This post is intended to be a guide on maximizing your time in your mine to increase your resource yield and decrease your time spent mining. Feel free to put your own spin on these methods.
All screenshots were taken on a world within the first hour of it's life, completely mod free.
INDEX:
1. Pre mining, new world.
2. Selecting the right Y-level to mine.
3. Mining methods.
4. Torching.
5. Upgrade your mine.
6. Exploratory mining.
1. Pre mining, new world.
Within 20 minutes of making a new world, you can be at bedrock with somewhere around a stack of coal and a couple dozen iron bars. You can be safely inside a hollowed out rock 'mining base' before the falling of the first night, with quite a few torches depending on your luck.
I will give a step by step explaination of what I do upon generating a new world if you are interested in such a thing. If not, continue to section 2 or section 3 for everything actually relating to mining.
A. I find the nearest forest and punch out one tree. I make a workbench, a wooden axe, and a wooden pick out of this.
B. I deconstruct the workbench and completely use up the wooden axe, for 32 logs.
C. I search exposed smooth stone areas (Mountains, Caves, Other) for coal and iron.
D. When I find coal, I hollow out a small room, light it up with torches and set up a bench, chest, and furnace. From this point on, I don't 'surface' again until I am done mining.
E. Using 5-6 stone picks, I make my way down to bedrock from this base in a spiral staircase. This leaves room for improvement later, see section 5 for upgrades to your mine. I set up a couple of double chests at the bottom here, as well as another workbench and a few furnaces. I clear out my inventory here.
F. This is where I start mining. After getting enough resources for whatever I plan on doing, I go about my buisness.
More details on request. I purposefully left out my specific staircase method, you can use whatever you prefer. Keep in mind that the way you get down to bedrock affects how much coal and iron you find on the way down. Use something that exposes many blocks. My preference is something ladder free as well, since I only bring 32 logs with me.
2. Selecting the right Y-level to mine.
This is an absolutely integral decision leading to your success while mining. Here are the numbers I use in my reasoning:
Bedrock: layers 0 - 4. The layer you stop seeing bedrock at is layer 5. When you hold F3, you will see the number 'y: 6.62'.
The reason being is that your minecraft character is 1.7 meters tall, and his eyes (the camera) are slightly below that.
The height measurement is taken at the camera. therefore to know what y level your feet are at, subtract 1 from your current level taken in F3.
Lava: layers 0 - 10. Lava will fill any empty space below layer 10. This means no cave is lava free below layer 10. Small lava lakes can spawn at any y level however.
Diamonds: layers 0 - 16(20). Diamonds will spawn at a constant rate up to layer 16, and will experience a sharp dropoff up to layer 20 after which they (typically) will not spawn.
Redstone: layers 0 - 16(20). Redstone shares it's domain with diamond. It is much more common, however.
Iron: layers 0 - 50(65). Iron spawns at the same rate up to 50, which is 10 below sea level. It drops off considerably and mostly stops spawning above 65.
Coal: layers 0 - 50(100). Coal spawns abundantly in the same layers as iron, and has a gradual dropoff in spawnrate almost to the top of the buildable map.
What do all these numbers mean?
TL;DR, MAKE YOUR SHAFT AT LAYER 12. (You are breaking 12 and 13, below you is 11.)
In more detail...
When you dig a standard shaft (one by one by two) you expose a block below you and one above you.
Since 10 is where lava begins, you want to have a block between you and the lava. This is why you dig out layer 12, so layer 11 is still there between you and fiery death.
When you read ahead to the next few sections you will learn about indirect revealing, and it will become clearer why mining out a couple layers higher wouldn't be such a great idea.
Mining on layer 12, you physically see 14 above you, and indirectly reveal 15-16 above that. This keeps you almost entirely in the prime diamond zone.
3. Mining Methods. BRANCHES and SPACING
Essentially the setup of your mine is going to be one long shaft with 'branches.' Everything is one by one by two.
Make sure that the blocks you are breaking are y levels 12 and 13, as detailed above. You will see '13.62' as your y value when you hit F3.
The heart of my method falls on what I like to call 'indirect revealing.' TL;DR, DIG BRANCH, LEAVE 3, DIG NEXT BRANCH.
