Blacraft Forum

We will estimate it takes 8 seconds to 1 meter of 2m-wide ice road at the current level, and 6 seconds at the ceiling.
Ice mining: 4s
Tunneling cost: 2s
Walling cost: 4s (at current y)

To move a portal takes 60 seconds. 15 to remove the obsidian, 10 to record the coordinates, and 15 to move and rebuild and relight. Also add 20 seconds to dig out the surrounding area and connect it to other portals and the roads

These numbers are on the high side, but then again i've never completed any of my projects in calculated time due to getting materials, food, and a bunch of other complications. I will assume these are correct for now.

I will estimate that there are 600 m of ice roads. 200m on the desertopia side, 200 on aeridani's side, and 200 near yqt. I will also guess that there are around 30 portals (around 10 in the desertopia region and probably similar amounts elsewhere). Therefore, to move everything up currently will require 6*600+30*60 = 5400 seconds. This seems like somewhat of an underestimate but i'll go by it for now.

Smooth tunnel junctions don't make travel faster. The vast majority of the time, I am trying to get to spawntown, not aeridani. A smooth junction would most likely result in overshooting, which would waste as much time as having to slowdown and speed up. And as high speed rail comes closer to reality, it is likely that there will be no difference between a perfectly flat junction and one involving one or two block gradients (because of ejector rails). It is probably the case that all tunnels at the same y level would not save any time nor waste any.

New ice tunnels will save 2 seconds per meter. Assuming two new players join each year and each build 60 meters of ice tunnels (480m overworld), and an additional 180m of ice tunnels is extended(1440m overworld), 300m of ice road is added onto the network each year, saving 600 seconds. At this rate, the costs of moving everything up will be recovered in 9 years.

It's not as simple though. I have a furnace center at y = 30 or so, a wither skelaton farm at the same level, and darvince still uses the blaze farm at y = 60. I make an average of 30 trips to the furnace a year and 50 to the wither skelaton a year. I assume other people take lava from the nether too, or travel down as it is hard to glowstone from the ceiling. If there are 100 trips to y = 60 each year, each taking 60 seconds from the ceiling (and 30 from the current level), then we are set back 3000 seconds per year, which means we have negative benefit.

If we allocate 3600 seconds to build 10 portal elevators to the most commonly descended places, then our total time cost is 9000 seconds which will take 15 years to recover.

If we move downwards, and assume there is no cost for making any trips up or down since we are not as far, then the original estimate of 9 years still stands.

I consider both 9 and 15 years somewhat optimistic for how long people will be playing on minecraft. The doomsday argument suggests something like 4 years. Therefore, I don't think it is worth the time.

I also consider 5400 seconds an underestimate, although some may consider it an overestimate. If they do, then I wouldn't mind them moving my portals and roads up there along with everyone else's -- it'd only take about half an hour of two people's time. I don't mean this in a condescending manner, but it's probably be more efficient than six people running around trying to connect everything.

While the mode of transport may be different (ice road, high speed rail, enderpearl), once the tunnel is built, changing the insides doesn't take different amounts of effort depending on where you are. I will install high-speed rail in my ice tunnels and fiah's when it comes out, so that is not a factor in my decision.

I've never been obstructed, bothered, or blocked by a ice road or similar tunnel before, and i like the aesthetic appearance of human dominance over the terrain, so that is also not a factor in my decision