I can't find clay

[joceville]

I have been searching for an hour and in a very large radius around my base and there is no clay (rainfall is common to uncommon)

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @joceville!

Rather than just running around willy-nilly, I generally have a lot better luck building a ladder 25-30 or so tall and look around. The difference is obvious from that perspective. Plus, it's easy to spot the  crops, since they are mostly based on "#"  rather than the "X" of grass. Sure you could do it with a nerdpole, but with ladders, you just climb down, knock out the bottom ladder section, and they all fall down.

If you are on the 1.20 pre-releases, the new red clay is very easy to see.

[EDIT]

I don't know whether it forms in Uncommon rainfall -- unless I'm playing a challenge mode where my spawn is my home, I don't settle anywhere that's not at least Common.

Edited October 10, 2024 by Thorfinn

[joceville]

Ok thanks, some people in other threads said you can look on the map, does that only work with the non colour accurate map?

[Brady_The]

34 minutes ago, joceville said:

does that only work with the non colour accurate map?

It only works with the colour accurate map.(/wc colorAccurateWorldmap true)

[joceville]

Ok good thanks for replying. I really didn't expect the forum to be this active

[Grummsh]

There are plenty good souls here actiove and ready to help or discuss all the thing VS i love it

Check near water and sand - kinda obvious but usually were i typically spot clay first.

[Svetlin Totev]

I just bought the game and after 3:30 hours according to the game (probably a lot more if you count paused time) I finally found clay. For some reason the most important material in this game apparently only spawns in some biomes and the biomes are gigantic (or for some reason it didn't spawn for thousands of blocks from my spawn). Maybe a better strategy is to start a new game if you have a bad spawn? I spawned in a gravel biome with huge mountains everywhere. Even completing the tutorial was quite the challenge considering how far I had to walk (and climb) just for that. But how would I know it was a bad spawn when it was my first game... Not a great experience ngl...

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @Svetlin Totev!

It's true that clay doesn't appear in low rainfall areas, like deserts and gravel biomes. The rest of us know that, so don't waste time looking where it doesn't spawn. Your view is valuable. How would you recommend that information be conveyed? Should it be "Just go ahead and start a new world" anytime one does not complete the tutorial in a certain amount of time? Should it suggest you seek out lowlands with lots of rainfall? What would keep it from being not a great experience?

[LadyWYT]

17 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

It's true that clay doesn't appear in low rainfall areas, like deserts and gravel biomes.

The handbook does already make note of this, but the information can be easily missed if one doesn't spend a few minutes reading through the progression guide and related chapters. One could learn most of the information, of course, just from trial-and-error in gameplay, but it's going to make for a much rougher experience.

[Svetlin Totev]

18 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

Welcome to the forums, @Svetlin Totev!

It's true that clay doesn't appear in low rainfall areas, like deserts and gravel biomes. The rest of us know that, so don't waste time looking where it doesn't spawn. Your view is valuable. How would you recommend that information be conveyed? Should it be "Just go ahead and start a new world" anytime one does not complete the tutorial in a certain amount of time? Should it suggest you seek out lowlands with lots of rainfall? What would keep it from being not a great experience?

I think a relatively simple solution to my early-game problems would have been to prevent the player from spawning in a bad biome in general. At least when it is the first game maybe? I already knew a gravel biome would be harder because I've played minecraft. But that experiece also made me expect smaller biomes than what this game has. I think what made finding clay even more difficult was that I assumed it would be found near water. Probably because that's how it is irl and in minecraft. But 2 of the 3 clay patches I eventually found were on top of hills. So the tall grass was covering the blue texture on the sides and I was mostly seeing the hills from below while exploring flatter terrain that is easier to navigate. And I was mostly looking at the ground around water anyways. I think it would be better if clay would spawn in a less random manner. For example near water in lowlands the way the sand spawns.

[Thorfinn]

Are you playing 1.19.8, or the 1.20 RC?

