Why Copper Tools, Armor and Rails are a Stupid Idea

Of every resource in minecraft ever, Copper stands out for being super useless, so people often say it should have more uses and slap it into more crafting, and I'm here to tell you why that Idea sucks, why you shouldn't suggest it, and what I'D do to make it useful. "More Uses" hahaha.
Not a minecraft documentary.
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When the copper is too dense to float, am I right?
Chapters:
[0:50] Minecraft's Game Design
[4:46] Sinks
[6:51] Copper's options
[9:47] My "Use" for copper
[13:04] Outro

[@lasercraft32]

My only complaint with copper not being used for anything outside of building is that its COPPER... One of the first metals humans figured out how to make tools with. Its also used in basically every piece of technology in existence. For it to ONLY be used for building is just kinda ridiculous. It would not be hard to incorporate it into redstone (the crafter would have been the perfect opportunity, powered rails are RIGHT THERE, and the copper bulb and lightning rod was a good start), but they simply didn't bother doing much with it. Its unintuitive for new players too, because when first starting out they'll see copper ore and assume you can probably make tools out of it... But you _can't._ They'll go their whole playthrough wondering what its used for until they either look it up or a friend tells them that its useless and only used for building. They might even collect a lot of it assuming it will be important later, even though its not.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Copper is also designed the same as gold and iron which are very useful and neat, so players are bound to be further confused by it.

[@assassinunknown6664]

Copper being used primarily for building is beyond inaccurate

[@assassinunknown6664]

@@gaminganimators7000 building as in making walls, floors, support structures and things like that.

[@davidmaxwell1578]

Like sure there are some things such lightning rod and the copper bulb but the point is that there is so much potential that is being missed out. Pipes for example come to mind as a possible redstone like mechanic. Doesn't have to be as advanced as mods like Gregtech or Create but having an alternate redstone system could be cool. It is potential like that which is a bummer which is not being considered. Idk.

[@lasercraft32]

@@davidmaxwell1578 Exactly! Its all about potential. Even just as a building block, there's _still_ room for improvement! Copper Bars would be awesome, lightning rods should be able to oxidize, copper lanterns, copper chains, and even something as simple as copper buttons and trapdoors would be nice to have. They could even add green fire, since burning copper in real life makes the fire green (they even use it in fire works). The possibilities are endless!

[@Romper3]

I get it's supposed to be a decorative material, but have you seen the amount of things copper does irl? It just feels like such wasted potential to only have it be for decorative purposes.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Copper does do a lot! It's just a matter of weather or not those things can be put to minecraft terms X3

[@timohara7717]

It is used in chemicals and electricity, less uses than in minecraft but those uses are more useful

[@the3dluxe53]

Honestly, the only thing I’d add is using copper for powered rails because it’s a lot easier to get a lot of copper than gold by normal means.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Easy suggestion but the resource is still far too common for that to be it's only use. Minecraft does need to update minecarts.

[@sky0kast0]

Imagine a copper minecart

[@il-dottore]

How about cross rails? Instead of having to build a little tip or tunnel under or over an existing rail line, you could use copper to make a cross rail

[@mindthemoods]

I'd just have copper replace the iron in the default rail recipe. Rails are underused as a means of transportation, and it's because rails are expensive, particularly if you don't do iron farms.

[@the3dluxe53]

@@SmashedTomatoes I mean, it’s more of a fix for rails than it is for copper. I’m pretty content with it as just a building block but if it has to have a practical use outside of making pretty builds may as well make rails easier.

[@BusterTheMagician]

I'm glad you perfectly explained the balance of minecrafts resources and general gameplay without bringing up stupid examples or jumping to conclusions like most other videos "criticizing" minecraft do.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I think about Minecraft's game design far too much, to the point where I'm just randomly minding my business and then I go like "Oh yeah we should have item frames that are invisible so we can make it look like items just are around".

[@humanintelegence]

@@SmashedTomatoes actually crafting it instead of commanding it in would be AMAZING!

[@josephbogren444]

I think copper buttons that oxidize overtime and the more oxidized it is, the longer the redstone output last! And of course if there are buttons it only makes sense for there to be pressure plate varients with the same gimmick. Also ive seen the "copper should replace gold in the powered rail recipe" and i think it sounds really cool. Along with the current powered rails recipe making a new type of rails that is much faster than normal.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Redstone outputs exist for almost any signal count, and rusted buttons and pressure plates probably wouldn't have any uses. These are very bandaid suggestions, I guess!

[@hassanorisit]

Copper buttons were gonna be a thing.. if the copper golem won that is. Still salty about it and the iceologer till now, THEY WOULD'VE BEEN SO COOL LIKE COME ON (also 1.21 would've been perfect to add the copper and tuff golem, since the update is mainly focused on those 2 blocks and the structure made from them, smh)

[@Yorgral]

This video is so cool. not only did you give an inventive use for copper that fixes the problems with it but you also made a map for the video that lines up with what you are saying. It is a unique style that is mesmerizing. Great Video!!

[@SmashedTomatoes]

hehehe, that was the goal, and I think the results where great!

[@d_camara]

@@SmashedTomatoes great is an understatement, this is mind blowing!

[@bucketeer8921]

copper can be turned into a copper block if you combine 9 of their ingot forms thats a use for copper

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Wait a second... You're right!!

[@absolutezero9507]

Copper could be a very important Redstone component or could be important of it's own system. All resources should be treated like that

[@SmashedTomatoes]

You got very close to what I said! Being important to a system basically could turn it easily into a sink, this is not a bad suggestion

[@budgetstardust1349]

Copper should be used decently in redstone componants in my opinion due to redstone in a way being a parallel to electricity, and the use of copper in electronics. Such as the copper bulb. anyway i have now run out of neurons to complete this succinctly so here we are

[@NineQuestionMarks]

My ideas were two uses: My first was adding in another ore, Tin, to create bronze to make tools that can mine deepslate (Stone no longer can and Iron is only found in deepslate. Like, seriously. We have the stone and iron age but no bronze age?) and stylish blocks with, but the only use I can think of for Tin so far is Tin cans, which I don't think is much of a sink. My second idea was using copper in redstone to create electricity, or more specifically, lightning and fire as a new form of attack. Redstone engineers building contraptions to defend their base with actual lightning guns. Maybe dowsing rods are tin-powered as well as copper-powered? Or just tin-powered? Or the rods themselves are made of bronze? The only other thing I can think of for tin is solder and I don't see many Minecrafting applications there.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

If minecraft where to really touch progression, I'd hope it was more substantial than 1 extra step which most players would see as bothersome, that's a terraria mechanic which has pretty different design from minecraft, for better or for worse. I've seen other people suggest adding tin and broze alloys into minecraft, but that'd just make new things that are kinda useless, iron is necessary before it's place in the progression and after, which is what makes it feel useful.

[@love2o9]

The problem is that we need a bridge between stone and iron since progression got all fucked up from the caves and cliff update making iron spawnrates much lower near the surface and making it much more grueling to get iron early on. Copper tools would be a perfect in-between step. Idk how it would work, though. Maybe as strong as iron but as durable as stone and can only mine the stuff stone can mine

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@love2o9 iron is easy enough to get for most players, they'd skip the copper tier. And even then, a full set would be like 40 copper, you have to remember the game spawns 5 or 6 stacks per chunk. It needs a sink.

[@JKStudios42]

For initial thoughts on more Copper uses: I don’t think tools should be included, but more One-off Utilities like the telescope and the lightning rod would be good. Returning after the Video, I think a good sink would be some variant of Copper Golems. It’d be cool if in addition to pressing buttons, they also could harvest crops or something. They’d age and die over time, so you’d have to use copper or wax to heal them, with copper reversing the aging while wax only stops it temporarily.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Yup, copper golems had so much pottential and people didn't vote for it as much because they knew mojang could never deliver on it, it's kinda depressing if you think about it.

[@hassanorisit]

​@@SmashedTomatoes even if they were useless, having adorable little statues would BE SO CUTE! Imagine waiting for a the golem to oxidize, so you can use him as decoration In your build! (Basically taxidermy)

[@wafity]

Good point, but I still think copper needs more uses

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I fear the copper dimension is upon us...

[@facundosilveira5535]

@@SmashedTomatoes so it will soon be... Among us?

