Difference between revisions of "Mining"

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[[CDB | Main]] / [[:Category:Skills | Skills]] / '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
 
[[CDB | Main]] / [[:Category:Skills | Skills]] / '''{{PAGENAME}}'''
  
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[[File:miningaction.jpg|500px|thumb|right|A Miner at Work]]
 
== Description ==
 
== Description ==
−
'''Mining''' is the skill of excavating [[rock shards]] and [[ore]] veins.  
+
'''Mining is the skill of excavating [[stone shards]], [[marble shards]], [[slate shards]], [[sandstone shards]] and [[ore]] veins.'''
  
−
==== Characteristics gained ====
+
== Opening a mine (Tunnel) ==
−
Body / [[Body strength]], [[Body stamina]]
+
Activate [[pickaxe]] '''right click''' any [[cliff]] or [[rock tile]] and select '''mining''' > '''tunnel'''. '''[[Mining warnings|Find potential error messages here.]]'''
 +
*The first step is to make a '''mine entrance''' on the surface which may be done on any [[cliff]] or [[rock tile]].
 +
*The minimum slope of the rock surface to be mined is +1 but also have further requirements. The two lowest corners of your tile will form the bottom edge of your opening. If there are not two corners lower than the others (not equal) you cant tunnel. After opening that lower border will be reshaped completely flat at level of the lower corner.
 +
*If there are two lower corners identified then the opposite border will be the top of your mine opening and will be completely flat as well, leveled at lower corner of the opposite border.
 +
*'''You cannot [[Mining#Surface_mining|surface mine]] to correct an oddly shaped entrance once it is open.''' So you must make sure to have the tile in the exact shape you want it to be before you open the mine.
 +
*When tuneling, entrance tile is limited by reinforced cave floor as any others (requires that all four corner of the entrance tile not be also one of a reinforced tile). So, when you are tunneling an entrance from the outside and receive the message, {{event|inline|The ground sounds strangely hollow and brittle. You have to abandon the mining operation.}}, you most likely have a reinforced floor inside the tunnel you are trying to open. Enter the mine from another angle and remove the reinforced floor.
 +
*Tunel from outside will ever make a downgoing entrance 20 slope or more, even if there is a flat cave inside. Tunnel out from inside will only remove the rock walls without changing the ground level.
 +
*To correct that entry slope you can further raise the mine corner floor with concrete but if ground reach is deep underwater. If you don't want any ugly water on the floor in the mine, ensure that both lower corners of the entrance are at least at height 28 (hover the corner with the mouse).
 +
*Each tunneling action has a chance to create a [[stone shards|stone shard]]. After a number of [[stone shards]] are created, usually 9, the message {{event|inline|You will soon create an entrance}} will appear, after 51 actions. A stone shard or two later, and an entrance will be created.
 +
*The maximum height of a tunnel entrance is 270 slope, but you would not be able to continue mining because of ceiling height restrictions. Tunnel slopes should be less than 235.
 +
*The maximum height of an tunnel entrance is 90 slope if you plan to add a mine door.
 +
*You may create a mine entrance up to 3 tiles wide.
 +
**To widen a tunnel, the tile you mine must only be connected to ONE open tunnel only
 +
** Mine doors can be placed on tunnel entrances that are 1 tile or wider, except on PvP servers. Note that you will need more than one mine door for wider entrances!
 +
** It is not possible to create an opening next to an opening that has a mine door attached.
  
−
Mind / [[Mind logic]]
+
== Tunnel excavation ==
 +
Activate [[pickaxe]] '''right click''' on [[rock tile]] select '''mining''' > '''mine'''.
  
−
Soul / [[Soul strength]]
+
Mining a cave wall inside of a mine will remove that tile of rock. It takes 45 mining actions to produce the message {{event|inline|The wall will break soon}} after which it takes 1 to 11 actions to fully remove the tile.
  
−
== Method ==
+
* It is possible to mine up, down or flat but only the final action is taken into account.  The resulting slope of up or down will be approximately 20. Ceiling will be 30 above the created floor whatever its shape is.
−
There are several "modes" of mining, depending on where and what you mine. The method is much the same for all of them: Activate a [[pickaxe]], right-click the place to mine and select Mining -> (action).
+
* There are slight deviations in mine slopes (up to 3 "Slope") when a mine shaft progresses.This is based off Mining Skill.
 +
** skill less than 50, +-3
 +
** skill = 50, variance is +-2
 +
** skill = 70, variance is +-1
 +
** skill = 90+ no variance
 +
* When mining a tile next to an opened tile, slope of the existing tile will be kept but may also change with same variance.
 +
* When connecting two mine shafts, the direction of the mining is irrelevant; one floor will connect to the other floor and ceilings will likewise connect.
 +
* Each action will produce one stone shard.
 +
* All items mined from the cave wall will appear in a pile on the ground on the tile you're standing; this often includes items such as [[salt]] and [[gem]]s, all of which are found randomly.
 +
* It is not possible to create an exit from the inside if there is dirt covering the planned exit, this must be fully uncovered and bare just as if you were to create an entrance from the outside.
 +
* If the outside tile is covered by dirt while trying to mine out, the message {{event|inline|The cave wall looks very unstable and dirt flows in. You would be buried alive}}
  
−
Because Wurm is not a true 3D world, the cave layer is essentially a second world beneath the surface world. It is possible to mine upwards and downwards with a few limitations. You may not mine upward out of rock and into the [[dirt]] that is covering it. You can mine downward until you reach the [[water]] table, but can not mine deeper than one tile level below water level. It is also  not possible to have one tunnel pass under or over another without forming a vertical shaft. Each tile is essentially a pillar, so if two tunnels cross at different elevations they create a shaft going from the upper tunnel to the lower tunnel. his can be useful when done intentionally.  It can also ruin your mine if unplanned. Planning your mine with an overhead view of your mine on graph paper can save you some heartache.
+
== Mining resources==
 +
[[Ore]] is produced by mining metal ore [[vein]]s found inside of a mine. [[Marble]], [[slate]], [[rock salt vein|rock salt]], and [[sandstone vein|sandstone]] veins produce shards. A [[Rock salt]] tile has about the same amount of shards as a regular rock tile, approximately 50 shards.  
  
−
=== Opening a mine ===
+
*When an ore or shard vein is depleted a tunnel is created. However, a vein can take several thousand actions to deplete, so it is advised to mine around ore and shard veins for tunneling purposes.
−
The first step in all mines is to make a mine entrance on the surface. This can be done on any [[cliff]] or [[rock tile]]. Equip a mining pick, and select the "Tunnel" option. After 51 tunneling actions, the message "You will soon create an entrance" will appear. A few actions later an entrance will be created. The exact value is random, averaging around 5 mining actions after the message appears.
 
