Hello, I'm N8thanH, and welcome back to Across the Map!


As most of us know, the Nether, being a cavern, is one of the most elaborate, thus confusing locations in Minecraft, and I know that almost all of the players on Bluestrike tend to get lost while wandering the infernal caverns of the Nether.

So, today, I am going to teach you all about Nether navigation, in the form of a travel guide! So, let's get to it!

Packing up

The first step for any successful travel is to pack the right items. When it comes to Minecraft, having the right or wrong equipment can either make a bad situation better or worse, respectively. Therefore, let's head to our bases, and get ready!

I realize that not everyone is at the same point in their worlds, so this part of the blog post will be designed to address everyone, at every point. Well, except for players doing Nether Survival Challenges. Sorry guys.

As this guide will be done on Bluestrike, here I am at my forest house, to gear up to go terrain spotting!

  
First of all, here is my current inventory as it stands. I haven't been doing anything special, so this is my typical inventory:

 As for the less usual items...

• Pumpkin Hat for fighting Endermen
• Clock for keeping an eye on the time
• Coal for making torches
• Potions for their respective uses
• Flint and Steel for fire-cooking meat
• Planks for crafting on the go
• Cobblestone for building around
• Dirt for landscaping and growing trees
• Saplings for replanting trees or growing if bad comes to worse

As you can tell, my inventory is mostly designed to be able to handle any situation that comes my way. That's great, but today we're going to the Nether, so I know what I'm preparing for. For that reason, let's unload anything we don't need.

There are no Endermen in the Nether, and clocks don't work there, so we can pretty much knock these items off immediately.



I don't foresee myself using my shovel or axe... But, the thing with the axe is that I could need it, but if I were to die, I could lose my favorite axe for no reason. Plus, if it comes to harvesting trees, I can always make a stone axe; I will bring my wood and cobblestone!


As for the diamond sword and pickaxe, whether you bring them or not really depends on what your wealth in diamonds is like. In my case, I really can afford to lose my tools. This is why:


 (Above: my loot chest-and-then-some, as seen in my bedroom. Ah, the memories of past accomplishments and adventures... The things you've slain, the dungeons you've conquered, the ores you've mined...) *SMACK* Quit getting sentimental, N8! Move along..


If that isn't practically what you see when you gaze into your loot chest, I would recommend putting away your pickaxe, perhaps. After all, Netherrack is easy enough to mine! In fact, Efficiency IV Diamond Pickaxes are kind of hard to control on Netherrack.

Don't forget to load up on Cobblestone! It is your best defense against the ghastly ghast fireballs!



If you have managed to go on past Nether outings, and are into brewing, it wouldn't hurt to grab some Potions of Fire Resistance; if you are feeling clumsy, they could save your life! Splash or drinkable? Your preference: Quick on the draw, or super reliable? Personally, I would recommend the drinkable ones.



For the sake of our favorite mining tool, let's call it International Save the Pickaxes Day, and use the old gravel elevator, instead of carving long staircases with our poor pickaxes! In that case, grab a shovel or two. Iron should do us good, but a backup may be in order.


Alternatively, if you have a lot of Ender Pearls, you can bring some of those.



Also, if you have done high-level enchanting, I would suggest bringing an Ender Chest with a Silk Touch pick inside, if you wish to have more inventory space. Just remember to put away any items you were delivering to other places. (I'll just keep that Neptune inc. Coupon there, just in case... ;) )



In conclusion, here is my final inventory!


Nether Navigation

Awesome! Now that you're packed up, allow me to guide you through the caverns of the Nether!

How are we going to do that, you ask? By doing this oldschool Minecraft adventuring style!

Imagine you are playing early Minecraft Alpha- or late Infdev, before the introduction of biomes. Extreme Hills-like mountains can be seen almost everywhere you go, safe for small islands, and plains-like areas. Bottom line, biomes aren't there to aid you in your navigation, but hills are sure at large! What do you do?

If you know what I'm talking about, and have an idea of how you would navigate the consistently consistent landscapes of pre-biome infinite worlds, then I suggest you try it here; the features of the Nether do kind of represent the feature set of early infinite maps...

