Guide:Ideas

=You are a Terraria player, and you have no clue what to do.=

Let me set the scenario. You just wiped Skeletron Prime off the face of the planet in one fell swoop, and collected every end game weapon available. There is no item you don't have. You have all the items. All of them. So what now? You could easily start a new map and do it all again, but you've only explored maybe 40 percent of this  large map you created to explore all by yourself.

There's always something to do.

The best part about Terraria is that you don't have to do it alone either. Several of these projects would go smoother with help. Just beware. A bumbling lunatic or a crafty saboteur could annihilate many of these ideas.

Monster Structure Projects
Only the most time consuming, proportionally massive concepts are grouped here. Gather your resources, grab some munchies, and mentally stockpile an unending reserve of patience. It's going to be a long night.

1. The Castle of Infinite Fortitude! Castles are great for showing the world of Terraria that you mean several thousand different kinds of serious business. Nobody feels better than when sitting on the throne, ruling with an iron fist over the meager monsters the clamor about outside your walls.


 * Materials Recommended: Stone brick blocks and walls are a great start, but remember that there are several different kinds of brick for you to personalize your  fortress with. Trying mixing different colors and create some intense patterns,  because the only thing better than an awesome king, is an awesome king with  creativity. You'll also need a ton of furniture, because the king's crib should be  the only crib this fly.


 * Rooms to Build: Can't be a castle without a throne room. Build a Throne and stick it somewhere with overblown royal decoration, to drive the point home that you  ARE the man. Consider an armory to store your many weapons, just in case those guns  you call biceps aren't enough (which they should be). Even with a 20-room castle, it  just isn't complete without some turrets on the roof, with a spiral staircase to the  top from the inside. Seriously, its a castle, so don't be all meek about it. Build a  room for EVERYTHING. Make it the one and only World Wonder.

2. The Outpost System of Omnicience! You can't stand using the magic mirror to go all the way back home to use your crafting stations! It is truly madness. You have a few outposts here and there, but it isn't enough. You slaughter so many monsters and mine miles of blocks every five minutes, so you think an outpost every hundred  yards ought to do it.


 * Materials Recommended: Doesn't matter, as long as you have a lot of it. Creating a network of outposts will take a lot of time and patience already, so make sure you  stockpile some material before you take this journey. If you stored thousands of  blocks already just in case while fighting bosses, then you are a step ahead. You are  a different league. No, not IN the league, you have BECOME the league. If you don't  have better than gold tools, get there, because you're going to be using them a lot,  and the better tools you have, the quicker you'll be able to make these structures.  Get you the  too, since hanging around suspended three stories  up on plantlife is much faster than building scaffolding.


 * EXTRA CHALLENGE: Make an outpost in ALL the biomes, and put a lot of thought into each one. Every outpost is your baby; a work of art crafted from the finest outpost- smithy the universe has to offer. You. Get to it.

3. The Sewage System of Sanity! For reasons you don't entirely understand, you think a working toilet is completely vital if your successes up to this point are to  continue. The static, dull iron toilet isn't working for you, because you imagine that the only reason your poor character won't defecate when you type "/me poops in  the iron toilet." is because your poor character is afraid that it will eventually overflow and be declared a HazMat zone. This is the solution to your woes.

This is not a tested idea. The processes and materials described here are typed in theory, not fact. If you actually decide to make this for some reason, please edit any misconceptions or missing details. I will correct this myself when possible.


 * Materials Recommended: Toilet. Wire. A switch of some kind. Water pumps. These are all necessary for your roleplay toilet. For god sakes man, you're really going  through with this aren't you? Boredom is a frightening thing indeed.


 * The Building Process: Any extra plumbing frills you can imagine are up to you, but this would be the most basic. Your toilet should be on the bottom floor with a  tunnel going downward into a small pit underground. Fill this pit with water (do not  fill the tunnel and place the inlet pump in the pool. Now dig a small tunnel that  leads into the vertical tunnel just under the toilet and place the outlet there. Hook  up the two pumps with wire and lead the wire to a switch next to the toilet. When the  switch is flipped, if I'm correct, water will begin to cycle back under the toilet,  down the tunnel and into the pit.

