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Mine
Mines are constructed on ore veins to extract metal ores such as Iron Ore, Copper Ore and Tin Ore from ore veins, as well as various Gems and sometimes Coal. Ore veins are discovered using the Dowsing skill with a Dowsing Rod. Working the mine will produce ore upon success, and occasionally yield a gem of a set type or some coal if the mine is deep enough.
As not all methods of ore extraction are completely resolved, there is more information and theories on the discussion page.
Cost
Repair Cost
- Each repair of an ore mine lasts approximately 1000 pulls on average
- Each repair of a sand mine lasts approximately 500 pulls on average
| Repair Level | Boards | Bricks | Water in jugs | Leather | Slate | Rope |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | 30 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 |
| 2 | 20 | 30 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
| 3 | 20 | 30 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | 20 | 30 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 20 | 30 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | 20 | 30 | 7 | 12 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | 20 | 30 | 9 | 16 | 3 | 7 |
| 8 | 20 | 30 | 11 | 21 | 3 | 8 |
| 9 | 20 | 30 | 13 | 27 | 3 | 9 |
| 10 | 20 | 30 | 16 | 33 | 3 | 10 |
| 11 | 20 | 30 | 19 | 40 | 3 | 11 |
| 12 | 20 | 30 | 22 | 48 | 3 | 12 |
| 13 | 20 | 30 | 26 | 56 | 3 | 13 |
| 14 | 20 | 30 | 30 | 65 | 3 | 14 |
| 15 | 20 | 30 | 34 | 75 | 3 | 15 |
| 16 | 20 | 30 | ?? | 85 | 3 | 16 |
| 17 | 20 | 30 | 43 | 96 | 3 | 17 |
| 18 | 20 | 30 | ?? | 108 | 3 | 18 |
| 19 | 20 | 30 | ?? | 120 | 3 | 19 |
| 20 | 20 | 30 | ?? | 133 | 3 | 20 |
| 21 | 20 | 30 | 65 | 147 | 3 | 21 |
| 22 | 20 | 30 | 71 | 161 | 3 | 22 |
| 23 | 20 | 30 | 77 | 176 | 3 | 23 |
Formulas
- Water in Jugs: ( level^2 / 7 ) + 2
- Leather: level^2 / 3
- Rope: level
(Re-)Construction
Mines are built on open ground using Projects > Build a Mine. You must have the Mining skill.
Mines cannot be built closer than 8 coordinates to an existing mine or torn-down mine.
Ore mines can be torn down, but you do not recover any materials. The mine continues to exist underground, and can be rebuilt using Projects > Rebuild a nearby mine while near the original mine location. Rebuilding the mine costs the same as repairing the original mine would have cost. Ownership of the mine transfers to whoever rebuilds it, but the other characteristics of the mine (position, ore and gem type, repair status) don't change.
Sand mines can be torn down normally; you will recover some materials based on your Salvage skill.
Operation
To work a mine, you must first learn the skill Ore Extraction from the School of Architecture.
An ore mine shows 7 crystals of different colors in the dirt pile by the mine. Select one of these and you will have an option to "Work this Mine [W]".
Each mine type has a different method of operation in order to properly identify which crystal to pick in order to get the ore out. If you correctly identify the crystal, you'll get some base amount of ore (e.g. iron gives you 3 ore, copper gives 3, tin gives 1, etc). If you pick the wrong crystal, you get no ore. In both cases, the crystals will then change colors.
Yields are increased either by picking the correct crystal multiple times in a row (to a max of 7 ore/pull) for some ores (for example Antimony and Lead) or for playing the memory game for +1 ore/pull for each time step back you play the memory game for ores like Copper, Iron, Tin, etc. The memory game can be played out to 6 time steps for 7 ore/pull for most metals, but can only be played out to your Ore Extraction level minus one for Copper and Iron (note ore extraction level only matters for Iron and Copper).
Extraction Methods
Aluminum
The best way I can describe it is that you want the most emissive crystal, the most... luminescent.
I've gotten very good return on working the crystal with the highest brightness. ~McArine
I've gotten very good returns using the crystal with the highest max(r,g,b) value. -Eldrad
You can play the memory game for up to 6 time steps ago for 7 ore/pull (ore extraction level doesn't matter).
