So you started up an island in Skyblock, and the first thing you realise is how small it is, and how few resources you start off with.
Before you start panicking, build a stone generator, the most inexpensive and near-exploitable way to:
- Gain an unlimited supply of cobblestone to expand your island.
- Collect ores and rare materials for crafting toolsn weapons and armor (thanks to plugins).
- Make a lot of money by selling the above drops in /shop
Materials required:
- 1 x lava bucket
- 1 x water bucket
- enough blocks to make a channel to control the flows
Lava vs Water
Before you build this farm, it is important to know the mechanics of lava and water interaction.
- If water flow touches a lava source, the lava turns into obsidian, using up the lava in the process. Avoid doing this in Skyblock, obsidian is already available for purchase in /shop, and lava is too useful to sacrifice here.
- If lava flow touches a water source, the water turns into stone, using up the water in the process. Unless you have an unlimited supply of water already, don't do this either.
- The best way to build the generator is to have the lava and water sources apart from each other by a few blocks, so only the cross streams touch, producing cobblestone in the middle.
Pickaxes
Depending on the type of stone you need, it is important to have the right pickaxe for the grind.
- If you don't mind the speed, a cobblestone pickaxe is truly renewable, and can be made from the same cobblestone coming out of your grinder. Have 8 pickaxes in all your hotspots and scroll to switch to a new pickaxe when you use up one.
- To get the ores, you will need a high-durability pickaxe, enchanted with fortune or silk touch. Make sure you stop every once in a while to repair your pickaxe on an anvil, otherwise you'll have to get a new enchanted pickaxe.
- Try switching between the cobblestone and enchanted pickaxes to maximise the enchanted pickaxe's durability.
- If you take the necessary precautions, you can also blow up the stone with TNT.
Generator Modifications
While making the generator itself is quite simple, there are many additions you can install to make the generator more efficient.
- Wall signs do not burn in close proximity to lava, so they make an excellent non-block barrier to control both lava and water flown especially if you are looking to make a compact design.
- Placing pistons to move the stone away from the lava flow is a good way to protect the drops. Make sure the clock circuit that powers the piston gives enough delay for the lava and water to interact, or else the piston head will be pushing air instead.
- Placing an obsidian behind the stone you are mining will allow for continuous grinding without damaging the wall behind the generator. Alterntively, have four generators in a row to make use of the pickaxe's range. Note that continuous grinding will wear out your pickaxe very quickly, so never do this while afk.
- Placing a hopper below the stone is a good way to collect it without filling up your inventory. Placing a minecart hopper on a slab below the stone is even better due to its wider and faster collection range.
- Using a shulker instead of a chest for collection is much more convenient if you want to transport large quantities of stone to build elsewhere.
Nearby machines
Now that you have a lot of cobblestone in your storage, you would probably want to start building straight away. Before you do, here are a few more things you should have:
- A small bamboo/tree farm would ensure you always have enough sticks for cobblestone pickaxes
- Have a furnace set up to collect and smelt the cobblestone that comes out of your generator into stone. Smelting the regular stone a second time will give you smooth stone. The furnace setup also works to smelt ores.
- Have a stonecutter nearby to efficiently carve your stone into bricks, stairs, slabs and walls, for that extra aesthetic.
- Add a vine farm for the old mossy look.
- Why not have an item sorter to seperate the ores from the cobblestone? Sell your excess materials and buy some few hoppers and dispensers
Enjoy your stone generator, and remember not to afk!