Mining efficiency question

[POCKET951]

what is the most efficient  min/max way to mine ore/resources in the game at the moment?

 

I have stuck by and always used a fully kitted out augur but I do see people use Q6 Steel pickaxes with all the modslots full

is it preference or is one actually better/faster than the other? I have never really tinkered with the pickaxe

 

 

[theFlu]

Could be called preference for most cases; the auger seems the faster of the two, but there's plenty of complicating factors:

- want to save 4 skill points from SexRex?

- have an unlimited supply of coffee?

- got a good source of fuel?

- got the mining books series bonus? (unless they normalized it by now)

- how much does your OCD command your mines be tidy (auger tends to favor a messy look as you're hitting everything in sight)

- do you hate the sounds

Edited February 6, 2022 by theFlu (see edit history)

[POCKET951]

24 minutes ago, theFlu said:

Could be called preference for most cases; the auger seems the faster of the two, but there's plenty of complicating factors:

- want to save 4 skill points from SexRex?

- have an unlimited supply of coffee?

- got a good source of fuel?

- got the mining books series bonus? (unless they normalized it by now)

- how much does your OCD command your mines be tidy (auger tends to favor a messy look as you're hitting everything in sight)

- do you hate the sounds

 

well I have 4 points, coffee and rock busters arent an issue, so I will always have those and I got more fuel than I will ever need.
also have all 7 art of mining boooks

I don't care about tidiness or the augur sounds though.

I am more concerned about the pure min/max yield of resources per minute assuming you have EVERYTHING related to mining. 

 

[theFlu]

That sounds like a pretty clear win for the auger IMO.

 

The next time you mine you can also just compare your options. Either do a minute (look at your coffee timer, or a game-hour or something)), or a number of blocks. Prep the area by removing the gravel and other unwanted blocks, so you can just straight up compare results.

[Sjustus548]

You could do two tests and see if it is faster to get a stack of 6000 iron with both a maxed out auger and a maxed out steel pick.  With maxed out mining books it will probably come down to RNG as to which gives you the one shot mining more often, which since the auger hits so much faster it will probably come out on top.

[Vaeliorin]

4 hours ago, theFlu said:

- how much does your OCD command your mines be tidy (auger tends to favor a messy look as you're hitting everything in sight)

This is why I never use the auger.  It drives me crazy if I accidentally hit a block I didn't mean to...I'm still annoyed we can't "repair" resource blocks like iron/lead/etc.

[POCKET951]

13 minutes ago, Sjustus548 said:

You could do two tests and see if it is faster to get a stack of 6000 iron with both a maxed out auger and a maxed out steel pick.  With maxed out mining books it will probably come down to RNG as to which gives you the one shot mining more often, which since the auger hits so much faster it will probably come out on top.

I like the idea, but there is RNG, I think for a control you could find a patch of even ground, dig  out the dirt to the stone, and then time a dig down to bedrock through nothing but stone.

 

[theFlu]

11 minutes ago, POCKET951 said:

then time a dig down to bedrock through nothing but stone.

That will give you good data for stone; if that's your main concern then it's perfectly fine. For ores you will have to include the RNG factor of the book set, the way it was it was old implementation gave a massive benefit for the auger - 20% chance per hit, the auger hits something like 10x as often as the pick. Unless it's been normalized in A20 ofc.

 

EDIT: something readable instead maybe

Edited February 7, 2022 by theFlu (see edit history)

[Vaeliorin]

Actually, the Art of Mining books appear to count for stone now as well...at least it's the only explanation I can come up with for why I randomly 1 shot stone with my steel pick.

[theFlu]

2 minutes ago, Vaeliorin said:

Actually, the Art of Mining books appear to count for stone now as well

*blink* *blink*

*blank stare*

...

well, that took an unexpected turn

[Reth]

I use auger for strip mining, as it is faster than a steel pickaxe. There is one catch though - you can only mine for so long before the screamers start showing up non-stop and you end up fighting more than mining. Sound can be quite annoying, too, but it's manageable.

[Fenris]

Not sure about A20 (just started up again), but in A19 using a T6 Steel Pick was much much faster than a max tiered auger. Can't remember how many mining books I had. I seem to remember using blackstrap coffee but not the rock breakers since rocks and other resources would be mined up with 2 swings, so a bit more from the candy was just wasted. This was with miner 69er, motherlode, and Trex maxed out.

 

Switching back and forth several times to try them both out showed the pick was over twice as fast (if not faster tbh).

