Guide to Mining

Mining can be dangerous, tedious, and boring. However no reward is without its risks. This guide provides the information you need to work as quickly and effectively as possible.

Ore

Ore is your main objective. You can send most unprocessed ore to the quartermaster to sell, and certain ores will also be useful to the roboticist, to the mechanics, and to yourself to upgrade your equipment. Each ore carries a basic toughness that corresponds to the tool needed to mine it. Certain ores are dangerous and require special care. If you plan to sell them, remember that raw ore (i.e. not a block or ingot) is more valuable than processed alloys.

Note: Ores and gems won't be usable in the mining fabricator unless you process them with material processor or portable reclaimer first.

Name	Image	Classification	Toughness	Description
Cobryl		Metal	2	Space silver! Decent money maker, but no real practical use. If you're a straggler stuck with nothing but a pick and barren fabricators, this is your breadwinner. Hand it to Cargo for some decent cash. Sells better as ore, so don't refine it.
Syreline		Metal	4	Space platinum! Very difficult to mine without explosives and practically useless, but worth a king's ransom on the market. Give it to the Quartermaster! Sells better as ore, so don't refine it.
Pharosium		Sturdy Metal, Conductor	1	Space copper! Very useful for roboticists and mechanics and makes up half of a mining charge. If you like bombing rocks, this will be the first mineral to run out.
Mauxite		Sturdy Metal	1	Space steel! The roboticist makes his friends and the mechanics their box frames out of this stuff, so they'll go through a lot. Makes up one quarter of a mining charge.
Molitz		High Density Crystal	1	Space glass! Another useful material for the roboticist and mechanic. Makes up the last quarter of a mining charge.
Bohrum		Dense Metal	3	Space adamantium! The backbone of higher tier mining equipment, you'll want a lot of this in your fabricator to make anything worthwhile.
Cerenkite		Sturdy Metal, Conductor, Significant Power Source	3	Space uranium! Horribly radioactive, digging in without a heavy hazard suit is a slow suicide. Occupies the same fabricator niche as plasmastone, but specializes in very desirable cyborg power cells.
Plasmastone		Crystal, Conductor, Significant Power Source	2	Space fuel! Mildly radioactive and may release flammable plasma gas when agitated, so take care with explosive charges and stuff it inside an ore satchel quickly. A few top-shelf mining goodies want this, but it's most useful refined into extra fuel in the engineering gas extractor.
Erebite		Crystal, Conductor, Significant Power Source	2	The Devil's plasmastone. As dangerous as it is rare, it makes a menacing pipebomb or an extremely fast-charging cyborg cell. Only available in uncommon asteroids located through the Quantum Telescope and rarely through the QM shipping market. Will cause a violent explosion when it is hit or it hits something. (e.g. thrown at someone)
Claretine		Crystal, High Energy Conductor	3	Space MgB²! Required in bulk for all high-performance digging gear and industrial armor, the two most desirable things on a miner's wish list.
Gold		Metal, Conductor, Reflective Material	4	Space gold! Worth a lot as raw ore to QMs. Don't smelt it unless you want to make them cry though.
Koshmarite		Fabric/Organic, Crystal, Reflective Material	2	Mildly radioactive and uncomfortably pulsating fabric of unknown origin. Its plentiful abundance compared to plasmastone and cerenkite makes it valuable in Nano-fabricator recipes that call for large quantities of radioactive material.
Viscerite		Fabric/Organic, Insulative Material	2	Martian meat! Can be used as raw material for the cloning apparatus, an Organic substance in the Nano-Fab, or as cloth material for fabricators, once processed. Can also be eaten!
Char		Fabric/Organic	-1	Space coal! Prime furnace fuel and secondary trade good for the quartermaster.
Ice		Crystal, Conductor	-2	Space water ice! Also completely worthless. Will melt when you are holding it in your hand for too long.
Rock		Sturdy Metal	0	Space dirt! Produced by mining asteroid tiles, they are omnipresent, valueless, and ignored by automatic ore collectors such as the Ore Scoop and Mineral Accumulator. Refined rock sports unique marble patterning that make it an attractive choice for construction.

