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All pyramids are assembled from enormous blocks of Tooth Limestone. The smallest size pyramid (the Pyramid of the People) requires "only" 14 limestone blocks; larger pyramids require considerably more. Tooth limestone blocks are buried all over Egypt underneath sand, and are discovered through a process of tapping glass rods into the sand.
Every coordinate of sandy terrain in Egypt either does or does not have a limestone block buried beneath it. (Most do not.) To determine whether a given spot has a block, you must use a lead mallet to repeatedly tap a glass rod into the sandy ground. If there is no block at that spot, the rod will eventually hit rock. If there is a block, it will be discovered through repeated tapping. You will lose the glass rod if you find a block, and also if the rod shatters upon hitting solid rock. The chance of a rod shattering decreases from 100% at perception 0 to 0% at perception 32. Considering the cheapness of per 32+ food and the price of glass rods, never tap without perception 32 food. The timer for tapping is a focus timer, so high focus is an good idea. Several recipes are available.
When our Tale 1 ancestors built their pyramids, they discovered that limestone block distribution often followed a local pattern. By discovering a block at one spot, they could usually guess where other blocks could be found nearby. In Tale 2, we are not so blessed: block distribution appears to be completely random. There is little that you can do to speed up the process of finding pyramid blocks, except for working in groups and eating Focus meals (as rod-tapping runs on a Focus timer).
To build a pyramid, you will need:
You can only prospect for tooth limestone on sand. Find a nice sandy spot with no roads, schools, universities, mountains, rivers or other obstructions nearby. You may need 50 to 100 units of free space in any direction, so plan appropriately. The bigger pyramid, the more space is needed, of course.
Switch to F5 view and zoom most of the way out. If you are one of the lucky ones, you can see the repeating texture in the sand which should look like a checkerboard, kinda. Your job is to sink 400 boreholes in a 20 x 20 array, preferably with each borehole in the middle of each tile (not near the edge where the coordinate will change). For best results, keep your F3 minimap open so that you always know your precise coords. You can sink boreholes from your "Special" menu. Tapping F8 twice will get you the cartographers view, zooming this in to the max also works well for many people.
Build bonfires along the sides of the square to mark your searched area.
You might want to turn on the option to make all buildings public before you start sinking rods. This ensures that anyone can tap your rod, which is handy when a lot of people help out. Note that it makes it possible for fiends to steal the rods, too, but this does not seem to be much of a problem.
There is no skill involved here; it's just blind luck from this point.
If you manage to tap the rod 10 times without it breaking, you will receive the message "The rod is at the correct depth to use as a guide". Congratulations! This means that you have found a limestone block and will be given the option to "crack an outline" of the block. When you do, the block will appear on the surface.
More often, the rod will hit rock. Shrug good-naturedly, and move on to the next spot. You've got 399 more blocks to tap Should you find a block on a corner, just build the bonfire close and move it inside the block.
I got 0 blocks on the first 25 rods. After 25 more rods, I had found 4 tooth limestone blocks.
Hubby and I have been working on one method that might elimate the need to tap certain blocks by as much as 80%. For your rows (e-w) the best rows to tap are when the cord, when divided by 5 leaves a remainder of 3 and when the cord divided by 8 leaves a remainder 1 or 3. For columns (n-s) if the column when divided by 6, leaves a remaider of 0, 3, or 5. Simply tap where the these rows and columns line up . Using this method , Sqatsi and I have been pulling 200 blocks per day on average. It has not been throughly tested that this will work in every region, would appreaciate any feedback you might have if you try using it . ~ Riazzia
You can do this as soon as you have some blocks up, or wait until you start pushing.
Stir up a batch of Endurance food. Ensure that all persons digging have at least 1 other person with Pyramid Construction 1 or higher. All of you proceed to dig on the same block. It goes very fast with several people and food. Example:
1 person, +12 end: ~20 digs @ 40 seconds each => 12+ minutes per block 2 people, +12 end: 4 digs per person (8 total) @ 40 seconds each => 2.5 minutes per block
This data is historical. Any serious pyramid builder in these modern times would be able to make 100+ end food, which makes digging up blocks quite fast.
After the 8th dig (with 2 people, +12 end) for about 10 seconds there is an option to "Slide rollers under the block". If you wait more than about 10 seconds this option will disappear, as the block slowly sinks back into the ground. The option will reappear after the next dig, and will remain a little longer.
Anyone with Pyramid Construction 1 may help dig up a block -- ownership is not important.
The pyramid construction site covers a 4 X 4 area. Find a clear spot in the middle of your field of blocks and build it. This requires 5 linen and 16 copper wire for a pyramid of the people, and more for bigger pyramids. You will need to push all blocks to within 1 unit of this area (directly N-S or E-W, corners don't count). Pyramid construction sites do not vanish over time. However, do not tear down the construction site as you DO NOT RECOVER ANY TOOTH LIMESTONE BLOCKS THAT HAVE BEEN LOADED INTO IT!
Once dug up, the block (or perhaps the rollers) can only be pushed North or South. You may turn it such that you can push the block East or West. With +12 End food, recovery time for turning the blocks is about 80 seconds. Recovery time for pushing the blocks is about 20 seconds. It takes 8 pushes to move the block 1 (one!) unit. With 1 helper, +12 end food and a 4 block repeating pattern it took about 2.5 hours to move all of my blocks to within range. Try to get more people to help you with this amazingly boring task.
190 end gives you a 1-sec timer for pushing, 110 gives you about 2 sec. For pushing, end can never be too high.
Only the owner of a block may push it, so if your helpers are not in your guild you'll need to set the block to public. There no danger of anyone running off with it, as you will soon realize after you see just how long it takes to move that first block a few units. An infinite supply of tooth limestone blocks 3 horizons away is worth less to your project here than a broken wood plane.
I'm not kidding.
Your helpers will need Pyramid Construction 2 to push the block.
When you have a block within range of your site, click on it and select "Add this block to the construction site". You will be prompted to click on which construction site you wish to add it, in case you have multiples going. Do so, and the block will be added.
When all blocks have been added, the owner has the option to "Consecrate the pyramid". This requires pyramid construction 7. Do so, take a few screenies, and then hambone and belly dance the night away while working on your new beer projects.
Are these "tiles" coordinate based? That is, should one be sinking boreholes per-coordinate? a finer basis than that? a coarser one?
--The tiles above are a coordinate square. In my prospecting, anywhere on a coordinate square breaks a rod at the same depth. -cephello --I don't think the depth is garantied to be the same these days.
Do you have to prospect in sandy areas only, or will anywhere do?
--You only get the option to bore in your special menu when you are on sand. -cephello
Anyone know the minimal perception req for tapping rods? - Zatarg
--I think it is perception 21 - Cappu
-- Nup, perc 22 theyre still shattering... -Z
-- At least 32 Perception is needed if you dont want to lose rods -- Promiscuous