When you dig a standard branch (1x1x2), you reveal a total of 8 blocks, 4 on the sides, 2 on top, and 2 in front. These are all blocks that you physically see. If you make your branches bigger, the ratio of broken to seen gets worse, for this reason a standard branch is best.
However, minerals aren't scattered randomly in the rock in one block formations, they gather together in veins. For this reason, when you reveal one mineral, you 'indirectly reveal' the blocks contained in the rest of the vein. (This also gives you a chance to see more blocks exposed without mining worthless stone.)
Since almost all veins occupy at least a 2x2x2 cube, this means that you can leave 3 unmined rows between branches with extreme confidence. That middle 'unseen' row between the two branches is carrying the indirect revealing strength of the adjacent visible blocks. Even if the vein were only two wide, one branch would have spotted a block in it.
Make your branches spaced closer and you are not being efficent, make the gap wider and you run the risk of missing veins.
Finally, I like to dig forever in each branch until I hit a cave, water, lava, or anything else that would make me want to turn back. To save time, instead of running back to the main shaft, I just back up a few squares, dig 4 blocks out to my side, and dig the branch back to my main shaft 'from the wrong direction.'
INVENTORY
Bare minimum is a pick and torches. I always bring a water bucket, in case I find a lava lake or cave with lava that I wish to traverse. Also a sword, bow, stack of arrows, spare stone pick, and compass. Just to be prepared. Food such as cooked bacon, or a workbench and some wheat can come in handy too.
Rule of thumb for myself is a stack of torches for every diamond pick I bring. I bring more picks depending on how long i plan on mining.
SPEED
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS THE MOST SUBJECTIVE PART OF THE GUIDE. IF YOU DISAGREE PLEASE DO SO IN A CIVIL FASHION.
Always use diamond tools. By tools I mean pick and shovel.
Diamond tools are the only legitamate usage of diamonds anyways. Armor is too expensive for what it does, stick to leather. You only ever need one jukebox. After you make your first diamond sword (which is most important after you get your first pick, honestly), you shouldn't have to make another one for a very long time. Diamond blocks are novelties at best.
If you use the branch method above, you will end up with net diamonds quite a bit in excess of what you put in getting them. Not a ridiculous amount, but enough to have a stockpile, in case you want to show off your bling with full diamond armor or the first letter of your name in diamond blocks or something like that.
Also, learn to click mine. There are many tutorials so I won't go into depth on this subject. Same reason as above, if you value your time, you will be as time efficient as possible.
Finally, IGNORE REDSTONE UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY NEED IT.
4. Torching.
TL;DR, TORCH EVERY 13 SPACES.
I personally don't actually count how many spaces I've mined. When you place a torch at eye level, the 14th stone block at your feet will be at light level 0. While mining, it contrasts quite wildly with the stone at light level 1 above it. When you put a torch on the block you just dug out before this, it will prevent mobs spawning on the floor in the middle of this torch and the last one you placed. No mobs can spawn, your job is done. Any more torches are a waste of coal.
Also, when you mine out a vein, if you think it might be too dark, place a torch. Don't waste time fiddling around with trying to plug it back up with cobblestone, get back to mining.
(if you have difficulty seeing the contrast in the image, tilt your monitor toward you or sit up a bit)
5. Upgrade your mine.
The sky is pretty much the limit here. Mostly based on your creativity.
You can destroy the staircase that you dug and turn it into a water elevator.
Or you can build a minecart system that takes you straight from your main base to your mining base.
You can make a big shaft going straight up to the overworld covered only in glass so you can bask in the sun while in your mining base. 6. Exploratory mining.
By this I mean spelunking. Since you are digging down here by the diamond layer, why not explore a cave or two that you hit?
I only do this when I am feeling particularly daring. Use your judgement, if the cave is too huge turn back. If too many mobs have already spawned, seal it off. If you can run in and spam torches around without dying, spelunking at this level can be very profitable.
You will find more iron and coal than you will diamonds, however.
I won't get into too much detail, since this is a very specific thing. I will tell you this, though. Make sure you have your sword, bow, and bucket of water handy. You'll need it.