[@TheLetterS_Rebooted]

Completely agree, copper doesn't need more uses or crafting recipe, it just needs one that's very useful the cobblemon mod is a perfect example of that since you need copper to craft pokeballs, which are always useful regardless of your playstyle or how far you are in the games progression So of course, the only way to fix copper is to add pokemon to the game and make Minecraft a Nintendo switch exclusive

[@SmashedTomatoes]

What if they did that but with the monkey paw condition that they look like pokemon quest models? Pikachu just looks like the bees D:

[@GamerTowerDX]

​@@SmashedTomatoes That doesn't sound like much of a downside to me that sounds hilarious lol

[@CeruleanMuun]

What would I do with copper? Copper wires - Conductive leads made of copper that connect directly to blocks without incurring QC. Direct connections in any direction with underwater capability. Pipes - Easier fluid transfer and drainage. Sponges shouldn't be the only option. Copper Golems - Somehow able to be programmed to a degree with the ability to use items given to it.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@CeruleanMuun so replacing redstone completely, automating buckets and replacing the allay entirely... Hmmm

[@CeruleanMuun]

@@SmashedTomatoes Well not exactly. The wires would just be convenient tools alongside redstone. I didn't know about auto bucket systems. Not gonna lie. The golems wouldn't necessarily replace allays but it's not like people are dying to get allays anyway

[@jamiek8123]

oh ok, was a bit confused at first, cause when it first came out copper was the nothing block, almost no uses. but now it has so many blocks its cemented itself in as the building block of the ores, you don't really build with the others, you may decorate with them, but not build usually, so it has its niche, and the colors and how they can change is so cool. but yeah it doesn't really have uses beyond that, other then the lightning rod and spy glass it doesn't have anything that isn't just building. so yeah no resource sink that makes it valuable, but its kinda like building is its resource sink, its not like you're gonna take down that build --if you're sane atleast-- so if you build with copper, you're likely to keep building with it, and thus you need more, and so have to go get more, and hey that's a resource sink, your ever building need for more copper for bigger builds. tho I do think we should get like powered rails but with copper. or item pipes that are like hoppers but without the laggy item pickup part, so they just push an item and put it in the inventory they point to, and only have one item slot, allowing for easier and more lag friendly item movement systems instead of hoppers, and if you make it so they can go any direction that'd be great. but yeah I can't think of any kind of resource sink like the kind you talked about in the video for copper to have.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

that's okay, I definitely see it's value as a building block, and I'm even suprised to see how many comentors are talking about it's building uses because they are sorely underrated. The title is sorta meant to imply that building is it's sink, but I was sure that many players would disagree with that because they aren't builders.

[@oxanis]

This video is insanely well edited. You just walking through the enviroments that look rly good perfectly is nice to watch. Good job

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Even I'm surprised to see how well it came out!

[@jackrakken4127]

I would use copper as a metal equivalent for wood in most crafting recipes so I can go underground and never have to return to the above world and its burning light.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

too convenient, plus you'd still need to go to the surface for food.

[@SeptillionSeven]

i would add copper tools & armor with the same stats as iron but would rust & damage more over time until shortly breaking, making an expendable alternative for iron given how common it is to find copper. Honey would help stop the rusting but only temporarily

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I did say not to post the comment too early hahaha

[@SeptillionSeven]

whoops

[@thatshrian]

new redstone components. e.g: wirings; waterloggable, can go on walls, but can't be extended unlike redstone.

[@vivvianne4110]

Copper should for redstone crafting. I think it would be particularly useful if you could make copper wires which acted like redstone but they could have multiple colors, that way you could make more compact redstone builds. This would be especially useful for displays. This would also solve the problem of redstone behaving kind of weird vertically. Like I don't really wanna have to do some weird half slab setup every time I need to get a vertical signal going. It might be cool to use alongside the skulk sensors as maybe some kind of remote activator for wireless redstone. They could also make really good pipes so we won't have to use ice and water to move items around.

[@thegrandatm1844]

@@vivvianne4110 idk about pipes but copper wires would be cool

[@deletedaccount7]

I'm just disappointed we didn't get copper bars as an alternative to iron bars in the tricky trials update. Like. . . Come on. We got copper grates but NOT bars to match with them? Grates are cool and all. . . But you know what would be even greater? The ability to make railings for high up grate paths that match them with copper bars! Honestly was such a missed opportunity.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Copper SHOULD have more blocks that aren't block-shaped, like pipe-like decor or iron bars...

[@CreeperokGames]

Sorry but we need the minecart revolution, so. Cheaper powered rails(because the speed of a minecart is underwhelming, the gold one will be faster ant the copper one will have the old stats). Also if you don't use them really often they oxidize(- speed ofc). And copper door should keep the zombies away at the early stages, but villagers could still use them(wooden doors→copper doors→iron doors). So for that items there could be harder to wax them(2 honeycombs for door that don't stay when broken and maybe none for rails). Idk about the door but rails are the solution for minecart slow speed limit and keeping the farms working.

[@CreeperokGames]

Also: old copper helmet with a candle could be found on lying skeletons in the mines and fixed. Okay so the last one is kind of strange, so I present to you even stranger one, that revamps an old item(like pigmen barters - piglin). Copper gears! As a vertical redstone solution(of course there will be redsone in craft, also copper powered rails would be mostly iron cause copper is cheap as hell)

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Wait, I thought copper doors already worked like "villagers can open them but zombies can't break them", It's messed up that it's not the case yet! Minecarts do need an update, but if you made them part of powered rails and then had them oxidize, they would just become less usable because it would be boring to need to fix the rails, and again, elythra just laugh at the concept of other transportation methods.

[@CreeperokGames]

@@SmashedTomatoes 1. Me too until I went to wiki 2. That's more for balance. Cause minecarts if used, only for frequently visited places or for farms. It's only for early game, and again not to destroy farms because of speed boost for good ones. Maybe rails will be scrapped when minecart lands on it. Like, I just want the oxidation have meaning.

[@introvertedrobot3681]

I am a long-time survival builder who sometimes dabbles with automatic farms out of necessity. The issue with copper (for me) is that even with its common occurrence. The blocks it allows you to build with, aren't worth the amount of coal (or other fuel sources that would require obtaining or automating to have mass quantities of) needed to turn the amount of copper you come across into usable ingots. It takes over a stack of coal to smelt enough copper to make one stack of copper building blocks. Or you could turn a stack of coal into four stacks of torches or smelt an equal amount of iron or gold, which are needed in many more useful recipes. The reason players are not incentivized to use copper isn't because it does not have enough uses. They aren't incentivized to use copper because the material it costs to make it usable isn't worth having less fuel for everything else. That being said. This might also be more of a problem with Minecraft's fuel economy than anything else.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

nah, this is 100% a real problem with copper. The ore already gives you 2 or 3 chunks but it takes about as long to cook as normal iron, it should be faster for sure!

[@niftylittlename]

You could try disassembling some trial chambers. They will even be waxed for you

[@MattTOB618]

If you use a stonecutter, one block of copper gets turned into 4 of whatever it is you're making. Sure, that doesn't help with doors, trapdoors, or regular copper blocks, but it's something!

[@introvertedrobot3681]

Those are all great points. And I don't discredit them. However, they don't fully address the problem with copper. Harvesting full blocks from another structure just makes the massive amounts of ore in the world worthless. And even with the stonecutter being used on copper like other stone blocks. You still have to smelt all the copper necessary to make the blocks in the first place.

[@anthonynguyen1289]

Why aren’t you making a copper farm? Drowned drop copper and if you’re willing to make farms for other decorative blocks like prismarine, copper isn’t hard to set up. And if the argument is that it invalidates the ores so does iron and gold farms which make using coal to smelt wasteful as you could use that for torches or campfires or maybe food if you don’t already have an automatic food farm.

[@hassanorisit]

Copper should definitely be integrated more into redstone. More stuff like copper bulb which simplifies T Flip Flops. So like you said, a copper item filter would be great! Maybe a version of the hopper that more easily moves items upwards? There's literally endless stuff you could do with copper! Hell if Mojang wanted, they could implement copper and amethyst into their own new Magic system! Also, amethyst is probably worse than copper in terms of uses, literally has 3 things you can make with it, and no building block family, yet for some reason no one really talks about ut Side Note: I see the dousing rods being crafted with a sculk sensor and copper, similar to the calibrated sculk sensor. It would be powered similar to a respawn anchor, by right clicking on it with copper in hand, which gives it a "charge". Now for the ore locator part, you'd need to activate it with the vibration frequency that corresponds to the ore you're looking for. Coal can be as simple as just the frequency for walking, but diamonds the one for eating etc. Once activated, it would redirect the sculk particle thing from regular sensors to the direction of the ore you're looking for

[@il-dottore]

My copper ideas Cross rails: Instead of having to build tunnels or bridges around intersecting rail lines, just plop down a cross rail Wiring: Basically just vertical redstone dust. I'd've proposed gears like InfDev had, but I couldn't figure out how to deal with the whole losing signal thing redstone does. Updated copper doors: They operate like normal wooden doors, but when given continuous power, they lock up like iron doors Couplings: They link together minecarts

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Uses, yes, but case uses. I'd love several of these but they don't feel like uses for copper, they feel like improvements to prior game mechanics that just use copper...

