oasismark
Distinguished Member
When you first start in Minecraft, youll find yourself standing in the middle of the world. There isnt much guidance, as the game is entirely in your hands. Its a lot like playing with Legos, except you need to break down the pieces before you can build it up.
Starting off you need to find the nearest tree to break it down. After you have some wood, you can build your first crafting table. Once you have a crafting table in place, build some tools and get to work building a home. Right now, you dont need an ornate mansion; you really just need to focus on having something you can use to sleep at night. Make sure that you have four walls and a roof to keep the monsters away.
Once you have a house, you need to place a bed. Even if you are playing on peaceful, this is key, as Beds act as a spawn point should you die. There is nothing more frustrating early game than dying and being unable to find your way back to your home. To make a bed, you need sheep, which can typically be found in grassy areas. Going to sleep will skip the night and allow you to wake back up in the day time.
Stone is the next level of tool beyond wood and will be a huge help when mining deeper into the earth. You also need stone to build a furnace, which is key to breaking down ores. You can also cook porkchops from killing pigs, which will increase the healing effect of the pork.
Ideally, youll be able to find some coal near the surface. As you begin to dig into the ground you will need torches to be able to see and to be able to keep the monsters away. The game will periodically spawn enemies anywhere there is no light so make sure to keep your early tunnels lit.
By now, you should be ready to begin your mineshaft. Try to keep it inside, or very near to your house so that you can quickly get in and out of it while avoiding monsters. One of the most important things in Minecraft is to not dig straight down. Best case scenario, youll get stuck and have to jump your way up burying everything you just dug. Worst case scenario, youll fall feet first into lava.
Until you have torches ready dont dig too deeply. Torches prevent enemies from spawning nearby. If you cant light your mine, youll be stuck in a dark room with skeletons and the like.
Dont forget about tool progression. At this point youll be approaching iron, which means you will need stone tools. Wood can mine stone, stone can mine iron, and iron can mine anything but obsidian, which requires diamond.
Be on the watch for Lava as you dig deep. Falling into a pit will not only kill you, but instantly burn all your items.
By now, you can take some time to expand your house. Make chests, multiple furnaces, and any other luxury items you might like. A proper door and alternate exit are also helpful.
It would be great to start a farm. You can get seeds by chopping down the tall grass. Use a hoe to prepare the dirt and plant the seeds. They will over time grow into Wheat. You can use this to make bread that will refill your health. Farming wheat takes only a few seconds, and can save you lots of time that you would have spent hunting pigs.
Place torches everywhere. Put them outside your house, inside your caves and on your roofs. The more light you have, the less bad guys will be near you. Most bad guys make noise so even if you cant see them; you know when they are nearby. Creepers however are silent killers. Having torches lighting up your world will help you spot them before they spot you.
You need to continue to work toward diamond tools. It wont take you long to get a healthy supply of Iron. Use this to suit yourself up in armor and equip yourself with iron tools. This will let you go deeper into caves and mine for longer periods of time without worrying about health.
Diamond is what you are after in the end, and it is often times in some pretty hostile areas. Having an Iron suit of armor on can really help to alleviate some of your worries about dying. Diamond is precious and rare. If you find some, bring it back to the surface before something bad happens.
Dont use up too much of your diamond on tools. Make a pickaxe and sword out of it, but hold off on the others until you have a very large supply of it. The same goes for armor. It takes a ton of diamond to make a full suit, and that can be better used on pickaxes for mining and swords for your defense.
Once you have diamond, mine up some obsidian using a diamond pickaxe. It is typically found deep underground where water and lava have collided. You can build a portal out of it, and using a flint and steel, you can light this portal up and take it to The Nether.
The Nether is like the underworld and is extremely dangerous. It is recommended you leave your valuables at home. Dont bring in Diamond items, because it is likely you will die, and this place is filled will lava.
The Nether is filled with Netherrack and Soul Sand. Neither of which are too useful. However you can also find Glowstone here. Glowstone when turned into a block is one of the brightest lights in game and can light up an area similar to 2-3 torches. Netherrack when lit will burn forever.
After obtaining diamonds and reaching The Nether, the rest is up to you. You have all the major items now at your disposal, so go ahead and build a crazy world. Build houses, sky mansions, crazy mine systems, and underwater tunnels. Connect it all with elaborate mine cart systems and have lots of fun. Remember to light it up with torches though, because Creepers would love to come knock it all down.
Minecraft for XBLA gives you just about every recipe that is currently available in the game. However, there are a few furnace recipes that are a little unclear to newcomers.
Sand when placed into a heated furnace will turn into glass. Glass cannot be broken down as it will shatter.
When cobblestone is placed into a furnace, it will turn back into smooth stone; however, when broken down it will return to cobblestone.
Lava can be used to heat a furnace. To do this, you need an iron bucket to capture the lava from the source. When placed into a furnace, it will head the furnace for a much, much longer time than a single piece of coal.
If you cant find coal, you can create it using wood. Wood when burned will turn into charcoal. This is great for early game when you need torches.
Also, dont forget that you can cook porkchops to increase the healing power of them!
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