wonderful insights, thank you for this convo thread info. I am at the cusp of retrieving maybe a scrap of iron, by nibbling at a swamp edge. Or any other way I can. Also I am attempting to not eliminate Forsaken. I have the Antler, but I collapsed that seed when that was done. I've not found many spots for accessible Obsidian yet either. But, if I can maybe use the same method in the swamp I think I can mine it with the copper pick. I desperately want/need stonecutting.
But that bit of advice will be crucial. Not sure if I had heard it before, but I had not been able to play since April or so, when it began a rash of crashing. I am very far behind.