In the new version, red clay can spawn anywhere that the climate is acceptable (0.27 rainfall (probably uncommon and up), and at least -10C), while blue clay is the same, but only at or a few handfuls of blocks above sea level.

Interestingly, bauxite finally has a reason to exist, apart from the small number you need for refractory bricks. Something I hadn't noticed until I just read the JSON is

Spoiler

fireclay now spawns in bauxite sand and gravel. It's the same rate as blue clay but somewhere around 20% the size, and very rare standard sized deposits.

 

Edited January 6, 2025 by Thorfinn

[darkmage0707077]

On 1/5/2025 at 6:56 PM, Thorfinn said:

Welcome to the forums, @Svetlin Totev!

It's true that clay doesn't appear in low rainfall areas, like deserts and gravel biomes. The rest of us know that, so don't waste time looking where it doesn't spawn. Your view is valuable. How would you recommend that information be conveyed? Should it be "Just go ahead and start a new world" anytime one does not complete the tutorial in a certain amount of time? Should it suggest you seek out lowlands with lots of rainfall? What would keep it from being not a great experience?

Hey, new player, myself! I was looking through the forums to find info on finding Red Clay easier as I'm having issues, and ran across this.

Trying to find Red Clay for the first time is apparently hard enough as it is - I and a friend spent hours looking, and I still haven't found any. But the idea of a new player logging in for the first time and then fruitlessly looking for red clay because they got unlucky and unknowingly spawned in the "wrong" biome is a genuine problem. I would even go so far as call it a minor design flaw since it can leave a sour taste in new players' mouths, as OP demonstrated; since clay is so essential early on and most everything you want to do is locked behind it, that can lead to player frustration as they scour the land looking for what they need to "start the game proper".

My recommendation, if possible, is to add a basic toggled-on world-gen option that allows a player to guarantee they spawn in a biome that can generate red clay; that way, it'll hopefully just be a matter of time for them to run across it naturally.

If you want to go the extra mile for new players, maybe even make it so it will guarantee a red clay deposit generates on startup in a *relatively* close radius to initial spawn, too? Heck, you could even look into an advanced option where the player can choose what biome type they spawn in, so veterans can give themselves a break or a REAL challenge!

Failing that, a "simple" fix would have the game print out what biome the character spawns into, and then state whether it feels that the basics (starting food, wood, clay, etc) can be found nearby or not. At the very least, this will give new players the info they need to choose to respawn if their RNG sucks.

Thanks for your time reading this, and excited to progress when I'm able!

[Thorfinn]

Welcome to the forums, @darkmage0707077!

I've been thinking about this a bit, and it's a bit more involved than I initially thought because there's no guarantee that you've selected a biome capable of having red clay. If you start on a mountaintop glacier, or chose an arid start, it might strain credulity. If you are a numbers geek, the min rain is 0.27, and the min temp is -10C. There does not appear to be a simple way of tweaking the area right around worldspawn without affecting the rate globally.

I believe a "trainer" of sorts can be had with the mod ParticlesPlus, where "smoke" rises from those deposits.

Cliff's Notes version -- if you have cattails, and see trees other than larch, and your rain level is at least uncommon, you are probably in the right place. If there are no cattails you might have to head south. If the rain is too low, head pretty much any direction.

Edited March 2, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Human17]

Same here! I'm a new player and I spent DAYS of in-game time looking for clay. Travelled around 1000 tiles in each direction. Looked near water. In plains. In mountains. Near lakes and near the sea. By eyes or randomly starting at the ground and seeing what type of tile comes up. Found lots of different rock, sand, different soil types, peat, various minerals, etc. 

Still cannot find any clay anywhere

Oh and there's rain and there's various types of reeds in the water, so based on what I've read so far - clay should be there.

I have to say that this is pretty frustrating - it goes from "hardcore game" category into "frustrating" category, especially when I have an hour or so after work to play only.

[Maelstrom]

Clay can be sneaky as grass will grow on top like dirt and hide it from quick visual surveys.  If you play with color maps peat and clay will show up on the map with a slightly different color than the surrounding grass covered dirt.  I usually find clay where there's a change in the block level.  Once you find a deposit or two you'll start seeing clay a lot quicker.   

