How can I safely explore far away from my spawn point?

Question

I originally built a nice fortification just up the hill from my spawn point for convenience (yes, I do die every once in a while), but now that I've used efficient mining to clear out a good chunk of the adminite-level directly below I need to move to a new base so I can start fresh. This means surface exploration!

Basing myself somewhere far away from my spawn point seems pretty dangerous. It could easily take me five minutes to walk back to a remote base/death if I was far enough away - that is, if I could find it. Even longer if it is dark out when I respawn.

How can I explore the surface safely? This may include keeping track of my location, speed of travel and, of course, maximizing awesome scenery.

Answer 1

Well, you could build a minecart system to go to/from your spawn to wherever you want to go. It could get expensive in powered rails though.

Or you could mark the way using torches, large structures, or (if you have a lot of diamond to spare) beacons. Make heavy use of signs.

If you do get lost exploring, building a compass will point you back to your original spawn point.

By far the easiest way is to use portals though, go to the Nether, erect another portal a short distance away, and you will be hundreds of blocks from your original spawn point!

Answer 2

I keep my bearings by constructing lookout posts. Build them atop hills and within sight of each other. Make each look unique, perhaps by inserting rows of a different block to the rest of the tower. Place torches at the top, and ladders all the way up.

Build a defensible hut around the base of the lookout tower. This hut doubles as a lodge for staying the night far from home base. Place a door from the outside. Monsters can climb ladders, but cannot open doors. You can expand your hut by digging downward into the ground.

You can build roads out of spare cobblestone. This is more cost-effective than minecart tracks.

Answer 3

When I explore, I make sure that I move in a straight line in a cardinal direction on my first trip. I make markers as I go with cobblestone and torches indicating the direction of home. As long as you can keep some kind of marker in sight, you will have no problem finding your way back home.

Mine cart tracks can be expensive to build, but a cobblestone road is cheap and quick. If you plan on making the trip often, it can be a very useful investment. It's not as fast to travel from one side to the other, but at least you'll know where you're going. I have all the major points in my world connected by these roads.

And, of course, if you just want to live dangerously, build a compass on your way out. Then, as you're heading back, if the spot you found was interesting, build landmarks on the way back so you can find your way there again. I always bring at least a full stack of dirt and cobblestone with me everywhere I go just in case I find something interesting I want to look into later.

Answer 4

I throw down a line of torches from base to base at first. It doesn't protect an unarmed person, but knowing where you're going is really more important -- it's mostly easy to avoid the mobs. Later, I replace them with straight-line 1-wide tunnels.

You can also position a ware-depot next to your spawn point so that when you do appear there, you can grab a new bow, sword and armor out of a chest and then carry on in relative safety. Just make sure you refill it as you respawn over time.

Answer 5

If you are willing to hack you can change your spawn point although there is some speculation of a bed to change your spawn in-game

Answer 6

You could "plant" incongruous blocks at intervals along your path. So if you're travelling across grass lay down a pattern of sand blocks every so often. On a beach put down earth.

Another approach could be to make a set of signs and position those, with suitable text, at intervals along your path.

If you are worried about travelling at night try a line of torches to act as street lights. Though I did read somewhere that in a future update torches will burn out.

Answer 7

BlueRaja's minecart idea was the first thing I thought of, but you could also create protected paths by creating ground-level walkway tunnels (preferably out of glass for visibility). You could also create paths high above ground - this is relatively easy and safe if you use the sneak ability, but still pretty time consuming.

Also, all of these options are better if you already know where you're going - you probably don't want to make dozens of paths to nowhere.

If you want to explore safely, I'd suggest grabbing a compass, several boats, and some building supplies and coal, and traveling the nearest ocean coastline. In a boat you can see a lot quickly. You can always hop out and explore interesting areas. When night falls, you can just sail out away from shore and be perfectly safe. You can even travel without worry at night.

Personally, I like to set up bases near coasts, and exploring shores allows you to find semi-rare resources like clay and reeds. Iron ore and coal often show up in the sea-side cliffs as well.