Why is this in the monster structure section? Because when you get the basics down, take it a step further. Build a sewer that leads to the underworld.

Because poo is disgusting, and deserves to be burned in the blazing infernos of Hell.

Now go, and make it as unreasonably complicated as your depraved mind desires.

You monster.

4. The Skybridge of Connectification! Mother of Slime, you hate trying to travel between floating islands. As it stands, you climb your current multipurpose skybridge and walk to all your hastily built ladders leading up under the islands,  which you dug a crumbly dirt staircase through to the top. How inadequate you must feel. Its time to claim the title of master bridge builder and wow the world below you with your gravity defying bridge of destiny.


 * Materials Recommended: By the great deities of 32-bit creation, you are going to need a lot of stuff. If you think a one block tall wooden bridge is going to cut it,  you have set your standards at mediocrity. Its okay, however, because that's what  we're here to do today: break through those standards.


 * Preparations: It is extremely recommended that you build an outpost at the starting floating island and pile at LEAST 10 chests there, along with crafting  stations. You're going to fill as many chests as your willpower allows with as much  resources from the ground level as possible. Don't mine the islands, you boob, or the  skybridge is purposeless. If you have a piggy bank and/or chest, you can use it for  extra inventory space to try and lessen the trips taken. The materials you use are up  to you, though most will likely go with a combination of wood, stone, and wooden  beams, since those are the most readily available resources besides dirt. If you  build a whole bridge out of gold or silver brick, I applaud your unheard of, nigh- masochistic patience.

When you've gathered enough, build the bridge from one island to the other. Then, build bridges to all the other islands. To lessen the sheer grinding boredom, use all your creative power to make these bridges as outlandish as possible, which as many  quirks and mysteries as the many caves you traversed gathering this ludicrous pile of  material.

5. Atlantis! You knew it would come to this. One of the most difficult, earth shattering tours of construction you'll go on. This doesn't mean build an underwater house, nor an underwater mansion. You already have a castle anyway. If you don't, go reread that section of this article and ask yourself how you sleep peacefully at night. Atlantis is an underwater city!


 * Materials Recommended: If its watertight, it works for building. You'll need a lot of pumps, switches, and wires to make this work. Although you could use the commonly accepted method of building underwater using sand to keep the water out, it will likely be easier to keep a lot of Gills Potions with you for the construction duration. That way, you can build the whole town infrastructure, section it off, and pump the water out of each section.


 * Preparation:Its recommended that you start with an outpost underneath one of the oceans and stash your materials there. If you've got the creative goods, and you know that you hold all the goods (all of them), you can create an entry-and-exit tube that utilizes active stone walls and a pump system. Once you have your entrance prepared, and a large number of gill potions, you can start building from the ground up.

6. The Ladder to the Ninth Circle! Dear God, I thought you should know that I built an elevator to Hell and plan on shacking up there for a while. I'm thinking with the way my financial situation is - that is, rolling in platinum - I can play the stock market and gain enough resources to launch a coup, kill the devil, and become the new President. I just thought you'd wanna know ahead of time, not that you already didn't, since you're omniscient. Love, the King of Terraria.


 * Materials Recommended: A pickaxe and wooden platforms. Not much to making a basic hellevator. You'll need sand, however, to make it past any lava pits you run into.


 * Processes: Dig. Lots of digging. Also lots of platform laying. If you have a large-size world, you're in for the long haul, but you have nothing to worry about. Your energy is infinite at LEAST. If you reach a lava pit, build a sand wall 4 bricks wide under your feet and into the lava pit. Dig through the two middle sections and repeat until you have bisected the pool of death. Don't, in the name of all that is magical, accidentally mine through the walls on your left and right, or your demise is nearly certain, and an inevitability at low levels.

Home Improvement
Luckily, Tim Allen is not involved in any of the following ideas.