[@blackchrisgriffin8301]

⁠@@SmashedTomatoesI don’t really get what you mean. I thought the whole point of adding new things was to improve old mechanics

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@blackchrisgriffin8301 It's always okay to improve old mechanics, and it'd suck if they never improved some of them, but new items should have new uses in my opinion. Fixing mechanics should be done with stuff that the mechanic already uses, if you catch my drift.

[@foxii542]

as someone who primarily just jumps in a creative world and builds, copper is perfect for my decorative needs, especially with the new trapdoors and such. although, i do wish the copper doors/trapdoors worked the same way as iron ones, instead of wooden - where you need to power them to have them open and close

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I always found that weird as well, copper doors and trapdoors don't really do anything unique to them...

[@hhff8534]

i think that would be really annoying for builders using them for decoration though

[@CreeperokGames]

Maybe they could still be opened normally, but not breakable by mobs like zombies. So you could help your villagers if you don't want to just enslave them.

[@foxii542]

@@CreeperokGames i actually really like this idea, yeah. it's a good middle ground

[@il-dottore]

I feel like it could have its own special functionality like how copper bulbs work differently from redstone lamps What if copper doors were locked like iron doors until they're powered, and then you can open and close them like wooden ones? (or vice versa)

[@Deadheat911]

Ive seen the powerd rail idea and IMO it shouldn't be changed its fine the way it is IMO Copper should replace rails entirely [replace iron with copper keep gold ] and minecarts just need polishing not new stuff or added just polish what is already there.

[@Deadheat911]

But I really appreciate your explanation without all the blah blah blah and flashy editing that's everywhere, much love!

[@Raving_Rando]

I just want copper fencing, as I love old buildings with oxidized copper pointing towards long since abandoned. Can’t get that with iron bars. :c

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Yup, or copper walls that better simulate pipework. End rods look silly.

[@michaelvanmeter6984]

Counter argument: Copper Golem. Nothing else needs to be said.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@michaelvanmeter6984 in all honesty, I feel like the idea of a copper golem is more appealing than the actual implementation it would have. It's like the allay, people who voted it thought it was going to be cool and now are all like "bruh"

[@Thetexianheathen]

I feel as if copper should be used for redstone, whether that be making new versions of preexisting blocks or new stuff, like (as you mentioned) filters.

[@Daily-PE]

An little idea for coppor is that is if any copper is attached to a lightning rod it does the same damage as the lightening and make make it easier to make over charged creepers if they were touching the copper.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

lightning redirection? Interesting...

[@br1ravioli]

I like your idea of the dowsing rods. It would make copper even better as an ore. However, I think that copper already has a "sink" in the vanilla game, and that's building. That's why there is so much copper distributed around the Minecraft world, so that it becomes affordable to make buildings out of it... And that's also why it has so many block variants and the oxidation gimmick, to further expand its decorative uses. It is true that it has other uses not related to construction (such as the spyglass, lighning rod or the brush), but those aren't the main focus of the ore. They're just there so that people that aren't as interested in building can use copper in some way or another too. More uses for copper are not out of the question tho. New ways of using the material such as the dowsing rod are always a good thing. Making it more valuable doesn't hurt anyone, ig.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

But any resources feels like a sink if you're a builder, hance why it's such a rewarding playstyle. But for that matter, building out of bamboo in general is already more straightforward. I feel like the building sink is there instead.

[@LumemDH]

Honestly, I feel that Terraria suffers from the same problem. They give you a few copper tools to start(since you can’t do anything without tools) and then the progression is… directly going for the strongest natural metal pre-hardmode, Platinum. To mine platinum you just need a copper pickaxe, which the game has to give it to you. Lead/iron have their small usages, silver can craft silver bullets (if you like guns), gold can craft into platinum (platinum tools and armor are stronger than gold) and tin(like copper) is virtually useless. Moreover, platinum is only useful until you craft with bosses’ ore that they drop when killed.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

TBF, I haven't really played enough terraria but from what I remember I wasn't really good enough to b-line into platinum, mining is too slow and every enemy beats me up, so I do require to follow a little of that progression. If you're good enough to skip stuff there, can't you just go whoop the bosses instead of ever mining? Tho I guess you're right in the sense that because you already start with copper, almost all other instances of it are kinda pointless... Not sure tho!

[@cyberlinkx5290]

There’s a few uses it could have, but doesn’t necessarily need: - Equipment. The most common suggestion - Cheaper alternatives for certain tools over iron. Like shears or powered rails for example - Beacon base. It’s just kinda neat

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Would be useless since players would still use iron, it's not that hard to get, equipment would be so useless it just won't solve the discourse. As for the beacon base, that I do agree with, tho again, people would still use iron because iron farms are faster and easier than copper. Try to think of uses that it would need, rather than ones it could or should have.

[@CreativelyJake]

@@SmashedTomatoes I'd like to disagree that copper equipment would be useless! I think you could lightly rebalance the game and the stats of tools to accomodate for it. push iron further up, closer to what diamond is right now in terms of power, and... it'd feel less necessary to rush to diamond. copper would be the new iron, in terms of tools The modpack raspberry flavoured replaces the stone tier with copper, and adds copper armor, and... it feels pretty interesting but also, i know mojang wouldnt ever change up tool progression aside from adding a side-option, because of their rules of not messing up old worlds. we probably wont ever get changes to the speeds or damage values of tools, because that would be too breaking of a change for your world and equipment to stay feeling the same and familiar... generally i just think copper could be really nice as something before iron, because while it would be replaced... honestly? in raspberry flavoured, i dont feel the NEED to even replace my copper tools for a while, because of how the rest of everything is balanced. but that may indeed also be the design of the modpack overall, which lets you focus more on relaxing and enjoying creative endeavors

[@ultrafun2227]

I had an idea of some sort of dagger, crafted with 4 ingots in a cross pattern. It is a throwable weapon, it deals less damage than arrows, but you don't need a bow for it, and it's early-game available. Also, diamonds do have a kind of sink for them, in form of smithing templates. Though, I guess most people will use this mechanic once or twice, because with today's enchantment system, there is little reason to have multiple sets of armor.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Yeah! That's kinda what makes the armor trims and and smithing a good addition to the game, I just wish they where more prevalent somehow...

[@Malarc695]

Id probably add a rosegold set made in the smithing table with gold tools/armor and copper it'd elevate 3 features that dont have many uses (obviously not my idea)

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Still wouldn't have many uses, but I'd love some pink armor! Gold tools should have fortune/looting 1 as a base!

[@Buzz.co1]

Copper wires would be a cool system to make water or lava resistant Redstone at the cost of the oxidation system (that can be avoided by bees). Copper rails could replace the iron rails as cheaper rails that degrade overtime (the degradation can be avoided by bees).

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I feel like the rusting there would just make player feel annoyed at those features so they'd only use them when necessary. Also I guess copper wires don't rust in reality, so it would make little sense in minecraft hehehe.

[@SpyMC-vo8gi]

Honestly, it needs more uses in a way that relates to the lightning rod. I love those things, and it makes sense that copper could have more weather-like uses. Think of a clock that can actually predict the weather, (coding that would suck my god) something that could tell you how long it’s going to rain for, or making a new block (I don’t know what to call it an Energy Bank or something?) that can store the power of lighting when paired with a lightning rod, so you can make redstone signals work relative to the strength of the lightning bolt.Think of a machine that charges up slowly when a lightning bolt hits it, not if you were to just put an observer under a lightning rod, but work like a sculk catalyst. It would be able to detect the power and if it’s true to the number in the interface or something, it would count up by the strength of the bolt, until signal strength 15. optional, but cool. But I don’t really know if it’s practical.. so that’s my fault I guess. Oh wait that’s a really long comment- (Also I loved the visuals in this, really smooth transitions and just overall cool.)

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Glad you liked it. What if dragon egg But multiple thunder? Becomes fried. Mojang should hire me.

