Better prospecting or better tools

[Philtre]

35 minutes ago, Thorfinn said:

Nah, I'll just start a new game and get the edge of my seat game experience dodging wolves for the first couple days again. My actions and choices for the first few months make a big difference. Later in the game, all it does is give me AFK time.

I agree that pursuing metal upgrades is of limited utility. There is no real reason to go past bronze except for increased durability, which is great for convenience but doesn't add much to gameplay. I suppose if you never grind large amounts of grain, or make large numbers of metal plates, or process a lot of steel blooms, or do anything requiring a pulverizer, automating those tasks is of little importance. But being nomadic still cuts you off from a lot of gameplay; for one thing, no bees, no livestock, no advanced food processing (cheese, pies, the new juices and distilling stuff). And if you're starting in a temperate climate, getting through the winter without stockpiled food and resources must be a PITA. Frankly, I can't see the appeal of keeping yourself in a state where you never progress your larger (non-metal) tech capabilities; for me at least, the main satisfaction of this kind of game is expanding what you can do and how easily you can do it, which in this game requires a lot of space and infrastructure.

[Thorfinn]

Yeah, I'm missing out on animal husbandry, but I tried that a couple times. It was just more enjoyable to go hunting than it was to try to keep animals well-fed. It would probably be more fun to play as a nomadic herdsman than a hunter-gatherer, sure, but the game does not allow that choice. It might be fun to be able to bring my herds along with me come spring to my already established homesteads in the north, complete with fenced pastureland, and move as they graze, but, alas, the game does not (yet) support that.

Yes, ideally it would be nice if there were some game reason to settle down. But at present, it just does not exist. The reason to settle down is to be able to build the stuff you need if you settle down.

Bees are not that big of an issue. I just don't move them to my "base". Set down a dozen skeps close to any wild bees, surround the area with flowers, remember (or mark, if I'm using the map) the location, and come back as needed. Bees are pretty much everywhere. Or at least can be if you are willing to sacrifice one basket slot for a skep. The time going out to harvest from the skeps is more than made up for the time I don't spend travelling from home to whatever ore veins I'm working. My home is always by definition right next to where I'm mining.

But, yeah, I don't know why I'd ever want to grind large quantities of grain or any of the rest. What's the point, other than to fill storage containers you otherwise would not need if you were not grinding large quantities of grain?

Re: stored food, of course I do that. It's just trivial to store up enough to last to spring unless maybe you choose to settle down in the far north. It's hard not to if you always are growing flax, at the very least. That's why winter often ends up with me starting a new game. I look at the grain, veggies, and fruits I've got stored, raw and preserved, realize there's no chance of going hungry, and no challenge to sitting in a rocking chair in front of the fire and sleeping the night away, such that my in game winter will be mostly IRL reading a book, well, that's it. I enjoyed this run, and will apply the lessons learned to the next.

Edited January 27, 2022 by Thorfinn

[Silent Shadow]

OP,

Since you don't have the node search option, here is what I would recommend:

