在有爱的Minecraft世界里,采矿可谓玩家常遇之客。但是不要一个人傻傻地埋头苦挖,下文将提供一些非常赞的技巧。
快速到达基岩位置的最佳办法无疑是下挖垂直矿洞(虽然这并不能挖到很多矿并且非常非常的不安全,常常有掉落进天然矿洞和岩浆池的危险),然后在入口处浇一桶水以方便游回地面以及安全到达底部。
在哪儿挖矿最好
根据所有矿石的海拔分布,包括罕见的钻石在内,也许高度Y的坐标为12的地区最适合挖矿。在向下挖掘垂直矿洞的时候按下F3可以查看自己所在海拔,当发现岩浆池(通常在11层)的时候用方块堵上缺口便可以快速到达这一区域,或者你将直接下挖到基岩所在位置,这时你可以向上攀爬7层左右到达目标位置。在此之后,你可以使用下面列出的各种技术来开始你的挖矿大业。
洞穴采矿
也被称为 洞穴狩猎。洞穴采矿仅仅需要在探索天然洞穴的时候发掘被发现的矿物,它们将被暴露在墙壁,地面和洞穴的天花板位置。在更新1.2版本以后由于洞穴附件的矿产将会被增加(请看版本记录),因此这种方式收获会更佳。探索大型的洞穴系统结果往往是收获大量的矿石。相比其他方式由于单位时间内收获了更多的矿石,需求更少的工具(不会在挖掘石头,泥土和沙砾的时候消耗掉过多镐,锹的耐久度),洞穴采矿属于高回报的投资。
另一方面,洞穴探险也极度危险。未探索的黑暗洞穴中将出没许多生物;探索时必须带上剑,弓和盔甲。
洞穴页面提示我们将出现更大的洞穴系统。
带上装水的桶是个好点子。洞穴会随机出现一些岩浆流,在10层以下的一些洞穴甚至被巨大的岩浆池所填充,当你无意中掉落其中可以用水桶来扑灭火焰。同时,也可以作为在岩浆池表面制造黑曜石的手段(在固体方块上倒水让水流流向岩浆池;不要站在水流和岩浆之间)。
初携带武器防具外的一个手段是在选项中将难度改为和平,这样会阻止所有生物的刷新。然后当你掉进岩浆你依然会死掉所以还是要带上水桶。
洞穴采矿携带物品清单
1. 一把镐。加入这是你的挖矿初旅, 那么请采集一些圆石然后做一把石镐吧。如果你已稍有挖矿阅历,那么挖矿时请带上两把铁镐以及至少一把石镐。如果你已经得到了一些钻石,并且你希望在钻石存在的深度进行一次高效的采矿,那么一把钻石镐你值得拥有,它不仅耐久更高并且是唯一可以挖掘黑曜石的工具。矿镐常常没有挖到足够的钻石的时候就损坏掉了,如果你希望节约珍贵的材料,那么带一些石镐用来挖石头,带一把铁镐专门用来挖矿。
2. 一把锹。至少携带一把铁锹以帮助你快速地挖开泥土和沙砾,摆脱用手挖土的繁琐过程。如果你的铁别有他用那么带一到两把石锹应该也够用了。
3. 火把。建议至少整整一组,多多益善。照亮你的四周可以使你了解探索过的地区以免迷路,亦将怪物生成的可能性降低至最小,并且有助于发现隐藏在阴影中的矿物。
4. 木头。假如耗尽了工具或者火把,你可以用它们做一个工作台和木棍来补充你的镐,锹,以及火把(你会在采矿时找到够合成它们的煤炭的)。
5. 一桶水。这将非常有用。当你着火的时候,它能扑灭火焰挽救你的生命和物品;当你遇见岩浆时你也可以使用它将岩浆变成黑曜石。
6. 一个桶。空桶可以用来收集的岩浆可以当做炉子里的燃料,也可以当做另类的杀怪方式;当你失去了你的水桶的时候你也可以用空桶来装水。
7. 食物。长期的挖矿生涯会慢慢耗尽你的饥饿条。带上食物可以让你在洞穴中探索得更久,同时保持食物饱和度可以使你在受到攻击后能自动回复健康。
8. 武器:任意一种剑(宜用石制或者更好材料的),一把 弓和一些箭。这些可以帮助你抵御遇到的怪物。
9. 盔甲。可以防护在采矿时遇到的各种伤害,包括被怪物攻击,被岩浆流灼伤已经从高处掉落。
10. 抗火药水。当你在岩浆或者火焰附件工作的时候喝下它,比如在你发现的资源位于一个地下岩浆湖里的时候就可以尝试着喝上一口(否则你需要挖下去绕过岩浆来采集)。 药水保护你免受火焰灼烧,也允许你免伤地在岩浆中游泳。 这种药水虽然成分罕见但一旦你找到了是很容易培育的。如果你还没有这种药水,切记带上装满水的桶子。
11. 木棍,在工作台和熔炉中用来快速合成新的镐/锹/剑 ,充当燃料来冶炼新发现的铁矿石,和煤炭放在一起合成火把等等。
12. 箱子. 在你探索岩浆洞穴的时候你可以用箱子来存放物品以预防死亡的情况。没有箱子的你死掉之后也许会损失一整组的铁,许多黄金,所有的食物和武器,但是你也可以选择在一个地方放上工作台和箱子,这样当你死亡的时候最多损失少量的煤炭,火把,石头和挖矿的镐。
13.(可选)一组沙子。可快速且高效的掩埋岩浆池,提高挖矿时的安全性和方便探索岩浆池的正下方,以增加找到稀有矿石的可能性
14. (可选)红石火把和红石粉。用来简单地标示道路,尤其当你拥有过多的红石而不需要用它制造庞大的计算机系统或者七位数码管的时候。
15. (可选)告示牌在标记洞穴出口来帮助辨识正确的通道上非常有用。例如这样的标示:出口 --> 储物间 -->
漂流式挖掘
洞穴通常会包含许多死胡同和废弃矿井。这些死胡同实际上很多都只有薄薄的隔层,如果进一步挖掘,有时会探索到相邻的整个洞穴系统。漂流式挖掘是通过挖掘死胡同简单地寻找邻近的洞穴的方法。请注意这种方法会增加迷路的风险。然而,你可以通过特定的同时不断深化的挖掘方式来确定方位,比如只在右边的墙壁或地板放置你的火把,这样当你离开的时候沿着火把向左走就可以了。或者你可以用醒目和独特的方式来显示你进入时的方位,比如在来路上布置红石火把。
当在死胡同里听到生物的声音传来的时候,使用漂流式挖掘可以非常高效率地发现地牢。 注意: 虽然1.8版本移除了大部分死胡同它们仍然存在。
废弃矿井挖矿
与洞穴采矿相似,但是却换地方在资源丰富的废弃矿井进行,同样这种方式也属于回报丰厚的投资。
相比洞穴里,一个区别是你在这些看起来非常相似,已经插上火把矿道里更容易迷路了。很难知道哪些地方你已经探索过了。此外,废弃的矿井里会在难以达到的地方出现洞穴蜘蛛的刷怪笼子。
如上所述,由于已经插好的火把,不怀好意的生物出现的几率降低了。由于矿道里到处都是木板做成的支撑,因此也不再会因为木头的短期而需要频繁返回地面。此外,矿道里有很多中断的铁轨和装有战利品的宝箱。
一个有效防迷路的办法是挖走探索过的废弃矿井的一切表面,仅仅留下一个3×3的隧道。这样虽然花了更多的挖掘时间,但你可以更容易走回开始的地方。
人工矿井挖矿