[@SpyMC-vo8gi]

@@SmashedTomatoes imo adding a fried egg to my Minecraft mod on April fools sounds fun

[@joaquinginestet4813]

The amount of copper generated means that needs A LOT of crafting recipes (so its a bad solution) or one thing that uses a lot of copper. With the state of the game, it has to be a new thing/system because there is nothing in the game that requires that amount of a materia, and also in early game. Either an industrial uptade or a magic uptade are the ideas i can think for using large amounts of copper. It could be a new type of transport, or minecart/boat faster but with only one use, or that needs copper periodically?

[@SmashedTomatoes]

You got the broad concept perfectly! Awesome!!

[@darylanimates1410]

id say the most interesting thing you can do with copper is turn them into lightning rods so you can make charged creepers to get mob heads

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Fried dragon egg is looking mighty tasty right now...

[@killerjdog51]

I don’t really do anything with copper. It’s kinda a cool building block, though as I’m not a builder I just have it sitting around. Personally, I’d love to get copper tools and armor though; have iron spawn even deeper underground, nowhere near the surface, and let copper take iron’s place in the progression system. Iron can still be mined by stone, but it’s slower compared to copper tools. Then copper armor and tools can utilize the oxidation effect, like it makes the tools/armor tougher as a hardened layer but also brittle by decreasing durability faster; so your oxidized copper armor could allow you to reduce more damage from attacks but the trade off is it breaks faster; another trade could be enchant-ability / speed starts off closer to gold but as it oxidizes becomes more like iron or diamond, showing the damaging effect of oxidation. I think this would be a good implementation considering how rare iron currently is and especially would be post-generation-change. If there could be any other additions to copper though I think I’d like some cool redstone devises; concept art for the trial chambers showed copper fans that could blow entities/items. Or there was the copper golem, I wouldn’t have minded it if they improved it’s functionality, like maybe you could use it to press certain copper buttons in an order or modify the timing instead of it all being random; at the very least I’d kinda like the addition of copper buttons and pressure plates. Idk, I’d like to see more uses given to all the new stuff, including amethyst or the Sniffer.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Most of these would be either changing the game fundamentally in a rather ilogical way that most players will surely bypass because it's minecraft so players will surely skip steps, or just single time uses. The resource needs more to it than just being the thing you use to add that cool new thing you'd like to have in the game...

[@014Darkness]

One possible use for copper that in thought was interesting is in a potential minecart rework, making copper rails that power or maintain the cart's speed while the gold version gets a speed buff

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@014Darkness maybe if they added more things around it, expanding the mechanic with copper as the base! I've seen this idea floating around and it doesn't suck because minecarts need an update, but I'd still prefer a sink that isn't annoying hehehe

[@014Darkness]

@@SmashedTomatoes I agree, you'd change would help but minecarts need a complete overhaul. Horses are straight up better, and elytras make everything else obsolete. But that's getting off topic 😅

[@trueblueflare]

I think copper should be used in place of iron and even stone in some cases for redstone components, because in real life copper is used for circuitry and that would give it a use for people who aren't avid builders and/or don't use it in their builds. Finished video, I like your idea but I also like mine still aswell, in my version of an ideal world both could be implemented.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I feel like that'd make iron less valuable and it's kind of a band-aid solution, but it IS a solution, I suppose! Ideally, the sink isn't the only thing they add for any resource, it's always great to add new tools and functionality aside from the big one. (btw nice pfp)

[@_d_a_n_c_e_]

Before watch: i think we should be able to craft simple tools that are similar to stone but less durability but faster at mining Kind of like a stronger version of gold And if you wax the tool they wont change color

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Why would copper be better than gold but easier to get? Maybe it could work if they had very low durability but also silk touch instead, or something like that.

[@MVS-team]

a new redstone block like a copper cage that can trap small mobs as long as it has a redstone pulse. or oh idk a new golem.... IT SHOULD HAVE WON THATS ALL IM SAYING!

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Copper golem enjoyers have my condolences. But I literally couldn't have made the concept I show in this video without the allay X3

[@Clubstep94]

when it comes to copper, i honestly think it fits the niche it should, because it's a sort of jack of all trades on one end but also a building block on the other, both of which it does do well but if i were to add anything it would be a slightly more important recipe for it to be included in such as (i know this will sound weird but trust me) brewing recipes like maybe they could add a potion that does what the glare was going to do and have it use a copper block to make it. copper was done right, if you dont like materials made for the creative and exploration aspects of the game then at that point either take up speedrunning or another game altogether like terraria

[@SmashedTomatoes]

You're assuming that the world doesn't generate 300 copper in every chunk. It's design is counterintuitive to it's uses. I feel it's awful advice to just say that because people don't like 1 mechanic, that they should do a different playstyle. I Donno who started saying it but it's been Parrotted 50 times in these comments already, and it's a lame mentality for Minecraft...

[@Krazyman1999]

Power Pass Through... I'd make Copper items pass Electricity, It would open up a whole new way of making Circuitry. No more holes in circuits, you can just fill the gap with a block of Copper. Redstone optional, if you have Copper Stairs or Slabs linking stuff, as long as they are touching. Imagine... Copper Floored Corridor, you stand on a Copper Pressure Plate at the end, the power runs through the entire floor, and powers the whole corridors lights, and any other nasty surprises. Slab Repeaters... power up like a Redstone Repeater. Copper Items = Conducts Power Copper + Redstone = Red Copper Copper + Wax = Waxed Copper Copper items... 20 Blocks of Power, as it has more conductivity than Redstone. Red Copper... repowers Copper, problem is it powers it equally in all directions. A lot of uses... Waxed Copper... Does not conduct power, good for builders, and Circuit Builders. This would make Copper essential for certain builds, making new types of Circuits possible.

[@2pedroandrade]

Copper pipes for item management would be lit actually

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Very modlike but I'd love to use them

[@2pedroandrade]

@@SmashedTomatoes I think it's the perfect balance between vanilla and modlike, this boldness that allowed us to have the Autocrafter

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@2pedroandrade yup, or the elythra. They are good changes!

[@Aaron-vd4vi]

copper pipes. instead of putting composters on long hopper chains to get horizontal item transfer without lagging servers or running the risk of despawning your item in a water stream, use a copper pipe. pipes need water and items to function and only go sideways or down. hoppers continue to be the insertion point for systems and other systems like bubble columns still exist for vertical movement. I think having the items washed thru pipes to prevent despawning and reduce lag is a good sink for copper. it makes for a good building block and enhances redstone builds

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Hmmm, could work, but this is akin to a bandaid on the hopper system. I would welcome the change myself, but mojang would not do it.

[@Aaron-vd4vi]

@@SmashedTomatoes I just feel that copper should complement iron as a redstone utility resource. I dont think adding electricity makes sense and copper has been used for piping for a long time. another use case that might not make much logical sense but would tie into existing systems better is using it to reset villager trade cool downs. same way wheat can be used to grow up a baby cow faster with diminishing returns the more you use, "feeding" copper to a villager makes their trades reset faster

[@jucabnubster]

First time hearing about you, random recommended by yt. Just want to compliment the editing and the visuals matching what you're talking about. I'm not sure if it's a team of people or one person, but if every video is like this, that's awesome. As for copper in general, I always thought it could be a great currency for different village biomes. Since copper has been known to be human currency irl, I figured it can fit. Since it is rather plentiful, maybe the villagers charge more for copper? The dowsing rod is a clever idea, I'm down for that being added

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@jucabnubster oooo using it as a trading material exclusive to certain jobs or bioma is not a half bad idea! For the record, I am a one person team, usually my videos have even more work behind them, and I barely make ends meet. Wo hooray for effort!!

[@frost4794]

Honestly, copper doesn't need uses in terms of simple "tools / armor / redstone" solutions. Instead, it should stick to what it really is. I tend to look at all the ore / mineral materials as basically something they all have a shtick to. - Coal is mainly for lighting and fuel. - Iron is the middleground material for everywhere and everything as well as also to help advancing to the next step of things. Redstone, building, armor, tools and weapons, shields, smithing tables, etc. - Gold is a material not meant to last forever. Most of the time you give it away to either trade it to piglins, use it for golden foods or use it for better use to something else. - Lapis is the enchanting material - Redstone is... redstone, y'know. - Amethyst is a material meant to control and shift certain factors (spyglasses controlling how much you see stuff, calibrated sculk sensors controlling how much it feels, tinted glass controlling light flow) - Quartz is an if-statement material excluding the decorational blocks. If it's day, daylight sensor activates. If observer observes new stuff, it activates. - Diamond is a late game material that essentially finalizes what you need and want to do. Enchantment tables, jukeboxes, diamond to Netherite. Where does copper fit under this thought process? It's honestly a sort of ore that could have branches that expand into entirely different portions of the game, coming off as very experimental and different from most things. Oxidization, archeology, lightning rods controlling lightning strikes. You basically could be given a lot to play with out of copper.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Netherite not mentioned. Nice. I think materials shouldn't have schticks like hat at all, lapis and quartz too need more sink-like uses, but no one really has any eggs in the baskets of those discussions compared to copper, which stands out because it's designed like iron and gold which are CRAZY useful.