TL;DR, MAKE YOUR SHAFT AT LAYER 12, DIG BRANCH, LEAVE 3, DIG NEXT BRANCH. TORCH EVERY 13, USE DIAMOND TOOLS AND CLICK MINING.
Thanks for reading, I hope you have learned something. If you have questions or comments, please reply!
If you have anything to add to a section, or if any of my facts are off, let me know and I'll edit this post.
Armor is too expensive for what it does, stick to leather.
What about Iron, you should have so much excess iron.
I agree mostly with this, but I like exploring caves. You, however, seem afraid of mobs and in-confident in your ability to dispose of them, it pays off though, caves are very efficient on your picks.
Armor is too expensive for what it does, stick to leather.
What about Iron, you should have so much excess iron.
I agree mostly with this, but I like exploring caves. You, however, seem afraid of mobs and in-confident in your ability to dispose of them, it pays off though, caves are very efficient on your picks.
This is a rather contradictory statement when you read the title of the post. "Mining Efficiently". Efficiency isn't "how badass-like you can kill 14 skeletons and avoid 17 lava blocks", or "How little you use your diamond pickaxe. It's maximizing your ore production whilst minimizing time. Don't forget the main concept being conveyed here :wink.gif:.
As for the iron, If you think about it, (and this is completely subjective) Iron is The Rescource. It's the main reason why you mine, diamonds are more of a sub-reason and tend to happen because you are mining for iron. Iron is a much more useful resource, and tends to be much more helpful than diamonds because it is needed in a much wider array of recipes on a much larger scale. Again that's subjective as both I, and the guide, have said.
Quote from DisRuptive1 »
Personally, I'd suggest carving out layer 11, 12, 14, and 15 and to use iron tools so you keep more diamond.
See above.
Quote from dezuman »
Quote from Echo51 »
Doesn't really add much, and i found your large blocks of text kinda hard on the eyes.
Umad bro?
On topic, spelunking beats branchmining in getting iron. Serious.
Spelunking is not quite as efficient as branch mining, and nowhere near as scalable. You may end up with more iron in the short run, but certainly not the long.
Quote from Echo51 »
Doesn't really add much, and i found your large blocks of text kinda hard on the eyes.
Great thread, really descriptive. I've always been unsure about what level to mine at, everyone seems to have a different oppinion. I'm mining at 10.6 but I think I -may- go up to 13.6 if you think it's better.
As for what type of axe to use then.. i'm currently using stone and just mas producing them. I've not been able to work out what's the most efficient type of axe to mine with. As long as I can find enough Diamond to replace the current one then I guess i'll start using diamond to mine with.
It's a pretty solid guide. Guide being the keyword. Things will change up slightly as you go about this and you'll need to learn a few new techniques for dealing with lava, mining when caverns aren't completely lit, and calming your nerves enough to handle fighting multiple monsters while being mindful of where you walk.
For people familiar with PvP techniques, this shouldn't be a big deal. Others however might take a while to get used to it.
The thing that is unspoken in these guides is the criteria that is used for success. As with everything, it boils down to how you define efficiency. What are the criteria you personally use to measure as a positive net gain and what conditions exist that negate any positive gains. A lot of people play games differently than they would conduct a task in real life. In a game, it is played mostly for personal satisfaction. How they get satisfaction differs from person to person. In real life, sacrifices are usually made to achieve end goals.
This guide is great if you want to get as much iron as possible. Cause the guide is correct, spelunking near level 10 will net you the most iron, with an ancillary benefit of getting diamond. Since those are used only for tools, any net gains are incidental and not required.
Oh wait, if you don't agree with that assessment, well then, something must be done differently. Maybe you want diamond for other purposes. Armor is good, although it's clear that the guide writer disputes the value of it. If you want enough for a full suit of diamond armor, you'll need 24 of those things. 48 if you want a spare set (most people would want a spare). That will take you about 4-6 hours of spelunking. Using diamond tools is faster, but it's luck of the random number generator whether you'll find more diamond than used in making the tools to mine with. The law of averages says you will come out ahead, but it is not uncommon to not see any net gains for a period of time.
