My merchant is stuck a long way down in a cave and I'd like to get him back into my house. I can't make a track back up because it would take an extremely long time. Any ideas?
Terraria – How to get the NPC back into the house from down a cave
terraria
Related Solutions
Bwarner has the right idea, but I have a different implementation.
The NPC pathing is pretty simple - amble back and forth, opening doors in their way. In your apartment style base, this restricts them to the same level as their "house", since they will not pass through wood panels, either by jumping up or by falling through (like you, the player is able to do).
What you can do is create what are effectively "one-way passages" for NPCs (no need to bother with removing floor that they're standing on!). In principle, this is quite simple: just put a drop of sufficient height (3 blocks should do it, 2 might, but I'd have to check) to the side of their house with their door. The NPCs will wander about during the day, fall off the ledge, and mingle in the pit you've created rather than alone in their homes.
Since NPCs teleport home at night (only when you're a sufficient distance away, though) their safety is not in question (though you could build a mosh basement as well, I suppose, that would keep mobs out regardless), and better yet, you won't have to re-corral them into the congregation pen every time you visited your town.
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I think the best solution in the early game is to explore your starting biome and search for shallow caves that contain treasure. You'll likely find a boomerang early, which can be useful as a ranged and indirect fire weapon early in the game.
Once you've come across a few chests and have a bit of gear/weapons, start digging a shaft. Explore caves and fight enemies, which will probably yield some amount of cash plus opportunities to mine ores you can use to forge better equipment. Better equipment will allow you to dig deeper and/or explore some of the neighboring biomes, which will yield opportunities for even better gear.
Money's not super important as most of the gear in the game can be crafted or found as treasure. You will need to purchase items from time to time, so make sure that you occasionally make time to satisfy the conditions for NPCs to arrive.
Lather, rinse, and repeat until you're epic and difficult to kill, and then you can tackle some of the more exciting boss fights and deepest regions of the world. If you're at a loss as to what to do next, or how to craft some of the higher level gear, go dig around a bit at one of the Terraria Wiki sites, which contain info about all sorts of interesting artifacts.
Death is relatively cheap, as long as you leave as much of your money as possible at home. Don't be afraid to go and explore something new, you might luck out and find a valuable artifact. The worst case scenario is that you end up a tasty snack for something big and nasty, and maybe lose a few coins.
The goal of this game varies depending on what your goal is, so don't be afraid to do something risky or try something new if you're having fun! If the game is getting frustrating, try exploring more closer to the surface, or looking up a strategy for dealing with the particular situation you're stuck on.
Best Answer
+1 to Havatra, however his answer is incomplete.
The NPC will only teleport back to its house when night falls. So when the sun is setting, leave your house, or if you do not have good enough weapons to survive the monsters, go out during the day and build a small shack to protect you. Dirt will work fine. An easy way to do this is to dig 3 blocks down and then place a roof on top. This leaves you with no room to move (unless you dig), but it is the easiest way to build a safe place for the night.
Another way to do this is to use a king/queen statue and wiring. A king statue will teleport a random male NPC, whereas a queen statue will teleport a female one. They will do this when they are activated by an active wire. This method however requires you to have progressed a fair bit into the game, by which time you will have many NPCs and the chance of teleporting the merchant is quite small.