How to excavate like a pro?

[Rainbow Fresh]

So I am facing the situation where I have alot of land between point A and B and I need it gone to build a new Walmart parking lot canal connecting two lakes. I want to connect my home lake via continuous waterway to the ocean roughly 5000 blocks west so I can explore the 7 seas between me and a story location. The big problem now is, even with the most optimal pathing (still including a somewhat natural looking snaking design) I, at times, have to excavate up to 5 blocks deep just to get to sea level; not yet accounting for some varying depth. And so after breaking more than an entire copper shovel just to dig 1 block wide it became pretty apparent that digging an atleast 5 blocks wide (that's what you need for a sailboat to fit, right?) canal will be a monumental task and considering this is the first and probably shortest segment of the 5 I will need to reach the ocean my already dwindling motivation to keep pushing through the grind keeps further tanking.

So I was thinking, clearly there has to be a better way (that is not creative mode or world edit, I'll save those as last ditch efforts). There a bombs. What about bombs? If carefully spaced they should easily create a wide enough hole with more or less natural variation. But then again, making that many bombs will be a very costly endeavor compared to just making a durability (or probably power for speed) quenched steel shovel (now that I have access to Iron and heading to steel). So how well would bombs actually work for this task? Is it worth it?

Are there other alternatives? I already have 70+ mods so if there would be one dedicated to mass excavation/landscaping I'd happily take that too.

[MKMoose]

2 hours ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

What about bombs? If carefully spaced they should easily create a wide enough hole with more or less natural variation. But then again, making that many bombs will be a very costly endeavor compared to just making a durability (or probably power for speed) quenched steel shovel (now that I have access to Iron and heading to steel). So how well would bombs actually work for this task? Is it worth it?

They are quite expensive, but if you have the resources, they can be very fast. One bomb can clear something like ~72 soil blocks, or (if it's a stone blasting bomb) ~56 rock blocks when placed deep enough. The exact cost comparison isn't straightforward at all, though, since ore blasting bombs don't cost any iron so they are almost entirely independent from tool costs. Stone blasting bombs' iron cost is significantly higher than the cost of iron pickaxes for the number of blocks mined, but they can make up for it in speed.

If you do decide to use them, keep in mind that:

• both ore blasting bombs and stone blasting bombs seem to have the same effect on soil despite the latter being more expensive, so if your channel is mostly soil then you can save a lot of iron when using ore blasting bombs,
• the explosion seems to be centered around the top south-eastern (positive on each axis) corner of the block that the bomb is placed in, for some reason,
• it's quite advisable to experiment in creative mode before committing to any demolition on your survival world.

 

2 hours ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

So I was thinking, clearly there has to be a better way (that is not creative mode or world edit, I'll save those as last ditch efforts).

Similarly, if you end up using World Edit, I strongly recommend to familiarize yourself with it in a new world first, and remember that you can use Ctrl + Z to undo (also accessible in the top left corner of the '~' World Edit menu). For quick landscaping, I've found the Grow/Shrink tool to be most useful.

 

2 hours ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

I already have 70+ mods so if there would be one dedicated to mass excavation/landscaping I'd happily take that too.

There is the Moat Bombs mod which might save you a lot of time filling the canal with water - haven't tried it myself, but it seems tailor-made for the job. There are some other mods which add faster tools or stronger bombs, but I don't seem to recall anything that specifically focuses on landscaping.

Edited July 13 by MKMoose

[Professor Dragon]

Everything that @MKMoose said is right.

However, STRONGLY CONSIDER using World Edit for this task. 

The task is simply too big for the reward to make it worthwhile, in my view. Somewhere on this forum is the tale from a team of users who did something similar, along with the number of tools they burnt through and the time it took.

My recommendation is to learn to use World Edit for this and chunk out the big rectangles, and then take as much time as you wish from the time you saved to (a) sail your boat around and/or (b) nicely decorate the route with flowers, shrubs, trees and blocks. That by itself will be rewarding. Get good with World Edit and you could even make a nicely decorated canal section and repeat it, and then just make variations where it meets the terrain.

Professor Dragon.

[LadyWYT]

Bombs are probably the fastest ways to do the brunt of the work, although bear in mind they're going to be somewhat expensive and you're still going to need to "polish" the canals manually, as well as fill them. Steel shovels/picks will last a while and let you dig rather fast, but working entirely by hand is also going to be very tedious. Which is to be expected--you're basically digging your very own Panama canal.

I'm also not entirely sure that you need to be at sea level--it may be possible to sail a boat up a small incline. I'd recommend testing in creative first.

In any case, @Professor Dragon has the best solution, I think. Backup the world and then use the World Edit tool, at least if you want to do such a thing quickly and without much hassle.

[PARTIZAN_E]

stone bombs is the best option. Make a tunnel, place bombs every 3rd block and blow up. They blow up area 4x4x4 (although you will have to break some leftover blocks at the bottom edgeds to make it traversable by boat). 4 wide is enough for a boat

[PARTIZAN_E]

the hitbox of boat is only 2-3 blocks high so you can leave upper messy blocks, you just have to fix the bottom layer where water will be

 

Edited July 13 by PARTIZAN_E

[HalfAxd]

Can boats go up shallow rapids? 

