The Biomes and Building update

The Biomes and Building Update is the first major update of the place.cs survival server. The update went live on Oct 1st, 2021, and before it went live, all maps were archived. This update contains a variety of new features, which are being documented on this page.

## Biomes

When the Biomes and Buildings update went live, 4 new biomes were added. Biomes are chosen, at random, when a map is generating. The current biomes are Plains, Desert, Snowy, Birch forest, and Oak forest.

### Plains

The Plains biome is almost the same as the "original" NAS biome. It generates with Wet grass as the grass type, Dirt as the dirt type, and Stone as the stone type. Tall grass and trees grow above the dirt. Trees in the Plains biome generate as Oak 80% of the time, and Birch 20% of the time. When generating, this biome has a BiomeID of 0.

#### Flowering Plains

This is a subdivision of the plains biome that generates with a lot of flowers as well as everything else. The biome has a BiomeID of 5.

### Desert

The Desert biome generates with Sand as the Grass and Dirt type, Sandstone as the stone type, and also generates with Sand replacing water. The Desert biome is the only biome that generates with Quartz ore, as well. In the Desert biome, instead of trees and grass, only Cacti will generate. When generating, the biome has a BiomeID of 1.

### Snowy

The Snowy biome generates very similarly to the Plains biome. However all trees are Spruce and Snow grass as the Grass type. Tall grass also generates here, and spots where tall grass doesn't generate a layer of snow generates instead. When generating, the biome has a BiomeID of 2. This Biome also has a constant weather effect of snow.

### Forest Biomes

The Forest Biomes are biomes that generate with very large amounts of trees. There are currently 2 forest biomes, Birch and Oak. These generate with IDs of 3 and 4, respectively. Other than this, they generate exactly the same as Plains biomes.

## New Building Blocks

When the update went live, several new building blocks were added. These are the Spruce palette, the Quartz Palette, Carpets, and some other miscellaneous blocks.

### The Spruce Palette

The Spruce Palette is identical to the Birch and Oak palettes. It has Spruce Logs, Stripped Spruce Logs, Spruce Planks, Spruce Slabs, Spruce Walls, Spruce Stairs, Spruce Sticks, and Spruce Fences. It is a darker wood, which provides good contrast in wooden builds.

### The Quartz Palette

The Quartz Palette is a palette consisting of Quartz Blocks and things you can make out of it. It contains Quartz Block, Quartz Stairs, Quartz Walls, Quartz Slabs, Quartz Pillar, and Chiseled Quartz. All recipes are identical to Minecraft recipes. Quartz is obtained by breaking Quartz Ore, which is only found in Deserts. Upon breaking a Quartz Ore, you recieve 1 Quartz Block.

### Carpets

Carpets are crafted just like in Minecraft. Carpets do not cast shadows, and have a collision box. You can get all 16 colors of carpet by using all 16 colors of wool.

### Snowy Blocks

#### Snowy Grass

The Snowy Grass block is a block nearly identical to Grass Paths, but only generates in the Snowy Biome. Grass growing in the Snowy Biome will turn to Snowy Grass, and Snowy Grass will melt back to Grass if in a biome that's not Snowy.

#### Snow layer and Snow block

The Snow layer generates on top of Snowy Grass in snowy biomes. 2 Snow layer blocks in the crafting table will produce a snow block. These are all purely for decorational purposes.

### Misc blocks

The Path block is a block made when clicking on Grass, Dirt, or Snowy Grass with a shovel. It can be picked up with shears, but if broken with another tool it will drop Dirt.

The Chunk of Coal block is the new basic fuel source. Any and all recipes that used to use Coal ore now use Chunk of Coal. Coal ore drops 2-4 Chunks of Coal when broken.

The Stone die block is crafted using all the number blocks from 1 - 6. It is for decorational purposes.

## Bug Fixes and Other Changes

The "Phantom Power Source" bug has been fixed. Previously, using a Power Source block in a crafting recipe would create an invisible power source where it used to be.

For most recipes, you can now use any type of Wood for crafting. You can also now use any type of Wool for making Beds.

Ores now generate in veins instead of in single blocks. Iron, Gold, and Emerald quantities have been approximately doubled and Coal quantities have been significantly increased. However, Diamond ore quantities have stayed roughly the same.

Pressing "I" whilst holding an item will show information about that item.

Eating things now shows up in the BlockDB and can be persecuted