Gems

Certain gems are rare and valuable. A mined rock may contain only 1 gem at a time. Use your geological scanner to find gems quickly. If you plan to sell them, remember that raw gems are often more valuable than processed alloys.

Name	Image	Classification	Description
Gemstone		Crystal	Space jewels that come in three tiers (tier 1 being the hardest and densest). They have no value on the market, but the rarest gems function as a substitute for uqill. Tier 1: diamond, ruby, topaz, emerald, sapphire, amethyst Tier 2: jasper, garnet, peridot, malachite, lapis lazuli, alexandrite Tier 3: onyx, rose quartz, citrine, jade, aquamarine, iolite
Telecrystal		Crystal, Power Source	Shiny cones that let you break the laws of physics. Can be used in some machinery, for cyborg upgrades and be sold off for a good sum. You can also eat them!
Fibrilith		Fabric, Crystal, Insulative Material	Space asbestos. Can be processed into fabric with a processor/reclaimer, used in the nano-crucible, or sold for small sums on the open market.
Uqill		Extraordinarily Dense Crystalline Matter	Crystallized scifi magic. Required for high-end mining gear, certain upgrades at robotics, always sells well at the cargo bay, and can be used to make replacement ammo for the RCD.
Miracle Matter		Crystal	Mineral wild card. Its level of "crystalline density" changes every round, allowing it to sometimes serve as a substitute for uqill. Can morph into different substances at welder-level temperatures or when struck. Makes excellent decor.
Starstone		Extraordinarily Dense Crystalline Matter	Extremely valuable, but can only be found in certain highly-dangerous Z5 asteroids, extremely rare starstone asteroids located by the quantum telescope, and the remains of meteor showers. Sell them to certain merchants to become an instant millionaire! Can also be used to infuse chemicals into metals and alloys.

Special Rocks

Certain rocks may have special conditions on them. Using your geological scanner will give specific information and spit out symbols denoting these conditions.

Type	Symbol	Description
Icy		Always contains chunks of water ice in addition to other materials.
Super Dense		Has a hardness rating of 10 and is extremely difficult to break through. Super-dense asteroids tend to have a significant quantity of gems at their core, so the effort can be justified.
Weak		Rock has -1 toughness.
Dense		Rock has +1 toughness.
Hazardous		Rock contains either radioactive or volatile ore. Radioactive rock will glow blueish once exposed. Volatile ore will glow red when struck, giving you only a few moments to escape.
Foreign Object		Contains a smuggler stash, an artifact or a sleeping rock worm. Poke it with the scanner to find out what.
Gem		Rock contains a gem. No reason not to crack it open.
Hotspot		Sections of Oshan Lab's Trench full of trapped geothermal energy. They don't have a special icon, but you'll know you've struck one when the rock you're breaking suddenly releases sparks and makes an rather ominous hissing sound. If you mine them out, the Engineers will love you for boosting their vent units' power generation. Contrary to popular belief, breaking them does not in of itself cause quakes, though it does make them worse.

Other materials

These materials can't be found in asteroids, but you may encounter them when working with the arc smelter or a processor/reclaimer. See the Ore Processing section for more details.

Equipment

Most equipment can be manufactured at the mining fabricator. This includes your basic beginning gear if you lose it or show up late and all of it is gone.

Note: The majority of ore and gems won't be usable in the mining fabricator unless you process them with a material processor or portable reclaimer first.

