Prospecting

One of the first major roadblocks that many people run into in Age 1 progression is finding ore. In SevTech: Ages, ore is controlled by a mod called Geolysys, and is not randomly distributed throughout the world like in vanilla Minecraft. Instead, the ore is aggregated into large veins of ore, where hundreds of ore may be located. There are a couple of steps to finding the ore:

1. First, make a dowsing rod. The type of dowsing rod changes with the age, as they get increasingly more powerful and able to find higher-tier ore. Each dowsing rod can only find ore from the age they are from, and any previous age. Each dowsing rod can detect ore within a straight, 48-block line from the side, top, or bottom of the block where they are right-clicked. The types of dowsing rods, in order of ages, are: - Weak dowsing rod. This is used in Age 1. It can locate Copper, Tin, Coal, and Coralium. - Tough dowsing rod. This is used in Age 2. It can locate Iron, Gold, Rock Crystal, Lapis, Black Quartz, Aquamarine, Copper, Tin, Coal, and Coralium. - Ore Prospector. This is used in Age 3. It can locate Cinnabar (redstone), Limonite (nickel and iron mix), Platinum, Galena (lead and silver mix), Bauxite (Aluminum), Iron, Gold, Rock Crystal, Lapis, Black Quartz, Aquamarine, Copper, Tin, Coal, and Coralium. - Advanced Prospector. This is used in Age 4. It can locate Certus Quartz, Ardite, Cobalt, Amethyst, Silicon, Cinnabar, Limonite, Platinum, Galena, Bauxite, Iron, Gold, Rock Crystal, Lapis, Black Quartz, Aquamarine, Copper, Tin, Coal, and Coralium. - Ultimate Prospector. This is used in Age 5. It can locate Emerald, Diamond, Cheese (yes, you read that correctly), Osmium, [insert others], Certus Quartz, Ardite, Cobalt, Amethyst, Silicon, Cinnabar, Limonite, Platinum, Galena, Bauxite, Iron, Gold, Rock Crystal, Lapis, Black Quartz, Aquamarine, Copper, Tin, Coal, and Coralium.

2. Now that you have your necessary dowsing rod/prospector, you need to find a surface ore sample. Remember all of those "rocks" that you've seen on the surface of the ground? Most of those are just that - rocks. However, some of them are actually ore samples in disguise, and each Age makes more and more of them visible. In order to find ore veins underground, you need to find the matching ore sample above-ground. The ore sample names, with their matching minerals, are listed below:

- Copper: Malachite and Azurite ore samples. - Tin: Teallite and Cassiterite ore samples. - Coal: Coal samples (tough one). - Iron: Hematite samples. - Gold: Gold samples. - Rock Crystal: Rock Crystal samples. Please note that you will need to break the rock crystal samples in order to get stardust. MARK THE LOCATIONS SO YOU DON'T FORGET!! Rare and small veins. Do not stack. - Lapis: Lapis samples. Uncommon and small veins. - Redstone: Cinnabar samples. - Nickel: Limonite samples. This is a mix of nickel and iron, and is referred to as "limonite" in the advancements. - Platinum: Platinum samples. - Lead and Silver: Galena samples. This is a mix of lead and silver, and is referred to as "galena" in the advancements. - Aluminum: Bauxite samples. It is spelled Aluminum. - Certus Quartz: Assorted Quartz samples. - Silicon: Silicon samples. - Emerald: Beryl samples. Exceedingly rare and small veins. - Diamond: Kimberlite samples. Exceedingly rare and small veins. - Osmium: Osmium samples. Rare and small veins.

After you have (eventually) located the ore sample on the surface that you are looking for, you have to locate the ore in the chunk. Sometimes the ore will spill into another chunk, but they are supposed to be located in the same chunk that the surface sample is located in. It is also important to note that each vein of ore has a range of y-coordinates that they can spawn in, and this range is different for every ore.

For some of the ores, you can simply take your dowsing rod/prospector and right-click on the surface within the chunk and see if it detects an ore with 48 blocks. For example, coal, tin, and copper are almost always located close enough to the surface for the dowsing rod to locate them. If the ore is too deep for the dowsing rod to detect from the surface, you will have to dig down into the ground of the chunk, and simply check with the dowsing rod periodically. Typically, it works to dig to bedrock, hollow out a space, and then check from there. Also, as of 3.0.8, nearly every ore vein in the game generates in the south-east corner of the chunks.

Once you have located the ore vein, simply dig in a straight line until you run into the ore, and then mine. It takes a little getting used to, and the RNG can be brutal sometimes, but you'll likely learn to appreciate how all the ore is clustered in large veins. Good luck!