How to start mining?

[Radenk]

Waste of time, in my opinion. Just start mining. Even if you get a cavein (which won't happen if you snake), chances are you're not gonna die.

[dagrimreefah]

Some images I lifted off the russian boards.
Snaking/Corkscrew Technique
Efficient Support Placement

Maybe someone else will post the actual requirements for causing a cave-in. I'm not clear on what they are.

PS how do I get the forum to resize my images using the [img] tags?

can anyone confirm this?

or any other "safe" ways to gather ore for the first time

I confirm it. I have 2 mines, and this technique works.

[simimi]

Beware the corners.
My main just died as he was equalizing the walls of his mine hole.

As soon as he mined the right corner, he was striked.
RIP, you'll be missed

[MagicManICT]

thanks for all the help

now i'm going to wait until my char is full traditional (just in case)

If you're that worried about it, make an alt, go full tradition, and ONLY raise STR and CON. (Con for HP). Make sure to get a mining helm when you get metal, too. It will decrease damage by half.

If you have at least 200 HHP (adjusted with beliefs if need be), you shouldn't be as likely to die on the first level. It's still possible, though. The lower you go, the more damage is done, so the alt still looks like a good idea.