while you may be with friends and want to continue there, I also suggest moving to a new server or your own solo. If you have a reason to stay, you can ask for the surt cores -- there are metric tons of them available to established characters -- and do most of the rest of it at your own pace to catch up. Iron will be a problem at some point. Ive mined literally a couple thousand iron and still run out and I honestly don't see how groups manage at all. This may be bias, though: I use hundreds to support building projects. If you stick to wood and keep the height down, maybe you don't need so much :)