[@davidumann6707]

I get your point, but I'd still consider a "sink" a type of use, so the title's a bit misleading.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

1 - A use is not the same as a sink. 2 - If it is, then the sink is 1 use, not "Uses" 3 - Yeah, it's misleading, I'm cheating, but it gets the point across best.

[@fightingoffmydemons]

I like your video, its also refreshing to hear smaller creators with a good mic . I've been loving the inclusion of smaller creators in my feed recently, so many of these type of videos are miles better than videos pumped out by big creators. keep it up

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I've been a smaller creator for like 4 years and I'm trying very hard hehehe. Big creators don't need to stand out, but us small people need to try 2 or 3 times harder per video...

[@indy_the_awesome4615]

Ok I'll for once listen to the opening bit about posting comments. I was originally thinking of a water proof redstone wire maybe by using copper ingots and honey combs or waxed copper blocks (completely unoxidized) to make it like a real wire. The copper and now thinking about it the protective wax would prevent water from messing with the redstone I had also thought of lighting from lightning rods would have again been used for electricity in redstone but it was just to prevent the very rare chance that your wooden or wool shack bruns down from the lightning (i have never had lightning strike any of my buildings ever so thats why I say very rare)

[@cooliotrainlover1213]

the only new use I want for copper is as an early game alternative to redstone, less powerful and can electrocute you, but gets the job done

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I always have redstone by the 1 hour mark, so people who are more experienced would have no use for such a mechanic...

[@timestorm5687]

I think copper should be used to replace some ingots in redstone recipes. Maybe some new stuff like cogs ⚙️ that can be placed vertically or tubes that transport items like hoppers without being able to pick up items themselves. I also heard an idea that copper tools should exist since it now spawns where iron spawned in earlier versions. But it should be weaker slower than iron, also i am not sure about that. Maybe a mechanic where the more it rusts, the faster it gets?

[@breadsticks992]

I usually just use copper blocks because they look cool in my base, and I don’t make the biggest houses so it makes my houses sort of stand out a bit in my opinion.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Copper is actually great for big houses since the blockset has 3 natural gradient colors that work neatly! It's a great set all things considered!

[@ceawithac4095]

Eh, what the hell. Never really thought about what copper could be used in, and I'm just throwing ideas (I know full well how game dev works, so I know the devs at Mojang have a lot more thought put into every mechanic to fit Minecraft's style, while I'm not doing that right now), so here's my rather surface level take on what Mojang could do with Copper: add an entirely new material in Brass! Okay, let me elaborate a little more. What I have learned about Minecraft's new direction is that they are very keen on education. There's so many fun mechanics that are just there to offer an (albeit surface level) explanation of something in real life! One example is Pandas: they have a whole genetics system that no other mob has! Or Foxes being tamed by breeding them in a much faster form of domestication like in real life. There's even Education Edition! So it's clear that they want not just fun updates with some cute (or creepy) stuff added, they also want to add in mechanics that mimic real-life to better educate people about the world at large - not just children, it's a game for everyone! And I think Brass would fit perfectly! It teaches some basic chemistry (since you need to mix zinc and copper to make brass, plus the ratios changes its properties), and it allows for an entirely new mechanic to be added in. What would that new mechanic be? Sculpting! I think it would be really, really, REALLY cool if you got Brass blocks and were able to turn them into decorative sculptures, decorative armour, or armour trims. The way I envision it is a bit like Banners, letting players pick and choose patterns to mix and match together. Brass is really easy to work with in real life, so it would make sense. Not to mention its beautiful off-golden colour! The only issue then is that you need zinc, which... would be a metal you dig up that has no other use. Woops, just made Copper 2.0! Honestly, I think this is even the original intent behind Copper anyway. Clearly, it's more of a decorative block, and it teaches about the effects of oxidation. The only issue with it that I see is... it's honestly just not that good of a decorative block. It's okay at best. The blue and orange are just a little too metallic or saturated to work well imo, but maybe, with more time, I'll be proven otherwise. I just don't really find a lot of times where I think "Oh, you know what would look nice here? Some copper!" like I do with iron blocks, blocks of coal, hell even a barrel can look really nice as a floor! That's my only "issue" with it, otherwise I honestly like Copper. You know, this actually makes me want my next base to be steampunk-based just so I have a good excuse to use as much Copper as possible (and to go through a LOT of Trial Chambers to get it haha!) Edit: Oh, I think you nailed it! You're so right that it doesn't need a "use" - it already has many - but a reason to be used, a "sink"! I think my idea above would also work, but it definitely falls into the trap of appealing to just 1 type of player - namely builders (which I sort of fall under haha) - so definitely not as concrete as yours. I kind of like the idea of using copper to take some of the pain points of mining away: it isn't required but it's an option for sure. I do feel like it still won't be quite as much of a reason as displayed purely because of how caves generate now making it easier than ever to find ores by just walking around, but then maybe if you run out and want to rat out all the last few ores, it might just be good in the end! I also definitely think Copper should be used in Redstone somehow. Maybe change a few recipes or use Copper in a few new ones and you've got probably one of the best turnarounds for Copper!

[@goofbawll]

in general i want more materials to be used in more recipes and there’s a fine line to balance there. for copper id like them to be the “trinket” crafting resource used for niche tools or components like how it’s used for the brush and spyglass now but for other things that could be introduced in later updates like a wrench that changes a blocks state or even in some older blocks like a brewing stand or redstone lanterns. (if i’m remembering right copper wire was heated up to create electricity/light in older mkre primitive electric technology) but mainly be a trinket material if i were to add anymore uses.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@goofbawll I wouldn't mind them adding a bunch of trinkets that just help QOL, but I still feel like it's far too common for just trinkets. It needs a sink. Maybe some of those trinkets could include it?

[@numbskull9369]

I would add copper tools and equipment to Minecraft. They could be a necessary point in progression between stone and iron, or just be a redundant set for all I care, but it SHOULD be there. Minecraft has tons of "useless" features that just provide flavor, and copper can be among them, it would also be consistent with the other metals. As for a sink, I have heard using copper to replace gold in powered rails, but that would mean making powered rails easier to craft than regular rails. I think incorporating copper into new redstone components would be good, like item sorters, copper pipes, etc would be the most natural. Also adding copper buttons, pressure plates, and making copper doors react with redstone in unique ways would do something. Copper golems should be added, but there's no real use for them, and it's not a sink. I can't think of any other ideas. I have also heard of adding bronze and rose gold, but those still wouldn't be sinks, and would add their own useless metals.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@numbskull9369 I'd rather copper be redesigned to justify it's differences from other metals than useless stuff being added it. I like when my flavour comes with substance, I guess...

[@numbskull9369]

Copper tools and armor isn't so useless that it would detract from the game. It literally would have as much use as leather, chainmail, gold equipment, and I don't hear anyone calling for their removal. I think that not having any copper tools (other than the brush and spyglass) actually detracts from the game, because it creates an inconsistency with other metals. Also, copper was the first metal that humans figured out how to make tools with, so it's not a bizarre thing for copper to have a stage in progression. Copper being used in redstone components also wouldn't be useless if the components are useful, such as the examples I gave previously.

[@ChrisWillem-vl9nv]

People talk about adding more electric properties to copper but not it's thermal properties like heating.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

What would you heat up with it? Like automatic smelting ala create mod? I feel like furnaces work just fine...

[@ChrisWillem-vl9nv]

@@SmashedTomatoes Or maybe heating copper blocks to transferring heat for maybe cooling blocks or heat traps with copper builds.

