As mentioned before, I went down my mine and explored the rest of the cave system I;d found, as well as part of another an d various side branches, including a ravine; I also found a cave that lead to the surface a distance away from my base so it wasn't entirely underground with no connection to the surface (there are also some exposed caves around/near where I built my base, which I filled in without exploring them other than to see if they lead anywhere):
Also, here is the big cave I mentioned in the OP, after I explored it and the surrounding caves - pretty large, about 30x40 blocks; in the second screenshot you can see where I'd diverted the staircase I dug down to my mine near the middle (cobblestone):
Also, I saw my first slime, which spawned in the cave, just thought this was worth noting since I'd already spent a considerable amount of time in the world and hadn't seen one yet:
The only vein of amethyst ore I found, which was actually a bit of a lucky find; I found it after mining a gold vein, which exposed a cave with no connection to anything else, and also found it before finding any diamond or redstone, which generate in the same layers:
5 amethyst is still a lot, considering that each one could restore 4,684 more uses to my pickaxe, or a total of 23,420 blocks mined, 5-6 times more than I mine in a typical play session. I also collected a stack of bones for bonemeal so I can regrow tall grass in the area I'd cleared around my base (some people don't like tall grass but I think it makes it look better), but otherwise I don't collect such mob drops.
This is what I had by the time I was done - that's more ore altogether than I got from my mine, although far more iron and coal compared to other ores; most of the caves in this area were too high, mostly just the big cave mentioned above:
Also, here is a look at the area I've explored:
The cave extending off to the lower-left likely leads to another cave system, or at least a cluster of several caves (I stop when I come to a multiple intersection, particularly after going down a cave with no intersections, as that likely means there is a new cave system). Also, over the right end of the mine is another ravine (the one that I found can be seen as a set of parallel lines going left-right near the center of the upper cave mass), still unexplored; the bottom is rendered due to having torches underneath (I found it after mining into it and coming up to get over lava; I ended up mining through the lava instead when I saw it was a ravine and not an easily blocked off cave).
Also, I was wondering what the seed I used looked like in vanilla so I filled in a level 3 map (1024x1024, plus a bit off the edges); there is very little in common aside from landmasses and the position of rivers and biome boundaries so this says nothing about what my world is like (in this case spawn is in a jungle and the area where I spawned is extreme hills, about 400 blocks to the west; this is because the game looks for certain "spawn biomes"; plains, forest, jungle, taiga and their hills variants; this is also still true as of 1.8, having never been updated to account for new biomes; for similar reasons, the locations of strongholds is also different):
I made a pretty rare discovery - 5 ravines intersecting each other - with a sixth ravine a short distance away:
This is the first ravine I found, with one end at -262, 5, 100:
The first intersection, near the top of the first ravine:
Second ravine:
Second intersection, at the very end of the second ravine:
Third ravine:
Third intersection, about halfway through the third and fourth ravines:
Fourth ravine:
You guessed it - yet another intersection to a fifth ravine, at the very end of the fourth ravine:
The fifth ravine:
What could be on the other end of this cave (located in the fifth ravine)?
You guessed it - yet another ravine:
Five intersecting ravines, even (almost) six, isn't a record though; 8 were found before and there could certainly be even more with an average of one ravine every 50 chunks (in any version, the only difference before/after 1.7 is the direction they go in from their starting points; even my mod, aside from larger ravines (all of these were normal size) only changes this as well, with ravines generated in two parts from the starting point (in the middle of the length instead of at one end), enabling me to use a smaller radius of chunks; vanilla 1.6.4 has six ravines in the general area though most don't intersect).
Also, I discovered a new biome; a mesa, just to the north of the plains biome I spawned in (there's a surface cave at -280, 83 which indirectly leads to the first ravine mentioned here).
I've seen three intersecting ravines before, but I have a guilty admission- I don't really like them. I mean, yes, they definitely look cool, but I find them to be a bit laborious to light up and make completely secure (I hate having things fall on me from 1 block wide ledges). If the route of one of my subway lines intersects one I typically enclose the 3x3 tunnel with glass as it passes from one ravine wall to the other, trying to preserve natural water or lava flows as much as possible. Otherwise I explore them as much as is immediately convenient, then go on to something else. I've seen dozens and dozens of them while on survey-runs on the surface and hardly ever drop down to investigate further.
Are amethyst tools much more efficient than diamond? Also, what is the chance of finding amethyst- is it even rarer than diamonds?
They are actually the same, except for greater durability; as I mentioned here, it is mainly to have something different, though it was based on a mod I used for a while that added items much better than diamond (damage, speed, protection) which I thought was a bit too OP so I edited it (before I figured out how to code my own mod).
As for rarity, this is pretty self-explanatory; when caving it is nearly a thousand times rarer than coal (ignoring the distribution of caves, which are more common deeper down, thus give a bias towards deeper ores; on the other hand, I find more coal than expected, at least when compared to iron, likely because the veins are bigger and more likely to be partly exposed) - yet I still find just enough even without using Fortune (though I did get Fortune to mine what I found by branch-mining; it is about a third as common as diamond over the lowest two layers; I actually found more amethyst than lapis (ore, lapis still gave many more drops) in my branch-mine, which gave me 27 amethyst and 85 diamond ore):
This also fits with what I've found recently; the last few times I played I found a total of just 6 amethyst ore; a vein of 5 one day, a single ore the second day, and none the last time; by comparison, I found about 40 diamonds. I've only used two to repair my pickaxe so far though with my other gear still well away from needing repair (getting just below 75% durability; it is impossible to repair any enchanted item with more than one unit (25% at a time), thus it is rather impractical to put only Unbreaking on an item, which also already costs 31 levels to repair; my Efficiency V, Unbreaking III pickaxe costs 39 levels, considerably more expensive than the same diamond pickaxe which can be fully repaired for 33 levels, restoring 4/3 more uses, although I still get far more XP than I need, reaching 50+ levels; with a diamond pickaxe I can get over 60 levels).