• The oceans/bays that were fairly common - the lava seas that you see almost everywhere at layer 30
• The trees that occasionally dot plains-like areas - Glowstone formations (one good reason to leave them partially intact)
• Your typical mountains <3 - Cliffs, overhangs, and other notable landforms in the Nether

For instance, in this picture, I see a usual bay, some islands in it, some mountains in the very background, and an interesting tree far off to my right!

See?? You have all the things you need to look out for in the old Overworld, in the Nether!
 

See it in Action

Maybe that wasn't nearly specific enough. Yes, I thought you might say so. In that case, I'll go on a mini adventure to show you how to navigate effectively.

First of all, I just wanted to show you guys this, before I head too far from my portal. It's a little beacon, pointing toward home! Have you heard of the (excuse my potentially bad spelling, but...) Inukshuks that the Inuit People would build to navigate the arctic terrain? We are in a situation that isn't that different, so I opted to build these as I go. Let's face it, nobody can navigate the Nether entirely without these.

My system with them is that the direction I will come home from is being pointed to from the short end, implemented because not using a point-where-you-came-from bit got me lost in a tundra once. (Newbie Adventures in the Tundra of Stardust. :D ) (Mind you, I was using the "long end" to point toward the Taiga Biome I was trying to reach.) On these markers, the long end points towards my portal home. It's the real important end.




Alright! For this example adventure, I think I'll go down this way. I don't think can really see the example beacon I made last screenshot from below, so I built another.


I gravel pillared down. To know precisely where to pillar jump back up, I also left these blocks. (Don't mind the cobblestone bridges. Someone built them one time. Not the safest way to travel the caverns. >.>)


If the caverns are really that plain, lava falls work in a pinch. However, every once in a while, you come across an epic lava fall that fell over a steep cliff. Those falls are as good, if not better than any terrain feature you can find!


I'm sure I have taken a screenshot of one somewhere... Bingo! I knew I had an awesome lava fall picture somewhere! Only, it uses my texture pack, and smooth lighting appears to be disabled. Oh, well. The fall is still awesome! :D


I continued on, and found this Nether fortress. It's not ideal, but I say we explore it a bit! I think I can remember this cavern as being my exit.


By the way, just a tip: It's time once again for the Impromptu Random Bonus Screenshot of the Day! (Man, I've missed doing that!)

Today's silly photo is a seriously stretched picture of my Nirikon Forest home. (Sorry if this picture is rather old, it's the best I've got! Just roll with it, please.)


As usual, my caption: For the first time ever, Weird Corporation inc. presents the Elasti-House! Room too low? Stretch it up! No room for your guest? Punch out a room yourself! For a limited time only*!

(By "limited time only," we are referring to what you do to your house. By that, we mean it punches you back after about 3 seconds.)

Anyway, nonsense aside, I really do have some advice. The tip was: if you come across one of these small pocket areas, make sure to take careful note of it. Otherwise, you may have a hard time finding it again.


Getting back to my adventure, the last thing I did was place this torch marker that I use in mineshafts sometimes, so I will know which staircase to take. Again, the goal is to not end up wandering around, looking for our portal home.


Somewhat unlike abandoned mineshafts, Nether Fortresses have a bit more variation in structure. For instance, these little Blaze Spawner balconies stand out, because they don't look like anything else in the fortresses, and there are only 2 per.


Let's pretend right here that I am not sure where I went, exactly. Ahead of me and to my left are two small staircase rooms, that look exactly the same. But, I'm pretty sure I need to head East.


This is confirmed by the fact that the East staircase has my torch marker...


...While the one to my side does not!


Now, from here, I headed East some more, and look! It's a marker! I need to go down there!


The marker points down this cavern. Hopefully I am where I think I am.


As I wander through this open cavern, I find yet another marker. We aren't far from home, now!


This is where I genuinely needed the markers; up there on the ledge. I have gotten confused by the height of where my staircase is before. I always seem to think it's a level lower than it is, and opt to use the bridges. But, the markers confirm that home is up there.


All that's left to do now, is to pillar back up. In retrospect, maybe I should had just used cobblestone, and reclaimed the gravel.



At last, we're home safe! Yay! :D


Ah, after my travels, my fiery eyes are adjusting to the sunlight, and my rocky skin is adapting to the humidity swing...  I'm home.



On that note, this concludes my Nether Travel Guide. I hope it's helpful to you, but as always I'm open to feedback, and will gladly add anything you need to know to this post. But for now, I'll see you next one. Until then!