[theFlu]

On 2/7/2022 at 7:58 PM, Vaeliorin said:

Actually, the Art of Mining books appear to count for stone now as well...at least it's the only explanation I can come up with for why I randomly 1 shot stone with my steel pick.

I finally had the set completed and had time to do some mining lately; I'm not seeing this in my game. At least not with an auger, INT spec so I don't bother with the pick. Ores get one-shot as they should, stone / gravel don't seem to, as per earlier.

[Vaeliorin]

49 minutes ago, theFlu said:

I finally had the set completed and had time to do some mining lately; I'm not seeing this in my game. At least not with an auger, INT spec so I don't bother with the pick. Ores get one-shot as they should, stone / gravel don't seem to, as per earlier.

Huh...I was playing with some mods, but nothing that should have effected that.  Maybe one of them added that without mentioning it.

[Musicianized]

It takes me about 3 minutes to have a stack of 6000 ore.. with a lvl1 auger lol. 

[BFT2020]

2 hours ago, Vaeliorin said:

Huh...I was playing with some mods, but nothing that should have effected that.  Maybe one of them added that without mentioning it.

I be willing to do a gentlemen's wager that it was a mod that added that capability

 

From the 20.1 files

 

    <perk name="perkArtOfMiningComplete" parent="skillArtOfMining" max_level="1" base_skill_point_cost="0" desc_key="perkArtOfMiningCompleteDesc" long_desc_key="perkArtOfMiningCompleteLongDesc">
        <effect_group>
            <passive_effect name="BlockDamage" operation="base_add" level="1" value="10000" tags="ore">
            </passive_effect>
        </effect_group>
    </perk>

 

Note the tag "ore".

 

Comparing terrStone block with terrIron block.  The Iron ore block has the tag ore while the stone block doesn't.

Spoiler

<block name="terrStone">
    <property name="Material" value="Mstone"/>
    <property name="NoScrapping" value="true"/>
    <property name="Shape" value="Terrain"/>
    <property name="Mesh" value="terrain"/>
    <property name="Texture" value="1"/>
    <property name="TerrainIndex" value="1"/>
    <property name="ImposterExclude" value="true"/>
    <property name="LPHardnessScale" value="2"/>
    <property name="Weight" value="125"/>
    <property name="Map.Color" value="100,100,100"/>
    <property class="RepairItems">
        <property name="resourceCobblestones" value="6"/>
    </property>
    <!-- <property name="HarvestOverdamage" value="true"/>  default=false; that was a super terrible idea. If a tool does 500 damage to a 100 HP block you get 5x the assigned harvest amount.  -->
    <drop event="Harvest" name="resourceRockSmall" count="55" tag="oreWoodHarvest"/>
    <!-- <drop event="Harvest" name="resourceScrapIron" count="10" tag="oreWoodHarvest"/> -->
    <drop event="Destroy" count="0"/>
    <drop event="Fall" name="resourceRockSmall" count="44" prob="0.23" stick_chance="0"/>
    <!-- <drop event="Fall" name="resourceScrapIron" count="20" prob="0.23" stick_chance="0"/> -->
    <drop event="Fall" name="terrDestroyedStone" count="1" prob="0.1" stick_chance="0.5"/>
    <!-- Better to have fewer stacks with higher numbers for performance reasons. -->
    <!-- With a stick chance fallen resources just get buried and fall off the earth. -->
    <!-- Could maybe do "0.1" stick but it would quickly make the whole endeavor unfun. -->
    <property name="CanMobsSpawnOn" value="true"/> <!-- BM and horde AI can ONLY spawn on these blocks, the minimum distance to any player is 30m -->
    <property name="EconomicValue" value="5"/>
    <property name="EconomicBundleSize" value="1"/>
    <property name="SellableToTrader" value="false"/>
    <property name="FilterTags" value="MC_outdoor,SC_terrain"/>
    <property name="SortOrder1" value="d0j0"/>
    <property name="SortOrder2" value="0050"/>
    <property name="DisplayType" value="blockTerrain"/>
</block>

 

