Max Headroom
Refugee
I'm trying to build a base by first excavating a cave into a mountaintop. Any tips on getting nice flat surfaces for floors and walls?
Precision Excavation
- Thread starter Max Headroom
- Start date
theFlu
Hunter
Well, don't break anything you want to keep 
When you inevitably do:
You can repair stone with cobblestone.
If you dent a block, you can place a frame next to it to force it back to shape.
You can craft stone blocks in a cement mixer to fill gaps.
If you don't have a cement mixer, you can craft dirt blocks in your inventory.
For bridging the inevitable gaps between blocks and terrain, sheets and half sheets are visually nice. Weak AF thou. Plates are regular strength, but slightly elevated ofc.
When you inevitably do:
You can repair stone with cobblestone.
If you dent a block, you can place a frame next to it to force it back to shape.
You can craft stone blocks in a cement mixer to fill gaps.
If you don't have a cement mixer, you can craft dirt blocks in your inventory.
For bridging the inevitable gaps between blocks and terrain, sheets and half sheets are visually nice. Weak AF thou. Plates are regular strength, but slightly elevated ofc.
Use lines of removable blocks to signal wall locations or directions.
Riamus
Hunter
The main thing is to just make sure you are going straight and not at an angle. If you are going straight, you can make straight path really easily. If you are having trouble, I'd recommend doing a 1 wide 2-3 high path first. Going straight with a 1 wide path is very easy. You can then widen it and make it taller once you've gone as far as you're going to go. Stick to 1 wide paths as you expand to keep it as easy as possible. If you damage something, I'd recommend just using the repair tool to fix it. You'll have the resources to do the repair since you're mining those same resources.
If you do break something, you can put in a terrain block if you want. Dirt can be done from inventory and is usually good enough, but if you really want it to look the same and are in stone, you'll need some stone blocks. If you don't need it to look like a dirt/stone tunnel and want it to have actual building blocks of wood, cobblestone, concrete, or steel, then you can also just fill in any holes with building blocks. I'll usually do this and will upgrade them to at least cobblestone just for a little extra strength, but that's not really necessary since nothing is likely to target them.
I dug a tunnel that was about 1km long all the way through a mountain and made it big enough to drive a 4x4 through with building blocks on floor, walls, and ceiling. It takes time, but can definitely be done. I also once dug a tunnel through a smaller hill (a few hundred meters or so) and wasn't paying attention and did it at an angle. That still worked, but I had to spend a lot of time using a variety of angle blocks to make the walls appear straight. I don't recommend that and suggest being very sure you're going straight. You can drop a block now and then to verify it is straight if needed.
If you do break something, you can put in a terrain block if you want. Dirt can be done from inventory and is usually good enough, but if you really want it to look the same and are in stone, you'll need some stone blocks. If you don't need it to look like a dirt/stone tunnel and want it to have actual building blocks of wood, cobblestone, concrete, or steel, then you can also just fill in any holes with building blocks. I'll usually do this and will upgrade them to at least cobblestone just for a little extra strength, but that's not really necessary since nothing is likely to target them.
I dug a tunnel that was about 1km long all the way through a mountain and made it big enough to drive a 4x4 through with building blocks on floor, walls, and ceiling. It takes time, but can definitely be done. I also once dug a tunnel through a smaller hill (a few hundred meters or so) and wasn't paying attention and did it at an angle. That still worked, but I had to spend a lot of time using a variety of angle blocks to make the walls appear straight. I don't recommend that and suggest being very sure you're going straight. You can drop a block now and then to verify it is straight if needed.
Syphon583
Survivor
I assume you're talking about the gaps between terrain blocks and the blocks of the base you're building. Unfortunately, the way terrain blocks work, there is no way in vanilla to flatten those out. If you're in the POI builder, I do believe it behaves differently or there's a tool to correct it, but I'm not familiar with that and it wouldn't help in-game. Lastly, if you are on PC, there is a mod by OCB Maurice that essentially does the same thing, though it isn't perfect.
(I haven't used it in 2.x, so I'm not sure it's updated, but something to keep in mind)
(I haven't used it in 2.x, so I'm not sure it's updated, but something to keep in mind)
SabinSnake PS5#1
Refugee
As for floors, I just use wood blocks, it's a headache trying to make the ground flat with the pickaxe.
warmer
Hunter
I always mine out what I dont want 1 Square bigger than I want the room size and then border it in cobblestone
Uncle Al
Survivor
I find this is almost always a good idea for underground construction.
Stone only has 500hp per block, so if you don't 'skin' your walls it's very easy for zombies to want to get to you by digging rather than coming in through your 'front door' where you actually have defences set up.
This may be the reason I regularly see complaints that underground bases are unworkable - they're not, but you can't just dig a hole and call it good.
warmer
Hunter
that is exactly my experience and why I started doing it. not only does it look clean, it also forces a path