Prospecting Pick

Prospecting Picks (Propick) are used to help players locate ore deposits for mining.

Prospecting Pick
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Stackable	No
Tools

Creation

The raw material used to create the tool head determines the crafting process required:

• Knapping: Stone propicks cannot be crafted by knapping.
• Casting: Copper and Bronze alloy propicks can be made by casting, which requires 100 metal units.
• Smithing: Iron, Bronze alloy and copper propicks can be made by smithing, which requires 1 ingot.
  • Note: Propicks can also be smithed from the rare base metals gold and silver.

Table: Tool Tiers

Material	Durability	Material Tier	Mining Speed (Stone)	Attack Power (HP)	Attack Tier
Copper	150	2	2.5x	1.3	2
Tin Bronze	250	3	3.3x	1.8	3
Bismuth Bronze	300	3	3.0x	1.5	3
Black Bronze	350	3	3.5x	2.0	3
Iron	650	4	4.5x	2.3	4
Gold	60	2	2.7x	1.8	2
Silver	80	2	2.7x	1.8	2

Usage

The pickaxe is the primary tool used in mining ores, but the prospector's pick or propick is the primary tool used to detect/locate ore deposits.

• To prospect: press the left mouse button with the propick in an active hotbar slot to "hit" the rock. When the block breaks, a sample is taken.

Prospecting Process

The prospecting pick can only be used on rock blocks. 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 first of the three blocks prospected (broken).

Prospecting "Too Close"

If a player breaks a block that is too close to another previously sampled block, the game dialog (displayed in the chat window) will repeat the request for that sample number. However the game registers the faulty sample as a hit and begins the prospecting block count for the player's next hit from the last hit whether the sample was faulty or usable. To take a new sample, players must prospect at least 3 blocks from the faulty sample block hit, even though the action did not count toward the prospecting total.

Prospecting "Too Far"

If a block is prospected that is too far (over 16 blocks) from the initial sample, the game dialog (displayed in the chat window) will display a message stating that this sample is too distant to be used with previous samples taken. The game will convert this last block hit into a new starting sample. Thus when prospecting, if blocks are broken "too far away" from each other, the consequence is that a player must restart the process of sampling.

Prospecting Results

To Interpret the information, one must understand that this tool does not detect the actual presence of ore blocks; but detects the chance that ores are present. The game generates ore density maps whenever a chunk is generated, which determine the *chance* for ores to appear. Even if a player removed all the ores from a chunk, the propick reading would remain the same, as mining does not change the ore density map. Additionally, a prospecting pick will not detect quartz, rock salt, or surface copper.

The display is based on the first of the three blocks prospected (broken). The game reads the chunk density map and displays the densities of all the ores in the chat window. These values reflect the potential density, not the actual ore.

From greatest to least dense the value categories are: Ultra High, Very High, High, Decent, Poor, Very Poor. This is followed by a number in parenthesis, which is parts per thousand (per mille - note there are two zeros below the slash, ‰, as opposed to a normal percent sign, %, which has one zero below).

Different ores will have drastically different density descriptors for the same ‰ reading. For instance Deep Copper, Coal, and Sulfur will have Very High densities at around 18‰ and Very Poor below 5‰, while rare ores like diamond and emerald will be Very High at around 1.0‰ and Very Poor at 0.2‰.

Prospecting for Ore Fields

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. It is easiest to use this to find a good region, and then explore caves within that area.

Note: the prospecting pick only detects ores above a certain threshold. Players will occasionally run across ore deposits in a region when the prospecting pick did not indicate the ores are present. Such 'undetected' occurrences are very rare.

Harvesting

Propicks can be used to harvest rock, which include ores and mineral materials. When blocks are broken, rock, small stones or ores contained in chunks of stone will be dropped. Ores within rock be crushed with a hammer in the crafting grid to obtain smeltable nuggets.

Combat

Attacking a mob (melee combat): place the tool in an active hotbar slot and press or hold left mouse button to strike the target.

Grid Crafting

The propick is not used as a tool in (grid crafting).

Storage

Tools are items commonly used by players and are generally equipped in the hotbar. Propicks do not stack in inventory or when placed in containers. The tool rack is a specialized wall mounted storage container that allows players to store tools. Tool racks are made of 6 sticks in the drafting grid and once placed, can store 4 tools each. Tools are placed from an active hotbar slot and removed using the right mouse button to an empty space in the hotbar.

Tutorial Video: How to Use a Prospecting Pick

Thanks to Asgaard for creating and sharing with the VS community.

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