也叫做垂直矿洞挖矿 和矿井挖矿,指的是开掘属于你自己的隧道来探索隐藏资源。在这样做的时候,需要一定注意的是你也许会挖开挡住岩浆的块,掉落进天然洞穴或者被敌对生物隔绝在狭小的矿道里。
方法
阶梯式矿井
一个高效的阶梯式矿井
阶梯式矿井采矿是一种快速到达地图海拔较低处的开矿技术,同时这种方法可以连续获得大量的石头。 将开挖一条向下的方便发现出口的矿道,且无需梯子和其他方式就可以返回地表。
直线式阶梯矿井
最基本的策略是沿着45°向下的直线挖掘,每下降一层向前移动一个块的距离,为了提高回来时的效率,建议在每一个块的上方挖走四块以上以免向上跳跃时磕着头部影响速度;另一个很好的主意是每下降10格使用一个火把(为了阻止刷怪可以更密集),这样你就可以在遇到岩浆时快速估计自己所在的海拔。而爬回地面只需要按住跳跃键的同时向前。
收集到足够的圆石(或者砖头,木头)以后,可以制作楼梯铺满这个隧道。这会让使旅行更为顺畅,容易和快捷,不再需要按着跳跃键。虽然额外的一块从天花板的楼梯将需要删除容纳楼梯。
另外,你可以呈一定角度地斜挖。想象你面对的角落缺失一个2x2x2块的立方体,挖走它,放上火把以后进入这个空间,面对一个角落重复这个步骤。这将获得其他角度上的资源。 上面的方法在需求大量圆石的时候非常有用。且它们方法简单,费时少,将能够很快到达基岩位置。
螺旋式阶梯矿井
频繁转向的挖掘使得构建螺旋式的阶梯隧道稍微复杂,但是这种隧物品有直线下降的优点,这可以保证你更加可控的,有目标性地挖掘。
3x3 螺旋阶梯矿井
一种水平占地3x3的螺旋隧道设计如下,在以你为中心3x3的区域内绕着圈移动,每移动一格向下挖掘一格,确保下挖过程中保证隧道有足够容纳你头部的空间。你可以选择保留中央的柱子来作为楼梯的隔墙,也可以挖掉它好在中间放梯子,这个柱子是否保留对阶梯无关紧要。同样地,你也选择可以在螺旋的阶梯上铺上楼梯块来提高返程效率。此外,完成阶梯后,可以挖走中央的立柱后在最底部放上一格水可以让你直接跳进矿洞节约时间。 移走中央的立柱可以透一些光进来,但是却增加了危险:小心不要掉下去。(尽管在底部放水后并不会使你受伤) 这种设计每8层转过一圈。
2x2 螺旋阶梯矿井
如同3x3的设计,然而你将在2x2的区域内开掘隧道,这意味着没有了中央立柱。 同样的你可以挖开每次遇到的第十块右前方的块(当然选择左后方向这样做也可以,这没什么紧要的)。这可以增加你发现矿物的几率。 这种设计下每转一圈下降4层。因为在隧道内前进你需要三层高的空间,因此某些层的沙砾和沙子掉落空出来的位置需要你用泥土和圆石填补。
5x5 螺旋阶梯矿井
与3x3的设计类似,但是你将在一个5x5大小的网格边缘挖掘。中央的柱子被清空来提供地下的光源。在外环安装楼梯,中间可以放上防止掉落的栅栏。 这种设计每一满转下降了16层,并且隧道探索到了水平范围更宽广的区域。同时它也容易错过螺旋之间的一些资源。
TNT爆破法
TNT爆破法的第一个步骤和传统地下挖垂直隧道来到达基岩位置类似,当你到达基岩后,你通过在脚下放置TNT的方法来上爬到达地面层,然后在那里引爆TNT。这种办法如同垂直矿洞方案,实际上的实用性值得怀疑。但是如果意图收集这些掉落下的资源可以下挖一个侧面的隧道到达位置去收集。
垂直矿洞采矿
垂直矿洞 是通过下挖垂直矿洞进入地下采矿地点的采矿技术。除了在1x1的方块上你可以选择任意尺寸来开掘。
1x2
- 选址(1x2的区域)
- 在你对着的地方向下挖一格(不要挖脚下)
- 跳进坑里
- 挖走你对着的块和它下方的块
- 在所有块上放满梯子 (1.5版你不能通过梯子往上爬)
- 按照2.1继续。
- 循环操作直到你到达希望去的层数。然后可以按照你选择的方法水平探矿。
挖掘1x1矿洞是非常危险的因为会有下落到天然洞穴中的悬崖或者岩浆湖内的风险。安全的垂直矿洞至少是2x2大小的,它能提供更多安全的保证,也可以放火把而非全部放梯子来照明。
三格嵌入爆破式
三格嵌入爆破式采矿是通过使用TNT来开掘隧道的技术。首先找到一面合适的石头墙,向内挖三格,在第三个镂空位置放置TNT,用打火石右击点燃后退后几步快速在洞口放置一个石头块:爆炸会创造出一个完美的4x3x3的洞。你可以按需要重复上面的操作。
一种更快速但是风险也更大的技术是在墙壁上挖出一个小的壁橱式的空间,然后用大量TNT填满后引爆:这会创造出相当大的洞穴,然而这种方法会摧毁大量的块,包括某些未被发现的珍贵矿藏,而且爆破也会让大量岩浆涌入通道,造成洞穴难以进入并且烧毁爆破产生的块。
跳水式矿井
在直上直下的矿井里,你可以极快达到底部:只需要纵身一跃,跳进底部的水洼中即可;攀升则通过梯子。完成这种矿洞必要的准备包括64节梯子和两桶水。然后你将下挖一个3格宽的垂直隧道。到达矿井底部后,一端做成水洼,另一端布置梯子。完成后把中间填满以免当你跳跃的时候落在水洼之外。 关于建造细节的直道可以参见Vertical Mine Shaft With Water Drop。
橫向挖掘(或資源開採/分層)
安全
水平的挖掘是不一樣垂直的危險。但也有一些類似的建議。攜帶一個水桶和一些一次性的,非易燃材料的一些方塊:非易燃材料(如砂,礫石,鵝卵石)。方塊可以用來迅速堵塞洩漏在熔岩的岩漿,水可以通過源岩漿灌入變成黑曜石,以及撲滅火災。
Terms and Definitions
main shaft/access shaft: a 1x2 or 2x2 tunnel use accessing other tunnels.
efficiency: how many ores you get for the amount of effort you put into the mine, or how many ores you get/how many cobble you dig to find them.
Thoroughness: how many of the ores you extract per chunk
The tradeoff: a mine can be made more thorough at the price of efficiency, or vice versa.
Layout: the top-down view of the mine.
Branch: the tunnels dug purely to gather ores.
