Gameplay: efficent mining

[hajo]

There are not many tips about the actual gameplay on the wiki or forum,
so how about efficent mining ?

E.g., digging stairs straight ahead to the depth where the minerals
start to appear, and there digging corridors separated by 2 blocks
will get 8 blocks explored for every 2 digs, like so:
...
...NXNNXN...
...X_XX_X...
...X_XX_X...
...NXNNXN...
...X_XX_X...
...X_XX_X...
...NXNNXN...
...
(_=block dug out, X=visible block, N=block not seen)

What pattern of digging do you use ?

[qwertymine3]

Vertical 2 node shaft to go down (only 2 nodes dug for each node dropped) (great if you have changed ladders to be faster or have an elevator mod). Stand in the middle to avoid unexpected falls while digging.

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Code: Select all

NV__VN
NV__VN


I then just look for caves (as they are almost endless in mgv7 - no need to ever strip/branch mine)

+ When I do branch/strip mine

Strip mining technique for perfect strip mining.

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_XXX_XXX_XXX_X
_XXX_XXX_XXX_X
XX_XXX_XXX_XXX
XX_XXX_XXX_XXX


Ore veins are never 1x1 though so leaving a 3 wide area between everything is more efficient

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_XNX_XNX_XNX_X
_XNX_XNX_XNX_X
XNXNXNXNXNXNXN
NX_XNX_XNX_XNX
NX_XNX_XNX_XNX


If you want to expose as many ores as quickly as possible, nothing beats a 2x1 tunnel with 1x1 tunnels mined left and right, at head-height every 5 nodes. It can be quite hard to see ores in these smaller tunnels though, so I generally stick with the method above.

[LazerRay]

I just dig a two block wide diagonal shaft grabbing any ores I see along the way and exploring any caves I break into (I sometimes find huge cave systems with a lot of items), I only stop that shaft when it opens into the ceiling of a lava pit then I start a new one.

[firefox]

i dig all ores i find, including the surroundingblocks.
usually the next ore deposit is right behind the next block.
if there is nothing, i dig into a random direction until i find something.