Shaft Miner
| SUPPLY STAFF | |
  Shaft Miner |
Access: Mining Station, Mining Station EVA, Cargo Office, Mineral Storage Additional Access: Maintenance, Cargo Bay, MULEbot access, Quartermaster's Office Difficulty: Varies from piss easy to extremely hard Supervisors: Quartermaster and Head of Personnel Duties: Mine ores and process them into useful materials. Kill hostile wildlife. Go on an adventure in mysterious ruins. Guides: Lavaland, Megafauna, Auxiliary Base Construction Area Quote: Ooh! A spare vouc- oh. |
Welcome, Miner! You will break rocks, slay monsters, explore an ever-changing landscape, and die lost and alone in the depths of the caverns. Not on some sandy asteroid, but on what we call Lavaland!
Bare minimum requirements: Stay alive long enough to return your loot to the station.
Workin' In The Coal Mine
Being a miner can be somewhat tedious, but you serve a crucial role in the R&D food chain, and can accrue some decent personal rewards. Just follow a few guidelines to keep yourself from becoming dead in the mines.
Hazards, Summarized
Your workplace, Lavaland, has several hazards.
- Native creatures will attempt to kill you in all sorts of horrific ways.
- Ash storms will cut right through your clothes, dealing constant burn damage if you are outside. A heavy rain of dark particles outdoors indicates an ash storm.
- Lava - one step in and you'll be badly burned and on fire.
- Chasms - Anything that falls into one will disappear from this world. This includes miners - if you fall in one, you can't get cloned.
The risk of these hazards can be reduced by watching your step and being aware of your surroundings. Don't stand in lava, walk into into chasms, or wander during an ash storm. You'll get a red text warning in chat not long before an ash storm is about to begin, so long as you stay near a structure (or have a bluespace shelter capsule with you) then you'll be fine.
If you’re worried about not being robust enough to notice these hazards, there’s gear and strategies that can mitigate or nullify the danger.
- If you accidentally stand in lava, you can always “stop, drop, and roll” by spamming Resist on the HUD. (Make sure you aren't standing on lava when you do this, or you'll just get set on fire again!)
- Wearing a Wormhole Jaunter on your belt slot will cause it to teleport you if you fall into a chasm.
- Running away is (almost) always an option.
Mining’s Transferable Skills
Mining is an excellent job for familiarizing yourself with Hotkey mode (accessible via pressing TAB), as there are multiple opportunities to utilize them while out in the field. Robust miners often end up ALT+clicking a container in their backpack to access its contents, CTRL+clicking their ore box to drag it with them quickly, using SHIFT+E to move their Proto-Kinetic Accelerator in and out of their belt slot, and quickly shifting through intents with the 1-4 numbered keys, among others.
Working With Your Boss
Who is your boss? You answer to the Head of Personnel, much like the rest of Supply -- but usually, you'll just be talking to the Quartermaster or other Miners. He can watch cameras on the Lavaland Mining Base and has full access to Mining, so keep that in mind in case you want access to the Gulag.
The Objective
You're here to mine, so get digging! Once you've had enough, drag your ore box back to the station and head to cargo where the Ore Redemption Machine 
sits. Insert your ID and, drag the box to the yellow indicator on the floor next to the machine to automatically offload your ores and have them instantly processed into sheets. Then click "claim" after clicking on the ORM to retrieve mining points as a reward to your current work ID. Now print new gear from the supply techfab 
for free and/or use those mining points to buy new gear from the mining vendor 
, then take your crate and head back to Lavaland!
How to Do This
Gearing up
If you’re still unfamiliar with the HUD, it’s explained in the Starter Guide.
You’ll need to know how to view your worn equipment in order to equip new gear. If you can find it, it’s under the Backpack button on the bottom left. (Not the backpack you’re wearing, the other one.)
- Gear up! From the mining equipment locker, the very basics you will need are Meson Scanner goggles, a mining scanner, a bluespace shelter capsule, and your standard issue proto-kinetic accelerator.
- You should also use your voucher on a mining vending machine to select your choice of advanced mining tools.
