(Oh, Minecraft won't even let me type on the login page nothing is happening what the hell nothing on the Notch blog... oh, server's down. Nevermind.)
So, I have this question to you all (this being a theoretical "if the server was working")- how do you mine effectively? Because I sure as hell seem to don't seem to know, seeing how ironed starved I am most of the time (I was lucky to find a cavern-dungeon during one of my great Ocean Voyages in looking for clay- this dungeon was next to a huge pit full of iron. and coal and diamond. These resources are long gone.) My method of deep paths and random excavations seems... limited. In DF I know how to follow an iron vein properly- but Minecraft doesn't model real-world geographical strata. Yet.
So, I ask you, denizens of Minecraft Forum, do you have an effective way to mine the deeps, so that, as you sit on your iron throne in your diamond armor, you can look out over your minecart track to the moon and laugh at your skill and might? Or do you not have an effective method, and instead stumble around in the dark, with an innovatory full of cobblestone and gravel and a deathly fear of Creepers?
I go to a plot of land that I decide to make a quarry at and mark off 4 corners with torches, the size of the quarry depends on how much land I have and how much digging I feel like doing.
Once i have the corners marked off I clear all the land between them to make a nice flat square, from there I build the walls of the quarry, usually wood between the torches. Once thats done I begin digging, one layer at a time, usually going in either a spiral pattern or a zig zag. Once I'm about 4 blocks down or so I set up a spiral staircase along the walls and go back up and build up the walls a bit and put in a glass ceiling for light during the day.
This takes a LONG time to go from top to bottom depending on how large I make the quarry, ranging anywhere from a small 3x3 to a massive 20x20. The amount of iron, coal, red stone, diamond, lava, gold, dungeons you find is really quite rewarding.
Basically you dig down to a desired depth then you dig horizontal, just enough so you can walk straight so the block at your feet and the one in your face. Once you've gone as deep as you desire you place a cobblestone block on the ground and TNT on top of it then start backing up placing down cobblestone as you go, and for every 3rd block you place TNT on top of it so basically you get this:
Side view:
[] [] [] [] [] [] []
then you hit the TNT closest to you and move back, this sets off a chain reaction that blows a nice big tunnel through the ground.
When its all blown up grab your torches and walk along the path placing down torches however far and picking up whatever was destroyed. Once your path is all lit up walk along it and grab any ore still in the walls.
But that involves beating up Creepers, and I hate them. I built a an illuminated brick mansion reinforced with reprocessed stone surrounded by vertical drops on all sides SOLEY to make sure Creepers couldn't get to me.
Spelunking is the fastest way to find iron/diamonds etc.
If you prefer open cut mines then my suggestion is to use something like cartograph. Use the option to view the land from above in day time then do the same for caves. Find a large grouping of caves then just situate your open cut mine there (i do both so I can do an overlay of both caves and normal above ground terrian). All you need to do is dig to your hearts content. You should get a fair amount by just digging down through the caves (your quarry will kinda look like swiss cheese). Then if your feeling up to it you can explore the caves you exposed.
I did this with a 10x10 opencut and managed to get 25 diamonds (not that many really) and I did not fully explore the caves they just kept going on and on lol. I am in the process of doing a slighly larger (40x40) underwater ontop of another large cave system.
Edit: This if my first post here, been playing a week and love this game. Keep up the good work Notch.
I find grid mining to be the best way to make sure you don't miss anything. It requires a lot of space and time but it's the most efficient way to make sure you get everything. Essentially it's a series of 2x2 shafts (Or 3x3 if you like) Like so.
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
[] [] [] [] []
Etc.
This way you can see every block from every shaft and mine the least amount.
I find grid mining to be the best way to make sure you don't miss anything. It requires a lot of space and time but it's the most efficient way to make sure you get everything. Essentially it's a series of 2x2 shafts (Or 3x3 if you like) Like so.
[] [] [] [] [] [] [] []
[] [] [] [] []
Etc.