<block name="terrOreIron">
    <property name="Material" value="MoreMetal"/>
    <property name="Tags" value="ore,deepOre"/>
    <property name="Shape" value="Terrain"/>
    <property name="Mesh" value="terrain"/>
    <property name="Map.Color" value="120,70,0"/>
    <property name="Texture" value="33"/>
    <property name="ImposterExclude" value="true"/>
    <drop event="Harvest" name="resourceScrapIron" count="105" tag="oreWoodHarvest"/>
    <drop event="Harvest" name="resourceRockSmall" count="14" tag="oreWoodHarvest"/>
    <drop event="Destroy" count="0"/>
    <drop event="Fall" name="resourceScrapIron" count="150" prob="0.4" stick_chance="0"/>
    <property name="CanMobsSpawnOn" value="true"/>
    <property name="FilterTags" value="MC_outdoor,SC_terrain"/>
    <property name="SortOrder1" value="d0l0"/>
    <property name="SortOrder2" value="0050"/>
    <property name="DisplayType" value="blockTerrain"/>
    <drop event="Harvest" name="resourceRawDiamond" prob=".005" count="1" tag="artOfMiningLuckyStrikeHarvest"/>
    <drop event="Harvest" name="resourceSilverNugget" prob=".01" count="1" tag="artOfMiningLuckyStrikeHarvest"/>
    <drop event="Harvest" name="resourceGoldNugget" prob=".007" count="1" tag="artOfMiningLuckyStrikeHarvest"/>
    <property name="DescriptionKey" value="terrainBlockGroupDesc"/>
</block>

 

[POCKET951]

On 2/7/2022 at 1:42 PM, Fenris said:

Not sure about A20 (just started up again), but in A19 using a T6 Steel Pick was much much faster than a max tiered auger. Can't remember how many mining books I had. I seem to remember using blackstrap coffee but not the rock breakers since rocks and other resources would be mined up with 2 swings, so a bit more from the candy was just wasted. This was with miner 69er, motherlode, and Trex maxed out.

 

Switching back and forth several times to try them both out showed the pick was over twice as fast (if not faster tbh).

4


well Ive done some digging to bed rock races with this augur and this pickaxe, with maxed out relative perks and Candy+blackstrap coffee and all the art of mining books

 

unfortunately in all my digs they weren't pure stone, I would run into some random ore

But generally, it took me 50 seconds to hit bedrock with the augur
and it took me a 80+ seconds to hit bedrock with the pickaxe.

did another test where I went through pure stone to bedrock, no coffee or candy
Augur: 60 ish seconds
Steel pickaxe: 88 seconds

Paired with the fact that the augur hits much faster for one shotting ore I have concluded that the Augur is indeed more efficient than the steel pickaxe.

unless there are any min/max buffs I am missing for pick axe miners, The Augur is the most efficient method to acquire ore/stone in the game

anyone here if they wish to do there own test or research are more than welcome to share there data/opinions

@theFlu if you have any ideas for any other kinds of test or performance benchmark methods, you are welcome to suggest them. I feel like my bedrock race is fairly conclusive though

even with all the buffs and candy it still takes 3 hits of the pickaxe to destroy ore unless I combo power attacks and light attacks for 2 hits

Edited February 18, 2022 by POCKET951
more data (see edit history)

[theFlu]

48 minutes ago, POCKET951 said:

@theFlu if you have any ideas for any other kinds of test or performance benchmark methods, you are welcome to suggest them. I feel like my bedrock race is fairly conclusive though

Well, it sounds like you have your answer, and a good comparison for anyone playing a long game

 

Technically you should still test against ores in some ways, but I'd predict the auger will gain even more ground there due to the book set bonus and smaller hits meaning less wasted damage - although actual mining with the auger requires more attention not to hit at things you don't want, those could waste plenty of time when not 100% on the ball.

 

But even if in actual mining the pick would get close to even, the time spent optimizing is also time lost from actual mining, so I wouldn't really continue beyond your test - for other than curiosity.

[Fenris]

2 hours ago, POCKET951 said:

4


well Ive done some digging to bed rock races with this augur and this pickaxe, with maxed out relative perks and Candy+blackstrap coffee and all the art of mining books

 

unfortunately in all my digs they weren't pure stone, I would run into some random ore

But generally, it took me 50 seconds to hit bedrock with the augur
and it took me a 80+ seconds to hit bedrock with the pickaxe.

did another test where I went through pure stone to bedrock, no coffee or candy
Augur: 60 ish seconds
Steel pickaxe: 88 seconds

Paired with the fact that the augur hits much faster for one shotting ore I have concluded that the Augur is indeed more efficient than the steel pickaxe.

unless there are any min/max buffs I am missing for pick axe miners, The Augur is the most efficient method to acquire ore/stone in the game

anyone here if they wish to do there own test or research are more than welcome to share there data/opinions

@theFlu if you have any ideas for any other kinds of test or performance benchmark methods, you are welcome to suggest them. I feel like my bedrock race is fairly conclusive though

even with all the buffs and candy it still takes 3 hits of the pickaxe to destroy ore unless I combo power attacks and light attacks for 2 hits

Was awhile ago when I tried both, I could have easily misremembered some things. I do distinctly remember needing tons of stone for a huge (for me) base I was building out of concrete. So I went around to all the huge boulders sitting on top of the ground, climbed up to the top and mined them away. I tried several of each, first with the auger, then with the steel pick. The pick was much faster for breaking down the boulders, so I shelved the auger and never used it again. It is also possible I didn't have all the mining books. I can see how having a 20% chance to one shot any ore would benefit the auger more that the pick. That, and stone has 500 health and ore has 600, so I probably remembered the events incorrectly.