If you want to get back home, your compass will guide you. Getting from home to the new base will be harder, so you'll want to set up some torch beacons or other means of marking the way.

Answer 8

One thing I've done that takes no prep is just to start out at day break running along the coast line. (I live right on the coast) This lets me find clay, cactus, reeds that occur by the coast and I don't have to pay attention to direction since I always know how to get back.

On the trip back I usually stay slightly more inland in case there is something cool up there. If I find something like a cave I want to explore later I make a pillar or something and put a torch on top by it.

Answer 9

Press F3 and note down the x,y and z coordinates of your house/castle, then you'll always know where it is, and how far you are from it.

Answer 10

Here are some pointers for exploration in Vanilla Minecraft.

You will need tools.

Essential Exploration Tools

• A stack of logs
• A stack of torches (You'll want them at the ready for when night falls)
• A stack of coal (to make more torches)
• A row of stone picks
• An iron pick
• A sword of iron or diamond
• As much armor as you can make
• A stack of your favorite 'placing' block (dirt, cobblestone, whatever block you want to use to build makeshift barriers. Dirt is cheap, but cobblestone doubles as a quick construction material, consider taking a stack of both)

Optional tools:

• A compass (Essential for returning to spawn)
• A bucket (Not entirely essential, but good for adventuring, and doubly good if you carry two and have one filled with water)
• A stack of wool (for making beds)
• A crafting table (you can skip this if you'd rather conserve the storage slot for something else, since you can make one easily out of a single log)
• A stack of food (You gotta eat, and you can't always find animals)
• An axe/shovel (for gathering more logs or clearing out dirt)
• 28 Obsidian blocks (For 2 Nether Portals)
• A Diamond Pickaxe (For Nether Portal Mistakes)

To Prevent Getting Lost

Before you start your adventure at all, as a completely optional task, build yourself a Nether portal near your home.

One effective way to avoid getting lost is to pick a direction and stick with it steadfastly. The Sun offer a good guiding point, just follow it until noon, then keep it at your back once half the day is out, or whatever orientation you prefer.

It also helps to leave a torch every 16 blocks or so, to reduce the hostile mobs that will spawn along your path and to mark it for future travels.

If you're feeling especially industrious, you can even build yourself a path. Gravel will do, though cobblestone is a bit nicer, and a full minetrack nicer still. You may also choose to build your road after you've travelled a certian distance, to help keep you on track for future exploration.

Mark notable locations with buildings. Tall towers can be fun and are very easy to spot, but can be a bit time-consuming. A simple hut will do, but feel free to be creative and construct to your heart's content. You'll be needing to build shelters for night anyway, so you may as well leave your little houses in-place as roadmarks.

Of course, none of this prepares you for the truly most daunting part of exploration....

Crossing Water

Short, shallow bodies of water can be easily bridged with some construction blocks, but whether or not you WANT to bridge it is another matter entirely. If you do, you can go simple and just make a long line across with careful use of holding the 'walk' key and placing blocks, or if you want to make it into a noticeable road point, go all-out and build a full bridge. You might want to build a shelter before making a full bridge, as it can be an all-day crafting affair.

Large bodies of water can throw a huge monkey wrench into your exploration plans, since you can't exactly mark them with torchlights. You'll want to mark the side you start on with some sort of construction, most likely a dock for launching-off, connected perhaps to a little shelter for sleep. Boats, fortunately, are cheap and easy to produce, and break apart into useful materials (or just leave it when you reach the far side as an extra transportation device).

If you travel in a boat across large bodies of water, you will want to start early in the day, as reaching land at night can be very dangerous. If you find a small island as night approaches, make a shelter and sleep, leaving your boat docked against the shore. Once you reach a large landmass you want to explore, you can build a small dock to keep your boat safe (or just break it apart) and mark the shore with a shelter so you can find it again.

Or you can just build a Superbridge across an entire ocean, complete with floating cabins along the way. If you're feeling incredibly industrious and perhaps a tiny bit insane.

The End Of Your Adventure

Once you reach a spot where you want to start mining or building a large structure again, set yourself up a quick camp and get right to it. Build yourself a chest to store any vital material you might gather, and generally set up your home the way you normally would for your own convenience.

