Skeleton, oh how I hate you! [Death Stories]

[Wibbles]

Urgh. Twice now I have underestimated the power of a skeleton in water.

Out of arrows although leathered up and emboldened by finding a sword with good durability retrieved from an ex-zombie, I thought the skeleton blocking the way to my bridge would be easy prey. It was standing in the shallow water next to the shoreline. I got close enough to do some damage, knocking it further out into the water, when I made the fatal tactical error of pursuing it deeper into the water. Suffice to say, I died. It was the kind of death that I could see coming, the kind that makes you sweat whilst thinking shit shit shit shit!! GEMMEOUTTAHERE!!

The moral of the story is... Never, ever chase a skeleton into water. They knock you back further than the distance you can wade in the time it takes for it to notch another arrow and knock you back again.

[Sarudak]

When approaching a skeleton in water the key is to dive under them. It seems to make them miss more and you don't get the full effect of the knockback pushing you back. In shallow water you're screwed though.

[Mr_Hosed]

I had just broken into a new cavern above my current subterranean base... it was one of the larger caverns and had several spiders and skeletons in it. They all turned around at me at once and fired, but I ducked behind the entrance I had hewn from the wall. I took out my iron sword and hacked down one skeleton, then another, I was down to 4 hearts and was looking for the third when a creeper came from behind and exploded right behind me, killing me. >:( guess I hadn't secured the way in as well as I thought I had lol.

I've been finding that creepers are FAR more deadly in this latest update then I remember them being. I ALWAYS miss one only to get kablewied from behind.

[Mr_Hosed]

Woot! I actually managed to survive in an area long enough to reach multiple iron tools!

I think I have skeletons figured out, atleast in cave scenarios.
Basically run!
Run until you can setup a barrier up and then whack 'em at your leisure.

Now I just gotta figure out how to handle the random sneaky creeper surprise. They seem to be the ones killing me the most now.

[FlowerChild]

Now I just gotta figure out how to handle the random sneaky creeper surprise. They seem to be the ones killing me the most now.

That one's pretty straightforward: don't mine anything until you've secured the surrounding area.

In other words, make sure you explore tunnels branching off your current location and light them up for a short distance away from where you intend to work. Basically, don't stare at the walls until you're sure you're safe.

If the LPs I've watched are any indication, most people seem to die from creeper attack while having a screen full of stone.

[Mr_Hosed]

Now I just gotta figure out how to handle the random sneaky creeper surprise. They seem to be the ones killing me the most now.

That one's pretty straightforward: don't mine anything until you've secured the surrounding area.

In other words, make sure you explore tunnels branching off your current location and light them up for a short distance away from where you intend to work. Basically, don't stare at the walls until you're sure you're safe.

If the LPs I've watched are any indication, most people seem to die from creeper attack while having a screen full of stone.

LOL, truer words...

What I find funny is back in early beta all the LPers would be blown up all the time doing the same things. It's like everyone forgot early Minecraft techniques as the game got easier. Coestar used to light up MASSIVE cave systems or block off branches, etc, before he ever mined anything for instance.

Back to my latest problem with creepers, they seem to get me most on ingress/egress from bases or barriers setup to seal my safe haven offs. Especially nasty is when I'm mining down into a new layer and I'm securing that initial cavern before installing real stairs.

I'm beginning to think that with BTW, you REALLY need to mine a full hall (room for running away and jamming up the mobs) and stairs into the solid rock when moving down layers in the cave system instead of the old school "carve a path into the wall".

[Mud]

Creeper snuck up on me in a lit tunnel and exploded without hissing. I was pretty pissed.

[Kaitocain]

Not a death, but today's stream had multiple close calls where skellies dropped down on top of me while I'm doing something else, or when I found a Creeper just chilling on the ice behind my farm waiting on me to come around and say hi.

The worst one I've dealt with was early in my LP series when I'm on the way back to my base from a caving expadition and I come across 3 spiders and 2 skellies. Needless to say, I died, but it surprisingly wasn't to the skellies, but to the creeper who decided that the party needed a bit of a kick. XP

[Mr_Hosed]

Not a death, but today's stream had multiple close calls where skellies dropped down on top of me while I'm doing something else, or when I found a Creeper just chilling on the ice behind my farm waiting on me to come around and say hi.

The worst one I've dealt with was early in my LP series when I'm on the way back to my base from a caving expadition and I come across 3 spiders and 2 skellies. Needless to say, I died, but it surprisingly wasn't to the skellies, but to the creeper who decided that the party needed a bit of a kick. XP

Good lord! Gang banged, literally.

[Tsugumi Henduluin]

Today I learned the hard way that lava in the nether flows at the same speed as water does in the overworld... I had steel tools, a full set of chain armor, healing potions and plenty of food and other nonsense to keep me safe from the residents, totally forgetting that the terrain itself is also lethal.
I was simply gathering some netherrack when I suddenly hit a small pocket of lava. I was dead before I even realized what happened.
Now, I generally don't curse, but I will gladly make an exception for this.

Fortunately I can probably recover quite quickly if I happen to find my base again... but that'll probably take a while.

[jkievlan]

Back to my latest problem with creepers, they seem to get me most on ingress/egress from bases or barriers setup to seal my safe haven offs.

Securing a base is relatively easy. Make sure you have a fair-sized clear area around your base with a few outdoor torches (to keep mob spawning to a minimum), and build a watchtower on your roof with a ladder inside. Before you leave your base, run up the watchtower, look around to make sure there aren't any mobs hanging around, and then go downstairs and out your door. I haven't died leaving a base for a very long time using that strategy.

As for caves...patience is absolutely the best defense. I don't collect anything, or move to any new location, until I'm 100% sure I am either totally secure, or can retreat instantly if necessary. If you're clearing out a new room, don't try it until you've built a path with ample barricades that leads back to your nearest safe room.

[Stormweaver]

I think I just had my first post-able death.

It's the middle of the day. The sun is shining, a few distant zombies are burning, and I'm coasting along the coast in a boat. The beach is pretty flat a good way in; but, trained by BTW, I'm still keeping a lookout for something to kill me. Nothing *should* be able to kill me. After all, there's nothing around that can -

damnit.

Out of the water ahead of me, like a demon rising from the strangely blue pits of hell itself, floats a spider. I steer my boat to the left, somewhat unconcerned knowing I could outrun it on the water.

Didn't take into account the whole spider-web thing.

So, Stuck in a web floating on the surface of the water, entirely unable to move and only just able to strike at the spider I fight, quite slowly, for my life with a stone shovel. It dies before I do, so I let out a deep breath, open my inventory and grab my stone axe to cut the web down.

So, of course, I see a skeleton float up just as I get my axe out.