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Minecraft Minecarts


Dec value: 328
Hex value: 148
Maximum stack 1

Minecarts are vehicles that can be ridden when they’re placed on rails. While it’s possible to ride minecarts when they drive off of the rails, the speed at which they move is very slow.

Minecarts have to be placed on rails, though they will not move until they get some form of impulse. This can be a simple push from a player or mob or a Redstone signal from any power source. Once a minecart has received an impulse, it’ll move for a short while before coming to a stop again, at which point it will have to receive another impulse.

This means minecarts have to be powered either constantly or at certain intervals, which is best done with either powered rails or a powered minecart. Minecarts are created with 5 iron ingots. Once placed a minecart can be destroyed in a single blow by using a sword, pickaxe, or bow and arrow, however, the arrow will be lost by shooting the minecart. Swords and pickaxes will not lose any durability by destroying a minecart.

Minecarts can even be destroyed when they’re moving, which could be used to prevent players from escaping by shooting a well-aimed arrow at their minecarts.

Using the Minecart

To use the minecart you simply place it down and right-click it to get in. When you right-click the minecart again you will get out, even if it is moving. If you get out of the minecart while it’s moving, the minecart will continue to move without you, so you may lose it. This may also happen when you get out when the minecart has stopped, as you often land close enough to the minecart to give it a small push.

To make the minecart move you could either give it a small push before entering it, or you could get in while it’s standing on a powered rail. It’s important that the powered rail is in its off state (not powered) and blocked on one side. Once you’re in you simply push a button or pull a lever, which will power the rails, and the minecart will move to whichever side isn’t blocked. Note that this will only work if the powered rails have been blocked, if both sides are connected to other rails, the minecart will not move, no matter how often you power the rails.

Alternatively, you could use a powered minecart to keep you moving at a constant pace, this requires 1 piece of coal or charcoal, which will power it for 3 minutes.

Keeping the Minecart Powered

As mentioned, to keep a minecart moving you will have to supply it with power by either using powered rails or a powered minecart. While a powered minecart will keep you going at a constant speed of about 3,5 blocks per second, using powered rails will allow you to travel up to 8 blocks per second (if you go straight), though this does require a lot more resources.

One of the easiest ways to use powered minecarts is to place a Redstone torch below the block it’s placed on, this will keep the rails powered forever. However, you may want to use the powered rails as a stopping mechanism as well, which means it has to be turned off once in a while. This is best done with detector rails.

Detector rails will detect any minecart on top of it and send a signal to every side, which could be powered rails or a Redstone wire. This means you could use detector rails on one side of the powered rails to boost you when you go one way and use the other way as a stopping mechanism, as powered rails that receive no power will slow you down to a complete stop if you’re not going too fast.

Transportation

A minecart will not only carry a player, but any mob that falls into it can also be transported, with the exception of the Ender Dragon, which will destroy almost anything it flies through. While this may not seem like an immediate advantage, transporting mobs can be a very useful thing.

Transporting a large number of animals becomes a lot easier when you can simply put each of them in a minecart, as you want to have to make sure they don’t get stuck while they follow you when you lure them with weed. Mob transport can also be a great way to send mobs to specific parts of your world, perhaps to a friend’s house. And because creepers can also be transported, minecart “gifts” could lead to a destructive surprise.

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