Caravans (Llama Trains)

A caravan turns a herd of pack llamas into a working crew. They follow you in a spaced line, carry your goods, and run trips home to deposit cargo while you keep mining. A llama wearing red carpet can guard a fixed spot, but it leaves the moving line when posted. Two crafted tools drive the whole system.

The two tools

For the Drover's Stick, put string directly above a stick in the crafting grid. For the Khipu, put a lead between two pieces of string in one column.

Forming the caravan

1. Put a chest on your tamed llama, then right-click it with the Drover's Stick.— your nearby chest-carrying llamas, donkeys and mules within 12 blocks form up; the line spaces them about 2.5 blocks apart
2. Right-click the air with the stick to whistle in any straggler.— a llama that falls behind speeds up to about 1.5 times walking pace to catch up
3. Sneak-right-click the air with the stick to halt the line.— right-click a member again to dismiss that animal; an animal you never recruit stays vanilla

Over rough ground, shorelines, and obstacles the train holds formation and routes around trouble instead of clumping up.

Storage runs

A storage run sends llamas home to empty their bags, then walk back to you.

1. At home, right-click a chest or barrel with the Khipu to record it as a depot.— sneak-right-click the container to remove it; runs fill recorded depots in order
2. Out on the road, hold the Khipu and sneak-right-click the air twice.— you need at least two owned, chest-carrying llamas following or within 12 blocks
3. Watch the boss-bar timer count down while they work.— about 10 seconds for a depot within 24 blocks, up to 90 seconds for one 256 blocks away

The farther half of the eligible llamas, rounded down carries about half the total cargo stacks home; the rest stays with you. With three llamas, one leaves. A run will not start until you record a depot. They merge into partial stacks and bring back anything that will not fit, so cargo does not vanish when a chest is full. A following caravan with at least two pack llamas sends a run at 80% full once a depot is recorded.

Saddlebags that grow

Each chested llama keeps the strength it started with, from one to five. Its growth clock starts when you first recruit it with the stick, check it with the Khipu, or open its inventory. Each hour you play after that raises its strength by one and opens 3 more slots until it reaches 15. Time offline does not count; another interaction or storage run updates the earned slots. At full strength its bags can hold up to six 15-slot pages, 90 slots in one animal. Sneak-right-click it with the Khipu to flip pages, then open its inventory to use the visible page. Donkeys and mules can follow as extra haulers, but they stay at 15 slots with no extra pages.

Guards and leaders

• Spitting guard. Open your llama's inventory, put red carpet in its decor slot, then close the inventory to post it as a sentry. It spits at hostiles within 12 blocks for 3 damage plus Slowness and a shove. Take the carpet off and close the inventory to stand it down.
• Camel lead. Right-click a camel with the Drover's Stick to appoint it, or right-click it again to stand it down. The herd follows it as quartermaster. As you play, it brings storage runs back up to 40% faster.
• Wolf protector. Right-click your tamed wolf with the Drover's Stick to appoint or stand it down. It screens the moving caravan, engaging hostiles within 16 blocks.

See also

• Sorter — a copper golem that sorts a caravan's cargo once it is home
• The Smeltery — bulk-smelt the ore your caravan hauled back
• Automation — the rest of the systems that work while you play