OfflineTV member Michael Reeves used mods in Minecraft to automate strip mining for the OTV server. This allows him to accumulate resources without having to manually search for them underground.
Strip mining is a popular strategy in Minecraft that allows players to find all resources in an area by mining out entire levels of the world. But this is a tedious and slow process that usually takes a lot of time and effort. Players also have to deal with natural danger such as lava or monsters that roam beneath the surface. The bots remove these issues and can perform their tasks while players remain safe.
Reeves used mods that allowed him to program bots that can strip mine independently without a player’s help. Using commands, he can determine how deep or wide he wants the strip mine to be and can focus on other tasks as the bots complete their work. The bots work together to build the specified quarry and return with the valuable materials.
The process did require coding and Reeves ran into a few issues, including a bug that caused one of the bots to destroy another bot when spawning. Reeves has since resolved the problem and now has a successful system for strip mining on the server.
Reeves is known for his technical gadgets, including a power drill that activates based on his Twitch chat’s activity. Minecraft has thousands of mods that introduce new mechanics and objects to the game—and the mod that allows the creation of bots was perfect for Reeves.