Best way to transport large groups of villagers

[Gabecraft1234]

In light of the new villager changes I have decided that it is now worth my while to transport the population of a village to my base. Unfortunately the nearest village is some 1000s of blocks away.

A rail way is pretty much out of the question because of the time and resource cost.

And leading them by diamond will probably result in them all dying.

Are there any other ways you guys can think of?

[Heightren]

I believe that the best way would be to use a railway in the nether. It should be 8 times faster and much safer, if entities can travel through nether portals in 1.4.7. Not completely sure about this, as there have been loads of snapshots for a long time.

[Padfoote]

if entities can travel through nether portals in 1.4.7

They can, although I'm not sure if FC has gotten a hold of the code for this and added a few surprises for us. If you go through the Nether with them, I would be VERY careful and do so quickly.

[FlowerChild]

They can, although I'm not sure if FC has gotten a hold of the code for this and added a few surprises for us. If you go through the Nether with them, I would be VERY careful and do so quickly.

Hehe...I must say that I really appreciate the sense of paranoia that has been fostered in BTW players by recent releases :)

[Thalarctia]

I once moved a group of villagers some 800-ish blocks in a single player world - What I did was scout out the route I would take beforehand, and over the course of it, I would cut down trees and build a number of shelters that I could store the villagers in, in case I needed to break off the journey or night fell upon me. Simple huts with double fence gates work wonders for this, as long as you light up the insides and the very close surroundings.

[BlackCat]

TNT Launch them.

But seriously, I'd go either nether or what Thal said.

[Shengji]

I would dig a tunnel, nice and safe and well lit. Once they are in, seal it at the village end and lead them through with a diamond. If you get bored, wall up the tunnel just behind them and come back to it later!

[DaveYanakov]

Hehe...I must say that I really appreciate the sense of paranoia that has been fostered in BTW players by recent releases :)

This is exacerbated by the way I found out a wolf that has been transported through the nether retains its netherwolf behaviors once you bring it back out. I'm not sure I actually want to find out what happens if you do that with villagers. Event Horizon scarred me for years after my dad tricked me into going to see it with him.

[Gabecraft1234]

With regard to nether rails how will I know which direction to travel in to get to the right spot in the overworld?

Also what is nether wolf behavior? I must have missed that one.

[DaveYanakov]

The direction the player faces is always the same when going through portals. If you need to check periodically, put down a block with a texture that has an obvious facing, as blocks always orient in the same direction. Personally I've been using cobble for the purpose since alpha.

As for wolf behavior, take a spare pooch into the nether and find out. I would advise against turning it into a cube afterward though.

[MoRmEnGiL]

I have to agree with Shengji, tunnelling is the safest way, and arguably the fastest if nether doesn't work.

Sure it is a lot of work to tunnel 1000 blocks, but it is much more work trying to herd villagers around, up and down elevations, water, and chasms :P

[IowaGuy]

This thread kinda scared me.

At least villager transportation is a one time thing. Having it be an epic event isnt all that bad. Of course, I feel like a hypocrite as I have a pre-update zombie-cured village dirtopolis going.

[Gabecraft1234]

Quick tip:

When traveling through the nether diagonally across blocks don't forget to divide your nether block distance by the square root of 2.

I just learned that one the hard way.