So that means you'll need to use iron tools every once in a while. Those wear out more quickly so be sure to bring raw wood with you. A full stack of 64 will last quite a while. You'll have cobble coming out of your ears to make smelters for the iron ore. It's also good to bring a workbench and a full stack of wheat for when you need to restore health. And a couple pieces of bacon in case you get jumped by multiple monsters at the same time. This is a very real possibility until you get used to moving with a determined sense of trepidity.
Pretty good guide as long as people read it with a critical mind. Lots of good information and step by step. One thing I vastly disagree with, place torches more frequently than every 14 spaces. That just isn't enough. You'll have mobs spawning all over around you. For corridors, 1 every 10 spaces isn't a bad thing. For open rooms, every 7 spaces is better. You'll go through torches fast. The good news is you'll have more coal than you need. Tip. From raw wood, place that in the small personal workbench, press left and right mouse button at the same time. This will make 8 planks. From there, use the planks to make 16 sticks. This will be enough for 64 torches.
As for what type of axe to use then.. i'm currently using stone and just mas producing them. I've not been able to work out what's the most efficient type of axe to mine with. As long as I can find enough Diamond to replace the current one then I guess i'll start using diamond to mine with.
Same, I usually just bring heaps of stone picks and a couple of iron ones. I only really use diamond if I know that I'm going to be mining for a long time.
A good tl'dr of pretty much everything in the Elites of minecraft thread, save a few extras. No proof for anything advanced, but I don't suppose many people care with a net increase in mineral production of almost triple, due to increased mining speed of 33%, increased time efficiency by 200% and better transit systems.
If you are interested in actually helping out with the science of Mining, feel free to give me a PM. Also, take a read of this if you wish. I've been a bit slack with it, so It would be nice to start things rolling.
For corridors, 1 every 10 spaces isn't a bad thing.
In a 1x1x2 corridor, placing torches with 12 spaces between each torch will ensure that every square has a light level of at least 8, blocking monster spawns. Every 13 spaces.
Thanks for all the replies guys.
To everyone who continues to use stone picks, more power to you. If you value diamonds that much then go right ahead.
Like I said, I only use diamonds on tools. Iron holds much more value for me, because it has so many applications (including armor).
As far as spelunking goes, I'm not knocking it, I'm just saying that the method of mining I outlined is practically death proof. I have never died while in my mine. Therefore, I have never lost diamonds or diamond tools. It sounds silly but that plays a big part in how much of a surplus you end up with. On my primary save I have about 45 diamonds. On the save I just made I have about 12, and on the server I play on I (had) a stack. I do go spelunking, and it is an incredible way to find resources. However, If i have any minerals in my inventory, I go drop them off.
Also, thanks for the link to the elites of minecraft thread. I didn't know about it. It covers many different methods, I have outlined one that I believe to be the best.
Pretty good guide as long as people read it with a critical mind. Lots of good information and step by step. One thing I vastly disagree with, place torches more frequently than every 14 spaces. That just isn't enough. You'll have mobs spawning all over around you. For corridors, 1 every 10 spaces isn't a bad thing. For open rooms, every 7 spaces is better. You'll go through torches fast. The good news is you'll have more coal than you need. Tip. From raw wood, place that in the small personal workbench, press left and right mouse button at the same time. This will make 8 planks. From there, use the planks to make 16 sticks. This will be enough for 64 torches.
Thanks for the kind words.
The real spacing of torches would be 12 untorched blocks inbetween. I mention the 14th block because it is easy to distinguish if you don't want to count how many spaces you have moved. Placing the torch at the 13th block prevents all mobs from spawning, as mobs need a light level of 7 or lower, but this setup ensures that all are above 8. The only spawns I get are if I don't remember to torch up a resource node that is too far from the torches.
Before, my favorite guide was the Elite Miners Guide thing. Now this is. I disagree on a few things, but only on the level where it's personal preference anyway. Good job. I rarely post to tell people good job; feel special. lol.
I had my issues with f3. Like what exactly it meant, but now I know that y is eye level.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from Cryptic »
Well, it looks like minecraft decided
"That's a nice everything you've got there... it would be a shame if someone ****ING THREW IT IN ****ING SPACE! :3"
The Elites of Minecraft thread contains a tidbit that has doubled my mining output.
