Mining: Difference between revisions

'''Mining''' is a game mechanic that allows players to harvest ores for use in various crafting mechanics including [[casting]] and [[smithing]] advanced [[Tools and Weapons]]. You can gather minerals and form them into [[metal]] or keep them as they are as [[gemstones]].

To begin mining, a player needs two specialized tools, the [[pickaxe]] and the [[prospecting pick]]. An optional item is a [[containers#portable containers|mining bag]], which has 10 available inventory slots and holds ores.  

''Herein lies the conundrum.'' The tools required for mining must be made from [[metal]] by [[casting]], but the materials that players require ''to create'' metal tools can only be ''harvested'' when using metal tools! There are two methods available to collect enough smeltable ore nuggets (5 units of base metal) to create a pickaxe without mining.

Small stones containing ores appear on the surface of the world and are a good early game source of metal nuggets. To gather surface deposits, break the ore containing stones with an empty hand or any item to convert the stones into smeltable ore nuggets and collect in your inventory. These small surface deposits are an indicator of larger underground ore deposits. (Be sure to add a waypoint to mark the location for later mining operations.) Sometimes nuggets can be found in [[Loot Vessels|loot vessels]] located in [[ruins]].

Copper nuggets can also be obtained by panning. See the [[panning]] guide for more information.

When [[rock]] blocks are broken using a [[pickaxe]], rock, small stones or ores contained in chunks of stone will be dropped. The challenge is in finding the ore-containing rocks.  As of game version 1.9, certain ore types only spawn in certain [[rock]] types. To determine which ores can occur in a rock type, examine a block, hold shift + H, and the handbook will provide information about what ores can appear in that [[rock]] type. For more information about natural deposits and ore generation, see the [[Ore Deposits]] page.

A benefit of exploring caves is that even if ores aren't present, players may locate underground [[ruins]], which often contain treasures and materials that a player cannot acquire any other way. Static Translocators also exist in caves. These machines can be used to transport the player into uncharted regions of the world.   

*'''[[Locust]]s''' are a dangerous mob that spawns in caves and caverns.

*'''[[Drifters]]''' that are tougher than those encountered on the surface also exist.

Mining at locations marked by small surface deposits can be a good way to find ores, but not all ores in a region will spawn in surface stones. To find deeper ores, use the [[prospecting pick]] or "propick". Prospecting can be performed on the surface before choosing to mine in an area, and help players decide which regions are worthwhile to mine based on the ores present in the chunk.

This is the first mode of the propick (F key), which is by default always enabled. It is a chance based search system with long range - specifically, it shows the chance for specific ores to be present in a searched chunk (32x32 blocks, but all the way from surface to mantle).

To prospect, a player must break 3 [[rock]] blocks in 'close' proximity to "sample" the area for ores. These blocks must be located a '''minimum''' of 3 blocks apart (blocks '''between''' samples) and a maximum of 16 blocks apart. It is possible to sample three blocks within a square, or in a line where the last sample is 8 blocks away from the first sample. Upon breaking the third valid sample block, displays the densities of all the ores in the chat window based on the chunk that the '''first''' of the three blocks prospected (broken) was located in.

Using the [[Bismuthinite]] reading above as an example, you have a medium chance of locating the ore in your chunk, and approximately 19 blocks of the 1000 in this chunk contain the ore, while the [[Copper]] reading shows a low chance of locating the ore in your chunk, but if it ''did'' spawn, it would provide approximately 81 blocks of ore.

* Common ores such as Copper, [[Coal]], and [[Sulfur]] will have Very High chances of spawning at around 18‰ and Very Poor below 5‰  

* Rare ores such as [[Diamond]] and [[Emerald]] will have Very High chances of spawning at around 1.0‰ and Very Poor at 0.2‰

Prospecting results should be similar for 4 chunks in an area because the ore densities are created from a density map generated with the world, at a resolution of approximately 32 blocks. The ore densities will tend to have a more concentrated 'center' and then decrease when moving towards the circumference. So when locating a low density reading of any desired ore, try taking other prospecting samples some distance away in other directions to find an area with a higher reading. With enough sampling, a player can locate the center of the ore field, which often span a great many chunks.   

This is the second mode of the propick, which can be activated with the "F" key. It offers a short to medium range search for exact and actually available deposits in a specific place.

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| Radius || 2 || 4 || 6 || 8

| Search Size || 25 || 729 || 2197 || 4913

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Before you will be able to switch between the two modes using the F key, you will have to restart the game once.

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| Verified...|| trace amounts || small amounts || medium amounts || large amounts || very large amounts || huge amounts

| Amount|| 1-9 || 10-19 || 20-39 || 40-79 || 80-119 || 120+

Ores within rock must be crushed with a hammer in the crafting grid to obtain smeltable nuggets. "Rich" chunks have a higher concentration of ore and will generate more nuggets when crushed, so be sure to create smithy [[containers#stationary containers|storage containers]] to store the ores!

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! How to Use the Prospecting Pick

! Ore Deposits in Vintage Story English !! Erz Verteilung in Vintage Story Deutsch

You have basically 3 ways of acquiring [[Halite| halite]], which is used to make Salt.

==Trading== <!--T:38-->

Buying from traders. Commodities traders sell it. Limited and costs gears, but easier to find and acquire.

If you are in an area with at least one [[Rock#Sedimentary_rocks|sedimentary]] layer (except [[bauxite]]) use the main Prospecting Pick mode (Density Mode, being the only one that shows halite readings). If you find any halite readings, it might be an area prone to spawn a halite deposit known as a "Salt Dome". Find the area with the best readings and around, and go caving or making vertical tunnels until you are in the bottommost sedimentary rock layer, or in the first rock layer that's not sedimentary. Then, go making horizontal tunnels in that level, following the rock type you're in. Once you find a pink rock, that's it, eureka!