Run straight to the nearest tree🌳and chop the whole thing down. Eliminate nearby zombies, if any.

If you're in **Hardcore: Get one wood and then find the nearest cave mouth and descend. A fist fight with a zombie is futile.
Find a safe spot deep down. High enough to avoid bones and danger. You'll have to use your bare hands to get stone. And if you don't have wood, you'll be using your hands to punch bones in their faces until you kill one that drops wood. This wouldn't work on zombies up top. It's suicide.

All others: Hit the mountain top and find the four nearest iron ores, and two coal.
Use your wood and ore to make your iron pickaxe.

Next, find more coal and craft at least 40 torches. You can be 100% sure you'll need them.

Now you're ready for the next step.

Technically, all you need down below is an iron pick and some light. Lava is a perfect naturally occurring source of illumination down there, but torches are still inevitably required. They just are.

Use your pick to gather every ore and coal in sight.
Watch your tool's condition. Without wood, starting over can be dangerous (And frustrating.)

Two Key Reminders: Make ingots routinely and keep them in your hotbar!

Watch your back! You may want to craft a golden dagger for safety.

It only takes one iron pickaxe to end up with top tier gear, if used wisely.


Golden Pick = 2 Iron Ingots and 3 Gold Ingots
Diamond Pick = 2 Gold Ingots and 3 Diamonds
Bloodstone Pick = 3 Diamonds and 10 Bloodstone

Bloodstone Dagger = 10 Bloodstone and 1 Diamond
Bloodstone Assault Rifle = 50 Bloodstone and 5 Diamonds
Diamond Ammo = Coal, Stone, Gold Ingots and Diamonds

Let's run a quick checklist:

-Bloodstone or Diamond Pick
-Two Bloodstone or Diamond Weapons
- At least 1,000 rounds of Ammo for each weapon tier.
-Torches or Lanterns
-Some optional items include coal, a clock, and logs, but be aware that the empty hotbar slots will be needed for Tier 7 materials like diamond, goo, and moon.
**(Hardcore miners it is highly advised to leave a cache crate somewhere safe and sound, containing the items listed above, or at least any old, used, and unwanted gear. This crate is vital!)

Now you're Tier 6 and ready to leave home!

Now that you're equipped to defend yourself there is one more stop to make. You need to find an alien crater. Here is where your powerful weaponry will prove its worth.

Just like everyone, aliens are fatally allergic to Bloodstone. Most adversaries drop with one shot by a Bloodstone weapon. Use it against them to protect yourself as you mine away at their precious and indestructible materials. (For anyone new to Castle Miner, without a saber, moon and goo can only be mined using Bloodstone!) With caution, of course. Consider yourself lucky if you manage to discover a crater within 500 blocks of the Tower. However, on a very rare occasion, some may spawn as close as 150 to 200 blocks away from the Tower. Dying at a crater not only means you're back home, but it also means you'll need to either find the crater again, or find another one. (Close craters are perfect training grounds for recruits.)

Tier 7 weapons are technological; they project a short-burst laser beam which will not only cut down any foe, but will also penetrate stone. Laser picks, or Sabers, are made by combining four moon rocks with ingots, diamonds, or Bloodstone.

To make a laser weapon combine space goo with diamonds. These schematics won't be listed, as there are over a dozen different crafting combinations. Copper=Green, Iron=Red, Gold=Yellow, Diamond=Indigo.

**Pro Tip: Sabers are not weapons. They are "advanced mining tools". Although they may be strong enough to kill enemies, they are incredibly fragile and short-lived. Use laser swords wisely and never risk a hotbar slot just to keep one.

Take your time and think like a survivor!

Time for another checklist:

-Weapons
-Ammo
-Diamonds
-Goo, Lanterns, or Torches
-Teleporter*

* Use Diamond, Coal, Sand, and Bloodstone to craft a Military Standard Disseminating Molecular Relocation Device. Use it to find your way back to a spot which is geographically calibrated to your high-tech device. Sacrifice your gadget only if you are certain that either you can make another one, already have another one, or if it simply does not matter. TP's can only be used once, so use it wisely.
**Pro Tip: Teleporters double as Locators. Use it as one unless it is absolutely necessary to relocate your molecules. For bases beyond 20,000 blocks, you will need more than just craftsmanship and weapons to get you back. Spawn Beacons and GeoCaches will be needed.

