100 diamonds in 100x9x100 area?! Ore analysis and mining techniques for Discordia-like world.

[Notme]

So I decided to do few tests. Apparently you can find A LOT of diamonds in small area.
Here are tests in 1.6.2 Buildbox terrain. I spiraled outwards from starting point to approx. 100x100 area.

Yup, 82 diamonds are found, when spiraling outward in ~3000 blocks long, 10 blocks high and 1 block wide spiral.

Close look at this mine.

Here is theoretical data (yes, I noticed error, so had to edit it) of 1.7.2 fresh generated world (Seed is Discordia) of 3200x3200 size.
It was quite a lot of fun: First I had to generate that in MCEdit, then run Cartographer to find out how many ores per layers are, then put that data into Excel, and finally to make shots of it in Paint.

So yeah, 100x100 area can give you a lot of riches, if you mine very efficiently.
Efficiency V, Fortune III, Unbreaking III on diamond pickaxe will make you rich very quickly, when coupling it with efficient mining techniques.
Also abundant redstone will yield a lot of exp for you to create god pickaxes.

I put this thread to show how you can prosper in Discordia - basically its guide to underground.

 

[crashb23]

This is very well made, and looks to have taken a lot of time. Thanks for sharing raxo!

 

[LagWarrior]

This is amazing. Well done, Raxo.

 

[Duffie]

Although you found 82 diamonds, there's still the factor of luck.

... Is it still true that you can only find, at most, one diamond vein per chunk? And, of course, at least no veins.

 

[Notme]

Although you found 82 diamonds, there's still the factor of luck.

... Is it still true that you can only find, at most, one diamond vein per chunk? And, of course, at least no veins.

Well, its completely random so there is factor of luck, when searching up smaller areas, but at larger it will average out. Also I think that veins stuff is myth.

Also these graphs are for ~3200x3200 area.
If you want for example to know of amount of ores in lets say 320x320 area, then you must divide number of ores by 10x10=100.

 

[Jivvi]

Although you found 82 diamonds, there's still the factor of luck.

... Is it still true that you can only find, at most, one diamond vein per chunk? And, of course, at least no veins.

Nope, diamond veins can usually contain anywhere from one to over eight ore blocks.

 

[Duffie]

Although you found 82 diamonds, there's still the factor of luck.

... Is it still true that you can only find, at most, one diamond vein per chunk? And, of course, at least no veins.

Nope, diamond veins can usually contain anywhere from one to over eight ore blocks.

*vein.

I didn't ask about single diamond ore blocks, Jivvi.

 

[Pikmon2]

I would die after doing this for 2 minutes, I'll give you credit for patience!

 

[Wimali]

Although you found 82 diamonds, there's still the factor of luck.

... Is it still true that you can only find, at most, one diamond vein per chunk? And, of course, at least no veins.

Nope, diamond veins can usually contain anywhere from one to over eight ore blocks.

*vein.

I didn't ask about single diamond ore blocks, Jivvi.

"There is an average of 3.097 diamond ore per chunk sized area"
...not exactly a vein, but meh.

 

[Duffie]

Nope, diamond veins can usually contain anywhere from one to over eight ore blocks.

*vein.

I didn't ask about single diamond ore blocks, Jivvi.

"There is an average of 3.097 diamond ore per chunk sized area"
...not exactly a vein, but meh.

A vein is still a vein, no matter how small it is. <3

 

[Kuromono13]

I hope discordia is not too economy and enterprise based.

 

[Deleted member 4601]

I made a few calculations:

Given 100x100 area for Diamond mining using the spiral method, then:

Number of blocks mined in the spiral
=3x2x2x(33x34/2)
=6732
=4.31 diamond pickaxes

Number of blocks exposed
=6732+(2x10000)-(2x78)
=26576

Given diamond percentage to be 0.0846% (taken from wiki), then

Average number of diamonds found using spiral method in 100x100 area
=26576x0.0846%
=22 (rounded down)

This covers only 4 layers out of the 15. Therefore if done 4 times at different areas, then

Average total number of diamonds mined
=(26576x4-6732)x0.0846%
=84 (rounded down)

I might actually consider using this method, but I'd say 100 diamonds is just really lucky. ;D

 

[Notme]

Well, I said "100 diamonds in..." to make nice round number

You CAN get over 100 diamonds in that area with Fortune I-III pickaxe

I hope discordia is not too economy and enterprise based.