Branch-length: how many blocks you dig your branches out. One recommendation is to measure a length with the durability of a stone pickaxe.
Spacing: how far apart the branches are.
Completely Thorough: a mine that reveals 4 new blocks/block dug, and reveals every block within a chunk, is completely thorough.
Tiering: "stacking" one branch mine on top of another, in order to obtain a much greater degree of thoroughness without sacrificing too much efficiency.
Efficiency vs thoroughness
(with a word about thoroughness)
Efficiency, by definition, is how many diamonds (or other ores) you get for how much time you spent reaching them; actually accounting for time spent getting to the mine is difficult, so ores extracted/stone mined is a more useful term.
Thoroughness is what percentage of the ores you extract from a given chunk.
Unfortunately, efficiency is often crudely approximated by blocks revealed/block mined, while thoroughness is crudely approximated by blocks revealed/chunk.
Since both include "blocks revealed", they are often confused, which is a BIG mistake.
For simplicity, lets assume that all ores spawn in 2x2x2 cubes or bigger. then, there is absolutely no need to reveal every block; in fact, a spacing of three, followed by a tiering distance of 4, will then be completely thorough.
Now, let's assume that 90% of ores are 2x2x2, but 10% are 1x1x1; while obtaining 100% unitary thoroughness then requires a spacing of 3 and a tiering distance of 2, the original mine (the 3-space 4-tiering) maintains a thoroughness of 98%-not that bad a decrease. now look at the EFFICIENCY of the two mines; the 100% thorough mine requires mining TWICE as much stone in exchange for a paltry 2% increase in total yield, resulting in, essentially, HALF the efficiency.
In order to give an actual nuber for efficiency, we can use effeciency=100*(number of ores collected / number of blocks mined)-or, equivilently,
%efficiency = (number of ores collected/number of blocks mined)
This equation is similar to a real-world mining calculation such as grade = (grams of metal/tonnes of rock removed). Nowhere in the above equation is "observed" blocks mentioned, and so it is a red-herring to aim for maximum blocks observed. This simple equation leads to a conclusion about the most efficient way to mine in minecraft. Several assumptions must be made:
- Ore is distributed randomly
- Ore is orientated randomly
- Ore occupies a certain width, whereby two tunnels running too close to each other would intersect the same orebody twice.
In minecraft these assumptions are essentially true, though there is some distortion since diamonds only spawn once per chunk (?).
