Mining cell durability testing

[AvilerED]

The data

• T1 - wood cell
  
  • 280 on T1 blocks
    
  • 560 on T0 blocks
    
• T2 - stone cell
  
  • 300 on T2 blocks
    
  • 600 on T1 blocks
    
  • infinite on T0 blocks
    
• T3 - obsidian cell
  
  • 350 on T3 blocks
    
  • 700 on T2 and T1 blocks
    
  • infinite on T0 blocks
    
• T4 - iron cell
  
  • 350 on T4 blocks
    
  • 700 on T3 and T2 blocks
    
  • infinite on T1 and T0 blocks
    
• T5 - diamond cell
  
  • 400 on T5 blocks
    
  • 800 on T4 and T3 blocks
    
  • infinite on T2, T1 and T0 blocks
    
• T6 - lumite cell
  
  • 600 on T6 blocks
    
  • 1200 on T5 and T4 blocks
    
  • infinite on T3, T2, T1 and T0 blocks
    

Some block info (not comprehensive...yet)

• T0 - No cell required
  
  • molasses, trees (trunks, leaves, flowers), tall grass, vines, red mushroom, brown mushroom, glass, sand, turnip, lettuce, wheat, horned melon, dirt, grass, coral, beeswax, wood stairs, wood wall, wood roof, wood fence, wood window, tundra flower, wildflower, thatched wall, thatched roof, red wood wall, moss
    
• T1 - wood cell
  
  • stone, coal torch, stone path, natural stone path, stacked stone wall, stone chest, mud
    
• T2 - stone cell
  
  • limestone, bedrock, gas lamp
    
• T3 - obsidian cell, banded golden wall, studded golden wall, golden wall
  
  • water, stalactite, siltstone
    
• T4 - iron cell
  
  • tar, hardened lava, igneous rock
    
• T5 - diamond cell
  
  • bog water, mineral water, corrupted wood, corrupted grass, corrupted dirt, corrupted stone
    
• T6 - lumite cell
  
  • lava, corrupted water
    
  
  

  The experiments and discussion

  I did a simple test in R23 on durability. Original post is in this thread: http://steamcommunity.com/app/280790/discussions/0/481115363859975526/
  
  

  Originally posted by AvilerED:

  Okay, so here's what I've found. I harvested only "at tier" blocks for all cells up through diamond. I haven't gotten to a point where I have all the resources for lumite on the world I tested on.
  
  "At tier" blocks are the first blocks that a particular cell is rquired to be able to mine them. So, stone is the at tier block I used for wood cell, bedrock (and 3 limestone) is the at tier block I mined for stone cell, obsidian used on siltstone, iron used on igneous, and diamond on corrupted stone. Here's what I found:
  140 at tier blocks with wood cell
  200 at tier blocks with stone cell
  250 at tier blocks with obsidian cell
  300 at tier blocks with iron cell
  400 at tier blocks with diamond cell
  Lumite should theoretically harvest more corrupted blocks than diamond because it is 1 tier up from the minimum cell required to harvest corrupted.

  
  With R24 having some durability changes, I thought I'd try it again.
  280 stone blocks with a wood cell
  300 limestone blocks with a stone cell
  350 stalactite and siltstone with an obsidian cell
  350 hardened lava and igneous rock with an iron cell
  400 corrupted blocks (dirt, stone) with a diamond cell
  600 lava blocks with a lumite cell
  
  Edit November 29, 2015: I did finaly notice that lava blocks require a lumite cell, so I went ahead and burned through one on lava blocks in R25.
  
  Wood cell durability appears to be doubled, 100 block durability increase for stone and obsidian cells, 50 block durability increase for iron cells, and no increase for diamond cells. With no increase in diamond cell durability, I'm also guessing that lumite did not get an increase. Not having tested before R24, I couldn't say for sure. I think I want to test out a few more things regarding durability, as well. I'll keep y'all posted on what I find.
  
  Edit #1: Let's discuss tiers (T#), now.
  
  T0 blocks are stuff you don't need a cell to harvest, T1 needs the T1 cell (wood), T2 needs T2 (stone), T3 needs T3 (obsidian), T4 needs T4 (iron), T5 needs T5 (diamond), T6 needs T6 (lumite). Block examples, from T0 to T6; dirt, stone, bedrock, siltstone, igneous rock, currupted stone, lava.
  
  Wood cell (T1) will always lose durability on whatever it can harvest
  Stone cell (T2) can harvest T0 blocks with no durability loss
  Obsidian cell (T3) can harvest T0 blocks with no durability loss
  Iron cell (T4) can harvest T1 blocks with no durability loss
  Diamond cell (T5) can harvest T2 blocks with no durability loss
  Lumite cell (T6) can harvest T3 blocks with no durability loss
  
  This may help you in planning how to maximize your mining cell life.
  
