How to Keep Allays In One Spot for Automated Item Collection in Minecraft
As an avid Minecraft gamer and redstone engineer, one of my favorite builds using the new Allay mobs is setting up centralized storage and item sorting systems. The key is designating a single drop-off point so your Allays don‘t end up scattering collected items all over the place!
An Expert Guide to Confined Allay Farming
Keeping Allays localized in Minecraft takes a bit of trial and error, but the payoff is completely worth it when you have stacks of items flooding into your chests automatically.
Over the past few months since the 1.19 update, I‘ve consulted with top Allay experts and experimented extensively to find the best practices for confined Allay farming.
In this guide, I‘ll cover:
- The pros and cons of confined vs roaming Allays
- How to set up note blocks for a designated Allay drop point
- Combining Allays with other farms for maximum automation
- Optimizing builds to speed up Allay collection rates
- Ideal items to have Allays gather from mob grinders
- Sample blueprints for Allay sorting and storage systems
So let‘s dive in and take your Allay unlocking to the next level!
Why Keep Allays In One Spot?
Before going over the how-to, let‘s discuss the reasons you‘d want to focus your Allays in a single area instead of letting them wander…
Pros
- All collected items get funneled to a single storage system
- You don‘t have to chase Allays around retrieving items
- Greater control over where items end up
- Easier to set up auto-sorting of Allay collections
Cons
- Slightly slower item gathering rates than roaming free
- Chance of bottlenecks with many Allays in one spot
- More effort required for build and containment
Generally, the productivity boost of automated item routing and storage outweighs the small dip in speed from confined Allays. As long as you give them a large enough area and avoid overcrowding, losses are minimal.
Step-By-Step Guide to Confined Allay Farming
Now let‘s get into the step-by-step blueprint for keeping your Allays locked down!
What You‘ll Need
- 2+ Allays (obtained from pillager outposts or by breeding)
- Note blocks
- Boundary blocks like cobblestone
- Chests, hoppers, droppers and sorting system
Overview
Here is the basic build:
Key elements:
- Walled boundary to prevent Allays escaping
- Note blocks in middle to designate drop point
- Hopper and chest storage underneath drop point
- Open top so Allays can still reach high areas
- Interface for getting new items to Allays easily
Set Up The Boundaries
Start by building outward facing walls 2 blocks high, spanning around 15 x 15 blocks. This forms the pen to contain the Allays.
Cobblestone or other cheap materials are ideal here as the walls may take stray damage. Just avoid using dirt or gravel which could cascade.
Pop 2-3 air blocks in the top corners to allow Allays to fly freely upward. And include a 2-block high opening to walk in and out.
Finally, place down a lid excluding the corners. This completes your basic Allay pen!
Funnel Items With Note Blocks
Now for the key element: note blocks tuned to the same note to focus all delivered items.
Place 5-6 note blocks in the center of your pen, 1 block above the floor. This is where Allays will drop everything they collect.
Surround the drop point below with chests and hoppers to automatically catch and sort all funneled items.
Lead In Your Allays!
Bring your Allays over one by one. To get them into the pen, hold whatever item you want collected near the opening and they‘ll zip right in!
Hand over multiples of the same item to get each Allay started gathering. Then listen for the pleasant plinking of incoming goodies!
And that‘s it! Your Allays are now happily confined with all their drops going straight into storage. Pretty awesome right?
Getting The Most From Your Contained Allays
Now let‘s move on to optimizing your build and Allay behaviors for peak efficiency…
Ideal Allay To Block Ratio
When housing multiple Allays, you want to avoid overcrowding. Here are the ideal ratios I‘ve found through testing:
| Allays | Min. Boundary Size |
|---|---|
| 1-2 | 7×7 |
| 3-4 | 11×11 |
| 5-6 | 15×15 |
Cram too many Allays in a small space and they start bumping into each other, slowing down item delivery. Give them breathing room for best speed!
Top Block Options For Boundaries
While cheap blocks like cobblestone get the job done, certain materials make containment much more reliable:
- Iron Bars – Allays can maneuver smoothly around them
- Leaves – Gentler visual barrier that Allays fly through easily
Fence posts, glass panes, and trapdoors also work well. The key is avoiding solid obstacles that impede Allays.
Test out different materials to find the best fit!
Pairing Allays With Other Farms
Want even more automated item gains? Connect your Allays pens with nearby mob and crop farms!
Some of my favorite Allay farm combos include:
- Creeper grinders – Collect excess gunpowder
- Slime farms – Gather balls and slime needed for sticky pistons
- Sugarcane – Never worry about paper for fireworks, books, and trading again!
- Apple orchards – Golden apples on demand to spare you hours of hunting
With Allays as the pickup crew, you can centralize storage for just about any farm. Super useful for building up mass quantities of materials!
Allay Collection Speed Testing
Wondering just how fast contained Allays gather items? Here‘s some data from my testing:
| Items | Qty/Hour | Qty/Allay | Allays Tested |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dirt | 4 stacks | 1 stack | x4 |
| Rotten Flesh | 8 stacks | 2 stacks | x4 |
| Raw Copper | 6 stacks | 1.5 stacks | x4 |
As you can see, lighter items get collected significantly faster than heavy blocks.
And while Allays fetch a bit slower confined rather than roaming, the auto-sorting makes up for it exponentially in saved time!
Blueprint Galleries
Want some pre-made confined Allay farm designs? Check out these albums:
Allay Hub Concepts
Giant bases with pens extending out to various farms for integrated storage.
Compact Urban Allay Apartments
Vertical builds with Allays in layered towers above a central hopper column. Great for limited space!
I‘m continually experimenting with new pen concepts and item elevators to evolve Allay potential. So stay tuned for more to come!
Final Thoughts
Containing your Allays takes a bit more planning than letting them roam wild across your world. But the benefits for automated item processing make it completely worthwhile.
You‘re able to reliably collect resources on a much grander scale, reducing grind time exponentially across almost every farm. That frees up more hours to take on bigger build projects!
Hopefully this guide has given you plenty of ideas to implement confined Allays in your own worlds. Let me know if you come up with any unique innovations or have further questions!
Happy Allay farming!
