Arrow Ace
Part 41 ~ 1 July 2025
Posted: 6 March 2026
Today's project is another staple of the technical Minecraft canon, and that is the potion autobrewer! I've borrowed a classic design from impulseSV and tailored it to my, ahem, *unique* specifications. I did have to stock up on a couple of things before the build: some glowstone dust from the nether, some mushrooms from the mushroom tree, some hay bales for target blocks – yep, those straw piles are still laying around the village from when it first generated! And, at last, it's time to dip into the stash of dragon's breath. When I fought the dragon all the way back in Part 13, I said I had plans for this smelly purple gas, and today those plans come to BREW-ition. (OOF)
So, the autobrewer. This was a bit of a doozy to figure out. Besides the whole "you need 375,000 items to power the comparator [you cheater]" issue (see the previous post for details), I needed to make a few more tweaks to make the droppers fire consistently and in the correct order. With a bit of trial, error, and compromise on aesthetics which I'll hide inside a building anyway, I ended up just using a basic glass staircase for the redstone. The target blocks are there to redirect the signal into the droppers – which, as all redstoners know, is the TRUE use for target blocks! I swear, if it weren't for the advancements, I'd have completely forgotten you can activate these things with projectiles... Anyway, I also incorporated an automatic water bottle filler into the build – it uses a basic double-observer clicker hidden under the platform, and doesn't interfere with the brewer :)
Welcome one and all to the Arrow Ace Brewery! Ingredients in place, bottles loaded up, redstone debugged (I missed a repeater lol), and our first batch is underway! My local specialty? *Lingering Slowness IV*. This may seem like an unconventional choice, but I've acquired a taste for it. See, the potion combat in this game is set up in a way that isn't conducive to consistent success. I want ONE kind of tipped arrow to use against all foes, since switching ammo mid-fight is hardly practical. But it seems like everything comes with a catch!
- "Instant damage" HEALS undead monsters.
- "Instant health" works against the undead but heals other enemies.
- Poison doesn't kill, and heaps of mobs are immune.
- Weakness only reduces MELEE damage, so does nothing against skeletons or creepers, i.e. the majority of annoying enemies.
- Most other effects are, shall we say, questionable choices to inflict on an enemy!
Enter SLOWNESS. This alone shines through as a reliable net positive in combat. When you hit an enemy with a slowness arrow, you knock it back with Punch, set it on fire with Flame, and thanks to the brutal 60% speed debuff, effectively freeze it in place for 2.5 seconds while you line up your next shot. I used to think the low durations of tipped arrows were a ripoff, but in bow combat 2.5 seconds is plenty. (Side note: The tooltip says 2 seconds, but it's definitely 2.5, which is 1/8 of the 20 second lingering potion. I tested it on myself lol.)
My first potions have popped out – in a convenient stack – and it's off to the fletching table to apply the effects to my quiver full of basic ammo. (Hello? MOJANG?) Update memes aside, my ability to stack arrows past 64, and potions past 1, is LIFE CHANGING throughout this process. One stack each of potions and arrows goes in, one stack of super arrows comes out. And with 1200 arrows worth of teal tipple in the pipeline, I don't need to worry about reloading for a LONG time. Since Infinity only works on standard arrows and I don't intend on using those ever again, I gave my trusty bow a dignified retirement into the storage rainbow, and enchanted up a Mending variant.
Then I took my new toys for a spin in the Nether! See that hoglin? Pretty scary with its high health, damage and speed. But after one of my "tranquilizer darts", it's practically passive! :D The mobs of the world won't know what hit 'em! It feels SO GOOD to have ACTUALLY USABLE tipped arrows, after trying them on vanilla servers and getting less reward for way more effort. All I had to do was break the game with mods. I may not be drinking these potions, but I am drunk with power right now...