The SW quadrant has almost double the ore-per-deposit of the NW quadrant of the map. This means not only more ore is gained per vein but a grid system is MUCH less likely to miss any ore.
Edit:Also in mp I really feel for the saps mining in the NE. I see them cheer about their first 2 diamonds while I already have 20ish in the first hour of mining.
The game still have a "north south east and west." Clouds move north for example. And only certain glitches "water elevator" work on the sw corner. Just some examples.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Quote from Cryptic »
Well, it looks like minecraft decided
"That's a nice everything you've got there... it would be a shame if someone ****ING THREW IT IN ****ING SPACE! :3"
The game still have a "north south east and west." Clouds move north for example. And only certain glitches "water elevator" work on the sw corner. Just some examples.
Where can I learn more about this phenomenon?
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
416 stone 296 stone slab (150 blocks) 149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
The game still have a "north south east and west." Clouds move north for example. And only certain glitches "water elevator" work on the sw corner. Just some examples.
Where can I learn more about this phenomenon?
Sun rises in the east, sets in the west. Same for the moon. Clouds drift north.
Underground, you can tell direction from cobblestone texture. Place a block of cobblestone (the ugly looking rock you collect as you mine regular stone). Look down at the block. In one corner of the block you will see an "L" shape. When the L looks like an L, you are facing north. When the L is upside down, you're facing south.
All screenshots were taken on a world within the first hour of it's life, completely mod free.
INDEX:
1. Pre mining, new world.
2. Selecting the right Y-level to mine.
3. Mining methods.
4. Torching.
5. Upgrade your mine.
6. Exploratory mining.
1. Pre mining, new world.
Within 20 minutes of making a new world, you can be at bedrock with somewhere around a stack of coal and a couple dozen iron bars. You can be safely inside a hollowed out rock 'mining base' before the falling of the first night, with quite a few torches depending on your luck.
I will give a step by step explaination of what I do upon generating a new world if you are interested in such a thing. If not, continue to section 2 or section 3 for everything actually relating to mining.
A. I find the nearest forest and punch out one tree. I make a workbench, a wooden axe, and a wooden pick out of this.
B. I deconstruct the workbench and completely use up the wooden axe, for 32 logs.
C. I search exposed smooth stone areas (Mountains, Caves, Other) for coal and iron.
D. When I find coal, I hollow out a small room, light it up with torches and set up a bench, chest, and furnace. From this point on, I don't 'surface' again until I am done mining.
E. Using 5-6 stone picks, I make my way down to bedrock from this base in a spiral staircase. This leaves room for improvement later, see section 5 for upgrades to your mine. I set up a couple of double chests at the bottom here, as well as another workbench and a few furnaces. I clear out my inventory here.
F. This is where I start mining. After getting enough resources for whatever I plan on doing, I go about my buisness.
More details on request. I purposefully left out my specific staircase method, you can use whatever you prefer. Keep in mind that the way you get down to bedrock affects how much coal and iron you find on the way down. Use something that exposes many blocks. My preference is something ladder free as well, since I only bring 32 logs with me.
2. Selecting the right Y-level to mine.
This is an absolutely integral decision leading to your success while mining. Here are the numbers I use in my reasoning:
Bedrock: layers 0 - 4. The layer you stop seeing bedrock at is layer 5. When you hold F3, you will see the number 'y: 6.62'.
The reason being is that your minecraft character is 1.7 meters tall, and his eyes (the camera) are slightly below that.
The height measurement is taken at the camera. therefore to know what y level your feet are at, subtract 1 from your current level taken in F3.
Lava: layers 0 - 10. Lava will fill any empty space below layer 10. This means no cave is lava free below layer 10. Small lava lakes can spawn at any y level however.
Diamonds: layers 0 - 16(20). Diamonds will spawn at a constant rate up to layer 16, and will experience a sharp dropoff up to layer 20 after which they (typically) will not spawn.
Redstone: layers 0 - 16(20). Redstone shares it's domain with diamond. It is much more common, however.
Iron: layers 0 - 50(65). Iron spawns at the same rate up to 50, which is 10 below sea level. It drops off considerably and mostly stops spawning above 65.