I had the hardest time seeing crops when I first started.  Once I realized that grass grows in a cross while grain grows in a square I started seeing grain everywhere that missed before.  Clay can be the same way.

[Human17]

Thanks for your advice!

I spent the 3rd evening in a row looking for clay and finally found some red clay, on the side of a hill. It's the only spot with clay that I found within around 1000 blocks of my starting point. Almost a day walk there and back and there's only maybe 30 blocks of clay there, of which I took back probably around half.

I really feel like this is a problem for new players. I was ready to give up on the game since as much as "hard survival" is fun, for a busy adult lifestyle, it's just too much time spent wondering aimlessly, looking for a slightly different coloured block.

I also can't see any difference on the map, so as far as I can tell, there's no "smarter" way of finding it. The only colour difference on the map that I can tell of similar kind is peat.

[Maelstrom]

I think red clay (which is by far the most prominent type of clay) is almost the same color as grass on the map.  I usually find enough clay deposits running all over everywhere early in the game that I don't have to resort to looking at the map.  But I will do that if I'm desparate or just passing time during a storm. 

Deposits for red clay are MASSIVE!  and I'm shocked you only found 30 blocks.  Since clay will conform to the terrain you may want to look at the edges of what you dug up to see if there is more hiding.  One deposit took me through an entire year.  At least a dozen storage vessels, a trunk's worth of fire clay (for bloomeries and two steel furnaces) and crocks for food preservation not to mention all the other things I've used clay for like various smelting molds (mostly ingot molds).

 

[Human17]

I see! Maybe I just got unlucky with my map? 

I'll definitely go back to that deposit and have a better look. I hope that I'm wrong and there's more clay under the uncovered blocks, since I REALLY don't want to look for another deposit.

I have to say that the whole clay vessel making, firing and food storage mechanisms are pretty fantastic as compared to Minecraft, which is really fun too, but very basic in that regard, in comparison.

I'm not sure what's next, but I'm going to try to focus on cooking as many meals as possible and getting a good storage solution (depending how long they last) and then trying to get some metal tools, so I can start making planks, etc.

This game is really making me think of that "Alone" TV show!

[Maelstrom]

Getting a saw changes your storage options immensely!

[Nick Jessee]

Spent three lives running around my world, checking hillsides and such, and have yet to encounter any clay. Honestly, I think if they're going to be covered by grass in the world, some unique feature needs to mark their location. Also, clay should definitely spawn near/in bodies of water at some regularity, as that occurs in real life as well.

As for unique features, maybe clay groups could be slightly raised compared to the nearby soil, as the dirt compacts and clay does not.

[joceville]

Hi nick I'd recommend going to a wetter biome and/or just starting a new world with colour accurate map turned on as was already said somewhere further up in the thread just look for slightly discolored spots in a grassy area

[Michael Gates]

Something useful to do if you haven't found clay ever yet, is to start a creative-mode world and manually create some "Red Clay In Soil"  and "Blue Clay in Soil" blocks. Give your eyeballs a chance to learn what the things look like; makes it a lot easier to find them.

[Thorfinn]

11 hours ago, Michael Gates said:

start a creative-mode world...

Excellent suggestion! Do the various grass covers exist in creative, or do you just have to wait? Regardless, also fly up and see what it looks like from above.  Things are a lot easier to find looking from 20 or 30 blocks up.

[Dilan Rona]

Tried a cold biome start once, and didnt find any clay, or Peat for over 10k blocks. Did eventually find both, and they were several big areas. So yeah, sometimes you just have the unfortunate bad luck with not being able to find clay. No matter how much you look for it. One time I actually found some on a map half way up a mountain, and it was topped with glacier ice. Only reason I found it was I was hunting a bear near my base, and wasnt actively looking for clay then.

[Amos_Shepherd]

If you look into the x-ray mod it can highlight any natural block. It's not ideal, but it's a cheap way to find stuff when you are new.