  
−
Tunneling on a shallow [[slope]] is dangerous since you are basically mining straight down and may dig yourself into a steep slope or a pit. A slope of 10+ is probably safe (estimate). The good news is that a poor tunnel slopes can be fixed. The bad news is that it is a lot of work!
+
== Mining floors and ceiling ==
 +
*Mining the floor or ceiling of a cave will not create tunnels. Instead, it raises (for ceiling) or lowers (for floors) the cave. '''Note that, as with [[digging]], these actions affect the closest corner of the tile and not the tile itself.'''
 +
*A ceiling tile can be mined upward around 31 times before you will receive the message {{event|inline|You cannot reach the ceiling}}. (given that you haven't lowered the floor before you start).
 +
*A floor tile can be mined down well past swimming depth to let boats pass through. It is a good idea to keep a rowboat/sailboat close by for stamina regain when mining past the water level.
 +
*Each rock tile removed will have that standard ceiling height, so each ceiling tile must be mined individually, if you want them to be higher. The floor section will match up (providing you didn't mine up or down).
 +
*You can fix slopes with [[concrete]]: one concrete will raise one corner, the equivalent of 1 dirt or 1 mine action.
 +
*Mining ceilings for stone shards is much faster than mining on a wall tile, this can be used to your advantage when not wishing to extend a mine, but shards are required.
 +
*If you have raised the ceiling and try to mine the floor too low, you will receive the message:{{event|inline|Lowering the floor further would make the cavern unstable}} before hitting the water level.
 +
*For the best access in a mine it is recommended not to mine the floor directly, because it can create uneven surfaces making it hard to move around.  
 +
*The actions '''mine up''' and '''mine down''' create predictable slopes of 20 and are good if you want a sloped passage, although floor mining can be very useful if used in the right way.  
 +
'''Proceed with caution when adjusting the floors as mining is not easily reversed.''' When digging you can always drop the dirt and refill the hole - this is '''not''' possible when mining.
  
−
Tunnels can not be opened if the northwest corner is more than 4 dirts below [[Water#Water level|water level]].
+
== Mine Up/Down ==
 +
* Mining up/down will create a slope of 20 or to the corresponding next level, if there is another tunnel (see [[Mining#Dropshaft|Dropshaft]])
  
−
=== Opening a ship tunnel ===
+
== Leveling ==
−
Look for a [[rock tile]] that is approximately two-thirds below the [[Water#Water level|waterline]]. Needing to [[dredge]] such a [[tile]] is not unusual, especially to make the surrounding terrain look natural for those concealed ship docks.
+
Standing on a flat cave tile will permit the leveling of an adjacent tile so that it will be at the same height. To see if a tile is flat, activate a pickaxe and hover over the tile (as long as you have at least 15 mining skill).
  
−
The important thing is ''not'' to tunnel the ship entrance from the surface. You mine ''to'' the surface from inside, thus leaving an opening deep enough to sail through.
+
Activate a pickaxe and '''right click''' the cave floor tile, select '''Mining''' > '''Level'''.
 +
*Will mine the highest corners and make the tile flat.
 +
Activate [[concrete]] '''right click''' the corner to be raised select '''raise corner'''.
  
−
How you get inside doesnt matter. Everything ranging from alternative entries to making temp openings and collapsing them with [[shaker_orb|orbs]] works. All that matters is you mine the cave floor deep enough and then mine straight out. Just make sure you have some means of restoring [[stamina]] nearby.
+
'''The corner you are standing nearest will be raised, so make sure you are standing in the correct spot.'''
 +
*To raise corners [[concrete]] must be held in the inventory and activated.
 +
*One concrete will raise one corner equivalent to 1 [[dirt]].  
 +
*Concrete can be used to raise an underwater cave tile as long as the tile is 25 [[dirt]]s deep or less; below that you get the message: {{event|inline|The water is too deep and would only dissolve the concrete.}}
  
−
Even if you get the entrance wrong on the first try. Do not worry. Simply collapse the tile with an orb or Mag priest and try again.
+
== Surface mining ==
 +
Activate [[pickaxe]] and '''right click''' [[cliff]] or [[rock tile]], select '''Mining''' > '''Mine'''.
  
−
[[Sculpting wand]] is also something to look into if you can`t find a tile.
+
Surface mining is the action of shaping external rock or cliff faces to prepare an area for tunneling, adjusting terrain for other uses or simply for aesthetic reasons.
 +
*To mine on the surface, all adjacent corners of the tile must be clear of dirt. '''You will need dig all four corners of a tile to expose rock.'''
 +
*When mining into water the maximum depth permitted is -25 from the water level.
 +
*It may take one or more actions to lower a single [[dirt]] level of [[rock]]. 
 +
*Border [[slope]] depth may be seen with a pickaxe activated just as with a [[shovel]].
 +
*You will only be able to mine slopes which are 3 times your mining skill. For example, if you mining skill is 3, you can mine slopes of 9 or below.
  
−
Note: You can tunnel at 0 stamina while climbing but a boat close by for stamina regain is recommended as its slow.
 
  
−
=== Surface mining ===
+
:Slope reduction: {{event|inline|You mine some stone shards.}}
 +
:No reduction: {{event|inline|You chip away at the rock.}}
  
−
The slope of surface rock can be changed with a pickaxe or a [[sculpting wand]]. The sculpting wand is the fastest way to shape rock. Using a pickaxe however is time consuming but possible. Here's a step-by-step on how to do this:
+
== Mine doors ==
 +
You can limit access to your mine with the use of a '''[[mine door]]'''. Several types of mine doors are available.
  
−
<table><tr valign=top><td>
+
'''Remember that off-deed mine doors can be bashed by other players, so your mine is not entirely safe just because it has a mine door attached. A deed [[perimeter]] does NOT protect mine doors.'''
−
1) Clear a square of four tiles all the way down to rock in order to lower the rock at the point where those four tiles intersect. To clear all the dirt off a single rock tile, you must dig down to rock on all four corners. You will know that you have hit rock by watching event messages for messages that indicate you are hitting rock. You will also cease collecting dirt in inventory when you start hitting rock. Example:
+
* If you wish to place a [[fence]] around a mine entrance this should be done before attaching a mine door.
 +
* On [[Elevation]] and [[Defiance]] servers, there must be a minimum of 3 tiles between mine doors and only 4 mine doors in an 11x11 area. There is a check in a 5 tile radius around the door being placed.
  
