Post by Specalios on Jan 29, 2017 0:31:41 GMT
UHCs can be tough, very tough; so here's a guide to help you out! Whether you're new to UHC or if you've played hundreds, there should be something here that benefits you.
Pre-UHC
Keys and Settings
The Start
The Night
Mining
PvE
PvP
The Nether
Late Game
Pre-UHC
- Go to the bathroom beforehand! You don't want to have to have to go away from the keyboard for a short while. You could die or miss out on valuable ores! Those spare minutes could be the difference between a vein of diamonds or not.
- Set up your headset and mic beforehand. You want to be able to jump straight into the game and not have to waste time sorting out these things.
- Have some snacks ready. Because who doesn't like snacks?
- Analyse who's playing. What teams will be the strongest? Any particular players that you'd like to avoid? Some players are very aggressive and hunt early on, whilst others are very passive and continue to gather resources later on in the game. Knowing what to expect from different players is always an advantage.
- Turn off your music! Save that for the victory celebration once you've won!
Keys and Settings
- Increase the volume of the game. This can help a lot when it comes to hearing a player or mob. You don't want to miss out on the subtle sound of footsteps, arrows, lava etc.
- Enable subtitles. This way you can be fully aware of what's around you.
- Increase your brightness level in Minecraft. I wouldn't recommend increasing it on your monitor due to it causing you not to use torches. In large caves you can get lost without torches and mobs can continue to spawn around you.
- Put your graphics on fancy if possible. That way you can see through leaves so that crouched players and mobs are visible. You cannot see through leaves on fast graphics.
- Increase your render distance. Anything above 16 is too much, but if your render distance is low, you cannot see as much of the terrain around you, such as a base or a mountain.
- Adjust your mouse sensitivity. More sensitivity allows you to react faster, especially during PvP. Adjust it to whatever you feel comfortable with.
- The FOV could be increased, however this makes judging distances more difficult.
- Use F3. You can detect the light levels, coordinates, sounds, entities etc. F3 is a very useful key to use when caving.
The Start
- Find a biome that has plenty of oak or dark oak trees. Swamps, forests, roofed forests and savannas are the ideal places to start out. Fun fact: swamp trees have a higher chance of dropping apples compared to other trees!
- Hide your achievements! Collect wood before you open your inventory. Other teams can see when you get diamonds, enchanting tables, Nether portals etc. so make sure you hide your achievements so that you have an advantage!
- Gather plenty of food. Kill as many passive mobs as possible for the food and XP. You do not want to starve or have to resurface just to get food. On a side note: if you kill an animal other players will have less animals to kill! That means that they'll be at more of a disadvantage, especially if there's not many animals such as cows on the map!
- Get leather. Cows and horses provide leather which should be used for books. Do not bother making leather armour. Rabbits can also be killed as they provide rabbit hides which can be crafted into leather.
- Find sugarcane. You need three sugarcane reeds in order to create the paper required for books. A good thing to do is follow a river along and kill any animals you see on the way. Books are used for enchanting, so it is vital that you find the materials required for an enchanting table.
- Gather at least one stack of logs. This way you are set for the whole game. It is best to cut down oak logs as apples may drop from the decaying leaves.
- Collect as many apples as possible. The more apples you have the better.
- Feathers are very important! Make sure you have a couple of feathers at the very least for arrows later on in the game.
- Do NOT cave during the day. Mobs will be spawning underground during the day.
- If you find a village, strip it clean. Remove all bookshelves and crops from the village. Also be sure to check out whether there's a blacksmith because those chests have the chance of having diamonds, saddles, apples, iron tools, weapons and armour, obsidian etc.
- Create a stone axe. This way you can cut down trees much more efficiently and gather more apples.
- Split up the jobs if you are in a team. Have one player gather food and leather/sugarcane and another cutting trees.
- Do not break leaves yourself. This decreases the chances of apples dropping, just let them decay normally.
- Do not risk jumping off trees, running past caves, staying in water, sprinting etc. Play it safe.
- At the start make a small staircase down several blocks until you have enough cobblestone for a stone sword, axe and pickaxe. A furnace is also useful but this could be created once the sun begins to set.
- Be weary. Mobs can still spawn in dark areas on the surface, such as in roofed forests.
The Night
- As the sun begins to go down either find a cave or dig in. Gather any apples that have fallen and pick up any resources that are left out.
- If you have a team make sure you regroup before the night sets in. Do NOT try to regroup on the surface during night.
- If in a cave, advance very slowly. Take your time and slowly descend further.
- Create a shield as soon as possible. This way you can block attacks and save a lot of health.
- In terms of armour, craft an iron chestplate first. This way certain mob attacks have a chance of dealing zero damage, such as a skeleton arrow.
- PvP is enabled at night, so be weary of other players. It is not worth commencing PvP early on as you risk serious health damage for no reward.
- Try to create a full set of iron armour quickly. If in a team share out the armour or let the armoured player go first when exploring caves.
- Have food smelting.
- Cover up your entrances. Covering your entrance with dirt to make it look natural means that other players will be less able to find you.
- If staircasing, continue going down in one direction and you'll most likely hit a cave. If not begin staircasing back up to the surface and repeat until you find a cave.
Mining
- Mine all ores possible, but remember that iron and gold is a priority
- Shift. Shifting is great as players cannot see your name through solid blocks and it allows you to advance slowly and not rush in. It also stops you falling into drops or lava.
- Get torches. It'll stop mobs spawning and you'll be able to see more around you. It also makes it easier to see name tags through blocks.
- Try to remain caving under Y 32. It is not worth exploring higher parts of caves due to no gold being generated.
- Engage mobs carefully. Do not rush into PvE. Take your time and use your shield to deflect attacks whilst hitting during the knockback.
- Beware of gravel. Place torches below yourself if mining up so that gravel does not suffocate you.
- Use a water bucket. It is very useful for falling, climbing, lava, fire, PvP etc.
- Dig around ores in case the rest of the ore vein is behind stone.
- Mine around the ends of caves and lava pools in case of collapsed areas. This could lead to exploring a much larger cave system.
- Fallen gravel could have a cave system behind as gravel falls when generated, blocking certain areas of caves.
- Create golden apples as soon as possible.
- A diamond pickaxe should be crafted first, then two more diamonds should be used for an enchanting table. Enchanting is vital.
- Seal off cave areas so that players and mobs have trouble reaching you.
- Explore caves in sections, don't just rush through one area!
- If you find a dungeon you may want to use the spawner later on, it may be worthwhile noting down the location.
- Cobwebs in mineshafts can be destroyed with a sword for string. This way it is much easier to collect string for bows.
PvE
- Avoid witches at all costs. One poison splash from a witch and you've just lost your chances of winning. The best thing to do is run far away so that the witch despawns or block off the section that the witch is in. However, a witch can be killed easily if they do not detect you. If timed right the witch should not attack but instead be drinking a health potion. If the witch dies when drinking a health potion that health potion is then dropped as loot.
- Skeletons can be very dangerous if you are caught by surprise or haven't got a shield. Time your blocks so that you can attack the skeleton as it reloads its bow. Another way of killing skeletons is to dig under their feet so you can hit them without taking damage. Skeletons can drop arrows, bones and bows - all of these are important for a successful UHC!
- Zombies are pretty easy to kill. Just keep hitting them away and try not to get trapped. Baby zombies are terrifying though. Use your shield and move backwards as you hit. I personally use lava to deal with these little shits.
- Make sure that regular spiders cannot reach you. Create barriers and use one block wide wholes to kill them. Spiders are very fast and shield timing is not as effective against these guys.
- Cave spiders are evil. If you see a cave spider spawner just run. RUN. You can block up the entrances but make sure you are very cautious.
- Time creeper attacks carefully so that they don't explode.
- Be very careful when mining around an extreme hills biome. Silverfish blocks are everywhere. If a stone block is taking longer to mine than normal just stop mining. Silverfish have small hitboxes and can be a pain if surrounded by them.
- Endermen should be killed when you're under a 2 block high block or within a body of water. Endermen hit hard, but the pearls can be very useful in PvP situations.
- When exploring a ravine watch out above you. Falling mobs are very frequent and the last thing you want is an exploding creeper falling right behind you.
- When towering within a ravine or cave make sure that skeletons and spiders cannot hit you off.
- When falling down heights of more than three blocks try to use a water bucket on the block you'll make contact with. This way you won't take any fall damage.
- Using lava on mobs is a good way to kill them without risking your health.
- Water is a great way to push mobs away from you if you're trapped.
PvP
- Use a bow. Bows are extremely important when it comes to PvP, especially in a UHC.
- Having a horse is extremely useful for PvP. Players with horses are terrifying and will most likely win a confrontation on level terrain.
- Don't get caught out in the open. You'll be much easier to see and if a player with a horse comes along you're very likely to die.
- If you see a player with a horse, either get to higher ground or dig in.
- Use lava to surprise players. Placing a lava in the predicted path of a player is most likely going to stop them advancing.
- Use water around your base. If a player hits you off a high platform with an arrow you'll most likely fall into the flowing water and not receive any further damage from falling.
- Go for the weaker players first.
- Use flint and steel when in combat. Once a player is on fire they'll either fully commit to the PvP or disengage to use water.
- If in a team have one player use a bow and the other use a sword. Don't both rush in.
- When fighting with a bow jump and shoot at the same time.
- Get to the high ground. This makes ambushes less likely and you can see all around you. Bow PvP is also at an advantage for players higher up. Just don't get trapped up there!
- Try to predict enemy movement. If you can guess what the enemy is going to do you'll be at an advantage.
- When firing an arrow, move straight away. This way you'll be less likely to get caught by an arrow. Keep moving and don't stand still.
- Keep an eye on other players, including your team if you have one. You don't want to get separated.
The Nether
- Get obsidian. If you do not have a diamond pickaxe you can use lava buckets with water to create obsidian in the shape of a portal which you can then light.
- Collect Nether wart for potions.
- Get blaze rods for a brewing stand and strength potions.
- Gather glowstone dust for level two potions if allowed.
- Collect a ghast tear for potions of regeneration if allowed.
- Use snowballs against blazes!
- Be weary of other players. If other players are in the Nether there's a high possibility of encountering them.
- Be cautious. You don't want to burn to death.
- Use pigmen to your advantage! They can attack other players and provide gold.
Late Game
- When on the surface try to look around forests for wolves to tame.
- Keep an eye out on other players. Keep changing perspectives and look around often. You don't want to get ambushed!
- Watch out for the border.
- If on a horse avoid being in risky areas. You do not want to suffer suffocation damage when riding through a forest or dismount a horse into a hole.
- Avoid staying in water for long. Players will be able to attack you with bows from many different directions whilst you attempt to get out.
- Place blocks or lily pads to quickly travel through water. Boats can also be used, but they can be targeted with a bow very easily.
- Have an organised hotbar. You don't want to have to open your inventory to get items. Get everything you need into your hotbar so you know where everything is.
- Players tend to stay around their original location when they resurface from mining, so if you find a mine there's most likely a player nearby!
- If there are mobs when it is daylight under trees there was most likely a player nearby at a similar time. So watch out!
I'll finish this eventually!
If at first you don't succeed, give up.