I was playing on my third world today and stumbled across a cave system where every time it branched, each branch led to more and more branches. I got curious as to how other people tend to deal with issues like this so they know where they're going and they don't end up getting lost.
I personally use signs and torches most of the time (coupled with a compass once I obtain it), but I have actually had to draw a little map once because the system was so big.
I usually don't wander too far off. Because of such, I usually am able to find my way back by looking at the surrounding landscape, or landmarks I've been busy building.
Otherwise there's a trail of torches if I go exploring until I need to reclaim them or I'm familiar with the area.
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Science is good when it teaches you how to turn a million ungrateful foreigners into glass.
I look at the tops of the blocks and let the textures show me which way is north. (Note this won't work if you are using one that is perfectly symmetrical)
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Tis far better to be a witty fool than a foolish wit.
Above ground, I take a moment to note which direction I'm headed when I leave home, then I pretty much just depend on my sense of direction. And if I lose track of that, I usually have a compass to fall back on. If not, then I just head in more or less the opposite from the direction I was heading when I left (getting my bearings from the sun/moon or the clouds) and keep going until I recognize something. I explore a great deal and almost never get lost above ground.
Underground is entirely different though. You twist and turn so much and so quickly that it's about impossible to depend on a sense of direction. I use arrangements of torches and blocks and such that I recognize (things like placing a torch on the wall next to every step of a main stairway going up, ringing the bottom block of a gravel elevator with torches, that sort of thing). If the cave system is really complex though, I don't even bother. I actually sort of like the really complex, seemingly endlessly branching ones. In those, when I want to leave, I just start heading uphill. Sooner or later something's going to connect up with something else and I'm going to find the surface. Then I just need to figure out where on the surface I am, since it'll almost certainly be a different opening than the one I went down in the first place.
Well, my main base is very close to my spawnpoint, and it has a giant magma-topped lighthouse on top of it besides, so my compass is usually enough to keep me from getting lost. Other than that, judicious use of torches and the occasional sign. And now I have Cartograph to boot (thanks Blaze! :tongue.gif:)
All the caves I go in, I put torches on the left wall only. I block it off with dirt or cobble if it's a dead end or I won't be going in anymore. When I want to get back out I just make sure to go where the torches are on the right. Works for me every time.
I usually start out by gathering about 30-45 sand around my spawn(cuz you always start on sand) And build a giant single block wide obelisk that I can see for quite some time. Either that or torches. I find the Ob's are easier as I don't waste coal for torches.
As for caves I have an uncanny ability to find my way back to the surface. Maybe I was my character was a dwarf in a past life. lol
Above ground, I haven't explored much. Below ground, I place torches on the right hand side of all tunnels as I venture outward, and when I get to intersections I place a cobble block with two torches. One on top, one pointing the way out.
I generally don't wander far, I have a compass, and I keep a trail of "breadcrumbs." Nether blocks are unique enough that they make excellent breadcrumbs for exploration. And they provide light too :smile.gif:. With torches eventually becoming temporary, I'll probably be working on getting a good stock of them in my regular world.
In my newest world, I don't have that many natural caverns under my base, so most of my caves are man-made anyways. Hard to get lost if you made it yourself :smile.gif:.
It's also good to keep an eye out for natural landmarks if wandering far from base above ground.
With the nether available now, I'd imagine that a good supply of obsidian would help if you wanted to connect distant bases. I've yet to build another base, though, my current one still needs a lot of work. I have a fairly new world right now.
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When all is said and done, Will you have said more than you have done?
I do a few things. First, when I'm exploring, I usually pick a single direction and walk in a straight line, trying not to veer by even one block. This means digging tunnels and building bridges, sometimes. I can explore from that line, but I always know where it is. If I lose it, I find a tunnel or bridge that I have made, and am right back on again. If I get lost from there, I don't sweat it. I dig down, find a cave, go as deep as possible, mine some redstone, craft a bench and furnace, make some iron bars, craft a compass, and explore until I run out of picks/shovels/whatever else I have, then find my way back.
I have a very good short term memory, so if i make semi-regular return trips with my mined goods, i can keep track of where i am and how to get back. Above ground, i simply use a compass.
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Quote from Zanith »
There was a man who feared not the reaper
He dug in the earth ever deeper
Diamonds of his
Were lost, with a hiss
There is a man who now fears the creeper
I personally use signs and torches most of the time (coupled with a compass once I obtain it), but I have actually had to draw a little map once because the system was so big.
I also have a fair sense of direction, but that's not exactly helpful.
Otherwise there's a trail of torches if I go exploring until I need to reclaim them or I'm familiar with the area.
I probably have tons of goods stuffed away in checkpoints within caves I never got around to getting.
Sometimes it's a DEADLY VIRUS.
<== MOTHER OF PEARL THEY KEEP APPEARING
Underground is entirely different though. You twist and turn so much and so quickly that it's about impossible to depend on a sense of direction. I use arrangements of torches and blocks and such that I recognize (things like placing a torch on the wall next to every step of a main stairway going up, ringing the bottom block of a gravel elevator with torches, that sort of thing). If the cave system is really complex though, I don't even bother. I actually sort of like the really complex, seemingly endlessly branching ones. In those, when I want to leave, I just start heading uphill. Sooner or later something's going to connect up with something else and I'm going to find the surface. Then I just need to figure out where on the surface I am, since it'll almost certainly be a different opening than the one I went down in the first place.
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Above ground, a map. With the compass, finding your way around is pretty easy.
As for caves I have an uncanny ability to find my way back to the surface. Maybe I was my character was a dwarf in a past life. lol
In my newest world, I don't have that many natural caverns under my base, so most of my caves are man-made anyways. Hard to get lost if you made it yourself :smile.gif:.
It's also good to keep an eye out for natural landmarks if wandering far from base above ground.
With the nether available now, I'd imagine that a good supply of obsidian would help if you wanted to connect distant bases. I've yet to build another base, though, my current one still needs a lot of work. I have a fairly new world right now.
I just get lost!
Then this happens.....