Getting Started
You just downloaded RLCraft and created a world five minutes ago. Using your Minecraft knowledge, you start punching a tree to get wood. Not only does it take a lot of time to break, it also doesn't drop anything. On this page, you will learn how to get started, as it can get a little tricky. You can also watch Shivaxi's Guide, a beginner's guide made by the creator of the modpack.
How Do I Get Wood?
Flint Knife and Plant String
A Flint Knife requires a Stick and a Flint Shard to craft - the latter can be acquired by right-clicking Flint on top of a hard block (i.e. Stone).
By using a Flint Knife on Grass, Plant Fiber may be dropped. Three Plant Fiber can be combined for one Plant String.
Flint Hatchet
A Stick, Plant String, and Flint Shard can be used to craft a Flint Hatchet, a basic axe. Wood logs can now be harvested.
RLCraft includes the Dynamic Trees mod, so any main block broken of a tree will cause it to fall and drop that section's logs. Being under the falling section is capable of killing entities, including the player. Trees typically fall opposite where they were cut from, unless the player is sneaking.
Note: An axe or tool with that harvest type MUST be used in order to collect logs from a Dynamic Trees tree.
Obtaining Wood Planks
Placing Wood Logs in the crafting grid does not give Wood Planks, with few exceptions. Instead, a Log must be placed on the ground and its top surface should be right-clicked with an Axe. Doing the same with Wood Planks yields Sticks.
Picking Up Items
Are you having trouble picking up your Gravel, Flint Shards, or Sticks? This is because RLCraft includes a mod where item pickup functions differently than regular Minecraft.
To pick up an item off the ground, right-click on the item or crouch nearby to pick it up. Crouching will pick up all nearby items, whereas right-clicking will pick up only the item being looked at. This allows items through small crevices and other hard-to-reach areas to be retrieved.
Getting Better Tools
Once you managed to get enough wood planks, you might want to make a Wooden Pickaxe, to be able to go and mine some stone. However, you might notice that mining stone does not yield cobblestone, instead it drops rocks. To get some cobblestone, simply put four rocks in your crafting grid, which will give you one cobblestone. You will be getting up to six different types of rocks: Rocks, Andesite Rocks, Granite Rocks, Diorite Rocks, Marble Rocks and Sandstone Rocks. All of them, except for the latter, will yield their very own type of cobblestone upon being crafted, but every type of cobblestone can be used anywhere you would normally need to use regular cobblestone in a crafting recipe, such as stone tools. Some players may choose to skip wooden tools completely, which can be accomplished by collecting rocks off of the ground, by right-clicking, and crafting them into cobblestone and then making stone tools. This method, which can help craft better items faster, can be quite slow if you are in an environment with very few rocks on the ground.
Torches
When crafting a typical Torch, it will be Unlit. These torches can be Lit by making a Matchbox then putting an Unlit Torch with the Matchbox into the crafting area. A Flint and Steel can also be used.
In order to craft Torches that are permanently lit, a Glowstone Crystal can take the place of Coal in the crafting grid.
Crafting a Bed
In order to skip the night and avoid monsters, you need to craft a bed or a Sleeping Bag.
Wool can be obtained by combining Plant String, combining String, or killing certain mobs. Sleeping Bags don't require wood planks, but don't set a spawn point.
Be warned! Clicking a bed to sleep has a 1% chance of spawning a Reaper, a flying mob who shoots dark orbs at the player, giving the Blindness and Fear debuffs.
Better Defense
If you set your spawn, you are free to die as much as you wish without losing your home. However, while this drastically lowers the risks of exploration, you may find it tough to defend yourself against the unfathomable amount of mobs. One of the best ways of defending yourself, is to craft a shield. There are multiple kinds of shields, but the cheapest one can be created with 6 planks and a stick. Place a stick in the center of your crafting grid and surround it with planks, leaving any two opposite corners of the grid empty. This will craft a crude shield, which can be equipped by holding it in your hand and pressing F. You can also upgrade your shield by placing it in the center of your grid and surrounding it on the four surrounding spaces with a desired material. Using stone is your best choice at the moment, as other materials cannot be used until you upgrade your defense skill, in the skills menu, which can be opened by bringing up your inventory and selecting the appropriate tab on the left. More information on skills can be found here.
Early-Game Tips
- Mine for Iron: Mine for the iron clumps on the surface instead. You can easily see them since they are covered in granite or andesite blocks. Keep distance when mining ores since Geonachs can spawn. Caving is especially dangerous since a lot of strong lycanite mobs can kill you.
