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Minecraft has been in active development since its original creator, Notch, first conceptualized it in May 2009. Since then, the game has received consistent updates. With 13 years of updates, the game boasts one of the longest development cycles in the gaming industry.
Given the plethora of game mechanics and combinations, it is not possible for most players to be aware of every in-game feature and content in Minecraft. Below are 10 interesting yet lesser-known features of Minecraft.
10 lesser-known Minecraft features that might come in handy
1) Avoiding a crop growth penalty
Minecraft has a very intriguing farming mechanism. If there are multiple rows of the same crop next to each other, a penalty is applied to the growth speeds of all the crops.
This means that players should ensure that there are alternate rows of crops in their farms to maximize growth speed. Just leaving the blocks as grass will not work either. Unless there are different crops or empty farmland next to a row of crops, a penalty will be applied.
Thus, players should always plant a variety of crops, as the alternative is just leaving half of the farm empty.
2) Flower Duplication
As the veterans of the game might know, using bonemeal on a grassy patch will result in grass growing, along with the occasional flower.
However, players might be unfamiliar with the effect of bonemeal on double-tall flowers. When a player uses bonemeal on double-tall flowers, such as the rose bush, peony, and lilac, a duplicate flower drops.
This means that players can get infinite amounts of dye from double-tall flowers, as long as they have access to bonemeal.
3) Vertical Redstone signaling
Redstone is one of the most complex aspects of Minecraft. It has many uses that were accidentally discovered by the developers over time.
One of the most difficult aspects of mining redstone is transporting redstone signals over long distances vertically.
One of the more ingenious ways the community has found for the above is the use of walls. When a wall is updated, observers can detect the update and output a redstone signal. The advantages of this method are that the signal is transported instantly, and the signal can be transported over an infinite range. Theoretically, the signal can be transported from the build height to all the way down to bedrock.
4) Named Blocks
Most players are probably familiar with the anvil’s ability to rename pretty much any block or item in the game at the cost of a small amount of experience. However, what players might not know is that renaming can have unique effects for some particular blocks.
For example, renaming furnaces and chests will not only show their name when the player hovers over them in the inventory but will also show their new name in the UI when the blocks are interacted with.
Players can use this feature to rename chests and sort them without labeling them with item frames, blocks, or signs.
5) Minecart Hoppers
Hoppers are invaluable for any player who wants to experiment with the more technical side of the game. They are exceptionally useful in farms for transporting items and storage systems to sort items into the right chests.
However, one of the biggest downsides to regular hoppers is that they can only collect items directly above them or through a slab. Minecart hoppers have no such weaknesses and are able to collect items on the other side of full blocks, making them incredibly useful and a requirement for particular types and designs of farms.
6) Magma Cube damage
Magma cubes are one of the most annoying blocks, both in the overworld and the Nether. They inflict constant contact damage as long as the player is in contact with the block. However, there are multiple ways to avoid magma cubes, and many players might be unaware of them.
The first way is very simple: crouch on top of the magma block. This will help players to be more careful as they will move slower. The other method is to have boots with the frost walker enchantment. The cold aura that this enchantment has neutralizes the magma block’s heat, meaning the player will receive no damage.
7) Carpets
There are a few different blocks that have useful effects, even though they might not be pleasing to look at. For example, slime blocks can completely negate fall damage; however, they stand out in nearly every build, as they are very bright lime green. Another example is soul sand. When soul sand is combined with the soul speed enchantment, it has a very unique texture that tends to stick out.
However, what many players might not know is that both of these blocks can be covered by carpet and still have their normal intended effect. This means that players can blend them into their existing builds while ensuring a great carpet design.
8) F3 Commands
The F3 menu is something pretty much every Java player is familiar with. Players can find a plethora of useful information using it, such as the current biome, player coordinates, facing direction, and even the light level of the block the player is currently standing on.
However, apart from opening the debug menu, F3 can be combined with other keys to activate other commands.
Listed below are some of the more important commands:
- F3 + A: reload all chunks
- F3 + G: toggles chunk border visibility
- F3 + H: Toggles block ID visibility and the visibility of tool and armor durability
- F3 + T: Reloads textures, models, sounds, and all other resource pack contents
9) Clearing the creative inventory
This tip is for players who spend a lot of time in the game’s creative mode. Players often spend a lot of time in the creative mode to test redstone, do mock builds, and build with unlimited resources.
When doing a lot of building, it is very easy to end up with a lot of random clutter, especially when experimenting with different redstone components or block palettes. Clearing out the inventory can be a time-consuming ordeal. However, there exists a relatively unknown shortcut to completely empty the inventory.
This can be done by shift-clicking the box in the creative inventory labeled destroy item. This will clear the hotbar, the main inventory, as well as the offhand slot and armor slots.
10) Getting better enchantments on any item
Before enchanting an item or tool, players should make sure to have a good tool of the same type in their inventory. For example, if a player wants to enchant a tool, have a good tool, and if they want to enchant a sword, they should have a gold sword in their inventory.
In the enchanting UI, players should place a gold item into the enchanting interface first, as this will generate better enchantments due to gold’s enchantability. Then, they should switch the gold tool with a regular tool. This will ensure that the enchanting UI is not reset and will result in better enchantment.
