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It is a well-known fact that flying into clouds can lead to loss of orientation.
It is a less well-known fact that flying into clouds may lead one somewhere else entirely.
In fact, only one person has learned this so far.
Thanjen in Terraria
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wind_on_my_face
One of the silent blue-hared women is now inside a comfortably sized glass globe in the middle of her (or is that its?) swoop.
Dig! Fight! Build!
She crashes into the glass and attempts, unsuccessfully, to continue her flight pattern from inside the globe. Swoo—crash. Turn, orient on him, sw—crash. Turn again, orient on him, sw—crash. Impacts with the globe seem to disrupt her sufficiently that she never reaches the feather-firing stage of the swoop.
wind_on_my_face
Well, that's mildly disturbing. He'll take mildly disturbing over more what, though.
This globe gets staked down on the island. The other six can get the same confinement. And some smaller-than-feathers air holes for everyone.
He takes a look inside the cabin, which his wings will not let him fit into yet.
This globe gets staked down on the island. The other six can get the same confinement. And some smaller-than-feathers air holes for everyone.
He takes a look inside the cabin, which his wings will not let him fit into yet.
Dig! Fight! Build!
Inside the gold-plated (or at least gold-ish-plated) cabin, there are gold-ish-plated walls and ceiling and floor, and there is a blue treasure chest with a gold-ish square-ish symbol on the front. That's it. Cabin, door, walls, chest.
wind_on_my_face
Hmm.
He touches the outside of the cabin and attempts to claim it and find out what's underneath the gold (gold? what?), preparatory to dismantling the whole thing. He doesn't feel like being inside somebody else's box.
He touches the outside of the cabin and attempts to claim it and find out what's underneath the gold (gold? what?), preparatory to dismantling the whole thing. He doesn't feel like being inside somebody else's box.
Dig! Fight! Build!
The gold is not gold. Underneath the not-gold is a solid extent of something else that isn't gold either. Unlike the blue feathers, it permits itself to be claimed, and is even reasonably straightforward.
(The blue-haired women in their glass globes continue to ineffectually swoop.)
(The blue-haired women in their glass globes continue to ineffectually swoop.)
wind_on_my_face
He plants anchors around the perimeter of the island for balance, then cracks the roof and the walls apart from each other and stacks them up on the nearest flat spot.
Dig! Fight! Build!
Well.
He cracks the roof and the walls apart from each other—and as soon as he has moved any individual grid-aligned cube significantly out of alignment, it spontaneously turns into a much smaller cube with much weirder properties. The individual tiny cubes politely identify themselves as '1 Sunplate Block', and when two or more of them collide they merge into a single tiny cube claiming to consist of '2 Sunplate Blocks', '5 Sunplate Blocks'...
He cracks the roof and the walls apart from each other—and as soon as he has moved any individual grid-aligned cube significantly out of alignment, it spontaneously turns into a much smaller cube with much weirder properties. The individual tiny cubes politely identify themselves as '1 Sunplate Block', and when two or more of them collide they merge into a single tiny cube claiming to consist of '2 Sunplate Blocks', '5 Sunplate Blocks'...
wind_on_my_face
He is completely out of whats.
If the universe is a CRPG, then the universe is a CRPG.
He moves the tiny cubes into a single stack out of the way and investigates the contents of the ex-cabin.
If the universe is a CRPG, then the universe is a CRPG.
He moves the tiny cubes into a single stack out of the way and investigates the contents of the ex-cabin.
Dig! Fight! Build!
The stack also helpfully informs him, via the same unobtrusive mental tooltip that told him its name, that he can use it to place Sunplate Blocks in the world.
Inside of the cabin there is, as mentioned, a treasure chest, and inside of the treasure chest there are several tiny objects, all more or less the same size as the Sunplate Block stack: a balloon, a book, a bottle, a bar, a bag.
Inside of the cabin there is, as mentioned, a treasure chest, and inside of the treasure chest there are several tiny objects, all more or less the same size as the Sunplate Block stack: a balloon, a book, a bottle, a bar, a bag.
wind_on_my_face
Yep, that sure is some RPG items. Apparently it's a prehistoric CRPG too. Jump height?
Well, it's not like he'll run out of places to put things any time soon. He picks up the tiny objects with a gloved hand, to see if anything interesting happens.
Does he get an inventory?
Well, it's not like he'll run out of places to put things any time soon. He picks up the tiny objects with a gloved hand, to see if anything interesting happens.
Does he get an inventory?
Dig! Fight! Build!
Any inventory-sized object he has claimed or is holding provides him with its little tooltip. Shiny Red Balloon, Guide to Plant Fiber Cordage, 10 Empty Bottles, 8 Iron Bars, 1 Herb Bag. The Shiny Red Balloon and Guide to Plant Fiber Cordage can be equipped by expanding them to non-inventory size and keeping them about his person; the 10 Empty Bottles can be expanded to non-inventory size and that seems to be it; the 8 Iron Bars can be placed in the world in the same manner as the Sunplate Blocks; and the Herb Bag can be opened, although it doesn't deign to inform him what results the opening action will have.
wind_on_my_face
Okay, so no convenient pocket universe in which to store stuff. Inventory-sizing things is only slightly less ridiculously convenient, though.