Starting Equipment

Item	Image	Description	Cost
Engineering Space Suit Set		See Engineering Objects.	3 Fabric, 3 Metal, 2 Crystal
Engineering Diving Suit Set		See Engineering Objects for stats. Unlike the Engineers, you actually do need at least the suit so that the Trench doesn't incinerate you in half a second.	N/A
Flippers		See Flippers. Again, technically unnecessary for mining in the trench, but it'll make moving underwater much easier.	N/A
Jetpack	/	See Engineering Objects.	2 Dense Metal, 10 Conductive Material
Mining Belt		Holds most of the gear and equipment you will need to mine.	N/A
Geological Scanner		Use the scanner in your active hand to scan all rocks in view. The scanner will spit out a report and put symbols on rocks with something out of the ordinary in them. Using it on a piece of asteroid will tell you specifically what ore is present, its toughness, any danger conditions, and the presence of any foreign items.	1 Metal, 1 Conductive Material, 1 Crystal
Ore Satchel		Holds up to 30 units of ore. To quickly pick up ore, click and drag one piece onto the satchel and you will automatically begin grabbing all ore of that type in every space surrounding you. Clicking the satchel in your active hand will dump its contents onto the ground. Use it on a fabricator or crate to empty it into that container.	5 Fabric
Ore Scoop		This very useful utensil allows you to collect ore by merely walking over it. Simply insert an ore satchel, hold the scoop in your active hand and you're good to go. Click on the scoop to unload the satchel, or anywhere else to dump the ore on the floor.	N/A
Meson Goggles		See Engineering Objects. Also allows you to see the composition of asteroids.	3 Crystal, 2 Conductive Material
Breath Mask		See Clothing. Required for full spacesuit gear.	1 Fabric

Advanced Equipment

Item	Image	Description	Cost
Industrial Space Armor Set		Replaces the standard spacesuit and helmet. The melee and bullet resistance is mediocre, but it provides excellent protection against explosions, reduces damage from radiation, and has zero movement slowdown.	15 Dense Metal, 7 High Energy Conductor, 3 High Density Matter
Industrial Diving Armor Set		An industrial diving helmet and suit set that replaces the standard diving suit and helmet. Same stats as the Industrial Space Armor Set, but more cosmetically appropriate for underwater. While the item set is still called "Industrial Space Armor Set" in the menu, the mining fabs on Oshan and Manta make these in lieu of the indy armor.	15 Dense Metal, 7 High Energy Conductor, 3 High Density Matter
Mechanized Boots		Gives the wearer a permanent speed boost, both in space and indoors. Moving around quickly will also deplete the contents of your jetpack faster, so be careful.	15 Sturdy Metal, 7 High Energy Conductor, 3 Power Source
Mechanised Diving Boots		Same as the standard mechanized boots, but with a different sprite aesthetically more in line with the other diving gear. The mining fabs on Oshan and Manta make these instead of the regular mechanized boots, though it's just still called "Mechanised Boots" in the fabricator menu.	15 Sturdy Metal, 7 High Energy Conductor, 3 Power Source
Large Ore Satchel		Like a regular satchel, but holds 75 ore instead of 30.	25 Fabric, 3 Dense Metal
Cargo Transporter		Sends stuff to a cargo pad. Use it in your active hand to pick a destination, then click on the target to teleport it. Has 8 uses before it must be recharged at a recharger. Compatible objects: crates, closets/lockers, gas canisters, large tanks and artifacts.	N/A
Flashlight		See General Objects. Provides additional light if you opt to go exploring derelicts and other foreboding parts of space, but useless for mining.	1 Metal, 1 Conductive Material, 1 Crystal
Space GPS		Useless for mining, but can help you make your way back to the station if you ever get lost in space/the trench or find certain locations. See Space GPS for instructions on usage.	N/A
Material Analyzer		Shows the properties of raw as well as processed ore.	N/A
Slag Shovel		Used to remove slag from the arc smelter.	N/A
Sea Trench Map	/	Shows the layout of the Trench at roundstart. Available as both physical paper you can Examine and an app on your PDA. Colors: Blue: Cave/asteroid. Dark blue: Open seafloor. Dark purple/magenta: hotspot. Orange square: the Sea Elevator White/Cyan: Ruins & other areas.	N/A
Jetpack MKII		Your standard jetpack combined with flippers, basically. Passively (i.e. just when being worn) slows you down in dry area, but negates the slowdown from being in a fluid. Fabricator recipe appears exclusively on the ocean maps, i.e. Oshan Laboratory and Manta.	15 Sturdy Metal, 10 High Energy Conductor, 5 Power Source

Tools

The greater the difference between tool strength and rock hardness, the more difficult it is to tunnel through the asteroid. You can sometimes get lucky and break the rock with a lower strength tool, but the chance gets lower the greater the difference. Equipment with a strength at least equal to the rock's hardness rating is guaranteed to work on the first try. Having the Gamma Ray Exposure or Musculature Enhancement genes boosts tool strength by 1; having both does not give a higher boost.