• First, do some research on the ore you want to find:
  • Find out what depth the ore will be around:
    • Check out this wiki link and look for the ore you want to find at the tables below. Since you want tin, you should look under the Deep Ores table because that has the highest chance for tin deposits per chunk of the three instances of tin spawns (7 tries per chunk instead of 0.007 or 0.1), and thus this tin deposit will probably be what spawns in the area you checked with the pro-pick density search.
    • The values you want are the Y min, Y max, and the Disc Generator (surface or sea level).
      • The Disc Generator type determines what height Y min/max scale off of. Sea level uses whatever the height of the surface of large bodies of water is (use oceans or large lakes; ponds may not be accurate in this regard), while surface scales off of what the surface of the land is at. You can find both of these values on the map within a certain distance of your character. Figure out the sea level (if needed, you don't for tin) before descending into the earth.
      • Since Cassiterite has the 'surface' type of Disc Generator, you will need the height of the land you found a High or better pro-pick concentration.
      • Multiply Y min (0.4) and Y max (0.75) by that height. That is the depth range you want to be looking in for the tin ore.
        • For a land surface height of 140, you would look at the heights within 56 - 105.
      • Also note the Radius, you will probably need it later.
  • Open this table (referenced by the wiki on the "Rock" page, above the content menu). You should look at this while digging to ensure you are only digging into stone that may have the desired ore (Note that the Tin ore we want is only in igneous rocks like Andesite, Granite, Basalt, etc.). You can also use the in-game handbook to find the stone types, but this table is easier to look through. Doing this prevents wasting your pickaxes' durability.
• Second, preparing to locate the ore.
  • Bring a full stack of ladders; if you need sticks, run through the forest where there's usually plenty laying on the ground. Keep in mind you can stagger ladders out to stretch them further (1 ladder per 2 blocks or per 3 blocks if desperate). Also bring ~10 - 20 fences.
  • Go to the center of the chunk you got the highest concentration at. If you still need the surface height, get that and calculate your Y max and min.
  • Note the contour of the land. Almost all ore deposits spawn in a flat disc, but that disc will be likely be deformed a bit in a way that matches the surface above it. So if you are digging under a hill, expect the disc to be somewhat inclined as well. This will also throw off your Y max and Y min heights a little bit too (not enough to worry, barring extreme elevation changes). Anyway, since the deposit is generally a flat disc, you will have the highest chance of finding it when digging vertically.
• Third, actually mining. This method will minimize the amount of digging you'll do, but you will probably expend a few copper pickaxes:
  1. Dig a 1x1 "main shaft" down to the Y min height (this is where the node searching with the pro-pick would differ, but since you can't do that, you have to brute force finding it). Line it with ladders so you can go back up. Generally it is safer to mine while on a ladder so you don't accidentally fall through a cave ceiling.
  2. If you didn't find the disc, go back up to the point halfway between the Y max and Y min heights and dig horizontally (mining a "drift") to a distance of 1.5 to 3 times the ore's disc 'Radius' (also found on the shallow/deep ore tables). For this tin deposit, it is an average Radius of 5, so I would recommend digging 7-14 blocks away from the main shaft (keep in mind that the farther you dig the drift, the greater the chance of missing a deposit disc is).
  3. Dig up to Y max and down to Y min.
  4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you find the ore you want. Drifters and rarely sawblade/bell locusts will spawn, so try to keep branching from the main shaft so you can block off areas you have searched in with fences. This way the large spawning area you are digging will not result in drifters bothering you while you mine.

Good luck! Keep in mind that Bismuthinite and Sphalerite (Bismuth and Zinc) can also be combined with copper to get bronze, so if you see those just get them; bismuth bronze works just fine. Iron ores get a lot easier to find, especially in sedimentary layers.

This is basically the procedure to find most ores.

Edited January 28, 2022 by Silent Shadow

[Silent Shadow]

9 minutes ago, Silent Shadow said:

This is basically the procedure to find most ores.

Well, without the node search and with the least amount of pain. You can try exploring caves and sinkholes but that is far more dangerous an undertaking.

[Thorfinn]

Very nice, @Silent Shadow!

N00b question:

8 hours ago, Silent Shadow said:

Go to the center of the chunk

How do I determine the center?

[Maelstrom]

2 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

How do I determine the center?

Not so noob questions.  I suspect it has to do with a command to turn on visual chunk borders.

[Silent Shadow]

Here is the command, specifically: .debug wireframe chunk.

I don't play multiplayer, so I am unsure this will work for another server, but since it is a client command, I think it will.

If you are playing single player and do not want to do hardcore prospecting, I would recommend giving pro-picks the node search function with the command: 

/worldConfig propickNodeSearchRadius [Radius] with 8 being the default (larger numbers will take longer for the computer to search through though and are of marginal use).

[Beafush]

@StreetwindI have now followed you guide, after long time to find a area with hige possibility for ore, I fund the ore.
I thank you for your help, it has don a lot for me and how I see the game.