I mentioned that I'd checked out the ravines in vanilla 1.6.4 to see what they were like and also mentioned that 1.7 and later have the same ravines, but in different configurations; there actually is a triple ravine present in 1.7-1.8, with three separate ravines nearby, though you have to use the Customized world type to get land where they are located (you spawn on a treeless island in the middle of an ocean; I set the biome to plains but any other land-based biome will work); one of the ravines is located at -325, 36, 85 (as mentioned in the OP, the seed is -8547083745248820158):
Also, here is a comparison of the ravines (in 1.7+) to the ones I found, with the corresponding ravines connected together (as noted earlier, in my mod ravines start in the middle instead of at one end; they don't perfectly match since in vanilla a random offset of 0-15 is added, while I just start them in the middle of a chunk since the offset is unnoticeable and this gives me half a chunk of "headroom"):
Notice that there is another ravine further south, which is less apparent in the 1.7+ map since it extends northwards. Also not apparent when I checked out the ravines in 1.7+ is that there is an eighth ravine off to the left side, west of the triple ravine (the one that doesn't match is the one further to the northeast on the left side, which corresponds to a ravine I found that is off the map of my world).
Compared to the experience in 1.7-1.8, it is amazing how many new biomes I've been finding within such a small distance from spawn; I found two more since the last time:
On the left is a bushlands biome and on the right is a tropical swamp; I'm standing in the mesa biome I mentioned last time, also shown below:
Here is a map of the areas I've explored so far, not including my journey to the stronghold, which I made a separate map for since I only want to map the areas I've explored while caving on this one; my base is just to the north of the crosshair:
Also, the effect of my "regional" to "global" difficulty revamp is becoming very apparent, with mobs with armor and enchantments becoming very common, and I still have a while to go before it reaches its maximum, which takes 100 hours or a bit over 4 days of gameplay, 300 in-game days, while I'm only at about 2/3 of that. This includes a zombie in partial enchanted diamond armor:
If you think skeletons are annoying, wait until they start shooting you with Punch and Flame bows, which I experienced several times.
There is also no escape from this since it is based on the total world time; if I hadn't done this I'd rarely see even half the maximum regional difficulty, despite taking only 50 hours to reach a maximum as I'm constantly moving around and exploring new areas (any chunk that is loaded, not just with players, increases in inhabited time from what I've seen; typical values range from 10-25 hours by the time I've explored every cave in the area).
Another thing to note is that armor tiers below diamond are more powerful on mobs; I changed armor to have 3.5% damage reduction per armor point, so player armor tops out at 70% damage reduction (50% worse than vanilla's 80%, as you get 30 / 20 = 1.5x the damage), with lower tiers being rescaled to closely match their vanilla numbers, thus iron armor gives 17 armor points instead of 15 (59.5% vs 60% damage reduction), this also means the armor I wear is, without enchantments, equivalent to full iron armor (vanilla would be 68% DR for 17 points). However, on mobs it gives 4% per point - so full iron armor gives 68% damage reduction and full leather gives 32% (up from 28% in vanilla or one extra armor point).
Also, this shows how much my amethyst items cost to repair - and how easy I find it to get XP; I spent 39 levels to repair my pickaxe when I had 60 levels - and immediately regained 9 levels after smelting 9 stacks of iron and some gold:
Also, here is a map of what I've explored underground so far; in contrast to the area where I made my mine there are a lot of caves to the north of my base (mesa biomes also have extra caves, and iron ore, above sea level to take advantage of the terrain):
I've still found more diamonds and amethyst by branch-mining than by exploring all of those caves. I've also not found an abandoned mineshaft yet, even though they are equally as common everywhere (random variation aside), unlike vanilla, which makes them rarer within 1,280 blocks of the origin, down to none at 0, 0; this is likely because of the number of caves in the area as they don't generate if there are too many caves in the surrounding area, which reduces their overall frequency by about half (vanilla 1.6.4 averages one every 100 chunks, which is very common when you consider that they can cover up to a 10x10 (100) chunk area, the frequency in my mod is closer to one every 200 chunks, a bit more common than the 1.7 frequency of one every 250 chunks, they also have a minimum distance between structures, as with villages and temples, thus two are unlikely to intersect).
Is that global difficulty something which was added in TMCWv3?
And I know you've posted it somewhere before, but what is the application you use to make maps like these in the spoiler?
I used Unmined to make that map, along with the underground map (I used a slightly older version that what they have as the latest); for maps like the one of caves I've explored in my last post I used MCMap (I modified it a bit so the area it maps around torches is smaller and more realistic; this is also why I removed torches from mineshafts and strongholds).
As for the difficulty thing, I also added that in the previous version, as well as in the "special" version I made for my first world (mainly different in how biomes are placed, with a chance to replace a vanilla biome so the underlying biome generation doesn't change), although I hadn't actually played with it in effect yet (in that case it is obviously maxed out, I have it ramp up over 100 hours instead of 50 to offset to fact it increases anywhere; in my first world only a small area around my main base is otherwise at maximum regional difficulty).
I found an impressively deep cave, nearly straight down for 70+ blocks (the ceiling at the top is y=80); the lower half is also filled with an interesting cobblestone formation caused by lava and water mixing:
I also found what appears to be a very large ravine, although I haven't explored it yet; I've now gone far enough from the origin (a 512 block circular radius) that I can find more interesting things; for example, I found this cave in a test world, the largest surface opening I've ever seen:
Also, outside of a 724 block radius cave systems similar to a very large cave system in my first world rarely generate at the rate of one per 10,000 chunks (that seems rare but I've explored an area over three times bigger in that world, exploring about 100 chunks per play session); of course, many people won't find one unless they explore as I do; the extremely large single caves shown above (not all that large and mostly entirely underground), generate once every 2,430 chunks with a smaller (on average) variant generating once every 150 chunks (together about 1.5% of caves); 1 in 8 ravines have a larger size variation with 1 in 50 ravines (included in the 1 in 8 chance) having an additional size increase, or one in 400 and 2,500 chunks respectively.
I previously mentioned that I'd found what appeared to be a very large ravine - and that was right; I also found an abandoned mineshaft, the first one I've found, near the top of the ravine:
These were taken from the ends of the ravine, which is longer than suggested because it has multiple bends:
Also, I found this in the abandoned mineshaft - quite deadly if you aren't careful (I got poisoned twice); and no, I did not keep it, I just mined it:
This is why I don't need to make rails; all of this came from one mineshaft, including the rails I placed on the floor to mark the chest contents:
While that is pretty large by vanilla standards it is far from the biggest they can get - up to 336 blocks long, 33 blocks wide, and from bedrock to the surface (max depth around 72 blocks). Also, the size of abandoned mineshafts also has more variation than vanilla; vanilla sets a maximum of 8 "sections" from the starting room while I vary this from 5-11 sections, averaging 8 with values near 8 being most common (5 + nextInt(4) + nextInt(4); plus a 50% chance of subtracting 1 if the size is greater than 8; so a size of 11 is half as likely as 5; they are also limited to 7 sections within 512 blocks of the origin), and the maximum span from the center is 112 blocks, up from 80 blocks (actual span dependent on the number of sections and branches).
