lastguyplaying

Wow that was inspiring.

I know that is a lot to read but it is important In building a proper castle that we can be proud of.

Main feature of any castle we will need these. Outer defenses Moat Walls (inner and outer) Towers (inner and outer) Gatehouses, drawbridges and barbicans Inner defenses Baileys or wards Living quarters and support buildings Keeps or donjons Great halls Chapels Stables Wells Workshops Wall enhancements Crenellations: Rectangular blocks alternated with openings across the top of a wall or tower. Soldiers could hide behind the blocks and shoot through the openings. Walkways: Some walls had walkways built into the stone, while others had wooden walkways on the inside of the wall where soldiers could stand guard and defend the walls during battle. Hoardings: Covered wooden overhangs that ran along the top of a wall. The French later used stone hoardings called machicoulis. Hoardings had holes in the flooring from which soldiers could shoot arrows or dump various objects (rocks, hot tar, boiling water, hot oil) on attackers. Breteches: Small, overhanging rooms on French castles, similar to hoardings, that jutted out from the wall. Breteches were made of stone, had windows or arrow loops, and also had a floor opening. A breteche extending above the top of a wall was called a bartizan. Arrow loops: Narrow slits or openings in walls and hoardings through which archers and crossbowmen could fire arrows. Many arrow loops were wider on the inside and tapered toward the outside of the wall; this design gave the archer a wide field of view. Embrasures: Rotating cylinders with an arrow loop that were built into the wall or tower and could give an archer a very wide field of view.

Urban areas outside the city walls, so-called Vorstädte, were often enclosed by their own set of walls and integrated into the defense of the city. These areas were often inhabited by the poorer population and held the "noxious trades". In many cities, a new wall was built once the city had grown outside of the old wall. This can often still be seen in the layout of the city, for example in Nördlingen, and sometimes even a few of the old gate towers are preserved, such as the white tower in Nuremberg. Additional constructions prevented the circumvention of the city, through which many important trade routes passed, thus ensuring that tolls were paid when the caravans passed through the city gates, and that the local market was visited by the trade caravans. Furthermore, additional signaling and observation towers were frequently built outside the city, and were sometimes fortified in a castle-like fashion. The border of the area of influence of the city was often partially or fully defended by elaborate ditches, walls and/or hedges. The crossing points were usually guarded by gates or gate houses. These defenses were regularly checked by riders, who often also served as the gate keepers. Long stretches of these defenses can still be seen to this day, and even some gates are still intact. To further protect their territory, rich cities also established castles in their area of influence. A famous example of this practice is the Romanian "Dracula Castle" at Bran/Törzburg, which was intended to protect Kronstadt (today's Braşov This is a good thing to read about outer and inner walls.

This kind of contradicts what I just said about the gatehouse. I said it wrong I believe the gatehouse or Barbican(( love that word)) should be enclosed and be on top of the gate. You should be able to shoot down into the gate. With a great Barbican it protects the most valuable and vulnerable part of our wall, the gate.

Yeah I turned off my comp before I left. I will have the server and hamachi up again at 5:30 pst (-8). That will be the earliest I don't get home till 5. )) I don't know why we need to have a giant gatehouse. Wood is easier to break than stone. I like things to be grand, huge and altogether magnificent but we are not going for looks it was made for defense and it will be in the remote north. If it was as close to civilization as our keep now is I would suggest making it grand and soaring. If we wanted to make it authentic and to scale it would have to be 30-45 feet high walls and 8-20 feet thick. I think we should scale it down to about half so have the wall be around 15-20 blocks high with the towers being 30-40 blocks high. I also think having the wall 10-12 thick may be to much so I say stay toward the Lower end and make it around 6-8 blocks thick. Most authentic castles had places in the towers that hung over the walls so you could see the outside as well as the inside. I like the idea of having the inside of our walls hollow because we can put archers there. The downside to this is that the walls are not as strong. We could also go traditional with them and fill them with something. Such as gravel or sand. I don't know what you mean by floating towers. All of the towers are on the ground. I also strongly believe in having an inner wall and an outer wall because if we have our farms and farmer houses inside the outer wall but outside the inner wall then the farmers have a place to retreat to. Traditionally the inner wall was larger than the outer wall so it would better protect the royalty. I believe our inner wall should be 20-30 blocks high and it should go all the way around our keep. If we are attacked the farmers can drive there flock inside the keep and will be better protected there. If we have no inner wall they have no where to retreat to. I think the actual keep should be large with multiple floors. Large enough to hold everyone if need be along with animals. I believe that inside the keep there should be a hidden path leading outside the castle somewhere we could send the villagers if need be. We could also use this for messengers in a time of war. I believe that we should have rock baskets on the walls. (( gravel on blocks that can be removed with pistons so the gravel falls on whoever is underneath.)) i also believe that some buildings should connect to the walls but the larger houses and shops could stand alone. Signed Sir Animeius (this was all typed on my phone so the spelling and grammar could be bad.))

The hamachi room is knights of the north and password is lotc the server ip is the one I posted. I believe it's running on my home computer but I'm not positive I'm at work at the moment. The hamachi should be up as well but I am not sure as I said I'm at work and not at my house.

at least 2

just exit and join a couple of times

lotc sorry forgot about that

ok i will work on that one then.

