Mining Strategies in Minecraft

[Dirty Apple]

Less wood for ladders, more wood for torches/boxes/tools

I can see what you're saying, but I've never found wood to be that rare a resource. I suppose if you were set up in a desert or tree-poor biome, they'd be worth their weight in lapis lazuli, but I mean for the most part they're everywhere.

I have learned to NEVER. MINE. STRAIGHT. DOWN.

I would never dig straight down either. I find that a 1x2 shaft gets the job done. You dig down 2 or 3 on the block in front of you. Jump down. Turn, and break the blocks you were standing on plus another 2 or 3 under them. This way you have just enough room for ladders and torches.

 

[viranimus]

Personally I will dig a staircase (though recently I got into using ladders more often) down to the highest piece of bedrock. This is done so as to make rail lines later if the mine is productive. Then I start clear cutting typically up 4 blocks high (The typical bottom end of the lava layer)I will clear out vast areas on this level. Below the lava level you get chances for coal, Iron, gold, Lapis, redstone and diamond all in surprisingly abundant quantities.

I never had any sort of luck with the 12-16 blocks up from bedrock for diamond method. Sure I would find some on occasion, but no where near at the same rate I get from the sheer speed at strip mining the bedrock floor.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I would never dig straight down either. I find that a 1x2 shaft gets the job done. You dig down 2 or 3 on the block in front of you. Jump down. Turn, and break the blocks you were standing on plus another 2 or 3 under them. This way you have just enough room for ladders and torches.

ohooooooo! Smart! *takes notes* I might just do that. I am getting sick of hopping in dizzying circles to get home.

 

[Wicky_42]

I always start up with a little hole in the ground/at the top of a nearby surface cave network with, a chest, a furnace, a stack each of ladders and torches and stone tools - I just never seem to be inclined to spend time building at the start. Then it's plumb the cave depths or begin a nice wide vertical shaft to the bedrock, count back up to level 16 and spam with branch mines aiming to cross those huge cave networks laden with goodies

Latest time round I'm using the Yogsworld mod, which makes it hella easy to cut down trees (using an axe on the bottom block fells the whole thing), which makes mass producing ladders much more friendly ^_^

With some resources in the bank then I start to get a bit more creative, expressing my central shaft on the surface in some sort of house or citadel, then roaming the country side for interesting caves and/or geological formations for destinations for railroads and/or future construction mega projects On my first world I had some shear cliffs where the generation algorithm broke, a good old lava-covered doom tower connected by underwater rails, a sea-side fort where a titanic cave network I climbed up through surfaced, and a titanic cathedral that I never finished because somewhere a block got corrupted and keeps crashing the game :'( Since then I've not played as much as the updates kept breaking mods I was experimenting with and kinda hampering my ability to progress with maps. Ah well, maybe the next patch will introduce some objectives and give a bit more form to the play?

 

[That One Six]

What benefit do these spiral staircases offer compared to using ladders? These mine shafts must be incredibly time consuming. Are you also making actual stairs or just hopping all the way back up. I must be missing something, because 3 of you are using them so there must be some advantage.

No real advantage, besides easier torch placement or a hollow center to use for whatever you want. I think it's more a matter of style than practicality.

 

[BrailleOperatic]

I mine in spiral staircase type structures. I make 2x3 holes each one shifted one block down from the last. I keep going until either I hit something for get sick of that direction.
I usually start by digging into mountain sides. Not relevant, but some people seem to just dig wherever, while I only dig into cliff faces.

 

[YawningAngel]

Assuming you don't care where you end up, the most efficient method is just to dig straight down to z=12 (12 blocks above the base) and dig in a totally straight line.

 

[Dirty Apple]

I think it's more a matter of style than practicality

Ah, this I can understand. Sometimes esthetics trump practicality. I mean we can all agree that 50% of the game's allure is its ability to enable someone's creative side.

And to create is to make art, no?

 

[BrailleOperatic]

What benefit do these spiral staircases offer compared to using ladders? These mine shafts must be incredibly time consuming. Are you also making actual stairs or just hopping all the way back up. I must be missing something, because 3 of you are using them so there must be some advantage.

They increase the area of the mine, thus increasing the probability of encountering non-cobblestone blocks. Plus the decrease the probability of accidents (specifically, accidentally falling into lava). Also, since we don't use ladders, also our sticks can be used to make torches. Yes it is time consuming, but in many ways it's more convenient.

As for your other question, spam the jump button on the way back up. making stairs slows the process down even more, requiring at least 2x4 tunnels instead of 2x3 to make room for the stair block.

 

[ShindoL Shill]

OP: never dig straight down.
what i do is dig out a hill to make a cave-house, then dig down at a gradient of 1 by 1 (1 along, 1 down)
then i branch off on z=10 to z=16 (the diamond levels) to find lava, then dig around it.
another helpful thing to find it when its on the other side of a block you would never think of digging out is the Ellian Detector mod (its how i find the diamond level/dungeon hunt)

 

[NooNameLeft]

1. Find some stone on the surface.
2. Dig staight down.
3 Pray.

 

[pspman45]

dig to bedrock, then go about 15-18 blocks above it, that's where all the treasure is usually
Caverns are mostly near the surface

 

[Cazza]

Down to bedrock with platforms every 10 blocks (My levels 0 is bedrock) I then to to level 1 and dig until I find a cave system. (It's quicker and wastes less resources) I then scout it out for resource and joining caves.

 

[Lilani]

I tend to dig a straight staircase down that goes 3 wide, and then I branch out from there as I find coal and iron and follow them as far as they go. If I find caverns, I follow them and put as many torches as I can around for safety. Then I continue to follow whatever deposits I find in whatever directions they might go. I do this because I really don't like digging for the sake of digging. My tunnels can be hard to navigate, but once I get enough iron I can get minecart tracks going and then it's easy

 

[vrbtny]

Hit stuff with pick-axe. Why so hard?

 

[Azure Sky]

I personally use a speed-variation on layer 12 strip-mining.

Although, getting down there varies depending on my mood.

 

[baddude1337]

I dig down as a sort of stair case style so I can get back up easily, and if I find a cave I dig the hell out of it.

Oh, and I take LOTS of signs. Exploring all those big caves makes me get lost quite easily...