By now, you're well versed in the ways of the miner and defender. Now it's time to travel!
Travelers are confident and well-prepared for anything. You should have at least 3,000 rounds of ammunition for each weapon tier you have. Sounds absurd; but it is necessary if you want to survive.

First bit of advise is take your time! Zombies spawn as you cover fresh ground, so this is the most important part of travel to keep in mind. Although it is possible to B-Line it and survive for a while, eventually you will face mobs and be outran by an occasional zombie or alien.

Secondly, use your ammo very wisely. One diamond or laser round is all it takes for most zombies and bones, about 6 to 8 diamond or laser rounds to take down an alien, and for a demon either a diamond clip or a couple laser rounds. Demons are especially tough and resilient against lower-tier munitions, but three or four laser shotgun blasts will drop one like a fly.

Third suggestion is to travel above ground by day and below ground by night. Archers spawn at dusk and at dawn. So hearing their arrows whiz by is indicative of either one of these times of the day.
(Note: Archers and zombies are not present in Dragon Endurance Mode.)

Tunneling. Nighttime above ground is one of the most dangerous situations to ever put yourself in. Do not dare risk traveling by night if you want to ever make it to The Descent or beyond. Instead, find a safe depth to begin cutting your way through the terrain. Safe means not too shallow or else zombies will literally dig and claw their way down to you, and not too deep unless you want to take an unexpected plunge down into hell. If that happens then you will be forced to either dig into the Bloodstone hills, run for your life, or use your pause menu to teleport to the surface at night. Sounds bad, because it is. So always think two steps ahead. Generally, lava will illuminate your tunnel if you are deep enough. Otherwise you will need your own light source. Tunneling will always lead you to open caves. Some are dark and some are lit by lava, or by natural ambient light from the sky. Use these open areas to your advantage by taveling along your trajectory much faster, and at the same time you will be saving wear and tear on your tools. Most of the underground network of caves can be used to travel in all directions. There will come the time when you will need to either tunnel again, resurface, or descend. Once you are beyond the forest lands then caves are much bigger, more connected, and therefore safer to use for travel.
**Reminder: Watch your tool's condition! It will suck to end up in a tunnel or dark cave without a pick!

This step is not entirely necessary. However, a paramount aspect of survival is a solid stronghold. Dragons are your number one threat on the surface because their attacks will blast your structure to pieces. (Unless you're in Easy Mode)

Find a well-hidden location to build your base if you choose to do so. Be sure to take these key points of advise into great consideration when building:

-Make your ceiling and floor at least 4 blocks thick
-Be well beyond the reach of zombies and dragons
-Have some type of skylight, or a clock, to indicate the time of day
-Craft a cache crate and a locator or teleporter that leads back to your base. Do Not Use Your 1st TP
-Doors are optional, but a way back up to the surface is not. Be sure you can quickly escape danger.
**Pro Tip: Garrisons are best held within a crater. Keep in mind it only takes one block of moon to spawn an alien. Have stacks upon stacks of walls and ammo before trying this one!

Where will your base be? How far away? Those are completely up to you.

The question is, How do you get back there?

That is where your 1st TP (first teleporter) comes in to action. As stated before, use it as a Locator if you are confident and geared to make the journey. Build a network of garrisons along the way. Use torches to light a path that you can see and follow to get back. Stash extra components, ammo, coal, weapons, etc. Getting back to the base may not be as easy as you think but your garrisons will help make the trip a lot easier.

**Pro Tip: Leave TP's and Locators in your caches. Hide your crates where they will not be easily destroyed by dragons or looted by other miners. See [ARMoPAP] for techniques of using TP's and Locators.

Final Checklist:
-Three Weapons
-Ammo
-Spawn Beacon
-Laser Drill

Dragons lose interest if they cannot reach you. If you're deep enough they won't see or smell you at all, and they will simply fly right overhead without a clue. The next one will come along and the same applies. Take firm note here; every wave of dragons that find you will be stronger than the last one. If you don't already have two full stacks of ammo by now, then make some. Always remember to keep an eye on the condition of your gear and your ammo. The rest is up to you. Good luck!

**Pro Tip for Endurance Players: The Undead Dragon will lose interest in you. Be anticipating his arrival and take him down swiftly. If you let him get away then game over! You WILL have to continue on and resurface to land.

**Pro Tip: You can not build on the top of a plateau. Do not attempt to cross one without a compass or something that will provide you with your bearings. Without this as a guide you will certainly lose them amidst encounters with dragons.
A blinding sea of light even less hospitable than the desert. -PapiwA