So we reach the crux of the argument; tunnel spacing. In the traditional "efficient" mining methods, tunnels are spaced close together in order to "observe" the maximum number of blocks possible, therefore removing all of the ore from an area. So, lets consider a spacing of 1; that is one tunnel separated by one block from another tunnel. During the digging of the first tunnel, several ore bodies are encountered. This tunnel has a high efficiency (infact, the maximum efficiency possible, as we shall see later). The second tunnel has a very low efficiency because almost all of the ore bodies it encounters have already been removed by the first tunnel. This causes the efficiency of the mining operation to plummet. A spacing of 1 is incredibly inefficient. Now we move to a spacing of 2. This is a spacing that a lot of people use because it leads to 100% observed blocks in a single layer. However, with a spacing of 2, the second tunnel still encounters several ore bodies that have already been removed, so it is also quite inefficient. We can go on like this; as long as the second tunnel has a chance of encountering ore bodies which have already been removed by the adjacent tunnel, it will have a less than maximum efficiency. It follows that the most efficient way to mine is to place the second tunnel far enough away from the adjacent tunnel that there is no chance of encountering ores that have already been removed.
You don't have to take my word for it though. I have modelled the problem in matlab using a 2D slice of a real minecraft level and a virtual mining procedure. The model mines a 1 block wide tunnel through the 2D layer and removes all diamonds it encounters, just like a real player would do. The model is limited to diamonds but the principle applies to all ores. It repeats the mining for different tunnel spacings, from 1 to 10. The model then records how many diamonds were mined for each case, how many blocks were removed, and calculates the efficiency of each spacing. A simple graph is produced:
The results indicate what is expected - that when tunnels are close together they are not efficient because the miner will encounter diamonds which were already removed by the adjacent tunnel(s). A maximum efficiency is reached at a spacing of around 6 blocks (that is, 6 solid blocks left in-between the tunnels). At this spacing, efficiency is about 0.017, corresponding to 1.7% of blocks removed being a diamond. At this spacing, the tunnels effectively become independent of each other and so, statistically speaking, the chance of encountering an ore are maximised because there is no chance the ore has been removed by an adjacent tunnel. Above a spacing of 6, efficiency does not increase greatly because ore collection rate is simply a function of the distribution of ores within the level. Note: in the above graph, efficiency appears to drop-off at a spacing of 10. This is simply a limitation of the size of the level used to model the process, resulting in a large error at high spacings. If a larger level were used, the line would smoothly come to a maximum efficiency and stay there.
In summary:
- The term "efficiency" is often applied to the practice of making every block observable, however this is not usually the objective of a miner.
- A more practical definition of "efficiency" describes the percentage of blocks removed that are ores, in other words efficiency = (ores removed / blocks removed).
- Maximum efficiency is reached when adjacent tunnels become independent of each other, since there is no chance that an adjacent tunnel has already removed an ore.
- This maximum efficiency, for diamonds, is reached at a spacing of 6. Since other ores are usually collected in copious amounts compared to diamonds, this spacing is recommended for every-day mining operations.
Methods
Branch Mining
Branch mining consists of mining out side tunnels from an access shaft to expose as many blocks as possible with a minimum of blocks removed.
layout 1
(antennae layout) An effective technique if you want to find rare resources with minimal effort. It is basically mining down to any level, usually to bedrock, and then mining outwards to the sides, much like a tree with a trunk and branches.
- Use the staircase method to dig down to bedrock.
- Go up 2 blocks and fill any space below you mined out.
- Dig a 3x3 room.
- Dig a straight 2x1 tunnel in a straight line then dig out 32 blocks every 4th block.
- To further increase efficiency, you can end the 20-block tunnel by digging 4 blocks of an 1x1 tunnels as each of the mined block reveals more than a 2x1 tunnel.
This method is based on the relatively low probability of desirable blocks being created without any neighbors, so it will occasionally miss small/narrow ore deposits that fall entirely between the branches, but it covers ground faster, so you'll usually get more ore for your time. If you'd rather be sure of 100% coverage, simply place the tunnels closer together. it is also meant to be done quickly.
Diagram:
X = Tunnel "Trunk"
B = Branch
S = Staircase
Y = Outpost (for supplies etc.)
B B B B
B B B B
B B B B
B B B B
B B B B
B B B B
B B YYY B B
X X X X X X X X X X X X X YYY X X X X X X X X X X X X
B B YYY B B
B B S B B
B B S B B
B B S B B
B B S B B
B B S B B
Each branch can be any length, but about 32 blocks long is a good length to begin with, as it can be measured with the durability of a stone pickaxe.
layout 2
a pinwheel mine with a spacing of 2
(pinwheel mining system.)
the pinwheel mining layout:
the pinwheel mining layout is designed to cover HUGE squares of land-over LONG periods of time.
- get to the diamond layer by your prefered method,
- dig out a room-as large as 10x10x8 if you want to set it up as a self-sufficient base, or as small as 4x4x2 if you just want to get mining. (use even numbers if you like 2x2 access shafts; odd numbers if you prefer 1x2 access shafts)
- mark the access shafts into the middle of the walls; the picture shows 2x2 tunnels. (if you do not use the wide tunnels, mark the main shafts with signposts.)
- dig a given access shaft out untill your inventory is full. (you'll have plenty of chances to get the ores out of the access shafts)
- note: If you use a simple straight staircase to get down, you may need to leave off the south tunnel for a while.
- mark the branches at the desired interval. The picture shows a spacing of 2, which is 100% thorough but inefficient.
- dig out each branch untill your inventory is 3 spaces away from full, then turn around
- On the way back, place torches in any dark spots, and collect any missed ores-collecting all the coal is advised, but not required.
As always, you can use any spacing; a spacing of three provides both reasonable efficiency and reasonable thoroughness.
This layout can compete with the pheonix mine in terms of efficiency, and is easier to modify if necessary, but it does require a lot of time for each trip.
layout 3
(room and fork layout)
- Dig a room that is 7 blocks long, 10 blocks wide and 3 blocks high. Have your stairway/ladder in the middle of one of the 10 block walls, preferably 2 spaces wide.
