Guide:Travel

Even small Worlds in Terraria can present a challenge when a player wants to return to a point far from their Spawn. Here are some often-used methods.

Sky Bridge
A Sky Bridge is a long platform of blocks usually a single block wide, or Wood Platforms, either of which are placed at high altitude, that players often build in order to provide easy travel to far-away areas of the World without having to negotiate terrain obstacles. Players who wish to farm Fallen Stars may also build a Sky Bridge to catch and collect them more easily simply by running its length. With the advent of Wings in 1.1, this is now their primary advantage.

Using Hermes Boots, players can make good time running along the bridge. Points of interest across the map should be marked, so that by dropping through Wood Platforms, players can easily access the world.

One downfall of this strategy is that Meteorites may also be caught on the thin platform, producing only minimal ore. This can be mitigated by making the Sky Bridge thick enough to fully exploit the ore. However, this would require an extremely large amount of effort and building materials, almost as much as simply flattening the entire surface of the world in the first place. Alternatively, a new world could be created specifically for obtaining Meteorite.

One possible solution is to build a skybridge out of active/inactive stone. You would be able to turn the skybridge on and off with the flip of a switch or lever, and while it is deactivated does not interfere with meteors. The process of activating and deactivating this is complex, as wire may only affect 1000 squares; you'll need stations every 1000 squares or so. Additionally, the cost in wire is high; every 2000 wire (for 1000 active blocks and wiring each of them up) is one platinum.

Hell Bridge
A Hell Bridge is a path constructed above the lava in the hell layer. Though the bridge should only be built a single block high, it is difficult to create a straight bridge due to the rises and low ceilings in hell. Though this is not helpful in harvesting any specific item, it does allow a person to fight the Wall of Flesh without worrying about lava. Also, in the process of creating this bridge, you clear away any walls that might cause you to get trapped by the WoF. It is suggested that you do this after acquiring the best armor and weapons that you can get, since the amount of monsters can be a problem, as well as the fight with the WoF. During this time, it is easy to find multiple Guide Voodoo Dolls.

Hellevator
A Hellevator or Dropshaft is a vertical tunnel of mined-out blocks, usually 2 blocks wide, that extends all the way from the surface to the Underworld via a straight fall. Advanced players who have reached the Underworld will usually want to return repeatedly to collect resources, and a Hellevator can be an invaluable tool for doing so.

Other players may wish to create a more time-consuming 3 block wide dropshaft with wooden platforms along the side, allowing for a straight fall or a controlled descent, and allowing the player to ascend, provided the platforms are placed close enough together to access via jumps. Many players who do this construct underground farms with tunnels to the hellevator, examples being testing areas, corrupt farms, Underground Jungle farms, Glowing Mushroom farms.

Required Items

 * Fall damage negating item, this includes water, any form of grappling hook, or numerous accessories.
 * Any type of pickaxe
 * Sand or Silt (Not necessary, but extremely helpful)
 * Depth Meter or GPS (Optional, unless you really care how deep you dig)
 * A source of hands-free light
 * Obsidian Skull (Optional; recommended for when you reach the underworld)
 * Magic Mirror (Optional; you may instead leave the world and reconnect to return to your spawn point)

The goal of this form of mining is not to maximize your ore output. It is a method of getting you from point A. above-ground to point B. below-ground. Many keep chutes like this to their mushroom farm/jungle farms. It also allows quick access to the underworld. If at any point you need to stop to explore a cavern or mine for ores, feel free to do so.

To dig correctly, find a location where you will be able to easily access near your spawn. In the case of making an underground corruption farm, the opposite holds true. In case you need to return to the surface to drop off materials or withdraw items, a magic mirror is suggested. Start mining straight down. You should have no problems. At a point where you want a temporary stop, you can use wood platforms. If you have reached your destination then place down a few blocks worth of water, or a cobweb to stop the fall damage for you.

Avoiding Obstacles
As you tunnel downward, a variety of obstacles may impede your progress. Here are some ways to overcome them and carry on quickly.

Monsters - Most monsters will not bother you, if your shaft is sealed. Burrowing monsters and casters, on the other hand, pose a real danger. For casters, sadly to say, the only real solution is to get to their level, kill them, and get back to the shaft, ASAP. If you have a Vilethorn and mana, you can possibly use it to kill them without getting near them. (Certain ranged weapons can also fire through walls, under the right conditions - the Star Cannon, for example.)

Air Pockets - This is why you brought sand. Before you fall, place sand to the area directly beneath your feet. The sand will fall to the bottom of the floor, and eventually will build itself back up underneath you, assuring you do not fall to your death. You may then remove the blocks beneath you, building the shaft walls as you go. You may instead drop sand for the walls as well, if you don't mind its instability.

Water - See Digging through Water.

Lava - See Digging through Lava.

Note: After 1.0.6, mining through liquids is no longer a simple matter of swapping blocks in and removing them because water and lava now no longer magically soak and disappear with the blocks. You must now instead drain liquids away from the shaft or tunnel around the obstruction.

Avoiding fall damage

 * Fall damage can be averted using a small water pool at least 2 tiles deep, just above the Underworld (water evaporates within the Underworld itself, as of update 1.0.5).
 * If you drop a bucketful of water into your hellevator and jump after it, you will fall at a safe pace as you continually float in the falling water.
 * Cobwebs can be placed at or near the landing, though these can take some time to get free of without having to cut them away. Also, they come loose and fall away as the player falls or cuts through them, requiring that they be repositioned after each fall.
 * The Lucky Horseshoe, Obsidian Horseshoe, Demon Wings, or Angel Wings can be equipped to eliminate fall damage.
 * The Grappling Hook, Ivy Whip, Cloud in a Bottle, or Rocket Boots can be engaged just before landing, though this requires that the player pay close attention to their location during the fall.
 * You can also use a Featherfall Potion to negate fall damage providing your fall is not too long.

NOTE: As you will inevitably hit caves while digging your Hellevator, it is best to block them off with Active Stone Block mechanisms and other solid blocks, as Skeletons can open doors. (Personal experience; was falling down a hellevator, got hit by a jumping Black Slime, knocked out of the shaft, took all the fall damage and died.