Antimony
There are two crystals of the 7 that share have similar color, but different brightness/intensity. Click the slightly more saturated of the matched pair. It can be difficult at times to spot the correct pair. Successive correct clicks will build a chain to 7.
I can find 3 crystals of the same hue, a pair, and 2 odd ones. Anyone else find them?
Copper
Copper ore is extracted by clicking on the crystal with the highest color saturation (i.e. the "least gray"). Success yields 3 ore/pull. Each level of ore extraction allows you to play the memory game with one more time step for +1 ore/pull.
Gold
At every round there is a yellowish crystal. At odd round pick the yellowish one. At even round, check which one is yellow and pick his "linked" one. For examples, these are the rules working for the mine i have access, maybe rules are different for each mine(method confirmed, and each mine is different):
- Top Left -> Bottom Left
- Bottom Left -> Back Bottom
- Middle -> Back Top
- Back Bottom -> Middle
- Back Top -> Top Right
- Bottom Right -> Top Left
- Top Right -> Bottom Right
See also Linked Pair Identification Guide
Iron
To extract iron ore, click on the mismatched color crystal. Success yields 3 at Ore Extraction levels 1 and 2. Success yields 3 ore/pull. Each level of ore extraction allows you to play the memory game with one more time step for +1 ore/pull.
Lead
This is requires knowing the odd crystal out for the last 13 pulls, plus the current pull. Count up the number of times each crystal has been the odd-one-out among those 14 pulls and choose the one that has the lowest number. Ties can and do happen tho', so in case of a tie, number the crystals 1-3 left-to-right across the top and 4-7 left-to-right across the bottom, then choose the highest numbered crystal with the lowest total occurrences of being odd-one-out. This method correctly chooses the right crystal even when it sometimes happens to be the odd-one-out at the time. -Ikuu, March 2, 2009
Lithium
Lithium appears visually as the "six crystals of one color, one of another color" system most commonly seen in iron mines. However, the simplest way to mine it ignores the visual appearance entirely. Simply mine each crystal once until one of them gives you 1 ore instead of 0. As soon as that happens, keep mining that crystal, and it will count up 1 ore each time until it gives 7 per iteration (due to the increasing sequence length of the memory game). At some point, the pattern breaks, it drops to 0, and at that point you cycle through the other six crystals until you find the one that gives 1 ore again. Rinse, repeat. For more advanced mining, you can usually predict what crystal is the new ore crystal, by which crystal was "lit" right before the pattern broke. If that doesn't work, try the first crystal that was lit after the pattern broke. That works about 95% of the time, but it requires dramatically more attention and only saves about 1-2 mining attempts per cycle.
- Is there a way to predict when the pattern will break? --Xyrrus 21:33, 10 January 2009 (EST) No prediction possible from what I can see, had all random numbers up to 14, also had 4 1s in a row and also a 10,11 10 and 10 in a row too. --Fez
- The correct crystal is the crystal that has been lit (odd one) the most in the last 7 pulls. That's how you predict when the pattern will break.
Magnesium
Click the blue crystal, or one with greatest blue component.
You can play the memory game for up to 6 time steps ago for 7 ore/pull (ore extraction level doesn't matter).
Platinum
Like Gold, each crystal has a corresponding crystal. This can even be it self. When a crystal is the odd crystal, work it's corresponding crystal. This can be done with the memory game, to gain 7 pr pull. The corresponding crystals are different from mine to mine. ~McArine
My experience is that the colors can at times be very close, so it's hard to distinguish the odd one. I don't know if there, like gold, is a specific color where the rules are different. This might be the reason why I couldn't keep a steady run of 7. ~McArine
the 'link' seems to vary from person to person - Elfus
I found the above information to somewhat confusing. Every pull on a platinum mine is on the odd colored crystals linked pair. Once you know the linked pairs for your particular mine, determine which crystal is the odd colored one then work its linked pair. To determine the linked pairs see Linked Pair Identification Guide. - Akmenotep
Silver
Similar to copper: rate the crystals in order of saturation and pick the second from most saturated crystal. Using the memory-game to increase yield works in the same way as tin to provide up to a 7-silver yield (depending on length of sequence being repeated). The result of mining is "silver", and not "silver ore", i.e. it's ready to use and does not need smelting.
Strontium
Each mine has a different circuit, click on crystals in that order. one crystal can be present in the circuit multiple times. I have seen circuit with 7 to 10 crystals. Yield come from 1 to 7, then stays at 7. Color doesn't seem to matter in any fashion.