- If you really want the extra defense, you can ask Security (or the QM) for a Security Jumpsuit to replace your current one. It gives you +10% melee resist to everywhere but your head.
- Before you go, you'll want an Ore Box, which can hold an infinite amount of minerals. You can’t pick up the box, so you’ll have to pull it behind you. (The “Pull” command can be found under the right-click menu.)
If you forgot something, don’t worry! The Mining Station has extra mining lockers and ore boxes for exactly this scenario. They even have mining vendors down there!
- Down on the Lavaland Mining Station, accessible via the Mining Shuttle, you’ll want to take an explorer suit, breath mask, and oxygen tank from Mining 'EVA'.
- While not necessary, it is highly recommended that you take a GPS device, set it to your name, and tell the QM and other miners about it. If you're lucky, they will drag your lifeless body back on-station and clone you.
Smashing rocks
- Find minerals. The further from other miners, the better ore.
- Make sure your scanner’s on! If it’s on, it’ll send out a pulse that lets you see deposits in the rock a few tiles away from you every once in a while.
- Pick up minerals by having your mining bag in either your belt slot or pockets when you walk over the minerals. If you're dragging an ore box behind you, you'll automatically deposit minerals into the box instead of your bag.
- Once you've had enough, return to the main station with your Ore box. Do not deliver ore to the processing plant on the Lavaland Mining Station, as that room will not give you mining points.
- Drag your ore box to the delivery tile (yellow arrow) next to the ORM . That'll automatically empty the box into it, earning you mining points.
- If there's minerals still in your mining satchel, you can take your mining satchel into your hand and click it while standing on the same delivery tile next to the ORM . This will empty the bag into the ORM as well. Ores inserted by hand into the ORM may give no points (due to a bug)! Already processed sheets inserted into the ORM do not give any points. Only raw ores count.
- Click on the ORM, then click "Claim." You no longer need to insert your ID, thank god.
- Go to a mining equipment vendor to buy advanced equipment with the points you've earned, or the Cargo techfab to craft advanced items that can be unlocked only by RnD.
- Before going back to Lavaland, you should probably use the science channel (:n) to gently remind RnD to upgrade the Ore Redemption Machine (ORM) so they get more of those minerals they’re always short on. (ex: “:n Hey, RnD. Have you upgraded the ORM yet? We just finished our first load.”)
Life beyond smashing rocks
Mining, of course, isn’t just a cycle of “mine ore, deliver ore, repeat.” There’s a bunch of extra stuff you can do while taking care of your job’s main responsibility.
- Butcher (harm intent, knife or PKA) dead Goliaths for their hide, and put it on your explorer’s suit to upgrade its damage resistances. This can be done up to 3 times, giving you +10% melee resist each time.
- Use your better gear to push deeper into Lavaland and explore some ruins and
die horriblyget amazing rewards. - Print Advanced Plasma Cutters and Mining Satchels of Holding at the cargo protolathe/techfab/whatever it’s called for even more efficient mining.
- If you feel VERY robust, look for Megafauna signals with your GPS and try to kill them for extremely valuable loot.
Voucher equipment
You start the shift with a complimentary mining voucher, worth one free item pack out of a selection of six. These packs are:
- Survival Capsule and Explorer's Webbing: The webbing (equipped on your belt slot) allows you to carry even more mining equipment - the extra shelter capsule is nice too. 900 pts value.
- Resonator Kit: Comes with a Resonator and brute treatment kit. While the resonator is underwhelming - especially if used incorrectly - the brute treatment kit can come in handy on Lavaland. 1350 pts.
- Mining Drone: A little companion that helps in storing ore and hunting wildlife. Very good at taking hits for you, but will never win a 1-on-1 fight with a Goliath. Becomes even more useful once you install the sentience upgrade module. Comes with a KA modkit that allows shots to pass through the drone, as well as an industrial welding tool and a welding mask for repairing your new friend. ~800 pts.
- Extraction and Rescue Kit: Contains a fulton extraction pack and a beacon, which allows you to send back home minerals, items and dead miners without having to use the ferry. Oh, and you get a stack of 30 marker beacons too. Not sure why they’re in there. 1700 pts.
