How close is too close for Evil Biomes?

[DanielCoffey]

As a completely new player I would appreciate some advice about Evil Biomes from the Regulars.

I have just started my very first game and immediately to the right of my spawn only one screen away is the Corruption biome which I understand tends to spread. How much of a problem is it going to be starting that close to an evil biome? It is literally one screen width to the right of Spawn.

Should I reroll a new world instead of putting up with such a nasty neighbour? If I stay, is there anything I should do right away in an attempt to contain it? Since it effectively cuts my map in half until I can deal with crossing it, is it going to be safe to make a fully enclosed tunnel through it or will monsters spawn inside the tunnel anyway?

 

[The Rope God🌳]

That is really close, but you shouldn't be Too worried about it until you get into Hardmode.

 

[Orchamut]

It won't spread across blocks that aren't grass, sand, or stone.
In fact even if you just place a few sunflowers at the edge of it, they'll ward it off from spreading further. Especially early on, in pre-Hardmode.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Phew - I was concerned I would have to start over. I will keep an eye open for Sunflowers though. I assume they just help with the spread on the surface.

 

[Orchamut]

What size is your world? If it's Small or Medium, there's a much larger chance (from my experience) of having infection generate close to spawn.

 

[Green_Metanight]

As a completely new player I would appreciate some advice about Evil Biomes from the Regulars.

I have just started my very first game and immediately to the right of my spawn only one screen away is the Corruption biome which I understand tends to spread. How much of a problem is it going to be starting that close to an evil biome? It is literally one screen width to the right of Spawn.

Should I reroll a new world instead of putting up with such a nasty neighbour? If I stay, is there anything I should do right away in an attempt to contain it? Since it effectively cuts my map in half until I can deal with crossing it, is it going to be safe to make a fully enclosed tunnel through it or will monsters spawn inside the tunnel anyway?

It won't be a problem, as soon as you beat Eye, you'll have access to Sunflowers.
If housing is corrupted, you can just make floating dirt, plant grass on it, and plant a ton of Sunflowers.
Then it will be valid again.

 

[BookWyrm]

During pre-HM the corruption can only spread on grass and jungle grass. Come HM, it will be able to spread across stone, sand, and ice as well.
The sunflower trick works because to spread to the blocks under the sunflower, it would need to break the sunflower. Which for some reason it can't do.
You don't actually need a sunflower to do this, just a couple of blocks of Wood are fine.
The problem with wood is Thorny Bushes. These are weird plant things that hurt you when you come near. But they can also spread the Corruption. This is an issue because they can grow up, over, and down on the other side of your wooden barrier, rendering it useless.
A more permanent solution is to create a tunnel that runs all the way around your corruption (or just around the spots you want to save).
There's still a problem with this though: the corruption can then spread down your tunnel and sprout more Thorny Bushes, which will span the gap and breach the quarantine.
You can fix this by lining each wall with Wood, or another corruptible block.

If the corruption ever escapes you can buy Purification Powder from the Dryad (who moves in after you defeat any boss).
Throwing this powder un-corrupts nearby blocks.
When you get into HM and defeat at least one Mechanical Boss, you can purchase the Clentaminator from the Steampunker (who moves in after said boss is defeated). This is a much more powerful tool for biome control.

 

[DanielCoffey]

What size is your world? If it's Small or Medium, there's a much larger chance (from my experience) of having infection generate close to spawn.

It was a Medium world as most of the game introductions seem to suggest.

 

[DanielCoffey]

Thanks folks - since it is likely I will be dying a million times over I won't worry about it too much for now as I am still getting used to the game mechanics and UI. Once I am more familiar with what the game will throw at me I will take the oportunity to pull a "Bobby from Dallas - It was just a Dream!"