Item	Image	Toughness	Notes	Cost
Powered Pickaxe		2	Starting equipment. Has 100 PU battery, and each use costs 2 PU, so it has 50 uses before it must be recharged at a recharger. Decent weapon when powered, but attacking people with it costs 10 PU per use. Capacity can be expanded with other energy cells. Also available from the QM's Mining Equipment crates.	2 Sturdy Metal, 5 Conductive Material
Laser Drill		3	Has infinite charge.	15 Sturdy Metal, 7 Dense Metal, 10 High Energy Conductor
Power Hammer		4	Has a 100 PU battery, and each use costs 3 PU, so it holds 33 charges. Good weapon with an useful special when powered on, but prolonged use can drain the battery quickly, as attacking people with it drains 15 PU each time. Charge can be refilled at a recharger, and the hammer also accepts other small power cells. Also available from the QM's Mining Equipment crates.	1 High Density Matter, 8 Conductive Material
Concussive Gauntlets		4	Worn on your hands and allows you to simply punch rocks with an empty hand. Infinite charges.	15 Dense Metal, 15 High Energy Conductor, 2 Power Source
Low-Yield Mining Explosives		N/A	Plant on an asteroid to produce a small concussive blast. Will break nearby rocks and weaken rocks at the edge of its blast. Has a 5 second countdown. Starting equipment and can be made in the fabricator in sets of 5.	3 Metal, 3 Crystal, 7 Conductive Material
Mining Explosive		N/A	A stronger variant of the mining explosive, also in packs of 5.	7 Metal, 7 Crystal, 15 Conductive Material
Pickaxe		1	Mostly useless for anything beyond basic rock. Unlimited uses. You basically get this whenever your powered pickaxe or power hammer runs out of charge/is deactivated, since their unpowered versions both have 1 toughness.	1 Sturdy Metal
Power Shovel		0	Starting equipment for Engineers on Oshan Laboratory, meant for digging holes for geothermal vents and acting as a stand-in for real tools if Miners are busy/absent. Rather weak, but adequate for basic rock and occasionally low-toughness ore, with some difficulty. Has 100 PU battery, and digging with it costs 2 PU, so it has. Okay weapon when powered, though attacking people with it drains 10 PU per use. It can be recharged at a recharger and also accepts other energy cells.	N/A

In addition to these tools, you also design your own mining equipment using parts from the Mining Nanofabricator. These custom-made tools never run out of charge and most will hit multiple rocks at a time, but, depending on the material used in the tool head, will require a few hits to break rocks.

Item	Notes	Cost
Mining Tool	A tool for mining asteroids. Type of tool depends on components used. Optional modifier slot.	(10) Metal, (1) Mining Tool Head, (1) Optional Tool Mod
Tool head (Drill)	A Drill head. Goes 3 tiles forward and can break down rock in a couple of hits, depending on the material used.	(5) Material
Tool head (Hammer)	A Hammer head. Goes 3 tiles wide and can break down rock in a couple of hits, depending on the material used.	(5) Material
Tool head (Blaster)	A Blaster head. Goes 2 tiles forward in a T-shape, but takes a lot of hits to break a rock.	(5) Material
Tool head (Pick)	A Pick head. Hits only one tile, but can break rock in just one or two hits, even with softer materials.	(5) Material
Tool mod (Concussive)	A mod for mining tools that increases Area of Effect. Concussive drills will hit a 3x4 tile area forward, concussive hammers will hit 5x4 area roughly centered on the wielder, and concussive blasters will hit in a 5x5 orb.	(45) Radioactive Material, (1) Explosive Charge

Machinery

Large mining machines can be used to harvest or process great deals of ore.

