Cogmap1/Miner

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The Miner is a special Engineering role tasked with exploring and gathering the wealth offered by a nearby asteroid field. To facilitate this, Miners start and base out of a separate facility on another z-level from the main station, connected by a two-way fast shuttle. Being a Miner means a mostly solitary job amidst cold space, and you have access to as much or more EVA gear than EVA itself on the station proper. The job can be hazardous, especially given its isolation; Security almost never responds to calls from the Mining Outpost no matter what happens, so antagonists often mark it as a murder-with-no-consequences zone. On many shifts, Mining department does not contribute measurably to the station and its operation, either due to hostile action, a lack of miners signing up, or incompetence. A skillful Mining shift, however, can be of enormous benefit, gathering precious ores by the hundreds and using the Cargo Transporter to send them where they're needed in a matter of moments.

All in all, mining is a job that is very easy to do, but quite a bit harder to do well. For details, check out the Guide to Mining.

Gettin' to work

Miners are equipped with the yellow-striped Engineering Headset allowing them regular radio contact as well as a special Engineering channel that, while rarely used, can be more useful or private. Speaking using any special headset can be accomplished with :h before the message. On many shifts, Miners actually use this channel more than other Engineering personnel to coordinate mining efforts or conduct search-and-rescue operations for lost miners or anybody else who wanders off the main z-level and requires assistance. The only way back to the main station once one leaves its level, short of a teleporter, is the Mining shuttle.

As you start the round, walk over to one of the lockers and unlock it. Your starting gear is a space suit, a jetpack (goes on your back), a mining belt (goes on your waist), and an optical meson scanner (goes on your eyes). In addition are some satchels, explosives, a GPS, a geological scanner, a Cargo Transporter, and a powered pickaxe. You can take whichever of these you will need and put them in your pockets or on your mining belt.

All set? Great! Click the jetpack icon in the top left to turn on your jetpack, and then click the breath mask icon to start your flow of oxygen. Head south until you're out on the asteroid belt. As a miner, your biggest preoccupations are going to be harvesting as much ore and as many gems as humanly possible, moving those things to where they're useful, and blinging yourself out with the coolest stuff your fabricator has to offer.

Crew Objectives

As a loyal crew member, you can sometimes be assigned some strictly optional objectives to keep yourself busy while you wait for something to happen. As a miner, you can expect to see the following:

Find at least 10 gems among all miners
Just go out and slap concussive charges on thick veins, the gems will pop out almost on their own. You merely need to reveal them to complete this objective, they do not need to be shipped to the station.

Create at least 3 suits of industrial space armor
You want one for yourself anyway, so if you're of a mind to complete this objective, just get some more Uqill and run the fabricators.

Treachery

A traitor miner does not seem to happen often, which is probably for the best as a traitor miner is theoretically one of the worst things that can happen to a station. By default, a miner has access to EVA gear and top-quality internals, a completely remote area to spawn his traitor gear, and easy access to added toys that the station does not get (mechanized boots in particular are amazing for a traitor). Miners often have access to other identities, whether due to their colleagues spawning brain dead or by a quick murder of a co-worker out in the unforgiving void of space. They also have limitless supply of explosives. Under normal circumstances, mining charges may only be attached to an asteroid, nullifying its potential for widespread havoc. However, a little application of an emag, and the station can watch in horror as that restriction disappears and a suited, unknown man in a mining space suit charges down the main hallway, slapping bombs down in his wake and running far faster than any mere mortal. This is even more horrifying when you realize that miners naturally have access to the singularity room, and can free the hungry force of nature with one emagged charge.

For better or for worse, a traitor Miner plays a lot like an Operative. Only a traitor Scientist has a hope of matching the raw explosive force a Miner can bring to bear, and even then the scientist probably can't do it as quickly.

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