- Starting in one of the corners, dig parallel to one of the walls of the room you just dug, for 20 spaces, placing a torch every 5 blocks.
- Then, dig another 20 block tunnel that has two blocks between it and the previous tunnel.
- Continue until you reach the other side of the room.
Diagram:
Key: A = Air
B = Stone block
S = Staircase
T = Tunnel
A A A A A A A A A A T T T T T
A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B
A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B
A A A A A A A A A A T T T T T
A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B
A A A A A A A A A A B B B B B
A A A A A A A A A A T T T T T
T B B T S S T B B T
T B B T S S T B B T
T B B T S S T B B T
T B B T S S T B B T
T B B T S S T B B T
By utilizing this variant properly you can uncover all the blocks in quite a large area, and the mineral yields are quite high. Having the stairs 2 blocks wide allows for thorough strip mining as they can be strip mined around. Also, a good length for each tunnel is 20 blocks long.
Tiered Branch Mining
Advanced branch mining is one of the most efficient way to mine 100% of the ores on multiple levels.
This setup allows for linear navigation along tunnels by first selecting depth, then choosing an appropriate tunnel at that depth.
Tiered branch mining is the art of stacking shaft mines on top of one another.
If you decide to stack your mineshafts, however, you should use an odd-spacing, or you'll get inefficiency AND blindspots.
for instance, The following tiering has the advantage of being very efficient, while finding any 2x2x2 cube of valuable ore. It has the disadvantage of missing some of the smaller veins, though it doesn't miss as many as you might expect-it yields somewhere between 80 and 90 % of the ores in a region. (mine at y=12, y=16, and y=8)
- oxoooxoooxooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- ooooooooooooo
- ooooooooooooo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- ooooooooooooo
- ooooooooooooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- ooooooooooooo
- ooooooooooooo
(bedrock begins.) (x=branch, o=stone)
This is a good mine for single player if you can't stand the mere possibility of leaving a 2x2x2cube of diamonds just below or above your initial mineshaft-this will find them.
The next one has a tiering distance of 3, and is noticeably less efficient in terms of ores found/cobble removed, but it finds at least 90% of the diamonds in a chunk:
- oooxoooxoooxo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- ooooooooooooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- ooooooooooooo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- ooooooooooooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
(bedrock begins.) this is a good mine for somewhat crowded multiplayer, where thoroughness is actually worth something.
should you be willing to sacrifice efficiency in exchange for revealing every last block, you can use a tiering distance of 2:
- oooxoooxoooxo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- oxoooxoooxooo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- oooxoooxoooxo
- oxoooxoooxooo
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This particular tiering, however, is not only inefficient, but requires one of the access methods shown in the pictures-either an 8 tall, 2-3 wide tunnel with staircases as shown in the grey picture, or with one access shaft for 2 sets of layers. this should be used only in ridiculously crowded multiplayer servers, when what matters is finding that one redstone vein that got missed by all the random-miners.
however, nearly any spacing and layout can be used with a given tiering distance. , as it is fairly thorough, only slightly less efficient than a straight shaft, and it can be transformed into nearly any level of thoroughness without wasting effort.
however, Nearly any layout, spacing, and branch-lenght can be combined with any tiering distance, though doing it with a pheonix mine on the compact spacing is NOT recommend for anyone who gets headaches easily.
Simple Strip Mining
My technique is to take off the top 6 layers of a mountain completely. Continue until your mountain is entirely flat. TNT is useful for the first 5 layers, since the explosion will destroy only cobblestone for the most part.
Diagram:
Key: A = Air
B = Block
L = Ground Level
Step 1:
A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
First 5 layers are gone when you start mining.
Next couple steps are as shown:
A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A
B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B B
This time consuming method is a useful tool for when you need minerals or a flat area.
Quarry Mining
A 16x16 quarry being looked at from the top.
Looking up from the bottom of a quarry mine.
Quarry Mining is very similar to branch mining, sharing the prospect of taking all resources within an area. These mining shafts are used very commonly in minecraft. The difference between Quarrying and Branch Mining is that the process of Quarrying involves a large rectangular or square strip, continually mined downwards with a staircase running along the side. This method got its name by its similarity to real world quarry sites. Quarries are typically ceased when a large cave is discovered (This does not directly stop the excavation, it just makes it difficult to continue), the miner abandons the Quarry for another project, or bedrock is reached. One can place a minecart track(powered) in a spiral, to allow ease of access.
An unfinished 20x20 quarry.
A 25x25x57 quarry.
The Construction of a Quarry is as follows:
1: Determine the size of the project, there is no standard so simply choose how big you want it to be, however it is advised that the area is large, to maximize resources within a single quarry. (A typical quarry can be 20x20 or 20x30, for example)
2: Begin Mining until the entire area is one block deep, save for one block which will become the stairs
3: Continue mining one block deep while keeping an extra block to extend the stairway, until the mine reaches bedrock or until you wish to abandon the project.
Example:
Key: - = Air
B = Stone block
S = Staircase
Top of mine:
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
BS----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
Next few levels down:
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
B-----------------------------B
BS----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
BS----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
B-----------------------------B
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
Although the yielded amount of cobblestone, dirt/sand, coal, iron, and to some extent gold, will be enormous, and the possibility of lava is very high, this is not the best method for mining diamond and lapis lazuli, because they're found only at the bottom of the map (Note: Diamonds and Lapis Lazuli CAN be mined using this method, but due to their rarity the placement of the quarry along with its size will determine the amount). This type of mining is suggested for getting large amounts of cobblestone, iron and coal, besides the ability to gain large amounts of resources, this type of mining exposes many caves for further exploration/mining.
