Any project in Minecraft is all about taking the picture in your head and assembling it bit by bit. It undergoes revisions, runs into unexpected problems, and occasionally requires some creative reworking of the original idea, but in order to create you must first imagine what you want to do. Anyone can dig a hole in the ground and call it a house (and all of us have at the start!), but when you want to go bigger, you’ll need to spend some time getting in touch with your inner dreamer.
Large-scale projects take time, and even in Creative Mode you can spend hours (if not days) clearing out an area, or laying the groundwork for a later build. It’s not all drudgery, though! In addition to the incredible feeling of accomplishment that comes at the end when you see your creation finished, there are small moments of intense satisfaction to be found along the way as you tear apart the landscape and shape it to your needs.
For instance, have you ever wanted to blow up a mountain and then build a fortress inside? We did!
The goal of this build was to carve a space out of the rocky innards of a mountain (using lots of TNT), and then build a large base within the rocky shell.
Demolitions and Groundwork
The first step in hollowing out this mountain was getting a handle on the size. Creative Mode is incredibly useful for a build of massive size. Not only do you get access to all the building materials you could possibly want, but you can destroy any block without specialized tools or waiting for it to break. You also gain access to the single most useful tool in all of Minecraft: the ability to fly. This lets you get all sorts of different perspectives on your creation, and lets you reach all of the little nooks and crannies speedily. You don’t have to use it, but it will make your life a LOT easier.
Taking to the air gave a better perspective on the mountain that would influence the build. In this case, a flyover revealed that while the mountain was tall, it was also kind of skinny (for a mountain).
Any build inside this mountain would have to incorporate a lot of vertical building. The original idea was to hollow it out, then build a fortress inside, but the skinniness of the mountain meant that a sprawling horizontal build would be a lot harder to pull off. However, a build that rose from the bottom of the mountain to the top would offer lots of space to work with.
Swinging around to the back of the mountain revealed that it had two large hollows already present. This gave a way into the interior and a way to start hollowing it out.
When planning a large build, think about how much you’ll have to alter the existing landscape. For instance, it’s one thing to say, “I’m going to hollow out a mountain,” and another to spend hour after hour removing rock and dirt from your build site before you can even lay down a block. Carefully examining the site for potential problems at the start can really save time later.
It didn’t look like there were any further geographical complications visible from the outside. So this is where we decided to begin our work.
Let the blasting commence!
Potions of Night Vision are incredibly useful in this sort of work. You’ll have to light up the area later, but during the build itself, keep that little bottle handy in your hotbar!
An idea of how much stone is actually involved here becomes apparent during the drill to the top of the mountain. Widening the initial hole may be accomplished by carefully spiraling outward, or you could use TNT to blast your way to a better, more open future.
As the hole widens, layer by layer, the clock ticks away. People have limited amounts of endurance when it comes to crafting, and during a large-scale build, you need to be careful to take breaks and save. It’s all about finding that line where you’re doing more harm than good! Every build has a point where you want nothing more than to set fire to the whole thing, and when you’re working with TNT, there will absolutely be times when the urge to keep filling a room with more and more explosives becomes nigh over powering.
Save the game, make a copy of your world, and take a deep breath. Then light the fuse! You have to be able to blow off some steam during a big build, so take some time to revel in destruction. Just make sure you save first, in case you end up trashing your work! Backing up your save files is quite valuable, especially if you reach particularly important milestones in the project. “I can always fall back to this later if things don’t workout.”
Construction Begins
With a large area now successfully carved out of the mountain, construction can begin. It’s time to start thinking about building materials and light sources!
We wanted to use the Sea Lanterns for lighting, as they provide as much light as Glowstone and Redstone Lamps. They don’t really work as flooring, though. Glowstone doesn’t look good as a flooring material either (especially with the Sea Lanterns as an additional light source), so we went with Gold blocks. The solid color and strong contrast worked well in the end. It gives the place a Hall of the Mountain King feel, and that’s pretty cool.
A strong central feature can really unite the build. The mountain has a lot of vertical space, so creating a central feature that everything else can wind around will pull it all together.
There are a lot of options, like a central Lava fall or light fixture, or a massive stalactite or stalagmite. However, the Gold block flooring provided an unforeseen bonus—it allowed for the construction of a Beacon!
Beacons send a column of light into the sky (as well as providing other passive bonuses), which seemed ideal to use as a centerpiece that united the rest of the room. A Beacon needs to be built on a pyramid of Gold, Diamond, Emerald, or Iron blocks; with a floor made entirely of Gold blocks, that won’t be an issue.