- Crusher Kit: Contains a proto-kinetic crusher and a mini fire extinguisher. The melee-only crusher is hard to use without getting hit, and its ranged 'mark' cannot be used unless you equip it with both hands (click it while holding it in your selected hand), but it has a chance to make fauna drop powerful trophies. 800 pts.
- Mining Conscription Kit: A duffle bag full of basic items for one conscript - Proto-kinetic accelerator, survival knife, seclite, explorer's suit, mesons, mining scanner and satchel, gas mask, a supply radio key and a special card that adds mining access to IDs. Good for when you want to recruit
metafriendsfresh conscripts. 1000 pts.
For Great Profit!
Mining for the sake of it can only get you so far. By mining minerals and returning them to the station you'll accrue mining points; you can then use those points to buy better and more powerful equipment and supplies from an equipment vendor. You can then in turn use these items to push further into Lavaland to mine more minerals, fell stronger wildlife and find greater treasure. Consider it all an investment.
Later, you might find that you're running out of room to store your gear. Here's some ways to save space:
- Your PDA can hold your ID, but this makes your ID vulnerable to PDA bombing attacks from traitors.
- Your seclite and knife can be attached to your proto-kinetic accelerator by clicking on it with a seclite/knife in hand. Aside from saving space, it also lets you butcher corpses (on Harm intent) without having to take out your knife and helps you bash things harder!
- Your mining scanner and GPS are small enough to fit in your boots. Make sure they’re both on and put them in there just like how you attached your seclite and knife to your PKA - click on your boots with the item in hand. (To retrieve items, alt+click your boots.)
- Your explorer suit can also hold small items. To access its inventory, drag it from your inventory to your character. (You can access an extra slot by pulling up the hood via clicking the button at the top of your screen that has the explorer suit icon.)
Survival Medipens can help you in a pinch, for example, or a Wormhole Jaunter can help you escape what would have been a death trap. Or you could spend it all on booze and cigars. We won't judge.
Mining Gear
Default Gear
The following is a list of default mining equipment. You usually won't have to pay for this:
Essential Equipment
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
 Explorer Suit |
Provides some protection against heat and cold, and works as decent armor with no slowdown. It is not spaceproof, but can hold a full-sized oxygen tank or other mining gear in the suit storage slot. You can also reinforce it with goliath plates, up to 3 times, for +10% melee resist each. Can store up to 2 small(er) things - you open its inventory by dragging it to you. |
 Explorer Gas Mask and Oxygen Tank |
So you can have oxygen when mining. Oxygen tanks are available from the tank storage unit, located right around where you find your suit, and can be worn on your suit's storage slot. Running out of oxygen is unlikely with the full sized tank. |
 Meson Scanners |
Used for seeing walls and floors through anything - and ONLY walls & floors. Does not detect creatures, or objects (like ore boxes.) |
 Automatic Mining Scanner |
Activating the scanner will briefly flash any ore on screen - it works even inside a box, or your boots. Can be used on activated gibtonite to pause the explosion and allow it to be relocated. Of course, you need both hands to pick up gibtonite, but we can't always get what we want. (For best results, count 8 flashes of the ore before doing so. This includes the large flashes at the start.) |
 Global Positioning System, GPS |
The crew monitoring console back on the station won't catch your suit sensor signal from all the way down on the planet. Having one of these on you will help others track down your body if you happen to develop a case of the dead. Be sure to set your name on the GPS.