He searches the island for other loot.
He searches the island for other loot.
Dig! Fight! Build!
Nothing, unless he counts the blocks composing the island itself, or the trees. Or his collection of seven ineffectually swooping blue-haired women.
wind_on_my_face
Fine. Walk into their house, steal their stuff, and then steal the house too, isn't that how it goes?
He spreads out on the ground and tries for some dirt, or grass, or dirt-with-grass-on-top. If this is a game, why should Dirt be any more complex than Sunplate Blocks?
He spreads out on the ground and tries for some dirt, or grass, or dirt-with-grass-on-top. If this is a game, why should Dirt be any more complex than Sunplate Blocks?
Dig! Fight! Build!
The grass "growing" "in" the dirt is more like decoration than live plants. On sustaining any significant damage it disappears, leaving unmarked green mossy stuff in its place.
The dirt itself is... substantially more regular than ordinary dirt. It has variation in its internal composition, but more in the way of a well-constructed facsimile of a single seamless expanse of dirt that, in the end, is only made of dirt blocks. After he gets the top layer figured out, the rest are dead easy by comparison.
Surrounding and supporting the dirt blocks is a thick layer of cloud blocks. Perhaps he'd like to try those next.
The dirt itself is... substantially more regular than ordinary dirt. It has variation in its internal composition, but more in the way of a well-constructed facsimile of a single seamless expanse of dirt that, in the end, is only made of dirt blocks. After he gets the top layer figured out, the rest are dead easy by comparison.
Surrounding and supporting the dirt blocks is a thick layer of cloud blocks. Perhaps he'd like to try those next.
wind_on_my_face
Whole hog, er, floating island, it is.
Okay, the cloud blocks are supporting the dirt. Are the cloud blocks connected to anchors in a conventional fashion? Or are they holding things up by virtue of being cloud blocks?
He's pretty sure he should expect the latter.
Okay, the cloud blocks are supporting the dirt. Are the cloud blocks connected to anchors in a conventional fashion? Or are they holding things up by virtue of being cloud blocks?
He's pretty sure he should expect the latter.
Dig! Fight! Build!
They're holding things up by virtue of something, and whatever it is, anchors don't seem to be involved. On the other hand, the cloud blocks don't have any discernible special properties relative to dirt or sunplate blocks, except for being cloud-like instead of dirt-like or gold-like. Maybe Terraria blocks can just do that and the cloud aspect is a mere aesthetic touch.
He could experiment by placing some blocks and then removing their supports (it's impossible to place blocks in midair; they must be touching at least one other block to begin with), and if he does that, he will discover that dirt and sunplate float just as readily as cloud.
He could experiment by placing some blocks and then removing their supports (it's impossible to place blocks in midair; they must be touching at least one other block to begin with), and if he does that, he will discover that dirt and sunplate float just as readily as cloud.
wind_on_my_face
He is not exactly in a scientific frame of mind right now. But one does need to know the rules of the game.
One floating block of each type. Make a connection and hang some weight from each one, evenly distributed over the entire interior of the block. How much load can they take before they break out of the grid?
One floating block of each type. Make a connection and hang some weight from each one, evenly distributed over the entire interior of the block. How much load can they take before they break out of the grid?
Dig! Fight! Build!
Dirt: a significant but not outrageous amount, comparable to the load it would take to compress an equivalent volume of ordinary dirt to half its starting size.
Sunplate: a lot more than that - somewhere between four and five times the amount that did in the dirt block.
Cloud: more than he is capable of applying.
Sunplate: a lot more than that - somewhere between four and five times the amount that did in the dirt block.
Cloud: more than he is capable of applying.
wind_on_my_face
This is promising. He takes two floating cloud blocks, and instead of working with gravity, he links them to each other and just pulls them together. If they can break, they will break, but at what point?
Dig! Fight! Build!
Not that point.
Not that point either.
Perhaps cloud blocks are just invincible to applied load.
Not that point either.
Perhaps cloud blocks are just invincible to applied load.
wind_on_my_face
Well, in that case, he's going to just start using cloud blocks for all his anchors. There's plenty of them to go around.
Step one: “mine” all of the cloud blocks around this island. Move all the resulting items up and around and collect them.
Step one: “mine” all of the cloud blocks around this island. Move all the resulting items up and around and collect them.
Dig! Fight! Build!
The cloud blocks cooperate with this plan. Now he has a stack of 551 Cloud Blocks.
wind_on_my_face
Step two: vent a bit.
He places three cloud blocks at the dirt edges of the island, and leaves them be. They will be his first anchors.
Then he takes all the rest of the island and just yanks, and lets go. (This is more fun than using that “mine” thing.)
He places three cloud blocks at the dirt edges of the island, and leaves them be. They will be his first anchors.
Then he takes all the rest of the island and just yanks, and lets go. (This is more fun than using that “mine” thing.)