Mining is useless

[weefek]

I did some mining at first without any issues. As as I reached like lvl 70 it became impossible to mine.

I can mine for literally about 60 seconds until heat seeking screamers absolutely obliterate my mining operation. 50+ irradiated morons drop down through holes in the roof that they dug into my mine. What is the point of mining if I have to either use ALL my ammo or die ? This is stupid.

[Shurenai]

Mining isn't useless. Just mining certain materials make a LOT more activity than others. Iron, in particular. Pace your mining efforts, and you'll never run into a screamer.

If you must, turn on debug mode (f1, type dm, enter.) and then press F8 twice to bring up the debug info for activity- just dont let that number reach 100% and it wont spawn a screamer.

The reason you didnt run into an issue at first, and now are, is because you hit harder- higher quality tools, better tool tiers, better mods on your tools; and more frequently due to better stamina management options and the like. You're making activity faster than it can fade away which eventually summons a screamer- And you've set up no precautions to protect your venture.

And for the record, Screamers do NOT scream and summon more zombies unless they see the player. So if you can get the drop on them, you wont get a wave of zombies.

[JimmyIowa]

When I mine, even at higher gamestage, I get 1 screamer maybe every few minutes. No big deal. (And I play on high difficulty settings)

Also as noted above screamers do NOT summon anything until they have line of sight on you. And if they have LoS on you, that means you have LoS on them. So just kill them either before or right after their first scream. Which means you either no zombies or a small group of zombies.

[weefek]

I hit a huge iron vein. They've literally made ant-like tunnels through the ground into my mine at this point. I 100% understand what you're saying but I still think it's a little ridiculous that I can't mine for literally LESS than 60 seconds in between waves.

I tried blocking the surface holes / tunnels with concrete. Did nothing.

[weefek]

I kill the screamers the second they drop into my mine. And then within 30 to 60 seconds I get 30 or more irradiated Zeds dropping through the same hole. Getting frustrated. I don't want to start a new mine but I could somewhere else. I found a huge deposit of iron/lead/coal and i want it all.

[seven]

Originally posted by Shurenai:

And for the record, Screamers do NOT scream and summon more zombies unless they see the player. So if you can get the drop on them, you wont get a wave of zombies.

I believe this is how it is supposed to work, but a number of times I have had screamers call in a horde when there was no way they could have seen me without x-ray vision.

[ElDudorino]

Originally posted by weefek:

I kill the screamers the second they drop into my mine. And then within 30 to 60 seconds I get 30 or more irradiated Zeds dropping through the same hole. Getting frustrated. I don't want to start a new mine but I could somewhere else. I found a huge deposit of iron/lead/coal and i want it all.

Most deposits are pretty big, and they're all over the place. You aren't losing anything by mining somewhere else where you can start again closer to the surface.

[Teresa]

If you have 1 mine that you always use, put down a generator and 2 smg turrets above your mine. They should take care of the screamers easily.

[admos]

Which tool are you using for mining?

If it's the auger I suggest you change it.

It's a horrible mining tool since it doesn't give as much resource as the pickaxe variety.

It also, evidently, spawns a lot of screamers if you don't know what you're doing.

If you're going to use the auger, I suggest only clicking once, and holding until you run out of fuel as each time you activate (left-click) the auger it'll increase the heatmap percentage by 1. After 100 clicks of the auger and you may be entitled to a Screamer, though not always.

Since it also does less damage and requires more hits than a pickaxe of the same tier, it increases the amount of heat generated.

Iron-sounding materials generate .10% amount of heat when struck with a pickaxe. When destroyed, it generates 2.84% towards the heatmap.
This includes lead.

Rock-sounding materials generate .50% amount of heat when destroyed with a pickaxe, but does not produce heat when struck.
This includes coal, nitrate, and oil shale.

The above information is generated while standing, there are different values when your character is crouched (stealth-mode).

The best thing you can do is crouch while using a pickaxe of a steel variety to get the most out of your mining-sprees without having too many Screamers compared to using an Auger.

Auger hitting a node per hit:
Iron-sounding materials = 0.20%
Rock-sounding materials = 0%

Auger generated heat when destroying:
Iron-sounding materials = 3.00%
Rock-sounding materials = 0.00%

[aY227]

- Don't "pump" auger - hold the button all the time, each click generates "heat".
- Try to crouch.
- Put generator and 2 SMG turrets near entrance to mine. (what Teresa said - that's universal screamer problem solver - DO NOT USE SHOTGUN TURRETS)
- For extra safety you may put spike traps in place where screamer will fall. It also buys you some time - game is buggy AF and screamer sometimes calls for support even when can't see you

[Mithrandir]

There are working strategies. Many have already been given so far.

My solution :

- A small wooden floor over the surface with a scrap hatch leading down to the mine.

- A wood/cobblestone wall around that entrance on the surface (10x10, 4 blocks high, with 2 doors.

- When you hear the screamer(s) hitting the wall (their wailing is unmistakable), you go up, open a door and kill it/them with a shotty in the head.

- 3 times out of 4 they'll die before summoning others. If not, you're now on the surface and have 2 choices : you go back in your walls put up a hatch already placed at your door and fight them (M-60 is best) or you jump on your motorcycle and drag them away to save ammo.


Important for that solution to work :

Don't use strong blocks for the floor/hatch on the surface or the walls. You don't want them to dig, you want them to try to break in.

Don't mine too far horizontally near the surface. Again, you want them to hit your walls when trying to get you. I mine deep before considering mining horizontally so that the ground is tougher to dig than breaking the walls and the hatch.

[Backup676066]

Originally posted by aY227:

- Don't "pump" auger - hold the button all the time, each click generates "heat".
- Try to crouch.
- Put generator and 2 SMG turrets near entrance to mine. (what Teresa said - that's universal screamer problem solver - DO NOT USE SHOTGUN TURRETS)
- For extra safety you may put spike traps in place where screamer will fall. It also buys you some time - game is buggy AF and screamer sometimes calls for support even when can't see you

what happens if i use shotgun turrets :(

[aY227]

Originally posted by backup676066:

Originally posted by aY227:

- Don't "pump" auger - hold the button all the time, each click generates "heat".
- Try to crouch.
- Put generator and 2 SMG turrets near entrance to mine. (what Teresa said - that's universal screamer problem solver - DO NOT USE SHOTGUN TURRETS)
- For extra safety you may put spike traps in place where screamer will fall. It also buys you some time - game is buggy AF and screamer sometimes calls for support even when can't see you

what happens if i use shotgun turrets :(

+8% heat per shot will happen - those turrets will put you in a loop.
I still have no ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ idea why they didn't adjust it to normal levels.

[...👑 JOST AMMAN 👑...]

Just put barbed wire all around the entrance so that you can slow down the screamers and kill them before they can actually enter the mine.

[Midas]

I like to make a Mine Entrance using a cellar door for any mine I plan to use a lot. Then I don't have to react to screamers immediately.

That said, if I have the tech for an augur, I generally have easily the stuff to kill a screamer horde.

[Carinth]

Use a headlamp and don't place torches or many heat sources in the mine.
If you need additional light make burn barrels. They produce covered light that attracts less zombies.
Using an auger will attract them faster as it's very loud and continuous, use a pickaxe to attract less roamers.
Place a Land Claim Block in the Mine and activate it when mining. This should stop zombies spawning close to the mine.