You added witch spawners to your mod? Dare I ask are creepers a possibility also? I'm not big on modding however I must say your mod appeals to me in several ways.
The last time I played was quite eventful - I found the rarest biome in the game, possibly rarer than Mushroom Islands, and the rarest land-based biome - plus a huge cave - and the first wild wolf I've seen in nearly two years.
First of all, the new biome, the fifteenth one I've found so far:
This biome is unique in that there is no water at all to be found in it, except for any rivers (or chunks containing river biomes) that pass through, not even underground water lakes or springs, and magma cubes spawn similarly to slimes (in any light level and at any altitude). There are also extra ores, with the 1.8 stones and iron being found above sea level and rarer ores being about 50% more common with a 50% wider range, plus emerald ore, in both single blocks and veins the same size as diamond. There is also a lot of lava - the underground is almost solid lava lakes when viewed in a mapping utility like Unmined, they are also more frequent on the surface, especially on top of the highest mountains (more common with increasing elevation).
Also, next to it is a mixed forest biome, containing small oak, spruce, birch, and small jungle trees:
All of that has been found within a relatively short distance from spawn (note that I found a couple other biomes when I found a stronghold, not shown here):
I also found an enormous cave, far exceeding anything that you'll ever find in vanilla:
The cave is also intersected by a couple ravines, not fully explored yet, one of which exposes the third abandoned mineshaft I've found so far:
I also found and tamed a wolf, which I only found because I disabled their 2 minute despawn timer, which otherwise means I'll never find them before they despawn; this appears to have been changed in 1.6 because I remember finding wolves in my first world back in 1.5.1/2 after I'd already been in the area for a while, and unlike ocelots, which have the same 2 minute depawn timer, they never respawn unless all passive mobs in the area and spawn chunks are killed (ocelots spawn with hostile mobs and use the hostile mob cap, which also means they run rampant during the day after I've explored all the caves under a jungle biome):
Note that I did reduce their spawn rate in most forest/taiga biomes, except mega taigas, partly offsetting their never despawning (though there is no real reason for them to be rare, they are really only useful as pets, not as defense). I also saw two while I was returning home, although only found one when I came back.
Here is a cave map of the areas I've explored so far; the giant cave can be seen in the lower right corner (only the floor is rendered):
The volcanic wasteland looks neat, and that giant cave/ravine system is just crying for some sort of build. I'm not sure it's really your style, but I could imagine some sort of scaffolding/catwalk system like they have for tourists in real caves. Add some cool lighting and charge $10 admission! :-)
He added creeper spawners in stronghold for his mod, if I'm right.
You can also find more than just those, as this code from my dungeon class shows - note that I also change the spawning delays, so that skeletons dungeons are particularly fun (good armor and weapons or digging under the spawner recommended):
(abandoned mineshafts use the same parameters as shown for cave spiders; cave spiders also naturally spawn at a rate similar to Endermen)
Desert temples also have zombie and skeleton spawners, often both; I also replaced the chests with trapped chests instead of using a pressure plate, making the trap less obvious, there are also four extra TNT under the chests for that much of a bigger explosion (of course, once you know it is there it is just as easy to bypass).
Also, spawners take twice as long to mine and are resistant to explosions, including TNT - so no dropping TNT on a spawner to blow it up; that said, creeper dungeons aren't really that hard to conquer without them exploding if you are careful - but you certainly don't want to just run into a dungeon without knowing what may be in it!
In addition, I saw this one night - it just appears to be a zombie, right? Look more closely:
Yes - giants, though I nerfed their damage to 5 hearts (1/5 of their vanilla damage of 25 hearts, deadlier than creepers, especially considering that creepers don't usually deal their point-blank damage). On the other hand, if one sets you on fire you burn for a lot longer than a zombie; like zombies, they are also considered as "undead" and burn in the sun (extra damage added per fire tick so they burn up about as fast as zombies) and are affected by Smite. They also drop 20 XP instead of 5; they spawn more rarely than any other mob and only above sea level (though they could certainly spawn in some of the larger caves and ravines).
Also, I thought to point out that what the Wiki says about their spawning is incorrect; "Giants do not spawn naturally, as they require a light level greater than 11 and less than 8" - actually, that is mainly because they aren't on the list of mobs to spawn, which looks like this, including the new mobs I added; the numbers given for witches is the same as in 1.7; unlike 1.7, I also adjusted the chance of ocelots (not shown) up by a factor of 10 (previously, most hostile mobs had a weight of 10 (1 for Endermen), but the addition of witches (5% relative to other mobs, which would require 0.5) required scaling this up as fractions can't be accommodated):
(giants are also rarer than indicates since I set it so they only have one spawn attempt per chunk, compared to 12 for most mobs; despite witches supposedly having a maximum group size of 1 I've seen 2-3 together before. Also, in 1.8 giants are basically useless as they don't have AI, although it should be easy to mod in from looking at how other mobs do it)
I also added something silly - a cave spider jockey, which I've seen before although not yet in this world (they have a 1/30 chance per cave spider):
I haven't posted for a while since I hadn't come across anything of particular interest.
This is something a bit different - this will likely get multiple replies saying that I an completely insane (I've even gotten some PMs where they described my caving as that already):
This is just legendary, far exceeding anything I've ever done in one play session; in fact, the amount of coal alone exceeds what I typically mine - then add 20 stacks of iron and all the other stuff. Surprisingly, I didn't kill so many mobs, compared to what I've killed in previous record play sessions, such as one I described here:
Here is a before and after comparison of what I've explored so far and a full size map; I traveled over 500 blocks underground from where I started, though multiple ravines, cave systems (including a very large one, the sort that had people complaining about caves prior to 1.7), and abandoned mineshafts:
Also, considering that I started out with a full stack of logs and used 59 of them to make torches and each log can make 32 torches that means I made 1,888 torches today (plus sticks from witches, which I pick up and use if they drop them, none today though). Despite that, I only used about one eighth of the coal I mined to make torches (1,888 torches = 472 coal); smelting the iron and gold I mined (not all was smelted) would use about another 176 coal for a total of 648 coal, or a bit over a sixth of the coal I mined.