Huh? It can apply to any 1.7.2 (or other versions with maps, that have same ore generation) SMP with vanilla ore generation.

 

[Guest35486]

How do you do this without raging with impatience

 

[Notme]

How do you do this without raging with impatience

Well, it was half-automated process.
First I had to generate 1.7.2 world with MCEdit, it was kinda unstable - it crashed once per a while, leaving with patchwork of chunks in ~3200x3200 area.
Then I used Cartographer to scan map layer by layer, and paste layer data in excel. It was long overdue, as it kept crashing once per a while, but I found workaround.
Later I used Excel to make graph and present data in nice form. Then I screenied it, and posted screenie of it here.
So while MCEdit and Cartographer were drunk, Excel and MSPaint had excellent stability.
It took me in sum around 2 days.

-------------------------------------------------Merged--------------------------------------------------------------------------
So I decided to WE this 1.7.2 map (going back to 1.6.2 shouldn't break stuff underground).

wait.. it should be 200x200 or somethings

 

[Chocfudgemud]

First of all the diamonds only spawn in diamond lvl making them rarer than other ores due to the fact of limited spawning space.
Second of all I can't come up with a second point

 

[Notme]

First of all the diamonds only spawn in diamond lvl making them rarer than other ores due to the fact of limited spawning space.
Second of all I can't come up with a second point

I know, but you can compare amount of ores per layer on 3200x3200 area :)

Oh I think mining in circles will be as efficient as spiral mining, but less confusing.
You can mine out blocks from y = 5 (layer 4 would be floor) to layer 14 (layer 15 would be ceiling), but make 2 block high entrances at corners to outer rings.
I will post pics on how it could look.

Looks like I analyzed spatial dimension of Discordia here XD

 

[nitasu987]

Wow..... Cool!

 

[Notme]

Well, spiral mining may be confusing, so mining in squares should be better.

Here is in depth analyze of mining like this:

Yeah, its full of numbers.

There is how ideal mineshaft entrance + fancy overground watchtower/dome.

So yeah, thats how I'm going to mine.

 

[Fjm12]

Advice =taken.

 

[Notme]

I modified slightly ore graph, is it now more clear now?

 

[Deleted member 4601]

I've heard that diamonds occur more commonly near lava. Is that true?

 

[Notme]

I've heard that diamonds occur more commonly near lava. Is that true?

Nope - that myth was debunked long ago.

 

[Danni122112]

I've heard that diamonds occur more commonly near lava. Is that true?

Nope - that myth was debunked long ago.

Its not untrue either, "lava layer" is usually 10, and that is where you will also find alot of diamonds, bit its because of the layer, not the lava itself.

 

[Notme]

Spoiler: merge

I've heard that diamonds occur more commonly near lava. Is that true?

Nope - that myth was debunked long ago.

Its not untrue either, "lava layer" is usually 10, and that is where you will also find a lot of diamonds, bit its because of the layer, not the lava itself.

Well, distribution is almost same in layers 5 - 13.
---------------------------------------------------MERGED-----------------------------------------------------------

I think I'll change my entrance to underground, it will require cobblestone, coal, sand and cactus as raw materials.
Coal is to smelt sand and cactus.

Bunker outside with sign reminding, that Discordia is not Elysium.

Notice, that mu bunker is double-layered, so I can safely see, if any pvprs are outside swarming.
If yes, I'll take different route.

Entrance to mineshaft. Notice, how I did 3 times dirt barrier.

Nightly overview.

This villager is completely safe as long as I don't grief (griefing is illegal on Discordia).

---------------------------------------------MERGED-------------------------------------------------------------
Well, my base is PvE zone now :)

Its really effective!
I mined 104 lapis ores, 106 diamond ores, 229 gold ores, 976 redstone ores, 1341 iron ores and 3052 coal ores in my mine and caves, that happened to touch my nine.
My ontime is 3 days and 13 hours.
Iron and coal ores were mined, when I was drilling trough overworld to connect the end with spawn too

Also I was on 23rd ring.