Shaft Miner: Difference between revisions
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![[File:KineticAccelerator.png|32px]]<br>Proto-kinetic Accelerator | ![[File:KineticAccelerator.png|32px]]<br>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. Oh, and did we mention that you can use [[#RnD | |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. Oh, and did we mention that you can use [[#RnD Gear|modkits]] to improve it? Can be dual wielded at the price of lower accuracy and speed. | ||
<br> | <br> | ||
KAs deal brute damage (40 standard/10 in pressurized rooms), but count as explosive versus armor. That way, suits like bomb suits and the RD hardsuit can negate 90% of the damage dealt. | KAs deal brute damage (40 standard/10 in pressurized rooms), but count as explosive versus armor. That way, suits like bomb suits and the RD hardsuit can negate 90% of the damage dealt. |
Revision as of 20:03, 7 January 2022
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: 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.
Your workplace, Lavaland, has several hazards, including dangerous beasts.
However, the environmental hazards - listed below - can be just as deadly.
- 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. However, chasms only appear as a part of a structure or as a result of a necropolis tendril being defeated. You don't need to be that careful.
The risk of these hazards can be reduced by watching your step and being aware of your surroundings. Don't walk into lava, chasms, or outside during an ash storm. You'll get a text warning 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.
You can click on an adjacent rock or run directly into it to begin picking or drilling the rock, but the Proto-Kinetic Accelerator (often shortened to P-KA or just KA) is much faster and more efficient. Keep in mind that if you do decide to pick or drill your way through rock, you can have multiple dig jobs running at the same time to mine faster.
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 Lavaland and has full access to Mining, so keep that in mind.
The Objective
You're here to mine, so get digging! Once you're full to bursting with ores, 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 indicator on the floor next to the machine to automatically offload your ores and have them instantly processed into sheets. Then click "claim" 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
- Gear up! From the mining equipment locker, you will need Meson Scanner goggles, a mining scanner, your pickaxe (optional), a bluespace shelter capsule (DON'T FORGET!) and your standard issue proto-kinetic accelerator. If you want, there is also an additional mining satchel, and a shovel for digging up ash (for glass).
- Attach your seclite and knife to your proto-kinetic accelerator to save space, and to let you butcher corpses without having to take out your knife. It also helps you bash things harder!
- Use your voucher on a mining vending machine to select your choice of advanced mining tools.
- Go to the Lavaland Mining Station and get an explorer suit, breath mask, and oxygen tank from Mining 'EVA'. On the western side of the base, there is a mini-Medbay where you can find first-aid kits, a break room that always has donk pockets, and a maintenance room where you can top off internals. The nearby storage room has more gear lockers and Ore boxes.
- Before you go, you'll want an Ore Box, which can hold an infinite amount of minerals. Ore boxes are available on the mining station, the mining shuttle and rarely on the field. More can be built with wood planks.
- For extra safety, grab 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 to cloning. Put it and your mining scanner in your boots to free up inventory space.
Smashing rocks
- Find minerals. The further north, the better ore. If you haven't already, activate your scanner and shove it into your boots, internals box, or bag. Every once in a while it sends out a pulse that lets you see deposits in the rock a few tiles away from you. The people back on the station need a variety of different minerals, so try to get a mixture of every type.
- 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 is outdated. Recommended: Ask RND to upgrade the Ore Redemption Machine (ORM)
. Miners have access to the science channel (with :n), but if they are just a bunch of braindeads you can go to the next step.
- Drag your ore box to the delivery tile next to the ORM
(usually north or south of it, depending on station). That'll automatically empty the box into the ORM
.
- If there's minerals still in your mining satchel, you can take your mining satchel into your hand and activate it while standing on the same delivery tile next to the ORM
. This will empty the bag into the ORM as well. Ores inserted directly 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 "Claim." You do not need to insert your ID.
- 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.
Life beyond smashing rocks
- Use your better gear to push deeper into Lavaland.
- Print Advanced Plasma Cutters and Mining Satchels of Holding at the cargo protolathe/techfab for even more efficient mining.
- If you feel robust enough, explore some ruins and
die horriblyget amazing rewards. - If you feel VERY robust, look for Megafauna 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 four. These packs, and their strengths, are:
- Survival Capsule and Explorer's Webbing: The webbing (equipped on your belt slot) allows you to carry even more mining equipment - having a second shelter capsule is nice too. 900 pts value.