Coal: layers 0 - 50(100). Coal spawns abundantly in the same layers as iron, and has a gradual dropoff in spawnrate almost to the top of the buildable map.
What do all these numbers mean?
TL;DR, MAKE YOUR SHAFT AT LAYER 12. (You are breaking 12 and 13, below you is 11.)
In more detail...
When you dig a standard shaft (one by one by two) you expose a block below you and one above you.
Since 10 is where lava begins, you want to have a block between you and the lava. This is why you dig out layer 12, so layer 11 is still there between you and fiery death.
When you read ahead to the next few sections you will learn about indirect revealing, and it will become clearer why mining out a couple layers higher wouldn't be such a great idea.
Mining on layer 12, you physically see 14 above you, and indirectly reveal 15-16 above that. This keeps you almost entirely in the prime diamond zone.
3. Mining Methods.
BRANCHES and SPACING
Essentially the setup of your mine is going to be one long shaft with 'branches.' Everything is one by one by two.
Make sure that the blocks you are breaking are y levels 12 and 13, as detailed above. You will see '13.62' as your y value when you hit F3.
The heart of my method falls on what I like to call 'indirect revealing.' TL;DR, DIG BRANCH, LEAVE 3, DIG NEXT BRANCH.
When you dig a standard branch (1x1x2), you reveal a total of 8 blocks, 4 on the sides, 2 on top, and 2 in front. These are all blocks that you physically see. If you make your branches bigger, the ratio of broken to seen gets worse, for this reason a standard branch is best.
However, minerals aren't scattered randomly in the rock in one block formations, they gather together in veins. For this reason, when you reveal one mineral, you 'indirectly reveal' the blocks contained in the rest of the vein. (This also gives you a chance to see more blocks exposed without mining worthless stone.)
Since almost all veins occupy at least a 2x2x2 cube, this means that you can leave 3 unmined rows between branches with extreme confidence. That middle 'unseen' row between the two branches is carrying the indirect revealing strength of the adjacent visible blocks. Even if the vein were only two wide, one branch would have spotted a block in it.
Make your branches spaced closer and you are not being efficent, make the gap wider and you run the risk of missing veins.
Finally, I like to dig forever in each branch until I hit a cave, water, lava, or anything else that would make me want to turn back. To save time, instead of running back to the main shaft, I just back up a few squares, dig 4 blocks out to my side, and dig the branch back to my main shaft 'from the wrong direction.'
INVENTORY
Bare minimum is a pick and torches. I always bring a water bucket, in case I find a lava lake or cave with lava that I wish to traverse. Also a sword, bow, stack of arrows, spare stone pick, and compass. Just to be prepared. Food such as cooked bacon, or a workbench and some wheat can come in handy too.
Rule of thumb for myself is a stack of torches for every diamond pick I bring. I bring more picks depending on how long i plan on mining.
SPEED
DISCLAIMER: THIS IS THE MOST SUBJECTIVE PART OF THE GUIDE. IF YOU DISAGREE PLEASE DO SO IN A CIVIL FASHION.
Always use diamond tools. By tools I mean pick and shovel.
Diamond tools are the only legitamate usage of diamonds anyways. Armor is too expensive for what it does, stick to leather. You only ever need one jukebox. After you make your first diamond sword (which is most important after you get your first pick, honestly), you shouldn't have to make another one for a very long time. Diamond blocks are novelties at best.
If you use the branch method above, you will end up with net diamonds quite a bit in excess of what you put in getting them. Not a ridiculous amount, but enough to have a stockpile, in case you want to show off your bling with full diamond armor or the first letter of your name in diamond blocks or something like that.
Also, learn to click mine. There are many tutorials so I won't go into depth on this subject. Same reason as above, if you value your time, you will be as time efficient as possible.
Finally, IGNORE REDSTONE UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY NEED IT.
4. Torching.
TL;DR, TORCH EVERY 13 SPACES.
I personally don't actually count how many spaces I've mined. When you place a torch at eye level, the 14th stone block at your feet will be at light level 0. While mining, it contrasts quite wildly with the stone at light level 1 above it. When you put a torch on the block you just dug out before this, it will prevent mobs spawning on the floor in the middle of this torch and the last one you placed. No mobs can spawn, your job is done. Any more torches are a waste of coal.
