The Tower

[angelshade]

INTRODUCTION:
First to answer what seems to be first question of everyone who sees this build firsthand: "why so big?" Well simple really - like many MC players i suffer from a slight case of megalomania.. I'm playing MC since it's very first released alpha and i've made a number of builds (mostly on the Shaftlands server) and all of them were humongous the smallest one was 300 across and was a castle. The largest one was almost 1000 across called Ridorana (basically a gigantic hole in the ocean from Final Fantasy 12). So this new build is not going to be any less than than in fact my ambitions are to make this double it's size eventually

THE PROJECT:
To build a huge tower going from -64 to +200 (and if the sky limit is ever increased onwards and upwards!) each several floors following a different theme (upwards , library windmills, and downwards dungeons, lava flow ,forge and so on) , around the tower will expand a huge floating continent not physically attached to the tower but there will be a pipeline connected to it. the continent will cast a shadow on the sea underneath making it a sea of perpetual night and tower will be only physical means of entering the continent and continent will be with time expanded and built upon as well (either by me or by some folks i allow to live on it). This whole build is inspired by the tower of Ar Tonelico from the playstation 2 game of the same name. also the land-line of the continent will start just above the cloud line so looking over the edge you will see clouds going under you.

THE PROGRESS:
This is as far as i've gotten so far and is about 2 weeks of building and digging (it is noteworthy to say i didn't trade for any of the materials used, every block has been dug out, chopped down and put in place with my own hands).
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psf036a440.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psee63ee21.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps2eb044be.jpg
http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps4470a4c0.jpg

Additional Notes:
I do not know if what i'm doing qualifies sufficiently for FMB but i do hope it does, i have a lot of sketches and calculations for it but they are all on paper (scale of this thing is too big for minedraft) , i CAN scan them if it is needed. The tower of Ar tonelico from which i draw my inspiration for this build can be seen here:
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/16580545/images/1318265953583.jpg

 

[angelshade]

Oh yeah i forgot - how long will this take? Ugh..over a month at the very least! and because i have job and other things going on more likely several months :/

 

[angelshade]

Phase 1 complete
The guardians, outer wall , central shaft have been completed as well as covered the outer wall with stone bricks.

Next goes connecting outer wall with central tower cathedral-style and making the dungeon floors underground

 

[angelshade]

Well the floors to the bottom have been completed and i am now constructing the dungeons.

 

[angelshade]

Progress as seen from the world map after 2 weeks of digging and building:

 

[angelshade]

Here's today's progress - the dungeon floors are complete, i actually removed all torches so the underground floors are lit only by glow from the lava pit and the daylight. Meaning it's really dark in there during night time and it is a nice effect.

look down from the outer wall and the connections to the central tower

 

[angelshade]

I got sick so progress has been slowed down somewhat, yet i have finished the library floors and now i am constructing the so called "Life Corridor". It's in short terraced fields that will support plants. I'm not sure how to actually bring grass and trees that high up to grow so some research is needed before this step is fully completed. also i will need a sick amount of books to create bookshevles to cover the library section walls in. Here's the view from afar on the current progress:

 

[angelshade]

Very productive day, the Life Corridor is built and the dirt ramp you see on the pictures is to introduce grass into the sky (don't have silk touch and by the time i'd have it this will probably get there already). Started building the "Weather Corridor" (discs which regulate weather on the floating continent). It's around 220 height now.

p.s. To the annoying kid who accused me of flying - i'm standing on a sand pillar!
p.p.s. since most people enjoy it so much everyone who wants to just set a warp on the top (you can reach it there are ladders) and jump into the middle

 

[angelshade]

Well the tower is almost complete, architecturally anyway. It will take a long while to fill it up with books and stuff. Weather Corridor is complete and only left is to build the observatory. Then we wait for the sky limit to increase,lol. If anyone wants to base jump let me know Here's the pictures of its current state and in-construction observatory on top.

 

[angelshade]

Well the architectural part, the tower is complete, now we start building the continent. The tower (minus internal inventory which will take long time to gather up) is complete and in record time. Here's the state as it is now:

 

[angelshade]

Collecting dirt from the ocean floor is no easy task especially when you find out your plot is actually pretty much 80% stone. I'm considering asking a friend to allow me to stripmine his plot for dirt. You can see the progress of the beginning of the continent. I started bricking the central tower as well since i have all this extra stone.

 

[angelshade]

So after 4 weeks this is how things have progressed, tower is almost fully built and the continent is in the making - what you see is 4000 dirt. shocking isn't it? I'l need a million blocks of dirt (rough estimate) to complete what i have in mind, it finally hits home the magnitude of this project. And it's also the first time that being in an ocean biome is a hindrance as dirt is scarce and all of it i under the sea. Trade and stripmining somone else's plot seems to be my only option.

 

[angelshade]

The base layer of the continent is proceeding smoothly and slowly, currently its about 20 000 dirt blocks...

 

[angelshade]

The progress has slowed somewhat partly due to the fact that i actually have a lif eoutside of this game so i had to answer a few responsibilities including a theatre performance this saturday (it went well ,thank you). However i did manage to finish the first stage of the floating continent naely its base layer from which i will build both below and above. The several dirt ramps you see are used to get me to the areas currently in construction. The continent will in the future expand from this base layer in all directions once it is properly terraformed.

 

[angelshade]

Productive day...laid around 3000 dirt blocks forming the underside of the continent, it's progressing well but slowly and tricky. High altitude construction means i have to keep shift pressed with my pinky most of the time and the pinky has not been handling the stress well.

 

[angelshade]

It is going fairly well and looks pretty good, the shape is coming out as proper floating "naturally formed" land. Il pretty soon need to make some crystals out of glowstone sticking out. I'm pretty close to removing all the dirt ramps as il no longer need em.

 

[angelshade]

As every monday i bring you the world map screenshot of the build's progress, sadly very little difference can be seen compared to last week but that is i spent most time working on the UNDERside of the continent. It is in the stage where i have to streth ramps below it to reach the holes so it takes time but i think it will be completed by wednesday, then the terraforming above can begin. I lay around 2000 dirt blokcs everyday before my pinky starts to twitch from the edge walking.

 

[angelshade]

Its going along slowly, its difficult , in the future il make scaffolding BEFORE i make the land.. it's all in learning experience

 

[angelshade]

Sorry no new pictures this one time, because it was such a hectic week i did not get around to play MC almost at all ,willl correct that this week so already tomorow expect new progress reports.

 

[angelshade]

Im back!! Sorry guys but you know, life, repsonsibilities and so on and so forth! Set down 2000 more dirt blocks but as of now only half is through as you can see on pictures. Half way to go!