AllstarIV hosts - Safe Caving: The Key to UHC Success (485 views)

No. If your staircase doesn't get to a cave and you get to bedrock you must go back to just beneath the surface and staircase back down. Most of the time if you play in a team it's really easy to tell where this is, you dig into a hole, dig like 4-5 blocks down, then you make a big room. All staircases should be out of that room. All staircases should start 5-10 blocks from the surface. So if sea level is 62, then your staircases should always start at no lower than 52. Digging to sounds is acceptable within reason, but try not to search for cave noises at lower than 16. UHC is equally about caving safely as it is about hunting and PvP. Stair-casing should be a used as a last resort, but lots of people use it as their first plan.

Watch my most recent UHCs video, when I staircase it is usually because my cave is crap, but I always try to find caves first.

It's more fun to get materials by caving too, staircasing over and over and over is boring, slow, and inefficient.  The most fun way to play UHC is to cave for materials, then kill people.  Staircasing always takes too long and by time you're fully geared there has likely already been combat.  Winning a UHC is fun, but winning battles with other players is more fun, especially if you have rivalries.  I know 4everless would get more joy out of killing me in UHC than winning.


Also- getting below level 16 and digging a long hallway trying to "hear sounds" is not an acceptable excuse to branch mine.  Staircase down, and you are not allowed to deviate the staircase unless you hear a sound, or run into an ore that you can't mine, like Redstone if you don't have an iron pick.  Once you hit bedrock, back to the top.  You are staircasing down looking for a cave, not ores. 

There are 3 stages of UHC

1:  Caving
2:  Hunting
3:  Murder

It's called caving for a reason, staircasing is for nubs.  I rek staircasers, the surface area exposure for rare materials in a staircase is much lower than caving.  Just find caves.  Using staircases or branch mines for your resources is boring, and that is why some teams aren't geared and ready for combat until 3+ hours.   Most of the people know that I get early kills.  I get geared quickly because of my caves.  Example: 4everless and I teamed and were in full enchanted Iron very quickly in one UHC because we caved effectively.  We then found HighSeasSailor and LadyNarwhal at the bottom of their staircases and easily killed them.  We had far more resources than they did because we were in a cave and not a staircase.  Even if we weren't enchanted, they only had iron chest plates, they didn't have a chance against two Iron suits.  This is why I want to host a few Safe Caving events, so you guys can find surface caves, and get resources safely and die honorably in combat with other players.  PvE deaths are boring and you don't even get to feel the rush of nerves and adrenaline when you finally do see the other team.  Stalking, patience, these are the best parts of UHC.  Dying in caves means you don't get to do the best part.

In the UHC I'm currently posting, by the end of episode 2 theninjazorous and I have been in a surface cave, ravine, are hunting in full Iron, and have already found Red teams cave.  We were able to gear up so quickly because we went into a surface cave to start (that was garbage) and then we stair cased down 1 direction to pass the night.  We didn't get much from it, so instead of wasting time staircasing again during the daytime, we moved to find a better cave which was a ravine.  By the end of the second night we had full Iron and were ready to go hunting.  Diamonds and enchants are not required to go hunting.  The element of surprise holds greater advantages than enchantments.  If you don't believe me, stay tuned for the release of episode 3 in the current UHC I'm uploading.   Will release as I get internet here in Germany.