−
If you want to lower rock at point E, you will have to dig down to rock at all points A through I. Points A/B/E/D will clear the top left square, B/C/F/E will clear the top right, etc, etc.
+
== Dropshaft ==
−
</td>
+
Dropshafts are typically unfavorable in mines. They link two sections of a mine together which have a height difference of many dirts.  They are not easily traveled through. Vehicles and horses will not be able to move between the levels, and a player must [[Climbing|climb]] to move between the two.
−
<td>
 
−
  A--B--C
 
−
  |  |  |
 
−
  D--E--F
 
−
  |  |  |
 
−
  G--H--I
 
−
</td></tr></table>
 
  
−
2) Activate your mining pick and stand at the intersection of the four tiles (point E), click the ground, and select the mining action. Be sure that you do not select tunneling. Tunneling will eventually create a mine entrance, which we do not want (at least not yet).
+
*When a drop shaft is going to be created you will receive this message before the wall breaks: {{event|inline|You hear falling rocks from the other side of the wall. A deep shaft will probably emerge.}}
  
−
3) Randomly, with about 10-20% chance, you will drop the rock level at the point where you are mining by 1 dirt and produce a [[rock shard]]. This is not cumulative. Sometimes you will drop the rock level very quickly for a short spurt, other times you might mine for along time not drop the level. In other words, many failures in a row does not make future success more likely.
+
*Should a dropshaft be required, simply mine out the rock tile which separates two mines of different levels.  Some players have created dropshafts to gain fast access to water or create short-cuts.  There is no falling [[damage]] inside mines, so falling down these shafts is not going to injure the player.
  
−
4) Attempting to lower surface rock below the ceiling of a mine below results in the message "The rock sounds hollow, you will need to tunnel to continue". At this point, you cannot lower the surface rock any further.
+
'''Proceed with caution as these are very hard, often impossible, to modify once created.'''  
−
 
+
*Collapsing a dropshaft tile with the [[Strongwall]] spell or a [[shaker orb]] will allow you to remine a tile to the height of the tiles around it, but proceed carefully and ask for assistance, as careful planning is required.  
−
<table><tr valign=top><td>
 
−
Note that the example above is only for one point. To lower the face of a tile to make a nice mine entry tunnel, here's a more complex example:
 
−
 
 
−
After prospecting tile B/C/G/F to create a tunnel there to start a mine, the slope is just not right.
 
−
* Drop corners F and G to make a nice slope for the mine entrance.
 
−
* To drop the rock level at F dig A/B/C/E/F/G/I/J/K down to rock.
 
−
* To drop the rock level at G dig B/C/D/F/G/H/J/K/L down to rock.
 
−
 
 
−
Remember: surface rock lowering is done at intersections of rock tiles, tunnel creation is done within a single rock tile. If you try to tunnel while standing at a intersection of 4 tiles, you might get a tunnel at an unexpected location, so be sure to be standing on one tile, and be sure to be clicking that one tile when creating a tunnel.
 
−
</td><td align="right">
 
−
  A--B--C--D
 
−
  |  |  |  |
 
−
  E--F--G--H
 
−
  |  |  |  |
 
−
  I--J--K--L
 
−
</td></tr></table>
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
Surface mining will produce [[rock shards]] on each action that lowered the corner.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Mine doors ===
 
−
You can limit access to your mine with the use of a [[mine door]]. Several types of mine doors are available. <br>
 
−
Remember that offdeed minedoors can be bashed, so your mine is not entirely safe just because it has a mine door attached. Perimeter does '''not''' protect mine doors.
 
−
 
 
−
Walls can be built around any slope of tunnel entrance by standing within the mine and selecting the tile borders. Note that you should build these walls ''before'' placing a mine door if you wish to install one aswell.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Tunnel Excavation ===
 
−
 
 
−
Mining a cave wall inside a mine will create a tunnel further into the mine. It takes 45 mining actions to produce the message "The wall will break soon", after which it takes average 5 actions to open the tunnel.
 
−
 
 
−
==== Dropshaft ====
 
−
To create a dropshaft, mine a tile that is either above or below a tile that has already been dug out.
 
−
 
 
−
Primary uses of dropshafts are fast travel from one level of a mine to a lower level.
 
−
 
 
−
For example, if you dig down to water level to get a source of water, you can create a water-filled cave and mine out over that cave to get a dropshaft that takes you straight down to the water.
 
−
 
 
−
There is no falling [[damage]] inside mines.
 
−
 
 
−
I do not recommend doing this as it ruins the structure of the mine. Making some parts unstable thus making it unable to be mined.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Tunnel exits ===
 
−
* You '''cannot''' mine out from a tunnel if the tile outside has dirt on it.
 
−
* You '''can''' mine out from a tunnel if the tile outside is bare rock.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Ore mining ===
 
−
Ore is produced by mining ore veins found inside a mine. When an ore vein is depleted, a tunnel is created as when tunnel mining. However, a vein can take several thousand actions to deplete, so it is advised to mine around ore veins for tunneling purposes.
 
−
 
 
−
Each action will produce one [[ore]] of the vein's type.
 
−
 
 
−
=== Floor and ceiling mining ===
 
−
Mining the floor or ceiling of a cave does not create tunnels. Instead, it raises (for ceiling) or lowers (for floors) the cave. Note that, as with [[digging]], these actions affect the closest corner of the tile and not the tile itself. A ceiling tile can be mined upward around 31 times before it is too high to reach (given that you haven't lowered the floor before you start). A floor tile can be mined downward a maximum of ?? times.
 
−
 
 
−
Excavating a new tile from a tile that has raised ceiling will not create a new tile with the same ceiling height as the adjacent: the new tile will have the standard ceiling height for cave tiles. However, if you have lowered the floor you might excavate a new tile at the same floor level. If you have mined down the two floor corners that are in contact with the wall you mine down the floor will stay at that level (the ceiling will still have standard height, but at the new level). This is very useful for making tunnels, for example for boats, as you only have to reach the wished floor level on the first tile and the rest will go along in accordance to it.
 
−
 
 
−
Please note that when mining the floor you can create uneven surfaces thus making it hard to move around in your mine. For the best access in a mine it is recommended not to mine the floor directly unless you have a plan for it. The actions "mine up" and "mine down" create somewhat predictable slopes of 20 and are good if you want a sloped passage, although floor mining can be very useful if used in the right way. Proceed floor excavations with caution as the mining is not easily reversed. When digging you can always drop the dirt and refill the hole - this is '''not''' possible when mining.
 
−
 
 
−
It's advised that you mine cave ceilings when in need of rock shards it's faster than mining the caves walls.
 
  
 
== Cave-ins ==
 
== Cave-ins ==
−
Any excavated cave tile has a chance of caving in. When this happens, the tile is simply returned to its former non-excavated state and can be excavated again. If you mine a tile soon after it collapses, it won't need as many mine actions as usual to re-open. Ore veins may appear in cave-ins.
+
Any excavated cave tile has a chance of caving in.  
−
 
 
−
Reinforcing a cave wall with a [[support beam]] lowers the chance of cave-ins, but reinforced walls cannot be excavated, but they can be mined. Ore veins are said to count as reinforced for purposes of stability.
 