Besides mining, Quarries also have some non-resource related benefits, such as keeping the area clean and fresh (not ruining the nature), and a handy trap as the mine is very deep.
Water blocks placed two high at the bottom of a quarry can allow quick descent (by just jumping into the water), and water elevators can be used to quickly return to ground level from the bottom.
Warning: Be extremely careful around this mine, as a fall will surely be fatal, unless you covered the 2 bottom levels of it with water. Make sure the shaft is either covered up by a layer of blocks or a fenced perimeter. The shaft should also be well-lit to avoid being a mob pit.
Tunnel-mining
This involves digging a long tunnel. You will need many logs (for sticks), and optimally, crafting tables, chests, and furnaces. The simplest tunnel is 2 high by 1 wide, but the wider and higher the tunnel, the more cobblestone you get per chunk you explore (you will not gather cobblestone any faster, also you will get less ores). Dig at about level 50 if under land; 40 if underwater; or 12 if for precious ores. You may want to use the cobblestone to seal off caves already explored. This is like a quarry - but more useful since less resources are spent going through the dirt/sand layer, and it can also be used in conjunction with minecart tracks to go from one base to another. A 4X3 tunnel that is 1800 blocks long will yield as much as an 18X18 quarry to bedrock, though arguably safer as you won't hit the lava layer, and it will yield more diamond/redstone if at layer 12, as well as the fact that falling in is completely non-lethal!
Best used for ores AND cobblestone - for ores only, use Branch mining instead.
Multi-mining
The name fits any combined mine such as the following:
Quarry-Branch Mine
This involves digging a quarry and adding ledges every few blocks down around the outside while digging. The sides of the quarry have to be a certain length, for example with a two-space branch mine, you need each side to be [(something divisible by 3) + 1] blocks long. The result will vaguely resemble a shopping mall atrium with one massive open space and then a bunch of "shelves". Then, dig the shafts to at least 20 blocks for a ton of ores, including quite a few diamonds (about 3 veins) down on the lower levels. For a 10x10 quarry, you will get about 150 stacks of cobblestone, while for larger mines (e.g. 40x40) you will get around 2000 stacks, handy for massive building projects.
Quarry-Cave Mining
Dig a quarry down to under Y-level 25, and attempt to unearth a cave. If you do, you can explore that cave. Many of the deeper caves have no surface entrance, and being able to expose a cave that is otherwise sealed to the outside world through a quarry can garner you both large amounts of cobblestone, dirt, and gravel, as well as the rewards of mining out a deep cave. If you don't want to hold on to the stone that is excavated, you can use it to fill in dead ends, allowing you to navigate the remainder of the cave more easily.
"Mass Mining"
For those who favor mining in a straight path but try to not make it very long. Once you reach bedrock level, go up a few blocks and start mining and make it a large corridor. If you reach a cave, continue to make the large corridor (but secure the cave first). This will give you large stores of cobblestone and more of a chance of finding lava. Find ores that are nearby that would be hidden if you did another technique and did not get lost in your mine. This a very basic technique yet a tiring way of mining. It is suggested to use a diamond pickaxe with max efficiency enchantment and unbreaking enchantment so that the pickaxe doesn't break during the process and also consumes less time compared to using a non-enchanted stone pickaxe.
Aesthetic Mines
This section is for mines that focus more on aesthetics rather than efficiency.
Clc's Vertical design
A mine of mine (No pun intended) I decided to talk about, seeing as how few aesthetic mine designs there are it should be a welcome change. Mind you don't expect to do all the connections, let alone open/maze connections (Variations section) unless you're on a server, or you have a will you can break diamond on.
Design
This design consists of a Hub and a Push leading into another Hub.
Key:
B - Block
_ - Air
Hub:
Top view:
BBBBBBB
BB___BB
B_____B
B_____B
B_____B
BB___BB
BBBBBBB
Side view:
BBBBBBB
BB___BB
BB___BB
B_____B
B_____B
B_____B
BBBBBBB
Each push is basically the design behind it (The side view) dropped a square repeated several times, the amount is dependent on the miner but an even number is preferred due to torch placement (Discussed later)
The central hub (The first hub made in the mine) will have 4 pushes in each of the cardinal directions, eventually, if you are in need of ores you may choose to go down in one direction until you have what you need. I recommend you check your y coordinate about now, you may want a push length that will allow you to get your y value as close as you can to 12 (Lava spawns in caves at 10, and your y is up 2 for the positioning of your head) After you've decided on your length and finished a push you make another Hub in the same size as above. Continue until you reach the last of your hubs (You should end it before you hit bedrock, otherwise it won't be very nice looking)
Torch Placement
Torch placement is simple in this design. You will have 8 torches in each hub, on both sides of the bottom of the corners. If you want you may add a torch to the center floor to add more light, but it is enough to prevent mobs spawning as it is now.
For every push you put two torches on every other left and right hangs.
Connections
After you finished all of the cardinal pushes you'll be wondering what next to do, considering the amount you've mined you may want a place to store away items, connections are great for this.
Each connection is a hub formed by two of the cardinal branches intersecting, meaning if you went to the first north hub down, you'd have to mine one push/hub to the left and connect to it from the first west hub down by pushing right. It's the same as the hub but it leaves two walls with nothing to do, if you try to continue with them you will get intersections that are hard to make aesthetic unless your looking for a large open mine, or a maze mine. Instead, you can use it for chests, and it works well for it's purpose. Very hard to describe with letters, so here's a picture instead: Picture
Continuations
After your cardinal directions are done, you have your as many connections as you care for, what's next? You continue Adding onto your bottom hubs, only with straight pushes. The bottom hubs will branch in all directions except backwards (Unless your going with a open/mine variation) and each of those hubs may spread in the same direction so long as it's not backwards for the original hub. If you positioned well in the first central hub and push size, you'll be scraping a long in a fairly wide tunnel along the same height you find diamonds. It's easy sailing from here on.
