Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
Deal with mobs carefully, and don't attack zombie pigmen as this will bring an en-
tire horde of them down on you. Your biggest risk as you explore comes from
ghasts and their fireballs, but the fireballs are slow, and you can knock them
straight back at the ghast with a well-timed sword-swing or arrow. Zig-zag if you
decide to retreat so they don't keep a bearing on you with the next volley. See
“
Nether Mobs
”
later in the chapter for specific strategies.
Use the Sneak key (Left Shift) when close to any cliffs and lava lakes to avoid tak-
ing a tumble.
Crank the screen's
Brightness
slider all the way to the right in the game's
Options-->Video Settings...
menu, and ensure
Render Distance
is set to
Far
.
This will help you spot nether fortresses.
Stop to pick up a few things as you go. The bright glowstone, red and brown
mushrooms, soul sand, and nether quartz all exist in abundance and are all useful
crafting and brewing ingredients.
Pause every so often to take a good look for the fortress. They're recognizable at a
distance by their wide expanses of netherbrick, long exposed walkways and
bridges, rows of windows and, often, tall walls. You're looking for any straight-
geometric structure within the geological randomness of the cave system.
Figure
12.5
shows the ramparts of a netherbrick wall signifying a fortress. How quickly
you find one is where the luck comes in. It might take just a few minutes, in which
case you can rush in, get things done, head back and have almost all your posses-
sions intact. Or it could take hours of hard slog. Nether fortresses generate along
the north/south axis in long lines, so the easiest way to find one is to try to head
east or west. A compass won't help as they spin randomly in the Nether, but you
can use the F3 coordinate system in a pinch. The x-axis is aligned east/west, and
the z-axis north/south. If you don't see one after travelling 160 blocks or so, head
about 40 blocks north or south and try again.