In addition, it can be used to locate other miners (who bothered to take it) as well as "lost" signals. Megafauna, necropolis tendrils, and certain ruins emit GPS signals. Be wary. |
 Proto-kinetic Accelerator |
A standard issue mining gun. The good part is that it packs a punch in a low pressure environment, is very good at digging small tunnels, and has infinite shots. The bad part is that it tickles in pressurized environments, has a cooldown after each shot, and has a base range of three steps. Good thing we have modkits. Can be dual wielded at the price of lower accuracy and speed. Some miners prefer mining with two of these.
|
 Survival Knife |
Use it for butchering the wildlife (hit while on harm intent). It's as strong against mobs as a pickaxe, but you can't mine with it. You can store it in your boots to save space, but remember to alt-click the boots to draw the knife back out. Alternatively, stick it on your KA. |
 Seclite |
A beefed up flashlight. Put this on your KA to free up inventory space. Gives off light even if it's in anywhere but your backpack. |
 Survival Medipen |
A cocktail of powerful healing chemicals. Contains Salbutamol, Leporazine, Epinephrine, Mining Nanites and Omnizine. Slowly heals all types of damage and stabilizes body temperature. You can overdose on these if you use more than one in quick succession. |
 Bluespace shelter capsule |
Activate this in your hand, and it'll near instantly produce a beautiful shelter. Ash storms cannot hurt you inside, but wildlife can break through the walls. The shelter contains a cupboard with a guitar (or dice) and some warm donk pockets. It also has a stasis bed which requires another person to use, and a nanomed on the wall above it with some gauze. Never leave home without one. |
 Ore Satchel |
For carrying ore without using a mining cart. Holds 50 ore nuggets. Empty it into boxes by using the satchel on them. Newbie tip: Put it in one of your pocket slots, then start dragging an ore box. Any ore you walk over will be transferred to the box. |
 Ore box |
Used for carrying huge amounts of ore. While a satchel can only hold 50 nuggets, this can hold an unlimited sum. You cannot carry it, but you can pull it with you. Use your satchel on the box to empty it into the box. Even better: Drag it behind you with an ore satchel in your pocket. Useful as cover from Watcher bolts. |
 Mining Voucher |
Found in your backpack, exchange this at the mining equipment locker for one of several selections which include various valuable and useful items. |
Miscellaneous Equipment
Items that, while not critical to take, can be situationally useful.
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
 Pickaxe |
Somewhat antiquated thanks to the prevalence of the proto-kinetic accelerator and resonator. Nevertheless it can be used to dig wide tunnels and robust things in melee combat as a backup if you lose your PKA. It can also fit inside a belt chest webbing. |
 Shovel |
Gathering sand. You can stick this in your backpack. A crappier version of a compact pickaxe. |
 Crowbar |
For removing KA mods, or just in case when there is a blackout. Spawns in your internals box. |
 Marker Beacon |
Stationary lights that you can color and toss everywhere to annoy the crew. Or light your way through Lavaland. That too. |
 Plant Bag |
Stores the plants you harvest on Lavaland. Botany will appreciate getting new plants. |
Advanced Gear
The following are more advanced items that need to be purchased from a mining equipment vendor:
Voucher/Reward Equipment
These items can either be acquired from a voucher, or can be bought with mining points.
Mining points are usually earned from delivering ore to the Ore Redemption Machine on the station.
|
|
The Free Golem ship has some extra goodies:
RnD Gear
The following is a list of advanced items that can be unlocked only by RnD, using a combination of minerals and high tech research.
(RnD, if you're reading this - we like the KA Mods, Plasma Cutters, Mining Satchels of Holding, and Night Vision Mesons the best.)
All of this gear is printed out at the supply department Techfab/Protolathe/whatever they’re calling it now. . It's the thing that isn't the one that crafts basic stuff, okay?
Lavaland Loot
Lavaland has more than just ores. There are several jobs that might want something from Lavaland. (note for future editors: add drops from
- You can get RnD discovery points by using a Discovery Scanner to scan the corpses of Lavaland mobs.
It’s recommended that you announce the mob being scanned in the science channel (:n) to notify other miners of what’s already been scanned (and also remind RnD that the miners are helping them, so they should probably research advanced mining already.)
- RnD also appreciates Lazarus Injectors, from the mining vendor.
- You can get Cargo the tribal equipment they need for bounties, since it's crafted with the loot of Lavaland mobs.
- You can get Botany samples of plants from the surface. They especially appreciate Strange Plants, which can contain any chemical.
- When they’re unlocked, remind medical that plasma cutters are great for removing limbs in emergencies.
