Question [Question] Spawn Location

MattSeal

Terrarian
I'm somewhat of a newbie at creating these amazing AFK farms the geniuses in this threat have come up with. Looking in the question thread, I found a question and answer about spawn rates, but would like a bit more detail. I was wondering the exact amount of blocks you need to block around you to restrict spawns to a small platform. The wiki and other sources say "off screen," but since I play Terraria in a smaller window while watching vids or doing something else, I'd like to know the universal distance. Thanks so much!
 
This is how the terraria spawn box works (note the player position is collapsed into a single point):
dX7vq9S.jpg


When a spawn occurs, the type of mob that spawns is not determined by the biome the player is in (normally) but instead by the type of block a mob spawns over. If you have a row of ice you will get ice biome mobs, jungle grass = jungle mobs, etc. And btw a spawn can only occur within that yellow area if there is enough room, aka at least a 2x3 player sized opening where no blocks or backwall exists.
 
Thanks so much for the quick response! So i should block out basically everything beyond the yellow area?
 
Actually some times enemies spawn on blocks with player placed walls, I think it is because of the high spawn rate conditions, that or my theory, when enemies spawn they "fall" before spawning until they reach a block that is used to decide what enemies to spawn..but i'll have to check again.
 
It's not so much about blocking out beyond the yellow, it's more about blocking out the yellow except that spot you want the enemies to spawn. If you're using a weapon with infinite piercing (a number of magic weapons like water bolt for example), then it may be better to have the spawns only come from one side. If you want them from the right, then block all of the yellow except to the right of you.

Oh, and lava is pretty nifty for this. Monsters can be completely blocked by having all blocks that they can spawn on, like the ground, covered with lava. A single bucket can do up to I think 15, maybe 20 blocks before it's thin enough to disappear, without being thick enough to destroy items.

I'm sure you see lava used in a lot of the arena builds in this forum section. :) Just toss a single copper coin into it to check on whether it'll destroy items.
 
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@Hundjäger18 spawns can occur in mid air, the type of mob that spawns is determined by the first valid block directly below it, but they will never spawn over player placed backwall.
 
Instead of blocking with actual tiles, a good way to "block" them is to simply put a long surface of lava. Nothing can spawn on lava afaik.

This way you can control spawn areas with much less effort.
 
Oh, and lava is pretty nifty for this. Monsters can be completely blocked by having all blocks that they can spawn on, like the ground, covered with lava. A single bucket can do up to I think 15, maybe 20 blocks before it's thin enough to disappear, without being thick enough to destroy items.

I'm sure you see lava used in a lot of the arena builds in this forum section. :) Just toss a single copper coin into it to check on whether it'll destroy items.

So i can make a giant hole the size of the yellow zone, then cover the bottom with lava? Will that block all spawns save a platform I create?
 
As long as you dont move any closer to the edge in a way that the lava no longer covers the entire area you wish to block.

Do remember that mobs WILL NOT spawn within a certain distance of the player. Just select an area within the yellow area and cover the surface of all other areas with lava.

Do note that the 3DS version, mobs can spawn ON the player at times due to the way the game deals with spawns.

Furthermore, spawn rates are reduced in mobile and console in comparison to the PC version so even this trick doesnt help too much ehen grinding... sigh... its still someehat useful though.
 
@Hundjäger18 spawns can occur in mid air, the type of mob that spawns is determined by the first valid block directly below it, but they will never spawn over player placed backwall.
Actually with a high spawn rate (jungle + water candle) I've had enemies spawn on areas with player walls, as long as the area has an open sealing, like i said, i think the enemie spawn falls, and it originates somewhere without walls.
 
It's part of the 1.3 update, actually. Monsters have a small chance of spawning inside towns, which means since 1.3 player placed walls mean little against spawn (small chance, so it's not a flat-out doesn't matter). I just looked it up in the update list.
 
It's part of the 1.3 update, actually. Monsters have a small chance of spawning inside towns, which means since 1.3 player placed walls mean little against spawn (small chance, so it's not a flat-out doesn't matter). I just looked it up in the update list.
It's been a long time but I remember having arapaimas spawning on a little lake I have on console too, it has cloud walls, so...idk..
 
So i can make a giant hole the size of the yellow zone, then cover the bottom with lava? Will that block all spawns save a platform I create?

A lot of times I fill in the space in the yellow areas except for one side. If you leave a lot of vertical space above your desired spawn point you'll get more mobs spawning in that empty space where they'll fall onto your spawning surface.

When all else fails I go back to this page for reference:
http://terraria.wiki.gg/NPC_spawning
 
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