Loose Rock Placement

[redundantusage 330]

This is just a suggestion about the wildly scattered loose rock. It would look a lot better if instead of being scattered everywhere like it currently is, to instead being lightly scattered and having more loose rocks spawn around boulder-like outcroppings of rock. Would be something between 1 and 12 blocks of stone jutting from the ground with a good deal of loose rock scattered around it.

Like this, but probably with even more loose rock around and on it. (Couldn't figure out how to place it myself, if even possible)

[Jasnatdic 85]

Except that one of two things would need to take place. Either boulders are all over the place allowing for plenty of loose rocks for the player to get started with, or this increases the starting difficulty of the game by several magnitudes.

Well, third possibility is that rocks spawn in piles around the boulders allowing for many more rocks and ore chances, but again if there aren't many many boulders and piles all over you would have a way harder time finding them in range of ore to throw out small ores to get started with.

On the other hand this would increase the possibility of finding random rocks sticking out suitible for a starter anvil

[Joey 59]

fantastico I think so. What if... loose rocks spawned on the SIDES of blocks. dun dun dun

[Just_Another_Guy_:) 1,066]

As long as you can still find rocks km away from any of these outcroppings, i like this :3

[LordOfWolves 514]

Good, believable, feels natural, it has the picture...vote: 8,45/10

A good suggestion, really.

[YourMajesty 10]

It's a neat idea. I certainly like them as terrain features. Not as sure about reducing the general concentration of stones in favor of relocating them to the vicinity of these boulders... Eh, it probably wouldn't make too much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. What would the distribution of these things look like? 1 for every 20 chunks? I'd think they should be just sparse enough that, if you were standing on one, you wouldn't be able to see another one within a four-chunk radius.

[Enzer 60]

Except that one of two things would need to take place. Either boulders are all over the place allowing for plenty of loose rocks for the player to get started with, or this increases the starting difficulty of the game by several magnitudes.

Well, third possibility is that rocks spawn in piles around the boulders allowing for many more rocks and ore chances, but again if there aren't many many boulders and piles all over you would have a way harder time finding them in range of ore to throw out small ores to get started with.

On the other hand this would increase the possibility of finding random rocks sticking out suitable for a starter anvil

You could just decrease the current spawn rate for small rocks by, say, a third, and then have these outcroppings have a chance to generate every few chunks. Chunks that contain an outcropping have more small rocks that spawn in them, with the majority of them clumped around the outcropping.

That way it doesn't really impact early gameplay by starving players for small rocks and provides, as others have mentioned, surface stones to work on as a temporary anvil until they are able to craft their first one.

It would also add more terrain features, which I am always for, breaking up the world a little bit and being a clear indication of the type of rock in the stone layers below (yes, I know you can glance at small rocks, but this would be a good indication if you are further away).

[Artuga 15]

This is just a suggestion about the wildly scattered loose rock. It would look a lot better if instead of being scattered everywhere like it currently is, to instead being lightly scattered and having more loose rocks spawn around boulder-like outcroppings of rock. Would be something between 1 and 12 blocks of stone jutting from the ground with a good deal of loose rock scattered around it.

Like this, but probably with even more loose rock around and on it. (Couldn't figure out how to place it myself, if even possible)

Wouldn't this mean locating starter ores for your first sluices a lot more difficult? could be a problem, as i tend to always scavenge rocks along the coast to mark off good sluice points early game.

I DO like the idea, i just think you might need to implement additional mechanics in order to justify this change. Maybe have a way to more actively use gold pans to map out ore deposits? (like a weak version or the prospectors pick, only usable in water)

This way, you would still have sluices as a desirable early game starting mechanic to obtain ores.

[ECC 508]

Doesn't dirt sometimes drop a rock? If dirt was reworked to generate a new type of dirt with a loose rock in it, we could skip the whole 'oh hey, these surface rocks are ugly and not realistic' without having to worry about putting something in place that makes the game (nearly)impossible to progress.

[redundantusage 330]

I guess I wasn't very specific, I didn't mean loose surface rocks would no longer be scattered along the ground, just not as frequently as grass blocks are (exaggeration). You'd still have a good scattering of them on the ground for locating potential metal sources and whatnot, but for higher concentrations like I sometimes already see in the world, you'd find rock outcroppings. This could also be beneficial as imagine if you find a rock outcropping that happens to sit above a vein, big concentration of ore nuggets as well.

[abandoned mines 119]

i lkie this idea

they remind me of arratics (glaicaly moved bolders) near where i live

perhaps they could also be found along with bolders (as in larger versions of the random rocks you can find at the mo)

[Leosallespoli 338]

I kind of like the idea... would give something to look for.

