Frame quarry vs frame tunnel bore

[samstar]

I have just caught up on DW20's season 3 server play series and noticed he changed from a frame quarry to a frame tunnel bore. Is the tunnel bore the best option ?
The reason I ask is becuase I play on the Mindcrack pack and am always short of copper/tin/iron which I don't think spawn lower than 40 (atleast for copper and tin) so a tunnel bore at y= 12 wouldn't solve this problem and so should I keep with a frame quarry

What are others doing for mining?

 

[frederikam]

Copper can be found above 40, most other ores below that. I suggest you have a tunnel bore cover both. Have a one wide line of blockbreakers and frames going up to 40, like in this shape:

xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx
--------x-------
--------x-------
xxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxx

Where "x" is frames and a block breaker.
"-" is air/stone.

 

[ratchet freak]

the main problem with a vertical quarry is that it needs to retract and move which takes time (and it can be blocked by high terrain)

to solve the copper&tin shortage you can put the TBM at Y=40, though the tunnel bore needs a separate enderchest to power it while the vertical quarry can use solars

 

[Swoop]

I've just build two tunnel bores - one at level 5 to 15 and one at level 40 - 50.

Tunnel bores are more efficient than quarrys, because a quarry has to effectively pass the same space twice (first time when it goes down and the second time when it goes up again) Also tunnel bores are a lot easier to build and - if build correctly - don't need any maintenance.
The only problem I see with tunnel bores is when you are on a server with a map border.

 

[frederikam]

The only problem I see with tunnel bores is when you are on a server with a map border.

Well you could make it 4 directional.

 

[NTaylor]

Well you could make it 4 directional.

I think you mean a 4 directional Quarry a 4 directional tunnel bore would be bloody hard to build not to mention actually controlling it though would kinda in the end look like a cube of block breakers.

Personally I normally stick to one really tall and narrow tunnel bore that goes up to about Y= 50 from Y=6 or so and that will get all the materials needed never making it more wide than 7-9.

 

[samstar]

Thanks people this has helped alot and will make me create a tunnel bore...Now to decide to have one very tall one or two at diff Y levels.

 

[frederikam]

I think you mean a 4 directional Quarry a 4 directional tunnel bore would be bloody hard to build not to mention actually controlling it though would kinda in the end look like a cube of block breakers.

Hard? It would require some time and resources but it would not really be a challenge to make. it's for the most part just 4 incworm drives. If you get the idea of a normal tunnel bore this would be easy.

 

[NTaylor]

Hard? It would require some time and resources but it would not really be a challenge to make. it's for the most part just 4 incworm drives. If you get the idea of a normal tunnel bore this would be easy.

The difficulty would be in the controlling of it with a quarry you can normally see where it is and then tell it where to go based on that with a tunnel bore it is normally quite far underground so you cant actually see it, it it is 4 directional you would need to basically have a cube of block breakers so the only place to teleport to to actually maintain or control it (seen as you kinda need to see where you are sending it) would be inside the cube then you cant get out easily without breaking it.

The actual build would be very simple and the same as a one directional tunnel bore just with at least four bore heads and four drives facing different directions.

 

[frederikam]

You can see if you have reached the end of the world, if you stop getting resources. If that happens you just turn the bore in another direction. When the bore is done you don't need to do any work on it if you tested it properly.

 

[Swoop]

The actual build would be very simple and the same as a one directional tunnel bore just with at least four bore heads and four drives facing different directions.

Nope, it wouldn't be that simple. Imagine how the edges of the drill heads would have to look like:
? BBBB
B ###
B #
(B breaker, # Frame)
You would need a blockbreaker that can break blocks on two sides - left and front. It get's worse if you want to build a tunnel bore cube that could move in all 6 directions - then you would need blockbreakers on the corners that can break blocks on three sides.(also there would be no way to attach frames to the corner block breakers)

Since these don't exist you would need to first extend the forward and backward facing drill heads so that you could then retract the drill heads on the sides:
BBBB
###
B#
B#
B#
(moving upwards)

It's not impossible to build this, but not really worth the effort.

 

[ratchet freak]

<b# ^b #b> can undermine an entire map when properly sequenced on the turns

 

[silentdeth]

The difficulty would be in the controlling of it with a quarry you can normally see where it is and then tell it where to go based on that with a tunnel bore it is normally quite far underground so you cant actually see it, it it is 4 directional you would need to basically have a cube of block breakers so the only place to teleport to to actually maintain or control it (seen as you kinda need to see where you are sending it) would be inside the cube then you cant get out easily without breaking it.

The actual build would be very simple and the same as a one directional tunnel bore just with at least four bore heads and four drives facing different directions.

Last season with my lets play I built a 6 directional tunnel bore. It consisted of "cars" 5 blocks cube, each car had a function, digging, power, control, movement, and a tunnel lining car that replaced the lining of the tunnel with a pattern of block so I could use it to make minecart tunnels. As there wasn't tube frames then I used a arcane bore to dig, but you could do the same thing with tunnel frames and block breakers. The trick I used for the frame motors was to make them two way by putting a deployer, filled with sonic screwdrivers, next to the frame motor responsible for actually moving the contraption with 2 other motors on each side for moving the motor back.

Here is the episode after I finished building it, I make a few tweaks and show off the tunnel it dug, shown in the preview image. The episodes before this are a tutorial on how to build and program it. I intend to build an improved version this season but not gotten to it yet.

 

[Celestialphoenix]

Actually, a decent size tunnel bore can cover both diamond and tin.
You should haul in enough metal to use the rich slag to manufacture copper (and iridium via shiny dust)

 

[WTFFFS]

Actually, a decent size tunnel bore can cover both diamond and tin.
You should haul in enough metal to use the rich slag to manufacture copper (and iridium via shiny dust)

Decent sized? More like oversized, you'd need a TBM that extends from y=10 or so to y=40 or so, it is doable probably with a single stack between 20 and 25 (which is how I'm going to set up my next one) but it is seriously an excessively large build, but if you are going, GO LARGE!

Actually thinking about it you might be better off to use the rich slag for tin with the secondary head at copper level since by default copper spawns in much larger clusters than tin does, so one head at 10-20 another at 40-50 or so ok with that you do need a 20 high single arm between the 2 but when you are talking about a build like this 15 odd extra breakers\frames is nothing really

 

[Celestialphoenix]

Decent sized? More like oversized, you'd need a TBM that extends from y=10 or so to y=40 or so, it is doable probably with a single stack between 20 and 25 (which is how I'm going to set up my next one) but it is seriously an excessively large build, but if you are going, GO LARGE!

Tin generates between y20 and y40, so a 20 or 15 high one could cover both -basically small-mid sized bore.

As for a large... well my first frame quarry had 512 block breakers before I upgraded it.

 

[CrafterOfMines57]

It's easier and more cost effective to build a tunnel bore, but personally I like the feeling of seeing my frame quarry take out an entire chunk at once, it's satisfying.