Tin
The correct crystal is usually most colors of green, red and yellow and grey even the washed colors (careful though they shades look similar). Also described as "Most brownish". Also described as lowest blue in the RGB palette or Highest green in the RGB palette. All of these interpretations give the right result. The exact answer isn't quite known.
Using colour cop program lowest blue on rgb scale is working reliably. Most obvious colours are brown orange red but very dark blue is sometimes the answer which can throw off the pattern unless checking with something other than sight alone.
You can play the memory game for up to 6 time steps ago for 7 ore/pull (ore extraction level doesn't matter).
Titanium
Mine the crystal that has remained the same the longest. You will receive ore in proportion to how many times you are correct, up to 7 ore after 7 correct pulls in a row. As long as you maintain correct pulls you will continue to receive 7 ore. OE level appears to have no impact.
Tungsten
Click on the odd one out, there are 3 pairs and a crystal that doesn't have an equal pair. The crystals are paired by hue, so if you're using a screen pixel reader as an aid, look for the hue without a similar crystal among the rest.
You can play the memory game for up to 6 time steps ago for 7 ore/pull (ore extraction level doesn't matter).
Zinc
Active crystal is the one with the most different saturation. If you have 6 crystals with high saturation and 1 with low it's the crystal with low saturation. If you have 6 with low saturation it's the one with high saturation.
You can play the memory game for up to 6 time steps ago for 7 ore/pull (ore extraction level doesn't matter).
Increasing your yield: the mining memory game
If you continually click on the correct crystal, you'll always get the base amount. If however you remember what's gone before and start clicking on the crystal that came up *previously*, then you'll get extra ore yield for as long as you can keep up the correct sequence. For example, if you perform a run consistently working the from a history of 3 crystal ago, then each pull will give you 4 extra ore. As soon as you hit an error in your sequence (because you guessed the wrong crystal) then the run stops and you need to restart your memory. It's easiest with iron where the correct crystal is most obvious, but the technique has been tested (Nicodemus) with copper, iron and tin.
As an example: label each crystal with a number. If it's the first crystal that's correct then write down "1" in your sequence. If it's the second crystal, write down "2", etc. When you've got the desired history length (e.g. 3 numbers written down), then keep writing down the correct crystal, but don't click on it. Instead, click on the crystal 3 back in your history. So, if a mine is giving a sequence of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, then select the first 3 crystals as normal (and you'll get 1 ore each time if this is tin) by clicking 1, then clicking 2, then clicking 3. On the next pull you start using your history instead of the current correct crystal and select 1 and then 2. Both of those pulls will say "no ore" because you haven't yet hit the correct sequence, but from then on (when you select 3, 4, 5, 6, etc) you'll get 4 ore every time so long as you keep the sequence correct (i.e. as long as you click on the correct crystal 3 pulls ago). The bonus pull seems to vary. With tin (i.e. a base pull of 1 ore), then you get a bonus ore per run-length of your sequence. That means that a sequence of 2 will give 3 ore. A sequence of 3 will give 4 ore, etc. For copper and iron I've only ever got a bonus of 1 no matter the length of the sequence. Whereas for tin and silver you can get up to a pull of 7. The 7 sequence appears to be the limit.
Note that if you're just mining normally and a sequence comes up "naturally" (e.g. the same crystal is correct 3 pulls in a row), then on the third pull you'll get the sequence bonus.
Saturation, Colour
Some mines require you to determine which crystal has the most saturation, or the second-most saturation (e.g. silver). Some ask you to pick "the most blue". Sometimes it's not easy to tell which one this is (especially if you have colour blindness!). The most important thing to do is to turn off the "time-of-day" lighting, since it really makes things harder to differentiate. If you've done that and you still can't tell, then try using some magnifying software that shows you colours. For example, on the Mac(confirmed : works on windows), you can run "Pixie" (a developer toolkit application) that magnifies a portion of the screen and provides information about where the cursor is pointing. If you enable the Pixie preferences "Float window" and "Show colour values", then you can easily wave the mouse over the crystals to quickly see which crystal is correct. Note that "most blue" would be the highest "B" value in the R/G/B section, whereas "most saturated" would be the highest "S" value in the H/S/B section of the information.