As seen here I've already mined a staggering amount of ore (by most standards) in the short time I've been playing this world (excluding the first weeks); despite this, I've only mined 23 more amethyst ore (27 from branch-mining), or less than one per thousand coal ore mined (around 1,000 was mined when branch-mining, by comparison I've tripled the number of diamonds mined, from 85 to 263, which is still less than one per 100 coal mined while caving). Note that all of the blocks mined with the amethyst pickaxe have been from caving; I only used diamond pickaxes for other mining so this separates the two; at this point the number of non-caving blocks mined is still a significant fraction of the total:
I also found one of those fabled creeper dungeons:
I haven't posted for a while since I hadn't come across anything of particular interest.
This is something a bit different - this will likely get multiple replies saying that I an completely insane (I've even gotten some PMs where they described my caving as that already):
This is just legendary, far exceeding anything I've ever done in one play session; in fact, the amount of coal alone exceeds what I typically mine - then add 20 stacks of iron and all the other stuff. Surprisingly, I didn't kill so many mobs, compared to what I've killed in previous record play sessions, such as one I described here:
Here is a before and after comparison of what I've explored so far and a full size map; I traveled over 500 blocks underground from where I started, though multiple ravines, cave systems (including a very large one, the sort that had people complaining about caves prior to 1.7), and abandoned mineshafts:
Also, considering that I started out with a full stack of logs and used 59 of them to make torches and each log can make 32 torches that means I made 1,888 torches today (plus sticks from witches, which I pick up and use if they drop them, none today though). Despite that, I only used about one eighth of the coal I mined to make torches (1,888 torches = 472 coal); smelting the iron and gold I mined (not all was smelted) would use about another 176 coal for a total of 648 coal, or a bit over a sixth of the coal I mined.
As seen here I've already mined a staggering amount of ore (by most standards) in the short time I've been playing this world (excluding the first weeks); despite this, I've only mined 23 more amethyst ore (27 from branch-mining), or less than one per thousand coal ore mined (around 1,000 was mined when branch-mining, by comparison I've tripled the number of diamonds mined, from 85 to 263, which is still less than one per 100 coal mined while caving). Note that all of the blocks mined with the amethyst pickaxe have been from caving; I only used diamond pickaxes for other mining so this separates the two; at this point the number of non-caving blocks mined is still a significant fraction of the total:
I also found one of those fabled creeper dungeons:
What mod is the amethyst one?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world — "No, you move
As stated in the OP, it is from my own mod, TheMasterCaver's World, essentially my own "update" to the game, instead of playing on 1.7-1.8 (it includes many features and biomes added in 1.7-1.8, plus my own).
I found another giant cave - by far the largest one yet; I decided to take some screenshots while I was lighting it up instead of just after the fact:
The first look I had of the cave, after killing a horde of mobs (just some of many, there must have been 50 or more mobs in the cave, including more spawning even as I lit it up; mind that on my computer unlit areas appear almost completely dark (as mentioned in this thread) even with brightness set to bright, so the full size of the cave only becomes apparent after I've started lighting it up):
Here you can see three ravines that intersected the cave, which helps show how big it is, the ceiling of the cave is higher than any of the (normal sized) ravines. There's also a slime chunk to the right, based on the slimes that were spawning there:
After fully lighting it up and mining most of the ores (including 3 amethyst) and converting the lava lake into obsidian (not absolutely necessary as I can just go around it but I do it out of habit and safety):
Also, this is what I'd gotten by the end, only some from the cave (I once counted over 300 ores from a similar cave in another world); this includes the most diamonds I've found in one day so far, including a few from the giant cave (one one vein exposed despite the size):
It is also interesting to compare this to what I mined the other day; for example, note the relative amounts of iron and coal; given the amounts I mine and the fact that they generate everywhere underground (below sea level, representing nearly all caves) I'd expect that there wouldn't be such a large variation (2.91:1 last time vs 2.46:1 this time; I've averaged about 2.7:1 overall so far, this ratio is also considerably higher than the ratio they generate in, around 1.67:1, likely because coal veins are bigger and more likely to intersect a cave).
In addition, this show how much it costs to repair my sword, which is only repairable thanks to an increased anvil cost limit of 49 levels (only for amethyst items, still 39 otherwise); by comparison, the equivalent diamond sword only costs 35 levels for two diamonds (780 durability; one amethyst restores 1171, which is more durability per repair but costs more XP per durability point, not that it matters since I can even repair three pieces of armor in sequence and quickly catch up on my pickaxe after a couple repairs, not that I need to repair just because the durability falls below 75%, similar logic enabled me to easily use a maxed-out Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III diamond pickaxe for all mining; one unit is still equivalent to a new tool thanks to Unbreaking and is easier to maintain than having to wear it out to zero durability to maximize repair efficiency):
Note also the helmets in my inventory, dropped by the many mobs infesting the cave; I also got chainmail boots with Feather Falling III, which I put on in place of my amethyst FF IV boots (I normally only wear helmets since I don't wear one otherwise). In fact, I've been getting so many helmets from mob drops that I've been able to wear them continuously, thanks to my changes to regional difficulty that means it maxes out regardless of how long the chunks I'm in have been loaded for (I also got a gold helmet with Projectile Protection IV and Respiration III, which I might have saved if I hadn't already enchanted one to get Respiration III, long before the difficulty maxed out, which took 100 hours, a bit more than 300 in-game days, accounting for sleeping, which doesn't advance the total time played).
Also, I got an interesting trophy from a zombie:
That's because instead of just iron swords (1/3 chance) and iron shovels (2/3 chance) I gave zombies a 25% chance of each type of tool/weapon, with a 80% chance of iron, 16% chance of diamond, and a 4% chance of amethyst, this gives them more variety and a slightly higher average damage; I also modified the chances of weapons from a measly 1% (on Normal difficulty; yes, I'm getting all of this highly enchanted gear on Normal, which might as well be Hard with less damage, particularly creepers; for example, skeleton arrows do 1-4 damage on Normal and 1-5 on Hard, so barely any difference, but creepers do 50% more, deadly in even full diamond armor due to the armor changes I made) to 4% (Easy was also increased to 2%, also from 1% in vanilla; Hard is 6%, up from 5% in vanilla).
