You reach floor 18, run short of food, and leave feeling that the trip failed. A better plan for the regular Mines is smaller: work from the last elevator stop to the next one, then decide whether the day still has room for more.
Choose between ore and progress before entering
Two sensible trips can look different. An ore run searches the floors that contain what you need. A progress run gives priority to finding the way down. Trying to collect every resource while also setting a new depth record can consume the same food and daylight twice.
Choose the main purpose at the entrance. Keep space for the materials that matter to that purpose and leave unrelated valuables at home. Bring food you can recognise and reach quickly rather than burying it among tools and loot.
Use the elevator instead of replaying every floor
The regular Mines provide elevator access at five-floor milestones you have reached. At the entrance, inspect the available stops. Starting from the last useful one turns an overwhelming descent into a short sequence.
For example, if floor 40 is available, make floor 45 the first target. You do not need to commit to reaching the bottom that evening. Reaching the next stop makes a later visit easier; continuing beyond it is a fresh decision, not an obligation.
Watch health, energy, food and the clock before starting that next sequence. A nearby milestone is tempting, but it does not make a low-health fight safe. The goal is a repeatable route down, not proving that you can survive with the smallest possible margin.
A blocked descent may require a different action
Ordinary ladders can be revealed through breaking rocks or defeating enemies. An infested floor changes the problem: normally, you must clear its monsters to reveal the exit. Mining every rock while ignoring that floor’s condition spends effort on the wrong task.
If the current fight is beyond your equipment or remaining supplies, leaving is a useful answer. For the next trip, change the specific weakness you noticed—food access, weapon reach or time spent searching—rather than arriving with exactly the same plan and expecting the floor to be easier.
Do not carry this elevator expectation into Skull Cavern
The unmodded Skull Cavern has no elevator that preserves your depth between visits. A video showing one may be using a mod. That is a different progression system from the regular Mines, not a missing unlock you must purchase.
Plan a Skull Cavern outing around the time and supplies available for that visit. In the regular Mines, use the milestone system to build access gradually. In both places, decide how you intend to get home before the last minute.
Finally, an unlocked elevator stop is a travel convenience and progression record, not a promise that quitting the game mid-day saves the whole session. Keep ordinary game-saving habits separate from deciding when to leave the mine.
