Outside of building I now have only the objective of getting Wither skulls to summon the Wither. So I want to ask some opinions or first hand experience anyone might have on the best route for durable armour. So here's the facts ... I am at level 102. I have at least one stack of iron. I have enough books to get level 5 enchantments(edit: checking I have a 16 level when I put a sword in). I have 11 diamonds. I have an abundance of food and Healing II, with more ingredients to make more.
My quest is to obviously kill Wither skeletons in the Nether so I can get enough to summon the Wither. Where one of my Nether portals is transports me into a fortress in the Nether where I can repeatedly go in and obtain needed items in chests while hunting skeletons. So I am asking what opinions would be on getting the most durable armour. Diamond? Iron with enchantments? If so what are the best enchantments for durability? I want to keep my inventory as light as I can to obtain all I can in each trip to the Nether. Even on Normal, straight iron armour hasn't fared so well.
With your help I am trying to figure out whether I want to sacrifice my current level to enchantments. Or spend more time mining for diamonds.
A side note: Is there anything that can increase enemy drops? Like "Alucart status", Lapis Lazuli, or Ring of Arcana do in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
Looting enchantments increase the chance of wither heads.
Fire Resistance potions are ultra useful since blazes and ghasts are very common and Fire Resistance pretty much removes that threat.
Go for a Diamond sword with Looting 3 and Smite (4 I think?). Since they're skeletons, they'll take extra damage from the Smite effect, just ignore blazes and keep drinking fire resistance potions. If you attack quick enough, you shouldn't need to worry about taking damage from Wither Skeletons, however take a potion of healing or two, just in case.
Edit: As for armour, Iron will do if you're lacking in diamonds, just be careful of skeletons and wither skeletons. They'll pretty much be your only threat.
Firstly, I think you should rethink holding onto to XP like you obviously have been. You should enchant something whenever you reach Level 30. The levelling up scale is logarithmic - which means that it takes less XP to get from Level 29 to 30 than it does from Level 30 to 31 and far, far less than it takes to go from Level 101 to 102. So, by hanging onto XP like you have been, you're cheating yourself out of gaining more levels and getting more enchants available to you.
Obviously, the best armor is enchanted diamond armor, but iron will do in a pinch. Getting more diamonds doesn't have to be a big issue. First off, enchant an iron or diamond pickaxe shooting for Fortune (and then, to make it last, only use this pickaxe when you encounter diamonds, not for general digging). Then, using a regular unenchanted pickaxe, just dig down to Y12 and start tunneling (i.e. cutting a 1 wide 2 high tunnel in any direction). You can use stone ones for most of this if you don't have an iron golem farm yet; otherwise use iron. Take a water bucket with you to deal with any lava you encounter as you tunnel forward (it will be 99% of the time opening up at your feet), so the moment you spot any, just poor the water bucket on the stone right under your feet and it will flow forward and turn it to obsidian.
You will very likely encounter diamonds as you tunnel along. When you do, pour the water down and switch to the enchanted pickaxe. (Mining the diamonds with water poured right around them ensures that they will not burn up in lava if there happens to be lava under them or next to them.) I generally get 1/2 a stack of diamonds in very little time using this method (and it takes only 24 to make a full set of diamond armor). Also, you can keep your little tunnel completely free of mobs by lighting it well and, if necessary, blockading off the caves you encounter with the cobblestone you collect. You can also get lots of additional easy XP just by smelting all that cobblestone into stone. (I usually eventually expand and "pretty up" my tunnels into an underground railroad - allowing me fast access to distant points on my map.)
As mentioned above, fire resistance is a good potion to carry. The problem is that you have to get the ingredients for the potion in the nether in the first place (e.g. blaze rods, nether wart and magma cream), so you may want to focus on getting the enchanted armor first. The best armor enchant, IMO, is just straight Protection IV (if I can get it) and Thorns. Straight protection is like an "All Perils" sort of protection rather than just, say, Fire Protection and Thorns deals damage back to whatever hits you. Fire Protection is good in the nether and Projectile Protection is good against skeletons and wither skeletons (but as I said, straight Protection does provide some protection against both fire and projectiles and blasts, although not quite as much as the individual ones at the same levels).
Also, as mentioned above, a looting enchantment on a sword increases the numbers of drops from mobs, including increasing the chance of wither skeletons dropping wither heads.
