Civcraft2Import:Guides/mining guide

Disclaimer: This guide is based off of the original, which was posted here. Thanks to everyone who contributed to the original.

Introduction

Mining on Civcraft is very different from other servers, it's, much, much harder. But it is by far the most profitable activity on civcraft the primary employment of most civcraft players, almost every player got their start as a grunt getting resources to market and building their wealth from that. Some of the richest players on civraft exclusively earn their wealth from mining, many have over 10,000 diamonds.

Ores are far less common and diamond spawns is special veins, circular pockets at y1-16 that are randomly distributed around the map. Iron occurs in large quantities in hostile Ice mountains and all ores, including diamond and iron, exist in all biomes at 1/6th vanilla rate.

Recommended Tips

• Use a pickaxe with silk touch. Diamonds, iron, gold, redstone, lapis, coal, etc are more valuable in ore form than in mineral form. They can also be used in a factory to produce more minerals than a furnace will produce.
• Use factories to smelt ores. Do not use furnaces for smelting anything. If you don't have a fancy ore smelter or ore smelter then ask other people, who will trade diamonds or other materials for the ore at a slight profit. Diamond ore produces three diamonds per ore in an ore smelter, making factories much better and faster than furnaces.
• Use an E4U3 or E5U3 and a diamond shovel as well as an S1 at all times, if you can not afford the equipment consider getting them on credit from established players or companies, it's well worth the cost.
• Bring an Anvil and emerald blocks as well as several unenchanted picks for repairs while you're mining. Your diamond vein may be far away from your home.
• Consider using a Beacon or two for mining, the speed increase from a haste beacon boosts your d/phr rate considerably

Finding and Mining Ores

Be aware that a mod on this server called Orebfuscator will make ores look like stone unless you are within 5 blocks of it.

In civcraft there are primarily two different ways of mining, Iron and Diamond mining.

Iron

Iron spawns mostly in Ice Mountains. All the ore will be packed together, so you should be able to see the entire vein. You will find "normal" (vanilla) iron nodes throughout the world, but in Ice Mountains, the nodes (more commonly called "veins") are massive and dense. It is common to find veins containing 1-3 stacks of iron ore.

Note: Not all ice mountains have iron veins. The ones that have lots of iron will also have a massive underground ocean at level ~10. Check this before you start mining.

Warning: Do not smelt the iron in a furnace. ore smelters factories yields 1.75 iron ingots per ore whereas furnaces are 1:1. Factories are also much faster.

Standard Method

To find these iron nodes, you need to mine at or below level 60. Find an ice mountain, and start mining in a straight line within the center of the chunk. You will encounter large clusters of iron ore rather quickly.

Swimming Method

Another way to harvest iron is to get a respiration helmet and a bucket, and swim around in the underground ocean. When you start to run out of breath, stand still and use the bucket. It will momentarily create a pocket of air, resetting your breath. You will find iron veins along the floor and ceiling of the ocean. Remember, Obfuscator will hide ores further than 5 blocks from you, so even if you can see a long ways, you might miss the iron.

It is recommended you use Gammabright to simplify the mining process if mining underwater.

Note: You can use doors to create air bubbles. Also, if wearing a full set of protection 4 and a respiration 3 helmet, then you will heal faster than the drowning can inflict as long as hunger bar is kept near full.

Diamond

It is possible to find vanilla diamond nodes throughout the world, but they are very rare. Your best bet is to hunt for a vein. Veins are areas of the world below level 16, where diamonds spawn in a semi-random pattern, concentrated at the center. They tend to be between 100-500 blocks in diameter, and smaller veins are more common, larger veins tend to be less dense.

If you find a single diamond ore, with no other diamond ore touching it, it is highly likely to be a vein. To find one, mine in a straight line for a long time. Because diamond veins are so rare, it might take hours to find one but usually you'll find one within an hour. Obviously, uninhabited areas are more likely to have veins remaining.

To mine a diamond vein, you need to excavate the area. Start at level 16, and mine tunnels every 2 blocks (2 blocks between each tunnel), to ensures that you won't miss any. Once you've created a pattern covering the area, start mining the tunnel floors out down to bedrock. You'll end up with really tall tunnels, and most likely get every diamond in the vein.

It is recommended that you mark the spots where you found diamonds to map the vein. By doing this, you can find the center of the vein (where the ore is most concentrated), then mine evenly out in all directions.

Because of FactoryMod, it is best to mine the diamonds with a silk touch pick, then smelt them in a factory. Factories yield 3 diamonds per ore (in contrast to the average 2.5 diamonds per ore with a fortune III pick).

Redstone, Coal, Gold and Lapis

Redstone, Coal, Gold and Lapis all spawn in vanilla patterns, but at reduced rates around 1/6th vanilla minecraft.

Lapis Lazuli and Gold are extremely rare and valuable, Coal ore is used for various factories but can also be turned into Coal at a 1:3 ratio in the ore smelter.

Coal is used for imprisoning people. Every day a Prison pearl will consume coal to keep the prisoner in the end dimension.

Coal can also be burnt into charcoal for use in factories.

Endstone can be gotten from the nether, it occurs there in random small small pockets at all y levels.

Note: Do not smelt gold or lapis ore ever. They are significantly more valuable in ore form and can be sold for good profit to bastion producers.

Quartz

Spawns at very low rates in all biomes, but is more easily found in Nether biomes, remember that some nether biomes are far better than others, why this is is unknown but certain biomes are more naturally abundant in ores and many of those close to major cities are already mined out. Quartz ore itself is used for the Nether factory that allows travel into the nether dimension and is valuable in it's ore form.