Advice needed.

[Antvg]

Greetings everyone! I am new to this game and have couple of questions.
I am playing together with 2 friends and we were going to create a little establishment, when a question named "metal" arose. My friend suggested to build a stone house and we looked a bit through wiki and forums. As i understood from there to start mining metal we need thirst to gain 750 of perception*exploration(the hell of time to level) to find rust root. Then we need to search near some mountain(still to find one) and at the end we can dig a mine there. And that is the only way. So my question is(if i was right till now) - is mine mandatory to start our establishment? Will we die(literally) without metal? Because gaining rust root will take much time and we don't really want to move several times.

Thanks in advance.

[Potjeh]

You can live without metal, but you lose out on lot of convenience. It's kinda like living without electricity in the modern world. And chances of finding a mine by prospecting are slim to none, because vast majority of the mines have already been developed and thus can't be found with prospecting.

[mandude81]

im relativly new also but as far as i can see you dont need metal for annything for awile but if you want life easyer you could probaly use metal in tools later on

[Antvg]

You can live without metal, but you lose out on lot of convenience. It's kinda like living without electricity in the modern world. And chances of finding a mine by prospecting are slim to none, because vast majority of the mines have already been developed and thus can't be found with prospecting.

For me you are kinda contradicting yourself. First you say that we can't live without it. And then you add that we have not a chance in the world to gain one. I am confused

[Potjeh]

Lots of people live without electricity. Like Amish, for example. But you don't have to have a mine to have metal, you just need to find somebody that's selling it. That too can be quite hard if you used wilderness spawn, but I reckon it's still easier than finding a mine.

But if you really want to prospect for a mine, I suggest looking in caves.

[Cookie]

Go ahead and start settling without the metal. I'm quite happy living without it. There are lots of ways to get metal once you have been playing awhile. I dunno if it is true that all the mines have been found. But even if it is true they also get abandoned. I have found a couple of those. And I mean unclaimed mines. I know someone who found a gold mine about a month ago, not unclaimed but simply not previously found.

There are many things you can produce and trade for without metal to get metal.

It is also possible that after founding your settlement you will eventually seriously want to try again once you know so much more, like how NOT to set up a pallisade, the serious repercussions of clear-cutting, the location of that really fantastic clay, water and soil that you found. Just go ahead do as much as you can do without it at first and have fun. And make some friends to get those trade contacts.

[juhubert]

But if you really want to prospect for a mine, I suggest looking in caves.

This! of the 2 or 3 mines i find per day about 90% i find in mines nowadays.

[burgingham]

It is just not true that there are no more mines available...even silvermines are left out in the open like they are worth nothing.

[Leusoj]

It is just not true that there are no more mines available...even silvermines are left out in the open like they are worth nothing.

Are they only found near mountains? Or is there a chance we can find some in forests and grasslands?

[Cookie]

They can be found anywhere. Blaze posted a screenshot once of a mine that he found in the middle of a fir forest. However it does seem that dirt barrens, mountains and caves are the most likely places to find them. So far I have only seen mines in dirt barrens and one in a mountain.