That is a lot of information for me to consider. As regards my experience level, that is more than likely a mindset from playing RPG games. I only ever enchanted a set of armour and a sword to fight the Enderdragon, and from there never used it. The selection is always so random, and so one can't pinpoint what to get when you want something, rather than just enchant sword after sword until the one you want, has the traits you desire. So that well maybe another part of why I haven't tried much more. And I completely understand what you mean about the leveling up system, as it is similar to most all RPGs. It's that using up your experience, isn't taking away from your strength or defense. That's in your weapons and armour.
I did get to collecting more wool and leather last night and with one more bookshelf (17 presently) I should be close to level 30 enchantments. When I checked the table last I had a level 26 enchantment with putting a sword in it, though I didn't use it. I especially like the looting enchantments, as that would make things extremely easy. And thanks for the tip taking a water bucket. I hadn't ever thought of that. I just don't mine straight up or down to avoid death by lava.
I did some strip mining last night and have a few tunnels that I can return to and change directions to try and seek out diamonds. I will try the enchantments with a pickaxe and a sword and save those for the necessary situations.
Thank you both for your time.
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Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
Wither skeletons can't fit in a two high space so make yourself a little safe area where there are wither skeletons. Get the attention of a couple, lure them back to your safe spot and you can take them out without them being able to harm you. As long as you have a fire resistance potion in effect the only thing that will be able to hurt you is the odd regular skeleton so strong armor isn't all that important. Also, don't anger the pigmen.
That is a lot of information for me to consider. As regards my experience level, that is more than likely a mindset from playing RPG games. I only ever enchanted a set of armour and a sword to fight the Enderdragon, and from there never used it. The selection is always so random, and so one can't pinpoint what to get when you want something, rather than just enchant sword after sword until the one you want, has the traits you desire. So that well maybe another part of why I haven't tried much more. And I completely understand what you mean about the leveling up system, as it is similar to most all RPGs. It's that using up your experience, isn't taking away from your strength or defense. That's in your weapons and armour.
I did get to collecting more wool and leather last night and with one more bookshelf (17 presently) I should be close to level 30 enchantments. When I checked the table last I had a level 26 enchantment with putting a sword in it, though I didn't use it. I especially like the looting enchantments, as that would make things extremely easy. And thanks for the tip taking a water bucket. I hadn't ever thought of that. I just don't mine straight up or down to avoid death by lava.
I did some strip mining last night and have a few tunnels that I can return to and change directions to try and seek out diamonds. I will try the enchantments with a pickaxe and a sword and save those for the necessary situations.
Thank you both for your time.
A lot of people use the "exit without saving" approach when it comes to enchanting; that is, they'll save their game just before starting to enchant something and then if they don't get the enchant they want, they exit without saving and reload to try again with the same item and same XP. A less dubious approach is to use an enchantment calculator to inform you as to where the best odds are for getting the enchant you'd like on the item and material that you have to enchant. Sometimes lower levels actually yield the enchant you want more frequently than Level 30 does (although you may get it at a less powerful level). For example, you can get Fortune I on an iron pick with as few as 6 levels of XP and the highest probability for that is at Level 16 at 11.8%. You can get Fortune III on an iron pick with as few as 23 Levels, with the highest probability being at Level 30 at 10.1%. Now, yes, Fortune I is not as good as Fortune III... but for a measly 6 levels or even at 17 levels of XP, it's better than nothing and those Levels are easily made up by not allowing your XP to ever get much above 30. I even sometimes intentionally dump a level or two of XP on just giving my iron or stone swords and pickaxes a small boost. For example, with only 1 Level of XP, you have essentially a 100% of at least improving the performance of that sword by a little bit... e.g. a 56.3% chance of Sharpness I down to a 9.2% chance of Smith I... but it's better than no enchanted sword and really, it's just using the "extra" XP you now don't need to Level Up - ie. you'll get back up to Level 30 with less XP than it would take you to go from Level 30 to Level 31. (... and once you get an iron golem farm in place, iron is essentially an item that is in infinite supply.)
Here's a link to the enchantment calculator I usually use:
The water bucket, i find, is one of the most useful items in the game. Here's a link to a great video that shows lots of ways you can use a water bucket that you may not have thought of:
Finally, I don't really consider my version of tunneling and "strip mining" as the same thing. Making 1 tunnel across the entire map is certainly not the same as removing all the stone in a chunk to get at all the ores in that chunk. I know Minecraft people tend to call anything that is not caving "strip mining"; but in the mining ndustry, strip mining means essentially removing everything from the surface down (creating a large pit). Tunneling (shaft, adit and/or drift) are the more conventional forms of underground mining. What I'm suggesting is actually starting construction on an underground transportation corridor - and in doing that (at Y12), you'll find lots of diamonds.
