So much dirt... so. much. dirt. What's a good use?

[SongOfRuth]

I'm guessing nothing. But just in case.... lol

I have a tendency to hoard all supplies that come into my hands. So I have literally thousands of low fertility soil. I use some here and there as filler where it won't be seen (wall intersections).

Maybe I need to build some mud brick things.

What do you do with all your extra non-useful blocks?

[Echoweaver]

I make a bunch of low fertility soil into path blocks using the hundreds of stones picked up from mining. So that's a thought. And I carry around about a half stack of soil to use to make a quick nerdpole. Otherwise, yeah.... I do dump extra dirt.

[Streetwind]

Path blocks, absolutely. I never have enough dirt for all the paths I want to build.

[Jackal Black]

Like the others, I either use them as fillers, or via tape paths, which are just convenient

 

[Thorfinn]

Warming shelters. If you have enough of those spread around, you don't need winter clothes. If you remember to put ladders on the third block up, they are also very convenient for getting on top of, out of the reach of bears.

And though it doesn't really apply if you play with map, packed earth makes great breadcrumbs.

[EDIT]

Though I do have to admit my playstyle does not generate thousands of dirt blocks. I'm always having to grab a shovel to get a few to work with.

[/EDIT]

Edited June 6, 2023 by Thorfinn

[Echoweaver]

49 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Though I do have to admit my playstyle does not generate thousands of dirt blocks. I'm always having to grab a shovel to get a few to work with.

That's true too. I don't like tearing up the landscape, so I often put back the dirt if I dig down to take propick samples or whatnot.

[PhotriusPyrelus]

10 hours ago, Echoweaver said:

I make a bunch of low fertility soil into path blocks using the hundreds of stones picked up from mining. So that's a thought. And I carry around about a half stack of soil to use to make a quick nerdpole. Otherwise, yeah.... I do dump extra dirt.

Have you tried hay?  It's so much faster to break.

[LJim]

Dirt blocks make for great bear-slaying outposts, like what @Thorfinn mentioned.

Also, glider airports. 

[Rhyagelle]

You might feel like it's a lot, but when you're making roads, it runs out fast.

So use it for road building and keep saving whatever you get!

[Thranos]

Fill in (explored) caves near your house to give drifters less places to live.

[Luzurper]

A Dirt House I use dirt to build a 2-3 tall stack and hit enemies with mostly, which is definitely not cheating 

[1Joachim1]

make packed dirt and mud blocks and path blocks.. mudbricks are nice to build because they are more or less pretty, packed dirt i use for watch towers, which i also use for shelter. the color makes it easy to see, plus it's as abundant as long as there's soil. the path blocks are a godsend, makes you go faster (33%) without increasing the consumtion of food. it's also a great way to get rid of stones too.. 
 

[Echoweaver]

18 hours ago, PhotriusPyrelus said:

Have you tried hay?  It's so much faster to break.

I've generally been more concerned with how fast I can BUILD one. The taking down has been less of a concern. But I take your point.

[Thorfinn]

On 6/6/2023 at 8:32 PM, LJim said:

Also, glider airports.

?

On 6/6/2023 at 6:52 PM, PhotriusPyrelus said:

Have you tried hay?  It's so much faster to break.

Ladders are even faster.

[LJim]

31 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

?

I build these 100-block tall structures, then glide off from one to the other. We can travel 3000 blocks in a couple of in-game hours. 

[Thorfinn]

Oh, nice. Might have to start doing that. I was just so underwhelmed with the glider that I haven't bothered to do much with it. But I can see that once set up, a network of stations would work well.

Why not just use ladders, though? You have ladders running up the side of those towers anyway, right? Or is there some way of climbing them I don't know about?

[LJim]

Yup got ladders running up the towers. I place lanterns at the top so they're easily identifiable at a distance even at night. I also use CrazyAluminium's autowalk mod so it's easier on the wrist to go up the ladder. 

Mind, I still find gliders underwhelming lol. But it makes it more bearable. 

[PhotriusPyrelus]

8 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

Ladders are even faster.

You are correct.  However, Ladders are a bit more expensive and copper-age.  Hay is stone age.  B-)

...also I would be very tempted to jump off and re-catch the ladder to descend quicker and would inevitably die as often as not...  <.<

[Thorfinn]

Ladders are day 1. A stack of a dozen is plenty to give you a day 1 scouting nerdpole. Amazing at how much difference that little of a distance makes in finding flax. I used to get through the first month or two with a short stack of 25 or so, but I've rearranged how I do things of late so I build to a stack of 63 in night 1. It gives me a better shot at seeing which direction would be most fruitful to explore. The increase in upheaval makes it a bit more important to get extended scouting going.

I'll give it a shot again. Maybe a stack of bales is a better use of time than a stack of ladders.

@Echoweaver was obviously using them to get out of the reach of predators, so I agree hay would be better than ladders if you can spare both the inventory space and the time to gather that much grass.

[Echoweaver]

Ok -- this is interesting. Can you stack ladders up in the air without attaching them to a vertical surface? I have never tried this.

[Thorfinn]

Yes, you can start them from flat ground. That's how I usually start them. But I only use them for recon. Spotting flax, bears, and the best route to passable terrain, stuff like that. They are useless for escaping from bears, for example.

Oh, and it's a bit weird,. but you are best off placing all your ladder sections at once, or at least above you while you climb. There's a bug of some sort where if you resume building and maybe you are too close, you will start taking damage and won't be able to do anything about it, and your death will be reported as "pancaked". I haven't figured out exactly what conditions are. It's happened a couple times to me, but since I play permadeath, I don't care to investigate too closely.

[Maelstrom]

25 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

There's a bug of some sort where if you resume building and maybe you are too close, you will start taking damage and won't be able to do anything about it, and your death will be reported as "pancaked". I haven't figured out exactly what conditions are. It's happened a couple times to me, but since I play permadeath, I don't care to investigate too closely.

Maybe investigate in a non-permadeath world.  Grant yourself a stack of ladders and investigate?  I suspect it shouldn't take too long to discover conditions for the pancaked status.

[Thorfinn]

[EDIT]

Had another thought about how the weirdness works, and tried it out. Sure enough found it!

Stand on top of top of the ladder you are building. Happens when you climb all the way up and look around. Now look down and add a ladder section below you. Ouch!

Descending the ladder does not remove the ouch!, but backing up does.

Working hypothesis: this makes you enter the block, and because of when the check for collisions happens, descending the ladder leaves you inside a block.

[/EDIT]

[EDIT2]

Those new ladder sections appear to lack the boundary that keeps you from entering them, too. If you climb back up the ladder and step forward, as happens when you climb with W instead of Space, ouch!

[/EDIT2]

[EDIT3]

Wonder if one could exploit that to kill drifters before it gets patched...

[/EDIT3]

Edited June 9, 2023 by Thorfinn

[ArgentLuna]

I always carry at least a stack of packed dirt. Just so many things you can do with a easily places and relatively easy to remove block. From filling gaps/holes in terrain to building shelter while out in the world. Fill between better presenting blocks when building. Once you get past a certain point you do just throw it away but its always good to have some in a chest.