So, you know the basics of how to move and interact in Minecraft and what the basic tools are. Hopefully you’ve either figured out how to make them, or someone has told you (possibly even me!). But- here is the big question- what do you want to do first? You only have the 15 minutes of daylight before nighttime falls, and if you’re not prepared you’re going to be out in the open, and get jumped by a zombie, skeleton, spider, creeper, or, if you’re really unlucky, an Enderman or a skeleton riding a spider. How do you cope? What do you need? What can you skip on your first day in your quest for safety?
Have no fear, this article is for just that! Having recently helped to introduce another gamer to Minecraft, the necessities are fresh on my mind and ready for explaining!
So, what do you want to do the moment you pop in on Minecraft? Well, the first thing is to take mental note of what the place you have spawned looks like, and wander around a short distance. It shouldn’t be too hard to find the things you need near where you spawned, and knowing the surroundings is vital- even if you wander far afield, you’ll want to have a safe spot here that you can enter quickly if you should die and be forced to respawn.
Once you’ve done that, there is one thing you need to find above all else- a tree. In order to build a crafting table or any tools, you need to have a tree to get wood from. On finding a tree, you want to knock it down- the whole thing, leaves and all. This is because while the trunk produces the essential resource that is wood, you also will want to have at least one sapling- even if you can’t plant multiple trees, you can replant that one and ensure that there will always be wood in a place you know how to reach.
The second thing you will need to do is find a place where you can dig up some stone. If you’re fortunate, there’s a cliff or a chasm in the ground near you that you can climb or descend. If you’re not lucky, don’t fret- digging up some dirt will always turn up stone beneath that. But! You can’t mine stone bare-handed! So, the third thing you should do is craft a wooden pick.
The pick is the only tool you should ever make out of wood under normal circumstances. While wooden tools of other kinds will do in a severe pinch, they’re fragile, not very strong, and slow. What’s more, you will only be unable to reach stone if you are floating in the middle of the ocean- and even that can be circumvented if you’re a little inventive. Stone is everywhere- it’s even more common than wood and leaf blocks, though unlike those it does not self-replace (there is a way to make new stone blocks that doesn’t consume any resources, but that will be covered in another article).
Once you have your wooden pick, dig up some stone blocks to make stone tools. This will let you dig dirt and sand faster, chop wood faster, give you a sword to protect yourself, and let you mine the invaluable iron ore as well as mine through rock faster. Keep in mind that combining two used tools will give you one tool with more durability remaining than the sum of both damaged tools- usually it’s best to start with two stone tools of each kind, in case you are unable to find iron ore.
Now, with a stone sword in your hand and a stone pick and axe (and possibly shovel if you want to dig dirt even faster), you’re ready for the last item you absolutely must craft on your first day- torches. If you have found coal, this is what it’s for, before anything else. This is because monsters will not spawn where there is light, and even dirt walls will keep them out as long as you don’t leave a window in a thin wall for a creeper to stare at you through and then explode (destroying the wall and injuring, if not killing, you).
If you have not found coal, though, you have essentially three choices.
The first option is to dig as fast and as much as you can, excavating a big and wide hole in the ground in search of coal. Unless you are in a swamp, this is not a very good option, and even then it’s questionable. While coal is easy to find and quite common, it only takes a little bad luck to waste your entire first day digging for a burnable resource that isn’t there at all. Especially since you’ll want to keep the pit open at the top so you do not invite monsters to spawn inside it with you and jump you from behind.
The second option is to trek out in search of coal. This is a m uch better option, because chasms and cliffs are all over the place, and nearly any chasm or cliff of any size will have some coal exposed in it where you can easily see it. It is also a risky option, however, because you could simply go in the wrong direction and miss all the cliffs and chasms. You could also get yourself lost, and not having track of how to get back to where you are from your spawn point is a terrible thing- particularly when you have no bed yet and cannot reset your spawn point. There is also a chance you will wander right into a creeper that has itself meandered aimlessly out of a chasm or cave, and that explosion could end you pretty easily. These three things have a much lower chance of occurring than the problems with the first option, but they are still there and you do need to be aware of the risks.
The final option is to go about setting up your first shelter anyways, with the intent to find coal later- and just make sure that your first shelter is only barely large enough to fit you inside it. Since you will then occupy the space inside, no monsters can spawn inside the shelter, which makes you technically safe. However, you still won’t have coal on the next day and will have to search for it or dig a big mining pit. You’ll have more time, but it simply fails to solve the problem at all, and should be used only as a stopgap measure.
At any rate, with a full set of stone tools, a crafting table, and torches, you’re all set to start out in the world of Minecraft! I’ll see you next time, and good luck!