−
 
 
−
Note: The only cave-ins/tile collapse that I have seen are those next to other unmined tiles.
 
−
For example: If you mine a three (3) tile wide path, the center tile won't cave in but the outter tiles will have a chance to cave in...
 
−
 
 
−
== Skill and difficulty ==
 
−
Different ore veins have different difficulty. The easiest is mining plain rock, followed by [[iron vein]]s and [[copper vein]]s. The hardest are silver and gold. As with most things in Wurm, too low difficulty leads to reduced skill gain, while too high difficulty results in high failure rate. A failure results in a 1.00 QL rock or ore.
 
−
 
 
−
Items from successful mining have random QL, but the maximum possible is the lower of your mining skill and the tile's inherent quality. See [[prospecting]] for details about tile QL.
 
−
 
 
−
''Optimal Skill Gain''
 
−
 
 
−
* Rock: 1-50
 
−
* [[Iron vein]]: 50-60
 
−
* [[Copper vein]]: 60-70
 
−
* [[Tin vein]], [[Zinc vein]], or [[Lead vein]]: 70-85
 
−
* [[Silver vein]]: 90-99
 
−
 
 
−
For the best skill gain, you will want to fail to mine the ore sometimes; about 10-15 failures (1QL) is the best skill gain. If you fail more, improve your [[pickaxe]] or downgrade an ore difficulty.
 
−
 
 
−
Note that if the tile is capped at a QL much lower than your skill you won't be able to check average QL of the pile of ore/shards to see whether or not you have a decent success rate. The average QL of the pile is '''always''' based on your skill and not the tile itself, and the tile QL is therefore irrelevant to skillgain. A wider range in upper QL based on skill will get lost when translated to the tile capped with lower QL so it will look like more top QL gains but in reality they would've been higher in QL if the tile was. For example: If you have 70 mining and you mine a QL32 rock tile and get 1xQL1 and 49xQL32 you don't actually get 49xHighest possible quality - the tile just doesn't go any higher so the ones that would've been in the range between 32-70 are all translated down to 32 due to the cap. The skillgain from a QL32 and a QL70 rock tile is exactly the same.
 
−
 
 
−
''Note: Never mine gold for skill; it is a waste of materials and time. You have less than the optimal skill gain % chance to get ore-QL > 1/2 skill.''
 
−
 
 
−
''Note: You will need to adjust your pickaxe quality to stay at the line of optimal %chance success. For the most part, 20-30QL pickaxe will work for skill gain.''
 
−
 
 
−
== More details on mining skillgain ==
 
−
 
 
−
'''First Rule of mining skillgain:''' The only thing that matters for skillgain PER SKILL TICK is sleep bonus, the time spent on the action, and the Circle of Cunning enchantment (if any) of your pick.  Yes, your skill level impacts this as well, but if you are an X skill miner, your skillgain per hit will be Y, no matter what you mine on, unless you change the timer of the mining action, the CoC on the pick, or activate sleep bonus.
 
−
 
 
−
*TEST*
 
−
 
 
−
QL 28.5ish pick with CoC 65
 
−
 
 
−
Skill 64.2-64.3
 
−
 
 
−
No Sleep Bonus.  Unwounded status except where noted specifically below.
 
−
 
 
−
 
 
−
Rock, Normal Quality, skill gain per 1.01-39.99 = 0.00262
 
−
 
 
−
Iron, Very Good, skill gain per 1.01-39.99 hit = 0.00262
 
−
 
 
−
Zinc, Very Good, skill gain per 1.01-39.99 hit = 0.00262
 
−
 
 
−
Lead, poor (22), skill gain per 1.01-22 hit = 0.00262
 
−
(For the lead, note that you cannot see 22-39.99 hits because they are capped as 22.  You also cannot see what would normally have been 40+)
 
  
−
Tin, Very Good, skill gain per 1.01-39.99 hit = 0.00262
+
*When a tile caves in the it will become either a rock, ore or shard vein and will need to be re-excavated. 
 +
*A recently collapsed rock tile may not require as many actions to re-open, however an ore tile will likely require many hundred, or even thousand, actions to remove.
 +
*Reinforcing a cave wall with a [[support beam]] will lower the chance of a cave-in on tiles surrounding that support.  Once reinforced they may not be excavated, however a mayor may mine out the support should it reside on their deed.  This would take approximately 50 actions just to remove the support. 
 +
'''A cave wall reinforced with a [[support beam]] off deed is literally impossible to remove. Please be mindful of this.''' Note that underground [[highway]]s are protected from cave-ins, thus tunnels for them dont require reinforcement on side walls.
 +
*Ore veins are considered similar to reinforced walls for purposes of stability.
 +
*The chance that a tile is replaced with a vein or shard other than rock is extremely low.
 +
*You also have the option to manually cave in mine tiles using the spell [[Strongwall]] or using a [[shaker orb]] which can be bought from a trader for 4 silver and is a one time use item.
  
−
Copper, Normal Quality, skill gain per 1.01-39.99 = 0.00262
+
== Skillgain ==
  
−
With a single very light wound, generated skillgains of 0.00270 on the copper, tin, and rock tests.  The wound increased mining timer slightly.
+
'''Ore Difficulty'''
  
 +
*The easiest is mining plain rock or [[zinc]], followed by [[iron vein]]s and [[tin vein]]s.
 +
*The hardest are silver and gold.
 +
'''As with most things in Wurm, too low difficulty leads to reduced skill gain, while too high difficulty results in high failure rate. A failure results in a 1.00 QL shard.'''
  
−
'''Second rule of mining skillgain:'''  When mining inside mines, on walls, you will only get skillgains if you generate rock or ore between QL 1.01 and 39.99.
+
*Items from successful mining have random QL, but the maximum possible is the lower of your mining skill and the tile's inherent quality. See [[prospecting]] for details about tile quality.
  
−
A) This rule does *NOT* hold for surface mining or tunneling.
+
'''Note''': In order to gain skill from a mining action the by&#8209;product has to be anywhere in between 1.01 and 39.99 quality range.
  
−
B) It MAY not hold for mining straight up or straight down in mines.  I'm pretty sure the skillgain calculations for mining ceilings or floors are different.  ((I was slack and did not test this.))
+
'''Note''': All tests were done with a 25ql pickaxe.
  