This way you can see every block from every shaft and mine the least amount.
i do this along with some spelunking. I prefer spelunking alot more though. Just remember to bring alot of ladders, torches, signs, picks and shovels when you go spelunking.
i have to say, zealocks suggestion is the best way. minimal crap compared to strip mining, which will give you 99% junk blocks, and waste your time, not to mention making an ugly scar. but in the beginning, once you have some iron, make an iron sword, iron armor, and bring 10 or so iron bars, and a stack of coal and wood, make some cobble picks, and go spelunking, once you have a bunch of iron, start the branch mining (i recommend digging at height 11 at your feet). once you get 3 diamonds, make a diamond pick, and start using it, it has over 1500 uses, as opposed to an iron picks roughly 200.
So, I have this question to you all (this being a theoretical "if the server was working")- how do you mine effectively? Because I sure as hell seem to don't seem to know, seeing how ironed starved I am most of the time (I was lucky to find a cavern-dungeon during one of my great Ocean Voyages in looking for clay- this dungeon was next to a huge pit full of iron. and coal and diamond. These resources are long gone.) My method of deep paths and random excavations seems... limited. In DF I know how to follow an iron vein properly- but Minecraft doesn't model real-world geographical strata. Yet.
So, I ask you, denizens of Minecraft Forum, do you have an effective way to mine the deeps, so that, as you sit on your iron throne in your diamond armor, you can look out over your minecart track to the moon and laugh at your skill and might? Or do you not have an effective method, and instead stumble around in the dark, with an innovatory full of cobblestone and gravel and a deathly fear of Creepers?
Once i have the corners marked off I clear all the land between them to make a nice flat square, from there I build the walls of the quarry, usually wood between the torches. Once thats done I begin digging, one layer at a time, usually going in either a spiral pattern or a zig zag. Once I'm about 4 blocks down or so I set up a spiral staircase along the walls and go back up and build up the walls a bit and put in a glass ceiling for light during the day.
This takes a LONG time to go from top to bottom depending on how large I make the quarry, ranging anywhere from a small 3x3 to a massive 20x20. The amount of iron, coal, red stone, diamond, lava, gold, dungeons you find is really quite rewarding.
this was posted elsewhere here on the forums.
Basically you dig down to a desired depth then you dig horizontal, just enough so you can walk straight so the block at your feet and the one in your face. Once you've gone as deep as you desire you place a cobblestone block on the ground and TNT on top of it then start backing up placing down cobblestone as you go, and for every 3rd block you place TNT on top of it so basically you get this:
Side view:
[]
then you hit the TNT closest to you and move back, this sets off a chain reaction that blows a nice big tunnel through the ground.
When its all blown up grab your torches and walk along the path placing down torches however far and picking up whatever was destroyed. Once your path is all lit up walk along it and grab any ore still in the walls.
If you prefer open cut mines then my suggestion is to use something like cartograph. Use the option to view the land from above in day time then do the same for caves. Find a large grouping of caves then just situate your open cut mine there (i do both so I can do an overlay of both caves and normal above ground terrian). All you need to do is dig to your hearts content. You should get a fair amount by just digging down through the caves (your quarry will kinda look like swiss cheese). Then if your feeling up to it you can explore the caves you exposed.
I did this with a 10x10 opencut and managed to get 25 diamonds (not that many really) and I did not fully explore the caves they just kept going on and on lol. I am in the process of doing a slighly larger (40x40) underwater ontop of another large cave system.
Edit: This if my first post here, been playing a week and love this game. Keep up the good work Notch.
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Etc.
This way you can see every block from every shaft and mine the least amount.
i do this along with some spelunking. I prefer spelunking alot more though. Just remember to bring alot of ladders, torches, signs, picks and shovels when you go spelunking.
or
torch your way and look around, it's VERY RARE (or impossible ?) that you'll miss mineral chunks that way
best way i've found to mine (without tnt)
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