Item	Image	Description	Cost
Rockbox		Full name, Rockbox(tm) Ore Cloud Storage Container, for storing ores and selling them to the rest of the crew. You insert the raw ore (i.e. no refined materials) into it (click-drag and clicking on it with the ore both work), mark it for sale, set a price, and the rest of the crew can buy the ore from fabricators and manufacturers. Simple as that. Miners set the base price, and the money that pays for that is evenly split among all their accounts (any amount that can't be evenly split goes to cargo's shipping budget). Meanwhile, the Quartermasters set additional percent tax and minimum fee per ore amount from their console, and the money for those fees/taxes goes to the shipping budget. There is also a 5 credit fee RockBox charges per transaction that doesn't got towards any budget; the QMs can waive this fee for a premium, again at their console.	N/A
Nano-Crucible		Ore can also be processed into alloys with various properties. For more information, refer to Ore Processing.	N/A
Mining Pod		Provided they've been upgraded with the right gear, pods can be a great asset for the miners. Please see Space Pod for more information.	N/A
Mining Minisub		The Oshan Lab counterpart to other stations' mining pods, and just as useful if equipped with the right gear, detailed below. Please see Space Pod for more information.	N/A
Conclave A-1984 Sensor System		Like standard pod sensors, but with optical mason scanners and geological scanner for mining asteroids.	1 Power Source, 5 Crystal, 2 High Energy Conductor
Ore Scoop/Hold		Heavy-duty version of the ore scoop for pods, with a maximum capacity of 300 pieces of ore. Install and activate the system, fly over ore to collect it, drag & drop the pod onto an adjacent tile to empty out the hold when necessary. This component spawns near the mining pods.	N/A
Mining Phaser System		Fires weak phaser bullets that can break rock in two hits and weaken ore-bearing rock, making it easier to break with low-tier mining tools, though they can't destroy it by themselves. Starting equipment for Oshan's mining minisubs.	N/A
Plasma Cutter System		Shoots bolts of plasma that instantly dig through up to three rows of rock.	10 Power Source, 10 Dense Metal
Rock Drilling Rig		Digs up asteroids, one row at time. Cuts up pods and people like nobody's business.	10 Power Source, 10 Dense Metal, 20 Extraordinarily Dense Crystalline Matter
Recharger		Recharges your powered pickaxes, power hammers, cargo transporters, and more. Simply click on it with the tool you want to recharge in your hand; if dings and flashes, that means it's fully charged your tool. There's always at least one on a table somewhere in the Mining Department, Mining Outpost, and Tunnel Snake Mining Rig.	N/A

Mineral Magnet Machinery

A subset of special mining machines specifically meant to be used with Cogmap1/Cogmap2/Destiny/Clarion's mineral magnet. .

Item	Image	Description	Cost
Mining Magnet		This large, immobile magnet pulls in asteroid you can mine. For further information, see Miner.	N/A
Mineral Magnet Controls		A computer for controlling and accessing the condition of the mineral magnet. It comes with the following functions: Activate Magnet: Pull in a randomly-generated asteroid into the magnet area, with a cooldown of about three minutes. Activate telescope location: Pull in a specific asteroid discovered by the quantum telescope Override Cooldown: Toggles whether you can use the Activate Magnet ability when it's still in cooldown Enable Automatic Mode: Toggles whether the magnet will automatically pull in a new asteroid every three or so minutes.	N/A
Mining Magnet Replacement Parts		Required to repair the mineral magnet in case of catastrophic damage. Use it on the chassis.	5 High Density Matter, 30 Dense Metal, 30 High Energy Conductor
NT Magnet Link Array		Remote control for the mineral magnet (7 tile range) intended as an upgrade for mining pods. Interface with the magnet via Use Comms System in the Pod tab.	N/A
Mineral Accumulator	File:MineralAccumulator.png	Allows you to send large quantities of ore to a cargo pad. To use, select a destination first, drag the accumulator to the desired location and then turn it on. Any loose ore within an eight-tile radius will be pulled to the device and teleported to the cargo pad. Must be turned off before it can be moved again. The accumulator cannot be picked up, only dragged around. The miners get one accumulator for free at the start of the shift.	25 Sturdy Metal, 15 High Energy Conductor, 2 High Density Matter
Power Cell		See Engineering Objects.	4 Metal, 4 Conductive Material, 4 Any Material
Cerenkite Power Cell		A self-recharging power cell that any cyborg would be glad to have. Capacity is 15000.	4 Metal, 4 Any Material, 2 Cerenkite
Erebite Power Cell		Self-recharges more quickly than the cerenkite cell, but is also highly volatile. Capacity is 15000.	4 Metal, 4 Any Material, 2 Erebite

