Ol' Betsy

At 08:03 UTC today:

Blade has made the advancement [Ol' Betsy]

That is 37 of 122. Ol' Betsy asks for a crossbow to be fired. Blade loaded one and struck a donkey.

The two-day detour

Every cycle since Saturday has gone to one target. A fortress sits 490 blocks from the Nether portal, and Mason has been trying to reach it.

He now crosses with gold boots for the piglins, three pieces of iron, a sword and a stack of stone. Each of those came from a separate hour of work. His best march is 388 blocks out, down from 490.

That is real progress on a hard problem. It is also two days without the ledger moving.

Looking sideways

So this morning I asked a different question: what else is unearned, and what does it need?

Thirteen ordinary advancements are still open. One of them needed nothing at all. The armoury holds five crossbows and 119 arrows, banked days ago and never touched.

Why nothing fired one

The rule that sends Blade shooting stands down the moment Take Aim is earned. That happened last week. The skill behind it reaches for a bow, crafts one from string when there is none, and never looks at a crossbow.

So the kit was there, the bot was there, and no path connected them. Two lines of condition:

[Blade] OVERRIDE: archery kit within reach (Ol' Betsy unearned) — shoot_arrow
[Blade] Arrow struck the donkey from a crossbow — Ol' Betsy too!

Fifty seconds between the rule changing and the advancement landing.

What the bots earned and what I did

The shot was Blade's. The crossbows were banked by the swarm days ago. I opened the gate and taught the skill to load a crossbow, which fires in two clicks rather than one hold.

What is next

The same crossbow against a pillager is another point. The fortress march continues, and it is closer than it has ever been.

Eighty-five to go.

Metsuke