It is possible to farm diamond and amethyst tools because of this but the chance of getting a particular tool is very low; 16% (4%) of 4% of zombies, a 8.5% drop chance, and four different tools is 7,353 zombies killed per tool dropped (29,412 for an amethyst tool, which I believe will never be enchanted since I made them only enchantable with books; divide these numbers by four for any type of tool). I'm just saving them as trophies, any amethyst items I'll use for repairing, if their durability allows (impossible to use new items to repair even unenchanted items, not that you'd want to do that on an anvil).
Here's an updated explored caves map; the giant cave is to the right in the middle, easily identifiable from the obsidian sea:
Also, I've found a way into the volcanic wasteland biome I found earlier; I've never actually explored caves in one yet, I did find one in another world but I didn't find any caves leading into it.
As mentioned before, I went down my mine and explored the rest of the cave system I;d found, as well as part of another an d various side branches, including a ravine; I also found a cave that lead to the surface a distance away from my base so it wasn't entirely underground with no connection to the surface (there are also some exposed caves around/near where I built my base, which I filled in without exploring them other than to see if they lead anywhere):
Also, here is the big cave I mentioned in the OP, after I explored it and the surrounding caves - pretty large, about 30x40 blocks; in the second screenshot you can see where I'd diverted the staircase I dug down to my mine near the middle (cobblestone):
Also, I saw my first slime, which spawned in the cave, just thought this was worth noting since I'd already spent a considerable amount of time in the world and hadn't seen one yet:
The only vein of amethyst ore I found, which was actually a bit of a lucky find; I found it after mining a gold vein, which exposed a cave with no connection to anything else, and also found it before finding any diamond or redstone, which generate in the same layers:
5 amethyst is still a lot, considering that each one could restore 4,684 more uses to my pickaxe, or a total of 23,420 blocks mined, 5-6 times more than I mine in a typical play session. I also collected a stack of bones for bonemeal so I can regrow tall grass in the area I'd cleared around my base (some people don't like tall grass but I think it makes it look better), but otherwise I don't collect such mob drops.
This is what I had by the time I was done - that's more ore altogether than I got from my mine, although far more iron and coal compared to other ores; most of the caves in this area were too high, mostly just the big cave mentioned above:
Also, here is a look at the area I've explored:
The cave extending off to the lower-left likely leads to another cave system, or at least a cluster of several caves (I stop when I come to a multiple intersection, particularly after going down a cave with no intersections, as that likely means there is a new cave system). Also, over the right end of the mine is another ravine (the one that I found can be seen as a set of parallel lines going left-right near the center of the upper cave mass), still unexplored; the bottom is rendered due to having torches underneath (I found it after mining into it and coming up to get over lava; I ended up mining through the lava instead when I saw it was a ravine and not an easily blocked off cave).
Also, I was wondering what the seed I used looked like in vanilla so I filled in a level 3 map (1024x1024, plus a bit off the edges); there is very little in common aside from landmasses and the position of rivers and biome boundaries so this says nothing about what my world is like (in this case spawn is in a jungle and the area where I spawned is extreme hills, about 400 blocks to the west; this is because the game looks for certain "spawn biomes"; plains, forest, jungle, taiga and their hills variants; this is also still true as of 1.8, having never been updated to account for new biomes; for similar reasons, the locations of strongholds is also different):
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I made a pretty rare discovery - 5 ravines intersecting each other - with a sixth ravine a short distance away:
The first intersection, near the top of the first ravine:
Second ravine:
Second intersection, at the very end of the second ravine:
Third ravine:
Third intersection, about halfway through the third and fourth ravines:
Fourth ravine:
You guessed it - yet another intersection to a fifth ravine, at the very end of the fourth ravine:
The fifth ravine:
What could be on the other end of this cave (located in the fifth ravine)?
You guessed it - yet another ravine:
Five intersecting ravines, even (almost) six, isn't a record though; 8 were found before and there could certainly be even more with an average of one ravine every 50 chunks (in any version, the only difference before/after 1.7 is the direction they go in from their starting points; even my mod, aside from larger ravines (all of these were normal size) only changes this as well, with ravines generated in two parts from the starting point (in the middle of the length instead of at one end), enabling me to use a smaller radius of chunks; vanilla 1.6.4 has six ravines in the general area though most don't intersect).
Also, I discovered a new biome; a mesa, just to the north of the plains biome I spawned in (there's a surface cave at -280, 83 which indirectly leads to the first ravine mentioned here).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Are amethyst tools much more efficient than diamond? Also, what is the chance of finding amethyst- is it even rarer than diamonds?
I've seen three intersecting ravines before, but I have a guilty admission- I don't really like them. I mean, yes, they definitely look cool, but I find them to be a bit laborious to light up and make completely secure (I hate having things fall on me from 1 block wide ledges). If the route of one of my subway lines intersects one I typically enclose the 3x3 tunnel with glass as it passes from one ravine wall to the other, trying to preserve natural water or lava flows as much as possible. Otherwise I explore them as much as is immediately convenient, then go on to something else. I've seen dozens and dozens of them while on survey-runs on the surface and hardly ever drop down to investigate further.
Different strokes for different folks, I suppose!
cheers,
tbg
They are actually the same, except for greater durability; as I mentioned here, it is mainly to have something different, though it was based on a mod I used for a while that added items much better than diamond (damage, speed, protection) which I thought was a bit too OP so I edited it (before I figured out how to code my own mod).
