Digging a really, really big hole...

[TimF]

Hi all

I've been planning a new project on my SMP server. I need to dig out a fairly huge room (to make a huge dwarven hall, like the great pillared hall from the Mines of Moria in the Lord of the Rings films). To accommodate the size and number of pillars I want, it's going to need to be something like 350 blocks long buy 220 wide by 100 tall.

That works out at a slightly daunting 7.7 million blocks to shift... Even with a decent TC hammer, I can't face doing that by hand! Can anyone suggest the best way to clear that sized space as quickly and easily as possible? I'm just starting out on the new server, so I don't have any substantial infrastructure or power sources yet.

So far I've been considering:

- quarries (about 20 of them each digging a 64x64 space fully powered would clear the room in a day, but that's a lot of investment.)
- turtles (some programmes apparently let me just give the turtle the dimensions and let him go. I guess it'll take a long time, but that doesn't matter too much if I can just leave it running for a week. It'll need a lot of coal!)
- Bound Pickaxe. (I gather that its unbound mode clears an enormous space at once, which sounds ideal, but I can't find out exactly how much it clears. Is this controllable enough to be useable, and does it require unfeasible amounts of blood power?)

I'd be very grateful for comments on any of the above, or any better ideas. Ideally I'd like to keep everything I dig up (well, all the ores at least) but I could live with something that just clears it and destroys the blocks if it was much quicker. I'd also really like a method that lets me leave certain spaces uncleared, to form the basis of the huge pillars, but again I'm willing to just clear the room and build the pillars afterwards if need be.

Thanks

Tim

 

[madnewmy]

Bound pick check http://forum.feed-the-beast.com/threads/beginners-guide-to-blood-magic.39927/ to get it. iIRC its 20x20 @Padfoote should tell you the exact numbers

Quarry+ can do 256x256 fairly quickly

If you have RoC you can use borer and sonic borer

You could also do a void age and make it in there

 

[hotblack desiato]

easiest way: BC filler.

just set it to empty and it will happily remove everything inside a 64x64x64 cube marked by the landmark-torches. more or less like a quarry, but you need to define a cube and not an area.

only side-effect: it removes stuff, it doesn't mine.

 

[TimF]

Sorry, should have said I was using the Monster pack, so I've got RoC. I was actually planning on using RoC as my main industry mod this time round, because I've never tried it before. I'll have a look at the borers.

Void age is out, sadly. I've already found the mountain in the overworld and started work on the front gate.

 

[Padfoote]

- Bound Pickaxe. (I gather that its unbound mode clears an enormous space at once, which sounds ideal, but I can't find out exactly how much it clears. Is this controllable enough to be useable, and does it require unfeasible amounts of blood power?)

20x20x20, or about that. It does consume a bit of LP per click, I just can't remember the exact numbers right now. If you want the drops, it will be your best option. Just bring a Sigil of Magnetism or something similar.

 

[Tankh]

Digging a big hole, eh? Reminds me of me and a few friends wanted to dig a hole to bedrock back in the days on a Vanilla minecraft server:

Definitely not near as big as this hole, but it was Vanilla, so only pickaxes

Anyway, I'd also suggest the Filler. You won't get any ores or stuff from what it "mines" like Hoblack said, but at least it's quicker than the quarry.
Also, to be more precise you need to define a cuboid with the torches, not a perfect cube.

 

[asb3pe]

I've got a big hole that size in my Monster world, and I can't figure out what to do with it. I was gonna fill it with alvearies and bees until I realized just how many alvearies it would take to fill it (closer to a million than to zero LOL).

I ran my Buildcraft quarry 64x64 about 10 times in the same area. But I did it over time to acquire raw materials. It's a really big hole, yeah.

I'd do a lot of AFK'ing with the BC quarry running, overnights are good for that.

 

[asb3pe]

Anyway, I'd also suggest the Filler. You won't get any ores or stuff from what it "mines" like Hoblack said, but at least it's quicker than the quarry.
Also, to be more precise you need to define a cuboid with the torches, not a perfect cube.

I used the Filler yesterday for the first time. Def quicker than quarry. And I learned that if you set up your four landmarks properly, then one click can set up the entire cuboid. Do a "V" for the bottom 3 landmarks, then put the 4th torch for the vertical directly in-line above the middle landmark in the "V". Click the bottom torch to set the entire cuboid in one click.

I also learned it apparently has the same 63 or 64 block limit as the quarry does. So you'll have to do multiple times and move it.

 

[rhn]

IC2 Mining laser. Dig down to the depth you want, mine out a 2 block layer so you can walk there(Horizontal mode is great for this), then toggle long range mode, point straight up and fire, step forward, fire, step forward, fire. When you get the timing right you can just keep walking and shoot it off at each new column of blocks. You will be mining 30+ blocks pr click and everything you mine will come falling down to you for easy pickup.

 

[WayofTime]

20x20x20, or about that. It does consume a bit of LP per click, I just can't remember the exact numbers right now. If you want the drops, it will be your best option. Just bring a Sigil of Magnetism or something similar.

Oh gosh, Padfoote is wrong?!? It's 11x11x11

 

[Celestialphoenix]

Explosives.

Or that exploit with the wand of equal trade and ladders/saplings.

 

[darkeshrine]

I'm going to give yet another word to the Buildcraft Filler and say that you won't have to rebuild the mountain you intend on building in, unlike the quarry.

 

[Padfoote]

Oh gosh, Padfoote is wrong?!? It's 11x11x11

Heh, I can't count. Thanks for the correction.

 

[ScorpioOld]

Hi all

I've been planning a new project on my SMP server. I need to dig out a fairly huge room (to make a huge dwarven hall, like the great pillared hall from the Mines of Moria in the Lord of the Rings films). To accommodate the size and number of pillars I want, it's going to need to be something like 350 blocks long buy 220 wide by 100 tall.

Tim

Quarry+ is the simplest and quickest. Otherwise MFFS chunk eater that can do.

 

[hotblack desiato]

for larger spaces: how about the spatial pylons?

eats the whole thing away and: you can restore it.

but I read that they are deactivated in FTB, because of griefing and mod-incompatibility. stealing someones base and everything around it... sounds like fun.

 

[Padfoote]

for larger spaces: how about the spatial pylons?

eats the whole thing away and: you can restore it.

but I read that they are deactivated in FTB, because of griefing and mod-incompatibility. stealing someones base and everything around it... sounds like fun.

I second this. It's a simple change in the config and then spatial pylons and all their fun are back. Plus:

Spoiler

 

[malicious_bloke]

I second explosives.

Many thousands of blocks of TNT. One lever.

DO IT.

 

[Shazam08]

I second explosives.

Many thousands of blocks of TNT. One lever.

DO IT.

That would kill even the best computers. Shame on you for trying to destroy the OP's world.

Now then, @TimF, have you heard of the Sacred Rubber Sapling? Its roots carve a perfect 350 by 220 by 100 area, just like you wanted. Plant it on the surface and let the magic unfold.

 

[Padfoote]

That would kill even the best computers. Shame on you for trying to destroy the OP's world.

Now then, @TimF, have you heard of the Sacred Rubber Sapling? Its roots carve a perfect 350 by 220 by 100 area, just like you wanted. Plant it on the surface and let the magic unfold.

Magic = Computer melting rendering and various other things.

 

[Shazam08]

Magic = Computer melting rendering and various other things.

But... it would solve the thread. If we melt his computer, he can't come back on to complain.