Buffer Pad, Metal Detector, Rainproof Sails

[KriiEiter]

Well I've had several ideas brewing in my mind lately. The first of which, is: "How would Steve make a Lens?"

Well, my answer to that is... The Buffer pad. Recipe in spoiler below.

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This would give Steve a way to take glass and make it clear enough to focus light through. But how would he use this pad you ask? Simple, attach it to a turntable! This gives it the rotation and speed to easily allow Steve to polish that lens to light-focusing perfection.

My next thought was that since we already have a compass and redstone as a power source. Why not combine to the two to amplify the magnetic field sensing properties of said compass. And thus, the handheld metal detector is formed! Recipe in spoiler.

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This device would allow Steve to detect iron, and gold ores from 10-15 blocks away. It does not tell you the vertical height of the ore though, only a general direction (better than blindly digging in my opinion).

And lastly, doesn't rain breaking your windmills annoy you? I present to you the Rainproof sail! Recipe below.

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Since we now have tallow, why not coat our sails with it and keep them nice and dry. This could either be a recipe as I've shown to be crafted, or put all the materials into a cauldron and then tallow is melted right into the cloth (making a better bond).

[grimper12341]

o.o that lens polishing idea with the buffer pad is perfect.

Metal detector tho might be a bit too far up the tech tree...a compass is just a tiny magnet that points to magnetic north, where as a metal detector requires complex electronics and detailed knowledge of electromagnetic fields
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/ga ... ector1.htm
Don't think Steve has very much knowledge of physics yet (think about it, we personally don't need knowledge of physics to make redstone contraptions, but we would to make a metal detector)

As for the windmill, those break gearboxes because high winds in a storm cause it to spin too fast for the gearbox to handle, it's nothing to do with whether the sails are waterproof or not (they would have to be waterproof already actually, or rain would destroy the windmill itself as well as the gearbox). Easy enough to just hook up a detector block to act as a weather sensor (which is cooler than a weather proof windmill IMO), and if you need a permanent power source there's always the waterwheel.

But really it doesn't rain that often that windmills stopping is a major problem is it? (stopping power not breaking, assuming you have a weather sensor)

[KriiEiter]

Yeah, I figured the water dripped into the gearbox breaking it or something, as there isn't really any noticeable wind change when it rains in Minecraft. I kinda though tit might also be that the sails collect water and begin to get super heavy, which would put strain on the axle in the gearbox breaking it. And as for the metal detector, Not everything in Minecraft is absolutely true-to-life, so I figured we could cut Steve some slack in that department.

[grimper12341]

So Steve goes from punching trees, to manipulating electromagnetic forces that wirelessly sends signals down through the earth and charges metals causing them to send a signal back up which the detector is able to detect, all in a package that can be held with one hand?

[KriiEiter]

Well he goes from punching trees to wiring complex automated farms, so why not.

[grimper12341]

Which requires a heap of wiring and many pistons/dispensers...not exactly compact.

[KriiEiter]

It doesn't necessarily need to be implemented immediately, perhaps it's an item he discovers in a later age. Maybe the recipe can be tweaked to incorporate new items in future releases.

[FlowerChild]

Yeah, I figured the water dripped into the gearbox breaking it or something, as there isn't really any noticeable wind change when it rains in Minecraft. I kinda though tit might also be that the sails collect water and begin to get super heavy, which would put strain on the axle in the gearbox breaking it. And as for the metal detector, Not everything in Minecraft is absolutely true-to-life, so I figured we could cut Steve some slack in that department.

You didn't notice the Wind Mill spinning at about 10 times its normal rate, or the description of the Wind Mill that states that this is exactly what is happening?

[KriiEiter]

You didn't notice the Wind Mill spinning at about 10 times its normal rate, or the description of the Wind Mill that states that this is exactly what is happening?

In all honesty I've only made one windmill and I made a block detector to stop it upon rainfall, but it hasn't rained since I put it up either.

[AgentPaper]

Redstone isn't electricity. Trying to make it do all the things that electricity does in the real world is fairly pointless.

[KriiEiter]

Redstone isn't electricity. Trying to make it do all the things that electricity does in the real world is fairly pointless.

Which is really the core problem with redstone. It powers things yet has no need of generation, it just pulls energy from thin air. Redstone is perpetual motion incarnate.

[FlowerChild]

Which is really the core problem with redstone. It powers things yet has no need of generation, it just pulls energy from thin air. Redstone is perpetual motion incarnate.

So? The entire Minecraft world revolves around perpetual motion and infinite sources. Why is that a problem? People have enough trouble with redstone already without giving them something else to worry about, and there is plenty of interesting gameplay to be found with the way things are.

Ultimately, it is a game after all, NOT a simulation. As long as it's internally consistent (which I believe it is in this regard), why is forsaking real-world physics in certain circumstances to facilitate game play and accessibility any kind of problem?

I've said elsewhere that realism is one of my least favorite arguments in any kind of game design discussion, and I think this is a perfect example.

[KriiEiter]

That's not what I was getting at. The previous post said that you can't just stick redstone into anything to provide it power, but redstone torches ARE power. Unless you want a battery pack (which is way past Steve's current tech level), so the redstone torch is either a placeholder or a substitute.

[FlowerChild]

That's not what I was getting at. The previous post said that you can't just stick redstone into anything to provide it power, but redstone torches ARE power. Unless you want a battery pack (which is way past Steve's current tech level), so the redstone torch is either a placeholder or a substitute.

All right, sorry man. I think I'm getting confused between threads here :)

[KriiEiter]

That's not what I was getting at. The previous post said that you can't just stick redstone into anything to provide it power, but redstone torches ARE power. Unless you want a battery pack (which is way past Steve's current tech level), so the redstone torch is either a placeholder or a substitute.

All right, sorry man. I think I'm getting confused between threads here :)

It's all good, I really don't like the idea of the metal detector anymore now that I think about it. It just doesn't seem like it would "fit" with the feel of vM or BTW anyways.

[grimper12341]

It's all good, I really don't like the idea of the metal detector anymore now that I think about it. It just doesn't seem like it would "fit" with the feel of vM or BTW anyways.

/facepalm

[KriiEiter]

Yes /facepalm indeed, but most of the reason I even post ideas is to get other people thinking. Most of the suggestions in here are the same sort of thing.

1. Things that transport items
2. Vehicles
3. Other things that are just ridiculous.

I think of the suggestion forum as a way to jumpstart people's creativity. The original post of an idea will likely hardly ever produce a straight-to-BTW product, but rather after a bunch of discussion something good may come out of it.

That's just my take on this though.

[unufnfu]

this thread sounds like a maxi pad commercial