As for rarity, this is pretty self-explanatory; when caving it is nearly a thousand times rarer than coal (ignoring the distribution of caves, which are more common deeper down, thus give a bias towards deeper ores; on the other hand, I find more coal than expected, at least when compared to iron, likely because the veins are bigger and more likely to be partly exposed) - yet I still find just enough even without using Fortune (though I did get Fortune to mine what I found by branch-mining; it is about a third as common as diamond over the lowest two layers; I actually found more amethyst than lapis (ore, lapis still gave many more drops) in my branch-mine, which gave me 27 amethyst and 85 diamond ore):
This also fits with what I've found recently; the last few times I played I found a total of just 6 amethyst ore; a vein of 5 one day, a single ore the second day, and none the last time; by comparison, I found about 40 diamonds. I've only used two to repair my pickaxe so far though with my other gear still well away from needing repair (getting just below 75% durability; it is impossible to repair any enchanted item with more than one unit (25% at a time), thus it is rather impractical to put only Unbreaking on an item, which also already costs 31 levels to repair; my Efficiency V, Unbreaking III pickaxe costs 39 levels, considerably more expensive than the same diamond pickaxe which can be fully repaired for 33 levels, restoring 4/3 more uses, although I still get far more XP than I need, reaching 50+ levels; with a diamond pickaxe I can get over 60 levels).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I mentioned that I'd checked out the ravines in vanilla 1.6.4 to see what they were like and also mentioned that 1.7 and later have the same ravines, but in different configurations; there actually is a triple ravine present in 1.7-1.8, with three separate ravines nearby, though you have to use the Customized world type to get land where they are located (you spawn on a treeless island in the middle of an ocean; I set the biome to plains but any other land-based biome will work); one of the ravines is located at -325, 36, 85 (as mentioned in the OP, the seed is -8547083745248820158):
Also, here is a comparison of the ravines (in 1.7+) to the ones I found, with the corresponding ravines connected together (as noted earlier, in my mod ravines start in the middle instead of at one end; they don't perfectly match since in vanilla a random offset of 0-15 is added, while I just start them in the middle of a chunk since the offset is unnoticeable and this gives me half a chunk of "headroom"):
Notice that there is another ravine further south, which is less apparent in the 1.7+ map since it extends northwards. Also not apparent when I checked out the ravines in 1.7+ is that there is an eighth ravine off to the left side, west of the triple ravine (the one that doesn't match is the one further to the northeast on the left side, which corresponds to a ravine I found that is off the map of my world).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
Compared to the experience in 1.7-1.8, it is amazing how many new biomes I've been finding within such a small distance from spawn; I found two more since the last time:
Here is a map of the areas I've explored so far, not including my journey to the stronghold, which I made a separate map for since I only want to map the areas I've explored while caving on this one; my base is just to the north of the crosshair:
Also, the effect of my "regional" to "global" difficulty revamp is becoming very apparent, with mobs with armor and enchantments becoming very common, and I still have a while to go before it reaches its maximum, which takes 100 hours or a bit over 4 days of gameplay, 300 in-game days, while I'm only at about 2/3 of that. This includes a zombie in partial enchanted diamond armor:
If you think skeletons are annoying, wait until they start shooting you with Punch and Flame bows, which I experienced several times.
There is also no escape from this since it is based on the total world time; if I hadn't done this I'd rarely see even half the maximum regional difficulty, despite taking only 50 hours to reach a maximum as I'm constantly moving around and exploring new areas (any chunk that is loaded, not just with players, increases in inhabited time from what I've seen; typical values range from 10-25 hours by the time I've explored every cave in the area).
Another thing to note is that armor tiers below diamond are more powerful on mobs; I changed armor to have 3.5% damage reduction per armor point, so player armor tops out at 70% damage reduction (50% worse than vanilla's 80%, as you get 30 / 20 = 1.5x the damage), with lower tiers being rescaled to closely match their vanilla numbers, thus iron armor gives 17 armor points instead of 15 (59.5% vs 60% damage reduction), this also means the armor I wear is, without enchantments, equivalent to full iron armor (vanilla would be 68% DR for 17 points). However, on mobs it gives 4% per point - so full iron armor gives 68% damage reduction and full leather gives 32% (up from 28% in vanilla or one extra armor point).
Also, this shows how much my amethyst items cost to repair - and how easy I find it to get XP; I spent 39 levels to repair my pickaxe when I had 60 levels - and immediately regained 9 levels after smelting 9 stacks of iron and some gold:
Also, here is a map of what I've explored underground so far; in contrast to the area where I made my mine there are a lot of caves to the north of my base (mesa biomes also have extra caves, and iron ore, above sea level to take advantage of the terrain):
I've still found more diamonds and amethyst by branch-mining than by exploring all of those caves. I've also not found an abandoned mineshaft yet, even though they are equally as common everywhere (random variation aside), unlike vanilla, which makes them rarer within 1,280 blocks of the origin, down to none at 0, 0; this is likely because of the number of caves in the area as they don't generate if there are too many caves in the surrounding area, which reduces their overall frequency by about half (vanilla 1.6.4 averages one every 100 chunks, which is very common when you consider that they can cover up to a 10x10 (100) chunk area, the frequency in my mod is closer to one every 200 chunks, a bit more common than the 1.7 frequency of one every 250 chunks, they also have a minimum distance between structures, as with villages and temples, thus two are unlikely to intersect).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I do enjoy reading your thread, makes me want to mine, mine and mine!
I write short tales for my Minecraft Journal, Teds Tales!
I used Unmined to make that map, along with the underground map (I used a slightly older version that what they have as the latest); for maps like the one of caves I've explored in my last post I used MCMap (I modified it a bit so the area it maps around torches is smaller and more realistic; this is also why I removed torches from mineshafts and strongholds).
