ive spawned in a cave system underground, twice.... i just reset the map though, stuck underground with no tools, i usually go down to the lava... then get lost and reset the map.....
Yeah. I too have a massive cave system that has already ~6 hours of real-time exploration dedicated to it and Alpha Vespuci reveals to me it's not even close to 50% explored. This is the cave I got lost twice. And 2 is also the times I went down, which really bodes no good for the next ones :tongue.gif:
I went there back again tonight and again I got lost after 1 hour inside.
I've been thinking really hard on methods to not get lost and quite frankly I don't think there is one. Any trail of breadcrumbs eventually becomes a part of the confusion, because of the times one ends up crisscrossing through a large and complex cave system. Digging up, if done carefully and starting from high up, is a failsafe and fast solution that quite honestly doesn't make me want to bother with it again.
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I was trying to think of a signature and this is what came up.
Yeah. I too have a massive cave system that has already ~6 hours of real-time exploration dedicated to it and Alpha Vespuci reveals to me it's not even close to 50% explored. This is the cave I got lost twice. And 2 is also the times I went down, which really bodes no good for the next ones :tongue.gif:
I went there back again tonight and again I got lost after 1 hour inside.
I've been thinking really hard on methods to not get lost and quite frankly I don't think there is one. Any trail of breadcrumbs eventually becomes a part of the confusion, because of the times one ends up crisscrossing through a large and complex cave system. Digging up, if done carefully and starting from high up, is a failsafe and fast solution that quite honestly doesn't make me want to bother with it again.
I have a cave system in my mines- though probably nowhere near as large as yours. For me, I have to actually mine out the entire cave. Everything will be a 3x3 tunnel channel and I label every crossroads and stairs going up and down.
It means slower exploration but you'll never get lost again.
Whenever I get so lost I decide to dig straight up, I always put a chest somewhere up high with all my loot (e.g, anything better than cobblestones, coal or wood). If I die the stuff is safe and I can maybe find it again (useful treasures!), if I don't I can come back and reclaim it safely.
This is why you should never go spelunking without a large stack of logs in your inventory. Wood is really the major limiting factor to exploring - you can avoid losing health, you can gather more coal and cobblestone and steel, but you can't avoid using wood.
Yep. This happened to me before. I encountered a cave system where I was digging a huge room under the ground. Explored it, it was HUGE. I found a waterfall and went up, but, I was hopelessly lost, and down to my last pick. I decided to tunnel striahg tup. because I figured I was probably close to the surface (It was a BIG waterfall) Around 10 tiles up, I broke surface. And...
I was 6 tiles to the right of my home >_>
Literally. 6 tiles.
Edit: Straight under my house was the waterfall, and the chasm. So if I had dug the basement down just a bit further, I would have broken into the chasm and fell to my death (This was before I figured out it was a bad idea to dig straight down)
I apologize if this has been stated. I read the first chunk of responses but not all of them.
I have a huge cave system close to where the spawn point is. I can easily spend an hour just walking without re-tracing my steps. However, a lot of the tunnels are interwoven and add a lot of complexities to finding my way out. What I've recently done is started building large amounts of mine tracks. I lay this down starting at my "camp" spot all the way down to the bedrock level (the ride down in a mine cart is quite fun too). I'm slowly expanding it outward in various directions. You can add switches to use different tracks if you so choose, as well.
With the mine cart, you can add a furnace and power it by using coal. I haven't managed to ride it up yet, but I hear it's possible with a couple of powered carts. Regardless thought, the track will lead you where you need to go. The only problem with this is that iron is not as easy to come by as I'd hope.
Yeah, I never dig straight up, but I do build a staircase diagonally from a cave often.
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"I think reality stays at the door when you have creepy frog girls that don't move properly and react to pain with a mysteriously deep grunt."-Varriount
I've been lost a few times in a large cave system behind my spawn, but I've always been able to either find my way back (I use multiple torches at crucial hallway junctions), or I just climb up in a staircase-like style.
I've gotten lost plenty. All in the same stupid cave system that my mine opened up into at around bedrock (and which I later realized has an entrance high on a mountain right beside my base). With all the criss-crossing and branching, I found that simply marking my way with torches was insufficient. Okay, there's a torch, I've been here, but which way is out from here?
Now I draw arrows on the ground in redstone. Out is THAT WAY! Works really well for me.. Though it's pretty funny when I'm walking along, making arrows pointing back the way I came, and then I run across another tunnel with an arrow pointed in a different direction. Sometimes it's much closer to an exit than the way I'd come in. Oh well, the arrows don't mean the most efficient point of egress is that way, they just mean you can get out of there and back to safety.