For rapid access from your old home to your new one, consider building yourself a Nether portal and walking the distance back to your old home. You can either try to calculate in your head how far in the Nether you need to travel to get to your old home, or just use the Nether Portal you build before leaving as your guidepost. You may want to build shelters within the Nether itself around each portal, or even a protective transportation shaft if you intend to travel between the two points frequently.

If you don't feel like taking the Nether route, you can always build yourself a minetrack with powered rails between your two homes. You'll need some solid surface to build it upon, but beside the Nether, it is the fastest way to travel from point to point.

Answer 11

I build tall "poles" near any point of interest (house, cave to explore later, etc.) that I can see from very far away.

Collect 64 dirt (or any quickly destroyable block) and build a single-stack tower straight up. To avoid fall damage, stack 3 under you, then 3 to the side, then 3 more under you, then 3 more to the side. When you are 32 blocks high, "climb" down one of the two stacks by destroying the blocks under you. The entire process takes under a minute, and you can do any height that suits you. Goes a little faster if you have a shovel.

Answer 12

If you have a compass or map, you are free to explore anyway, but with just a compass, I recommend you to have your spawn IN your house. If you have a map, feel free to explore.

Answer 13

When you are in your house, set your spawn point by sleeping in a bed or using /spawnpoint. When you've done that, do /gamerule keepInventory true to not lose your inventory when you die.

Then, when you're far from home you can do /kill and you will be at home safely with all your items and the only thing that is lost is your xp!

Answer 14

You can now make a campfire with a haybale under it to create a column of smoke 25 blocks high that can be used as a smoke signal. It looks a bit more realistic than a tall column of dirt. Place these on the tops of hills for even more height, combined with the lookout tower idea.

Answer 15

Build a chest. Put all your valuables inside the chest. If you have the materials, build a compass. If you don't, build lots of ladders, and I mean lots. Then get lots of wood and build a high tower. After that, find flint and make an iron ingot, then create a flint and steel. Light the tower on fire at the top.

Use this website to find how to make things.

You probably will need a furnace (coal as well) and crafting bench.

Answer 16

How can I explore the surface safely? This may include keeping track of my location, speed of travel and, of course, maximizing awesome scenery.

Keeping Track: There are a few solutions to find the way home. I usually build my base around x=0, z=0 so that I can easily turn back to my base from anywhere, including underground. If I could not find a useful location for a base around (0,y,0) or if I am in the nether, then I put landmarks to show which way the base is during exploration. How you do that is up to you, but for that I put 4-5 blockes with a reversed "L" shape to show my base. Remember that, you can always take note of your coordinates using the f3 key.

Faster travel The easiest method is to have a few redstone-enhanced speed potions. With enough food you can travel great distances, I almost never leave without speed potions after gathering blaze rods; so its very useful for enderman hunting or travelling through mines, in addition to exploration. For travelling in the sea, you can obviously use a boat, but I usually carry a few spare ones because it is not very easy to get off a bot without breaking it and using a boat is not very useful for the rivers.

A faster method for over world exploration is to use horses and pigs, but for that you will need a saddle, which sometimes cannot be found. Again, you can use splash-speed potions to travel even faster. The problem with riding is that it is not very easy to cross rivers and oceans and I usually end up dead inside a chasm/cliff, you may also need a farm for that.

A final and probably the fastest method is teleportation. Go to the nether, choose a direction and walk around 200-250 blocks, and build another portal. Distance in the nether is multiplied by x8 in the overworld, so you will end up about 1000 blocks away from your base. But keep in mind that if you build your second portal too close to the first one, the two portals will link with your old portal on the overworld, so this is not useful for distances <800 blocks (don't know the exact distance). The disadvantage of the teleportation is that you leave unexplored the area between the two overworld portals, but you said you need a fresh start, so I don't think that would be a problem, or you can always turn back walking to explore the area between.

Answer 17

I recommend using /spawnpoint USERNAME x y z in your house so if you die, you spawn back there, and then do /gamerule keepInventory true