1. The Pyramid of Holy Balance! Pharaohs had the right idea, but obviously were too busy perfecting their insane skills with eyeliner to think about master architecture any further. Sure, pyramids were for housing corpses, but who are you to deny such immense potential? A master craftsman, that's who. Is there a better builder in the whole universe? You doubt it.


 * Materials Recommended: Almost any will do, as usual, but this isn't your summer home. It's a pyramid. Therefore, get a material that closely mimics the color of a true Egyptian pyramid. Sand blocks are not the most intelligent selection to make a building where ninety nine percent of it is suspended in the air, balanced on a single, carefully measured point. Therefore, gold brick is your best bet. Why wouldn't you build everything out of gold in the first place? Because you use that gold to feed the orphans that live in your kingdom, because no child deserves to starve. Your heart is the purest.


 * Rooms to Build: Unlike the Castle of Infinite Fortitude, in all its magnificence, you don't require a giant amount of room to build this. The size of the structure is entirely up to you. Who is the public to judge? You're the man, woman, child, or gastropod in charge here. Even a small version could serve as a worthy outpost.

2. House of Unending Aerial Buoyancy Houses don't float. At least not on any universe you don't happen to be on. You don't even recall what physics means, or how that word even popped into your head one day while having a picnic on the ceiling of a gazebo. In this case, the floating house is your best, and safest bet.


 * It's just a house. Any house materials will do.


 * Process for Newbies: It's not hard. Just build a wood post or skyladder as high as you desire, and then build your house directly off of the post. When you're finished, you will have defied physics. Truly, this is a total victory on your part.

Multiplayer Shenanigans
The more the merrier. Other words to substitute for merrier include "deadlier," "explosiveness," and "rocketship." You haven't built a rocket ship yet? WELL WHY NOT. These ideas are for you and your friends to either learn the values of friendship, or learn the values of the headshot...on each other.

All of these ideas must be implemented by creating a server first. It is extremely recommended that you craft these levels with a level editor like TEdit.

Instead of materials and process and whatnot, this section will consist of Arena construction, and multiplayer game modes, and also possible solutions to the current limitations of the game's multiplayer.

Arenas

 * The Open Arena: Anything goes when player construction becomes a priority. Simply flattening a large area and putting the two teams on both sides can be madness. The best teams will balance combat and construction, and use the spaces they have to their advantages. Sabotage, traps, and ambushes make this kind of fighting hectic. It's recommended that two beds be placed at either side to prevent spawn killing ahead of time.


 * Standoff: Two castles, standing for eternity, have witness countless lives lost in the battle of attrition. This kind of map eliminates the need for spending time on base construction. Teams can instead go straight to killing and trapmaking.


 * Waterlogged: If it weren't for the dirt soaking up all the blood, the water itself would've turned red long ago. Basically like Standoff, but underground. Make sure the bases are quite deep, and the map set to small. It can be confusing, given the caves random layout. This makes team coordination and sign placing a must. Since it takes place underground, traps can be made right off the bat, without lots of digging. Attacks can come from all directions much more easily too.


 * The Complex: Once filled with the bustling din of toiling workers, only the clang of blades and the cries of agony fill these halls. This building can be as simple or complicated as one wants. Set up as office structures or a mass of houses, these towering, dimly lit buildings - sometimes multiple buildings for that matter - can serve as fantastic battlegrounds.


 * Heights: Floating arenas are nothing new, but poke yours full of a few (or many) holes that would send any player to their doom, and things get a little more interesting. Build a ladder leading back into the arena for anyone that has fall damage negating items.


 * Love Thy Neighbor: This map should be made using an editor. A map made specifically for free-for-alls, whether with Hardcore characters for a Last Man Standing game, or otherwise. Their should be a dozen or more starting points placed on the surface. None underground. None floating. Each starting point - a basic house, really - should come with three things at least. A bed for spawning, a work bench, and a furnace. A chest with some starting equipment or materials can speed the game up a little bit, or you can place other work stations.

Game Modes
Several of these game modes require some sort of Honor Rule, where cheating of certain kinds is prohibited. You can discourage this by threatening a kick or ban from an online group, refusing to allow them to play with you, or simply by telling them that if they continue, they'll be branded a douche bag for all eternity. Whatever keeps people in line is good enough.