−
C) It MAY not hold for miners with skill less than 50 (tested at 64 skill)
+
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Tile type !! Skill
 +
|-
 +
| [[Rock]], [[Zinc vein|Zinc]] || 1-25
 +
|-
 +
| [[Iron vein|Iron]], [[Rock salt]] || 25-35
 +
|-
 +
| [[Tin vein|Tin]] || 35-50
 +
|-
 +
| [[Copper vein|Copper]], [[Slate]], [[Lead vein|Lead]] || 50-75
 +
|-
 +
| [[Silver vein|Silver]] || 75-90
 +
|-
 +
| [[Gold vein|Gold]], [[Marble]], [[Sandstone vein|Sandstone]] || 90+
 +
|-
 +
|+ Optimal Skill Gain
 +
|}
  
−
*SPECIAL NOTE - Apparently the quality of the ore or rock you generate is *initially* calculated without consideration to the QL of the tile - the quality of the vein is compared to the quality of your hit.  If your hit quality is higher than the QL of the tile, then it is revised downwards to the QL of the tile.  See the first example above.  I was getting lead hits at maximum possible QL for the vein, but they were giving me skill only sometimes.  I've seen the same thing happen with other ores with less than 40 QL, but until recently I never put it together how it had to be working.
 
  
−
A) QL=1 is a critical failure and gives you no skill
+
'''Optimal Pickaxe Selection for Skill Gain'''
  
−
B) QL>39.99 is too good of a success, and you get no skill
+
If you want to optimize mining skill gain, you need to pick the correct QL pickaxe for your skill and for the vein you are mining.  You can use the formula:
  
−
C) Veins or rock tiles with less than 40 QL can give skillgain even if you max their QL, but it's harder to judge based on your pile what sort of success rate you are achieving because the max QL of the tile masks the actual quality of your hits.
+
'''(Skill + Tool QL) divided by 2, then subtract 20 = <optimal difficulty>'''
  
 +
Plug in the variables you know, and solve for the remaining variable.
  
−
'''Third rule of mining skillgain:'''  Your mining skill level, pick quality and pick enchantments are critical to your choice of what ore you mine.
+
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Ore type !! Difficulty
 +
|-
 +
| Stone || 2
 +
|-
 +
| Zinc || 2
 +
|-
 +
| Iron || 3
 +
|-
 +
| Tin || 10
 +
|-
 +
| Copper || 20
 +
|-
 +
| Slate || 20
 +
|-
 +
| Lead || 20
 +
|-
 +
| Rock salt || 30
 +
|-
 +
| Silver || 35
 +
|-
 +
| Gold || 40
 +
|-
 +
| Reinforced || 40
 +
|-
 +
| Marble || 40
 +
|-
 +
| Sandstone || 45
 +
|-
 +
|}
  
−
In order to fully optimize your skillgain, you need the lowest possible quality pick which will allow you to frequently create ore or rock (in a mine) between 1.01 and 39.99 quality.  Each mine-able substance has a different base difficulty.  The lowest being rock, then iron, etc.  A combination of your skill and your pick's quality will be compared against the dificulty of what you are mining in order to determine the "curve" of skillgain.
+
== Resources ==
 +
There are several types of resource which can be found while mining:
  
−
In other words, it is possible to adjust your skillgain by varying the quality of your pick.  A higher quality pick on iron might end up generating just as much skillgain as a lower quality pick on rock because you are hitting for skillgain more often, even if you are getting a bit less skill per each skill tick (because the higher quality pick is faster).  If you mine on iron at 64 skill with an 80 QL pick, you will very rarely ever get a skillgain tick.  With a 28.5 QL skiller pick, you get more frequent skillgains.  On lead, at 64 mining with a 28.5 QL pick, you will be constantly failing with "1" results that give no skillgain.  With a higher quality pick you will get more skillups.
+
{| class="wikitable"
 +
|-
 +
! Tile type !! Mining By-Products
 +
|-
 +
| [[Rock]] || [[Stone shards]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Rock salt vein]] || [[Rock salt|Rock salt shards]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Slate]] || [[Slate shards]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Sandstone vein]] || [[Sandstone shards]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Marble vein|Marble]] || [[Marble shards]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Iron vein]] || [[Iron ore]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Copper vein]] || [[Copper ore]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Tin vein]] || [[Tin ore]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Zinc vein]] || [[Zinc ore]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Lead vein]] || [[Lead ore]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Silver vein]] || [[Silver ore]]
 +
|-
 +
| [[Gold vein]] || [[Gold ore]]
 +
|+ Mining Resources
 +
|}
  
−
Another consideration:  A quality 30ish pick is going to maintain it's status and it's enchantment FAR better than a QL 10 pick will, and a QL 1 pick will poof if you aren't very careful watching your pick's damage level.
+
Other resources which can be found include [[salt]], [[gems]], [[source crystal]]s and [[flint]].
  
−
So the most efficient method for mining skillgain would *probably* be to acquire a QL30-ish steel pick (steel is rumored to take less damage and hold enchantments better) with very high Circle of Cunning enchantment and jump on some high QL ores until you determine which types of ores give you the most hits between 1.01 and 39.99 QL, then find a horrible trash QL version of that ore and go to town mining it.
+
== Notes ==
 +
*Mining speed is determined by mining skill, pickaxe [[quality]], pickaxe skill, and the [[Wind of ages]] or [[Botd]] cast, ordered from greatest effect to least.
 +
*Because Wurm is not a true 3D world, the cave layer is essentially a second world beneath the surface. It is possible to mine upwards and downwards with a few [[Mining warnings|limitations]].
 +
*Mining straight mines at zero slope. Mining upward or downward mines at a slope of 20 in that direction. From this, a set of variants is applied based on skill which ultimately determines the final slope of the tile. This skill-based variance set is such that: <50 skill is +/- 3, 50-70 is +/- 2, 70-90 is +/- 1, 90+ is 0. Only the final action that breaks the wall (upward, downward, or straight) determines the direction mined. 
 +
* You may not mine upward out of rock and into the [[dirt]] that is covering it.
 +
* You can mine downward until you reach 25 dirts below the [[water]] table.
 +
* It is not possible to have one tunnel pass under or over another without forming a vertical shaft. Each tile is essentially a pillar, so if two tunnels cross at different elevations they create a shaft going from the upper tunnel to the lower tunnel.  
  
−
If your skilling pick is also your everyday use pick, then look around and experiment on different ores that you have access to, again looking for an ore type that you generate a lot of hits between 1.01 and 39.99 quality
+
==PVP Servers==
 +
* Maximum slope for surface mining is limited to your 1x mining skill on [[Defiance]] and [[Epic]] servers and capped at 60 slope.
 +
* There is a minimum of 3 tiles required between mine doors on all PVP servers.
  
