I often find myself getting lost in caves. One of the main things that leads to me getting lost is following cave offshoots to new cave systems. After a while I have no idea where I am. Lately I have been having to dig to the surface to get out.
I have discovered one thing that has helped so I thought I would pass it along.
When you follow an offshoot in a cave. Make sure the hole you go through is at least 4 blocks wide. When I go through a 1 or 2 block hole to another system. I now turn around and make it much bigger before proceeding. This seems to help me.
Instead of just opening up the cave offshoot to 4-wide, make it a cobblestone arch (or hoop - put a line of it along the floor connecting the posts). Then put up signs pointing the way back to the hub cavern, if any, and then back home.
Yes. And I lost a Diamond Shovel and a ton of buckets because of it.
It wasn't that I was lost though. I knew how to get to where I was and I knew how to get back. I was building a substation base after hitting a major diamond vein. I needed replacement picks and a new sword. I had just discovered my third spider dungeon and sealed it off. I had 2 hearts left. I could have gone straight back to my base by a long, winding process. Or I could dig straight up to build a quick access tunnel to my new base location. I dug the tunnel up.
I hit water and swam up. I swam up into a spider. I had enough time to turn and recognize the scaffolding to my lighthouse before I died. I respawned and ran to my lighthouse. I spent a good ten minutes looking for where I had died. By the time I had located it, all of my gear was gone.
It was only by great fortune that I had dumped the five diamonds I had found into a chest I had thrown together.
You ever get so lost in a cave you have to dig straight up?
Oh yeah! You bet. Twice so far. I really need to put some serious thought on a good system to find my way about in large, complex cave systems. Something that I personally like and isn't too intrusive.
But my second time was actually a fun experience. I emerged under the ocean (some 4 blocks deep) and couldn't believe how far away I was from the initial entry spot. To my right was also an yet unexplored section of the map that had a huge clay deposit begging me to take it. Win!
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I was trying to think of a signature and this is what came up.
Yes, I have, but nowadays I just keep a few signs with me whenever I go into a cave. :3 I used to use torches to light my way back, but it always got way too confusing and I ended up getting lost anyways.
I once had to dig my way straight up without a pickaxe.
'Twas a learning experience
Now I rely on memory, torch placement, and markers to find my way out. I always mark paths that lead directly out with cobble/torches. It's a bit faultier with cave systems than with hand-dug mines, which are easy to navigate.
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In one of my first worlds, I was deeeeep into a cave, and since this was before I learned to put torches on the right only, I had no way of finding my way back. I also had one partially damaged pick left and I was out of wood, so I couldn't make any more. I had a bunch of ladders so I started digging straight up. Somehow, I made it to the surface without hitting sand or gravel. My pick broke near the surface and I had to punch through about ten layers of stone before I hit dirt.
The first time I was lost, I dug straight up, hit some lava and died D:
Yeah. In case one needs to dig straight up, best to roam the cave some more looking for higher place to start digging. Doesn't necessarily avoid the problem (lava can show at the surface) but it surely greatly minimizes the risk.
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I was trying to think of a signature and this is what came up.
For as long as the grass grows
For as long as the stream flows
And the sun shines down unto us
Only they who walk the clouds know
For how long the winds blow
And the sky is blue above us
I have found that if I place torches only on the right side when exploring then I can follow the torch line on the left getting out again. This usually works pretty well.
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I live in my own little world - I like it there - everyone knows me.
For cave exploring, I have a system that I use for finding my way out and around a cave, especially at forks in the path:
I lay 1 single cobble stone with a single torch on it in the middle of the path every 30-50 meters or so, this is what I will use to find my way back out, my breadcrumb trail. (some people that have a lot of RedStone use a Redstone Torch as a breadcrumb trail instead). Then I have a system, where I place a single torch on the ground standing upright if its a place I have not yet explored, and for everywhere that I have already been, I place a torch on the wall.
This happens to me all the time. I've pretty much resigned myself to it so I just end up taking spare pickaxes and shovels, a workbench, a furnace, a bunch of torches and sticks, a compass, and even sometimes ladders when going spelunking
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BETA
"When we release a pure bugfix update, people get VERY upset ("NOTHING CHANGED!").. Adding features gives us much happier users. But I do realize that it's only happier users in the short term." - Notch
I once got lost in a cave, and dug to the surface.
I was roughly 10 blocks from my base.
My base built at the entrance to the cave.
I have no idea how it happened.
That happens alot.
For me it's, it's that I come up underwater more often than not.
I always put my torches on the left wall. If the cave is too big to be lighted by just that, I place ones on the right as well, but always on the ground. When I enter a new section of a cave (usually a split or drop down....) I place a 2x2 block of torch on the left wall just so I know that way leads back.
I have discovered one thing that has helped so I thought I would pass it along.
When you follow an offshoot in a cave. Make sure the hole you go through is at least 4 blocks wide. When I go through a 1 or 2 block hole to another system. I now turn around and make it much bigger before proceeding. This seems to help me.
It wasn't that I was lost though. I knew how to get to where I was and I knew how to get back. I was building a substation base after hitting a major diamond vein. I needed replacement picks and a new sword. I had just discovered my third spider dungeon and sealed it off. I had 2 hearts left. I could have gone straight back to my base by a long, winding process. Or I could dig straight up to build a quick access tunnel to my new base location. I dug the tunnel up.
I hit water and swam up. I swam up into a spider. I had enough time to turn and recognize the scaffolding to my lighthouse before I died. I respawned and ran to my lighthouse. I spent a good ten minutes looking for where I had died. By the time I had located it, all of my gear was gone.
It was only by great fortune that I had dumped the five diamonds I had found into a chest I had thrown together.
Oh yeah! You bet. Twice so far. I really need to put some serious thought on a good system to find my way about in large, complex cave systems. Something that I personally like and isn't too intrusive.
But my second time was actually a fun experience. I emerged under the ocean (some 4 blocks deep) and couldn't believe how far away I was from the initial entry spot. To my right was also an yet unexplored section of the map that had a huge clay deposit begging me to take it. Win!
'Twas a learning experience
Now I rely on memory, torch placement, and markers to find my way out. I always mark paths that lead directly out with cobble/torches. It's a bit faultier with cave systems than with hand-dug mines, which are easy to navigate.
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Yeah. In case one needs to dig straight up, best to roam the cave some more looking for higher place to start digging. Doesn't necessarily avoid the problem (lava can show at the surface) but it surely greatly minimizes the risk.
For as long as the stream flows
And the sun shines down unto us
Only they who walk the clouds know
For how long the winds blow
And the sky is blue above us
"Finally, I found diamond!"
*looks around after mining the diamond*
"Uhh... how the hell did I get here?"
*digs straight up*
I lay 1 single cobble stone with a single torch on it in the middle of the path every 30-50 meters or so, this is what I will use to find my way back out, my breadcrumb trail. (some people that have a lot of RedStone use a Redstone Torch as a breadcrumb trail instead). Then I have a system, where I place a single torch on the ground standing upright if its a place I have not yet explored, and for everywhere that I have already been, I place a torch on the wall.
"When we release a pure bugfix update, people get VERY upset ("NOTHING CHANGED!").. Adding features gives us much happier users. But I do realize that it's only happier users in the short term." - Notch
That happens alot.
For me it's, it's that I come up underwater more often than not.
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Awesome generated world?
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