As for the difficulty thing, I also added that in the previous version, as well as in the "special" version I made for my first world (mainly different in how biomes are placed, with a chance to replace a vanilla biome so the underlying biome generation doesn't change), although I hadn't actually played with it in effect yet (in that case it is obviously maxed out, I have it ramp up over 100 hours instead of 50 to offset to fact it increases anywhere; in my first world only a small area around my main base is otherwise at maximum regional difficulty).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I found an impressively deep cave, nearly straight down for 70+ blocks (the ceiling at the top is y=80); the lower half is also filled with an interesting cobblestone formation caused by lava and water mixing:
I also found what appears to be a very large ravine, although I haven't explored it yet; I've now gone far enough from the origin (a 512 block circular radius) that I can find more interesting things; for example, I found this cave in a test world, the largest surface opening I've ever seen:
Also, outside of a 724 block radius cave systems similar to a very large cave system in my first world rarely generate at the rate of one per 10,000 chunks (that seems rare but I've explored an area over three times bigger in that world, exploring about 100 chunks per play session); of course, many people won't find one unless they explore as I do; the extremely large single caves shown above (not all that large and mostly entirely underground), generate once every 2,430 chunks with a smaller (on average) variant generating once every 150 chunks (together about 1.5% of caves); 1 in 8 ravines have a larger size variation with 1 in 50 ravines (included in the 1 in 8 chance) having an additional size increase, or one in 400 and 2,500 chunks respectively.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I previously mentioned that I'd found what appeared to be a very large ravine - and that was right; I also found an abandoned mineshaft, the first one I've found, near the top of the ravine:
These were taken from the ends of the ravine, which is longer than suggested because it has multiple bends:
Also, I found this in the abandoned mineshaft - quite deadly if you aren't careful (I got poisoned twice); and no, I did not keep it, I just mined it:
This is why I don't need to make rails; all of this came from one mineshaft, including the rails I placed on the floor to mark the chest contents:
While that is pretty large by vanilla standards it is far from the biggest they can get - up to 336 blocks long, 33 blocks wide, and from bedrock to the surface (max depth around 72 blocks). Also, the size of abandoned mineshafts also has more variation than vanilla; vanilla sets a maximum of 8 "sections" from the starting room while I vary this from 5-11 sections, averaging 8 with values near 8 being most common (5 + nextInt(4) + nextInt(4); plus a 50% chance of subtracting 1 if the size is greater than 8; so a size of 11 is half as likely as 5; they are also limited to 7 sections within 512 blocks of the origin), and the maximum span from the center is 112 blocks, up from 80 blocks (actual span dependent on the number of sections and branches).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
You added witch spawners to your mod? Dare I ask are creepers a possibility also? I'm not big on modding however I must say your mod appeals to me in several ways.
by c0yote
I tried it with terrible results. I gave my wife my glasses for a second, a creeper showed up and now my wife is pregnant.
Stupid 3D..
The last time I played was quite eventful - I found the rarest biome in the game, possibly rarer than Mushroom Islands, and the rarest land-based biome - plus a huge cave - and the first wild wolf I've seen in nearly two years.
First of all, the new biome, the fifteenth one I've found so far:
This biome is unique in that there is no water at all to be found in it, except for any rivers (or chunks containing river biomes) that pass through, not even underground water lakes or springs, and magma cubes spawn similarly to slimes (in any light level and at any altitude). There are also extra ores, with the 1.8 stones and iron being found above sea level and rarer ores being about 50% more common with a 50% wider range, plus emerald ore, in both single blocks and veins the same size as diamond. There is also a lot of lava - the underground is almost solid lava lakes when viewed in a mapping utility like Unmined, they are also more frequent on the surface, especially on top of the highest mountains (more common with increasing elevation).
Also, next to it is a mixed forest biome, containing small oak, spruce, birch, and small jungle trees:
All of that has been found within a relatively short distance from spawn (note that I found a couple other biomes when I found a stronghold, not shown here):
I also found an enormous cave, far exceeding anything that you'll ever find in vanilla:
The cave is also intersected by a couple ravines, not fully explored yet, one of which exposes the third abandoned mineshaft I've found so far:
I also found and tamed a wolf, which I only found because I disabled their 2 minute despawn timer, which otherwise means I'll never find them before they despawn; this appears to have been changed in 1.6 because I remember finding wolves in my first world back in 1.5.1/2 after I'd already been in the area for a while, and unlike ocelots, which have the same 2 minute depawn timer, they never respawn unless all passive mobs in the area and spawn chunks are killed (ocelots spawn with hostile mobs and use the hostile mob cap, which also means they run rampant during the day after I've explored all the caves under a jungle biome):
Note that I did reduce their spawn rate in most forest/taiga biomes, except mega taigas, partly offsetting their never despawning (though there is no real reason for them to be rare, they are really only useful as pets, not as defense). I also saw two while I was returning home, although only found one when I came back.
Here is a cave map of the areas I've explored so far; the giant cave can be seen in the lower right corner (only the floor is rendered):
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
The volcanic wasteland looks neat, and that giant cave/ravine system is just crying for some sort of build. I'm not sure it's really your style, but I could imagine some sort of scaffolding/catwalk system like they have for tourists in real caves. Add some cool lighting and charge $10 admission! :-)
cheers,
tbg
You can also find more than just those, as this code from my dungeon class shows - note that I also change the spawning delays, so that skeletons dungeons are particularly fun (good armor and weapons or digging under the spawner recommended):
By comparison, this is for stronghold spawners, found under chests found in the corridors:
Desert temples also have zombie and skeleton spawners, often both; I also replaced the chests with trapped chests instead of using a pressure plate, making the trap less obvious, there are also four extra TNT under the chests for that much of a bigger explosion (of course, once you know it is there it is just as easy to bypass).
Also, spawners take twice as long to mine and are resistant to explosions, including TNT - so no dropping TNT on a spawner to blow it up; that said, creeper dungeons aren't really that hard to conquer without them exploding if you are careful - but you certainly don't want to just run into a dungeon without knowing what may be in it!
In addition, I saw this one night - it just appears to be a zombie, right? Look more closely:
Yes - giants, though I nerfed their damage to 5 hearts (1/5 of their vanilla damage of 25 hearts, deadlier than creepers, especially considering that creepers don't usually deal their point-blank damage). On the other hand, if one sets you on fire you burn for a lot longer than a zombie; like zombies, they are also considered as "undead" and burn in the sun (extra damage added per fire tick so they burn up about as fast as zombies) and are affected by Smite. They also drop 20 XP instead of 5; they spawn more rarely than any other mob and only above sea level (though they could certainly spawn in some of the larger caves and ravines).
Also, I thought to point out that what the Wiki says about their spawning is incorrect; "Giants do not spawn naturally, as they require a light level greater than 11 and less than 8" - actually, that is mainly because they aren't on the list of mobs to spawn, which looks like this, including the new mobs I added; the numbers given for witches is the same as in 1.7; unlike 1.7, I also adjusted the chance of ocelots (not shown) up by a factor of 10 (previously, most hostile mobs had a weight of 10 (1 for Endermen), but the addition of witches (5% relative to other mobs, which would require 0.5) required scaling this up as fractions can't be accommodated):
I also added something silly - a cave spider jockey, which I've seen before although not yet in this world (they have a 1/30 chance per cave spider):
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I haven't posted for a while since I hadn't come across anything of particular interest.
