Series Two
Relaxing Longplay Series 2
Series 2 of my Minecraft survival longplays. This series is currently my main focus, and I have ambitions to continue expanding this world for the foreseeable future.
Watch the full Series 2 playlist on the Castaway Games YouTube channel.
The Farmhouse
Welcome to my Series 2 starter home! The Farmhouse is the first build in this world, crafted using the classic early game resources of stone and wood. I aimed to pack as much detail as possible into this build, ensuring it feels structurally sound, weather-worn, and homely.
I dedicated a lot of time to designing the interior to evoke a well-lived-in feel. In my real home, the main areas where I spend the most time—like the living room, office, kitchen, and bedroom—are clean and well-organised. In contrast, spaces like the loft, attic, and spare rooms tend to be cluttered and disorganised, filled with items that are out of sight, out of mind. This was the vibe I wanted to capture in this build.
Beneath the house, you’ll find a small basement area, complete with a utility room housing the circuit breaker and a storage room (which I don’t use very often). The basement also provides access to the sewers via a boarded-up door.
The Farmhouse is surrounded by glorious plots of farmland. Small crop fields and flower fields have been meticulously cultivated in the surrounding area, adding an extra touch of beauty. I’ve gathered animals and am currently working on creating their pens. To manage their numbers, I routinely breed and cull the animals, ensuring the farm is self-sustaining and can provide enough food and resources for both myself and the animals for a long time.
The Cherry Barn
The Cherry Barn features a classic design with my own unique twist. The framework was inspired by VintageBeef’s barn in Hermitcraft Season 10*.
I adapted the barn frame and decided to use cherry wood, giving it a distinctive pink colour.
This choice aligns with my theme of using readily available resources, as cherry trees are abundant in the biome surrounding my starter home. I then designed the interior to look like animals are kept there and added a small basement area for extra storage.
Behind the barn, you’ll find a small water tower, inspired by DallasMed65, which supplies the farmstead with all its water needs.
*(VintageBeef mentioned in his episode that he copied the design from a picture he found on the internet, so I cannot reference the original inspiration source any further than that.)
The Sewers
The sewers are a network of tunnels that connect underneath my farmstead. I created the sewers as I loved the idea of having a maze of interconnected tunnels beneath my home where I could hide away some useful builds.
I needed a space to hide away bulky and unsightly farms while keeping them close enough to be constantly loaded and working passively in the background. This allows me to focus on expanding the farmland without worrying about these essential but unattractive structures.
Currently, my early enchanting room, Nether portal, cactus farm, bamboo farm, honey farm, and a rather complicated, yet poorly designed auto smelter are all tucked away in the bowels of the sewers. Additionally, I’ve incorporated a series of hidden water streams in the walls and ceilings to move resources around, such as transporting iron from my iron farm closer to my house (saving my lazy little Minecraft legs!).
I’ve invested considerable time in the aesthetic of the sewer tunnels. I didn’t want them to be plain, ugly stone walls with torches for lighting. Instead, I aimed for a somewhat realistic look—dark and moody, but safe and spawn-proof (a necessity now since I’ve switched on hostile mobs to increase my iron farm’s efficiency!). I’ve added details to bring the sewers to life, such as exposed pipes, smoke plumes, flowing water, puddles, dripping ceilings, and dead ends blocked by sewer grates. I plan to enhance the grimy feel once I have better access to mossy stone and tuff brick variants. I’d love to add frogs for additional movement* or even some armadillos to resemble large sewer rats, but that will have to wait until I upgrade to 1.21.
*(the bats that occasionally spawn down there always scare the absolute crap out of me if they fly in my face!!)
The Fishing Dock
As of writing this (31/07/2024), anyone reading this are getting some exclusive spoilers for my next couple of episodes!! I recently built myself a rustic fishing dock area that lives on the edge of the lake outside my farmhouse.
This building actually doubles as my Iron Farm! Currently, five villagers are locked away/living inside the upper floor of the fishing shack, who were passively providing me with iron during their daytime meetings when I was on ‘peaceful difficulty’. Since changing the game difficulty to improve the iron farm’s rates, they are now being terrorised/entertained by Merle Dixon, the shack’s resident zombie!
The villagers are so excited by Merle’s antics that they invite their iron golem friends over to enjoy the show. Unfortunately, all the golems spawn inside a water stream that swiftly washes them away into a large pipe, where they meet their untimely demise… Sad times. But they provide me with lots of iron 24/7, so it’s a necessary sacrifice.
In addition to the iron farm, I built a small boat shed to accompany the shack, as it looked a little odd on its own. The lore for the boat shed is that it is a new addition and therefore not as rundown and dishevelled as the shack.
I then upgraded the backdrop by adding a stony cliffside and built a newly renovated wooden dock that surrounds the shack and boat shed. The dock is cluttered with boxes and various random items accumulated from excursions into the wider world.
Fun Fact: Despite this being described as a fishing dock, I could not actually use ANY fishing barrels anywhere near this build, as they had the potential to break my iron farm! This was because if the villagers in the shack try to claim any workstations, this might prevent them stop sleeping and ultimately break the farm.
Links to my YouTube Channels
Castaway Games
