The condoned mining method

tl;dr What is ideal for mining and differienciating from hackers?

Hello Meepers! I decided to bring this up because of general curiosity and concern for those, including myself, who use non-traditional (NOT hacking or Xraying) methods to Mine. For example, many people claim to have "the secret to good mining" Many suggest mine on level 11, or 12, or to strip mine, or to mine on 1 level above bedrock, or mining towards gravel, or Any idea you can think of that does NOT include hacking but just includes technique. But I know many of these methods can come off as Xraying if seen from a strictly efficiency based point of view. So I guess I came to the forums to confirm which method isn't frowned upon, or considered to similar looking to an X-ray user to differentiate. Is it digging straight down and strip mining? Is it mining randomly and hope for good luck? Is it only mining by entering the ground through surface showing caves? All opinions are welcome on this topic. Thanks for reading.

 

This is how I mine

 

Thank you for your feedback Deljikho! I usually strip mine, too. In my single player world I generally find using an Eff V Diamond Pick with a Haste beacon and just mining the heck out of a level 10 area works great. Although, at that point you are demolishing the entire area which makes it a bit unfair for users, and your risking someone taking your beacon. So I decided pretty much from day one this is what I would NOT be doing.

 

It's very very easy to tell the difference between someone that's just digging straight down/to one side, vs xray.
For example, an xray digging pattern would usually go something like 10 blocks down, a few to the side, then down to a spawner. You can tell it's xray because they adjusted their route directly to the spawner.
If you heard the spawner, (lots of zombies in one spot) There will generally be several branches or a larger hole of you looking for said spawner. Because you have to figure out both where it's coming from, and if it's above of below you, etc.

When you dig straight down you will usually end up missing a lot of stuff, same thing if you dig straight in one direction.

 

This video got me:

174 diamond ore
4224 iron ore
817 gold ore
32 spawners

just from yesterday mining in wild.

 

+1 to this method, just did it for an hour and got 61 diamond ore, 5 stacks of iron ore & a stack of gold ore

 

Dynamite, lots of dynamite...

 

I dig down to bedrock and start strip-mining in single player worlds. On Meep I just look for a cave and explore it, because they're crazy easy to find in wild.

 

am i the only one who still digs stairs down?

 

I love doing that

 

I have x ray look a like moments some times. My headphones are 7.1 surround sound so I can hear like mobs and lava pools so I can dig my way in that direction, once I was even told by someone "Diamonds don't make sounds" lol

 

If you ever looked at how I mined in the wilds, most staff members would swear I was using a x-ray texture pack but that is untrue. My strategy is to dig a hole straight down and pray to God I do not hit lava. When I reach level 12, I start digging in one direction and hope I hit something. If I get bored, I will change directions at random and hope for the best. As you are digging, I would suggest having your sound on if possible to listen to potential noises caused by caves (mobs, water, lava, etc.). If I find a lava pond, I dig around it and see if anything is there. I have found out that this style works for me but this is my preference. If you want to give it a shot, be my guest.

 

Hacker#1^

 

Or it could have been one heck of a cave...

 

I'll share my method, I do pretty well with it, it yields between 90-140k per 48-minute session (6 NV potions). It's basically an efficient take on caving. The bare-bones concept of mining is to remove blocks so you can see rare minerals that you couldn't see when you started. Caves have a large amount of naturally exposed surfaces, letting you scan large areas for loot without actually having to remove the blocks yourself. The faster you can clear a cave and find a new one, the more profit you make. I spend about 85% of my time in caves and 15% time actually digging.

Pros:
Higher yields of diamond/emerald/gold/spawners
Less digging = fewer repairs
I find it less monotonous/boring than constant digging

Cons:
More dangerous (enemies/lava)
Fewer ore per vein since caves generate after other blocks they often cut ore veins in half
Becomes less efficient the longer its been since a reset. (this can also be a pro if there was a reset recently)
Mods randomly appearing and scaring the pants of you because they are suspicious of you finding dungeons too fast

Requirend items:
Silk touch, waterbucket, NV potions or /NV
Recommended items:
Fire protection IV, Effeciency IV+, Feather Falling IV, Depth Strider III

On extreme hills biomes:
Extreme Hills(EH) biomes will almost double your profit because emerald ore sells for 2k each. Unfortunately this also means that EH biomes are mined out first and if it has been a while since a reset then it can be very difficult to find untouched EH cave systems. If the wild is still relatively fresh then it is far more profitable to ONLY mine EH biomes.

On depth:
Diamonds spawn in layers 1-16 with higher concentrations in layers 5-12
Emeralds are in layers 4-32
Lava pools spawn at level 10
So with that information we can determine that level 11 is the sweet spot. It's in the rich diamond layers while still being above the lava pools. Lava pools will always be in the layer you are standing on(10), allowing you to easily use a waterbucket to create walking paths. (this is why Depth Strider III is useful, it allows you to pour water and move through it at full speed). Mining above layer 16 is pointless unless you are in a EH biome. If the cave I'm in goes above level 16 and doesn't look like it's going back down then I will usually start trying to find a new cave or just /random to a new spot.

On finding caves:
You have 2 best friends here, the first one is your sound. Turn the in-game music down or off and listen for mobs/lava/water. You can tell the general distance and direction from these sounds. Your second friend is the entity count(E) on your debug menu(F3). The only number you need to pay attention to here is the number directly following "E". This shows how many mobs and/or dropped items are in your field of view and within 16 blocks of you. With practice, this can be extremely useful in finding caves because there has to be an open space for an entity to even exist. Most caves will have hostile mobs and/or bats, both of which will show up on your entity count. It's also worth noting that while mining with a full inventory you will be leaving a trail of dropped stone, cobblestone etc. These dropped items will show up as entities so try to keep them out of your field of view while looking around.

The process:
1. Use /random to find a spot
2. Dig straight down to level 11 (with proper gear, this is safe but if you are still worried you can dig straight down underwater)
3. Pick a direction and stick to it. Don't worry about what your'e missing, the odds of missing something beside you are the same as missing something that may have been in front of you. When digging, the goal is to look for caves, ore is just a bonus.
4. Every 20-30 blocks stop for a sec and scan for entities
5. Once you hit a cave, explore as much as you can but you don't have to explore every single little corner. You will waste too much time backtracking if you try to explore 100% of every cave.
6. If I find signs that other players have already been somewhere then I usually just /random. That being said, a lot of players avoiding large lava pools so sometimes you can still find good stuff around liquid lava even if the cave has already been explored.

Closing tips:
-Selling ore blocks is more profitable than breaking down your emeralds and diamonds, even with fortune III
-Don't skip gold, smelt and sell it for 100 each at /warp bank, it adds up fast
- Cobwebs now sell for 50 meebles in the exclusive shop and are easy to mine in bulk around spider spawners.
-When mining valuable ore near lava, always do it under water. The water will solidify lava before your diamonds get burned up.
-Don't waste time mining hard to reach iron veins, trust me, there will be more iron around the next corner.
- Emerald ore often spawns in a non-adjacent pattern. Always dig out a few extra blocks around the emeralds you find.
-And most importantly, ignore all this info and stay out of the wild so that there is more for me. Seriously, I'll stab you with a god sword.

 

Totally misread that title

 

xD

 

Be safe, always type so etching in local chat, and if it doesn't say use shout, get out of t