They're pretty obvious from the water surface. I tend to just dive down and be pretty quick with a pickaxe and torch.
A Journal of a Determined Soul (Infitech2 Let's Journal)
- Thread starter ShneekeyTheLost
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I can't remember, what level tool do you need to mine diamonds?
Isn't it tier 3 anyway? In which case, just use the pick to mine obsidian.
That's the problem... I've only got either Bronze or Wrought Iron which is Tier 2 tool, but to progress I need a Macerator which requires two diamonds. If diamonds are Tier 3 ore, then progress is effectively impossible, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say... diamond probably isn't tier 3.
I just looked it up - it is tier 3, I'm afraid.
One option might be a Thaumium pick - I'm pretty sure I found some of the non-GT versions in the chests under the Greatwood trees with cobwebs. Maybe @Pyure knows if these are good enough to mine obsidian and/or diamonds.
Another, rather horrible, option is to go down to bedrock and strip-mine to find small diamond ore. Even if you find one, there's only a small chance of it actually dropping a diamond (rather than crushed).
I mean, there's a bunch of little tricks you can use on top of the more mundane approaches.
If you find a nickel vein, you're set. Nickel has tons of Cobalt, and cobalt is straight up awesome. If you want to mine a different ore but don't have the pick for it, there's an explosive called a powder-key or some such that can bootstrap you into that mining tier. This is good for stuff like sapphire tools for instance.
@SolManX the problem is that the geodes have "dark diamond". I don't recall what you need to mine it since its not even a GT ore to begin with.
Celestialphoenix
Too Much Free Time
If I remember rightly- explosives work for mining.
With my first run through I used Thaumcraft's shards to make a Gt pickaxe.
Second run I got very lucky and found a couple of diamonds as dungeon loot.
Unless anyone else has had better luck strip mining; I personally wouldn't recommend the small diamond route- I've done a lot of caving and only found the occasional small diamond ore.
Also are you playing regular Infitech or the Fear the Night version?
With my first run through I used Thaumcraft's shards to make a Gt pickaxe.
Aqua, Ordo, and Entropy shards have some ...useful properties.
Unless anyone else has had better luck strip mining; I personally wouldn't recommend the small diamond route- I've done a lot of caving and only found the occasional small diamond ore.
Also are you playing regular Infitech or the Fear the Night version?
Wow. I would never have thought of using explosives to get past tiers. In my last playthrough I did end up using a lot of sticky TNT (I think that's what it's callled) to mine but that was way into the LV era.
Re using thaumcraft shards - some nice soul changed the recipe so that shard picks now require a thaumium rod
Re using thaumcraft shards - some nice soul changed the recipe so that shard picks now require a thaumium rod
Celestialphoenix
Too Much Free Time
Ah yeah- I remember that. You'll find a few ingots of purple goodness lying around in dungeon chests.
Hey @ShneekeyTheLost I feel like you made a bona fide effort here and ran into a legitimate design annoyance. Have you canceled this project?
No, I simply had to work a double yesterday. I'm actually in my instance now. Since I have been stymied on tech, I am getting into the magic side and also trying to crossbreed some stickyreeds to have better production of resin for my current torch and future rubber needs. Also trying to propagate a berry garden for candleberries for wax for hardened leather for various projects.
Also, is there something that has changed cropsticks? I can't seem to put four mushrooms down on cropsticks anymore.
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Celestialphoenix
Too Much Free Time
Do mushrooms need a different soil? or light level?
(just a random guess- never got into crop breeding)
(just a random guess- never got into crop breeding)
IC2 crop results are weighted random. You can get basically anything from anything.
In other words, NEI is a lying bastard and I should rely on the old system of doing things rather than what NEI says... gotcha
I don't know the exact algorithm, but yeah, more or less. There are ways to improve your chances, and I think NEI reflects that (I believe it uses a system of keywords). Also, crops of a tier stick together to a good extent.
Personally I usually find crops more trouble than they're worth except for a few. You've already identified the value of stickreed
Having literally had a 2x2 alternating structure of Reeds (required for stickreed growth) and Cocoa Beans (Tier 3, while Stickreed is Tier 4, so only a one tier jump) all day long (8 hours so far), in a swamp, out in the open, I have yet to crossbreed a single one.I don't know the exact algorithm, but yeah, more or less. There are ways to improve your chances, and I think NEI reflects that (I believe it uses a system of keywords). Also, crops of a tier stick together to a good extent.
