| “ | The Beacons of Minas Tirith! The Beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid. | ” |
–Aragorn II, The Return of the King (Peter Jackson film adaptation) | ||
Beacons of Gondor serve as a sort of alarm system for the kingdom of Gondor. They are a new block that can be lit and used in sequence to send signals over long distances, or simply for decoration and dramatic effect. They are found naturally in Beacon Towers and Gondor obelisks, but can also be crafted using an inexpensive recipe on a Gondorian crafting table.
By successfully lighting a beacon, the player gains the achievement "The Beacons are Lit!"
Crafting
Crafting recipe for a beacon of Gondor
The recipe calls for six raw wood (type of tree doesn't matter) and three cobblestone on a Gondorian Crafting Table.
Usage
The lighting of a beacon
The range of a beacon is 64 blocks in all directions. Beacons will not be able to communicate with other beacons outside this distance.
Lighting
Beacons can be lit with a flint and steel, torch, redstone torch, or - more dramatically - by firing a flaming arrow at the beacon. They will start to smoke for a few seconds and then burst into flame. As soon as the beacon lights up, it will begin signalling to all other unlit beacons within range, which will likewise smoke for a while, burst into flame, and send signals to unlit beacons within their range. Theoretically, a chain of beacons could continue lighting one another in this way forever, although in practice the length of the chain will be limited by the amount of chunks loaded in the world, as beacons in unloaded chunks will obviously not respond to any changes.
Extinguishing
You can put out a lit beacon with a bucket of water. When extinguished in this way, the beacon will begin sending signals to other lit beacons within its range, which will extinguish themselves after a few seconds, signal to lit beacons within their range to extinguish themselves, and so on until all the beacons are unlit.
Destroying the beacon block or physically pouring liquid water onto it will also stop it burning. However, when extinguished in this way a beacon will not signal other beacons to put themselves out, and as soon as the beacon is replaced or the water is removed it will light up again provided there are other lit beacons nearby.
Beacons are not extinguished by rain.