Tips for finding minerals?

[shadree]

Is there any any other indication where minerals are (like environmental hints or a radar) ? Even on the lower difficulty, I find it nigh impossible to keep going because once you find anything, you have to go back up and fight a losing battle.

[kamyl]

Just mine every 3 rows, like this:

   _
  / \
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX

This way you discover all blocks and see if they contain minerals without digging them all.

Simple strategy for every game (at least in demo).

[BerserkSmiley]

Originally posted by kamyl:

Just mine every 3 rows, like this:

   _
  / \
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX

This way you discover all blocks and see if they contain minerals without digging them all.

Simple strategy for every game (at least in demo).

I hope this get patched. It’s fun to win a few games, but after awhile every play through feels the same.

[Jok'Xan]

Originally posted by kamyl:

Just mine every 3 rows, like this:

   _
  / \
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX

This way you discover all blocks and see if they contain minerals without digging them all.

Simple strategy for every game (at least in demo).

i don't understand the X is the block you're mining or the space you let ? how many space did you let between each "line "

[NoisyHill]

Originally posted by Jok'Xan:

Originally posted by kamyl:

Just mine every 3 rows, like this:

   _
  / \
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX

This way you discover all blocks and see if they contain minerals without digging them all.

Simple strategy for every game (at least in demo).

i don't understand the X is the block you're mining or the space you let ? how many space did you let between each "line "

The Xes are the blocks. This is the best strategy to find minerals.
You can also use tools like the probe or the bomb thing, both are quite helpful.

[Gatesleeper]

Originally posted by BerserkSmiley:

Originally posted by kamyl:

Just mine every 3 rows, like this:

   _
  / \
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX
XXX XXX
       
XXX XXX

This way you discover all blocks and see if they contain minerals without digging them all.

Simple strategy for every game (at least in demo).

I hope this get patched. It’s fun to win a few games, but after awhile every play through feels the same.

More weird underground shapes would be cool, like ones that have weird curves or dead ends, whereas in the demo every map is essentially a big rectangle.

Another fix would be to have the map spawn in such a way that there are always hard blocks that prevent this from being the most optimal way to drill.

['Strict]

Originally posted by Gatesleeper:

Originally posted by BerserkSmiley:

I hope this get patched. It’s fun to win a few games, but after awhile every play through feels the same.

More weird underground shapes would be cool, like ones that have weird curves or dead ends, whereas in the demo every map is essentially a big rectangle.

Another fix would be to have the map spawn in such a way that there are always hard blocks that prevent this from being the most optimal way to drill.

There's a map-variant called "The maze" which kind of does this I believe

[Danikov]

Mining every 3 rows is the most efficient search pattern, but you'll notice that there is a lot of variation in rock density and it can be very inefficient to stick rigidly to the search pattern and drill through lots of hard rock, especially in a layer with an insufficient drill.

That leaves two options, either wait until you've upgraded the drill and backtrack to earlier layers to finish any incomplete search patterns, and/or don't stick so rigidly to the rows pattern.

Also, once you get probe(s) you can space your exploratory tunnels out a lot more and rely on pings to find minerals.

['Strict]

Leaving 3 tiles is fine if you're only looking for Ore, but if you want water and Cobalt you can only leave 2 tiles, just saying =)