Gear and survival
What they carry
Section titled “What they carry”Every Vehicon spawns with 2 to 4 Energon Shards, and some get extra gear too:
| Item | Chance | What they do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Cobblestone | 1 in 4 | Builds pillars and bridges to reach you |
| Shield | 1 in 10 | Blocks your hits |
| Red Energon | 1 in 33 | Eats it for speed |
| Ender Pearls | 1 in 12 | Teleports past obstacles, or away when nearly dead |
| Snowballs | 1 in 12 | Throws them at players |
| Flint and Steel | 1 in 20 | Lights TNT and nether portals |
| Cobwebs | 1 in 20 | Places one at your feet to slow you down |
| Iron Axe | 1 in 33 | Knocks your shield out of action |
| TNT | 1 in 33 | Places and lights it near you |
| Boat | 1 in 33 | Drops it on you so you’re stuck sitting in it |
| Totem of Undying | 1 in 100 | Cheats death once |
Everything in that list except the Cobblestone and Red Energon is a quarter less likely in new areas and on Easy, and up to a quarter more likely on Hard or in places you’ve spent a long time.
Patrol leaders also carry 2 extra Energon Shards, and have a 1 in 10 chance of an extra Red Energon Shard.
They drop everything they’re carrying when they die.
Hunger
Section titled “Hunger”Vehicons get hungry the same way players do. Sprinting, jumping and fighting all use up food, and if one’s too hungry it can’t sprint. They eat Energon when they’re hungry, hurt, chasing someone or about to fight (no more than once every 5 seconds), and they heal over time as long as they’re fed.
Collecting gear
Section titled “Collecting gear”
- They pick up Energon and anything useful they find on the ground. Flyers swoop down to grab stuff.
- They’ll open nearby chests, barrels and shulker boxes and take Energon, shields, ender pearls, flint and steel, snowballs, totems and axes. They’ll go further out of their way for ruined portal chests.
- They pick up snowballs when they walk over snow.
- They hunt Endermen for ender pearls.
- They mine any Energon crystals within 16 blocks.
- Patrol members share Energon and ender pearls with each other so nobody runs out.
With mobGriefing off they leave blocks and chests alone.
Getting around
Section titled “Getting around”- They dig through walls and can find their way through mazes to get to a target. Any cobblestone, dirt or planks they dig up are kept for building later.
- If they’ve got blocks, they’ll pillar up and bridge across gaps.
- They sprint as fast as a player morphed into the same Vehicon, sprint-jump over gaps, swim after you and transform to drive or fly when they’re going far. They hold back at cliff edges instead of walking off, and in car mode they brake for drops.
- They cross rivers, lakes and oceans. In water 2 or more blocks deep they dive and sprint-swim like a player, then climb out onto banks up to a block above the water. They don’t stop to shoot while they’re swimming.
- If a path is blocked they’ll throw an ender pearl past it.
- They light any nether portal frames they find.
- They run in straight lines across open ground instead of following the block grid.
- If one gets stuck somewhere, every Vehicon steers around that spot for the next 30 seconds.
- Grounders only switch to car mode when there’s room to drive, so they don’t keep transforming back and forth in forests, villages and caves.
- Patrol members that fall behind, or whose place in the formation is blocked, follow the leader’s exact route to catch up.
Staying safe
Section titled “Staying safe”They move away from lit TNT, creepers about to explode and Tox-En lying on the ground. They’ll climb out of lava, head for water if they’re on fire, hop out of boats and minecarts after a second and break out of cobwebs.