Also, I just noticed your bookshelf count - you should be getting Level 30 enchantments offered with only 16 bookshelves. That you're at 17 and not getting them, it must mean that you haven't got them arranged just right. Check the Wiki to see what you need to correct about that.
A lot of people use the "exit without saving" approach when it comes to enchanting; that is, they'll save their game just before starting to enchant something and then if they don't get the enchant they want, they exit without saving and reload to try again with the same item and same XP. A less dubious approach is to use an enchantment calculator to inform you as you where the best odds are for getting the enchant you'd like on the item and material that you have to enchant. Sometimes lower levels actually yield the enchant you want more frequently than Level 30 does (although you may get it at a less powerful level). For example, you can get Fortune I on an iron pick with as few as 6 levels of XP and the highest probability for that is at Level 16 at 11.8%. You can get Fortune III on an iron pick with as few as 23 Levels, with the highest probability being at Level 30 at 10.1%. Now, yes, Fortune I is not as good as Fortune III... but for a measly 6 levels or even at 17 levels of XP, it's better than nothing and those Levels are easily made up by not allowing your XP to ever get much above 30. I even sometimes intentionally dump a level or two of XP on just giving my iron or stone swords and pickaxes a small boost. For example, with only 1 Level of XP, you have essentially a 100% of at least improving the performance of that sword by a little bit... e.g. a 56.3% chance of Sharpness I down to a 9.2% chance of Smith I... but it's better than no enchanted sword and really, it's just using the "extra" XP you now don't need to Level Up - ie. you'll get back up to Level 30 with less XP than it would take you to go from Level 30 to Level 31. (... and once you get an iron golem farm in place, iron is essentially an item that is in infinite supply.)
Here's a link to the enchantment calculator I usually use:
Another technique, I've used but didn't think to apply it to enchanting. Usually I've used quit with no save to keep my inventory and experience level when I die. And thanks for the link. I will check into that before I start trying enchantments.
The water bucket, i find, is one of the most useful items in the game. Here's a link to a great video that shows lots of ways you can use a water bucket that you may not have thought of:
I'll look at it too. I've probably only used a bucket to carry water for farming and lava for smelting fuel.
Finally, I don't really consider my version of tunneling and "strip mining" as the same thing. Making 1 tunnel across the entire map is certainly not the same as removing all the stone in a chunk to get at all the ores in that chunk. I know Minecraft people tend to call anything that is not caving "strip mining"; but in the mining ndustry, strip mining means essentially removing everything from the surface down (creating a large pit). Tunneling (shaft, adit and/or drift) are the more conventional forms of underground mining.
Yeah I am pretty much tunneling and using the term more often incorrectly. I have done a strip mine about three times when I have ran into a large amount of ores clustered closer together. But yeah tunneling is my number one form of mining.
Is there any truth to ores being clustered together? Like if you see coal, iron isn't too far away. Diamonds are usually by obsidian. I've read these claims elsewhere on the internet and wondered if there is any truth to them.
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Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
Yeah I am pretty much tunneling and using the term more often incorrectly. I have done a strip mine about three times when I have ran into a large amount of ores clustered closer together. But yeah tunneling is my number one form of mining.
Is there any truth to ores being clustered together? Like if you see coal, iron isn't too far away. Diamonds are usually by obsidian. I've read these claims elsewhere on the internet and wondered if there is any truth to them.
It's completely random. Ores of a single type will spawn in clumps up to about 10 of them but there is no real association between what different ores spawn near to each other except for the limitations they have about depth.
That is, iron will never be found above sea level, whereas coal might be. So, if the coal you're finding is above sea level, there is 0% probability that iron will be close to it. However, iron and coal are the only two ores found above Y32 (which is the highest layer where gold and emerald may be found) and both iron and coal are pretty common ores... so, above Y32, it probably does seem like the two generate together in veins... but that's really just an illusion.
Diamonds occur only below Y16. Since most lava lakes exist topping out at Y12 and they are pretty extensive throughout Y4 to Y12, then the odds are greater that diamonds will be found somewhat close to lava.
I wanted to thank you all for your help and advice. Thanks to it, last night, I got a iron pickaxe with Fortune II, Unbreaking III and Efficiency III. As well as an iron sword with Sharpness III and Looting III. So now I am off to hunt diamonds. I'm still at level 73 so I have plenty to enchant my armour once I get the diamonds to make it.