Quote from Jasn »
With the mine cart, you can add a furnace and power it by using coal. I haven't managed to ride it up yet, but I hear it's possible with a couple of powered carts. Regardless thought, the track will lead you where you need to go. The only problem with this is that iron is not as easy to come by as I'd hope.
Use a couple mine cart boosters (google/youtube em if you wanna know) and the ride up will be as quick and fun as the ride down!
SHUT THE **** UP OR I'M GOING TO RAPE YOUR GOD DAMN FAMILY.
And yes, I've done this. I once ended up at the bottom of an ocean, so I built a hollowed out tunnel to the surface, and a little circular dock. Then I was like "...where the **** am I?"
Digging straight up how I always get out of a cave. Leaving markers or even bothering to find your way back to your original entrance is a complete waste of time and resources. The only reason I can see doing all that is for the personal challenge and nothing more.
I don't understand how people "run out" of tools like pickaxes while scouting a cave. If you bring some tree trunks (preferrably a stack) into the cave, you have pretty much all you need to make as many tools as you want. Throw in a stack of iron or diamonds, and you're doing even better. No point in making a bunch of pickaxes ahead of time which only take up inventory slots.
And, AGAIN, you will NOT suffocate if you dig straight up into sand or gravel if... IF... you use the ladder method. Nobody here seems to understand the concept, so I guess I'll have to make a video and post it here.
Find a cave, clean it out, dig to surface, compass back to base. Repeat and enjoy your e-diamonds.
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I went there back again tonight and again I got lost after 1 hour inside.
I've been thinking really hard on methods to not get lost and quite frankly I don't think there is one. Any trail of breadcrumbs eventually becomes a part of the confusion, because of the times one ends up crisscrossing through a large and complex cave system. Digging up, if done carefully and starting from high up, is a failsafe and fast solution that quite honestly doesn't make me want to bother with it again.
I have a cave system in my mines- though probably nowhere near as large as yours. For me, I have to actually mine out the entire cave. Everything will be a 3x3 tunnel channel and I label every crossroads and stairs going up and down.
It means slower exploration but you'll never get lost again.
This is why you should never go spelunking without a large stack of logs in your inventory. Wood is really the major limiting factor to exploring - you can avoid losing health, you can gather more coal and cobblestone and steel, but you can't avoid using wood.
I was 6 tiles to the right of my home >_>
Literally. 6 tiles.
Edit: Straight under my house was the waterfall, and the chasm. So if I had dug the basement down just a bit further, I would have broken into the chasm and fell to my death (This was before I figured out it was a bad idea to dig straight down)
I have a huge cave system close to where the spawn point is. I can easily spend an hour just walking without re-tracing my steps. However, a lot of the tunnels are interwoven and add a lot of complexities to finding my way out. What I've recently done is started building large amounts of mine tracks. I lay this down starting at my "camp" spot all the way down to the bedrock level (the ride down in a mine cart is quite fun too). I'm slowly expanding it outward in various directions. You can add switches to use different tracks if you so choose, as well.
With the mine cart, you can add a furnace and power it by using coal. I haven't managed to ride it up yet, but I hear it's possible with a couple of powered carts. Regardless thought, the track will lead you where you need to go. The only problem with this is that iron is not as easy to come by as I'd hope.
Now I draw arrows on the ground in redstone. Out is THAT WAY! Works really well for me.. Though it's pretty funny when I'm walking along, making arrows pointing back the way I came, and then I run across another tunnel with an arrow pointed in a different direction. Sometimes it's much closer to an exit than the way I'd come in. Oh well, the arrows don't mean the most efficient point of egress is that way, they just mean you can get out of there and back to safety.
Use a couple mine cart boosters (google/youtube em if you wanna know) and the ride up will be as quick and fun as the ride down!
SHUT THE **** UP OR I'M GOING TO RAPE YOUR GOD DAMN FAMILY.
And yes, I've done this. I once ended up at the bottom of an ocean, so I built a hollowed out tunnel to the surface, and a little circular dock. Then I was like "...where the **** am I?"
I don't understand how people "run out" of tools like pickaxes while scouting a cave. If you bring some tree trunks (preferrably a stack) into the cave, you have pretty much all you need to make as many tools as you want. Throw in a stack of iron or diamonds, and you're doing even better. No point in making a bunch of pickaxes ahead of time which only take up inventory slots.
And, AGAIN, you will NOT suffocate if you dig straight up into sand or gravel if... IF... you use the ladder method. Nobody here seems to understand the concept, so I guess I'll have to make a video and post it here.
- S -
from lava level.
and up a mountain.
up the mountain was just bad luck