Activate a shovel and right-click a tile and select '''Dig'''. This will lower the [[ground]] and put one unit of the tile material in your [[inventory]] (if you have enough [[strength]] to carry it). In order to dig and have the dirt drop as a pile on the ground rather than directly into the inventory, the keybind dig_to_pile must be used.
Note that the material is dug from corners or points of tiles, and the corner of reference is where you were standing when the digging finished. Where you right-click to select the dig command has absolutely no impact whatsoever on where you dig, where your avatars avatar's feet are is all that matters. The maximum slope you can dig on, level, or flatten is 3 x [your digging skill]. e.g. A skill of 50.25 in digging will mean you can dig on, or adjacent to, a slope of up to 151 dirt.
It is not possible to dig on [[cliff]] or [[rock tile]]s. Rock tiles can be [[Mining|mined]] down though.
To lower a whole [[dirt tile|dirt]], [[tundra]], [[steppe tile|steppe]], or [[sand tile]], you must stand in each of the four corners and dig. To raise a tile, you must drop dirt on the tile corners. Digging Clay tiles will lower every 50-100 actions while digging corners. When on tiles like [[claypeat]] or [[tar]] , digging produces material each dig, but will not lower the clay or other material tilecorner. You must use [[level]]ing for these tiles.
To check if a tile is flat, you can either right-click a tile and select '''[[flattening|Flatten]]''' or examine the tile's borders. If all tile borders say "The [[slope]] is level", then tile is flat. You can also see the difference in height between tile sides by examining the tile's borders. The reference will be a certain number of units of material either away from you or toward you relative to where you are standing. For example, if the slope is 2 dirt steep ''towards'' you, go to the other end of the tile border you examined and dig twice to level the edge in question. To avoid confusion in the beginning when examining tile borders, stand near, or preferably on, the blank non-highlightable "mini-square" at the corner of a tile.
==Notes==
* The only instance trees will obstruct digging is when there is a tree in the NE, NW and SW tiles.
* Digging holds a chance to reward you with Rare Bones & Emeralds. Anybody, even non premium accounts have the chance of finding Emeralds. Only premium accounts however have the chance of finding Rare Bones.
* Having a shovel activated will give a mouse tool indicating the slope of a tile border when you mouse over it.
* Digging can be done while moving, so long as you do not move too far (two tiles) from the tile you are currently digging.
* On occasion, [[gem|gems]] may be found while digging.
== Messages ==
; The road would be too steep to traverse.
: Cannot You cannot dig a cobblestone paved road to over 20 slope steep.
; The water is too deep or too shallow to dig using that tool
: You can only dig 7 dirt below water level with a shovel before you have to switch to a [[dredge]].
; You are not allowed to drop dirt there.
: Cannot drop dirt on cobblestone paved road when the corner is surrounded on all sides by trees or similar tiles.
; You are not skilled enough to dig in such steep slopes.
: Slopes become too steep when the dirt slope is greater than 3x your digging skill. This includes any slopes on any tiles bordering the tile you wish to dig on. For example, with 15 digging skill, you can dig on, level, or flatten a slope up to 45 steep.
: All the dirt above the rock layer in this tile corner has been dug away.
; Your shovel fails to penetrate the earth no matter what you try. Weird.
: You are trying to dig in an area protected by the GMs. Most likely the Amnesty Road on Golden Valley. Find a different spot.
; You suddenly become very weak, and your arm muscles fail you. You just can not dig here it seems.
: You are trying to dig within a planned house.
Activate a shovel, right-click the corpse and select '''Bury'''.
*Note: a [[crude shovel]] does <u>not</u> provide the bury action.
Burying is generally designed for the disposal of a corpse. An unbutchered corpse will attract carnivores so therefore it is a respectful act to bury an animal after you kill it. It is a good idea to [[butcher]] the animal with a [[butchering knife]] before it is buried. Also, remember to bury your own corpse after you pick up its inventory.
If you try to bury something on a rock tile, cave tile, or a dirt tile where the dirt is less then 3 dirts deep you will fail and get the message, "The rock is too shallow to bury anything in." However, it is possible to now bury corpses on a rock tile and or a cave tile in the same fashion as on dirt just with a [[pickaxe]].
==Dredging==
A [[dredge]] is a tool used to dig dirt from under the water level. Maximum depth may be determined by your digging skill. Dredge quality is also known to affect maximum depth. You cannot dredge at a depth greater than 180 dirt below sea level.
You need a boat to dredge; any boat will do, there is no specific "Dredger" boat type. When not in a boat, you can only dredge to the same depth as you could dig with a shovel, which is 7 dirt deep below water level. You can use a dredge to flatten or level while disembarked.
To dredge, drive a boat to the corner you wish to dredge, activate the dredge, right-click the boat and select "Dredge". Boarding the boat as a passenger may help you stay on top of the tile easier, without drifting. Dredging makes the tile you dredged steeper, just like normal digging. Dredged dirt/sand/clay will go into the boat's hold if there is space available (note that the dredge should have space in it as well, as the materials will "pass through" the dredge to the boat).