If so... What about finding the flattest path between the lakes and building a raised aqueduct as your canal?  You can use dirt for that.  Much easier to collect quickly. 

 

[CastIronFabric]

9 hours ago, Rainbow Fresh said:

So I am facing the situation where I have alot of land between point A and B and I need it gone to build a new Walmart parking lot canal connecting two lakes. I want to connect my home lake via continuous waterway to the ocean roughly 5000 blocks west so I can explore the 7 seas between me and a story location. The big problem now is, even with the most optimal pathing (still including a somewhat natural looking snaking design) I, at times, have to excavate up to 5 blocks deep just to get to sea level; not yet accounting for some varying depth. And so after breaking more than an entire copper shovel just to dig 1 block wide it became pretty apparent that digging an atleast 5 blocks wide (that's what you need for a sailboat to fit, right?) canal will be a monumental task and considering this is the first and probably shortest segment of the 5 I will need to reach the ocean my already dwindling motivation to keep pushing through the grind keeps further tanking.

So I was thinking, clearly there has to be a better way (that is not creative mode or world edit, I'll save those as last ditch efforts). There a bombs. What about bombs? If carefully spaced they should easily create a wide enough hole with more or less natural variation. But then again, making that many bombs will be a very costly endeavor compared to just making a durability (or probably power for speed) quenched steel shovel (now that I have access to Iron and heading to steel). So how well would bombs actually work for this task? Is it worth it?

Are there other alternatives? I already have 70+ mods so if there would be one dedicated to mass excavation/landscaping I'd happily take that too.

well it took me likely 40 hours but I just finished a road that goes 5000 blocks going through several small mountains. I used stone quarry mod and cartwrights caravan to build mini bases.

Edited July 13 by CastIronFabric

[Professor Dragon]

4 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

well it took me likely 40 hours but I just finished a road that goes 5000 blocks going through several small mountains. I used stone quarry mod and cartwrights caravan to build mini bases.

Amazing!

What was the process of filling it with water like? Is there a good way? I remember doing some small ponds and a river and thinking "pain."

[CastIronFabric]

14 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

Amazing!

What was the process of filling it with water like? Is there a good way? I remember doing some small ponds and a river and thinking "pain."

This road I did not fill with water, however I have built a canal before. Take a bucket and just spam fill water. I think that is literally the only way.

[HalfAxd]

20 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

well it took me likely 40 hours but I just finished a road that goes 5000 blocks going through several small mountains. I used stone quarry mod and cartwrights caravan to build mini bases.

I've acquired the odd habit of building "The Kings Highway" to the first story location.  Takes a long time but I find it very relaxing to complete.  

[Vratislav]

3 hours ago, CastIronFabric said:

Take a bucket and just spam fill water.

Fortunately, the boat navigable canal requires only 1 block water depth, that is relatively manageable as every single canal block can be waterlogged without auxiliary blocks aside. Troubles come with deeper water bodies. 

[Vratislav]

2 hours ago, HalfAxd said:

I've acquired the odd habit of building "The Kings Highway" to the first story location.

I really like this idea (having several thousand blocks of paths done, I am looking for such challenge in  my actual world). What is the design? Like width, maximum slopes, surface? Is it designed preferably for running or for smooth elk ride?

[CastIronFabric]

53 minutes ago, Vratislav said:

I really like this idea (having several thousand blocks of paths done, I am looking for such challenge in  my actual world). What is the design? Like width, maximum slopes, surface? Is it designed preferably for running or for smooth elk ride?

I went straight south, mined through small mountains, pathed around large mountains, used stone slabs for a one wide path but plan to circle back to make it 3. Given I am using Cartwright's Caravan I need no obstructions for 3 wide so I cleared all that out. 

For mountains I used the Stone Quary Mod, I used the Cartwrights Carts to take everything I needed and made mini bases about once every 1500 blocks. Not a lot too it really, I mean a lot of work but nothing clever in approach.

 

[Professor Dragon]

22 hours ago, Vratislav said:

Fortunately, the boat navigable canal requires only 1 block water depth, that is relatively manageable as every single canal block can be waterlogged without auxiliary blocks aside. Troubles come with deeper water bodies. 

You wouldn't think a big boat could go over one block deep, would you?

Anyway, I struggled with a duck pond (besides the obvious "no ducks") as it was a mixed height, deep pond. The water seemed to always want to "flow" somewhere, and it was fiddly to correct.

Got the pond done in the end, but doing a deep canal would give me trauma, I'm pretty sure.

Professor Dragon.

[HalfAxd]

23 hours ago, Vratislav said:

I really like this idea (having several thousand blocks of paths done, I am looking for such challenge in  my actual world). What is the design? Like width, maximum slopes, surface? Is it designed preferably for running or for smooth elk ride?

I don't have a forever world, so my highway is just a single path wide.  I can't fathom making it wider and fancier because it will eventually go away...  likely when the next iteration of the procedural dungeons is added.

I tunnel thru some large mountains because you need the stone... you have to tunnel 3 block high to fit the path slab.

It's very much only for running and not the elk.  To be honest I'm not a huge fan of the elk from the standpoint of running over uneven ground... it feels clunky to me...  it does sound like a good idea on the path tho. 

Enjoy!