Join my server and do what you are wanting i will gamemode you.

My gate house is on a 1.0.0 server just join my hamachi. It is called Knights of the north. the ip address is 5.181.59.131. I don't know how to make a server any other way. I have only made them for my friends and i to play on.

Here is what the basic gatehouse for keep 3 would look like minus towers or decorations. http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/bigdogsebo/?action=view&current=2011-12-04_104308.png http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/bigdogsebo/?action=view&current=2011-12-04_104302.png

All that info is from here. http://www.medieval-castle-siege-weapons.com/medieval-castle-layout.html

Also read this if you want info on how castles were built. The medieval castle layout employed by medieval castles was essential to the castle's position of prominence within the community. Not only was the castle layout designed to best fit the needs of its residents, but layout of the medieval castle was also engineered to offer optimal fortification. No two layouts of medieval castles were exactly alike, and each was constructed to meet its future residents’ exacting specifications. Moreover, each medieval castle layout was developed to provide the strongest defense in light if its geographic vulnerability. Although no two layouts of medieval castles were alike, every castle was furnished with the same essential elements. A medieval castle's layout was engineered for optimal fortification and defense and as such each medieval castle was constructed with a moat, an outer curtain, and a drum tower. For an effective layout of a medieval castle, these three points were integral; without them, the castle would lie vulnerable for siege and attack. The outer curtain extended around the entire perimeter of the structure, culminating at the large, and often imposing outer gate, the fourth essential point of the medieval castle's layout and design. And it was this outer gate that offered the greatest challenge to medieval castle builders. The outer gate was the first line of defense for castle inhabitants and the entire medieval castle layout was engineered around the strongest possible primary fortification. Inside this outer gate and curtain lay the uniqueness of the medieval castle layout. Research of the existing remains of medieval castles throughout Western Europe indicates that medieval castle layout designers employed artistic and architectural creativity to secure the inner workings of the medieval castle. Crossing the drawbridge over the moat and through the outer curtain’s outer gate only got you so far. The medieval castle was still protected by a second and slightly larger wall, the inner curtain. Similar to the outer curtain, the inner wall came to a pinnacle at the inner gate, often times described as a long passageway marked by iron gates and barriers. The inner curtain boasted a core necessity of the medieval castle's layout, the tower. These towers served multiple functions ranging from lookout points to the all important high ground in defensive posturing. The final defense engineered in the medieval castle layout was the inner ward, or large expanse of land, open and unobstructed, which led directly to the main entrance of the medieval castle. Aside from these core necessities, each medieval castle layout differed. The placement of various battlements varied from region to region and often took factors such as geographic positioning into account, that is to say the medieval castle was constructed atop a hill, on a coast, in a valley, etc. The interior of the medieval castle also differed from structure to structure and often times depended on the wealth of the individual inhabitants. As a generality although no two medieval castle layouts were exactly alike, most were furnished in the highest style of the age. The walls and the ceilings were either carved or painted; the floor was covered with the finest straw and scented with herbs. Dishes were of the finest quality silver or pewter and adorned long wooden tables in the great hall. But the chapel was the finest room the medieval castle's layout boasted. It was decorated with the finest goods medieval money could procure.

I can try to do it in minecraft structure planner to see how it would look in minecraft. Yes i think we could do it no problem.

Keep 3 was my favorite as well.

I know what you mean about the cross shaped holes in castles. I just don't know how to make one in minecraft.

I have a few blueprints that were made from real castles.I did not make the blueprints. Keep 1: http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/bigdogsebo/?action=view&current=keep3.jpg Keep 2: http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/bigdogsebo/?action=view&current=keep2.jpg Keep 3: http://s463.photobucket.com/albums/qq353/bigdogsebo/?action=view&current=Keep1.gif

((As i said, that is just a sketch. It looked a lot better in my head.As Casamir said the keep was made in a time of war. It was made quickly so we would have protection. I believe the keep needs to look menacing. Also if the farm is outside the wall what will keep people from destroying it. I am wondering how do you plan on making the windows that are easier to shoot out of than into. Just wondering how they are made.)) p.s As I said before the other keeps were rushed because of war.So there was no way to consult with everyone. That is why Casamir is the leader he is the one in charge of making decisions in a time of need. It was his choice to either wait and possible die or make it to the best that time allowed and we survived because of it.

I have other screen shots but i cant upload them. This is just a rough design. The walls is 13 blocks high and 200 blocks long.200 blocks wide as well.

Here is one picture i have never used mcedit before that is why it is underground. But this is the gate.

I have been using minecraft structure planner and have been sketching up some ideas. I was thinking walls about 13 blocks high. The walls are 3 blocks thick but the ones in row in the middle is empty. The row in the middle has planks in the bottom and those planks will be set on fire. (help lower heating costs lol) The fire will be to keep us warm since we will be in the north. The wall is all i have done at the moment. I can try to take screen shots but i am not very familiar with using mcedit.

I came back to the main base. There was no reason for me to be in the verge. My mining skill is my lowest skill. Signed, Sir Animeius