[@theletsplaycurse]

I’m honestly not sold on the dowsing idea mostly because it doesn’t feel worth it enough to justify collecting the copper in the first place. For instance anything below diamond isn’t worth dowsing for since in the time it takes to smelt the copper and set up the dowsing rod, you could just find some by exploring. For diamonds specifically the problem is, like you said in the video, you only need a small amount of diamonds before never needing anymore and I personally think that they aren’t rare enough to justify the time spent to set up the dowsing rod although I believe that a lot less than I do for other ores. Finally with ancient debris I honestly would use it here, it’s just that this is the only situation where this new addition feels useful to me. Now I’d like to say that I still think it’s a good addition to the game, other people in the comments seem to like it and anyone who doesn’t want to use it can just not use it however it still feels a bit lacking since what we want is for as many people to have a use for copper as possible. When I saw how you could use the dowsing rod for other things like finding suspicious sand and gravel, it made me think that you could just make the general use for copper to be as a locator. For instance you could make an item like the dowsing rod but for locating structures like villages, or even one for locating biomes. They could even scatter various chests around the world that you’re intended to use a dowsing rod to find a bit like how buried treasure works. There could be other uses but I wouldn’t know how many to add before it becomes overpowered, I think locating structures and biomes is fine since it doesn’t give you anything extra and just reduces the tedium of finding them.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Damn, didn't think about using the rods as a metal detector to find buried treasure, but I actually really like that idea!

[@lisatroiani6119]

i think copper wires that you can use like redstone dust that doesn’t need to be on the ground would be great!

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@lisatroiani6119 kinda breaks the puzzle of redstone, but I'd like the change

[@darkmatter9651]

I guess I kinda like Copper because I like to make cool designs for my minecraft houses. When I play minecraft (which is always with friends because it's more fun) I turn out to be the builder ALL the time. So, sometimes, I like to use funky rock or materials for the floor or the walls. Copper sometimes does that job for me and since it's so easy to find I just fucking use it, end of.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I've personally gotten a lot out of copper decoratively, it's not at all a bad blockset! I'd even wish for an expansion, but damn does it clog the creative inventory X3

[@AttenuatedNecronym]

I use copper blocks to make walls and factory flavored buildings. I play modded so its used a bit more than vanilla but not much more. One of my favorite mods is immersive engineering so it's handy for low power distribted machine rooms. Oh. That's an interesting use. I bet if copper ingots were used for rail guns (also in the IE mod) that'd be a good use too

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@AttenuatedNecronym would love some copper building pieces with unique hitboxes as well, but I'd rather have a sink than 20 uses myself!

[@rodrigohaddad3798]

super well edited! amazing video! shows your point well and also puts some maps to show what your talking about! New sub

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Hehehe, thanks! Editing in Minecraft was certainly a unique experience

[@ZarHakkar]

I want copper tools. Just simply tools that fill the gap between stone and iron, bumping up iron's durability a bit. If you're in a survival world for a chill long haul experience, there's a point between stone tools and iron tools where stone is so annoying to use and iron is too scarce to spend. Copper tools would be a great sink for copper ingots that everyone can use, not just builders. However, I know it isn't that simple: the addition of copper tools requires the addition of copper nuggets for smelting, which could have upsides when it comes to recipes. However, copper ingots would have to have a recipe for nuggets, which would conflict with the recipe for a potential copper button. There was already a similar issue with cut copper and copper blocks that they had to iron (ha) out, but I've been thinking about ways to standardize some of the material crafting recipes for a while. Following the precedent of bricks, 2x2 of copper ingots, iron ingots, gold ingots, diamond or emerald will make a "brick" block of that material. These brick blocks are shiny, unique, but more importantly, respectively cheaper than their 3x3 ingredient storage counterparts at the cost of being unable to reconvert them back. For the button recipe, I'd change all buttons, levers, and pressure plate recipes to require 1 redstone dust. That should also help with accidentally crafting a pressure plate or button when we didn't mean to (we've all done it once).

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@ZarHakkar iron is easy enough to get for most players, they'd skip the copper tier entirely. And even then, a full set would be like 40 copper, you have to remember the game spawns 5 or 6 stacks per chunk. It needs a sink. Iron tools aren't the sink for iron, because mending exists. The real sink is trading and redstone components.

[@ZarHakkar]

@@SmashedTomatoes I suppose I just play the game differently than most players? Although it really doesn't feel like it- I play in the way that makes the most sense to me. On the first day I start out, I make a wood pickaxe, dig surface stone and coal until it breaks, make a stone axe and sword and get wood and food until night. When night comes I run into a cave and block off the entrance and go mining. The first iron I mine I use to make some combination of a bucket, shears, or two hoppers. The bucket I use to start a farm inside the cave, and the hoppers I use to conserve coal by smelting multiple stacks of items off of one coal block at a time. The next iron items I make are a sword and shield followed by a pick. I only use the pick to break ores I couldn't mine with a stone pick on the off-chance I find then. Any serious digging done with an iron pick at this point is a waste of iron, as it breaks before you know it. So anyway, it's been about four hours now since I started the world and that's about as much iron as I've acquired so far. It does heavily vary based on the luck I get when it comes to the cave I randomly decided to nest in. It can be more, it can be less. But every time I'm down there in the cave scrounging for iron I always see five or even ten times more often copper. I grab it because it's shiny but deep down in my soul I know I'll never use it for anything besides taking up space in a chest, and at this point iron is tight and I just wish I had good, intermediate tools to use. I did not have this problem before caves and cliffs. Iron generation felt just as prominent as copper generation now, just with smaller veins. You could run into a cave for 10-20 minutes and get a full set of iron armor and tools when you came out. I especially loved how the ore generation allowed me to almost self-sustainedly branch mine at y=11 for diamonds. All I need was the occasional surface log run for sticks for torches and replacement tools. Put on a podcast and dig away. It was meditative. But I guess a lot of people thought it was boring. The new caving is engaging and exciting but it's also a stress on the senses, I can't just zone out when danger could lurk around any dark corner. But yeah, for my experience personally, copper gear is a great sink for copper. The ore is less common than stone but more common than iron, and it also generates most commonly between the surface and the level where iron generates most commonly. Copper tools were the first metal tools made by humankind. All these things just kind of make sense. Also, if you wanna talk about skipping a tier, when's the last time you saw yourself or anyone else make leather armor as their first set of armor without being forced to? Blegh... talk about a travesty in game design. Sorry if I went on a long ramble here. It's late and I don't make videos where I talk a lot so comment sections are my outlet for things sometimes.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@ZarHakkar hehehe, you play Minecraft all old-school like! I usually find an exposed cave, grab food and wood on the way, and craft a stone pickaxe as soon as possible, then I basically rush through the generated mines till I find iron for a shield, and after that I can pretty much just explore any cave without many worries. Just gotta be careful of creepers and skeletons that aren't alone, so it's not very stressful if you are confident you can win most PvE encounters. I used to quit Minecraft worlds because I'd spend 5 hours trying to find a cool place to make my house in, but I never found anything cool. 1.18 generation mad everything much more pretty and now I wanna live in multiple places near where I spawn X3 I also like just mining stuff, but regularly I do that by mining chunks, which is basically mining a 15*15 area all the way down to bedrock. It has very specific uses tho, but you could try it if you ever wanna spend 40-80 minutes doing that, it's satisfying. Is leather a tier of armor, or is it really meant to be used for cosmetic purposes and very early-game? The defense it gives is almost nothing, so it's clearly not meant to really protect you.

[@ZarHakkar]

@@SmashedTomatoes Oldschool makes sense I guess. I first started playing sometime in the beta. 1.4 or 1.5 maybe? Mining out an entire chunk is an interesting idea, but destroying or heavily modifying the natural landscape has always been something I like to avoid when possible. I always considered leather to be the first tier of armor considering it has the lowest protection, putting it somewhere with wood and stone tools. The cinch in that is how hard it is to get enough leather for a set. If it was easier to get the amount of leather required than mine the amount of iron required for armor, you'd definitely see an uptick in its use. It also doesn't help that leather is encouraged to be stockpiled to craft books for enchanting.

[@mindthemoods]

Minecraft is a sandbox, as a modder I've always found it more about adding interesting new systems for players to interact with than 'fixing' things. Copper doesn't NEED more uses, but it's definitely something that's got potential for expansion. In that sense, the only parts of the game I'd consider problematic are those that reduce complexity and creativity in favor of a single exploit or trick. Iron farming, for example, is unintuitive, annoying to setup, and nearly impossible for new players to figure out without outside help; it could still be a mechanic, but could instead involve a more interesting system that encourages more innovative, less janky solutions.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Iron farms are a specific type of playstyle that minecraft doesn't really push upon the player, it's more like a technical mechanic and minecraft doesn't intend players to use it normally, so it's a little weird to think around that. Most long time players use it, but since mojang sees it as more like "A thing we let people do" than a mechanic they'll try to ever teach, it's for those who know their way around, so to me their intuitiveness is not a point of contention. Of course, in a sandbox, anything they add can be good.

