Prospecting Pick

From Vintage Story Wiki
Revision as of 03:54, 4 October 2018 by Stroam (talk | contribs)



CopperPropickHead

Stick


Copper prospecting pick








Prospecting Picks are used to help find ore deposits for mining.


Usage

A prospecting pick can help you find deposits of certain ores. It will *not* detect quartz, rock salt, or surface copper. In Vintage Story, any ore can occur in any rock type.

Using the propick is an intricate but rewarding experience. One must first understand that it does not detect the *actual* presence of ore blocks. The game generates ore density maps whenever it generates a chunk, and these maps govern the *chance* for ore to appear. This is what the propick detects. The *chance*. So even if you mined all the ores out of a chunk, the reading would still be the same, as the density map does not change.

The propick can only be used on raw stone blocks. Not dirt, not cobble, not ore. Only raw stone. You must break 4 stone blocks in 'close' proximity. These blocks must have a minimum of 3 blocks between them horizontally (vertical distance does not matter). If you break a block that is too close, it will repeat the request for that sample number, however you must then be this same minimum distance again from the faulty sample you just took, even though it did not count toward your total. So try to be careful. If you get too far from the initial sample (over 16 blocks away), You will get a message telling you this, and also telling you that it has now made this one your new starting sample. So basically if you get too far away you'll have to start over. It is possible to do the four samples in a square, or in a line where the last sample is 12 cubes away from the first sample.

Upon breaking the fourth valid sample block, the game reads the chunk density map at the first of the four blocks you broke. It then tells you what the densities of all the ores are. It tells you the 'density' of the ores, meaning how many the deposits can be expected in the area. From greatest to least dense they are: 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).

Note that 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‰. These densities are based off of a density map that is generated with the world, at a resolution of approximately 32 blocks. So when you find a reading, it should be similar for 4 or so chunks in the area. The ore densities will tend to have a dense 'center' and then thin out moving away from that center. So if you find a low density reading of an ore you want, try getting other readings some distance away in other directions, and see if you get a higher reading. With enough sampling you can zero in on the center of the ore field. These fields often span a great many chunks. It is easiest to use this to find a good region, and then explore caves within that area. But in a pinch, it can be used to blindly mine downward and hit veins of ores in solid stone areas. Note that the propick only detects ores above a certain threshold. You will occasionally run across ore deposits in a region when the propick did not show them to be present. All ores occur everywhere, but the propick only detects them above a certain minimum threshold. Such 'undetected' occurrences are very rare.

Variants

There are several variants that you can craft. Each variant has a different durability, attack power, and mining speed. Prospecting pick heads can be made from metal via smithing or casting.

Variant Durability Attack Power Mining Speed
Copper 150 1.25 2.5
Tinbronze 250 1.75 3.3
Bismuthbronze 300 1.5 3
Blackbronze 350 2 3.5
Iron 650 2.25 4.5
Gold 60 1.75 2.7
Silver 80 1.75 2.7

Tutorial Video



{{{title}}}