minecraft-java-edition
I have massive quantities of carrots, and potatoes and am trying to trade with a farmer, but it is taking a very long time. Is there a way to speed this process up?
I am aware of the "standard" shortcuts for moving items up to the trading window, and down from the trading window. But, that still takes forever.
As of version 1.4.3, only a single block is enough to prevent all fall damage.
For previous versions it was 3 blocks.
When I dug a pit to bedrock, this is the technique I used after I ran out of TNT.
Dig a vertical shaft down to the bottom level (use safe techniques to avoid dropping into a cave) and place ladders to climb up.
Dig horizontally to make a 2-block-high space covering all of the horizontal area you're planning to dig out. This tells you when to stop digging later, and also checks for deep caves filled with lava. (Note that lava lakes, which can occur at any height, are still a hazard.
From the top, dig down around the edges (vertically) of the area (techniques covered below). This checks for caves intersecting the region you are digging.
Having made these cuts, you now have a better idea of what hazards the remainder contains that you might encounter while digging out.
If you are not entertained by being the proud owner of a slightly floating landmass, proceed with digging out the middle.
Caution: These techniques are optimized for simplicity, not safety. You should get a brief glimpse of any caves but you might not react fast enough.
While standing on top stand just on the edge of one block while facing another block, and aim so that your line of sight intersects both. You want to be positioned such that both blocks are supporting you, so that when you click to mine, you remove both blocks before you actually fall.
Then hold down the mouse button. You will repeatedly mine two blocks and fall one block. When you reach bottom, you will fall 3 blocks into your previously cleared space (taking no fall damage since it's less than 4).
If you have an L-shaped set of 3 columns, you can position yourself to do the same all-at-once digging trick, but there's no way to do it with a 2×2 (since your aim can't pass through all four).
Best Answer
After much experimentation, it turns out there are a number of very significant things to keep in mind, in order to maximize the trading throughput. I'm answering this with the purpose to maximize the number of emeralds / real world minutes played.
In my experience (I've traded for about 100 stacks of emeralds) the last bullet point above maximizes the villager's chances of getting the regeneration effect, and reopening all trades. And it's obviously the fastest keyboard/mouse approach.
In my experience, if you trade for a single emerald at a time, and close the trading window between each trade, you are much more likely to close a trade than refresh trades. Basically, if you do single trades you get on average about 32 emeralds before all trades are closed and you have to start buying things with emeralds. (I just have a potato, wheat and carrot farm, I haven't finished the pumpkin farm yet, I suspect the numbers improve with 4 trades). With the bulk trading option, I've only had the villager lock all trades, and not release trades once.
One last note: I have read some commentaries that tell you not to drop items at the villager's feet, because they'll pick them up. This is not quite true. A farmer will pick up 5 full stacks of wheat, potatoes, and/or carrots. (Also seeds, and bread). Once the farmer is "full" he won't pick up anything else, so this is only a very short term issue.