Minecraft Thread

[de officiis]

So I decided to build a Circus Maximus. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Here's a picture online that I looked at for guidance.



I read online that the track measured 621 m (2,037 ft) in length and 150 m (387 ft) in breadth. I figured one minecraft block was maybe 3' x 3', so that would mean my copy would need to be about 679 blocks long and 129 blocks wide. I tried measuring this out, and it turned out to be a vast area that would require me to level 3 or 4 mountains. So I used dynamite to do this.

With a cross-sectional diagram I found online, I started with making a set of the stadium seats. I figured that once I had the pattern down, it would be fairly easy just to repeat it over and over to make the long sections down the sides. Here is what I ended up doing with the seats...







Next I built the gatehouses/gates where the chariots would have entered at the start of the race. I built one side and then copied what I had made to make the other side. Too bad I couldn't replicate the curve of the original.









Prepping the field is going to be very time-consuming...

[de officiis]

Some more pics of my Circus Maximus. I've gotten down to the far end with the curve. Put in the triumphal arch at that end and finished the basics for the spina with the Obelisk of Agustus. Also the finish line and the little building that lines up with that.

I think I will have to make the stadium seats square, rather than curved, because I can't see any feasible way to curve them around the corners.

[de officiis]

Finally finished my Circus Maximus. Naturally, after building it I had to go back and watch the chariot race sequence from "Ben Hur." All I can say is that the one in the film does not look like the one in real life, but still, one of the greatest action sequences of all filmdom IMHO.

The carceres (starting gates) with the towers on either side. This was on the west end of the real structure.



Here is the spina (euripus) or central barrier, with the meta prima (first turning post) on the left. The obelisk of Augustus is in the middle. The triumphal arch is on the far left, where the winner would exit after the race.



The other half of the spina, with the meta secunda (second turning post) and the back side of the imperial "box" that connected with palaces on the Palatine Hill in the real circus.



View from the west showing the curved end of the circus. I squared the corners on my version because Minecraft doesn't handle curves very well.



View from the triumphal arch toward the the meta prima.



The finish line, as seen from the "podium" (tribunal).



Interior of the imperial box.



View from the imperial box along the the seating (cavea). The seats were divided into three sections (maeniana) by horizontal gangways. In the real structure, the topmost seats were made of wood.



Here is a website that has lots of great info. http://www.circusmaximus.us/circusmaximus.htm

[de officiis]

Having finished the Circus Maximus, I looked around for something else to build, and decided to develop a spot near the ocean into a port. Here's some pics of how things look so far.

The big white building with the red roof is a recreation of a Roman-style apartment building (insula). It turned out to be more fun to build than anything else, although the lighthouse comes in a close second. My son added the ship sitting in the harbor.

This project was a bit more troublesome than the others because it's harder to dig under water, and fix the water problems that arise.

[de officiis]

Thought I'd share some screenshots of my latest Minecraft building project--a big white castle. I kinda figured I needed something to offset the black/gray castle I first built when I started developing this world.

Originally the castle was built into a mountain and had 3 levels. Then, slowly, the bottom of the mountain got converted into castle. Eventually I just hollowed out the whole thing and the castle grew into 8 interior levels. Then I had to level the ground around the castle to build the moat, which I tried to fill with water, but had to eventually fill with lava because the water kept freezing. Then I had to level even more ground around the castle to build the walls. Then I had to level the ground outside the walls so it would look okay. After all, you can't have a huge mound of dirt piled up against the windows of your wall.

Now that the curtain wall is finished, I need to build up a town inside the walls and finish the interior rooms of the castle.

As you can see, it's kind of snowy where this castle is built.

[de officiis]

Started filling in the courtyard ...

. . . barracks . . .



livestock & crops . . .





King's stables . . .



formal garden . . .



cathedral . . .







catacombs below the cathedral.

[de officiis]

After finishing my castle, I became intrigued with the idea of building a series of underground townhomes around a central courtyard with terraced walkways at multiple levels. I ended up building what is shown here. It's not quite done because I need to add shops at the corners and add some features to the grassy plaza, but basically all the townhomes and finished. There are 16 homes, each 4 stories tall. With the exception of a little stained glass, they are all identical inside and out. Each home has 12 rooms, a loft, stairs going up all levels, 3 fireplaces, and a chimney that runs from top to bottom. The uppermost level has a skylight. Common stairwells are located at the 4 corners of the community.

This project was very time-consuming, but I had a lot of fun planning it and building each level, starting from the bottom up!

[de officiis]

Decided to build a "Hanging Gardens of Babylon."

No one really knows what the real "Hanging Gardens" actually looked like . . . or even if they truly existed--so this is just my interpretation. Basically a series of raised terraces that will eventually be filled with lots of trees and plants.

The fun part of the project so far has been laying out some semblance of a working water system. The four big squares at the corners are huge cisterns. There are underground water tunnels running from each cistern to a central shaft that runs to the top of the edifice to supply the waterfalls that run down the sides. At the bottom of the waterfalls, the water runs in troughs to supply the flowerbeds that I'll add soon, and then drains back into the cisterns. Water is also drawn up into a shaft in the middle of each cistern to create a fountain on the top to supply water to the plants that will eventually be located there...

[de officiis]

Pretty much got the exterior done. Decided to use a lot of colors for the fun of it. Now for the interior...

[de officiis]

Well, I already fulfilled my New Year's resolution of completing my Hanging Gardens!