Also, when you mine out a vein, if you think it might be too dark, place a torch. Don't waste time fiddling around with trying to plug it back up with cobblestone, get back to mining.
(if you have difficulty seeing the contrast in the image, tilt your monitor toward you or sit up a bit)
5. Upgrade your mine.
The sky is pretty much the limit here. Mostly based on your creativity.
You can destroy the staircase that you dug and turn it into a water elevator.
Or you can build a minecart system that takes you straight from your main base to your mining base.
You can make a big shaft going straight up to the overworld covered only in glass so you can bask in the sun while in your mining base.
6. Exploratory mining.
By this I mean spelunking. Since you are digging down here by the diamond layer, why not explore a cave or two that you hit?
I only do this when I am feeling particularly daring. Use your judgement, if the cave is too huge turn back. If too many mobs have already spawned, seal it off. If you can run in and spam torches around without dying, spelunking at this level can be very profitable.
You will find more iron and coal than you will diamonds, however.
I won't get into too much detail, since this is a very specific thing. I will tell you this, though. Make sure you have your sword, bow, and bucket of water handy. You'll need it.
TL;DR, MAKE YOUR SHAFT AT LAYER 12, DIG BRANCH, LEAVE 3, DIG NEXT BRANCH. TORCH EVERY 13, USE DIAMOND TOOLS AND CLICK MINING.
Thanks for reading, I hope you have learned something. If you have questions or comments, please reply!
If you have anything to add to a section, or if any of my facts are off, let me know and I'll edit this post.
viewtopic.php?f=1020&t=137901
What about Iron, you should have so much excess iron.
I agree mostly with this, but I like exploring caves. You, however, seem afraid of mobs and in-confident in your ability to dispose of them, it pays off though, caves are very efficient on your picks.
This is a rather contradictory statement when you read the title of the post. "Mining Efficiently". Efficiency isn't "how badass-like you can kill 14 skeletons and avoid 17 lava blocks", or "How little you use your diamond pickaxe. It's maximizing your ore production whilst minimizing time. Don't forget the main concept being conveyed here :wink.gif:.
As for the iron, If you think about it, (and this is completely subjective) Iron is The Rescource. It's the main reason why you mine, diamonds are more of a sub-reason and tend to happen because you are mining for iron. Iron is a much more useful resource, and tends to be much more helpful than diamonds because it is needed in a much wider array of recipes on a much larger scale. Again that's subjective as both I, and the guide, have said.
See above.
Spelunking is not quite as efficient as branch mining, and nowhere near as scalable. You may end up with more iron in the short run, but certainly not the long.
Pro troll is Pro.
As for what type of axe to use then.. i'm currently using stone and just mas producing them. I've not been able to work out what's the most efficient type of axe to mine with. As long as I can find enough Diamond to replace the current one then I guess i'll start using diamond to mine with.
For people familiar with PvP techniques, this shouldn't be a big deal. Others however might take a while to get used to it.
The thing that is unspoken in these guides is the criteria that is used for success. As with everything, it boils down to how you define efficiency. What are the criteria you personally use to measure as a positive net gain and what conditions exist that negate any positive gains. A lot of people play games differently than they would conduct a task in real life. In a game, it is played mostly for personal satisfaction. How they get satisfaction differs from person to person. In real life, sacrifices are usually made to achieve end goals.
This guide is great if you want to get as much iron as possible. Cause the guide is correct, spelunking near level 10 will net you the most iron, with an ancillary benefit of getting diamond. Since those are used only for tools, any net gains are incidental and not required.
Oh wait, if you don't agree with that assessment, well then, something must be done differently. Maybe you want diamond for other purposes. Armor is good, although it's clear that the guide writer disputes the value of it. If you want enough for a full suit of diamond armor, you'll need 24 of those things. 48 if you want a spare set (most people would want a spare). That will take you about 4-6 hours of spelunking. Using diamond tools is faster, but it's luck of the random number generator whether you'll find more diamond than used in making the tools to mine with. The law of averages says you will come out ahead, but it is not uncommon to not see any net gains for a period of time.
