I figure the only way you can do something like that is using buckets? Working with lava seems so hard.

It's kind of easy actually. Dive and put dirt(or any other block) above you(try to search for small pits underwater). An air lock magically appears instead of filling with water. I'll probably use it for clearing more dirt from the walls. It's also very useful for breathing when doing an underwater palace.

EDIT: I've been working on a water slide today that goes around my main tower. It's kind of slow though.

I played the free multiplayer for my first time, and now I'm addicted.

Ah, that's a consequence of the new finite water system (I think).

It's kind of immersion breaking that stuff never fills up no matter how much water flows into it, but it's better than a single water block flooding the entire map.

Yeah, this guy is my indie hero.

Cartographer? What is that? Time to run off to Google!

Be careful though. Cartographer has the ability to show only particular blocks. That means, if you put the diamond block #, you'll see the lil' dots. It's kind of hard to find diamond normally when you know that you can just use Cartographer.

Anyway, I've been lurking the Minecraft forums for some days, and it's so fun to read them. They're just a great creative community. That "Thomas the Sheep" meme was so... inspiring.

I think my next ambitious project will be a small Obsidian House. I'd like to see the griefers on the future multiplayer trying to break that. ^[1]

That's cool. Chickens are definitely needed. Hunting zombies for feathers not only does not make a lot of sense, but it can turn dangerous. Especially when you toss in another mob like a spider or skeleton.

I'm assuming that cows will follow the same rules as the pigs and sheep when it comes to spawning, which means that there will be no way to have a naturally occurring underground cattle farm Notch could always add a way to lead animals where you want them I suppose.

I do believe the block ID was 48.

What I used to do was generate a normal surface map, then an ore map. I'd add the ore map to the surface map as a layer in something like Paint.Net or GIMP. I'd select each of the colors for the different ores across the whole image and past that color selection into a new layer. Wash rinse & repeat until every ore has it's own layer. Then I can get rid of the conglomerate ore map layer and just turn the others on and off as I choose. I usually make the background layer (surface map) black and white to make it easier to see the different ores. This takes some of the fun out of the game however, which is why I stopped.

No, my bad, I see what you were saying there (after rereading). I'm tired, at work, and a little hung-over so my attention and comprehension right now is pretty crappy.

Yeah, I only use Cartographer to make isometric maps of my world and even then usually only at the start of each new game so I can get my bearings.

I actually find cobblestone to be in constant short supply simply because I am always using it. I'll usually lay a foundation for a hugely impressive building on the surface, and run out of cobblestone. When I dig tunnels to get more stone, I always wind up coming across a natural cave / tunnel system and I usually spend most of the stone I got from digging making the natural tunnel into a 4 block wide 4 block tall hallway. Not to mention, I still haven't found enough iron that I feel comfortable making the switch from stone to iron tools.

I make metal armor and that is about it at the moment. I really want to build up a few stacks of iron and make a rail line between the various segments of my base. The problem is that it never seems feasible with the amount of iron I get... Plus, as the base expands, so too would the rail line...

I really can't wait until survival multiplayer. It will be fun having railways that Maybe with multiple people it will be feasible for everyone to chip in and make a transit system between bases...

I was pondering the same thing. I think what I will ultimately do is have the tracks spiral downward around the shaft as tightly as possible... Although that would probably require tremendous amounts of iron.

Something like this:

X=Rock/Wall
.=Empty space & ladder
T=Track
TTTTTT
TXXXXT
TX..XT
TXXXXT
TTTTTT

And every so often I would knock out a wall so I can have tunnels coming off the main shaft and still be able to access the railway.

Iron seems easier to find now. I went around exploring a few surface caves. In one Minecraft day, much of which was spent walking a bit away from my base, I found twenty-seven iron right near the surface.

Lots more mobs spawning now, too. I have to fight off a dozen every morning (not counting the ones that burn up from sunlight). Of course, I build a drowning trap and nothing spawn nears it.