Kodeclik Blog
How to use Redstone in Minecraft
What is Redstone?
Redstone is an advanced feature of Minecraft. Prior to Redstone, building in Minecraft was limited to structures. Redstone allows you to create electrical contraptions and mechanisms that can be used to build machines. The possibilities of building with Redstone are endless!
There are numerous Redstone components and mechanisms such as levers, buttons, hoppers, and dispensers, and more. Read along to see how you can use Redstone to build exciting things.
Where can you find Redstone?
Redstone is a wire-like material that can be found in ores deep underground in a Minecraft world. Mining one piece of redstone ore can give you multiple pieces of redstone wiring. Redstone can also be dropped by witches upon death, found in chests located in places such as a Woodland Mansion, and can be traded for emeralds with Clarics.
Redstone Contraptions
To make a simple redstone contraption, craft an iron door and use it as a door for your settlement/shelter. You will notice that the door does not move when clicked.
By connecting redstone by the door (place it as if you are placing a block on the floor and it will appear in a wire-like shape) and connecting that lever/button, the door will now be opened and closed in time with the lever/button.
Placing the lever/button right next to the door will also work (no redstone required). You can also put a pressure plate in front of the door and when stood on, the door will open.
Pistons
The next component that we will be using is called the piston. There are two variations of pistons: the piston and the sticky piston. Both pistons serve a similar purpose. When activated, the piston will push forward, therefore moving any blocks that may be in front of it. When deactivated, the piston will move back to its original position.
The difference between pistons and sticky pistons is that normal pistons will activate and deactivate moving the block in front of it forward, but will not do anything to the block when moving back. Sticky pistons move the block both times back and forth because they are sticky and therefore the block in front will always be connected.
Let us make a simple project. Create a hovering platform three blocks above the ground. Then place a piston facing upward on the side of the platform. Then place a lever or button on its side or simply next to it and when activated the piston will be pushed up and you as well up to the platform! Note: pistons can also be powered by redstone connected to a power source such as a lever.
Let us make a very simple piston elevator. Make as many pistons as you want facing upwards. Place a block of choice above the pistons. These blocks can’t be strong blocks such as obsidian as pistons are not strong enough to move them. Connect a lever or button to redstone connecting to all the pistons. When you stand on the platform and flick the lever, the pistons push your block of choice upwards and therefore you!
Redstone Mob Farms
Hoppers are a very useful redstone component in Minecraft. Once you have crafted a hopper, if an item or block is dropped on top of it (or for example a mob died and its drops are on top of the hopper), the hopper will collect these items. You can then connect hoppers to other objects (by going on sneak and placing a hopper next to another collector, a tube-like object will appear with the hopper connecting to that collector) such as chests or even other hoppers.
We can make a simple mob farm using hoppers. Create an enclosed room (the roof should be two blocks wide) as big as you like and put hoppers on the floor. Have these hoppers connect to a chest. Since this room is enclosed it should be pitch black.
Remove the roof and on the sides of the roof place sticky pistons with a lever connecting to all of them. Then place whatever block you are using next to them and when the lever is activated the roof should come on.
Now make a cobblestone platform in between the roof and the floor that is also connected to pistons. The mobs will spawn on the platform so thatn when you flick the control levers the mobs will eventually try to go down and burn in sunlight.
Now wait until any undead mobs spawn. Since these mobs are undead, they will burn in sunlight. So, when the sun comes out, pull the levers, exposing them to the sun and once the mobs die, their drops will go into the hoppers and end up in your chest.
DIY: A dispenser is a block that shoots items. By placing dispensers filled with water buckets at the bottom, when the dispensers are activated water flows through, enticing mobs further to go down to extinguish themselves. Then you can have pistons push blocks to the water source to block the water off and burn the mobs.
Next, we will show you how to make a zombie pigman farm. This farm will kill zombie pigmen and proceed to collect all their items.
To start, enter the nether dimension and locate a nether waste biome. This biome will only spawn zombie pigmen and ghasts so it is the perfect place for this farm. Make a large platform out of a strong block that can withstand explosions.
Make a roof and walls so that this space is enclosed and add an iron door for extra security. Make a pedestal three blocks high and use a piston with a lever to access it. Then make holes 25 blocks deep around the pedestal and place trapdoors to cover these pits.
Open the trapdoors and connect them all to one redstone chain that is connected to the lever. Leave the trap doors closed for now. If you are in survival, wait for pigmen to spawn, but in creative simply use spawn eggs.
Use the piston to get up to the pedestal and then deactivate it. Use the lever to open the trapdoors and hit a zombie pigmen. All of the pigmen will run after you and thinking the trapdoors to be full blocks, run over the pits. The pigmen will then fall to their demise.
To collect the items, put hoppers at the bottom of the pit and connect them to a chest (to do this you have to go on sneak and place a hopper beside the chest or indirectly connect the hopper to the chest by connecting one hopper to a hopper that is connected to a chest). Your farm should finally be working!
Isn't Redstone amazing? We can't wait to see what you design with Redstone! Also checkout our blogpost on the Minecraft Caves and Cliffs Update (Part 1; June 2021). Also see our blogpost on 25 questions about Minecraft.
Want to learn Minecraft modding? Checkout Kodeclik's 1:1 and small group classes.