So that means you'll need to use iron tools every once in a while. Those wear out more quickly so be sure to bring raw wood with you. A full stack of 64 will last quite a while. You'll have cobble coming out of your ears to make smelters for the iron ore. It's also good to bring a workbench and a full stack of wheat for when you need to restore health. And a couple pieces of bacon in case you get jumped by multiple monsters at the same time. This is a very real possibility until you get used to moving with a determined sense of trepidity.
Pretty good guide as long as people read it with a critical mind. Lots of good information and step by step. One thing I vastly disagree with, place torches more frequently than every 14 spaces. That just isn't enough. You'll have mobs spawning all over around you. For corridors, 1 every 10 spaces isn't a bad thing. For open rooms, every 7 spaces is better. You'll go through torches fast. The good news is you'll have more coal than you need. Tip. From raw wood, place that in the small personal workbench, press left and right mouse button at the same time. This will make 8 planks. From there, use the planks to make 16 sticks. This will be enough for 64 torches.
Same, I usually just bring heaps of stone picks and a couple of iron ones. I only really use diamond if I know that I'm going to be mining for a long time.
If you are interested in actually helping out with the science of Mining, feel free to give me a PM. Also, take a read of this if you wish. I've been a bit slack with it, so It would be nice to start things rolling.
A simple suggestion on geology here.
~~~
Slaves of the Coal Mine
An interesting Novel to pass the time.
In a 1x1x2 corridor, placing torches with 12 spaces between each torch will ensure that every square has a light level of at least 8, blocking monster spawns. Every 13 spaces.
To everyone who continues to use stone picks, more power to you. If you value diamonds that much then go right ahead.
Like I said, I only use diamonds on tools. Iron holds much more value for me, because it has so many applications (including armor).
As far as spelunking goes, I'm not knocking it, I'm just saying that the method of mining I outlined is practically death proof. I have never died while in my mine. Therefore, I have never lost diamonds or diamond tools. It sounds silly but that plays a big part in how much of a surplus you end up with. On my primary save I have about 45 diamonds. On the save I just made I have about 12, and on the server I play on I (had) a stack. I do go spelunking, and it is an incredible way to find resources. However, If i have any minerals in my inventory, I go drop them off.
Also, thanks for the link to the elites of minecraft thread. I didn't know about it. It covers many different methods, I have outlined one that I believe to be the best.
viewtopic.php?f=1020&t=137901
Thanks for the kind words.
The real spacing of torches would be 12 untorched blocks inbetween. I mention the 14th block because it is easy to distinguish if you don't want to count how many spaces you have moved. Placing the torch at the 13th block prevents all mobs from spawning, as mobs need a light level of 7 or lower, but this setup ensures that all are above 8. The only spawns I get are if I don't remember to torch up a resource node that is too far from the torches.
viewtopic.php?f=1020&t=137901
I had my issues with f3. Like what exactly it meant, but now I know that y is eye level.
Tombones' scavenger hunt reward cookie
The SW quadrant has almost double the ore-per-deposit of the NW quadrant of the map. This means not only more ore is gained per vein but a grid system is MUCH less likely to miss any ore.
see the discoverer Dosboots original post http://www.minecraftforum.net/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=28299&p=1228264#p1228264 with data to back up findings.
Edit:Also in mp I really feel for the saps mining in the NE. I see them cheer about their first 2 diamonds while I already have 20ish in the first hour of mining.
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
Tombones' scavenger hunt reward cookie
Where can I learn more about this phenomenon?
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)
Sun rises in the east, sets in the west. Same for the moon. Clouds drift north.
Underground, you can tell direction from cobblestone texture. Place a block of cobblestone (the ugly looking rock you collect as you mine regular stone). Look down at the block. In one corner of the block you will see an "L" shape. When the L looks like an L, you are facing north. When the L is upside down, you're facing south.
416 stone
296 stone slab (150 blocks)
149 stone stairs (228 blocks)
794 total stone
1082 blackstone
174 blackstone slab (87 blocks)
52 blackstone stairs (78 blocks)
1247 total blackstone
(not counting drawbridges and portcullises)