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I love building in minecraft just as much as I love the idea of random mobs attacking me while I build. However, I don't like it when I'm just walking out my door after a snooze and a creeper didn't get the memo and was hiding on one side of my house and sneaks up behind me as I walk out and does an amazing job of remodeling my front door wall.

What I'm hoping for is something that will prevent this terrible thing from happening. I've tried fences but they still blow up if you are on the border of the fence and you happen to be unsuspecting of their approach. Some good building techniques would be great for anticreeper measures.

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You realize that as new features are added to Minecraft, you will have to fix the current answer accordingly right? Because the fight against creepers will never end. – jeffreylin_ Dec 16 '12 at 23:33
@JeffreyLin does it matter what I choose to spend my Reputation on? I like seeing peoples creative ideas on Minecraft its one of those few games that surprise you even when you thought you knew everything. – Paralytic Dec 16 '12 at 23:37
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Yes, I fully agree. I'm not questioning what you spend your reputation on, I just find the topic interesting as well. I, for one, enjoy pushing creepers around with pistons, then landing them on a pressure plate connected to a command block, teleporting them into the void. Of course, its very annoying when you get stuck in the machine too :). – jeffreylin_ Dec 16 '12 at 23:40
haha, exactly the kind of thing im looking for @Jeffrey Lin – Paralytic Dec 16 '12 at 23:41
While the game around you has changed how to deal with creepers really has not. Regardless of what you build wall/defense wise the answers below focus on keeping the inside of that wall/defense safe from a creeper spawn and how to deal with a creeper if one does make it past them. I hope you find what you are looking for but I am not sure you are asking a new question. – James Dec 19 '12 at 17:23
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9 Answers

up vote 33 down vote accepted

A list of things to help with creepers:

  • Light up the outside yard to reduce the chance that a creeper can spawn and randomly walk into awareness range
  • Always allow your entrances to have a clear view of the outside area so you can see what is there.
  • Always use those clear views to check for creepers.
  • When you leave your house, dash.. Get some good distance between you and the house. (While not directly a building thing, this is more of a consideration to make sure You can run some where :))
  • Always -always- have more than one exit from a place. Preferably on different sides of the house/dwelling/whatever.
  • Creepers can not blow up Obsidian blocks (but obsidian is a pain in the ass to build with)
  • Creepers will still damage you but not blocks if they are in water, even in a stream of water seems to work with this.. However its quite a bit more of a pain in the ass than building in obsidian to build things with water covering all/most of it.
  • Become that creepy person with tons of cats around.. But also be aware they will not halt/hinder/interrupt an already hissing creeper.

At the end of the day just putting up enough torches and making sure you can see whats around the doors is your best bet. There really is no way to make a house creeper proof. If it can get to where you are and you are next to your house, chances are it will blow up and take something with it.

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can you explain the "above step" you mentioned, also is there a way to get cats cuz i have never seen any since the patch. – Paralytic Mar 15 '12 at 7:30
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By the above step I simply mean to make sure you actually Do look outside before you go outside. Cats are rare and spawn only in jungles. You have to get close enough to them with fish in your hand then stand still and let them come to you to feed them the fish. Any movement, even turning too fast will cause them to run away again. – James Mar 15 '12 at 7:32
Edited to make it clearer – SevenSidedDie Dec 16 '12 at 18:10
up vote 18 down vote

James seems to like the defensive. Being defensive around creepers just allows them to build up. The best way to deal with creepers around your property is to dispose of them.

  • Create an anti-creeper perimeter, fences are good but glass (and glass panes) are just as good.
  • Have bows and arrows ready to shoot down creepers from a distance. All they can do is hiss and complain at a distance.
  • Create a waterless moat underneath your anti-creeper perimeter. If your head is at their feet level, they can't see you. Get your sword out and start swiping.

