Mine\Crystal Pair Identification

Overview

Platinum and Gold mines rely on determining which crystals are linked to other crystals in order to properly mine their ores. The method described below will allow you to quickly determine which crystals are linked to which other ones.

Rules

First the rules of how the crystal links work:

• Each crystal only links to one other crystal
• No crystal is linked to more than one time
• Crystals may or may not link to themselves instead of another crystals

Crystal Link Identification for Platinum Mines

For platinum mines, the crystal that you will need to know the link for is determined by whichever crystal on the mine is different in color from the rest. At times the colors may be extremely close in color so that telling them apart is very difficult. For the most part though seeing the odd crystal isn't very hard.

First of all you will need to determine a numbering scheme for the crystal on the mine. I usually number the crystals starting on the top row going left to right as 1, 2 and 3 then on the bottom row from left to right as 4, 5, 6 and 7.

Before starting make yourself a small chart on a peice of scratch paper like this:

1 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

The first column is the number of the crystal you will be looking at each time you pull and the row of numbers after it are the crystals available to be possible links. As you determine that a particular crystal is not a valid link you will cross it off the list. If you determine that a particular crystal IS a valid link you will circle it and cross that crystal off as possible links for the other crystals. Don't be worried if this doesn't make immediate sense as I will give detailed examples below to illustrate the principle.

Let's say, for example, that on the mine the crystal that is the odd crystal is crystal #3. To determine which crystal is linked to #3 we will work crystal #1. If we work crystal #1 and get some ore then this is in fact the crystal that is linked to crystal #3. We would update our chart as follows:

1 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7
3 - o x x x x x x
4 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7

What this means is that anytime the current odd crystal is crystal #3 we would work crystal #1 which is it's linked crystal. Also no other crystal will be linked to crystal #1 so the #1 crystal is x'd out for all of those crystals. When it comes to the next crystal to determine the link for you don't need to try #1 as it has been taken.

If in our example above crystal #3 was the odd crystal and we had tried to determine its linked crystal and tried to work crystal #1 but gotten a message that no ore was mined our chart would be updated like this.

1 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 - 2 2 3 4 5 6 7
3 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

This indicates that in the future when crystal #3 comes up odd we should try any crystal other than #1 in order to find which is the correct linked crystal.

Let's go real quick through finding out the linked crystal pairs for a mine from start to finish. Crystal #5 is the odd crystal so lets start by working crystal #1. No ore is mined. Our chart looks like this.

1 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
2 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
3 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 - x 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
7 - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Now crystal #2 is showing as odd, so we work crystal #3. This time we got lucky and got some ore mined. Lets update our chart.

1 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
4 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
5 - x 2 x 4 5 6 7
6 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
7 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7

Next, crystal #7 is odd. We will work crystal #2. No ore again. The chart will look like this.

1 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
4 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
5 - x 2 x 4 5 6 7
6 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
7 - 1 x x 4 5 6 7

Crystal #4 is odd. Lets try crystal #5. No ore.

1 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
4 - 1 2 x 4 x 6 7
5 - x 2 x 4 5 6 7
6 - 1 2 x 4 5 6 7
7 - 1 x x 4 5 6 7

Crystal #3 is odd. Try crystal #5 again. Yay we got some ore mined.

1 - 1 2 x 4 x 6 7
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - 1 2 x 4 x 6 7
5 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
6 - 1 2 x 4 x 6 7
7 - 1 x x 4 x 6 7

Okay, now crystal #5 is odd again. We know its pair is not #1, #3 or #5 so lets try #2. Aww too bad. No ore mined.<br

1 - 1 2 x 4 x 6 7
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - 1 2 x 4 x 6 7
5 - x x x 4 x 6 7
6 - 1 2 x 4 x 6 7
7 - 1 x x 4 x 6 7

Now, crystal #1 is odd. Its not crystal #3 or #5. Lets just try working crystal #1. Hey we got some ore. This crystals linked pair is itself.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
5 - x x x 4 x 6 7
6 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
7 - x x x 4 x 6 7

Crystal #3 comes up odd again and we know its pair is #5 so we work #5 and get some ore. Then crystal #7 comes up odd. The only choices we have that aren't x'd out are crystals #4, #6 and #7. Let try working #4. No ore mined.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
5 - x x x 4 x 6 7
6 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
7 - x x x x x 6 7

Crystal #5 comes up odd. Lets try working crystal #7. No ore mined.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
5 - x x x 4 x 6 x
6 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
7 - x x x x x 6 7

Now crystal #6 is odd. Work crystal #7 again. No ore mined.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x 2 x 4 x 6 7
5 - x x x 4 x 6 x
6 - x 2 x 4 x 6 x
7 - x x x x x 6 7

We get crystal #6 odd again. We know its not crystal #1, #3, #5 or #7. Lets try #6 itself to work. Yay we mined some ore.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x 2 x 4 x x 7
5 - x x x 4 x x x
6 - x x x x x o x
7 - x x x x x x 7

Now, we also know that crystal #7's linked pair is #7 itself too since we've crossed out every other possibility. So we can update the chart some more.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x 2 x 4 x x x
5 - x x x 4 x x x
6 - x x x x x o x
7 - x x x x x x o

We also see that the only choice for crystal #5's pair is #4 so we can fix the chart for that also.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x 2 x x x x x
5 - x x x o x x x
6 - x x x x x o x
7 - x x x x x x o

That leaves crystal #4's linked pair as crystal #2.

1 - o x x x x x x
2 - x x o x x x x
3 - x x x x o x x
4 - x o x x x x x
5 - x x x o x x x
6 - x x x x x o x
7 - x x x x x x o

Congratulations, we've determined all the linked pairs in a short time.

Crystal #1 is linked to #1
Crystal #2 is linked to #3
Crystal #3 is linked to #5
Crystal #4 is linked to #2
Crystal #5 is linked to #4
Crystal #6 is linked to #6
Crystal #7 is linked to #7

Note, some crystals are linked to themselves and no crystal is linked to more than one time.

Your experience finding the linked pairs will probably take a little longer than this but not much longer. If you come across a set of colors that you cant distinguish from each other just try one and ignore the results and try again on the next set of crystals.

Crystal Link Identification for Gold Mines

Identification of crystal pairs for gold mines work the same way as with platinum mines, with one exception. First, make sure you understand how platinum mines work. Then, you can move on to gold mines.

When you work a gold mine, rather than choosing the odd color you always choose the color that is the most yellowish. At times, this is more light greenish than yellow and oftentimes even light gray rather than yellow or green at all.

Nevertheless gold mines go back and forth from working the yellowish crystal one pull to the yellowish crystal's linked pair the next time, then repeat.

So, when you try to identify the linked pairs make sure you know whether the current pull on the mine is the time you pull the yellowish crystal or the linked pair.