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Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
I wanted to thank you all for your help and advice. Thanks to it, last night, I got a iron pickaxe with Fortune II, Unbreaking III and Efficiency III. As well as an iron sword with Sharpness III and Looting III. So now I am off to hunt diamonds. I'm still at level 73 so I have plenty to enchant my armour once I get the diamonds to make it.
I'm going to put the XP "bleed" into a clearer light. It takes a total of 1,395 XP to go from Level 0 to Level 30. To get to Level 0 to Level 60 takes 8,670 XP. That's a difference of 7,275 XP (so that's what it takes to go from Level 30 to Level 60). This is enough to go from Level 0 to Level 30 again 5 more times. So, by hoarding XP over Level 30 to get Level 60, you're wasting 4 possible Level 30 enchantments. To go from Level 60 to Level 90 takes 15,375 XP... enough to get from Level 0 to 30 another 11 times... so at Level 90, you've literally wasted 14 possible Level 30 enchants. See now why I always enchant something whenever I hit Level 30? For the same XP he used to get to Level 102, I get 23.2 Level 30 enchants to the OP's 3.4.
Yes, in 1.8 the PC enchanting system got a major overhaul, so that's probably coming to the Xbox 360 in the next update... but keep in mind that XP will also likely be tougher to get after that update since, I believe, you won't be able to collect any for smelting items after that... and waiting probably means you'll be hoarding all that XP over Level 30 again. Personally, I wouldn't wait... I might try to be right at Level 30 though just before I update. Then again, maybe not, since it only takes 27 XP to go from Level 0 to Level 3... instead I might be enchanting all the time whenever I hit Level 3.
Note: XP amounts calculated using the formulas provided in the Wiki page on Experience.
Outside of building I now have only the objective of getting Wither skulls to summon the Wither. So I want to ask some opinions or first hand experience anyone might have on the best route for durable armour. So here's the facts ... I am at level 102. I have at least one stack of iron. I have enough books to get level 5 enchantments(edit: checking I have a 16 level when I put a sword in). I have 11 diamonds. I have an abundance of food and Healing II, with more ingredients to make more.
My quest is to obviously kill Wither skeletons in the Nether so I can get enough to summon the Wither. Where one of my Nether portals is transports me into a fortress in the Nether where I can repeatedly go in and obtain needed items in chests while hunting skeletons. So I am asking what opinions would be on getting the most durable armour. Diamond? Iron with enchantments? If so what are the best enchantments for durability? I want to keep my inventory as light as I can to obtain all I can in each trip to the Nether. Even on Normal, straight iron armour hasn't fared so well.
With your help I am trying to figure out whether I want to sacrifice my current level to enchantments. Or spend more time mining for diamonds.
A side note: Is there anything that can increase enemy drops? Like "Alucart status", Lapis Lazuli, or Ring of Arcana do in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
Thank you for your time and responses.
Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
Looting enchantments increase the chance of wither heads.
Fire Resistance potions are ultra useful since blazes and ghasts are very common and Fire Resistance pretty much removes that threat.
Go for a Diamond sword with Looting 3 and Smite (4 I think?). Since they're skeletons, they'll take extra damage from the Smite effect, just ignore blazes and keep drinking fire resistance potions. If you attack quick enough, you shouldn't need to worry about taking damage from Wither Skeletons, however take a potion of healing or two, just in case.
Edit: As for armour, Iron will do if you're lacking in diamonds, just be careful of skeletons and wither skeletons. They'll pretty much be your only threat.
Firstly, I think you should rethink holding onto to XP like you obviously have been. You should enchant something whenever you reach Level 30. The levelling up scale is logarithmic - which means that it takes less XP to get from Level 29 to 30 than it does from Level 30 to 31 and far, far less than it takes to go from Level 101 to 102. So, by hanging onto XP like you have been, you're cheating yourself out of gaining more levels and getting more enchants available to you.
Obviously, the best armor is enchanted diamond armor, but iron will do in a pinch. Getting more diamonds doesn't have to be a big issue. First off, enchant an iron or diamond pickaxe shooting for Fortune (and then, to make it last, only use this pickaxe when you encounter diamonds, not for general digging). Then, using a regular unenchanted pickaxe, just dig down to Y12 and start tunneling (i.e. cutting a 1 wide 2 high tunnel in any direction). You can use stone ones for most of this if you don't have an iron golem farm yet; otherwise use iron. Take a water bucket with you to deal with any lava you encounter as you tunnel forward (it will be 99% of the time opening up at your feet), so the moment you spot any, just poor the water bucket on the stone right under your feet and it will flow forward and turn it to obsidian.