Varations
Central Drop shaft:
Central hub is under an area of flat ground, you put a three deep hole where torches will go, ladders go on the bottom and top, torches in the middle, you go above the hub as normal only there will be a 2 high gap under the hangs on this first hub to allow for the ladders as a way up. Due to update you will need the ladders to go all the way down, and such won't have a place for a torch. You can circumvent this by putting them on the middle of part left over at the top of the next section, the lighting is the same and you won't need an extra torch to prevent mobs spawning. This also works particularly well if you want to replace the top with glass.
Open Mine Connections:
Same as original, only every connection you make splits off in all four directions. It goes up with a 1 wide path in the center in all four directions and the both of the two wide paths go down until they merge (Which is when it can do so without getting rid of the upward path)
There are two variations, one where you will go up when you make a connection, so you will have a stack of hubs in all directions, another where you only dig down in the connections, where they intersect you build the 1 central path down to the hub. The latter is more efficient as all of it will eventually lead to the bottom and therefore be mining ore.
Maze Mine Connections:
The same as an Open Mine except your down path is one wide, not your up path. Same two variations, same correlation in efficiency.
Lava lights:
You can replace the torches in the center (If you placed them at all) of the hubs with a piece of glass and lava under it and it gives only one light less. You can change it for a 3x3 if you feel so inclined and have enough lava.
Drop Shafts:
This combines the Central Drop Shaft and optionally the Open and Maze Mine Connections. It requires close tallies if you don't want to combine them though.
At your Hub you mine down the same as if you were going to make a Central drop Shaft, but continue until you are on the same level as your next hub (Depends on the size of your push, like a 8 push would be 8 blocks down) After you reach the bottom you make another hub in the same style as a Central Drop Shaft. This will require more ladders, so it's not a very good idea if your short on wood, but it allows a certain maze quality that I find welcome.
There are two places where you can put the ladders, but the two per corner type of the Central Drop Shaft style is preferred, however the other style uses less ladders. You mine your shafts in the blocks directly north/south/east/west of the center so that you have 4 shafts all the way to the next hub, this require 5 blocks to hang down from the hub, some like it, others don't.
Two variations on top of that, you may use the drop shaft for all your hubs, thus any hub with a hub above will be able to ascend, or you can only use the shafts for the central hub, adding 'terraces' to your mine.
Where does open/maze mine connections come in? After you get down to the bottom level you may continue to stretch out and connect with the original push/hubs. Once you connect you may use the open style, leaving 1 wide path up or the maze, leaving 2x2 wide up.
Other Aesthetic Mine Ideas
Central Mine
- is open space;
- are rails
Once every x blocks you should change the rail/torch/rail combination for a Powered Rail/Redstone torch/Powered Rail
You will have a central rail system with smaller hallways for pedestrian traffic. On interesting locations, you should add some kind of rail station with access to the rail.
Side Mines
Connections
(From the top)
Random Mining
Mining randomly is very simple: dig, dig, dig wherever and however you just happen to feel like digging at the moment.
Very simple, and potentially the most rewarding type of mining around: you can find dungeons, massive cave networks, and maybe the enemy base. HOWEVER! it is also, potentially, the least rewarding: you could be 2 blocks away from a 16-ore diamond vein (two cubes, from 2 different chunks) and HAVE NO IDEA! -and in general, it's possible to twist and turn and miss all the ores, even the coal....
But it is DEFINITLElY the most dangerous: you can get lost, mine your way into lava (and thus lose ALL your items), mine your way into a ravine, mine your way into a skeleton spawner with 5 angry skeletons, or even into your own 40 block drop. alternatively, you could embarrass yourself by mining straight up into a patch of gravel or sand, or flooding half your mine digging into the ocean.
That said, there is one major benefit to random mining; it will confuse potential griefers. Surrounding a main base with all kinds of twisty passages is certainly a viable option-though it won't stop a determined, deliberate griefer from finding you with a widely-spaced branch mine.
Note: In order to preserve safety it is recommended to never dig directly below oneself, or directly above.
Space/Portion Mining
Not to be confused with Strip Mining; however, this does involve a similar method.
Room Mining
This form of mining involves someone to make a hall way and then make a small opening in the wall. From there, one must simply dig out a portion of the block to create a space. This method is repeated many times down the hall on either side to create rooms for various purposes, while finding several ores and valued materials in the process. This method is useful for the creation of houses, barns, indoor-gardens, storages, and in the creation of hard-to-find/secret places as it offers a variety of places one may go to in order to find something, but they may likely give up in the process unless they are determined.
Tunnel Mining
This is highly similar to Room Mining, except that instead of Building rooms, you build tunnels. However, this takes much longer to do and tunnels are usually much larger than rooms. Because of this, Tunnel Mining is lesser to be used as the tunnels take up many tools in the process of making them as well as the mining process may dig into a body of water and flood the tunnel. However, if the player wants to make an artificial river for boats, this may not be a problem. Despite the fact that they may yield many resources, players may use up several pick axes or shovels in the process of making them as well as torches to light up the tunnel. Players may get bored of doing this and may abandon the tunnels while still in the process of making them. Some may not consider beginning construction on future tunnels due to lost supplies and the tunnel not being rewarding enough to continue. This method is useful for making minecart subways, large indoor-gardens, art galleries, tree farms, boat rivers, large barn(s), mazes, doing construction on vertical and horizontal structures, constructing strip mines, and secret/hard-to-find areas by making tunnels that seem to go nowhere.