Beacons need an unobstructed view of the sky in order to turn on. A quick flight to the top of the mountain removes the last few blocks that were in the way. A few Glass blocks later, and the Beacon was lit!
Lighting the rest of the interior was a matter of stringing Sea Lanterns on the walls, and building vertical spirals of Sea Lanterns to the ceiling on Dark Oak Fence posts.
Setbacks and Problems
Midway through the build, an unexpected problem arose. There were WAY too many monsters wandering around the build. Even in Creative Mode, it’s a good idea to figure out how they’re getting in and then clear the mout.
Use the flying ability to investigate. In this case, there turned out to be lots of little nooks and crannies in darkness where the monsters could spawn, as well as several small holes in the retaining walls—a result of getting overzealous with the TNT and blowing holes that were a bit too big for our needs. In addition, several open holes in the ceiling and sides were allowing monsters from the outside world to simply wander in!
Three hours of work later, all outside holes were sealed, and any spot not well-lit was a sheer drop to the floor. That means anything that spawned in the dark places would have nowhere to go but down a straight drop to a sudden stop.
This is an instance where more forethought would have made a difference in the initial demolitions. Dark areas spawn monsters, and you need a lot of light to deal with such large, open spaces. However, during demolitions and construction, if you’re using Potions of Night Vision constantly, the area appears brightly lit (regardless of the actual light level). In this case, it was easy for the problem to slip under the radar until late in the build.
This is also a good example of how getting a little TNT-happy during demolitions has consequences. Patching the holes in the walls isn’t as much fun as making new ones with TNT, but in the long run, it’s better to deal with those issues as they come up, rather than waiting until later. Putting off these types of relatively small problems often means you’re forced to stop everything mid-build at some point!
Stairway to Progress
With the Beacon lit and the lighting poles in place, construction resumed. The next step was to build a spiraling Wood staircase around the Beacon, following the light toward the ceiling. At regular intervals, platforms would be constructed to allow for living spaces. Dark Oak was the best Wood for the purpose, as it provided a strong contrast with the Sea Lanterns and Gold floor.
The first platform would be the living platform. Every fortress needs a place for the lord of the castle to sleep, so a bed was a foregone conclusion. However, it looked lonely by itself on such a large platform!
A nice red carpet added a touch of color, and a variety of Chests and Crafting Tables guaranteed that anyone who lived in this fortress would have everything they needed to expand if they wanted to switch to Survival Mode later on. It was a touch too dark, so a few more Sea Lanterns completed the platform.
A few more turns on the staircase, and it was time for another platform. This would be the library platform, with an Enchanting Table and lots of Bookcases. The red carpet worked so well on the previous platform that we maintained the theme with this one.
Moving up a few more turns led to the third platform, which would be all about Potions and brewing. A Brewing Stand, Cauldron, and plenty of Chests ensured that anyone who wanted to make Potions would have all the materials at hand!
None of these platforms took too long, because of all the preparation that had gone on before. This was a result of having a strong idea in mind for each one, plus all the required materials and space. At that point, all that was needed was to make a few measurements, keep the widths consistent, and watch everything click into place!
The Final Platform
The last platform would be a bit different. Initially, it was going to be an observation deck at the very top of the mountain, but during the staircase construction, that idea morphed—it would be the perfect place for a garden. Most gardens end up on the ground level of a build, but there was no real reason why it couldn’t be on top, and the proximity to the surface meant it would be extremely easy to knock a hole in the ceiling to let in additional light.
Besides, everyone needs fresh vegetables, even people who live inside mountain fortresses!
The platform for the garden was extra thick so that a water channel could be built (and so that it wouldn’t leak). Because the top of the mountain was so near at hand, it was a simple matter to knock out a hole and use Glass blocks to provide natural light.
Shortly after the platform was finished, the Water blocks started freezing. The top of the mountain was a chilly, snow-covered place, and the water was freezing from the cold! The quickest solution was to put Sea Lanterns beneath each Water block to make sure it stayed melted.
With the water flowing and the crops flourishing, the final platform was complete!
Home, Sweet Mountain Home
The platforms were all complete, the Sea Lanterns were pushing back the darkness, and everything looked good! There were tons of ways to expand on the mountain fortress—underground railways, secret dungeons, and so forth—but this was the core of the build.