[@DeltaInTheRain]

I think Copper certainly doesn't *need* more uses but it wouldn't be bad to get more. I think Copper is my favorite thing to build with in the whole game and to me that's already enough, but there's also a lot more it can do too

[@DeltaInTheRain]

Also I love this video, I love seeing walking through these Minecraft worlds watching how your points interact with it. this is very well thought out and executed.

[@nicholasfoster9564]

I feel like copper can be used in many ways but one of the ways I wish copper should be used is armor and tools because back in the day in real life people did use copper for many different things like tools weapons and even armor back in the day and also copper was good back in the day cause it was valuable and very good to make things especially whenever you combined it with I forgot what the ore was called but it would create bronze. copper could be used in many different ways, like armor and tools, but I feel like Mojang kind of just rushed it if you know what I mean. I don't hate copper, but I feel like copper could have been used way better. If I had the chance to add copper tools and armor, I would make it where copper is a little bit less powerful than iron, but copper would be very good, especially in thunderstorms, as lighting could hit you, and You could get a slight power up in return.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Eh, feels like an unecessary gimmik, most players would just skip copper tier tools, so the item would feel as useless as always.

[@nicholasfoster9564]

I mean, people would still use copper because if this was a thing, more people would use copper. I feel like copper being a building block is just stupid because, in real life, copper is used to make tools. I get what you're saying, but I feel like copper could just be used better. Copper only being a building block is kind of stupid my opinion Copper being a little less powerful than iron is kind of a good thing because in early game copper would be useful in the early game and copper can still be useful in the late game as if you get struck by Lightning during thunderstorms you can gain a slight power_up which would make copper slightly a little bit better than iron if you got struck by Lightning. Combined with enchantments.

[@nicholasfoster9564]

Plus in the early game, you can get copper armor pretty easily so you saying that they're going to skip past copper is not true when you could get armor within the early game That Can help out on getting iron

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@nicholasfoster9564 i guess it's a playstyle thing, but I have full iron by the first 40 minutes of the game. Gold has armor and tools but I bet you've rarely made them, they didn't have a single reason to exist until they added piglins. Also I never say copper should be exclusive for building, I explain what I mean pretty clearly in the video!

[@nicholasfoster9564]

​@@SmashedTomatoes Yeah but you can find copper at the surface entrance of caves while iron you have to Go Deep into caves or find at the entrance But when you break copper you get 4 raw copper. While breaking iron only drops 1 raw iron.

[@Bluecat-mi8]

I feel like copper would be good for some of automation usage.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@Bluecat-mi8 I feel like many other resources that are less common or more fun to get could work better for that :p

[@Bluecat-mi8]

@@SmashedTomatoes Didn’t expect a reply. To each their own.

[@pantheonmaker9437]

I’d like to make a copper weapon, one þat can poison if it’s rusted, wiþ higher chances of poisoning þe more rust it has (Lockjaw), but it also does less damage & goes þrough more durability þe more rusted it is. I agree þe sink is a good idea but also giving it oþer random uses is also a good idea, like having the dousing rods, but also þe aforementioned weapon, a copper vault (Þat basically works like making a giant double chest þat can be doubled in any direction any number of times), & more þings

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Oh yeah, having a sink isn't exclusive, but you can suggest uses for any item if you really wanna. Quartz is another example of something that needs more uses, but it's not more present than other resources, so people rarely suggest changes for quartz. Oh yeah reading your comment threw me for a loop hehehe, why do you use "þ" instead of th? I'm curious...

[@pokechimp1544]

@@SmashedTomatoes scottish galiec uses that character instead of "th".

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@pokechimp1544 huh, that would be very convenient if English normally used it.

[@pokechimp1544]

@@SmashedTomatoes Nothing's stopping you, really.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@pokechimp1544 yeah, it's not proper English, so it's just uncomfortable for most people to read

[@cosmicyoutubeoof]

My suggestion would be Copper could craft a Copper Hopper that filters items, a mod is avaliable that implements this :D WOW!!! Your suggestion is INCREDIBLY good! Although filters, like you said, would be a very useful addition, this is absolutely excellent. I genuinely think this is the best Minecraft suggestion I've ever seen... Also that EDITING!!! This is the most high effort Minecraft video I've ever seen...! Not only did you create an entire datapack, you made a run-through world chain that spanned pretty much the entire video with smooth teleportation tricks, jokes, and related material throughout. I could see how someone who may prefer simpler styles may find it too jam-packed, but personally, just watching in awe at all the detail and effort in the visual metaphors and gags was an absolute blast! Congratulations on the completion of this project, it was truly astounding! :D

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@cosmicyoutubeoof hehehe, I'm glad it blew you away! I've seen Minecraft videos with more effort, it's just that my visual idea was cool so it really makes it shine. I want filters so bad Im crying every day.

[@novawolf_gaming]

I love your idea I did see someone (don't remember the name) suggest we get armour that can be "charged" by being struck by lightning, which increases damage for a certain amount of time Sounds cool in concept but it needs something better than that imo

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@novawolf_gaming yeah, would be cool, but just having that one use case will result in a mace situation, where it's super neat but you'd rarely get to even use it:/

[@novawolf_gaming]

@SmashedTomatoes Yeah, that's what I figured Although atleast the Mace is useful in a PVP situation

[@indigoid_]

What if you needed copper to craft something like bundles, but after a while they would oxidize or something, and you had to use more copper or honey to repair them

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Too annoying, so people would just prefer to not use bundles. Keep in mind shulker boxes replace bundles pretty easily, and they clearly made bundles for earlygame play...

[@indigoid_]

​@@SmashedTomatoes oh well... some storage thing involving copper though would be really cool

[@Controllablenoted]

I think it should serve more purposes mid game/creatively wise, more decoration blocks, for such an irl useful material it shouldn't be so bland, i wouldnt make any tools with it but something like a wrench or something that affects creativity, something that modern minecraft (and sometimes us) lack is the innovation that was so initially intriguing in older minecraft, on a side note i would probably add more fun stuff with lighting which would increase the value of copper

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@Controllablenoted those are great suggestions! The wrench isn't a bad idea either.

[@braydenbanks4228]

I'd only really advocate for copper to be given weapon, tool, and armor recipes, preferably between Stone and Iron, and even then this is more of a request than a demand. My arguement is that copper is typically slightly harder to get than stone, but you can get it earlier and in higher quantities than iron early game. I regularly take in game weeks to get enough Iron that I'm comfortable making more than an Iron pick for gold or diamond exclusively. So copper tools would make it so that I could go mining in full armor allowing me to take a hit or two more than wearing leather stuff.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Huh, I often get my iron armor in a matter of minutes, and am full iron by the first 1 hour of game unless I get unlucky, but I guess it depends a lot on game style...

[@braydenbanks4228]

@@SmashedTomatoes yeah, I'm a Builder/Homebody, and I honestly suck at minecraft's combat, and having the ability to get armor from surface level strip mining with a comparatively few ore blocks needed to find to make the same items, early on would help me survive, and I was even thinking that the copper tools could mine sub iron-tier materials at the same speed as iron, but lack the ability to mine gold or diamonds, or any other iron pick-tier blocks, and have a slightly lower max durability than iron items. Outside of picks, the other copper weapons, tools, and armor would have analogously similar stats, compared to their stone/iron equivalents.

[@Pocketnaut]

I fucking adore the way you edited this video this is SO cool

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Ehehehe, I tried doing something unique and I think it came out well!

[@Pocketnaut]

@@SmashedTomatoes That it did! Keep it up, excited to see you in my feed again

[@noahboddy1484]

So, my old comment compared to what I have to say is still roughly the same. The "resource sink" is to further add onto its pre-existing uses for building by adding more creative building possibilities through Redstone. Bring back the original tick delay for Copper Bulbs, add Copper Wiring, which is like Redstone Dust, but it can be placed and work underwater, and it doesn't connect to normal Redstone, making it functionally similar to Mumbo Jumbos "Bluestone" idea from way back when, add Copper Pipes, for easily moving items around within Redstone contraptions, and add Copper Gears, which would allow for compact vertical Redstone. On top of this, there is also one other idea I really want Copper to have, which to be fair, isnt the best use, but I still want it. Copper Compasses, made from 4 Copper Ingots and 1 Copper Wiring (or maybe Redstone instead), would point to your bed, or it would spin randomly if you never slept/broke your bed. That to me is the most obvious uses for Copper.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@noahboddy1484 those are more like uses, rather than a sink, and a slightly reuse of old mechanics at that, but at least it's better than what we've got now!