You will very likely encounter diamonds as you tunnel along. When you do, pour the water down and switch to the enchanted pickaxe. (Mining the diamonds with water poured right around them ensures that they will not burn up in lava if there happens to be lava under them or next to them.) I generally get 1/2 a stack of diamonds in very little time using this method (and it takes only 24 to make a full set of diamond armor). Also, you can keep your little tunnel completely free of mobs by lighting it well and, if necessary, blockading off the caves you encounter with the cobblestone you collect. You can also get lots of additional easy XP just by smelting all that cobblestone into stone. (I usually eventually expand and "pretty up" my tunnels into an underground railroad - allowing me fast access to distant points on my map.)
As mentioned above, fire resistance is a good potion to carry. The problem is that you have to get the ingredients for the potion in the nether in the first place (e.g. blaze rods, nether wart and magma cream), so you may want to focus on getting the enchanted armor first. The best armor enchant, IMO, is just straight Protection IV (if I can get it) and Thorns. Straight protection is like an "All Perils" sort of protection rather than just, say, Fire Protection and Thorns deals damage back to whatever hits you. Fire Protection is good in the nether and Projectile Protection is good against skeletons and wither skeletons (but as I said, straight Protection does provide some protection against both fire and projectiles and blasts, although not quite as much as the individual ones at the same levels).
Also, as mentioned above, a looting enchantment on a sword increases the numbers of drops from mobs, including increasing the chance of wither skeletons dropping wither heads.
That is a lot of information for me to consider. As regards my experience level, that is more than likely a mindset from playing RPG games. I only ever enchanted a set of armour and a sword to fight the Enderdragon, and from there never used it. The selection is always so random, and so one can't pinpoint what to get when you want something, rather than just enchant sword after sword until the one you want, has the traits you desire. So that well maybe another part of why I haven't tried much more. And I completely understand what you mean about the leveling up system, as it is similar to most all RPGs. It's that using up your experience, isn't taking away from your strength or defense. That's in your weapons and armour.
I did get to collecting more wool and leather last night and with one more bookshelf (17 presently) I should be close to level 30 enchantments. When I checked the table last I had a level 26 enchantment with putting a sword in it, though I didn't use it. I especially like the looting enchantments, as that would make things extremely easy. And thanks for the tip taking a water bucket. I hadn't ever thought of that. I just don't mine straight up or down to avoid death by lava.
I did some strip mining last night and have a few tunnels that I can return to and change directions to try and seek out diamonds. I will try the enchantments with a pickaxe and a sword and save those for the necessary situations.
Thank you both for your time.
Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
Wither skeletons can't fit in a two high space so make yourself a little safe area where there are wither skeletons. Get the attention of a couple, lure them back to your safe spot and you can take them out without them being able to harm you. As long as you have a fire resistance potion in effect the only thing that will be able to hurt you is the odd regular skeleton so strong armor isn't all that important. Also, don't anger the pigmen.
A lot of people use the "exit without saving" approach when it comes to enchanting; that is, they'll save their game just before starting to enchant something and then if they don't get the enchant they want, they exit without saving and reload to try again with the same item and same XP. A less dubious approach is to use an enchantment calculator to inform you as to where the best odds are for getting the enchant you'd like on the item and material that you have to enchant. Sometimes lower levels actually yield the enchant you want more frequently than Level 30 does (although you may get it at a less powerful level). For example, you can get Fortune I on an iron pick with as few as 6 levels of XP and the highest probability for that is at Level 16 at 11.8%. You can get Fortune III on an iron pick with as few as 23 Levels, with the highest probability being at Level 30 at 10.1%. Now, yes, Fortune I is not as good as Fortune III... but for a measly 6 levels or even at 17 levels of XP, it's better than nothing and those Levels are easily made up by not allowing your XP to ever get much above 30. I even sometimes intentionally dump a level or two of XP on just giving my iron or stone swords and pickaxes a small boost. For example, with only 1 Level of XP, you have essentially a 100% of at least improving the performance of that sword by a little bit... e.g. a 56.3% chance of Sharpness I down to a 9.2% chance of Smith I... but it's better than no enchanted sword and really, it's just using the "extra" XP you now don't need to Level Up - ie. you'll get back up to Level 30 with less XP than it would take you to go from Level 30 to Level 31. (... and once you get an iron golem farm in place, iron is essentially an item that is in infinite supply.)