−
== Other considerations ==
+
==Mining Warning Messages==
−
You can either mine "up", "down" or level when mining a tile. Only the last mining action is relevant to determine the direction the mine shaft will take. Mining up or down represents the equivalent of a 20 dirt [[slope]].
+
See: [[Mining warnings]]
−
 
 
−
There are slight deviations in slope (up to 1 "dirt") when a mine shaft progresses. So, "level" is actually 0 slope, 1, or -1. Note that when connecting two mine shafts, the direction of the mining is irrelevant; one floor will connect to the other floor and ceilings will likewise connect.
 
−
 
 
−
== Warning messages ==
 
−
'''''Note:''' Some of these messages aren't exactly as presented in-game. Feel free to correct the wording.''
 
−
 
 
−
Sometimes you will be unable to continue mining and presented with a warning message.
 
−
 
 
−
[[Image:Sideshaft.png|frame|right|Side shaft example]]
 
−
 
 
−
; A dangerous crack is starting to form on the floor. You will have to find another way. [The cave shudders from some imbalance.] : Think it is caused by undermining previous tile mined above. No fix, though mining another wall, and therefore changing tunnel direction, worked on same tile.
 
−
; Another tunnel is too close. It would collapse. : Occurs when opening a new tunnel from the surface. Caused when there is already a tunnel to the back or the sides of the entrance tile or if a tunnel is ahead but to far down to connect to.
 
−
; The cave walls look very unstable. You cannot keep mining here. : Occurs inside a mine. Happens when mining close to the top of the rock layer. The ceiling of the newly mined tile would break the rock layer. Can sometimes be avoided by mining downwards or by lowering the mine floor and thereby opening the new tile a bit lower.
 
−
; The cave walls look very unstable and dirt flows in. You would be buried alive. : Occurs inside a mine. Happens when the tile you are mining on will break out to the surface, but the surface is not exposed rock. To excavate it, you must first expose the rock on the surface.
 
−
; ? The cave walls sound hollow. : Appears when you are mining into another mine shaft and the height difference is not dangerous.
 
−
; The cave walls sound hollow. A dangerous side shaft could emerge. [The cave shudders from some imbalance.] : Occurs inside a mine. This message appears when the tile you are excavating shares a single corner with an existing tunnel. To excavate it you must first excavate so the target tile shares an entire wall with the other tunnel. See example on the right.
 
−
; The ground is too steep to mine at here. You need to make it more flat. : Occurs occasionally when mining the floor down.  The cause is unknown.
 
−
; The ground sounds strangely hollow and brittle. You have to abandon the mining operation. : Occurs on the surface. This means there's already a tunnel on the tile you're trying to excavate. There's nothing to do about it, you simply have to make your entrance on another tile. Or you could search for the entrance (possibly caved in) to the existing tunnel.
 
−
; The topology here makes it impossible to mine in a good way. : Occurs when trying to create a mine entrance on a perfectly flat rock tile. Lower at least 1 corner with surface mining to continue.
 
−
; The mountainside would risk crumbling. You can't open a hole here. :  Occurs when you are trying create a mine entrance on a rock tile that is too steep.  The maximum slope is 270.
 
−
; There is no space to mine here. Clear the area first. : Occurs when the tile you're standing on has 100 items on. Move a few objects and you can continue.
 
−
; You fail to produce anything here. The rock is stone hard. : Occurs on the surface. This means the tile you are attempting to excavate is actually an ore vein. There's nothing to do about it, you simply have to make your entrance on another tile. Note that if you make the entrance one tile below the vein, the tunnel will open right into the vein and cannot be extended until the vein is depleted. The best course of action at this point would probably be to mine out a rock tile next to the one you get this message on.
 
−
: Happens when mining down a floor and roof is too high, Can only be fixed by collapsing all affected tiles and remining. (aka. if you want the tile flat collapse it and remine, if you want to lower it collapse all surrounding tiles and remine.)
 
−
; You hear falling rocks from the other side of the wall. A deep shaft will probably emerge. : Occurs inside a mine.  Caused when there is already another mine nearby, but there is too much of a height difference to connect the two mines.
 
−
; You cannot keep mining here. The rock is unusually hard. : The message displayed when one attempts to open a tunnel directly onto a vein.
 
−
; The roof sounds strangely hollow and you notice dirt flowing in, so you stop mining. : You get this when mining a ceiling too close to the surface and it is not rock.
 
−
; The water is too deep to mine here. : You get this when you are trying to mine too far under the water table.
 
−
; The roof sounds strangely hollow. You must mine the other corners if you want to create an opening.: You get this when your mining a cave ceiling and mined to outside corners height.
 
−
; You cannot reach the ceiling. : You can't mine the ceiling any higher.
 
−
; You are not allowed to mine here. : Deed permissions have disabled mining, and at least 1 spirit templar exists to uphold the law.
 
−
 
 
−
== Tips ==
 
−
Mining speed is determined by mining skill, [[pickaxe]] [[quality]], [[Skills:Pickaxe|pickaxe skill]] and the [[Wind of Ages]] cast, ordered from greatest effect to least.
 
−
 
 
−
== Ore veins ==
 
−
There are several types of ore which can be found while mining:
 
−
 
 
−
* [[Copper ore]]
 
−
* [[Gold ore]]
 
−
* [[Iron ore]]
 
−
* [[Lead ore]]
 
−
* [[Silver ore]]
 
−
* [[Tin ore]]
 
−
* [[Zinc ore]]
 
−
 
 
−
For details about ore location, see [[prospecting]].
 
  
 
== See also ==
 
== See also ==
 
* [[Pickaxe]]
 
* [[Pickaxe]]
 
* [[Prospecting]]
 
* [[Prospecting]]
−
* [[Support Beam]]
+
* [[Support beam]]
 +
* [[Clad]]
 
* [[Stuck]]
 
* [[Stuck]]
 +
* [[Mining warnings]]
 +
* [[Strongwall]]
 +
 +
==Skills & Characteristics==
 +
* Mining
 +
* [[Body]] > [[Body strength]]
 +
* [[Body]] > [[Body stamina]]
 +
* [[Mind]] > [[Mind logic]]
 +
* [[Soul]] > [[Soul strength]]
  
 
== [[Titles]] ==
 
== [[Titles]] ==
Line 264: Line 258:
 
* Prime Minester at 70 skill
 
* Prime Minester at 70 skill
 
* Mastermine at 90 skill
 
* Mastermine at 90 skill
 +
* The World is Mine at 100 skill
  
−
==Guides==
+
== Notes ==
−
* [[Mining Guide]]
+
* Mining can be done while moving, so long as you do not move too far away (two tiles) from the tile you are currently working on.
 +
* See [[Mining warnings]] for more indepth information on each situation.
  
