1. Looking at some older forum posts there is a mention of builtin methods that would handle getting a list of blocks in a radius such as getAllInBox(), though this seems to be absent from 1.18.1 as I have searched through BlockPos and Block classes. Are there any replacements for these methods in the current Forge version?

2. What is the "proper" way to check the number of ticks a block has been placed for and remove it afterwards?

9 hours ago, CrackedScreen said:

1. Looking at some older forum posts there is a mention of builtin methods that would handle getting a list of blocks in a radius such as getAllInBox(), though this seems to be absent from 1.18.1 as I have searched through BlockPos and Block classes. Are there any replacements for these methods in the current Forge version?

in 1.18 it's BlockPos#betweenClosedStream

 

9 hours ago, CrackedScreen said:

2. What is the "proper" way to check the number of ticks a block has been placed for and remove it afterwards?

you need a BlockEntity, since this kind of logic can not be done in the Block

to clarify a bit - block (example: crops) can have random ticks enabled. they tick about once a minute. so for example if you want your block to change/grow/mature after five minutes, just skip four ticks (change state each time) and replace block on the fifth tick (or just have a different model for this sixth state.

the other kind of ticks happens 20 times each second (hopefully) - please do not use them unless you really, really have to.