The Ores
These are what you should be looking out for, generally try and get a good mix of the more exotic ore types. Iron ore is ok, but it sells for little and is highly abundant on the station already.
But if you see Bluespace Crystals, grab them. Diamonds are the only minerals of comparable rarity, and those drop from Watchers.
| Name | Wall | Raw Ore | Mining Point Reward Value | Processed Ore | Frequency | Uses |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iron | 
|
|
2 | 
|
Very Common | For just about everything. |
| Sand | 
|
|
2 |  |
Very Common | To obtain, use a shovel on an empty space. Used for making glass, which has a plethora of station applications. Use sand in your hand to make sandstone bricks. These can be used to make dirt which can be used to grow plants. |
| Copper | 
|
|
6 | 
|
Common | For making various machine parts. |
| Plasma | 
|
|
19 | 
|
Common | Ship sheets back to Centcom for bonus money to the cargo budget. |
| Silver | 
|
|
20 | 
|
Semi-Common | Making dosh, mechs, and researching Bluespace. |
| Gold | 
|
|
23 | 
|
Semi-Common | For making various electronics or pimping out Beepsky. |
| Titanium | 
|
|
38 | 
|
Uncommon | For high-tech mechs or R&D components. Also for building shuttle walls and floors. |
| Uranium | 
|
|
38 | 
|
Uncommon | For making you radioactive (notice: no joke, this shit is deadly as a wall or a door). Delicious (and useful) cocktails. |
| Diamond | 
|
|
63 | 
|
Rare | For making mech parts, among other industrial uses. |
| Bluespace Crystal | 
|
|
63 | 
|
Rare | These crystals can be used in various ways. Give them to science to increase bluespace science, hold onto them to use as a risk free jaunter, or throw them at people to make them teleport randomly (often into space.) |
| Bananium | 
|
|
75 | 
|
HONK! | A rare and unusual mineral found exclusively in clown-controlled space. Used only for the H.O.N.K. mech and other clownlike items. |
| Gibtonite | 
|
|
N/A | Uncommon | For . Gibtonite can be used to craft a Chemical Payload  High quality gibtonite can be obtained by whacking it and waiting for it to flash 8 times before using a mining scanner on it. If you wait for the 9th flash to finish it will explode in your face, you have a half-second window to deactivate it between each flash. |
Alloys
Some ores can be smelted to produce alloys.
|
|
Who Needs What
Miners don't have to deliver materials directly to departments -- they can if they want, or if those bastards are too lazy to leave their fortress of autism science -- but it never hurts to know what to aim for.
- Scientists need at least a bit of every ore. They'll also appreciate you sending them Lazarus Injectors, and scanning the wildlife for discovery points.
- Roboticists need diamond, uranium, silver and gold for building mech parts. Give them enough and you've indirectly helped out most of the departments on the station if the Roboticists are competent enough to build helpful stompy mechs (and robots) for everybody!
- The Quartermaster may want mineral sheets to trade them in for bonus supply credits, and/or materials from Lavaland mobs to craft into Bounty objectives. Plasma and Bones in particular are both common and valuable.
- The Chemist and Xenobiologist will all appreciate having extra plasma.
- A competent Virologist can use several sheets of uranium to create incredibly powerful healing viruses that let you heal out of crit in two seconds.
- A Clown with Bananium is a grateful and dangerous ally. Good luck finding it, though.
- The Bartender can use a few sheets of uranium, plasma, or iron to craft some of his rarest cocktails.
- Everybody could always use more iron, glass and plasteel, but especially Roboticists and Station Engineers.
At this point, you might be thinking, "Why should I help them?"
Well, while not everyone has a way to help you, most of the jobs that you supply can aid you in turn.
- Roboticists can give you immunity to the ash storm via completely replacing your body with augmentations, and/or allow you to cross lava without a boat in a lavaproof mech (the Firefighter).
- Scientists can unlock upgrades for your Kinetic Accelerator, a Plasma Cutter, a Mining Satchel of Holding, and, if you're lucky, Night Vision Meson Scanners or a Bag of Holding!
