Underground Loot Crates

Inspiration and Concept

This modification draws ideas from similar mechanics in Terraria, adding various loot crates to Minecraft that can be found in caves of the Overworld and the Nether. The main goal is to encourage underground exploration and make this process more exciting compared to regular strip-mining.

Main Features

When breaking a crate, you receive 3 to 4 groups of items. Opening each type of crate for the first time grants a new advancement. Most crates have a small chance to drop a unique item. There are four categories of crates: Basic, Water, Biome, and Special.

Crate Types and Their Contents

Basic Crates

Appear in caves of the Overworld and the Nether. Common crates found closer to the surface contain junk, torches, and simple food, while rare specimens that can only be found deep underground may contain ores and even have a small chance to drop diamonds! Nether crates are worse than rare Overworld crates but can drop a Molten Pickaxe, which sacrifices speed and efficiency for damage and the ability to set enemies on fire (repaired using Blazing Rods).

Water Crates

Have a chance to appear in any body of water—lakes, rivers, and oceans. These crates may contain an Anchor—a slow melee weapon with massive knockback that can be further improved with enchantments (repaired using Iron Ingots).

Biome Crates

Contain slightly more loot and replace common basic crates in challenging biomes. There are two types in the Overworld and one in the Nether:

• Jungle Crates appear in jungle biomes and may contain a Blowpipe—a ranged weapon that uses various seeds as ammunition (repaired using Bamboo).
• Frozen Crates appear in snowy biomes and may contain a Frozen Staff—a ranged weapon that does not require ammunition and launches snowballs (repaired using Ice). This weapon loses most of its power outside snowy biomes but always deals increased damage to Blazes.
• Ash Crates appear in Basalt Deltas and Soul Sand Valleys. They may contain a Flame Staff—a powerful ranged weapon that does not require ammunition and launches fireballs (repaired using Blaze Powder). This weapon loses most of its power outside the Nether.

Special Crates

Come in two variations: Iron and Golden. Iron Crates have a very small chance to replace Water, Biome, and common Basic crates. Golden Crates can similarly replace any other crate. They contain large amounts of valuable loot, a guaranteed enchanted vanilla weapon or book, and a new item called Crate Finder (guaranteed in Golden Crates). It can be right-clicked to try to locate a crate inside a 33×33×33 cube centered on the player. The item glows as long as the user remains close to the newly found coordinates. There are three different sounds for locating a Special crate, locating any other crate, and locating nothing.

Fishing for Crates

All surface crates can be obtained through fishing. The base chance to catch a crate is 5% and can be increased by 1% for each level of the Luck of the Sea enchantment. Some crates require fishing deep underground or in specific biomes to be caught. Special crates also have a small chance to be caught regardless of location.

Game Rules and Commands

The spawn rate of crates can be changed through a new game rule in the 'Spawning' section. Alternatively, the following command can be used to edit the value in already generated worlds (replace the default value of 75 with any number from 0 to 100): "/gamerule lootCrateSpawnPercentage 75"

The base chance of catching a crate through fishing can be changed through a new game rule in the 'Drops' section. The bonus from Luck of the Sea scales with the game rule's value: +1% at 5, +2% at 10, +3% at 15, etc. Alternatively, the following command can be used to edit the value in already generated worlds (replace the default value of 5 with any number from 0 to 100): "/gamerule lootCrateFishingPercentage 5"