Announcement of Some Import:
Hulaabeo managed, by dint of persistence and jammy luck, to find a Nether Fortress in the Old World. He took me there today, and then had to log off, but I continued exploring for a bit and managed to find a couple of really excellently placed blaze-spawners (excellent because they're in caves in the Nether, so the blazes can't fly out of sword range).
Blazes appear to be bugged at the moment, because their fireballs weren't affecting me, so I managed to get a good haul of rods (way more than I have enderpearls to go with). I built a portal back to the Overworld very near to the spawners, but unfortunately it comes out on a small platform of obsidian high over a vast ocean, thousands of blocks from anywhere at all. I will mention the co-ordinates, which are
x: -3484
y: 71
z: 6953
So if you want an 'easy' way to the spawners, there you have it (it really is the middle of nowhere*). Alternatively, you can ask Hula to guide you, I guess. Unfortunately I had neither a diamond pick or any more obsidian to try another portal at the other, closer-to-Exoddus, end of the fortress.
The other thing about the location where my portal came out is that while the chunks were loading, I got a glimpse of some very regular-looking structures underground. At first I thought I'd come out near Exoddus and was seeing someone's mine until I saw my co-ordinates and realised how in-the-middle-of-nowhere I was. I don't want to get anyone too excited and frankly I might be totally wrong but I would say when we get to the stage of looking for a stronghold, there
might be the opportunity of an easy search.
Since we have two worlds to explore, we get two raids on the Enderdragon. Can I suggest we don't use Old World supplies to find it in the New World? Just so we can get the full experience of it and everyone can get involved who wants to. Which would mean finding another Nether Fortress in the New World, collecting blaze rods and enderpearls and then tracking down a stronghold.
Aaaaanyway. This is mainly for the benefit of Hula: I marked the way through the Nether Fortress to where the spawners are, because it's a long, confusing route. When you're in the stronghold, find the sandstone blocks I've placed and follow them, keeping them on your left. They go out through the wall of the ruin and up onto a very ruined road and then into a tunnel. Keep following the sandstone at every junction and you'll find the spawners.
The new world looks really pretty; I look forward to having a good look around. Can I suggest we establish a village around the lake, as has already begun? And I repeat my suggestion that we build smaller personal dwellings there and expend our creativity on the wider area. Oh, and animals have been pushing each other over the fences ringing the farm so I think we need to make those twice as high (I'd just come out of the Nether and didn't have any supplies to hand to do it myself).
On the topic of PVP, is there a mod that'll let us have PVP in a small, specific area (aka, in an arena) and not in the world at large? Having it off is really useful when fighting mobs with friends so you're not accidentally stabbing, shooting and decapitating your allies.
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*
For comparison, rough co-ordinates for...
Genesis (Star Gate):
x: -25
z: 56
Exoddus (Star Gate):
x: -982
z: 2675
Portal to the Nether Fortress and Blaze spawners where there may also be a stronghold:
x: -3484
z: 6953