 

Did you mine the dirt as well with the pick? Seems like that would really slow down your progress even with the Grave Digger mod installed. Even so, looks like I'll be trying out the auger again on my Strength/Fortitude character again when I get back to him. Even "if" the pick would be faster on some things (which I now doubt after seeing your results), you almost never mine one type of terrain when digging for ore since a lot of dirt and sand need to be removed. So yeah, gonna take another look at the auger 😁

[POCKET951]

11 minutes ago, Fenris said:

Was awhile ago when I tried both, I could have easily misremembered some things. I do distinctly remember needing tons of stone for a huge (for me) base I was building out of concrete. So I went around to all the huge boulders sitting on top of the ground, climbed up to the top and mined them away. I tried several of each, first with the auger, then with the steel pick. The pick was much faster for breaking down the boulders, so I shelved the auger and never used it again. It is also possible I didn't have all the mining books. I can see how having a 20% chance to one shot any ore would benefit the auger more that the pick. That, and stone has 500 health and ore has 600, so I probably remembered the events incorrectly.

 

Did you mine the dirt as well with the pick? Seems like that would really slow down your progress even with the Grave Digger mod installed. Even so, looks like I'll be trying out the auger again on my Strength/Fortitude character again when I get back to him. Even "if" the pick would be faster on some things (which I now doubt after seeing your results), you almost never mine one type of terrain when digging for ore since a lot of dirt and sand need to be removed. So yeah, gonna take another look at the auger 😁

 I precleared all the dirt with a shovel. the pickaxe takes 3 hits to eat through dirt and the augur chews through it way faster

[BarryTGash]

On 2/17/2022 at 5:24 PM, BFT2020 said:

HarvestOverdamage

 

A little off topic, but this looks interesting - but I wish it worked along the lines of the next block receives the excess damage. An entire swing with a tool being nullified by a few blades of grass really grinds my gears  - of course, an alternative tool for 'trimming the verge'  without the setting would be necessary (or just fists).

[OneManStanding]

It depends. The game was giving me level 1 and 2 augers, but I just thought my level 4 steel pickaxe was just better with an ergonomic grip and a diamond tip mod. I scrapped them and built my own once I got the schematic, now I have a level 4 auger with a bigger fuel tank and a diamond tip mod. The auger is faster, but also affects the heatmap more - so you will get screamers if you stick at it for more than I short instance, sometimes two or even three at a time if you overdo it.

 

Previously I would use my auger as a lockpick but A20 has given me a steady supply of actual lockpicks, so I don't need to.

[canadianbluebeer]

For dirt, use the SHOVEL!   A Q6 will one shot it.  (Q5 pick will one shot sand, so dont' have to switch there when mining)

 

I finally got a Q5 auger, but the Q3 was slower than the pick (and less annoying)

 

For locks, I'll use the pick.  11 hits on a wall safe.  22 for a gunsafe.  for the treasure (7500) and large poi reward chest (10k)  I'll use a pick and candy.

 

 

[Jinx_DG]

On 2/18/2022 at 5:24 PM, POCKET951 said:

4


 

Do you happen to know the hp of each ore type/stone? The wannabe math wiz in me thinks there could be a calculation that would solve this. When doing your tests there are "player" interactions that could effect the test outcome in either + or - ways resulting in a faulty conclusion. 

 

With that said, I do have a genuine curiosity question for you please. Why does knowing the answer that important to you? Is it just knowing? or Is doing the most "efficient" way a driving factor to how/why you play? These questions are not snarky nor a belittlement to why you want to know. I personally don't feel nor understand the need to be efficient or maximize [insert whatever] to the max, but I can remember at one time earlier in my years wanting/doing so with a different game. Think spreadsheets...... On mobile.... for a mobile game. o.0  I just can't recall why. I have these same questions for those that constantly switch between nerdy and looting shades. I just don't get it. <shrugs> 

[8_Hussars]

A bit of an aside but on a related note if "Heat Map" is a consideration in mining efficiency.