Prospecting

Main / Skills / Prospecting

Description

Prospecting is the locating of ore veins in rock. To start prospecting, activate a pickaxe and right-click a rock tile, select Mining -> Prospect.

Anyone can detect veins within 3 tiles. At higher skill levels, additional abilities are unlocked.

• At 20 skill you can estimate the quality of a vein, as well as the quality of a specific tile.
  You can detect the presence of flint.
• At 40 skill you can detect the presence of salt.
• At 60 skill you can estimate the remaining amount of ore in a vein.

Gems appear randomly during all mining, and cannot be prospected.

All ores are regional. Thus ,if you locate a vein of ore, it is highly likely there will be other veins of the same ore type nearby. Finding other ore types is unlikely, although exceptions exist.

Vein quality

Rock tiles and ore veins have a maximum quality level. Ore veins on the home server are limited to 50 QL (normal).

• Pretty bad: 1-39 QL
• Normal: 40-59 QL
• Good: 60-79 QL
• Very good: 80-89 QL
• Utmost: 90-99 QL

Vein depletion

Ordered by decreasing ore supply:

• "only a few weeks mining remain here"
• "The ore is starting to deplete"
• "The ore will run out soon"
• "you should start to prospect for another vein of this ore"

Prospecting Guide (large rock face)

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   | o |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+ 
|   |   |   | 3 | 2 | 1 |<--| X |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+

X = no prospect of that ore
<-- = last tile you did get a prospect
3 = I recommend you start mining here

Realize that the world is 2 dimensional. All the rock and ore tiles are pillars, they are not cubes. You can ignore the height of mountains when prospecting. Only North/South/West/East matter.

When you prospect on the surface, you can detect ore in an area of 7x7 area around you. That's 3 tiles in all directions from the tile you are prospecting. Prospecting inside a cave is not done to find ores, but to tell specific details about the tile you are prospecting.

When you prospect e.g. iron ore on the surface that means that somewhere within a range of 3 tiles around you (including the tiles behind you) an iron vein is located. You then try to find the tiles where you can no longer prospect the ore. You need to find one North or South edge, and one East or West edge.

Then count 3 tiles from both those edges and the tile you end up with is the ore vein.

You cannot mine the vein tile directly from the surface. If you try to mine the vein tile from the surface you will get the message You fail to produce anything, the rock is stone hard. You will have to start tunneling in the tile next to vein.

Sometimes grass, dirt or other tile types hinder the prospecting. Try to find a large rockface to ease prospecting.

Uzetaab's Guide

Alternative for if you do not have a large rock face to prospect.

+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   |   |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| X | X | X | X | X | X | X |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   | X |   |   |   | 3
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   | X |   |   |   | 2
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
| X | X | X | X | X | X |X  | 1
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
|   |   |   | o |   |   |   |
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
  3   2   1 | # | 1   2   3
            +---+

You will have to reveal all the tiles in a 7x7 area to find the vein.

• ‘O’ the tile you prospected
• ‘X’ tiles that need to be mined out
• ‘#’ you

Note that I left 2 rows of tiles unmined between mined rows. This increases your chances of finding a 2nd vein that is beyond the reach of prospect. As you expand your mine, this pattern should be continued and expanded reveal all the tiles in your mines area.

--Uzetaab 15:10, February 19, 2006 (CST)

Kiro's guide

Click here to read Kiro's guide ^^

See also

Mining