This is quite hard to achieve, since, as far as I know, rocks being 'outcrop' (is this the word?) is not controlled. They happen because of the noise generation and because they are allowed to. What could be done is generate this as something like ore or how trees are generated.

I don't want to say things I am not sure of, but I'm pretty sure it is really hard to do this. Something rather easier is to spawn more of these loose rocks on top of gravel when there is nothing above it.

[LordOfWolves 514]

I kind of like the idea... would give something to look for.

This is quite hard to achieve, since, as far as I know, rocks being 'outcrop' (is this the word?) is not controlled. They happen because of the noise generation and because they are allowed to. What could be done is generate this as something like ore or how trees are generated.

I don't want to say things I am not sure of, but I'm pretty sure it is really hard to do this. Something rather easier is to spawn more of these loose rocks on top of gravel when there is nothing above it.

And why not also near a mountain? It's believable.

[redundantusage 330]

The noise generation makes trees, I see no reason a variable couldn't be added to produce random small rock formations.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

I would like a better instantiation of the loose rock mechanic. I think the current implementation is rather rudimentary and doesn't represent any real geological processes. Loose rocks and boulders are often deposited by glaciers, and are made from much harder rocks that were scraped off a mountain side and carried over land. I would like to see non-ground rock boulders as small out croppings scattered around

I think rocks would work better if they were found closer to gravel, maybe on top of it. I also think that sand should return to its vanilla state, as you can't make glass from any mineral other than silica. You find silica deserts inland, the only examples of non-silica sands are on beaches, where they can be basaltic or coral based and have many different colours. I think it would be better to have GRAVEL be coloured to represent the parent rock, as gravel is crushed stone and leave sand as the silica it should be. This would also explain why loose rocks would be found near gravel, as they would just be unusually large pieces of gravel.

[Leosallespoli 338]

I would like a better instantiation of the loose rock mechanic. I think the current implementation is rather rudimentary and doesn't represent any real geological processes. Loose rocks and boulders are often deposited by glaciers, and are made from much harder rocks that were scraped off a mountain side and carried over land. I would like to see non-ground rock boulders as small out croppings scattered around

You're right, but beware that "Loose rocks and boulders are often deposited by glaciers" is not really true, for boulders yes, but loose rocks can be deposited by even gravity, like a displaced rock going down hill.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

You're right, but beware that "Loose rocks and boulders are often deposited by glaciers" is not really true, for boulders yes, but loose rocks can be deposited by even gravity, like a displaced rock going down hill.

you can use gravity as the excuse for all rock movement in one way or another, as it causes winds and weather.

[Leosallespoli 338]

you can use gravity as the excuse for all rock movement in one way or another, as it causes winds and weather.

Most boulders from glaciers wouldn't move because of gravity, they are REALLY big! Only if it were with a reazonable angle, that in most cases aren't present

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

Most boulders from glaciers wouldn't move because of gravity, they are REALLY big! Only if it were with a reazonable angle, that in most cases aren't present

I meant that its gravity that causes the bottom layer of the ice to melt, gravity that pulls the glacier down the mountain and into the valley where it drop it's rocks.

[transcengopher 349]

Hell, gravity is one of the reasons our planet is warm and has liquid water.

[dunkleosteus 2,425]

so, what do you guys think of my gravel/sand postulation?

[redundantusage 330]

I think the sand near large water bodies make sense being the color of the local rock, but actual deserts or deposits of sand inland should be a standard silica sand like you said. Honestly, the sand matching the rock, especially around waterways, really ties the environment together and makes it look less patchwork. Throwing in gravel that matches stone type as well and that could be sifted for stone of the rock indicated would probably be tedious to implement but would also change one of the last real vanilla spawning blocks in game to bring it in line with the rest of the mod.

[Leosallespoli 338]

so, what do you guys think of my gravel/sand postulation?

Something rather easier is to spawn more of these loose rocks on top of gravel when there is nothing above it.

It is a nice idea, surely irl it is harder to find nuggets in the middle of a forest or a plain than it is to find one in a river bed, or its margin, but you have to balance this for in-game purpose

[bsb23 303]

Rather than return sand to its vanilla state why not make a new block for silica sand we move all of our sand to beaches. Deserts would be reflected off of whatever it is that affects them I'm too lazy to look it up. I suppose it isn't necessary just it would be nice to keep the aesthetically pleasing beaches.

[LordOfWolves 514]

And sometimes in deserts you can find very little pieces of glass, not because it's too hot, but because a meteor collided years and years ago.