Voyager - End Expeditions for MineColonies

A new MineColonies profession that explores the End. Build a Departure Point - a Launchpad with a rocket, or an End Gate - hire a Voyager, and every launch window they pack rations and supplies, lift off and come back a while later with a haul from the End: end stone, chorus, purpur, ender pearls, shulker shells, the occasional elytra... if they come back at all.

BETA - the expedition loop, both building looks, the research tree and the effects are play-tested in single-player and LAN games. Dedicated servers and a few research effects are not exercised yet. Please report bugs with your latest.log (every expedition is written there with a [Voyager] prefix).

Two looks, one building

• Launchpad - a rocket on a hazard-striped pad with a control room, gantries and fuel tanks; by level 5 a three-stage rocket with boosters, a crane tower, mission control and a fuel farm. The crew boards through the hatch, the engines light and the rocket really lifts off - it is gone until the expedition lands again.
• End Gate - a ring gate of purpur and obsidian with a glowing portal film, chorus trees and an observatory; by level 5 a monumental ring with floating chorus islets. The ring spins up, the Voyager vanishes in a flash and a purple beam carries them into the sky. The portal glows day and night, no shaders needed.

Both are alternatives of the same building in the build tool, levels 1-5, with one footprint for every level so upgrades never outgrow the outline you placed. The structure pack is inside the jar and works next to any colony style.

How it plays

1. Research Reach for the Stars (University → Technology, after Open the Nether; needs a Nether Mine).
2. Build a Departure Point and hire a Voyager. Adaptability shapes what they find, Agility the odds of coming home unhurt.
3. Stock the hut: a sword, a pickaxe, armor, rations (Rations tab) and the expedition supplies - 64 cobblestone, 4 ender pearls and 16 torches per trip.
4. Wait for a launch window: every three days at level 1-2, every two days at level 3-4, daily at level 5.
5. Read the Expedition Log in the hut to see what happened out there.

Higher levels bring bigger hauls and rarer finds (purpur and end rods from level 3, obsidian and dragon's breath from level 4, a small chance of an elytra at level 5), but also more fights. Every level lets the Voyager carry better gear - iron at level 1, diamond at 2, netherite at 3, anything from level 4 - and between fights they eat rations to recover, so keep the pantry full. Not everyone comes home: a Voyager lost in the End gets a grave by the Departure Point's console, so the Undertaker can bury or resurrect them.

Research

Reach for the Stars opens its own corner of the Technology tree:

• Void Insurance I / II - 25% / 50% less damage in the End
• Starlight Navigation - one more expedition per launch window
• Rapid Refit - expeditions take 25% less time
• Buddy System - a second Voyager per Departure Point (Launchpad crews take turns with the rocket)
• Ender Harvest / Shulker Whisperer - extra pearls and shells from beaten mobs
• Dragon Hunt - level 5 Voyagers may run into the dragon: a dragon head and dragon's breath for the survivors
• Long-range Comms - the Voyager reports to the colony chat while away
• Return to Sender - a lost Voyager's gear comes back to the hut

Requirements

Minecraft 1.21.1 · NeoForge 21.1.x · MineColonies 1.1.1300+ (tested with 1.1.1368) · Structurize

Optional: with Colonist Errands 2.1.0+ and Talking Colonists, Voyagers tell you about their last expedition and chat with their crewmate while waiting for the next launch window.

Credits

Made by Lovkar & Claude - designed and play-tested by Lovkar, coded by Anthropic's Claude. Thanks to the MineColonies team; the expedition mechanics follow the Nether Miner's design in our own implementation. GPL-3.0-or-later, source on GitHub.