Minecraft

[Owain Taggart]

Came across this. Just too awesome not to share:

[Robert Maxwell]

That is completely insane. I am not nearly dedicated enough to Minecraft to attempt something like that.

[Canadave]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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I'm told the most mathematically efficient way is to do what you described but leave three blocks between each branch tunnel. Since most veins are 2x2 you'll never miss any by leaving 3 blocks in between.

I suppose, but I think the completist in me would get annoyed at the hidden row.

[SilentP]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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That is completely insane. I am not nearly dedicated enough to Minecraft to attempt something like that.

Completely insane and awesome! That dude must be some kind of musical circuit design genius to come up with that.

[Robert Maxwell]

Canadave wrote:

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I suppose, but I think the completist in me would get annoyed at the hidden row.

Ah, but there is no "hidden row." Think about it.

If most veins are 2x2, then having two parallel horizontal shafts with 3 blocks in between is guaranteed to expose the vein in at least one of the shafts.

Granted, there are some veins that consist of only one or two blocks, but I've found those to be relatively rare and probably aren't worth making all your branch shafts one block closer together.

Anyway, on the new world I started, I've done a fair amount of work. Here is the large vertical mineshaft I dug all the way into the bedrock from my spawn base. (The view is from the bottom, looking up.) Here is a castle I built last night. Yes, it extends into the clouds...

Images are linked since they're big.

I plan to fancy up the castle, putting windows and so forth in it. It's 6 stories although I probably won't use the top level for anything, given that clouds pass through it.

[Canadave]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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Ah, but there is no "hidden row." Think about it.

If most veins are 2x2, then having two parallel horizontal shafts with 3 blocks in between is guaranteed to expose the vein in at least one of the shafts.

Oh yeah, I realize this, but it would still come off visually as one row being hidden. That would bother me.

And that's an impressive looking mineshaft, btw. I tend to dig down on a 45 degree angle, myself. Makes it a bit more work to get back to the surface, but I find it makes the digging process more flexible—I can avoid caves and lava pools if I want\need to.

[Robert Maxwell]

Canadave wrote:

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Oh yeah, I realize this, but it would still come off visually as one row being hidden. That would bother me.

And that's an impressive looking mineshaft, btw. I tend to dig down on a 45 degree angle, myself. Makes it a bit more work to get back to the surface, but I find it makes the digging process more flexible—I can avoid caves and lava pools if I want\need to.

That actually used to be my strategy. On my last world, I zigzagged up and down, diagonally, across the landscape. What I found is that you go through shovels/pickaxes pretty quickly that way and the payoff isn't so great. The branching mineshaft strategy is much more productive as far as I have seen.

Digging the big shaft straight down was just for fun, really. That stone walkway at the very top leads from my base lobby (just a small workshop area in a shack) to an underground tree farm, connected to which is another workshop, a storage room, and then a corridor that leads to a ladder, which goes all the way up into that castle/tower in my other picture. I like to have everything connected.

[Canadave]

Robert Maxwell wrote:

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That actually used to be my strategy. On my last world, I zigzagged up and down, diagonally, across the landscape. What I found is that you go through shovels/pickaxes pretty quickly that way and the payoff isn't so great. The branching mineshaft strategy is much more productive as far as I have seen.

Oh, I still use the branching tunnel approach, but to actually go down to the bedrock, say, I zig-zag.

[Robert Maxwell]

Canadave wrote:

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Oh, I still use the branching tunnel approach, but to actually go down to the bedrock, say, I zig-zag.

I find it's quicker just to dig straight down. If you consider that you'll pick up all the dirt and cobblestone you mine on the way down, to get back up when you're done you'd just hop-stack blocks all the way to the surface.

Or, if you want to leave the shaft open, be sure to pack a stack of ladders.

[Kimi3013]

Or be a man and make a boat elevator and drop hole. Far quicker method of vertical transportation.

[Robert Maxwell]

I got bored enough to make a video tour of my current world. Pardon the video quality, my computer sucks.



I'll probably do more as I build/improve more stuff.

[Owain Taggart]

Awesome. That's quite impressive. How did you get those fancy chests? And the fancy door with the glass in the middle?

[Robert Maxwell]

I use the Painterly Pack textures. They're pretty.

[Robert Maxwell]

Dead thread is ... not dead anymore! Thanks to me!

What projects are you guys doing in Minecraft lately?

I abandoned my bedrock mine (for now) and wandered off to dig out a 50x50 area from the sea level down to the bedrock. Basically, a big-ass quarry. There are bodies of water at two corners, which I'm expanding into a moat around it. The 50x50 is going to be the footprint for a castle. (My last one would've been 100x100, but that was too big, even for me.) At the bottom I am thinking of building a fancy glass pool, and since I'll have the whole thing dug out I can do many levels of crazy shit. Not sure what else I'll do yet, though I'm sure I want some mob grinders in the mix. I collected a few stacks of cacti (yes, stacks!) so I can start farming them.

I'll post pictures at some point, but right now it's just a hole in the ground, so who cares?

What are you guys doing? Anything?

[Canadave]

It's been a while since I've played, actually. Last time I booted it up, I was wandering around in my exploration world—where I basically just walk in the same direction during the day to see what I can find, hole up and do some mining and crafting at night, then continue walking the next day. So no spectacular projects for me, but you can stumble across some interesting features.