150 Minecraft Secrets You've Never Seen Before: The Secrets Handbook (12 page)

There are only a few Minecraft creations that require no mods but look absolutely stunning nonetheless.

This is one of them. It's simply epic.

A rainbow beacon is a classic beacon in style, only that it changes colour every few seconds. Just like a rainbow sheep!

Unfortunately, this project requires stained glass for the colour changes and stained glass is not on any other console other than the PC. It may roll out to other consoles in the future such as the Xbox, PS3 and iPhone.

The project itself looks amazing when completed and it doesn't take that long to do.

It's a little difficult to explain how to make a rainbow beacon, so instead I've included a link to the tutorial on YouTube below. It would get very confusing if I had to tell you how to do it in words.

Make sure to try it out though!

Check it out here:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge0Q-1OKYH0

Annoyed whenever your
boat smashes against the beach and breaks into pieces? This soul sand boat dock should do the trick.

Soul sand makes things move extra slowly including Steve, mobs, and even...boats! So, soul sand would be the ideal material to slow down a boat and make sure it lands on the beach safely without being smashed up. You can create a boat dock for your speedy boat by placing some soul sand at the edge of the sea. That way, when you direct your boat to the soul sand, it will slow down immediately once it hits the soul sand. It's pretty cool!

Did you know that a single lava will give you a hundred operations which makes it the winner of the most operations for one item. In second place, a block of coal gives 8 operations and a blaze rod gives 12 which lands it in third place for the most operations. In a last resort effort, remember that things like sticks, wooden tools, wooden slabs, chests, fences, gates and saplings can also be used.

If you plan on using wood as a fuel, don't use it! Instead, turn it into charcoal and it will be five times more efficient than wood.

Cooked meat gives much more replenishment to your hunger bar than raw meat. It makes sense if you think about it. Instead of cooking meat in a furnace which takes time and coal, you should get instant cooked meat with this trick!

All you have to do is set an animal (such as a cow or pig) on fire with flint and steel. The fire will kill the animal and then, the animal will die dropping cooked meat. Perfect! It’s a whole lot easier to set some flint and steel on them and get cooked meat than kill the pig and then go to a furnace and cook it. What a timesaver this is.

When you're low on food and your hearts are plunging from the hunger, you'll need to keep as many hearts as you possible can. Even a slight fall can damage your hearts and do irreparable damage.

So for heaven's sake, don't start sprinting like a marathon runner on steroids. A lot of players start panicking when they've run out of food and begin sprinting in every direction possible in search of animals for food. This is probably the worst thing they can do to damage their health.

You're going to need to conserve as much energy as possible, so don't start sprinting. It would be a huge waste. Walk instead…the game can wait.

Did you know that you don't have to fish in a naturally generated water source?

This means you can create your own little water source beside your house that's only about twenty blocks in total area. Then, when it starts to rain, you should go fishing. If you live in the desert for example, and there's no water for miles, just make your own water pond.

It doesn't have to be too big or too small, just in the middle. A five by four pond would be the best size and you should try to aim for a pond in or around that.

If you want to make a massive pond, and don't know where to start in terms of filling it – all you have to do is place water along a diagonal line. There's already a tip on this, check it out.

Cool Fish

You don't always catch regular fish, you've a 25% chance of getting salmon, a 2% chance for Clownfish and 13% for Pufferfish.

Junk

You can also get junk too like string, bowls, rotten flesh or similar things like that. For some of you, these things won't be junk but for others, it will be. Keep an eye out for it though!

Treasure

Ahoy, matey! You can also reel in treasure such as a bow, enchanted book, saddle and other similar goodies (only applies on PC, sadly).

Here’s some interesting trivia for you.

Did you know that it's possible to fish underwater? Yes, that means you don't have to be overwater to fish. Just watch out for your air bubbles, they'll decrease pretty rapidly and before you know it, you're dead!

When you are trading with villagers, you need to make sure that you're trading with the right villager. Some villagers are priests whilst others are bakers whilst others are librarians, and so on. A librarian isn't going to trade bread with you, they'll obviously trade books or paper with you.

Here is a quick chart on what certain villagers look like depending on their occupation.

For example, if you are looking to trade food items, you'll need to find a farmer.

Instead of wasting time by going up to each villager and seeing what they'll trade, you can spot the right villager just by looking at their clothes. It'll definitely make the process of trading a lot quicker and easier!

Don't have a compass? Try this instead. Pumpkins always point North West.

Place a pumpkin on the ground and look at the stem which is on the top of the pumpkin. The pointy part of the stem will always point North West. This is likely because pumpkins are associated with witches who always flew from the North West. Again, Mojang's creativity and realism is at work!

If you don't have a pumpkin, you can find them on the top of extreme hills. Pumpkins are easier to find than all the materials you need to make a compass like redstone and iron, especially if you're a beginner!

A variant of the might iron golem is the snow golem made with two blocks of snow and a pumpkin. These throw snowballs at mobs and are especially useful against creepers because creepers won't get close enough to explode. You should definitely have a few of these around your house.

A pack of five is very effective. They attack from a distance. You can also get infinite snow from them, just pick up snow from their base and you'll get tons of snowballs!

Horses tend to be quite difficult to tame. It's not as easy as giving them bones (like the wolf!) and they'll be your furry friend forever! No, it's not that simple.

However, that's not to say that it's impossible to tame them. It just requires a little more work.

All you have to do is mount the horse and then ride it for a few seconds. Then, the horse will start bucking like a mad rodeo bull on steroids, until you fall off.

Bad horse!

Then, you will need to mount it again. It will do the same thing again.

And again.

And again.

Finally, the horse will allow you to ride them without bucking you off. The key to taming a horse is to make sure that you keep trying. You just need to keep mounting and dismounting until they give the all clear. Who knew horses were so contrary?

Gunpowder can be used to turn a regular drinking option into a "Splash Potion". Chuck it at the ground and walk through it. You'll get the effects of the potion instantly.

You should use splash potions because it is much quicker to use if you are running away from a gang of mobs, for example. Just chuck and go!

Plus, its way more fun to whack a potion off the ground. You can't deny that pleasure for yourself.

However, watch out. Hostile mobs, other players or animals can walk through the potion and get the effects too. You wouldn't go throwing around a splash potion, with a skeleton or a zombie right in front of you!