Clear Mining/Safe Mining
The general purpose of Clear Mining (or Safe Mining, whichever one may prefer to call it) is a variation of Box Mining and other simple techniques. A player first finds a suitable area, preferably one block above the bedrock layer so that the player can easily obtain diamonds and other rare minerals. The player must also have at least 5 to 6 stone picks, one iron pick for rare minerals such as gold, and 3-4 shovels for gravel. A sword is optional depending on the players preferred difficulty settings. Once the player has found a suitable and deep area that they are confident in they may either begin or set up a small chamber near the area to store minerals and construct tools to further their mining. To begin, make a simple 1 block wide and 2 blocks high that spans roughly 8-10 blocks in length. Once this has begun, the player then uses their stone picks to mine directly in front of them where their tunnel ends, but, there is a catch. The player does not move once they make their initial 8-10 block tunnel, and mines only the above block of the two block height making a small box, 4 blocks long. Once the player makes a half tunnel 4 blocks long, the turn to their left or right and do the same; not breaking any of the blocks below the first block. (when done the concept is much more simple) After the player makes a reversed "T" shape, then the player can start to mine out the remaining areas around the tunnels, only using their reach length to clear away stone and any materials. Once the player has maxed out their reach length, they will be in small "box" that reduces risks of being suffocated by gravel or possibly lava. The player then should have a clear area, and then mines out the remaining second blocks, still avoiding the "edges" of the safety box. Once all materials are mined, the player can then break the box and gather the resources in one quick run. Once the player is done in this, there will of course be small "edges" that they not reach, and these should be mined out making a clear box. To further the effectiveness of this strategy, one may then place torches in the "frontal" corners of the area and repeat the process on each side, however this time, rotating their view to clear away all areas of their reach, so long as they are away from their initial entrance tunnel. The end result should be a very fast, resourceful, and safer approach to mining at bedrock. However, mobs may spawn in areas of the mine that are poorly lit, and lava is a factor, along with tediousness, so the player must make a commitment to a clear mine, leaving when satisfied with their bounty of materials. Like parenthesized above, this strategy is best played out rather than explained.
Amphitheater Mining
Start with a basic U-shaped mine, and make an "amphitheater" down the levels until you have a one-block space. Then, make a doorway ahead to make another amphitheater mine. This is very useful, and you can even make it decorative by adding staircases as stairs or chairs.
Wanderer mining
This is a simple mining technique, but isn't used much because of the risk of getting lost. Start by making a staircase down until you reach the level where the desired ore is most commonly found, and begin mining. Occasionally change directions and make multiple branches.If there is a rise, plow through it. If there is a fall, bridge it with cobble. the point is to cover as much area without changing your y coordinate.
Worst Case Scenario
If you fall into Lava, do not panic; try to get far away from the lava. This way even if you die, your stuff won't be destroyed by the lava. If you need to heal, eat Food and hide in a corner/away from Mobs, and make sure you use a bucket of water if you have one. If you know you are going to die anyway press F3 and F2 to find out your coordinates and take a screenshot.
If you are trapped in blocks and are suffocating, try to dig looking downwards. This could assist you in getting out of the trapped pit.
If you are fighting and are going to die, press F3 then F2.
Whatever happens, you should look back upon what you did, and analyze how you died, and what you could do to improve.
If your pickaxe breaks and you've stumbled into a cave and you have lost your way the only option is to punch your way out and this could take a while.
Best Case Scenario
Should you happen to accumulate a large amount of resources, such as, perhaps, 2 stacks of Iron Ore and 10 Diamonds you may be tempted to delve further into the cavern. Resist this urge and return to your base to empty your loot. Dumping off your goodies instead of trying to explore longer may help in the long run, and will reduce the chance of losing your loot. Having a bed at the base of your mine is also helpful; if you die, you will spawn a the base of your mine, hopefully surrounded by your chests full of goodies!
Safety
When going for a mining trip, do NOT dig when in a desert or place abundant in gravel. If you dig under gravel or sand, it will fall on you and suffocate you.
When going mining, after you are finished and you make your way back, try to go out the way you came. That way, you know you are safe and there is no risk of lava, water, gravel, or sand falling on you and killing you. Digging a new shaft to escape the underground could result in sand falling on you when it turns out you dug your exit below a desert biome. Or you could be drowned when the entire ocean floods your exit shaft.
Never take valuable items when going mining. You don't want to delve into the gorges down below while carrying tons of iron and diamonds, for if you lose them while mining, you will be sorry. A crafting table is always suggested to carry while mining, so that you may make more picks if one breaks. Use stone picks if you choose to be safe as they hack through stone quite fast and are cheap to make. Carry only at least one iron pick for mining that redstone or diamond that you stumbled upon. This way, you have less to lose. Take a diamond pick if you want to be fast and efficient for its durability. Never take your diamond sword while going mining, as you know that swords are disposable and you want to make them last, so losing it on a mining trip is pretty sad. Also, if needed, although this is rare, carrying a furnace while mining might be needed in order to smelt that iron ore you found so you can mine the diamond because your iron pick broke earlier.
Mining stone blocks is very dangerous no matter what direction it is. Mining right above risks suffocation from gravel or sand, or even mining the ceiling from a distance could risk water, lava (though blocks holding fluids above them are unmistakable for the drops of that liquid seeping through) or even hostile mobs flowing in. mining the walls risks lava flow or mobs (water flow is quite harmless in the occasion other that putting out torches and destroying rails). and mining right below you risks falling great heights or into lava. If you hear lava, it is advised you mine blocks with water covering it, turning lava into obsidian before you or drops can fall in.
Tragic Accidents like this can happen! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUpgnWTZrlM
