Pigman safety drill ... I made a monster!
Okay, I like the zombie pigmen down in the Nether. Except that I hate those buggers. I'd like to have a few of them on MY side for a change. Anyway, after a whole lot of trips to the Nether ended in disaster, I learned a few ways to manage them. Safety tips, I guess. Followed by a story of a super killer nano piggie I made by mistake.
First off, don't get caught out in the open. Yeah, the pigmen are neutral unless you attack them. But sometimes you may be mining and hit one by mistake on the other side of a block and (snort!) they all come running at you like a football team. And even on wimp ("Easy") mode, they do 2-1/2 hearts of damage per hit and you will probably die in 10 seconds or less. Even worse, my machine loves to lag out at the start of any combat, so I get turned around the wrong way and by the time I get my bearing it's too late.
If you stay in narrow tunnels, they're much less of a problem. As I make my way through the Nether I tend to tunnel about 200 blocks and setup a little outpost (stone or stone brick with a few reinforced glass to see outside), and I block the tunnels with simple fences. Not doors. With a door, they can stick their arms through and hit me but I can't attack in return. That way there's only a small pocket to secure at any given time. And a piggie at a fence can be slapped around like a bad Three Stooges episode. If I don't have fences and I see a pigman coming at me like a linebacker, I block the tunnel at eye level with dirt or any solid block ... I can then wail on their legs and they can't get me. Always limit how many directions you can be attacked from.
On Tekkit, when I had my dark matter armor, damage wasn't much of an issue, so I included gaps in the walls of my little forts. Making an XP farm. Shoot one piggie with an arrow, and they all come up to the open windows for a good slapping. I'd get hit a few times, but no problem.
Recently, the guys at Mojang added a really fun twist. The pigmen will pick up any armor or weapons you drop! Here's an episode of this feature going horribly wrong, from my rambling in-game journal:
Continuing nether exploration from "Base 1128z", was going fine until I accidentally hit a piggie with laser. He came rampaging down the stairs and killed me in a few shots. Stupid lag! But I was in full nano armor!! I should have been okay against one guy. Oh well.
Respawn. I grabbed my spare diamond armor, warped back down there, and the pigman came down the stairs in my NANO ARMOR. Black, creepy thing, looked like a Terminator. I ran up to take a shot anyway, but guess what? He had my Knockback II (Smite III) sword, and with one shot he smashed me over the railing down into lava sea 30 blocks below. Sizzle. DIED AGAIN.
Wow, I created a monster! Rest of my dropped stuff is gone by now. But hey, he's holding onto some of my gear for me. OK, respawn, throw together another nano suit with spare diamond helmet, and a mining laser. Charge em up. Warp back down there. There's the nano-pigman at top of cliffside path. Like a blob of inky death with a pink head. Blast him with mining laser on Explosive mode. Two shots, kapow!, gone. Big drop of stuff, though the cliffside path was also blasted out, all the torches gone, very dangerous. Hard to navigate up to get the stuff ... and I hear more piggies with attitudes nearby. I quickly block the tunnels leading further up in their direction.
Got back my nano suit legs & boots, my lithium lappack (thanks but why was he wearing that??) and my knockback diamond sword (my favorite). Big relief. Lost my rock cutter, a few stacks of pyrite (zzz), 2 stacks of soul sand, 22 levels, and that whole diamond armor from my ridiculous lava dive -- I was really not expecting to run into a nano-monster and my own super weapon that time around. Kinda fun though. An actual challenge. Always remember to turn Explosive mode off, check. Note to self: maybe those scenic cliffside walkways aren't such a good idea. But it gets so dull tunneling under hundreds of blocks, only peeking out every now and then. I wanted something a little more interesting, ended up with lungs full of lava instead.
Headed back down, sealed off the passage leading to pigman problem area -- I only lasered up at that point because I heard a magma cube up there. Anyway, retrieved my stuff from nether-side chest at warp point (Mystcraft book link). Returned to the big pyrite vein I had cut tunnel through earlier. Those are like an xp farm. Came away with 5x64+29 pyrite and 32 xp levels!
Okay, if you ever want a REAL challenge, and think your pigmen are not obnoxious enough, just toss em some super armor and weapons and then knock one over the head with a frying pan. It's a whole different ballgame!
