Minecraft Citybuilder: Stage Three Fini!

No, I haven't given up yet. Stage three of my Minecraft Citybuilder Challenge is now done, with some extras in place that put me part way through stage four out of the way too. Of course, that might be cheating, but I'll have to see how I feel about pushing through to the final stages of this challenge.

First, a broad-strokes overview of the entire town, as seen from the mountain that I, umm, accidentally cut in half. It makes a good panoramic viewpoint now. These two shots capture the above-ground city.

Arena, Residential Area, City Hall, Tower and Pool

 Looking at these two pictures, you can see the town walls, wood to the right, stone to the left. These are now fully illuminated, and there's a path around the entire perimeter of the city too.

Arena, Tree Farm, Animal Pens and Farm

I've added a quad of blocky housing near the mine entrance, and just beyond that, a set of two-story apartments. These structures replaced the wheat/vegetable farm and animal pens and make the town section feel more like a town. Just beyond those is the town well and the indoor pool. Hey, why stick with boring community structures?

Time for a Swim

There's an underground bar with a window view into the pool, but I need to mess about with my water textures to get a good view of the pool interior. The current textures have too many wavy patterns.

The mine has been a challenge. The land beneath this area is riddled with caverns and ravines. I've found at least four ravines, endless caverns, and even two (or one enormous) abandoned mine shaft.

The Orderly Mine Tunnels

The Not So Orderly Mine Tunnels

So, going down the list for stage three:

• Wall - Check! Half wood, half stone, but done.
• Gate - Check! Multiple gates, actually, with one larger gate for show.
• Well - Check! Right by city hall.
• Tree Farm - Check! Multiple tree types supported.
• Community Structure - Check! Pool and Arena.
• Deep Mine - Check! Ugly but functional.
• Paths - Check! Everything is connected to the wall path and each other.
• Inventory - Check! The treasury is overflowing, and all items accounted for.

The Completed Arena

With stage three done, it's time to take a look at the next part of the challenge:

"We shall become a prosperous City!"

Restrictions:

• No Diamond Tools
• You cannot use any diamond for any reason.
• You may only create/use items with ingredients that can be gathered with the allowed tools or your hands (but no diamond items, as stated before)

Requirements to advance:

• All requirements from previous stages. (except item requirements marked (i))
• A City Hall (may be upgraded from town hall) which contains:
• A front door
• A meeting room
• A town treasury
• At least two offices
• At least two floors
• A cathedral or other large religious building.
• At least 2 defensive turrets/towers must be built on/near your walls
• At least 2 more community structures (making 3 in total) must be built.
• A fenced off (or otherwise protected), working wheat farm that must have at least 10 (as opposed to 5) wheat per person participating
• A mine shaft that goes down to level 20 or lower.
• A sea port (if feasible) with at least one pier and boat (item or building) OR a stable if sea port is not possible
• Paths must be created linking the town hall to each new community building and the sea port/stable.

Treasury must contain:

• (i) 15 items of edible food per person
• (i) A bucket
• At least 1 of each:
• (i) Steel Sword
• (i) Steel Pickaxe
• (i) Steel Shovel
• (i) Steel Axe
• (i) Steel Hoe
• (i) Steel Helmet
• (i) Steel Chest Plate
• (i) Steel Leggings
• (i) Steel Boots
• (i) Compass
• (i) Clock

The treasury is easy, I just need to add a clock and a compass to what I have. The rest:

• City Hall - I'm going to upgrade my town hall since it almost qualifies as a city hall already, and I would rather build something new.
• Cathedral - Must be built. I will probably put this next to the city hall.
• Two Defensive Towers/Turrets - Easy, I'll expand/upgrade my existing towers.
• Two Community Structures - Technically I'm ahead here, but not a biggie. I need a market, and maybe a library that can double as an enchanting room too.
• Wheat Farm - Done. Mine is much larger than required.
• Mine Shaft - Also done. Mine goes all the way!
• Sea Port - This is a problem since the nearest ocean is a few hundred blocks away. I'll probably build a stable instead, because I have tons of horses.
• Paths - Of course.

So, all in all, not a ton to do here. The one thing I've learned from this is that for building challenges, I want mods. You can do a lot with plain blocks, but having a fancier build set would be more enjoyable. Also, having some gathering automation would let me focus on building instead of getting lost in the maze beneath the city.