Guide to Mining

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Introduction to Mining

Mining is a job that is for the most part quiet and can be safer than going out into the wilds, however the caves below have their own dangers to be aware of and it can be even harder for rescue teams to find you should you fall victim to tooth or claw. It is however incredibly important for several parts of the colony from Soteria and their research to the Guild and their construction - or simply so Lonestar can make even more money by selling off the materials you bring back. This guide will cover the basics of what you have access to and how things work to give you the best chance down there. Thankfully, due to its stable atmosphere and constant air supply, no internals is needed to work in the area.

The Mining Dock, containing the elevator down to the Mining Outpost, is located just below the Chief Executive Officer office.

The Equipment

Most equipment can be found in lockers in the mining dock itself or in the outpost to the west side just above the outpost's medical bay. Along with specific mining equipment there are racks with additional shotguns and ammo for dealing with hostile mobs as well as bear traps that are important to have with you when dealing with the cave's apex predator. The following is a complete list of mining equipment:

• Mining Voidsuit and Helmet: Though not necessary, provides an excellent defense against the creatures of the mines with its high melee resistance.
• Meson Scanners: Lets you see where the ore is through the rock.
• Mining Tools: Your most important pieces of kit for the job. Pickaxes are a little slower but require no fuel source, while drills are faster however require a consistent source of welding fuel to be used; which you choose is entirely up to you though it's good to have a normal pickaxe on your belt or in your bag just in case.
• Shovel: For gathering sand. You can stick this in your backpack or in your toolbelt. Sand can also be gathered by the large drills that can be set up.
• Flashlight: For seeing in the dark. Put one in your pocket.
• Ore Satchel: For carrying ore without using an ore box and fits best in your pocket; holds 25 ore at a time. Use in conjunction with an ore crate; hold the satchel and drag the crate. (Newbie tip: This does not work like a backpack. Hold it in your hand and click the ore with that hand to pick it up then simply click on the ore crate with the satchel.)
• Subsurface Ore Detector: Used for finding out what types of ore are nearby, so you can decide where best to set up the drill. Make sure you hold still while scanning, or you won't get any output.
• Ore Crate: Used for carrying huge amounts of ore. Use your satchel on the box to empty it into the box. To unload it, place the box in the unloading machine's input slot or right-click the box and choose the unload option. Drag this around with you. Can be loaded into a Ripley exosuit using a clamp.

Gear that will be very handy, but not included:

• Screwdriver: Needed to open the maintenance hatch on the drills. Also generally handy.
• Wrench: To secure the drill parts together. Both this and the screwdriver can be found in toolboxes in the outpost or tool storage south of the mining dock area in Lonestar itself.
• Ripley: These mechs allow you to mine much faster. A Ripley equipped with a drill and ore box loaded up (using the Hydraulic Clamp) mines three tiles at a time and automatically picks up any ore gained from these tiles. Upgrading the mech with a diamond drill will let you drill through reinforced walls, but will not actually speed up the mining time.

Old-school Mining

Before you embark on a mining adventure, it is highly advised that you obtain a proper mining voidsuit, meson goggles, an ore satchel and a mining pick. All you need to do is walk around and thanks to the goggles you will be able to see any ore within the walls. Click on the wall with the pick or drill in your hand to start digging! When you have a gathering of ore beside you, click on the ore to pick it up into the satchel and once full, stash the ores in a ore box by clicking on it with the satchel in your hand. If you are holding a pick in your inactive hand you can bump into the rock wall to start mining it, and you can mine as many as three tiles at a time.

Mining Tools

Your major source for tools, other than your drill, will be Soteria's Research & Development. The better you keep them supplied, the better their research goes and the more likely it is they'll be able to make you high-level tools and special, self-recharging batteries called atomcells that can remove the need to charge your mesons or large mining drills.

From slowest to fastest:

• Pickaxe: The most basic though reliable form of mining. Available in your locker along with the base level drill it is the only tool that doesn't require any power to use.
• Drill: Your basic drill. Slow, but you can get it right away.
• Advanced mining drill: Faster advanced level of mining drill that you can get from Soteria's science department.
• Sonic Jackhammer: Can be made by Soteria's science department and is twice as fast as the basic drill.
• Borg drill: The drill you start off with if you're a mining cyborg. It's faster than the basic pickaxe / drill but not as fast as a diamond drill.
• Diamond Drill: The fastest digging tool out there. Soteria's research department can make you one, but it takes diamond and high-level research.

Ripley APLU 101

If Soteria's robotics department is generous or willing to sell you a Ripley APLU for mining this can be a massive help. The machine is typically outfitted with a drill and a hydraulic clamp at minimum, though its possible for you to haggle for some kind of weapon to help you against the threats in the mines. The Ripley offers external lighting, life support (that is largely useless in this case), and various user-control security measures. To access the APLU's menu, click on the "Exosuit Interface" tab followed by "View Stats." To select your active tool, click on the name under "Equipment." An underline means it is not active. To load a box into the Ripley, click on the box while facing it with your hydraulic clamp active and to mine, walk into the rock wall with your drill active.

Drill 101

For most drill functions, you will need a wrench and a screwdriver and the drill is found in three parts - A mining drill head and two mining drill braces. In order to set the drill up, drag all three pieces to the drill site. The mining outpost has two drills available for use. To set up the drill, place the two braces beside the drill head, and if necessary turn them so the arms face the drill where you can then click on the braces with a wrench in your hand to secure them in place and click on the drill itself with an open hand to turn it on.

If the drill stops and the usual yellow light changes to red it means one of three things:

• The drill is unpowered: As the drill is powered by a power cell, the occasional change is required. To change, click on the drill head with a screwdriver in your hand before clicking on the drill with an open hand to remove the cell - it will appear on the ground at your feet. You can find bigger cells around the colony or buy them from others.
• The drill is full: The 'container' for the drill has limited capacity. To empty it, place an ore box beside it then click "Unload Drill" under the "Objects" tab. You can also empty it via right-clicking the drill itself then clicking "Unload".
• Resourced depleted: Each tile you mine from has a limited amount of resources available. In this case, you simply need to find another suitable tile to set the drill up on before letting it continue on its way.

Furnace 101

There are two points where the furnace can be loaded - One is on the left side of the furnace, immediately beside the belt lever inside the outpost while the other is the conveyor belt found on the right side just outside the outpost. Both will unload the ore creates automatically, the furnace being set up and operated from inside the station. You can produce multiple products at once, but smelting or compressing something that has no corresponding product will produce useless slag.

The Ores

Wall	Raw Ore	Smelted	Compressed	Coin	Door	Name	Uses
			None	None		Hematite	For use in steelmaking.
				None		Sand	For making glass, which has a plethora of station applications.
			None			Native gold	For making various electronics.
			None			Native silver	Making mechs and for material research.
		None				Plasma	A handy emergency fuel source and chemical additive when processed.
		None				Diamond	For making mech parts, among other industrial uses.
			None			Pitchblende	For various radioactive tasks.
			None	None	None	Carbon	For use in steelmaking and plastics.
			Osmium	None	None	Platinum	For making osmium or selling via cargo.
None		Tritium		None	None	Hydrogen	For making tritium fuel or metallic hydrogen for R&D.

The Alloys

Raw Ores	Product	Name	Uses
		Steel	For use in all kinds of tasks around the station.
		Plasteel	An alloy of hematite, carbon and plasma, for reinforced tables and reinforced walls, as well as mechs. Has a 2/3 chance of producing steel instead of plasteel.
		Durasteel	Generally used for robotics and mechs.
----------		Borosilicate glass	Used in engineering, for high strength windows in locations such as the super matter engine.