This is something a bit different - this will likely get multiple replies saying that I an completely insane (I've even gotten some PMs where they described my caving as that already):
This is just legendary, far exceeding anything I've ever done in one play session; in fact, the amount of coal alone exceeds what I typically mine - then add 20 stacks of iron and all the other stuff. Surprisingly, I didn't kill so many mobs, compared to what I've killed in previous record play sessions, such as one I described here:
Here is a before and after comparison of what I've explored so far and a full size map; I traveled over 500 blocks underground from where I started, though multiple ravines, cave systems (including a very large one, the sort that had people complaining about caves prior to 1.7), and abandoned mineshafts:
Also, considering that I started out with a full stack of logs and used 59 of them to make torches and each log can make 32 torches that means I made 1,888 torches today (plus sticks from witches, which I pick up and use if they drop them, none today though). Despite that, I only used about one eighth of the coal I mined to make torches (1,888 torches = 472 coal); smelting the iron and gold I mined (not all was smelted) would use about another 176 coal for a total of 648 coal, or a bit over a sixth of the coal I mined.
As seen here I've already mined a staggering amount of ore (by most standards) in the short time I've been playing this world (excluding the first weeks); despite this, I've only mined 23 more amethyst ore (27 from branch-mining), or less than one per thousand coal ore mined (around 1,000 was mined when branch-mining, by comparison I've tripled the number of diamonds mined, from 85 to 263, which is still less than one per 100 coal mined while caving). Note that all of the blocks mined with the amethyst pickaxe have been from caving; I only used diamond pickaxes for other mining so this separates the two; at this point the number of non-caving blocks mined is still a significant fraction of the total:
I also found one of those fabled creeper dungeons:
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
[deleted]
What mod is the amethyst one?
As stated in the OP, it is from my own mod, TheMasterCaver's World, essentially my own "update" to the game, instead of playing on 1.7-1.8 (it includes many features and biomes added in 1.7-1.8, plus my own).
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?
I found another giant cave - by far the largest one yet; I decided to take some screenshots while I was lighting it up instead of just after the fact:
Here you can see three ravines that intersected the cave, which helps show how big it is, the ceiling of the cave is higher than any of the (normal sized) ravines. There's also a slime chunk to the right, based on the slimes that were spawning there:
After fully lighting it up and mining most of the ores (including 3 amethyst) and converting the lava lake into obsidian (not absolutely necessary as I can just go around it but I do it out of habit and safety):
Also, this is what I'd gotten by the end, only some from the cave (I once counted over 300 ores from a similar cave in another world); this includes the most diamonds I've found in one day so far, including a few from the giant cave (one one vein exposed despite the size):
It is also interesting to compare this to what I mined the other day; for example, note the relative amounts of iron and coal; given the amounts I mine and the fact that they generate everywhere underground (below sea level, representing nearly all caves) I'd expect that there wouldn't be such a large variation (2.91:1 last time vs 2.46:1 this time; I've averaged about 2.7:1 overall so far, this ratio is also considerably higher than the ratio they generate in, around 1.67:1, likely because coal veins are bigger and more likely to intersect a cave).
In addition, this show how much it costs to repair my sword, which is only repairable thanks to an increased anvil cost limit of 49 levels (only for amethyst items, still 39 otherwise); by comparison, the equivalent diamond sword only costs 35 levels for two diamonds (780 durability; one amethyst restores 1171, which is more durability per repair but costs more XP per durability point, not that it matters since I can even repair three pieces of armor in sequence and quickly catch up on my pickaxe after a couple repairs, not that I need to repair just because the durability falls below 75%, similar logic enabled me to easily use a maxed-out Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III diamond pickaxe for all mining; one unit is still equivalent to a new tool thanks to Unbreaking and is easier to maintain than having to wear it out to zero durability to maximize repair efficiency):
Note also the helmets in my inventory, dropped by the many mobs infesting the cave; I also got chainmail boots with Feather Falling III, which I put on in place of my amethyst FF IV boots (I normally only wear helmets since I don't wear one otherwise). In fact, I've been getting so many helmets from mob drops that I've been able to wear them continuously, thanks to my changes to regional difficulty that means it maxes out regardless of how long the chunks I'm in have been loaded for (I also got a gold helmet with Projectile Protection IV and Respiration III, which I might have saved if I hadn't already enchanted one to get Respiration III, long before the difficulty maxed out, which took 100 hours, a bit more than 300 in-game days, accounting for sleeping, which doesn't advance the total time played).
Also, I got an interesting trophy from a zombie:
That's because instead of just iron swords (1/3 chance) and iron shovels (2/3 chance) I gave zombies a 25% chance of each type of tool/weapon, with a 80% chance of iron, 16% chance of diamond, and a 4% chance of amethyst, this gives them more variety and a slightly higher average damage; I also modified the chances of weapons from a measly 1% (on Normal difficulty; yes, I'm getting all of this highly enchanted gear on Normal, which might as well be Hard with less damage, particularly creepers; for example, skeleton arrows do 1-4 damage on Normal and 1-5 on Hard, so barely any difference, but creepers do 50% more, deadly in even full diamond armor due to the armor changes I made) to 4% (Easy was also increased to 2%, also from 1% in vanilla; Hard is 6%, up from 5% in vanilla).
It is possible to farm diamond and amethyst tools because of this but the chance of getting a particular tool is very low; 16% (4%) of 4% of zombies, a 8.5% drop chance, and four different tools is 7,353 zombies killed per tool dropped (29,412 for an amethyst tool, which I believe will never be enchanted since I made them only enchantable with books; divide these numbers by four for any type of tool). I'm just saving them as trophies, any amethyst items I'll use for repairing, if their durability allows (impossible to use new items to repair even unenchanted items, not that you'd want to do that on an anvil).
Here's an updated explored caves map; the giant cave is to the right in the middle, easily identifiable from the obsidian sea:
Also, I've found a way into the volcanic wasteland biome I found earlier; I've never actually explored caves in one yet, I did find one in another world but I didn't find any caves leading into it.
TheMasterCaver's First World - possibly the most caved-out world in Minecraft history - includes world download.
TheMasterCaver's World - my own version of Minecraft largely based on my views of how the game should have evolved since 1.6.4.
Why do I still play in 1.6.4?