- A competent Virologist can use the Uranium you gave them to create incredibly powerful healing viruses that let you heal out of crit in two seconds.
- Station Engineers can create an Auxillary Base for you, summoned via the Auxillary Base Beacon found in the mining lockers.
- Toxins can give you grenades for use against Watchers due to their weakness to explosions. Alternatively, they can give you very useful mining bombs, clearing out screens of rock with one explosion.
- The Bartender can make useful drinks for you. An Icewing, a Toxins Special, or some Anti-Freeze can heat you up while fighting Watchers; Fetching Fizz will make it much easier to gather minerals after an explosion; the Bastion Bourbon (among other drinks) can heal you over time, etc. There's even a drink that'll allow you to breathe fire!
Chest Loot
Obtained from necropolis chests, which are dropped by necropolis tendrils. You must use a skeleton key, obtained at any mining vendor, to open these chests.
For the bosses' loot, see Megafauna.
Crusher trophies
Each time you kill a Lavaland enemy with the Proto-Kinetic Crusher, there is a chance that it drops a trophy. These can be attached to your Crusher for unique effects.
| Item | Enemy | ExpandDescription |
|---|
Craftables
Not only can you kill the local fauna, you can also cobble together items from their smashed remains. To craft these, you must open the crafting menu. (This is a major part of playing an Ashwalker.)
Listed here are the recipes that might be useful to miners. Note that Cargo may have bounties that require loot from Lavaland mobs, so it's a good idea to take most creature loot with you.
| Item | Description | ExpandMaterials |
|---|
The Wildlife
Lavaland is filled with a variety of bloodthirsty alien lifeforms populating the caverns, walking just fine over the ponds and puddles of lava. Fortunately, you can fight them whilst taking minimal damage, if you have the know-how.
(For instance: All of these enemies will attack shortly after they move. Afterwards, they will have a wide window to be attacked in.)
Useful items can be harvested from these creatures' corpses should you triumph; butcher them with a knife by attacking the corpse on Harm intent and the goods will spill out!
Shiny Mobs
Common Lavaland mobs now have rare mutations. Common mining mobs have a 1% chance on initialize to gain a new appearance and new stats - 5% for legions.
Xenoforms
Check out Lavaland/Space_Role for more information.
You're not always the only sentient being on the planet. Aside from the lovecraftian horrors living down there, you may also contend with |several groups or factions of beings on the planet. Some hostile, some friendly.
The following is a list of all known sentient groups found on the planet based on information sent from recon squads.
(As a ghost, if you wish to become one of these, left-click on an unoccupied spawner. ex: broken rejuvenation pods in hospitals, ash walker eggs in their nest, unclaimed Free Golem shells, etc.)
(If you can't find any, try the Spawners Menu, under the Ghost tab.)
Podmen
Recon Expedition #4
Threat Level: Minimal, Non Hostile
Note: A small group of podmen were observed living inside a sealed plant vault. They appear minimally armed and seem to avoid leaving their home.
Free Golems
Recon Expedition #9
Threat Level: Minimal, Non Hostile
Note: A unidentified flying object was seen crashing by Recon Team Charlie during expedition #8. Alpha team on expedition #9 located a group of golems, the golems appeared utterly uninterested in their surroundings all things considered.
(/tg/ has a cool page about these guys, but I can't link it here because the captcha required to post external links is broken.)
Ashwalkers
Recon Expedition #13
Threat Level: Medium, Hostile
Note: It appears a group of Basiliscus Lizretus, also known as Lizardmen, live on the planet. They are hostile to all intruders. These 'ashwalkers' only started to appear when mining operations started, they are agile but lightly armed, wielding primitively forged armor and spears. They appear to also have a hostile relationship with the wildlife, having been observed killing and dragging wildlife corpses away, as to why they need these corpses the recon team is unable to ascertain.
Syndicate Agents
Recon Expedition #45
Threat Level: Extreme, Hostile
Notes: It has come to attention that the syndicate (direct corporation/group unknown) has recently set up a large compound in Lavaland. This may explain where expedition #38-44 has gone. They are equipped with high end weaponry and has been stated that trace bits of gunpowder has been found around the lava moat that the base is stationed in, suggesting that this base may be wired to self-destruct. We also detected radio waves coming and going from the compound. If found, turn back and report to your superiors immediately.