The Quantum Telescope

A marvelous computer, with a rather unassuming appearance, for finding especially mineral-rich asteroids. Essentially, you try to guess where an object of choice is on a map, using circle size to guide your clicks.

1. Click on the computer to boot it up. You should see a rather stunning picture of a galaxy and list of objects on the right.
2. Select one of the items on the list to home in on it. Most of them will be a "celestial body", which are mineral-rich asteroids (i.e. what you'll probably choose if you're a Miner), but there are a few unique objects that lead to special Adventure Zone areas; more on them in their respective page.
3. Click anywhere on the picture of the galaxy to guess where the thing you're looking for is. Center is a good place to start. After a short while, you'll see a circle. Here's an important clue: whatever you're the looking for is somewhere inside this circle, and the smaller it is, the closer you are to the object you're looking for.
4. Click anywhere inside the circle to narrow down the distance between you and whatever you're looking for. You'll see another circle, overlaid over the previous one. If you get a smaller circle than before, your new guess is closer than your the previous. If it's larger, than it's farther.
5. Continue clicking inside the new circles until you successfully guess where the object is.
   • When two circles partially overlap, try clicking in the area where the circles overlap (not necessarily where their circumferences intersect).
   • You can use your incorrect guesses to hone later guesses. For example, if you click north, south, east, and west a place, and the smallest circle is south, but the second smallest is east, try clicking towards the southeast.

When you successfully pinpoint the location of the object you're looking for, its name will change, and it'll turn green in the list on the right. You can then click on it in the list to bring up some options on what to do with the thing. Most of the time, the computer'll just ask you to save its location to the mineral magnet's database, but occasionally, you might get to choose one of the ores in the asteroid, among other things.

You can then pull it into the station's mineral magnet by going to the mineral magnet controller and picking the Activate telescope location option.

Interesting Finds

In addition to ore and gems, you may unearth a variety of interesting objects and critters.

Rock Worms

Harmless creatures that will move around, eating up rocks, ore, and gems. If you can manage to kill one, you might get a surprise.

Abandoned Crates

Variously called "locked crates" and "loot crates", abandoned crates contain a large variety of goodies not otherwise available on the station. There are two types of locking mechanisms and generally speaking, high-security crates (military supplies for instance) are more difficult to open. A failed attempt will usually reset the code and trigger the anti-theft system (if any), potentially injuring you. Be advised, however, that certain security measures will destroy the crate's contents instead.

• Deca-Code Lock: Will prompt you to enter a number between 1 and 10, and you are allowed 3 guesses. To improve your odds of success, you can use a multitool on the crate and it will tell you whether the last code entered was too high or too low.

• Password Lock: As the name implies, you'll have to find the password. Enter one letter at a time to attempt to reveal part of it. A multitool is essential here, as it allows you to see the exact length of the password and keep track of the known characters.

If you don't feel like opening the crate yourself, check to see if any departments back on the station will be willing to receive it.

There are five types of crates, each with different kinds of loot, different Examine text, and different sprites, and they are: research, industrial, military, unmarked, and goods. Within each crate are three tiers, distinguished by the color of the stripe on their sprite: green, yellow, and red, in ascending quality of loot.

Alien Artifacts

Large items of unknown origin and purpose. Can be sent to the research wing for artifact research or to the cargo bay for sale.

Other

Easter eggs, combat drones, stockings, smuggler's caches... go around and explore!

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