 
[[Category:Skills]]
 
[[Category:Skills]]
 +
[[Category:While_moving]]
 
[[Category:Babel/M]]
 
[[Category:Babel/M]]

Latest revision as of 13:58, 17 July 2024

Main / Skills / Mining

A Miner at Work

Description

Mining is the skill of excavating stone shards, marble shards, slate shards, sandstone shards and ore veins.

Opening a mine (Tunnel)

Activate pickaxe right click any cliff or rock tile and select mining > tunnel. Find potential error messages here.

  • The first step is to make a mine entrance on the surface which may be done on any cliff or rock tile.
  • The minimum slope of the rock surface to be mined is +1 but also have further requirements. The two lowest corners of your tile will form the bottom edge of your opening. If there are not two corners lower than the others (not equal) you cant tunnel. After opening that lower border will be reshaped completely flat at level of the lower corner.
  • If there are two lower corners identified then the opposite border will be the top of your mine opening and will be completely flat as well, leveled at lower corner of the opposite border.
  • You cannot surface mine to correct an oddly shaped entrance once it is open. So you must make sure to have the tile in the exact shape you want it to be before you open the mine.
  • When tuneling, entrance tile is limited by reinforced cave floor as any others (requires that all four corner of the entrance tile not be also one of a reinforced tile). So, when you are tunneling an entrance from the outside and receive the message, The ground sounds strangely hollow and brittle. You have to abandon the mining operation. , you most likely have a reinforced floor inside the tunnel you are trying to open. Enter the mine from another angle and remove the reinforced floor.
  • Tunel from outside will ever make a downgoing entrance 20 slope or more, even if there is a flat cave inside. Tunnel out from inside will only remove the rock walls without changing the ground level.
  • To correct that entry slope you can further raise the mine corner floor with concrete but if ground reach is deep underwater. If you don't want any ugly water on the floor in the mine, ensure that both lower corners of the entrance are at least at height 28 (hover the corner with the mouse).
  • Each tunneling action has a chance to create a stone shard. After a number of stone shards are created, usually 9, the message You will soon create an entrance will appear, after 51 actions. A stone shard or two later, and an entrance will be created.
  • The maximum height of a tunnel entrance is 270 slope, but you would not be able to continue mining because of ceiling height restrictions. Tunnel slopes should be less than 235.
  • The maximum height of an tunnel entrance is 90 slope if you plan to add a mine door.
  • You may create a mine entrance up to 3 tiles wide.
    • To widen a tunnel, the tile you mine must only be connected to ONE open tunnel only
    • Mine doors can be placed on tunnel entrances that are 1 tile or wider, except on PvP servers. Note that you will need more than one mine door for wider entrances!
    • It is not possible to create an opening next to an opening that has a mine door attached.

Tunnel excavation

Activate pickaxe right click on rock tile select mining > mine.

Mining a cave wall inside of a mine will remove that tile of rock. It takes 45 mining actions to produce the message The wall will break soon after which it takes 1 to 11 actions to fully remove the tile.

  • It is possible to mine up, down or flat but only the final action is taken into account. The resulting slope of up or down will be approximately 20. Ceiling will be 30 above the created floor whatever its shape is.
  • There are slight deviations in mine slopes (up to 3 "Slope") when a mine shaft progresses.This is based off Mining Skill.
    • skill less than 50, +-3
    • skill = 50, variance is +-2
    • skill = 70, variance is +-1
    • skill = 90+ no variance
  • When mining a tile next to an opened tile, slope of the existing tile will be kept but may also change with same variance.
  • When connecting two mine shafts, the direction of the mining is irrelevant; one floor will connect to the other floor and ceilings will likewise connect.
  • Each action will produce one stone shard.
  • All items mined from the cave wall will appear in a pile on the ground on the tile you're standing; this often includes items such as salt and gems, all of which are found randomly.
  • It is not possible to create an exit from the inside if there is dirt covering the planned exit, this must be fully uncovered and bare just as if you were to create an entrance from the outside.
  • If the outside tile is covered by dirt while trying to mine out, the message The cave wall looks very unstable and dirt flows in. You would be buried alive

Mining resources

Ore is produced by mining metal ore veins found inside of a mine. Marble, slate, rock salt, and sandstone veins produce shards. A Rock salt tile has about the same amount of shards as a regular rock tile, approximately 50 shards.

  • When an ore or shard vein is depleted a tunnel is created. However, a vein can take several thousand actions to deplete, so it is advised to mine around ore and shard veins for tunneling purposes.

Mining floors and ceiling

  • Mining the floor or ceiling of a cave will not create tunnels. Instead, it raises (for ceiling) or lowers (for floors) the cave. Note that, as with digging, these actions affect the closest corner of the tile and not the tile itself.
  • A ceiling tile can be mined upward around 31 times before you will receive the message You cannot reach the ceiling . (given that you haven't lowered the floor before you start).
  • A floor tile can be mined down well past swimming depth to let boats pass through. It is a good idea to keep a rowboat/sailboat close by for stamina regain when mining past the water level.
  • Each rock tile removed will have that standard ceiling height, so each ceiling tile must be mined individually, if you want them to be higher. The floor section will match up (providing you didn't mine up or down).
  • You can fix slopes with concrete: one concrete will raise one corner, the equivalent of 1 dirt or 1 mine action.
  • Mining ceilings for stone shards is much faster than mining on a wall tile, this can be used to your advantage when not wishing to extend a mine, but shards are required.
  • If you have raised the ceiling and try to mine the floor too low, you will receive the message: Lowering the floor further would make the cavern unstable before hitting the water level.
  • For the best access in a mine it is recommended not to mine the floor directly, because it can create uneven surfaces making it hard to move around.
  • The actions mine up and mine down create predictable slopes of 20 and are good if you want a sloped passage, although floor mining can be very useful if used in the right way.

Proceed with caution when adjusting the floors as mining is not easily reversed. When digging you can always drop the dirt and refill the hole - this is not possible when mining.

Mine Up/Down

  • Mining up/down will create a slope of 20 or to the corresponding next level, if there is another tunnel (see Dropshaft)

Leveling

Standing on a flat cave tile will permit the leveling of an adjacent tile so that it will be at the same height. To see if a tile is flat, activate a pickaxe and hover over the tile (as long as you have at least 15 mining skill).

Activate a pickaxe and right click the cave floor tile, select Mining > Level.

  • Will mine the highest corners and make the tile flat.

Activate concrete right click the corner to be raised select raise corner.

The corner you are standing nearest will be raised, so make sure you are standing in the correct spot.

