I've been using FTB for a while, and really enjoy caving, and it can be more efficient than other methods (like quarry). However, when caving, inventory management is a necessity, as with so many different ores, your inventory fills up quickly. Add to that the number of torches you have to carry, and maybe additional tools (for earlier game). Once you run out of room or torches or tools, your expedition is done; you have to find your way back home, restock, and attempt to return to continue. So I'm looking for some advice to make those caving expeditions last longer.
Ore overflow: There's a few solutions to this. Earlier game is the miner's backpack, although the ender pouch and that other satchel thing (which I've never used since it was banned on servers for the longest time for a duplication bug) can come in handy. The Ender pouch really comes in handy later in game once you've set up something to automatically pull out of it.
Stone/etc overflow: Aside from throwing it out (some people, such as myself, are unable to see any block go to waste), there's the Digger's backpack, as well as the methods mentioned above.
Tools: Earlier game, you can make tools out of better materials than iron (like sapphire) to last longer, or diamond to mostly solve the tool problem. Mid-later game you can make electric tools, but then you need a way to keep charging them, which could mean a lappack, using an extra inventory slot.
Lighting: There's no good solution to this that I've found, and it's my current bottleneck.
* You can go mining in the dark, or use a mystcraft bright age, but then you have to deal with mobs and getting lost.
* A stack of torches only lasts me about 5 minutes. Any more than a stack and you're starting to use up valuable inventory space.
* You can carry wood and coal/charcoal to make more, but that's 2 more valuable inventory slots being used, and will only make 4 stacks. You can boost the efficiency of this a little by mining your own coal during the expedition, and use wood from mineshafts.
* If you're lucky enough to find a Moonworm Queen in the Twilight Forest, you can save some space at the cost of taking longer to place your light source (now a worm), and your fuel source is now torchberries, which grow in tf caves, meaning you need to go caving just to get light to go caving.
It'd be nice if there were some sort of bulk-torch-storage-and-placement device, like the moonworm queen. I saw the tri-torch and torch-placer, but it looks like those are just carts modules (haven't gotten into steve's carts, but I don't think it'll help me cave)