Tutorial:Village survival

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This tutorial is on village survival, a challenge involving surviving solely in a village

Finding a village

First off, find a village. Walking around in biomes where they spawn is the best strategy, if one is not found within a reasonable distance, trying again in a new world may be required. Make sure that villages can be generated. You can also use seed templates that spawn you in an area close to a village..

Wood and stone tools

You can get the wood logs two ways: Search for trees growing near the village, or get the logs from the buildings. At this point, craft a crafting table and a full set of wooden tools. To get the stone, dig various dirt blocks and mine for cobblestone. Try to get enough to make the stone tools, a furnace, and two stacks to make a shelter. Getting iron to make a bucket is also important for establishing your own farms.

Shelter

For this part, you can make a shelter, but this is the recommended design. It blends well with plains villages.

Materials

Cobblestone
Oak logs
1 oak door
1 bed
A crafting table and a furnace
6 glass panes

Building

Dig a 6×6 area in the dirt. Fill it with cobblestone.
Build up cobblestone walls around it. Make them four blocks high.
Fill the roof using cobblestone.
Replace the corners with oak logs.
In the front of the house, take off two blocks and place the oak door.
Place the bed in one corner, but not in front of the door.
Place the crafting table and furnace at the opposite side of the bed.

If you value your privacy and do not want villagers coming into your house to steal your bed or crowd around your workstation, consider using a fence gate in place of a door, as villagers cannot open those.

Trading starters

Before you begin amassing your emerald stockpile, survey the villager population to see what workers are available. Interact with each to see what can be sold.

Most villages typically have a farmer that gathers crops to distribute to the population so that they can replenish anyone lost to monster attacks. Farmers typically start with the ability to buy off wheat, carrots, potatoes, or beetroots. Wheat is the most accessible crop type due to the ease of getting wheat seeds, though you may occasionally find stray potatoes in villager chests. Carrots and potatoes are typically first obtained off zombies, and beetroot are the hardest to find, usually from dungeon chests.

You can also examine the village's own farms to see what kind of crops are growing. You can expand the farm to increase the crop yield, or steal seeds and start your own farm.

If there are librarians or cartographers, look for sugar cane in the vicinity to establish a sugar cane farm to create paper to sell to them. The availability of sugar cane or the ease of farming it will vary depending on biome.

If a shepherd is present, ensure that he offers to buy wool of the same color of the nearby sheep. Make a pair of shears to shear the sheep regularly to get a good stockpile of wool to sell.

If the villagers don't have favorable trades, you can break and replace their job block to re-roll their initial trades.

Expanding the village

If the village has generated on a steep incline, such as the side of a mountain, and some villagers risk being isolated in the process, carve in stairs to make those houses accessible, or relocate the beds closer to the rest of the village.

Once you are ready to increase the village population to increase the number and variety of traders, you can either construct additional houses or modify existing ones to make room for more beds. You can also adjust some of the furniture within the village structures to make room for job blocks.

If setting down extra beds, ensure the bed is accessible and is at least two blocks of air above it so that the villagers will reproduce. Tossing six pieces of bread will also make a pair of villagers willing to breed.

If you find a stray zombie villager and you have the resources to cure it, catch it in a boat instead of killing it. See here for details.

Choosing your villagers' jobs

See also: Tutorial:Trading

The choice of job block for each unemployed villager will depend on the player's needs.

Composter (Farmer) - Sell off crops for a renewable, if slow, source of emeralds.
Smoker (Butcher) - Sell off meat from any livestock you have raised and slaughtered. High-tier butchers can buy off sweet berries which makes them an excellent renewable source of income.
Loom (Shepherd) - Sell off wool sheared from sheep, and eventually purchase colored beds en masse.
Barrel (Fisherman) - For players who fish a lot, sell off most of the fish obtained for a source of emeralds.
Lectern (Librarian) - Purchase enchanted books for future equipment upgrades. Books can include enchantments that cannot be obtained from an enchanting table, such as Mending or Frost Walker.
Cartography Table (Cartographer) - Mainly as a source to sell paper or glass panes to. Purchasing glass blocks from a librarian to convert into glass panes before selling back to a cartographer can be a source of experience, albeit at a slight loss of emeralds.
Stonecutter (Mason) - Sell off stone, granite, andesite or diorite obtained while mining, and purchase different types of colored terracotta or quartz blocks to beautify the place.
Smithing Table (Toolsmith) - Purchase spare tools (pickaxes, shovels, axes, hoes) without needing to mine. High-tier toolsmiths will eventually sell enchanted diamond pickaxes.
Blast Furnace (Armorer) - Purchase armor sets without needing to mine iron or diamond. High-tier armorers will eventually sell enchanted diamond armor.
Grindstone (Weaponsmith) - Purchase swords or axes without needing to mine iron or diamond. High-tier weaponsmiths will eventually sell enchanted diamond swords.
Brewing Stand (Cleric) - Sell off rotten flesh from slain zombies for a slow source of emeralds. High-tier clerics will eventually sell Bottle o' Enchanting for a surge of experience.
Fletching Table (Fletcher) - Sell off flint, string or feathers for a source of emeralds, and purchase arrows without needing to hunt skeletons.
Cauldron (Leatherworker) - Sell off leather, rabbit hide, or flint for a source of emeralds.

Defense

Estimate the perimeter of the village based on the naturally-generated paths, and set up fences or walls to keep hostile mobs, including Illager patrols, from getting in. Fill out any holes in the terrain to prevent villagers from falling into places where they cannot escape from. Light up the surroundings to prevent mobs from spawning within the village premises.

If you have a surplus of iron, consider creating your own iron golems to help patrol the surroundings.