  • To raise corners concrete must be held in the inventory and activated.
  • One concrete will raise one corner equivalent to 1 dirt.
  • Concrete can be used to raise an underwater cave tile as long as the tile is 25 dirts deep or less; below that you get the message: The water is too deep and would only dissolve the concrete.

Surface mining

Activate pickaxe and right click cliff or rock tile, select Mining > Mine.

Surface mining is the action of shaping external rock or cliff faces to prepare an area for tunneling, adjusting terrain for other uses or simply for aesthetic reasons.

  • To mine on the surface, all adjacent corners of the tile must be clear of dirt. You will need dig all four corners of a tile to expose rock.
  • When mining into water the maximum depth permitted is -25 from the water level.
  • It may take one or more actions to lower a single dirt level of rock.
  • Border slope depth may be seen with a pickaxe activated just as with a shovel.
  • You will only be able to mine slopes which are 3 times your mining skill. For example, if you mining skill is 3, you can mine slopes of 9 or below.


Slope reduction: You mine some stone shards.
No reduction: You chip away at the rock.

Mine doors

You can limit access to your mine with the use of a mine door. Several types of mine doors are available.

Remember that off-deed mine doors can be bashed by other players, so your mine is not entirely safe just because it has a mine door attached. A deed perimeter does NOT protect mine doors.

  • If you wish to place a fence around a mine entrance this should be done before attaching a mine door.
  • On Elevation and Defiance servers, there must be a minimum of 3 tiles between mine doors and only 4 mine doors in an 11x11 area. There is a check in a 5 tile radius around the door being placed.

Dropshaft

Dropshafts are typically unfavorable in mines. They link two sections of a mine together which have a height difference of many dirts. They are not easily traveled through. Vehicles and horses will not be able to move between the levels, and a player must climb to move between the two.

  • When a drop shaft is going to be created you will receive this message before the wall breaks: You hear falling rocks from the other side of the wall. A deep shaft will probably emerge.
  • Should a dropshaft be required, simply mine out the rock tile which separates two mines of different levels. Some players have created dropshafts to gain fast access to water or create short-cuts. There is no falling damage inside mines, so falling down these shafts is not going to injure the player.

Proceed with caution as these are very hard, often impossible, to modify once created.

  • Collapsing a dropshaft tile with the Strongwall spell or a shaker orb will allow you to remine a tile to the height of the tiles around it, but proceed carefully and ask for assistance, as careful planning is required.

Cave-ins

Any excavated cave tile has a chance of caving in.

  • When a tile caves in the it will become either a rock, ore or shard vein and will need to be re-excavated.
  • A recently collapsed rock tile may not require as many actions to re-open, however an ore tile will likely require many hundred, or even thousand, actions to remove.
  • Reinforcing a cave wall with a support beam will lower the chance of a cave-in on tiles surrounding that support. Once reinforced they may not be excavated, however a mayor may mine out the support should it reside on their deed. This would take approximately 50 actions just to remove the support.

A cave wall reinforced with a support beam off deed is literally impossible to remove. Please be mindful of this. Note that underground highways are protected from cave-ins, thus tunnels for them dont require reinforcement on side walls.

  • Ore veins are considered similar to reinforced walls for purposes of stability.
  • The chance that a tile is replaced with a vein or shard other than rock is extremely low.
  • You also have the option to manually cave in mine tiles using the spell Strongwall or using a shaker orb which can be bought from a trader for 4 silver and is a one time use item.

Skillgain

Ore Difficulty

As with most things in Wurm, too low difficulty leads to reduced skill gain, while too high difficulty results in high failure rate. A failure results in a 1.00 QL shard.

  • Items from successful mining have random QL, but the maximum possible is the lower of your mining skill and the tile's inherent quality. See prospecting for details about tile quality.

Note: In order to gain skill from a mining action the by‑product has to be anywhere in between 1.01 and 39.99 quality range.

Note: All tests were done with a 25ql pickaxe.

Tile type Skill
Rock, Zinc 1-25
Iron, Rock salt 25-35
Tin 35-50
Copper, Slate, Lead 50-75
Silver 75-90
Gold, Marble, Sandstone 90+
Optimal Skill Gain


Optimal Pickaxe Selection for Skill Gain

If you want to optimize mining skill gain, you need to pick the correct QL pickaxe for your skill and for the vein you are mining. You can use the formula:

(Skill + Tool QL) divided by 2, then subtract 20 = <optimal difficulty>

Plug in the variables you know, and solve for the remaining variable.

Ore type Difficulty
Stone 2
Zinc 2
Iron 3
Tin 10
Copper 20
Slate 20
Lead 20
Rock salt 30
Silver 35
Gold 40
Reinforced 40
Marble 40
Sandstone 45

Resources

There are several types of resource which can be found while mining:

Tile type Mining By-Products
Rock Stone shards
Rock salt vein Rock salt shards
Slate Slate shards
Sandstone vein Sandstone shards
Marble Marble shards
Iron vein Iron ore
Copper vein Copper ore
Tin vein Tin ore
Zinc vein Zinc ore
Lead vein Lead ore
Silver vein Silver ore
Gold vein Gold ore
Mining Resources

Other resources which can be found include salt, gems, source crystals and flint.

Notes

  • Mining speed is determined by mining skill, pickaxe quality, pickaxe skill, and the Wind of ages or Botd cast, ordered from greatest effect to least.
  • Because Wurm is not a true 3D world, the cave layer is essentially a second world beneath the surface. It is possible to mine upwards and downwards with a few limitations.
  • Mining straight mines at zero slope. Mining upward or downward mines at a slope of 20 in that direction. From this, a set of variants is applied based on skill which ultimately determines the final slope of the tile. This skill-based variance set is such that: <50 skill is +/- 3, 50-70 is +/- 2, 70-90 is +/- 1, 90+ is 0. Only the final action that breaks the wall (upward, downward, or straight) determines the direction mined.
  • You may not mine upward out of rock and into the dirt that is covering it.
  • You can mine downward until you reach 25 dirts below the water table.
  • It is not possible to have one tunnel pass under or over another without forming a vertical shaft. Each tile is essentially a pillar, so if two tunnels cross at different elevations they create a shaft going from the upper tunnel to the lower tunnel.

PVP Servers

  • Maximum slope for surface mining is limited to your 1x mining skill on Defiance and Epic servers and capped at 60 slope.
  • There is a minimum of 3 tiles required between mine doors on all PVP servers.

Mining Warning Messages

See: Mining warnings

See also

Skills & Characteristics

Titles

  • Miner at 50 skill
  • Prime Minester at 70 skill
  • Mastermine at 90 skill
  • The World is Mine at 100 skill

Notes

  • Mining can be done while moving, so long as you do not move too far away (two tiles) from the tile you are currently working on.
  • See Mining warnings for more indepth information on each situation.
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