Best way to get nitrate powder?

[Kaiser Nhyla]

Title says it all.

[The Lazy Gamer]

Those medium rocks that spawn on the map mine them they seem to give stuff like nitrate powder, coal or lead randomly

[The Commodore]

Go to the winter biome. There are semi-flat surface deposits. Same appearance as coal and lead deposits which usually turn up in forests and deserts. The texture of the nitrate looks sort of like cobblestone. The deposits also appear as tiny jagged dark patches on the overhead map. This is hard to explain in text, but once you spot one on the map and confirm it's a deposit by going to it, you'll have no trouble tracking down more of them. Just be on the lookout because lumberjacks don't like it when you start mining.

I've also heard you can find veins of the stuff below ground, but after kilometers of tunneling, I've only ever found coal, lead, and iron.

[The Lazy Gamer]

you can find nitrate powder if you keep mining at bedrock level my friend said he found once a vein of nitrate powder from that level

[Ch53dVet]

It seems like every other small boulder you find gives +10 nitrate, when under ground and you hit a sand layer try to dig it out carefully and see what it's hiding, Iron, lead, coal and nitrate powder is only present in the sand layers under ground, you'll never find two or more minerals in the sand layer you find only 1 so if it's lead you find keep digging till you find another layer of sand, it's pretty much hit or miss as you dig, coal and nitrate are the hardest to find underground, but, if you find a coal vein theres a good chance there is a nitrate vein in the surrounding area.

[Vimes]

As others have posted breaking up small bolders tend to release 10 nitrate at a time, but that could also be lead or coal. Going to the Snow biome, when it is not snowing so that they are more visable, tends to reveal a rare clump of nitrate. Mining has never resulted in me finding any nitrate at all, tha tincludes down at the bedrock level.
Each time trhat I go hunting for the stuff in the wastelands that dog packs usually finish me off.

Nitrate has been the biggest issue for me with A15.

[jynx]

Dont forget the desert biome. I found a vien in sand at approximately -30 elevation. Cave stalagmites are a decent source.

[HoldMyBeer]

If you dig down and find a vein there is plenty of everything.

[gamerhelligon]

Beside all the aboved mentioned also look for small caves. I just had 1 random map where I saw some black spot on my map very near my base. I thought it was just another boulder or something that most black spots are, but it was a small cave going about 20 blocks or more in.

There I found whiteish staligtites and stalagmites that I could mine up for a good amount of nitrate and some mushrooms as well. This was in a green forest biome but I'm sure they are in other biomes as well.

Makes me now start checking out those black spots on my map.

[Unbearable]

Snow is best, but OH wow those crazy canuckian lumberjacks..sheesh!. Who needs burrs and mountainlions and wolfpacks when the silent but deadly prowling lumbearjack gets behind you for a gentle bearhug of doom!.

But yeah snow biome is tops, and rock farming..must be the medium ones, large ones its iron and stone.

[Ballsm]

Originally posted by The Lazy Gamer:

Those medium rocks that spawn on the map mine them they seem to give stuff like nitrate powder, coal or lead randomly

I've been relying on only this and have plenty to use for crafting

[Jenkins]

I find my nitrate clusters about 10-15 above bedroock (-40 to -45) in snow often under the ground patches or digging toward them from an adjacent biome border. The ground patches are also nice cause they're usually on top of a cave system or two, so even if you don't find the nitrate easy, you dig easier with the sand and have a ton of metal. So I dig down under a surface node then head to the border and usually find one before I hit a border.

Definitely harder since A15 though I'm going to test max mining tools/69er and run around the biome clearing rocks to test rate of return for surface v. mine. My money's on surface nodes for rate of return sadly.

[Santi007_PC]

I think find caves is the best way to get nitrate powder. First of all, you should open your map to identify caves in known map zones (this step can be a little bit difficult until you get used identifying them). Then, you can go there and collect stalactites and stalagmites inside.
I am a lucky man, the first cave I go in my actual game and I find a big cave with a big central room and some two more tunnels.
PD: In the map, caves are like a starry meteorite that leaves a wake :D black color. You may already know this information, but I'd better tell you.
Regards and don't stop killing zombies.

[Wheatly's Revenge]

Originally posted by Balsm:

Originally posted by The Lazy Gamer:

Those medium rocks that spawn on the map mine them they seem to give stuff like nitrate powder, coal or lead randomly

I've been relying on only this and have plenty to use for crafting

I was afraid of that. Just hit up the snow biome and nearly got my head caved in by a lumberjack. Plus its too far away and I don't have gas schematic yet. Ugh. Boulders.

[D1ld0zer]

Mine in the wasteland

[Ch53dVet]

I just located a nitrate vein at bedrock level, using my sand layer approach, I mentioned here in an earlier post. So far, I've dug out 2000 + units and the vein is still expanding heavily in all directions.

I'm creating a reinforced concrete subway system at the lowest bedrock level, it follows all the streets in my, good sized, town. It's located in a, poisoned, leaded, woodland forest biome, (I'm surprised that anything grows in the forest biomes with the, overly abundant, amount of lead in them)

That's where I'm finding my much needed coal and nitrate deposits as I dig out my undergound subway system.

The nitrates are there, you just need to fully examine every sandy deposit you come across, when digging under-ground.
(also, it helps you gain extra crushed sand for mixing cement, plus, it helps in saving on crushing those, else-where needed, small rocks into crushed sand)