I finally found a use for the thousands of dirt blocks I kept in storage.

[Horrow]

They're now invaluable for when I go to ocean planets.

[The Dude]

Why ?

[Horrow]

Originally posted by R. Daneel Olivaw:

Why ?

Well at first I was clueless as to what I was going to do since the Kelp I needed for my quest is at the BOTTOM of the ocean. Currently I LOATHE going into any body of water in this game, especially an ocean since I have no way that I know of to create light and I feel extremely vulnerable.

I tried to drain the water, but its undrainable. So I figured I would just explore the islands by making land bridges across the water.

That's when it hit me. Using the land bridge I made, I noticed that I could start placing the blocks downward into the water. If you completely fill up a chunk of space in an ocean, then mine into the center of it, you'll find that there will be no more water.

Basically I'm able to manually create a tunnel down to the bottom of the ocean with all my dirt blocks. I can now farm the kelp with out having to worry about fighting sea creatures and ♥♥♥♥ lol.

tl;dr: I can use the dirt blocks (or any placeable blocks for that matter) to make a tunnel into the ocean so that I don't have to risk swimming in it.

[Starbug]

Originally posted by Horrow:

especially an ocean since I have no way that I know of to create light and I feel extremely vulnerable.

There's nothing down there that can hurt you yet. Is there?

Did you watch Jaws before a certain age? This has been known to induce a terror of deep waters.

[amyasleigh]

Originally posted by Starbug:

Originally posted by Horrow:

especially an ocean since I have no way that I know of to create light and I feel extremely vulnerable.

There's nothing down there that can hurt you yet. Is there?

Did you watch Jaws before a certain age? This has been known to induce a terror of deep waters.

There are big fish monsters, even in lava oceans.
@OP There is usually light at the bottom from the shrooms though (on regular oceans anyway). Use yellow stims or get a piece of the glow set.

[Horrow]

Originally posted by Starbug:

Originally posted by Horrow:

especially an ocean since I have no way that I know of to create light and I feel extremely vulnerable.

There's nothing down there that can hurt you yet. Is there?

Did you watch Jaws before a certain age? This has been known to induce a terror of deep waters.

I don't know, which is why I rather not risk it lol. Thanks to figuring this out, I think I'm gonna choose to build an underwater home using this 'technique'.

[FDru]

Risk swimming in it? EXTREME ROLE PLAYING TIME!

Seriously, just dive straight to the bottom, it takes a few seconds. Dig hole, seal hole, now dig under the ocean floor in safety.

[Horrow]

Originally posted by FDru:

Risk swimming in it? EXTREME ROLE PLAYING TIME!

Seriously, just dive straight to the bottom, it takes a few seconds. Dig hole, seal hole, now dig under the ocean floor in safety.

Too late now. Now I'm converting the tunnel into a home through expansion.

[Well-Suited Wade (PittsburghDP)]

Nice Work. Very Clever!

[MissRockyqo]

Wow! I can't wait to try this out on my bowl of cereal

[Cooperal]

Make a lantern on a stick. You can make it out of some pretty commonplace ingredients (probably unrefined wood and a lantern or something simpler, can't remember). And that can create a light-source that you can wear on your back slot.
It's not that helpful for cave exploring as it doesn't reach far enough to find falls and other hazards and it isn't strong enough to shine far through blocks. But for ocean exploring it's much better as there are far less threats to pay attention to.

Also, equip your flashlight. It's there for a reason. Pair it with a 1-handed weapon and keep it out all the time except when you need the matter manipulator.

[Lityk]

well... if you just keep making that tunnel wider... then the ocean is drainable? i think i will test this sometime... unless someone will test it first.

[Horrow]

Originally posted by Lityk:

well... if you just keep making that tunnel wider... then the ocean is drainable? i think i will test this sometime... unless someone will test it first.

If you isolate a liquid then fully smother it with blocks, then mine said blocks, the liquid will be gone.

So I suppose that is a way to 'drain' the ocean.

[gp2.eXe ・ マルク]

Yes, this actually works in the magma ocean planets as well, tons of resources under all the fiery death, it just takes a while and really careful digging to make the tunnel to the bottom.

As for draining the ocean, well, the liquid on the ocean does not drain as the water above the ocean floor is treated as a static block. I noticed this due to a bug that causes water to completely convert to poison once they come into contact, when I dug into a small pool of the stuff and suddenly found myself in caverns completely filled with green pain. Yet the ocean right above the start of the poisoned tunnel was untouched. This means that no matter how much water falls through a tunnel or how much you collect with the Matter Manipulator, the ocean level should remain the same. (In fact the water tries to flow back once you have removed some of the permanent ocean with the dirt, and then bugs trying to fall into place.)

[gp2.eXe ・ マルク]

Originally posted by Jinkaru:

...Or you can use the boat tech.

Shhh... he has a purpose in life now collecting more dirt, don't ruin it for him... :P

Jokes aside, the boat won't take you to the bottom of the ocean which is kinda the point being thrown right now.

[Xilo The Odd]

wanna know how i get to the bottom fast? stomp tech.