- Craft Basic Baubles: Craft a Toolbelt, Quiver, Emerald Rings, and Emerald Amulet. Utilize Reforging Station (Bountiful Baubles) and Reforging Station (Quality Tools) (if possible) to improve their quality.
- Atlas Creation: Craft an Atlas to track exploration progress. Make copies to avoid losing exploration data upon death.
Using Villages and Random Respawn Locations
As of RLCraft 2.9, a very viable way to get lots of loot fast, and bypass the flint stage, is to die repeatedly until you find a village. You then loot the village for crates (an early game shulker box), paper, weapons, grapes, enchanted books, food, and valuables. You then find and activate the waystone by right clicking it, then repeat the process by dying until you find another village. This does not work on hardcore for obvious reasons, but is a very viable way to get lots of loot early game and bypass the flint stage at the same time.
Why this Way?
This can be a good strategy because one can amass lots of loot relatively easily. It can take some time, as dying multiple times for a good respawn location is time consuming, but is very useful in the long run.
Another Strategy
Some new players in RLCraft must see it as "more hard Minecraft." They follow the simple progression of normal Minecraft, and let their curiosity get ahead of them. RLCraft has many dangers that can meet the player anytime. Even the nice peaceful forest can spawn a strange creature called a Ent. Ents are hostile creatures that will do anything to protect their forests. They can spawn from breaking leaves, logs, and more all at a 0.8% chance. Ents can be a early threat to new players in RLCraft. Remember to not let your curiosity get too ahead of you! There are many dangers in RLCraft, and they are usually right at your doorstep.
Note
Play the modpack however you want! These are just simply strategies and advice to help you along the way. Of course they will help you, but you can always play at your own pace, and style!
Getting Safe Shelter
Now that you have some tools and weapons to defend yourself, take your bed, and set out to explore. Finding a natural shelter is probably your best bet for the early-game, as it's prebuilt. Given how many extra steps most building materials need, you probably shouldn't build your own shelter until you have at least have a saw, that way you can have more wood. Cobblestone is not recommended as Volcan, spawned from Eruption and lava pools, can turn it into lava. Regardless, try seeking out a village or a house, as long as it's got a roof, walls, door and light, it's good enough. Once you have better equipment, you can build more. You should start out with natural structures. Fortify them and call it home. One of the biggest threats to builders in RLCraft is Cinderfall. In this dangerous event, it spawns burning enemies called Cinders. Cinders will set everything on fire, and deal a lot of damage. Make sure to build, or fortify a natural structure with stone materials if you plan to live in it.
What if I Can't Find a Prebuilt Shelter that Works for Me?
You'll probably want to amass a fair amount of non-cobblestone or wood building materials, such as stone bricks, and find a good place to build. Stay away from dragons so they don't attack your home. Make it smaller to start with until you have regular torches that don't burn out, as to not have to worry as much about managing your torches. Underground bases are usually a safe alternative to surface bases as long as you either light up or spawn-proof surrounding caves, as to prevent a Grue from spawning and killing you. In addition to the lack of mobs trying to kill you, the seasons no longer affect you, as long as you're deep enough. A general rule is to go down to the bottom of the world, then go high enough so you're not affected by deep lava lakes. This will give you plenty of space to build farms, which you still need Greenhouse Glass for. You can also make large, dark rooms to farm Wraamon and Spectre from, which drop charges and some useful loot.
Combat Tips
- Prioritize Skill Leveling: Aim for level 16 to unlock diamond armor and weaponry.
- Battle Tower Tactics: Block enemy paths and attack through holes. Utilize water buckets to extinguish fire and prioritize fleeing from powerful mobs like Ninjas or Blights.
- Battle Tower Loot: Avoid opening the chest on the floor before the last. Consider using Hoppers to collect loot from the Battle Tower Golem (cheese method).
- Enchantment Importance: Enchant your armor with Protection IV, Unbreaking, and Mending for better survivability.
Mid-Game Goals:
- Defiled Lands Exploration: Locate a Defiled Lands Biome to establish a bookworm farm for Golden Scales, necessary for a Disenchantment Table.
- Disenchantment Importance: Disenchant tools to save the enchants in them.
- Locate Librarians: Use librarians to get rare enchantments like supreme sharpness, or supreme protection.
Taming Lycanite Mobs (Mid-Late game):
- Tame Rocs, Morrocks, or Raikos to get flying mounts.
- Use Soulstones to permanently bind tamed pets.
Lycanites Events:
- Be aware of the 5-hour "hotspot" window for Lycanites Events, signifying a higher chance of their occurrence.
- During these periods, prioritize basic survival activities and avoid high-risk ventures.
- Events are extremely deadly early-mid game, so stay inside until the event ends.