Mob farming: 240-radius of air vs. 128-radius of lit caves
Mobs spawn naturally within a square group of chunks centered on the player, 15×15 chunks (240×240 blocks). When there are multiple players, mobs can spawn within the given distance of any of them. However, hostile mobs (and some others) that move farther than 128 blocks from the nearest player will instantly despawn, so the mob spawning area is more-or-less limited to spheres with a radius of 128 blocks, centered at each player. In multiplayer, mob caps are shared by all players, no matter where they are.
-- Minecraft Wiki
So, if I core out a 240-block radius around my farm, will that prevent the game from doing spawn attempts at all outside the farm, thus causing 100% of all spawn attempts to be applied to the farm's platform? Also, does it try to spawn in lit caves, or are lit solid blocks equivalent to air?
Best Answer
Lighting up/filling up/emptying/… the area is a strategy to prevent mobs from actually spawning there and filling up the mobcap. There's a limited amount of mobs that can exist in the loaded chunks and you want them all to be inside your farm. There will still be spawning attempts in lit up/air blocks, but they won't spawn mobs, so your farm will be much faster due to the always free mob cap, making almost none of the spawning attempts inside your farm fail.
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What is the radius for mobs to spawn?
Hostile mobs can spawn at a radius of 128 blocks from the center of the player. If any mob spawned inside this sphere moves outside, it instantly despawns. Mob spawning in Minecraft is limited to a 128 blocks distance from a player.How far should I AFK from mob farm?
Your AFK room can technically be anywhere within 128 blocks of the spawner room. But the best place to put it is high up into the air, approximately 80 blocks above the roof of the farm. Since mobs can't spawn in midair, going this far into the sky makes your spawner room the only place they can possibly appear.How do you get 128 block radius in Minecraft?
How High Does a Mob Farm Need to Be? Mob farms should be a total of 22 blocks in height to kill the mobs.If Your Mob Grinder Isn't Working, Watch This!
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Images: Artem Saranin, Ákos Szabó, Pixabay, Pixabay