For a demo of creating an anti-creeper zone, see the "murder holes" in this video:

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We do this on our server for walkways and similar things. Simply raise them by one, add a fence on the edge, job done. Doesn't stop spiders and the like, but gives you enough time to deal with them. – Ric Mar 15 '12 at 11:34
Just a word of warning, with the new AI enemies do not fall in moats as often as they used to. they pretty much have to see no other way to get to you than hopping off a ledge before they will do that. – James Mar 15 '12 at 21:27
up vote 6 down vote

Cheap answer: build your buildings in a mushroom biome. Monsters do not spawn there, so you will only have to deal with migrants from a nearby biome, if any.

This won't protect your existing buildings, but it's quite refreshing to wander around outside at night in solitude.

Edit to add even Cheaper answer: Cats. Lots of Cats. Creepers will turn and run from cats, to the point where if you chase them you can slash them in the back (be careful, after a certain range they will not be afraid. Be prepared to sprint, and be prepared to turn around after one hit.)

Note: If you're using Linux, I don't recommend chase-&-slash. The "Linux Cruise Control" bug (it acts like a stuck key) has led to a lot of holes just outside the fear radius of my cats, because I'm not able to backpedal out of range in time to get the creeper to not explode.

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nice any advice in finding them, ive never seen one before. – Paralytic Mar 15 '12 at 16:05
@Paralytic besides using a seed like lost or 4, no. – Unionhawk Mar 16 '12 at 12:12
up vote 4 down vote

Go the the jungle biome with some raw fish (around 3-6). Find some wild cats and be really still (holding the raw fish) and wait for them to come to you and feed it to them. They will become your pet cats and if you command them to sit around your house the creepers won't bother you. The creepers will always run from cats even if a player is near.

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up vote 4 down vote
+100

If you're willing to put in the effort, try a self-repairing wall:

Slice view of wall

The difficulty of making this is getting the lava, since every lava block has to be a source block. However, it's pretty impervious to explosions, first with the water absorbing the blast, then the lava replacing the wall.

There are other models based on pistons, but I prefer this one because the water shield prevents damage, and it uses fewer rare resources (only buckets and cobble needed, instead of iron and redstone). And, if a gaping hole is made in the wall, it has a much faster repair time.

However, finding that much lava may be a challenge, as well as moving all that lava. Also, entryways are weak points in this design, but a well-placed entryway should have blasts absorbed by water.

Hope this helps!

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Haha I love these things, at one time I had a complete house (roof) included that was self repair, took forever though. – Paralytic Dec 17 '12 at 18:26
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now I want to build this and see if it can eat a tekkit nuke – legacy Dec 17 '12 at 21:32
up vote 1 down vote

If setting up a small bukkit server isn't too much of a hassle for you, you could do as I do: Use WorldGuard. It can be set up so that creeper explosions cannot destroy anything, or only spare the region around your favourite building.

The EM-creeper plugin works for that as well.

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up vote 1 down vote

It really depends on how far into the game you are.

If you have both a diamond pick and a lava source (and a LOT of time on your hands) Try fortifying your Walls with obsidian, like the diagram below.

W= the material you wan't your house to be made out of. O= Obsidian

                   ---
                   WOW
                   WOW
                   WOW
                   ---

This is quite expensive, and takes a while. it also makes your house bulkier, with three-block thick walls. otherwise you just need to light up the area around you liberally. Remember that Torches stop monsters from spawning for 14 blocks all around them, and glowstone lights up 17. rememeber that the aggro range is 16, (the range at which mobs "See" you and will advance on you) so making a 32-large light are stops slight wandering from coming into the aggro range.

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Torches light up 13 blocks around them, but the range that is bright enough to prevent mob spawning is only 6 blocks. Glowstone lights 14 blocks away (not 16), and the no-mob range is 7 blocks. – SevenSidedDie Dec 19 '12 at 0:58
up vote 0 down vote

A very cheap method would just be making a moat around your house 2-3 blocks deep with water on the bottom and a trap door drawbridge going to your door. When inside raise the trap door and any approaching creepers will fall into the water. Not the most amazing for fool-proof, but extremely quick and easy to make (works great if playing survival as a nomad)

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up vote 0 down vote

make a moat out of lava and then put pistons so it can go up and down with a lever.

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