Woo-Fu
Banned
On the subject of excavating, you're doing it wrong. 
Some pointers:
The most efficient excavation pattern that will reveal everything involves diagonal patterns that are a pain in the ass to do by hand. You can use macro programs though to do it for you, I've read.
Short of that, you can do parallel drifts with two rows of stone between them. That is the next best method to reveal all ore while doing as little mining as possible.
If you're just searching for hidden features, the best way is to sink a shaft in the middle of each map square. You'll always hit magma pools and underground pools with that method. Underground rivers and HFS might require more than one shaft.
ALWAYS dig down, not up. If you're digging down you don't risk flooding---as long as you don't hit water you pressurized yourself. You want pain, dig upwards and hit a magma pool or an underground river. Digging up is fine if you've already surveyed the layer and know what it is there.
One other thing to think about is efficient pathing and keeping your dwarfs working where you want them to:
Never dig on multiple layers at once. The pathing in DF is such that a miner will go 20 paces right, down a stair, and 20 paces left to get to the designated stone directly beneath him instead of stone that is 5 paces away. If you dig multiple levels at once your dwarves will make a lot of stupid trips like that instead of just mining what is really the closest designated stone.
Sink a central shaft and put doors leading out of it at each level. When you're not working a particular level or you've mined it out, lock the doors and wall it up---I put the doors there first, lock them, and then build the wall on the shaft side, that way I don't have to worry about some dumb dwarf walling himself on the wrong side. This will help a lot with pathfinding overhead. Also, just like miners, mechanics/stonecrafters/furnace operators/masons will go up or down a z-level to get stone/ore instead of stone much closer. Closing off the other levels prevents them from doing stuff like this.
If you use exploratory shafts, just get rid of them when you start really mining. Oh, and if you have an aquifer, dig those shafts one layer at a time. A good miner might dig himself right under the aquifer only to have it come in over his head and trap him.
Some pointers:
The most efficient excavation pattern that will reveal everything involves diagonal patterns that are a pain in the ass to do by hand. You can use macro programs though to do it for you, I've read.
Short of that, you can do parallel drifts with two rows of stone between them. That is the next best method to reveal all ore while doing as little mining as possible.
If you're just searching for hidden features, the best way is to sink a shaft in the middle of each map square. You'll always hit magma pools and underground pools with that method. Underground rivers and HFS might require more than one shaft.
ALWAYS dig down, not up. If you're digging down you don't risk flooding---as long as you don't hit water you pressurized yourself. You want pain, dig upwards and hit a magma pool or an underground river. Digging up is fine if you've already surveyed the layer and know what it is there.
One other thing to think about is efficient pathing and keeping your dwarfs working where you want them to:
Never dig on multiple layers at once. The pathing in DF is such that a miner will go 20 paces right, down a stair, and 20 paces left to get to the designated stone directly beneath him instead of stone that is 5 paces away. If you dig multiple levels at once your dwarves will make a lot of stupid trips like that instead of just mining what is really the closest designated stone.
Sink a central shaft and put doors leading out of it at each level. When you're not working a particular level or you've mined it out, lock the doors and wall it up---I put the doors there first, lock them, and then build the wall on the shaft side, that way I don't have to worry about some dumb dwarf walling himself on the wrong side. This will help a lot with pathfinding overhead. Also, just like miners, mechanics/stonecrafters/furnace operators/masons will go up or down a z-level to get stone/ore instead of stone much closer. Closing off the other levels prevents them from doing stuff like this.
If you use exploratory shafts, just get rid of them when you start really mining. Oh, and if you have an aquifer, dig those shafts one layer at a time. A good miner might dig himself right under the aquifer only to have it come in over his head and trap him.
