CovertGuardian

We tried moving one by fisting it to get it back and it disappeared... Is this a bug or is there a specific tool / procedure to move an anvil?

For the starter ores you can find deposits by looking for surface nuggets - a resource efficient way to search since no resources are used. For copper - you can find one of three ore types by surface nuggets. But the other two ore types are never found on the surface. From Iron (and the more advanced alloy materials) , none of the ore types appear on the surface. I am currently at Tier 1 and only have a small metal surplus, so I need to watch out for how many picks and proPicks I burn up in the process of searching. So how do you normally search, possible ideas: 0) Ignore Malachite and Tetrahedrite - stick to areas where Native Copper has been found on the surface (That may work to get me into the bronze age, but then option 0 goes away once you need to find iron...) 1) Use prospecting pick on surface in a grid search pattern. A grid with 10 or 12 square sample spacing should miss very little of the available ore near the surface at one tap every sample line intersection.. Concerns :Build 72 added a thicker dirt layer and low tier picks now have ~60% of the old usages - so using metal on fruitless searches is more of a concern. 2) As in option 1 - prospect in a grid pattern, but dig down to rock (uses only stone tools) at each test point and do the tap there - takes more time, but gets better use of each metal consumed by reaching deeper ores. 3) Build and operate sluice units - only do option 1 or 2 in areas covered by a sluice (200x200 search area if I read the wiki right!) which has returned a hit on the metal you are seeking. Once you have a steady supply of metal, I expect a underground grid of samples every 10/12 squares becomes practical, I am afraid with my current metal supply a deep mining project could use up all my available ingots on pick heads before the mining effort finds anything useful. Cutting rock burns through tier 0 tools pretty fast. Which of these strategies (or please offer your own) would you suggest, and how would your search strategy change as you advanced up the tiers to iron/steel. Tron - I think that undersea sluicing would be on of those minecraft "cool to show you can do it" activities, but I don't think it will be practical on a regular basis

Thanks for your thoughts! I was not understanding the ore vs nugget distinction, so I guess I did make a very small metal profit on the the expedition so far (I was thinking ~16 ore to make ingot, but now see the ore is much bigger than a nugget.) My question still stands - assuming you had not already started digging - would you prospect all known locations for a shallow deposit first or just start digging at the richest looking site even if surface prospecting shows nothing?

So you have a pickaxe and a prospecting pick. What is a good strategy to start mining to get a metal surplus? The first time I reached this point in the game I ran out to an area where I had found a metal nugget, dug a shaft for 20 units until I got a hit on the prospecting pick. Did the prospecting puzzle to lock down the coordinates of the ore - Mined 6 units of ore 32 units under surface - no more in range of prospecting pick after those 6 units. This process used up more metal than it found, not a good start. Admitted I wasted some tool wear until I figured out the trick of proving where the metal was NOT instead of trying to play HOT/COLD. Never got a reading above trace (thus the poor ore yield) So what is the best strategy to mine at a profit in metal? Possible answers I can think of are given herein below, other answers I have not considered are very welcome! 1) Should not give up so easy, dig deeper - there should be more further down. 2) Run around to all the sites where you have found metal on the surface and prospect on the surface a bit. Only dig if you get a prospecting hit from the surface. (Harder on ProPick, but saves PickAxe which runs down much faster when you start tunneling.) 3) Pick the site on the surface where the most metal nuggets have been found in the same small area. Dig in the middle of that are until you get a prospecting hit or the rock type changes. 4) Do number 2 at all the metal finds you know of, if that fails then do number 3. So what strategy do you use to get an ongoing supply of metal without wearing out tools faster than you find ore?