MINING IN THE OVERWORLD

Caverns or caves are an extremely common underground structure in the Minecraftian world. They spawn naturally underground and vary in size, shape, depth, hostility, and how much ore present. Caves spawn naturally unlit, and if you have ever wondered where the mobs "go" in the morning, ito s the caves. The caves are the mobso shelter, which hinders the efficiency of "cherry-picking" or cave mining. Miners need to be cautious when venturing through an unknown cave, regularly placing torches along the way.

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Ravines are huge, cut into the earth, fairly narrow, and winding. These are dangerous because most ravines are coded to generate deep. One could be digging into a ravine and get stuck, because the drop down is too big to continue. (Some ravine floors are covered in lava) A miner must be cautious when trying to move through a ravine high up. Since ravines are also generated unlit (unless lava is present), mobs are very common lurking high up, and down on the ground. The fact that ores are present almost everywhere in the ravine balances out the dangers.

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Abandoned mineshafts are generated sometimes interlocking with ravines. When generated, they are extremely large and somewhat lit. They use fences and wooden planks for o supporto from the rocks and sometimes have rails running through them. Rarely, there will be a section covered with dangerous slowing cobwebs. In the huge mess there is a cave spider spawner. One must be on high guard because the cave spiders can fit in 1x1 holes and poison the player. The poison will lower one to half a heart while they attack and kill the player.

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Dungeons are small rooms hidden in the ground that contain a special block: the mob spawner. This block is a blue cage with a random mob o dollo (spiders, skeletons, and zombies only) spinning inside of itself. Every few times a minute, the block spawns the mob that it shows. Be careful when trying to defeat a dungeon, because mobs are already there before one tries to enter the dungeon. The room is covered in rare moss stone and oh-so-common cobblestone. There are also 1 to 2 chests inside of the room, generally with rare/uncommon items inside of it such as a music disk or a saddle. Sometimes the room is open to an outside cave or even (rarely) the surface. This allows mobs to flood the area in and around the dungeon.

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Strongholds are the least common of all underground structures. Generally a miner will NEVER accidentally dig into a stronghold, but it does happen. Strongholds are dangerous because they are massive and partially lit. Mobs lurk around the rooms, but there is another secret mob hiding. The silverfish. The silverfish is a tiny mob smaller than a block that hides INSIDE of stone, stonebrick, and cobblestone. If one digs the special block, the silverfish pops out and attacks the player. When it gets injured, it screeches. The screech calls other hiding silverfish to help. As this happens, more and more of them pop out of everywhere, tearing apart the stronghold and forming a swarm. DO NOT EVER PUNCH A SILVERFISH!! Use a passive form of damage such as fire. This does not cause a swarm to form.

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Lava is (what I think) the single most common cause of Minecraftian death in the history of everything. Lava is a liquid block that emits light at the highest level (Level 15). When one makes contact with a block of lava, they are immediately set on fire (taking normal fire damage) and also take 2½ hearts of damage 2 times every second just from touching the lava block. In addition to the rapid death, any item that falls into the lava will instantly be burned and destroyed. Sometimes 1 lava block spawns at the top of a cave, flows down, and creates a lava river. Be aware that when one removes the lava source block, the rest of the blocks do not disappear like water does. It could take up to an hour for all the lava to disappear completely (depending on the amount of blocks present). Lava sometimes spawns on the floors of caves/ravines, rendering the cave as impossible to go on. Lava pools are mainly between layer 1 and layer 10, so be careful when around bedrock. Telltale signs of lava nearby are hearing a popping bubbling sound. If lava is directly above you, small lave particles will seep through the block and drip to the floor.

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Water is not as dangerous as lava is, but it can help other dangers reach you. Water generally flows as rivers through caves. Most of the time one must go against the current to get to the unexplored parts. It is very difficult to go upstream through flowing water, but easy to go with the flow of the river. Be wary when traveling against streams, as mobs can flow right down to kill. Luckily, water converts lava SOURCE blocks into obsidian, and RUNNING LAVA blocks into cobblestone.

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Mobs are the #1 threat to a Minecraftian. Constantly spawning around a miner's new cave, there is no escape to mobs attempting to spawn (except peaceful). If you have ever wondered where the mobs "go" during the daytime, it's underground. I would say that 80% of the underground is naturally dark, allowing mobs to spawn everywhere. Mobs will wander these dark areas, and even sometimes wander into the light (e.g. lava pit, torches in a stronghold, etc.). The main defence against mobs is a weapon, but precautions can be made to minimize mob to player contact. Mining in a new cave during nighttime is optimal, because most mobs are on the surface.

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