuits are very nice! These are made in a variety of ways. Clock Circuits are effectively a group of devices to ensure that your system toggles on and off on its own. You can have these set to different lengths of time, depending on the setup you install.
A common setup for a Clock Circuit is to use Repeaters. Place two Repeaters and connect them with a loop of Redstone dust. Add a Lever to control the initial energy of the circuit. Also add a Redstone Torch onto a powered block next to this circuit. The torch starts off generating power, but turns off around one-second later because it was placed onto a powered block. Your circuit now has power and is timed with a one-second pulse. Destroy the Powered Block and the Redstone Torch if you like (to use elsewhere) because the circuit is going to continue circulating its own power unless something damages it.
Garbage Pits
Several types of features make good garbage bins. Dig a small pit and fill it with Lava for dangerous but effective disposal of items that you’re sick of keeping around. Take that, stacks of Dirt! Cacti accomplish the same task without the danger of burning down your house.
If you want something less effective but more aesthetically pleasing, a small fountain works well enough. Throw extra items in there and leave them for several minutes. They’ll disappear on their own as long as you don’t jump into the fountain to collect them.
Ender Chests
Once you kill enough Endermen, you start to get a supply of Ender Pearls. Craft these with Blaze Rods to make Eyes of Ender. Combine Eyes of Ender with Obsidian to make Ender Chests. These special containers are linked, so any Ender Chest you make contains the items you placed in any of your other Ender Chests. If you have Ender Chests, you can effectively store items anywhere in the game and collect them anywhere else.
This is incredibly nice when you work in the Nether and The End. Place your treasure in the Ender Chest, and it’ll be available back in your safe house even if you get killed!
Pressure Plate Doors
Tired of opening Doors for yourself like a sucker? Place a Pressure Plate in front of your Doors (on the inside of the house only). This lets you run out without stopping to mess with anything. Don’t try this outside your home, because monsters can find their way in.
Maps and Compasses
As we’ve mentioned before, you may face walls of Cobblestone at any time. Although all Cobblestones maintain the same orientation no matter how they’re placed, it takes a moment of looking to figure this out. A better way to reference your orientation is to craft a Compass.
Compasses make it easier to navigate, so craft one as soon as you can, and pay attention to your movements. The more you do this, the more your sense of direction will improve.
If you still have trouble finding your way around, make Maps. Then expand on your Maps to make them cover more territory; do this by crafting the existing Map with even more Paper.
Carry your Map in your inventory so you can switch to it and figure out where you’re going. This, combined with a Compass, makes exploration safer and easier.
Surface features like biome colors, Lava, Water, and elevation are all reflected in the Maps you make. Anything below the surface isn’t shown, so you only get a position relative to your topside base when you’re down in the tunnels.