Breaking a stone block with 5 free sides should drop the full block

[Guimoute]

With the current system, if you want to get a stone or ore block, you have to destroy all 6 of its neighbouring blocks then the main block will drop on its own.

My proposal consists in adding a second system where you destroy only 5 of the neighbouring blocks to "make wiggle room", then break the main block to get its block form, not small rocks. This solution has the benefit of wasting much less stone as you truly get 50% full blocks per layer cleared. It also yields a clean flat ground/ceiling after the quarrying is done, you don't have to go 1 block past the targeted blocks.

Attached is a screenshot where all the top stones could be quarried if this system was implemented:  

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Edit: the behavior has been added via a mod. I'll publish the mod in the next few days. It looks like this: https://imgur.com/97Uo8g5.mp4

Edit2: mod was published at https://mods.vintagestory.at/show/mod/7349

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by Guimoute
added mod link

[ArtiKs]

It's such a pain getting the raw rock in big quantities. I agree that there should be a method to do so in a less time consuming way.

Honestly, i'd preffer a method similar to "Stone Quarry" Mod by DArkHekRoMaNT, but somewhat nerfed and achievable in the later stages of the game:
Mod:https://mods.vintagestory.at/stonequarry
The tools used should have durability and shorter relieving ranges, for example.

[Maelstrom]

Having quarried rocks detach based on a single face makes some building impossible.  If I want a single rock on the side of another block it will automatically pop off.  Other methods of quarrying would be more effective as @ArtiKs mentioned.

[Thorfinn]

1 hour ago, Maelstrom said:

Having quarried rocks detach based on a single face makes some building impossible.  If I want a single rock on the side of another block it will automatically pop off.  Other methods of quarrying would be more effective as @ArtiKs mentioned.

I might be misunderstanding the idea in the OP, but I think he meant that if there are 5 open faces, using the pick on the stone itself drops the relieved rock, not the handful of rocks that you would otherwise get.

So in your example, the stone would not automatically pop off, but only when you tried to remove it with a pick. Then you would get back the stone.

The downside is that it seems one would potentially be able to relieve about twice the current number of stones with a single pick. If the goal was to maintain natural rock as a premium building material, this doesn't do it.

[TroyCast]

On 6/23/2023 at 9:00 PM, Maelstrom said:

Having quarried rocks detach based on a single face makes some building impossible.  If I want a single rock on the side of another block it will automatically pop off.  Other methods of quarrying would be more effective as @ArtiKs mentioned.

No one suggested this because this would truly break the game.

 

I think implementing this feature would be great and increase stone yield realistically without making it too easy.

[Maelstrom]

I can kinda see things bizarrely sometimes.  Looks like this is one of those times.  

[Guimoute]

On 6/23/2023 at 10:51 PM, Thorfinn said:

I might be misunderstanding the idea in the OP, but I think he meant that if there are 5 open faces, using the pick on the stone itself drops the relieved rock, not the handful of rocks that you would otherwise get.

So in your example, the stone would not automatically pop off, but only when you tried to remove it with a pick. Then you would get back the stone.

The downside is that it seems one would potentially be able to relieve about twice the current number of stones with a single pick. If the goal was to maintain natural rock as a premium building material, this doesn't do it.

Yes you understood it right!

Regarding the drop rate, if it is truly a concern, the rock block with 5 free faces could have a chance of dropping as a full block or as a few stones like it does currently. For me it would feel more intuitive at 100% but I could see this becoming part of a json-adjustable property.