Personally I usually find crops more trouble than they're worth except for a few. You've already identified the value of stickreed
I'd advise you to scale up, which is typically a good approach i this kind of scenario, except then you'd be contending with weeds. And standing there babysitting your crops isn't a lot of fun.
My compromise of sorts was to do a bunch of 2x2s that didn't connect to each other and check them periodically. Some would inevitably die to weeds, but at least wouldn't contaminate the rest.
Journal Update: A Month of Futility
It has been quite some time since I have updated this journal, because there was little to update. I had spent most of the month attempting to use these cropsticks to crossbreed a plant capable of producing sticky resin to increase my supply of the stuff. It seems as though I am missing some key part of the process, however, as I was not able to do so. However, on my way back, I discovered a berry which was inedible, but very waxy. Boiling it down in a pot rendered the berry into a wax that I could use to harden leather, which would likely have many uses going forward.
Since my progress in technological advances have been stymied, I turned to another chapter, some sort of thaumaturgical practice. Creating the desk and the scribing tools was a fairly straightforward process, and it appeared to be some sort of research apparatus, however the next step was in crafting a tome... but it was a brass-bound tome, not a bronze-bound tome that I had thought, and I do not yet know how to alloy brass. Indeed, I strongly suspect that it requires a machine that I did not yet have the means to create.
Unsatisfied with that, I started branch mining, and had discovered an unusual phenomonon. Due south of my home was a well. However, it was quite a *deep* well, going all the way down to bedrock. Even more unusual, the bottom of this well kept refilling, an artesian spring, I suppose. Recognizing the potential for this natural resource, I situated my existing water storage device directly over it, in the hopes that should I find a means of pumping the water up to augment the natural acquisition of water in the tank, it would not require moving my large tank.
While branch mining in the bowels of the earth, walking on the level where bedrock starts forming, I have found my first small diamond ore! Unfortunately, the diamond that I acquired from it was flawed... not the sort that I needed for my macerator. Still, I have at least confirmed that it is *possible* to find it here.
Determined to see at least some progress, I soon realized that I needed to step up my smelting game if I was going to keep myself in wrought iron for all the picks I was going to need. Also, I needed better gardens and a rubber tree stand more conveniently located, even though now charcoal is my primary torch utility. I also discovered I could break charcoal down into eight small pieces so I am not so wasteful while smelting, a handy discovery for small or odd numbered batches.
At the moment, I have all ingredients necessary for both beef wellington and PB&J sandwiches, plus cotton and candleberry for utilitarian purposes, and wheat in the event I want to start ranching cattle at some point. I also have a stand of sugarcane and a small stand of rubber trees with the leaves trimmed. On the morrow, I will start an oak tree farm for more wood production. Then I'm going to rethink my charcoal process, make a more permanent structure for charcoal generation perhaps. It doesn't need to be quite as big, but making it a bit taller will allow me to enter the area the wood goes in and make collecting without tearing it all down much easier. That will be my next project.
I am unsure if I am missing something, or if I'm just supposed to keep finding these quite rare small diamond ores until they give me the proper diamonds I need to progress. Browsing through the book and my materials that I have collected, I came across designs for a bronze plated blast furnace controller, but this seems like part of a much more involved multiblock structure, one I may not be capable of finishing just yet. But I do have a small amount of Chrome Dust, obtained from a chest discovered near a cave spider spawner (ick!). If only I could melt it down into ingot form, it might be sufficient for me to mine obsidian and obtain my diamonds in that manner, but the melting point for Chrome seems to be too high for any furnace I am capable of currently producing.
In all, while I have made no actual progress, I have at least expanded what I can do to the point that I feel comfortable in being able to rely on it for some time to come. Which might be some time indeed before I am capable of producing that blasted macerator.
It has been quite some time since I have updated this journal, because there was little to update. I had spent most of the month attempting to use these cropsticks to crossbreed a plant capable of producing sticky resin to increase my supply of the stuff. It seems as though I am missing some key part of the process, however, as I was not able to do so. However, on my way back, I discovered a berry which was inedible, but very waxy. Boiling it down in a pot rendered the berry into a wax that I could use to harden leather, which would likely have many uses going forward.
Since my progress in technological advances have been stymied, I turned to another chapter, some sort of thaumaturgical practice. Creating the desk and the scribing tools was a fairly straightforward process, and it appeared to be some sort of research apparatus, however the next step was in crafting a tome... but it was a brass-bound tome, not a bronze-bound tome that I had thought, and I do not yet know how to alloy brass. Indeed, I strongly suspect that it requires a machine that I did not yet have the means to create.