'''UNIVERSAL HONOR RULE: Spawn killing. Not cool, dude.'''


 * Deathmatch: No limits or restrictions. Decapitations abound. Show them you aren't just the best builder in the universe. Teams Optional.


 * Money Grubber: In this team game mode, similar to capture the flag, each player gets a cache of a rare ore of any type, like demonite or a gem, or even heart stones. Opposing team(s) must mine the gold and deposit it in their own chest back at their base. HONOR RULES: The chests can not be moved, and the ore/gem/crystal MUST come from the opposing teams bank, not a players inventory. If using heart or mana crystals, players MUST NOT use them for free boosts.


 * Last Man Standing: Start a free-for-all or team game with hardcore characters. The last one alive is the victor. HONOR RULES: Do NOT immediately kill people right out of spawn when the game first begins. SEE "LOVE THY NEIGHBOR" MAP TYPE.

Game Modifiers
Regular game modes not enough? Throw some modifiers in it and watch the bodies fly.


 * Clash n Smash: Swords and melee weapons only.


 * Gun-fu: Guns and ranged weapons only. Pre-end game armor recommended. For slightly more realism, use weapons that only take musket balls of any kind. For even more, only use pistols, the shotgun, the clockwork assault rifle, and the flamethrower.


 * Mana Mayhem: Spells only. For some extra challenge, wear only items that boost a magical stat.


 * Streaker: No armor, no accessories. Ranged weapons recommended for play - hope your aim is good.


 * World War 3: Explosives only, with all explosives permitted. Good thing there's no friendly fire.


 * One Wrong Step: Less a game mode modifier, more of a map modifier. Lace the battle field with trap trigger explosives. For added hilarity, place some of the explosives in completely different areas than the trap trigger, but still within the traveled battle field.

Mechanics
Terraria isn't very flexible this early in its life. There isn't much you can do to work around the game to get the effect you want. To that end, I've imagined a few concepts that might work.


 * Weapon and Ammo Spawning: This is a tough one. No item respawns in the open environment. To that end, it requires an extra player willing to forgo the game and play the weapon spawner. This player should have max health and the best armor he can get, so as to avoid weapons damage as much as possible, and should be equipped with flight. This player will have a stash of weapons in his own chest, and will run around the map dropping weapons in random spots. There can also be chests around the playable map that he can place items in. The weapons should not be the most powerful, but also not the weakest. HONOR RULES: The weapon/ammo dropper must be completely neutral. He cannot assist a team by giving them a weapon with no effort.


 * Player Spawning: This is less tough, since it really only applies to free for all combat modes. There could be rooms spread throughout the map. Numerous rooms, all filled with a bed and maybe some potions in a chest. In a free for all, the player can find these rooms and place their spawn there. They shouldn't be too obvious, but also not completely hidden. A good indicator of a spawn location could be a certain colored torch, for instance. Another idea is to have a door mechanism outside of a spawn room assigned to a single player, which will open when they want to get out, and close when they leave. The spawn rooms should be made out of tough material. For instance, make the rooms out of adamantine ore, which requires no less than a mythril drill to get rid of. HONOR RULES: It must be known that using explosives to enter these rooms is considered cheating.

Paused by CavalierCadaver at 12:36 AM on 2/9/12. Thought I'd add the multiplayer section, since I had some ideas.

 * Shallow lava pool (2-3 pixels) for monster farming.


 * Build an underwater mansion.
 * Speedkill the bosses.
 * Make a Custom Map.


 * Convert a large cave bit by bit into your home.


 * Create a PvP arena, design game modes for it, and load it onto a server and do battle with your friends!


 * Convert a section of the Dungeon, the Underground Jungle, or several Obsidian Towers in the Underworld into outposts piece by piece.


 * Create a large liquid creator and combine it with Pumps to make your own artificial lake, sea, or underwater/lava city, and perhaps, if it is possible, an entire underwater/lava world.