Board Thread:Suggestions forum/@comment-31507215-20170515045210

Notes: ''First, I have looked briefly through the overview boards, and did not see anything on this subject, so I apologize if I am unintentionally copying someone's idea. Second, please note that this is intended to be a "fun" suggestion, but not a "joke" suggestion. I do think that this should be added.''

Are you tired of hobbits wandering into your home, and you not being able to get them out without losing alignment? Are you itching to clean something? Do you want another immersive, realistic, gameplay element?

I imagine most of us would answer these questions with a yes, a no, and a maybe. Well, you're about to get all of them. (Well, at least if this suggestion is implemented . . .) In this suggestion, I will suggest the addition of Brooms and a Dust mechanic.

Brooms
The central item that this suggestion would add is a broom. Its main uses would be for dusting (see later on in the suggestion) and for "politely" escorting unwanted guests out of your house, but it would also serve as a half-decent weapon in a pinch.

Crafting
Brooms would be crafted with 2 sticks, 1 string, and 2 dried reeds on a Vanilla crafting table.

Uses
First of all, brooms would be used to clean dust off of a block, by right clicking with it. This would remove the dust instantly, but this would also make it lose 1 durability point. They would also break cobwebs twice as fast as they would break if mined with your hand.

Secondly, brooms could be used to shoo entities away. If you right-click on a block with a broom in hand, (as well as cleaning off dust) it would deal a no-damage, Knockback 1 hit to all NPCs (except the player that used it) in a 2 block radius from the block the broom was used on. Theoretically, this would move all nearby NPCs a little bit in the direction that the player is facing. This would be a good way to get those pesky hobbits out of your house without losing alignment with them, and, in effect, be sweeping them out of your house. (As seen on TV!)

Third, brooms would be a usable weapon. Here are its stats: Damage=3, Speed=100%, Reach=125%, Durability=Whatever makes sense. This would make it a weapon with a low damage, but slightly higher than average reach. You would not want to charge into battle with one of them, but it wouldn't be bad if you were attacked during Spring Cleaning. Optional: Brooms should do double damage to arthropods, (spiders, termites, midges, etc.) as they are often the go-to weapon for dealing with such creatures in real life. (That is, unless you keep a shotgun in your broom closet . . .)

Dust
A new mechanic (and an item or two) would be added that would allow for the accumulation of dust, and the cleaning of it. This mechanic would be toggle-able in the mod config, and would be set to off by default. (The item and block for dust would still be obtainable (from creative/cheats), even if the mechanics were turned off.

The Block
A new block would be added – dust. Dust would be a non-solid block, like fallen leaves. It would be rendered starting at about the same height as carpet, and going up to the same height as snow, depending on the amount of dust. (A maximum of four layers of dust could stack into one block space.) It would disappear if the block under it was removed, like snow. It could be broken with your hand in about the same amount of time as it takes to break a dirt block, and would drop nothing. If swept up with a broom, (by right-clicking) a dust item would be dropped. Dust blocks should have an NBT tag that allows for them to "store" a certain item that would be dropped when the dust is broken with any means. This would not have much value in survival or single-player, but may be handy for challenge maps, and role-play. Dust as a block would not be obtainable without commands, but would instead be represented by an item.

The Item
An item for dust would be added as well. It would be obtained by sweeping dust blocks with a broom. If you right click on a block with it, the dust would be used up, and a layer of dust would be added to the block. The main use for dust would be for décor, but I am sure that many more uses could be invented, such as making clay (mentioned in another post a while ago).

The Game Mechanic
As mentioned earlier, these mechanics would be toggle-able in the mod configuration.

To put it simply, this new game mechanic would allow dust to accumulate in enclosed areas (such as houses). The dust would then be a minor annoyance that could easily be cleaned up with a broom.

Here are the details: Every day, at probably about 2000 ticks, (game time, to avoid players being able to sleep through it) dust will accumulate. The game will check all loaded chunks for blocks with 1) an air block (or dust block) in the block directly above them, and 2) no view of the sky (a completely solid block higher in the Y-axis than the block in question). The game will find these blocks, decide whether or not to dust them (50/50 chance), and then will put a layer of dust in the air above the blocks that it decides to dust. If there is already dust there, it adds another layer of dust on top of it, but not exceeding 4 blocks. Dust should not accumulate on grass or wool

This accumulation of dust would not do much, but would be a slight nuisance (like in real life) and would make things look older, and-or more home-like, as well as give people who tend to stay at home (in Minecraft) something to do.

I think that the addition of these mechanics would make the mod a lot more realistic, and fun for those people who don't get out much, and for those people who like to test their skills with household objects.

As always, comments and criticism welcome!

 