Here's a link to the enchantment calculator I usually use:
http://minecraftenchantmentcalculator.com/rev6/
The water bucket, i find, is one of the most useful items in the game. Here's a link to a great video that shows lots of ways you can use a water bucket that you may not have thought of:
Finally, I don't really consider my version of tunneling and "strip mining" as the same thing. Making 1 tunnel across the entire map is certainly not the same as removing all the stone in a chunk to get at all the ores in that chunk. I know Minecraft people tend to call anything that is not caving "strip mining"; but in the mining ndustry, strip mining means essentially removing everything from the surface down (creating a large pit). Tunneling (shaft, adit and/or drift) are the more conventional forms of underground mining. What I'm suggesting is actually starting construction on an underground transportation corridor - and in doing that (at Y12), you'll find lots of diamonds.
Also, I just noticed your bookshelf count - you should be getting Level 30 enchantments offered with only 16 bookshelves. That you're at 17 and not getting them, it must mean that you haven't got them arranged just right. Check the Wiki to see what you need to correct about that.
http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Enchantment_mechanics
Another technique, I've used but didn't think to apply it to enchanting. Usually I've used quit with no save to keep my inventory and experience level when I die. And thanks for the link. I will check into that before I start trying enchantments.
I'll look at it too. I've probably only used a bucket to carry water for farming and lava for smelting fuel.
Yeah I am pretty much tunneling and using the term more often incorrectly. I have done a strip mine about three times when I have ran into a large amount of ores clustered closer together. But yeah tunneling is my number one form of mining.
Is there any truth to ores being clustered together? Like if you see coal, iron isn't too far away. Diamonds are usually by obsidian. I've read these claims elsewhere on the internet and wondered if there is any truth to them.
Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
It's completely random. Ores of a single type will spawn in clumps up to about 10 of them but there is no real association between what different ores spawn near to each other except for the limitations they have about depth.
That is, iron will never be found above sea level, whereas coal might be. So, if the coal you're finding is above sea level, there is 0% probability that iron will be close to it. However, iron and coal are the only two ores found above Y32 (which is the highest layer where gold and emerald may be found) and both iron and coal are pretty common ores... so, above Y32, it probably does seem like the two generate together in veins... but that's really just an illusion.
Diamonds occur only below Y16. Since most lava lakes exist topping out at Y12 and they are pretty extensive throughout Y4 to Y12, then the odds are greater that diamonds will be found somewhat close to lava.
I wanted to thank you all for your help and advice. Thanks to it, last night, I got a iron pickaxe with Fortune II, Unbreaking III and Efficiency III. As well as an iron sword with Sharpness III and Looting III. So now I am off to hunt diamonds. I'm still at level 73 so I have plenty to enchant my armour once I get the diamonds to make it.
Bettie Mae Page "Queen of Pinups" April 22, 1923 - Dec. 11, 2008
“We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. ” -- Charles Bukowski
You're very welcome... happy hunting!
Make sure to only use that enchanted pickaxe when you find diamonds, you don't want to waste it on stone.
I'm going to put the XP "bleed" into a clearer light. It takes a total of 1,395 XP to go from Level 0 to Level 30. To get to Level 0 to Level 60 takes 8,670 XP. That's a difference of 7,275 XP (so that's what it takes to go from Level 30 to Level 60). This is enough to go from Level 0 to Level 30 again 5 more times. So, by hoarding XP over Level 30 to get Level 60, you're wasting 4 possible Level 30 enchantments. To go from Level 60 to Level 90 takes 15,375 XP... enough to get from Level 0 to 30 another 11 times... so at Level 90, you've literally wasted 14 possible Level 30 enchants. See now why I always enchant something whenever I hit Level 30? For the same XP he used to get to Level 102, I get 23.2 Level 30 enchants to the OP's 3.4.
Yes, in 1.8 the PC enchanting system got a major overhaul, so that's probably coming to the Xbox 360 in the next update... but keep in mind that XP will also likely be tougher to get after that update since, I believe, you won't be able to collect any for smelting items after that... and waiting probably means you'll be hoarding all that XP over Level 30 again. Personally, I wouldn't wait... I might try to be right at Level 30 though just before I update. Then again, maybe not, since it only takes 27 XP to go from Level 0 to Level 3... instead I might be enchanting all the time whenever I hit Level 3.
Note: XP amounts calculated using the formulas provided in the Wiki page on Experience.