  Edit #2:
  
  After some further testing, it appears that when harvesting lower tier blocks, you can harvest twice as many blocks as you can "at tier". I tested wood, stone, and obsidian fully, and iron at T -2 and for all instances both T -1 and T -2 were twice what the at tier quantity was. So, hypothesizing that T -1 for iron and both T -1 and T -2 for diamond and lumite will follow the same pattern:
  Wood cells are 280 at tier, 560 lower tier (verified)
  Stone cells are 300 at tier, 600 lower tier (verified), infinite on T0
  Obsidian cells are 350 at tier, 700 lower tier (verified), infinite on T0
  Iron cells are 350 at tier, 700 lower tier (T -2 verified, T -1 hypothesized), infinite on T1 or lower
  Diamond cells are 400 at tier, 800 lower tier (hypothesized), infinite on T2 or lower
  Lumite cells are 600 at tier, and are 1200 lower tier (T -2 verified (thanks fatmacman), T -1 hypothesized), infinite on T3 or lower
  
  I think that's about all the testing I'm going to do on this, I've satisfied my curiosity. If anybody wants to verify iron cells on T -1 blocks (siltstone/stalactite), diamond cells on T -2 (siltstone/stalactite) or T -1 (lava layer), or lumite on T -1 (corruption), feel free.
  
  Edit #3:
  A general block guide, NOT comprehensive.
  
  T0 blocks, no cell required - I think everything found on the surface (tree parts, flowers, vines, grasses, bushes, 'shrooms, beeswax, etc.) as well as most surface found ground blocks (grass, savannah grass, detritus, dirt, rocky dirt, etc.) including sandstone and canyon floor, but not any other canyon block or fluids
  T1 blocks, wood cell required - stone
  T2 blocks, stone cell required - bedrock/limestone layer, peakstone, canyon stones
  T3 blocks, obsidian cell required - siltstone/stalactite level
  T4 blocks, iron cell required - lava layer
  T5 blocks, diamond cell required - corruption
  T6 blocks, lumite cell required - lava

[Mac]

I would love to see cells last alot longer since they are the primary tool you use and having to replace the cell so often is a bummer.

[bkeniry (aka Quetzovercoatl)]

Nice work there AvilerED.

[aly]

Nice reference information. Thank you for taking the time to run these tests. I know I will get use out of it.

[InnocentMurderer]

Thank you for going through these tests but i still feel that upgrading the durability is only a temporary fix for the main issue which is getting the materials needed to replace the entire cell once it's no longer any good. Especially obsidian since magnetite is so hard for some people to find like me and a few other people i know.

[Mac]

I think that the recipes as they now stand are well within acceptable limits... if people are complaining that it is a bit hard to get the materials for starting players then my response is that yes, the game is just harder for people at the start, but once you actually play it for a decent amount the parts become very easy to find and stockpile. If everything was just handed to you the game would quickly become boring.

[Lil Puppy]

I would contend that the premise of the game is crafting and not digging because digging is just grind. I love crafting and exploring and I would love to be able to do some but as it stands I do many dozens of times more digging than I could ever do crafting and that's just plain grind no matter how you look at it.

All Tier zero things should have ZERO durability decrease for ALL tiers of cells simply due to the fact that my default hand cell can harvest them. Durability is the issue with all the cells, right now it loses nothing at 3 levels below itself, perhaps it should be 2 levels or even just at it's own level.

Also, aside from wood, the other cell types have fuels that are rocks... rocks aren't fuels.
So maybe:
1. Leaf
2. Wood
3. Tar
4. Coal
5. Hardened Lava or whatever
6. Lava
∞. Arctec (infinite durability) requires absurd amounts of materials to craft.

[MyProfile]

I'm pretty sure this is still gong to need some tweaking but I haven't had a chance to work downstairs much yet enough to tell.

First thing I notice in the OP is,

350 hardened lava and igneous rock with an iron cell
400 corrupted blocks (dirt, stone) with a diamond cell

This is negligible first and no improvement second in durability for iron and diamond. I do realize the recipes were improved. I won't have a solid opinion for a few days I think so no bandwagon for me yet on this update.

I also noted a greatly exagerated amount of lag after the update in comparison to before but still to early to tell why, maybe my end or isp. It was downright hard to turn and harvest anything yesterday and the lag meter only showed latency once.

[Douglas MacGillivray]

Good stuff. Thanks for the info. When I start new, getting a Lumite power cell is one of my primary objectives. Once you have it, you can farm anything before the lava layer without durability loss. The speed at which they harvest is also a huge benefit, If done properly, you only need a few cells of each type before you get to lumite.

[Mac]

On a note, a Lumite Cell can dig 1200 Lava Level blocks.

[AvilerED]

Thanks, fatmacman. Data added to my observations.

[AvilerED]

Updated. Turns out there are T6 blocks in the game. Lava (liquid) requires lumite cell to harvest. Also put all the data at the top of the post for ease of reference.

[SquarelyCircle]

If this were a guide, it would be the best one available. I recommend you make it a guide. The other guides are generally uninformative... kind of useless. This is very useful.

Again, please make this a guide! :D
Thanks!

[Saraneth]

+1 add to guides

[Darth Nautas]

what about the charged wood mining cell? Theoretically, it has improved durability over the standard wood MC.

It seems to be a rare recipe to obtain, though.

EDIT: I made a screenshot with the recipe and noticed one thing: originally the standard wood MC used any mushrrom to craft and the charged one required specifically red mushrooms. Now both recipes are identical.

http://images.akamai.steamusercontent.com/ugc/544174641538066470/CFB850B90A02D7E564FE9777513A8F7C5EEB3585/

[AvilerED]

Yes, the recipes are identical. I think they always have been. Admittedly, at the time I found the charged wood cell recipe, I wasn't as concerned about such details, though. The charged wood cell is not available to everybody, and I was more concerned with the stock cells. I can at some point get that info added as I have found the recipe. I will look into turning this into a guide. Thanks for the feedback on that.