[@noahboddy1484]

@@SmashedTomatoes Thanks for reading, and I agree with your assessment on my ideas. Coming up with a sink for copper is kind of hard actually!

[@PhonyLyzard]

I've said this before, but I don't like it when people say they've "fixed" something about Minecraft. You are not a game developer, you're a youtuber, to claim you know better about making a game than the company that created and maintained the biggest game in the world feels kinda wrong to me. So I'm glad you didn't claim anything like that in this video.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@PhonyLyzard yup, I'm also a game programmer, so I understand it would be weird to fix stuff that doesn't need fixing. There's 100% stuff that needs fixing in Minecraft, but those issues need to be fixed so fundamentally that any suggestion is as likely as any other, really depends on what that team wishes to do.

[@libbecnoir]

shoutouts to the fried dragon egg from the end’s delight mod

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@libbecnoir LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[@swifttoplay3047]

I love how u run around and the world corresponds

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I control the UNIVERSE!!!

[@leondyer3855]

Okay adding a comment at your behest at the beginning of this video, if anything I think copper should be used for a means of transferring heat energy like redstone already does. Edit: I mean as exclusively for heat in the sane way redstone is already the exclusive material for circuits. And what I realized while watching your video is that copper lacks a distinct "vibe" or theme. Gold has the theme of being generally magical with crafts such as golden apples and golden carrots, along with the powered rails essentially being a sort of rail gun imo. Iron has the theme of sturdiness and practicality due to its use in almost any build, be it iron tools used by a majority of players till they find diamond. Your dowsing rods along with the other comments that suggest new items for railroads such as crossroads actually make me think that copper could work if it was guven the vague theme of "memory" or pattern recognition to play off the fact that's copper is considered one of the most malleable metals. The cross road-tracks idea works because the copper "remembers" what direction you should go, and the dowsing rod is essentially "remembering" what material its being placed on top of. While both of those could be explained better by copper just being easier to mold into precisely shaped parts that are needed for these things to work, I don't want to end up accidentally plagiarizing the create mod and I think that a memory theme for copper would honestly allow us to have a really good use for the copper golem when we finally get it ( hopefully one better than just being a random input generator, and my real hope is that it ends up as a sort of programmable entity that can help automate some things like breaking blocks and other manual labor kinda like that robot from education edition, but I know that's a pipe dream😅) Anywho, great video and great editing

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Damn, making your own categories to find it's place in the design is unpractical, but I don't think it's bad at all! It's uses being tied to memories would work much better than just randomly putting it in more stuff or making vertical redstone that ruins the fun of that mechanic.

[@waszyoutuber6613]

I think something made with copper could move redstone signal vertically more easly

[@SmashedTomatoes]

While I like the idea, I think part of the fun with redstone is the puzzle, and vertical redstone like that would mess up with the puzzle it provides...

[@KoolLeo11]

We need out of context smashed tomatoes.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

There'd be so many good clips

[@chedder_chandlure4363]

I was gonna suggest more decorative blocks as well as an electric fence that damages mob but I think your ideas are better

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I mean, more decorative blocks could still be added! It's a great set.

[@aceplante]

I would say powered rails should require copper not gold. Its easier to find in large amounts, motivating people to actually make railways instead of just using ice boats/elytras, and makes sense. Edit: I agree mending and the elytra kinda ruined gameplay progression... Maybe if elytra couldnt be enchanted with mending, and were therefore a finite resource, would fix it? Also, the video is amazing, and must have taken a while to set up. Edit 2: theres a mod called end's delight (add on for farmers delight) that adds food items to the end, such as dragon meat and... fried dragon eggs!

[@fightingoffmydemons]

the best idea

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Yup, took a hot minute hehehe. I'd love cheaper powered rails, but that's a bandaid fix. Would prefer new functionalities than old ones but changed...

[@joacooy8754]

I would make copper have worse versions of the iron tools and armor Also, the copper golems

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Worse iron tools would be completely useless and you'd see that within a day of their implementation if they ever put them in.

[@joacooy8754]

@@SmashedTomatoes what if it had the same defense and mining speed but less durability

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@joacooy8754 So just gold tools again?

[@joacooy8754]

@@SmashedTomatoes Fair enough

[@JuniBowman]

Make powered rails be made with copper instead of gold (makes rails more viable to make since you get a SHIT TON more copper then gold) Make it something you can trade with villagers but you need more of it then iron or coal would need since you get more of it then those things typically, it gives it an extra optional use so that it’s not necessary for those who build with copper, but a very nice option for those who never use it, instead of just avoiding it like I do Also, if your reasons in this video for why copper doesn’t need to be changed is based exclusively on building and redstone, then I’m gonna be very upset, so I hope that’s not the case. Cause with how much you get and the average player not being intrested in using copper for either thing, it makes it so they are left with heaps of copper they can’t do anything with. Last time I built with copper was literally for a build that was me digging a massive hole for a farm and me just trying to use it since I had so damn much I’m gonna hear you out tho and hope you have a better argument

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I did say not to post the comment until the end, why do so many people ignore me D:

[@JuniBowman]

@@SmashedTomatoes I haven’t slept in the past 20 hours, I missed that part Also, it has a chance of deleting everything you type if you don’t send it immediately

[@xander2853]

Of course. Copper is a decorative material.

[@joaquinginestet4813]

Yeah, but for a decorative material, his spawn rate has no sense.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

As Joaquín said, he gets too much screentime for his contributions to the show. Writers need to step it up.

[@Mike-mf3ed]

I don’t care what they do with copper, but I do think they have enough copper varieties (except sideway slabs though I know they’ll never happen)

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I agree, the current copper set is awesome, even with a natural gradient and stuff, which should help newer players learn that aspect of building.

[@yoyo_ftw]

4:55 Nice Smash Ultimate refrence 💯

[@monochromeink.]

I wish copper would allow us to place redstone on the walls. It always botheted me that we can't do it

[@SmashedTomatoes]

I feel like that would sorta ruin a bit of the redstone puzzle? I donno, I feel like vertical redstone is for people who are bad at redstone like me!

[@monochromeink.]

@@SmashedTomatoes I just hate how much space making anything with redstone takes. I like having stuff like hidden stairs, automatic doors and light switches in my house, but I don't like having to make my walls 4 blocks thick for that

[@PedroCosta-po5nu]

Copper 1500 cannon and naval building update

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@PedroCosta-po5nu Jeb: "we're excited to announce the naval update, take a look" Agnes: "so for 1.22... we'll be adding adorable pirates to Minecraft" [Gameplay pause] Agnes: "they may look cute and innocent, but they will skin you alive." ... Jeb: "that's not on the screen Agnes..." Agnes: *makes the silliest most whimsical laugh imaginable*

[@PedroCosta-po5nu]

@@SmashedTomatoes lol, I read them with their voices on my head, unrelated question, how good can you imagine an apple spinning in your mind?

[@simpli_A]

I dunno, I just like the pretty colors man Actually I just wish they would bring back the funny waxed lightly weathered cut copper stairs

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Now we have the lame waxed weathered cut copper stairs.

[@Boricosa]

I think your video flows really nicely, keep up the great work

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Thanks! Will try my best

[@chewy99.]

I’ve never thought of dousing rods in Minecraft how the heck did you think of that??? Also when I’m not actively paying attention it sounds like you’re not speaking English at all and it’s quite weird, it’s how I imagine English sounds to people who don’t speak it.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

lmao It's the accent I'm sorry >o< You know how sometimes you just wish you could locate structures? and then I thought "huh that but with ores would be neat".

[@melbiamil5144]

Copper should be used to make thermite

[@SmashedTomatoes]

0.o wild suggestion

[@hwelse]

Tbh I just wish Copper Ores gave experience points when mining them. :/ I know they need to be smelted, and you get experience points _that_ way, but it's just not the same.

[@SmashedTomatoes]

Still don't get why they don't at least smelt easier, you get so much of it that smelting it feels like a chore.

[@spamburner9303]

I am mildly confused by the metaphor used at 9:40... from what i've seen in the past, adding patches further tightens jeans... idk lol...

[@SmashedTomatoes]

@@spamburner9303 where are you patching your jeans and how? I meant it more in like a ripped pant fix for pant that's not loose enough or needs an extension.