Unsatisfied with that, I started branch mining, and had discovered an unusual phenomonon. Due south of my home was a well. However, it was quite a *deep* well, going all the way down to bedrock. Even more unusual, the bottom of this well kept refilling, an artesian spring, I suppose. Recognizing the potential for this natural resource, I situated my existing water storage device directly over it, in the hopes that should I find a means of pumping the water up to augment the natural acquisition of water in the tank, it would not require moving my large tank.
While branch mining in the bowels of the earth, walking on the level where bedrock starts forming, I have found my first small diamond ore! Unfortunately, the diamond that I acquired from it was flawed... not the sort that I needed for my macerator. Still, I have at least confirmed that it is *possible* to find it here.
Determined to see at least some progress, I soon realized that I needed to step up my smelting game if I was going to keep myself in wrought iron for all the picks I was going to need. Also, I needed better gardens and a rubber tree stand more conveniently located, even though now charcoal is my primary torch utility. I also discovered I could break charcoal down into eight small pieces so I am not so wasteful while smelting, a handy discovery for small or odd numbered batches.
At the moment, I have all ingredients necessary for both beef wellington and PB&J sandwiches, plus cotton and candleberry for utilitarian purposes, and wheat in the event I want to start ranching cattle at some point. I also have a stand of sugarcane and a small stand of rubber trees with the leaves trimmed. On the morrow, I will start an oak tree farm for more wood production. Then I'm going to rethink my charcoal process, make a more permanent structure for charcoal generation perhaps. It doesn't need to be quite as big, but making it a bit taller will allow me to enter the area the wood goes in and make collecting without tearing it all down much easier. That will be my next project.
I am unsure if I am missing something, or if I'm just supposed to keep finding these quite rare small diamond ores until they give me the proper diamonds I need to progress. Browsing through the book and my materials that I have collected, I came across designs for a bronze plated blast furnace controller, but this seems like part of a much more involved multiblock structure, one I may not be capable of finishing just yet. But I do have a small amount of Chrome Dust, obtained from a chest discovered near a cave spider spawner (ick!). If only I could melt it down into ingot form, it might be sufficient for me to mine obsidian and obtain my diamonds in that manner, but the melting point for Chrome seems to be too high for any furnace I am capable of currently producing.
In all, while I have made no actual progress, I have at least expanded what I can do to the point that I feel comfortable in being able to rely on it for some time to come. Which might be some time indeed before I am capable of producing that blasted macerator.
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Journal Update: DIAMONDS!
I prepared for this journey by crafting a half dozen wrought iron pickaxe heads, a half a stack of PB&J Sandwiches, and was bound and determined to not leave my Y5 branch mines until I had come up with the two diamonds I needed to progress. And today, exhausted but elated, having gone though all but my last pick, and that being around half-used, and having severely cut into my supply of food... I can now say I am the proud owner of two diamonds. I went through at least a dozen Small Diamond Ores to get here, they seem to prefer giving either crushed diamonds or impure diamond dust. I'm sure that later these will be useful materials once I can refine them, but not for the moment. But eventually, I did obtain them. I also filled an entire barrel with the cobble tailings from my branch mining. I may have to look into upgrading it soon.
Time to get crafting. My only concern is that I still have not found any tin or copper ore deposits naturally in the world, all my copper so far has come from rewards from my journal, and the tin was purchased. This is... extremely frustrating.
Addendum: Steam Punked
Today is the first of likely many frustrations, this time with steam power. I have two boilers, a solar boiler and a coal-fired boiler. One would think that more is better, right? Unfortunately, it does not seem to be that way. You see, the solar boiler ended up backstuffing on steam instead of providing it, which caused the macerator to stutter. And when a machine stutters, it loses ALL progress it was making. So a stuttering machine basically draws all available steam and completely wastes it. Ugh. I made the steam-powered trip hammer, which certainly saves my arm in pulverizing crushed ores and making plates, but the stuttering problem continues.