Anyway, I can't tell you what a treat (I mean horror) it was to go around that bend and see the pigman in MY nano-armor coming down those stairs with a squeal. And he held onto most of my gear while the rest of my death drop expired. Nice guy. But he had to be terminated.
Nether is fun. What's the worst that can happen??
First off, don't get caught out in the open. Yeah, the pigmen are neutral unless you attack them. But sometimes you may be mining and hit one by mistake on the other side of a block and (snort!) they all come running at you like a football team. And even on wimp ("Easy") mode, they do 2-1/2 hearts of damage per hit and you will probably die in 10 seconds or less. Even worse, my machine loves to lag out at the start of any combat, so I get turned around the wrong way and by the time I get my bearing it's too late.
If you stay in narrow tunnels, they're much less of a problem. As I make my way through the Nether I tend to tunnel about 200 blocks and setup a little outpost (stone or stone brick with a few reinforced glass to see outside), and I block the tunnels with simple fences. Not doors. With a door, they can stick their arms through and hit me but I can't attack in return. That way there's only a small pocket to secure at any given time. And a piggie at a fence can be slapped around like a bad Three Stooges episode. If I don't have fences and I see a pigman coming at me like a linebacker, I block the tunnel at eye level with dirt or any solid block ... I can then wail on their legs and they can't get me. Always limit how many directions you can be attacked from.
On Tekkit, when I had my dark matter armor, damage wasn't much of an issue, so I included gaps in the walls of my little forts. Making an XP farm. Shoot one piggie with an arrow, and they all come up to the open windows for a good slapping. I'd get hit a few times, but no problem.
Recently, the guys at Mojang added a really fun twist. The pigmen will pick up any armor or weapons you drop! Here's an episode of this feature going horribly wrong, from my rambling in-game journal:
Continuing nether exploration from "Base 1128z", was going fine until I accidentally hit a piggie with laser. He came rampaging down the stairs and killed me in a few shots. Stupid lag! But I was in full nano armor!! I should have been okay against one guy. Oh well.
Respawn. I grabbed my spare diamond armor, warped back down there, and the pigman came down the stairs in my NANO ARMOR. Black, creepy thing, looked like a Terminator. I ran up to take a shot anyway, but guess what? He had my Knockback II (Smite III) sword, and with one shot he smashed me over the railing down into lava sea 30 blocks below. Sizzle. DIED AGAIN.
Wow, I created a monster! Rest of my dropped stuff is gone by now. But hey, he's holding onto some of my gear for me. OK, respawn, throw together another nano suit with spare diamond helmet, and a mining laser. Charge em up. Warp back down there. There's the nano-pigman at top of cliffside path. Like a blob of inky death with a pink head. Blast him with mining laser on Explosive mode. Two shots, kapow!, gone. Big drop of stuff, though the cliffside path was also blasted out, all the torches gone, very dangerous. Hard to navigate up to get the stuff ... and I hear more piggies with attitudes nearby. I quickly block the tunnels leading further up in their direction.
Got back my nano suit legs & boots, my lithium lappack (thanks but why was he wearing that??) and my knockback diamond sword (my favorite). Big relief. Lost my rock cutter, a few stacks of pyrite (zzz), 2 stacks of soul sand, 22 levels, and that whole diamond armor from my ridiculous lava dive -- I was really not expecting to run into a nano-monster and my own super weapon that time around. Kinda fun though. An actual challenge. Always remember to turn Explosive mode off, check. Note to self: maybe those scenic cliffside walkways aren't such a good idea. But it gets so dull tunneling under hundreds of blocks, only peeking out every now and then. I wanted something a little more interesting, ended up with lungs full of lava instead.
Headed back down, sealed off the passage leading to pigman problem area -- I only lasered up at that point because I heard a magma cube up there. Anyway, retrieved my stuff from nether-side chest at warp point (Mystcraft book link). Returned to the big pyrite vein I had cut tunnel through earlier. Those are like an xp farm. Came away with 5x64+29 pyrite and 32 xp levels!
Okay, if you ever want a REAL challenge, and think your pigmen are not obnoxious enough, just toss em some super armor and weapons and then knock one over the head with a frying pan. It's a whole different ballgame!
Anyway, I can't tell you what a treat (I mean horror) it was to go around that bend and see the pigman in MY nano-armor coming down those stairs with a squeal. And he held onto most of my gear while the rest of my death drop expired. Nice guy. But he had to be terminated.
Nether is fun. What's the worst that can happen??
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