Secrets of Lavaland
While on Lavaland, you may come upon artificial structures. They can have items ranging from magical artifacts, to other lifeforms, to alien facehuggers. If you are at all unsure, always let your mining buddies know using :u before going in: some ruins can be very dangerous.
Tips
- General Tips
- If you're new to the job, take a GPS and “check in” on Supply comms (:u) every ash storm. This ensures that, when you meet a terrible (and non-Chasm) fate, the other miners will probably notice and take steps to get you revived. You can also try sticking close to a more experienced miner, but that means you’ll both get less mining points.
- The cacti down on the surface slowly heal minor wounds.
- You can view the contents of a mining satchel by alt-clicking it. This works on other containers too, like backpacks and boxes.
- Make sure to familiarize yourself with other useful Keyboard Shortcuts. Middle mouse click swaps your selected hand, ctrl-click pulls an object/person you're standing next to, the DELETE key makes you stop pulling that object/person, etc.
- Clicking on a space with an empty hand while pulling something will attempt to move that object to the targeted space.
- You can slip up to 2 small objects - for instance, your Mining Scanner and GPS - into your boots. Alt-click to remove them.
- Your explorer's suit can store up to 2 small objects as well. To access this inventory, drag it to your character.
- You can put your ID into your PDA, freeing up your belt slot to hold your Seclite, or the Proto-Kinetic Accelerator it's attached to.
- At the start of the shift, ask Science for a Discovery Scanner. As long as you can see them, you can scan Lavaland enemies (dead or alive) for discovery points - Watchers and Goliaths give 2,000, Goldgrubs 1,000, and Megafauna give a whopping 10,000 discovery points when scanned. However, the real benefit is that it reminds science that Mining exists. As a result, hopefully they'll remember that Mining's helping them out and research stuff that benefits mining in turn. Every little bit helps - especially when they can simply refuse to research Advanced Mining Technology.
- As an extension of the previous tip: Science also appreciates you gifting them a Lazarus Injector, as they are extremely useful to them.
- Minebot Tips:
- Minebots are great at distracting monsters. Just walk near and bash the distracted target with your weapon of choice. They can take quite a beating, though goliaths can take them down pretty quickly if you're not quick enough. Afterwards, as long as you're not in a fight, you can repair it with a welding tool.
- Minebots collect all the crap that gibtonite explosions leave, saving you a bunch of trouble.
- On the station, a sentient mining drone dragging a bar of soap is surprisingly robust against most enemies - even changelings. You'll have to give it an AI module first, though. Their melee saw is very robust, and works just as well as on the station as it does on Lavaland. Furthermore, when in space, the proto-kinetic accelerator that they are equipped with is also very robust.
- Proto-Kinetic Accelerator Tips:
- The Proto-kinetic Accelerator can destroy electrified grilles without needing a pair of insulated gloves.
- The Proto-kinetic Accelerator will obliterate a space carp in one hit while in space.
- The Proto-kinetic Accelerator can be used as an infinite tool to navigate when there’s no gravity. Every time you fire, it'll throw you in the opposite direction.
- Equipment tips:
- Mining suit upgrade : Goliath plates add +10% melee resist each time when applied to a suit. The plates will stack until they reach 30%, which may help you live in case a goliath grabs you.
- Security Jumpsuit : Can be worn under your mining suit. Gives a +10% melee resist to everywhere but your head. If you're not feeling confident, ask the QM or HoS to give you one.
- Bone Talisman : Crafted with 2 bones and 1 watcher sinew. Attached to your jumpsuit. Provides a 5 boost to base protection but a 20 boost to explosive and biological protection.
- Augmentations : Augs can be very useful for miners, as healing with a welder is ultimately easier and harder to completely use up. Plus they work differently than armor when it comes to protection, instead reducing all brute damage taken by an augmented body part by 5 (4 for burn). Furthermore, if you get fully augumented, you're actually ash storm proof. Downside : EMP vulnerability.