What I need is some sort of mechanism wherein both boilers can contribute to a reservoir of steam, which can then be distributed to my machines as needed. The book is hinting about an enormous multiblock iron tank, but it sounds expensive and very space inefficient. Still, needs must, I suppose. However, I'm simply not going to hear any nonsense about a 3x3 boiler. This setup would leave only a single meter by meter space to store steam in, a pitiful amount of storage for the size of the tank. A 5x5 would store nine times as much per height level, so even a 5x5x3 would hold 9x as much, a 5x5x5 tank would store 27x as much steam. While still not ideal, the footprint to storage capacity ratio is at least better. It also makes it big enough that I could have two input valves, and one output valve, letting each of my boilers separately contribute without worrying about backstuffing.
However, this is going to be... quite expensive. On the upside, it should also be quite a lot more efficient. I just made the Alloy Smelter, which doesn't seem to like making bronze straight from tin and copper ingot, I can only assume the steam isn't getting it hot enough because the throughput is insufficient. I've got plans for that as well.
For every problem solved, another emerges. And so I shall have to deal with it, one damn thing after another. But, if I cannot claim any genius, I can at least claim to be stubborn. I start building the tank tomorrow. Fortunately, the macerator has been working on all this limonite, and the hammerer as well, so I do have a reserve of iron to use on this project.
I prepared for this journey by crafting a half dozen wrought iron pickaxe heads, a half a stack of PB&J Sandwiches, and was bound and determined to not leave my Y5 branch mines until I had come up with the two diamonds I needed to progress. And today, exhausted but elated, having gone though all but my last pick, and that being around half-used, and having severely cut into my supply of food... I can now say I am the proud owner of two diamonds. I went through at least a dozen Small Diamond Ores to get here, they seem to prefer giving either crushed diamonds or impure diamond dust. I'm sure that later these will be useful materials once I can refine them, but not for the moment. But eventually, I did obtain them. I also filled an entire barrel with the cobble tailings from my branch mining. I may have to look into upgrading it soon.
Time to get crafting. My only concern is that I still have not found any tin or copper ore deposits naturally in the world, all my copper so far has come from rewards from my journal, and the tin was purchased. This is... extremely frustrating.
Addendum: Steam Punked
Today is the first of likely many frustrations, this time with steam power. I have two boilers, a solar boiler and a coal-fired boiler. One would think that more is better, right? Unfortunately, it does not seem to be that way. You see, the solar boiler ended up backstuffing on steam instead of providing it, which caused the macerator to stutter. And when a machine stutters, it loses ALL progress it was making. So a stuttering machine basically draws all available steam and completely wastes it. Ugh. I made the steam-powered trip hammer, which certainly saves my arm in pulverizing crushed ores and making plates, but the stuttering problem continues.
What I need is some sort of mechanism wherein both boilers can contribute to a reservoir of steam, which can then be distributed to my machines as needed. The book is hinting about an enormous multiblock iron tank, but it sounds expensive and very space inefficient. Still, needs must, I suppose. However, I'm simply not going to hear any nonsense about a 3x3 boiler. This setup would leave only a single meter by meter space to store steam in, a pitiful amount of storage for the size of the tank. A 5x5 would store nine times as much per height level, so even a 5x5x3 would hold 9x as much, a 5x5x5 tank would store 27x as much steam. While still not ideal, the footprint to storage capacity ratio is at least better. It also makes it big enough that I could have two input valves, and one output valve, letting each of my boilers separately contribute without worrying about backstuffing.
However, this is going to be... quite expensive. On the upside, it should also be quite a lot more efficient. I just made the Alloy Smelter, which doesn't seem to like making bronze straight from tin and copper ingot, I can only assume the steam isn't getting it hot enough because the throughput is insufficient. I've got plans for that as well.
For every problem solved, another emerges. And so I shall have to deal with it, one damn thing after another. But, if I cannot claim any genius, I can at least claim to be stubborn. I start building the tank tomorrow. Fortunately, the macerator has been working on all this limonite, and the hammerer as well, so I do have a reserve of iron to use on this project.
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Point of interest: On my last playthrough, I skipped the iron tank for a long time. I managed to get by with just a very tall stack of BC tanks. Which is still expensive in glass, but glass can be easier to deal with than iron. Also, it kinda looked cool.
And how in god's name have you managed to dodge a diamond vein this long? Statistically if you're branch mining at around y:15 you should have hit several by now. Are you doing branches several chunks apart, or the traditional branches that are only a couple blocks apart?
And how in god's name have you managed to dodge a diamond vein this long? Statistically if you're branch mining at around y:15 you should have hit several by now. Are you doing branches several chunks apart, or the traditional branches that are only a couple blocks apart?