I like branch mining at diamond level and above. There is a tutorial on the Wiki. If I settle near a mountain, I'll check out the mountain's cave system which usually leads into a large cave system underground.
I have gone down as far as possible (layer 10), and have done this for quite some time, without finding more than redstone, which I already have a chest of.
How long should I make the side-tunnels when strip mining?
I personaly prefer to find caves. But if I don't, I like to make little stairs going down until I hit around diamond level, them mine around there.
I like too use TNT, too. But that can be risky as you might blow up a good resource. You could use a mod that makes TNT have drops, but...-shrug-
I wander through cave after cave until I find things to mine. I don't really care for mining in certain ways because that ruins the fun for me. I like exploring caves to find my ores.
Dig down to y=13 and make a long corridor, with smaller mineshafts branching from it, spaced three blocks apart. If I find a stronghold, abandoned mineshaft, cave or a ravine I'll explore it, lighting it up as much as possible.
or get a few buckets of water, lots of ladders, make a 2x1 shaft to diamond/gold/redstone/lapis lazuli, make a long corridor (long meaning VERY long) and make 2x1 corridors branching off every 2 blocks
Usually, I dig a staircase mine 3 blocks wide until I hit an obstrucion, and dig tunnels off the side every 5-10 steps. It's a pretty good method: at higher levels I find plenty of and and in lower levels, I find massive cave systems leading to , , , lapis lazuli, redstone and dungeons.
My other method is just exploring the world, looking for abandoned mines and natural openings to cave systems. :ph34r.gif:
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Because you really didn't say anything about your goals with the mine I think this is the best reply we can come up with; Pick your own style :wink.gif:
I dig a 10x10 quary all the way down to bedrock
and put glass every 15 levels or so in a 10x10 patern thus filling in the hole
then i make a 2 by 1 hole just outside of the 10x10 hole so i can put a water break and a ladder going up
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So you wake up on a beach one day, and remember NOTHING. (Except your degree teachings in Engineering, Wilderness Survival, Metal work, Physics, Tech, Psychology, History, Dynamics, and Blocks.) You mine and build and survive for years and years.
I usually just dig a long tunnel and hope I hit another cavern.
I usually get lots of ore! When I run into lava I try to defeat it for three days, then if I can't I just turn around and head another direction.
I bought Minecraft Alpha on 7/13/10
(dances in pink armor)" -YouTube comment 2012
How long should I make the side-tunnels when strip mining?
I like too use TNT, too. But that can be risky as you might blow up a good resource. You could use a mod that makes TNT have drops, but...-shrug-
Step two : Place torch.
Step three: Mine everything I see unless it's coal because I'm to lazy until I forget to mine it.
or get a few buckets of water, lots of ladders, make a 2x1 shaft to diamond/gold/redstone/lapis lazuli, make a long corridor (long meaning VERY long) and make 2x1 corridors branching off every 2 blocks
(mine here)
(mine here)
(mine here) etc
My other method is just exploring the world, looking for abandoned mines and natural openings to cave systems. :ph34r.gif:
:Flint and Steel:
http://www.voxelwiki.com/minecraft/Elites_of_Minecraft:_The_Miner#MAJOR_SEGMENT:_MINES_AND_EFFICIENCY
Because you really didn't say anything about your goals with the mine I think this is the best reply we can come up with; Pick your own style :wink.gif:
and put glass every 15 levels or so in a 10x10 patern thus filling in the hole
then i make a 2 by 1 hole just outside of the 10x10 hole so i can put a water break and a ladder going up
So you wake up on a beach one day, and remember NOTHING. (Except your degree teachings in Engineering, Wilderness Survival, Metal work, Physics, Tech, Psychology, History, Dynamics, and Blocks.) You mine and build and survive for years and years.