I know it's been mentioned before but.. Lime?

[Reviresco]

Ack Ack ack!

That would explain the 2 abandoned mines nearby with heaps and heaps of iron ore lying on the ground..

Thanks for advice and offers. I'll see what I can do when I can get back in world.

But this is what makes the lime situation a pain. No other vital resource in Salem seems to suffer these ills.

How many levels down are the mines?

[Ferax]

Just one
The two sites where they are never got to be developed at all. One has a big square of pavement and lots of empty wooden boxes and the now missing gardening pots, the other is pretty much a mine and whittling bench.

Both have heaps of iron looking boulders around and I actually liberated some iron ore from them, not knowing if it was something I would have trouble getting when I had the skills, so I know it is iron and not just stone.

There seems masses of it.

[jcwilk]

THanks JC,

I have no idea what they look like on the map as I've never found one, but.. I have literally visually checked each tile, by panning out and looking at the whole square on main screen. They seem very distinct to me and easy to tell apart from quarries. I look forward to seeing how they appear on the map some lucky day in the future!

And yes, I got the map tool today as I first mentioned in the initial post. But didn't have it when I was searching, but so keen was I find lime I believe I was very thorough. I walked for hours looking for it..

Ah, touche, sorry I missed that. AFAIK it -should- pick up all those previous sessions as well. Lime pits simply look white, if it has any "grain" on the map then it's something else so it's very distinctive.

I think wandering endlessly is a fun way to start Salem though. You'll encounter loads of empty bases, many that are not entirely picked over that will likely have some meat, fish, plants, inspirationals, etc, which can save you a little gathering time if you squat there for a few hours to consume everything of value.

Plus the maps you build in the mapping tool in the meantime will be invaluable later. Something you might want to try is to build a very shabby claim somewhere with an alt near or in an old base so you can steal all the tools so you don't have to invest much time in it but can still make some of the less basic inspirationals and foods, but keep aggressively exploring with your hunter to try to find the perfect home for your real settlement location.

Personally, I like to find somewhere where, within a 101x101 area (claim size from a town bell), it has:
- small to medium size lime pit
- a mine, preferably smack dab in the center of it
- water nearby, maybe even a tiny pond inside it but that's hard to find. Some suggest avoiding rivers though since they may be high traffic, up to you whether you prefer obscurity or convenience.
- clay quarry nearby (not necessary at all since you can make it from dirt and lime, but I'm lazy)
- a few useful biomes nearby, and ideally all of the biomes within a short run.
- near darkness but maybe not right on the edge... Once you get to late game you'll want to be able to get there without too much effort.

Once I find a place I like I like to plan out the walls on a grid (paper or an image editing program) to make sure that I can build it how I want without having to awkwardly work around the mine or nearby water/pits (which you can't build on).

Anyways, that's just my preferences, YMMV, but my point is that there are a lot of factors so it pays to wander for a long time before investing the time into a mine and all the equipment that goes with it, IMO. Providence isn't going anywhere so you have plenty of time.

[Flame]

It happens to me, in the beginning, to travel for ages before find some lime. Then i realized that i wasn't able to recognize the lime pit on the map. it's a bright white spot, usually tiny, few times huge. Don't get confused with the clay spot.
Also you should be able to find lime rocks layin on the ground, time to time. Are you using a custom client?

Btw, if you have spawned and you've not moved so much, you are indeed too much near providence. Head for the west, travel a lot. There you should find a better spot.

[Ferax]

This is actually my second home I'm in now. I did wander quite a bit from where the guide dropped me off, maybe a half hour or so, though I couldn't say now in which direction.

I'm hemmed in a bit, with that big huge cliff (not a usual one but one maybe 5-6 avatars high, I wondered at the time if the map edge.. but I don't think it is.

I'm using Enders client because I did quite a lot of terrain levelling. Which was good because I searched for a lot of clay at first then found I could dig up all I needed anywhere.

The pain is my blacksmith alt that I just today to a level where he has metallurgy, mining and smithing, has already used his survey. But I think in the end I'm going to have to move.

PS, thank you all for kind replies and advices.

[jcwilk]

I'm hemmed in a bit, with that big huge cliff (not a usual one but one maybe 5-6 avatars high, I wondered at the time if the map edge.. but I don't think it is.

Yeah, I'd suggest prioritizing getting the F away from that cliff... Cliffs drive me nuts, so annoying. If you're truly trapped then very worst case you could just go back to town and wander west from there, or you could get your skills/biles up enough that you can scale down it and get away.

Wandering for 30 mins or a few hours isn't very much though, give it a good few days of trekking about to find yourself the perfect little niche.

[Ferax]

Thank you, I'll give that a go.

Honestly, if there had been lime nearby I'd have LOVED my spot. It had everything else in good measure, and the freebie mines were an awesome draw.

Looking at my map, the very last tile on my northern edge, 11 tiles away, has a white patch. Though its right by that developed homestead. Anyway, 11 tiles is too far to be carrying lime back and forth, but I'll head up that way for a closer look to see if that is indeed lime. And maybe there's something better further north.

I'm keen to see where I am on the map. Come on server, I need you!

[Ferax]

Ok, update!

Firstly..

Yikes, I am very close to Providence, it seems.

The white area on the map was lime! It was 11 tiles away, but I made a sled there and dragged 2 boulders back. The trip wasn't -too- bad, though not ideal.

I don't know the map scale, but given how close my cross seems to the town and how deserted it is around here, I guess it's a BIG map.
Is there any legend to what the other thingies are on the map?

I wonder if things will only get more trafficked as I go further out, if many established players have all done the same thing..

Decisions, decisions!

In the meantime, lime soda are on me! But sorry, you'll need to share straws. Disease alts sip last please.

[Flame]

Actually i've traveled far with two character, so far. Seems that, indeed, the far you go to providence, the less people you'll meet.
The amount of people that estabilish near the spawning point is a lot, 'cuz the map is really dense in resources, so you can find a decent or even a good spot in less than 20 minutes.

Few of them decide to travel far away, so ther's no doubt about where the most people are.

I've checked the west-south. I've met some claim, usually raided or abandoned (i'ts not always easy to understand if a claim have been raided or just decayed) but no people. And i've also traveled from the nortern spot, where i really met ANYONE.

Use the New World Surveyto plan the places to AVOID. Basically, the ones marked on the maps, like huge lakes or known montains. Every body are used to go in a place they can find on a map ;P

[TotalyMeow]

If you're having trouble finding a lime pit, coniferous forests seem to have more than most biomes. I'd look through some of those. Also Greenwood and Autumnal.