- Other helpful tips:
- If you don't have an ore box, and no mining satchel of holding, you can deconstruct tables in the library (the curator is probably too busy organizing a game of D&D to really care much) to obtain wooden planks. You can then use these wooden planks to fabricate an ore box.
- Don't yell at science for not researching mining stuff first. It's rude. You can, however, politely remind them to research mining gear if you're about 30 minutes into the round.
- The Head of Personnel may reward you with all access if you resurrect Ian. Yes, you have the tools to do so - the Lazarus Injector, at 1,000 points.
- Sometimes, the Research Director will reward you for a pet gold grub.
- If you're expecting trouble on the station - and your mining shuttle doesn't come with two doors - consider taking out a window on the mining shuttle before you return to make a quick getaway so you're not trapped like a rat in a cage.
- While Lavaland does change from shift to shift, there's a few things that stay the same. For instance, the Mining Station is always in the bottom-left corner of Lavaland, the Necropolis is always the top border of Lavaland, and the bomb testing site (cordoned by fences) is always a little bit below and to the right of the Mining Station. (There's usually some decent ores at the bomb testing site, and it's close to base.)
Dead Space
A traitorous miner has a lot of advantages. You have a space suit for free right away and a robust pickaxe. Certain minerals you'll find have more "specialized" uses -- uranium structures will irradiate people, plasma can start fires, gibtonite goes boom, etc. You can also buy dangerous "mining" tools and possibly even revive those monsters you've been fighting. As long as you have some mineral wealth or an ore box with you, no one will suspect your presence around the station, even in highly restricted areas like robotics or toxins, and if you are smart enough, you could get a big stompy mech to drill people to death! In addition, Lavaland is isolated, dangerous, and as expansive as you're willing to dig out. Plenty of room for somebody to get lost in... Forever!
Tips for Traitoring
- If you're a miner and you have to kill another miner; there's a really easy way to block communications one way so he can't call for help.
- Grab a multitool, go to the mining communications room.
- Use the multi tool on the relay and make sure the relay isn't sending, meaning your headset won't go to people on the station.
- Kill your target with their shouts for help unheard.
- You can get plasma at exactly the heat you need for canister bombs by welding a plasma door in vacuum. Use an air pump to gather the gas, then put all of the plasma gas produced into an empty large tank (the size of plasma, emergency O2, etc). You can then ignite it with a can of pure O2 set to release at 1013.25 KPa. This is the Shaft Miner's canister bomb. It's easy to set up on Lavaland.
- More than one uranium wall is hilariously deadly, as they give off a pulse of radiation every couple of seconds. This pulse makes other uranium walls in range pulse as well, and they all run on their own timer.
- Tiers 0-1-2-3 can gib bodies, remember mining suits take 50% of damage away from bombs, so strip miners you want to make disappear forever first. (Are they talking about gibtonite, here?)
- Ripley is a fairly robust murdering tool, if you can, convince robotics to put a gravity catapult on it. SLAM PEOPLE INTO WALLS. THE SUFFERING NEVER ENDS.
- Space is your best ally. Your weapons are more lethal in space, and anyone who wants to chase you will need access to a jetpack and EVA gear. Make people fight on your terms by blowing up the station with various Gibtonite charges, or bust in, stun and drag targets into space.
- You can make a chemical payload container using any shitty bit of gibtonite. This can be useful for making chemical bombs, but it relies on knowing how to obtain specific chemicals that can be robust and accessible to a Miner.
- Blending Plasma and Iron together creates an EMP explosion that messes with suit sensors and bricks headsets.
Tips for Culting
If you're a miner, the Mining Station is the perfect hive for a cult. The back room can easily be broken down by Constructs, runes can be placed, and a single artificer can make it very difficult for Security to try and raid. Remember to cut cameras, so a Non-Asimov AI doesn't bolt and electrocute every door. Remember to use Teleport other to get Cultists off station and into safe custody. All the station needs is a Medibot and you are golden.
