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Realistic Lightning

under review

I'm not gonna get all into how this works, but in real life, lightning strikes the highest, conductive (or metal) object. I'm pretty sure that right now, lightning just strikes anywhere. I think it would be better to have lightning in mc go to the highest metal object around where it's gonna strike, and if there's no metal around, then the highest object around there in general.

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  • 61
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    Excellent idea! Maybe if you wear metal armour you'll be in for a... surprise...

  • 38
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    That shouldn’t be the case on summoned lightning though! 

  • 16
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    In addition to what others have mentioed, while metal armours (including chainmail) should, while increasing your odds of being struck, decrease the damage taken if all 4 slots have a kind of metallic armour , as it'd make a personal Faraday cage. Of course, the game doesn't need to be realistic, but I think this would be a neat addition, rather than pointless realism.

  • 27
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    Lighting doesn't hit more conductive things more frequently though... the reason lightning rods are made of metal is so they can transfer the energy into the ground to not cause any damage. If they were made of wood, for example, it would explode upon it being hit by lighting because the energy would have trouble transferring through the wood. Lighting does, however, hit the highest object because energy tries to take the path of least resistance, which usually means traveling the shortest distance.

  • 5
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    I agree, this would help with aesthetic builds as well as getting charged creepers in survival.

  • 1
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    Yeah, this is cool! But, can Mojang make the realistic Lightning? I hope!

  • 2
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    Good idea! It should also be attracted to iron armour. Being struck by it while wearing iron armour, it should do much more damage.

  • 2
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    Thank you for this perfect idea! in the latest 1.13.2 lighting absolutely obliterates all custom trees and wooden buildings out in the open. It's a mad house how much lightning strikes have destroyed our builds on the server i play on, and here's mojang saying we don't want to add destructive features!. 

  • 5
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    The best way to imagine the way lightning strikes is to roll a hopefully imaginary sphere of about 63 meters in diameter. Anywhere it touches is possible for lightning shadow. Metal could increase the range of effect though. The best way to do this is to have a lightning entity spawn and it searches for the closest block within ~32 meters. if it fails then it spawns 1 to 2 lightning entities in a semi random location below it withing this 63 meter sphere/cube. If it touches ground all of the lightning entities will be connected with a blinding whiteish streak. Full metal armor would also completely block lightning damage as it will redirect the electricity, i won't get into details, because I really should have done this as a different post, but i have seen this done many times, including people touching cages that were struck by lightning at the same time.

  • 0
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    Lego This is great thanks for the idea... but there is a flaw if no blocks no light, no light limit ether! or brightness!

     

  • 4
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    This would be cool! It also would be cool of lightning struck sand it turned to glass!

  • 1
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    Now that's a lot of damage.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    R Sangster is correct, if you wear Iron, or Gold armor you should have a higher chance of being struck by lightning in a thunderstorm

  • 3
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    Lightning already targets the tallest block in the chunk. Every tick there’s a 1:1,000,000 chance lightning will strike a chunk. A random x/z coordinate is chosen in that chunk then within ~5 blocks the highest block is chosen.

  • 5
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    This would also mean that players could make lightning rods, which would be great for charged creeper farms.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Cool

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    It would cause lightning to strike your house in flat plains biomes, and though a lightning rod can counter it, who wants a skeleton horse trap on their house?!

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    If lightning strikes while you're wearing iron armor, you could loose all your hearts.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Then to the people who like to build tall houses. Be careful if this is added

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Not bad dude great idea.

  • 3
    Registered User commented
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    Here's a list of the things lightning should probably be directed at:

    -Iron Golems

    -Iron Blocks, Trapdoors, Bars and other blocks made of iron

    -Any mob or player wearing iron armor

    -Any mob or player holding something made of iron(iron ingots, shears, etc.)

    The highest targets should get priority, and if there are none of these in the area then the lightning should either strike a random mob or a random block.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    you could also craft lightning rods to power redstone and maybe batteries that can hold the charge and emit power for a limited time

  • 4
    Registered User commented
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    you could also craft lightning rods to power redstone and maybe batteries that can hold the charge and emit power for a limited time

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I want and hope what's this idea whenever realise. But I think lightning bolt should strikes rare.

  • 3
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    Maybe end rods or iron bars could act as a lightning rod, it could be done as a score, similar to mining speed and hardness. Iron bars and End rods could add say 50 points to the score, and every block in height above 55 (no add nicely to the height limit) adds one point, and a player wearing metal armor (iron, gold, and your choice on netherite) could add another, and it scans 4 random chunks, adds the scores, and strikes the highest scoring point, a player standing on an end rod at y=256 in full gold (because gold is more conductive than iron) in a humid biome (fire spreading mechanics) would be the most likely thing to get struck by lightning.

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    This is a fantastic idea. It would add a little more realism into this game and I am such a nerd for realism!

  • 2
    Registered User commented
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    Maybe instead of Y=55, it could be Y=156

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    I am not a game dev , but i know some java and am sure that this is possible , i am sure that this can be added to minecraft , but it will cause more lag ..........

     

  • 0
    Registered User commented
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    Easy way  for skeleton horses=give it iron armour and go to the top of mountain.

  • 1
    Registered User commented
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    It could be toggled using a gamerule (ie. /gamerule realistic_lightning true\false)