New Release! (BTW 4.ABCEEEFA) - NO SPOILERS

[FlowerChild]

Version 4.ABCEEEFA of Better Than Wolves is ready for download!

Download Link

-Added Clay Piles as a new item. Clay blocks harvested without a shovel will produce Piles, much like with Dirt, but in the case of Clay only a Stone Shovel is needed for a full harvest. 2 Clay Piles may be combined in the crafting grid to produce a Clay ball.

-Added crafting sounds to the Anvil and Mill Stone.

-Added new Blocks Of Oysters and the corresponding slabs, which may be piston packed out of 16 Creeper Oysters.

-Changed Sandstone blocks to be harvested whole with Diamond Picks (or better), instead of through the isolate & chisel method of regular stone. The intent here is to make sandstone a more practical mid-game building material without saturating the early game with versatile building blocks. This applies to sandstone stairs and slabs as well.

-Changed the direction in which the Piston Shovel ejects items so that it's a little more consistent, similar to the changes to the Mill Stone in the previous release.

-Changed (increased) the loss of durability when an Iron Chisel is used to convert a Stump into a Workbench, to make doing so more of a strategic consideration rather than something you can just spam all over the place.

-Changed Bone items to only stack up to 16, to be more consistent with other similar packable mob drops, and to further incentivize piston packing.

-Changed how the Fire Plough works internally to hopefully resolve some issues with it sometimes not working properly in SMP.

-Changed how multiple hardcore respawns in the same area work to discourage some exploits.

-Fixed a problem where re-opening a Hamper while the lid was in the process of closing could cause a looping sound to be played.

Exocentric!

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If you'd like to say thanks for this release and help contribute to the further development of Better Than Wolves, please consider making a donation:

[jackatthekilns]

-Changed Sandstone blocks to be harvested whole with Diamond Picks (or better), instead of through the isolate & chisel method of regular stone.
The intent here is to make sandstone a more practical mid-game building material without saturating the early game with versatile building blocks. This applies to sandstone stairs and slabs as well.

Thank you so much for this, I live in an abandoned desert village and the thought of large scale building terrified me. I have already disassembled most of a temple and still don't feel like I have enough. This will be great!

[FlowerChild]

Just updated the link in the OP with a 'b' version that contains this one change:

-Fixed a potential crash when converting an old Millstone inventory into a new one.

This was actually a bug in the previous release, rather than 'FA'.

[eleninrec]

Thank you so much for putting effort into the firemaking problem. I cannot wait to test it! The idea of whole new survival opportunities really excites me!

[FlowerChild]

Thank you so much for putting effort into the firemaking problem.

No problem. Please let me know if it helps.

[CrimsonStorm]

Added Clay Piles as a new item. Clay blocks harvested without a shovel will produce Piles, much like with Dirt, but in the case of Clay only a Stone Shovel is needed for a full harvest. 2 Clay Piles may be combined in the crafting grid to produce a Clay ball.

Ah, this makes a lot of sense. I was a little nervous when you were talking about discouraging oven-rushing in the Discord (not because I use that strategy but because I was afraid this would make early-game harder). But turns out, I was already using stone shovels for clay, I guess because it just 'felt right'.

[eleninrec]

The spawn change allowed proper firemaking opportunity in about once an hour, so I only have a few test results. Until now I have not experienced the problem.

But I really wanted to share this story.

In the past, when I was crippled and starving in the middle of nowhere without any supplies, I chose to quickly die. But with this release, I wanted to invest in world development until the last breath. So I decided to harvest a shaft and stick it to the ground.
After long, long crippled punches of despair, finally I went through the five stages, grasped the shaft as if it was a scepter of ultimate accomplishment, placed it and prepared the end of that life, humble but with such grandeur. That was a very unique satisfaction.

Then, a sneak creeper appeared. Panicked, I crawled away from the precious shaft, the only achievement I made in that day. But I was not fast enough. The shaft was lost. I felt such great rage against that creeper, more than when another blowed up my settlement. The feeling was so overwhelming to be from a shaft.

Then, I realized one thing - I survived the explosion.
Then another - there the shaft stood tall, as a testimony of the entire feat of a well spent last day of life. I embraced the following starvation death feeling almost kingly integrity.

And I thought, that the whole drama was just about a shaft. I think I love this spawn mechanics.

*edited to avoid spoilers