what’s the recommended third party mapping tool for this? i’ve been messing with tectonicus but it’s difficult to correlate cave to surface x/z coordinates, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to accurately gauge y depth.
I thought I saw one with a microphone in it’s hand.
“Come on dooooooooownnnnnn…”
;-)
Been exploring more caverns than usual, lately and am wondering if I’m missing something fundamental. Why does wood have to be so crucial for a quick/efficient exit to the surface? Running out of it on very long expeditions can be a huge pain in the butt, especially when you want a quick exit. Given that iron and stone are readily available, I don’t understand why these can’t be used as well. Yeah, stairs, I know, but that takes longer and it’s much less aesthetically pleasing. And yeah, I know, bring lots of stacks of raw wood with you instead of planks and sticks. I just want to have the option of using materials available underground, too.
Why is wood important for exiting from caverns quickly? Are you building rail systems as you explore?
RichVR
4506
He means ladders. Why not grow trees underground?
What I mean is, when I am exploring extensive and deep caverns, far from home and deep underground, I have to make occasional trips to the surface to resupply or get my bearings or whatever. Ladders are very convenient for these quick exits, but they also consume more precious wood than torches do, and trees don’t always grow just where you need them to be, and so it would be nice to be able to conserve my wood for torches and use iron for ladders instead. It seems odd that there are non-wood versions of many other wood tools/objects, but not for ladders. Heck, at the very least we should be able to carve handholds into stone using a pick.
i usually just use a stack of dirt/stone for quick exit from a cavern or building an observation tower on the surface. you can do this by looking down at your feet, jumping, and placing a block underneath yourself mid-jump. repeat multiple times to desired height. empty a bucket of water at the top to create an elevator.
Although it isn’t elegant and reduces realism quite a bit, that’s a pretty good workaround, karnisov, thanks.
The jump/stack move is my go too for a lot of things, very handy. One problem you’re going to eventually run into with the dig straight up to get out strategy is running into the bottom of a lava pool or water, at which point you will be dead with all of your stuff disintegrated :P
Ah ladders. I normally don’t use them unless I’m in a section of cavern that I know I will be traversing frequently. For exploratory expeditions I almost always use either the dig straight up (provided I’m above normal lava layers) or if I am close to known lava areas I try to backtrack a bit to the largest open cavern I can find and then use the block/jump stack trick to get to the ceiling, where dig straight up then goes into effect. As mentioned, the drawback to this is hitting lava means instant death and loss of all equipment/items. Hitting water usually results in some damage until you can swim up the current and out, unless you emerge too deep in the ocean and drown.
Playing with my son on our new 1.3.1 server I recently was hacking away near bedrock level looking for diamonds when I stumbled into the largest abandoned mine system I’ve ever seen in game. There are multiple main tunnels and tons of side tunnels, some of which have collapses in them that when cleared revel more hidden tunnels. So far we’ve found several chests, a couple even containing diamonds and emeralds. The coolest part is that since it’s so close to bedrock layer there are parts of the mine with lava flows and water flooding, and we found a huge central chamber where two of the main shafts meet with a large lava flow-fall that lights up the entire chamber. We’ve been calling the place “Moria”. ;-)
Okay, so putting ladders aside but prolonging my little bitching session a little longer, wood dependency still remains an annoyance even with the workarounds you guys mentioned (which I appreciated), because unless you already have flint and iron on you, lighting becomes next to impossible once you are out of wood and torches. Oh, and tools also become impossible to make. I guess I’m just not sold on the concept of wood being so unique and irreplaceable.
abandoned mineshafts have tons of wood… the supports are all planks.
alot of caves connect to abandoned mineshafts. they are much more common now than in previous releases, or at least that is the impression i am getting from my new 1.3.1 world.
in the old versions, yes lack of wood underground was a problem. but there is tons of wood underground now, compared to what there used to be available.
They haven’t been common enough for me. I almost never happen to have an abandoned mineshaft nearby when I begin to run low on wood and wood-dependent tools/supplies.
Volbard
4515
Sounds like your home-base needs a tree farm. A few stacks of logs can supply you for a long expedition.
Yeah, but that isn’t my point. I do have a tree farm at home and I do carry logs around with me when I’m out exploring. My point is, all that planning isn’t always good enough. Sometimes I forget to bring enough, or sometimes I’m spelunking/excavating for so long that I run out before I’m ready to return home. It happens, and I just think it would make sense to have access to natural underground resources for the creation of lighting and climbing items without having to resort to finding surface wood.
Hansey
4517
I don’t think I’ve ever dug a shaft straight up to get out of a mine. I usually just try to spelunk my way back to the way I came in. (though I sometimes get hopelessly lost, despite careful marker placement.)
The main reason though is because of what someone else said upthread… that risk of digging into a lava pool or pile of gravel/sand. If I really have to, I’ll just dig a 3x3 spiral staircase going up, thus avoiding the “things falling on your head” problem. (I can usually react fast enough to block up a lava/water flow if I dig into one.)
RichVR
4518
I play with headphones on so I hear water. Or lava. Before I get killed by it. But I do get killed by it.
mok
4519
I am really curious as to recommendations, as I am looking for the follow in MP server:
–Close to Vanilla
–PvP with no ‘rules’ so one can steal/grief except: - no wall hacks/fly hacks, etc -
–The rule stated above is actually well enforced.
Pogo
4520
Dude, this is a you problem, not a Minecraft problem. Budget your expeditions better.
