How to build shafts for cargo lifts?

[GMC]

A cargo lift has no distance limit; but how do you make a shaft down to -500 without it being obstructed by ores? Keep trying until you find the right spot? Keep trying until it's almost right and use nanodisintegrators to clear the handful of blockages? Just settle for a staggered shaft with multiple lifts? Or is there some other approach for creating really long shafts?

[Dodgeball]

Little bit of both.

Auto excavator + nano disintegrators is the best option in vanilla (until you get the late game laser borer or quarry). Even a really tall ore vein you can punch through 3m per nano. If you hit one of those completely ridiculous 100mil veins, you might want to drill a new shaft for -500, and use the existing one to plunder the big vein.

There's a popular mod that adds a Mk2 excavator, that tunnels through ores as well.

I've never tried a multi-lift approach: but such a design would be able to support additional mining ventures in between, and could potentially add throughput assuming the transition from cargo lifts didn't create a bottleneck.

You could also just hole punch the hell out of a quadrant and mine whatever the lift rails collide with, though that's probably not strategically going to get you the resources you need.

[GMC]

I can "build" a laser borer or basic quarry, in the sense that they appear in the manufacturing plant, but both currently require "Unknown Material". Looks like it's time to explore further down.

[|§| <subTxT>]

Originally posted by GMC:

I can "build" a laser borer or basic quarry, in the sense that they appear in the manufacturing plant, but both currently require "Unknown Material". Looks like it's time to explore further down.

Have you scanned soft and hard resin?
ANother material you may need to scan is biomass which you'll find at about -500 and bellow.
Biomass is tier 2 fuel, needed to make hIeNERGYcOMPOSITEfUEL to run your laser borer

[GMC]

I've scanned soft resin, hard resin and biomass. And chromium ore (which none of the drill heads can cut, even plasma; so I'm guessing that this needs to be mined wiith something other than an excavator).

The "unknown material" for the quarry turns out to be sugalite crystal, that for the borer remains unknown so far. But I now have lifts (and power) down to -700, so exploring there will be easier.

[Ishakaru]

I use Geo surveyors. I set a square perimeter distance from my CPH. (I go with 35 blocks from the center of my CPH, this is based around 15 blocks from the center of my CPH to my line of MK2 turrets, then 20 from that point for the max distance from the turrets. So a 69x69 square.)


5 blocks out from the the perimeter I place geo surveyors side by side. Only need about 2, 10+ for ease of use. Place solar panels on top to power them, then I use some way to mark low ore points. I leave the geo's in place so I don't have to write down information, or resurvey the spot. I go around the entire perimeter this way. Then take the lowest one, and build my shaft there. Any ore in the way gets nano'd, or I just use the build gun.

[MoronWMachinegun]

Most likely the Unknown Material is a BFL - 9000. Have you built one yet? Annoyingly manufactured items are listed as "unknown material" in recipes until you build one.

[dmdeemer]

I struggled with this for a while, but my final decision was that nano-disintegrators are cheap, (2 copper, 6 tin, and energy), so automate them. With a stack of 100 nanos, you can use an auto-excavator and then clear the remaining ores with nanos regardless of where you put the shaft.

Just watch out for hiveminds. Their hard resin shells grow back after you nano them. They can be removed with explosives, once you have refined resin automated.

[askovdk]

My method for clearing early shafts is to bring: piston lifts, compressors, and especially an Arther recharger.
I.e. the idea is to bring power down and have the auto excavator clear as much as possible. Since power has already been brought down it is easy to place the recharger, and using Arther as extended battery makes removing blocking ore an acceptable task with super dig. (When the lifts gets to the ore, dig a quick alcove in the normal rock, go into it and dig from there, - i.e. only ride the lift up and down when you and Arther needs recharging.)
It’s a bit more tiresome below the cold caverns, as a single lift can’t go the entire, but by then you have several options to choose from.