- Resonator Kit: Comes with a resonator and brute treatment kit. The resonator is underwhelming, being effectively a melee weapon that punishes you for using it as a melee weapon. The only saving grace is the brute treatment kit, which you could just ask medbay for. 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 an industrial welding tool, a welding mask and a KA modkit that allows shots to pass through the drone. ~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. As a bonus, you get a stack of 30 marker beacons too. 1700 pts.
- Crusher Kit: Contains a proto-kinetic crusher and a mini fire extinguisher. The crusher is hard to use without getting hit, and its ranged 'mark' attack 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. 2450 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. 1500 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.
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. Using a Regen. Core Stabilizer on Legion Cores would let you save their heal and anti-slowdown effects for later. Or you could spend it all on booze and cigars. We won't judge.
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 |
This comes with an inbuilt hood. It 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. You can put your emergency oxygen tank from your internals box in the same spot. Running out of oxygen is unlikely with the full sized tank. |
![]() ![]() Meson Scanners and 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 to slap activated gibtonite, stopping it from exploding and allowing 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. Oh, and did we mention that you can use modkits to improve it? Can be dual wielded at the price of lower accuracy and speed.
|
![]() 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. |
![]() 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. Rumor has it that 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. Despite what its "on-use" message would have you believe, you do not need to throw it. Ash storms cannot hurt you inside, but wildlife can break through the walls. (Broken walls will still protect from the ash storm.) 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. |
![]() Seclite |
A beefed up flashlight. Put this on your KA to free up inventory space. Gives off light even if it's in your pocket. |
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, robust things in melee combat and 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 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. The botanist will likely appreciate the new plants, but it's only useful for that. |
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 protolathe/techfab .
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.
Name | Wall | Raw Ore | Mining Point Reward Value | Processed Ore | Frequency | Uses |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Iron | ![]() |
![]() |
1 | ![]() |
Very Common | For just about everything. |
Sand | ![]() |
![]() |
1 | ![]() |
Very Common | To obtain, use a shovel on an empty space. Used for making glass, which has a plethora of station applications. Activate sand in your hand to make sandstone bricks. These can be used to make dirt which can be used to grow plants. |
Plasma | ![]() |
![]() |
15 | ![]() |
Common | Ship sheets back to Centcom for bonus money to the cargo budget. |
Silver | ![]() |
![]() |
16 | ![]() |
Semi-Common | Making dosh, mechs, and researching Bluespace. |
Gold | ![]() |
![]() |
18 | ![]() |
Semi-Common | For making various electronics or pimping out Beepsky. |
Titanium | ![]() |
![]() |
30 | ![]() |
Uncommon | For high-tech mechs or R&D components. Also for building shuttle walls and floors. |
Uranium | ![]() |
![]() |
30 | ![]() |
Uncommon | For making you radioactive (notice: no joke, this shit is deadly as a wall or a door). Delicious (and useful) cocktails. |
Diamond | ![]() |
![]() |
50 | ![]() |
Rare | For making mech parts, among other industrial uses. |
Bluespace Crystal | ![]() |
![]() |
50 | ![]() |
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 | ![]() |
![]() |
60 | ![]() |
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 ![]() ![]() How to obtain high-quality Gibtonite: Hit ore, count to 8 flashes of the ore then hit it with your scanner. Gibtonite varies in the number of reactions it has, so you may get lower quality ore. Use 2 of the 0 reaction ores (the most potent) to blow open the AI core and make it cry at it's malf failure! |
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.
- 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!
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.
The 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 |
---|
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 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, stick with another miner for safety. If able, go with at least two other people. Not only can you mine faster together, the chance that they could both be 'lings/traitors is rather low. If that eventuality arises, however, a pickaxe to the skull tends to put down most people.
- 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. You can scan dead Lavaland enemies for discovery points - Watchers and Goliaths give 2,000, and rumor has it that 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.
- Every ash storm, check in over supply comms. If someone doesn't check in, and their GPS signal isn't moving, you'll know that they're dead and can take their corpse back to the station to be cloned. Mining is a dangerous job. This way, if they die, they can be revived. (To chat on the supply channel, it's ".u" or ":u".)
- 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.
- 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 space. 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 : 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 HoP 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.
- 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. At the start of the shift, it's the first place I go.)
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 take it, then put [REDACTED] KPa 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.
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.