Finding Ore

[Tux]

Ok Community question here, for hard to find ores (depending on your luck like for me anything other than Iron) is it better to invest your time in climbing, and digging to find the right spot or just mine for weeks and watch TV?

[Keenan]

First off, due to the nature of Wurm's "pillars", climbing isn't really needed. All you need to do is enter the rock layer and you should be able to mine it entirely, with the exception of where it slopes into the water.

You'd be better off grinding prospecting and analyzing rock shards.

[LokitheWeaver]

Originally posted by Keenan:

First off, due to the nature of Wurm's "pillars", climbing isn't really needed. All you need to do is enter the rock layer and you should be able to mine it entirely, with the exception of where it slopes into the water.

You'd be better off grinding prospecting and analyzing rock shards.

I am a little confused about this - since I normally get stuck trying to climb steep slopes to scout for ores. My understanding is that you must "prospect" a rock tile or you get no info. So if I am trying to start a mine, and the base is ground (not rock), I would need to clear all the "non-rock" until I could prospect . . . and if I find nothing, I need to repeat that process, over and over, until I get lucky with a random earth removal process . . .

Also, even if it is difficult, climbing means I am also moving "into" the mountain, as well as "up", which means I can "prospect" ores that are deeper.

Am I missing something obvious here? (Very possible, since I do that all the time : )

[Keenan]

There's two ways to find ore.

1) You can prospect surface rock tiles to get an idea of if there's any ore below the surface.
2) You can mine a rock wall and analyize the rock shards (starting at 20 prospecting) to see if there's any ore near that wall.

In my own game play experience, I tend to use prospecting only when trying to select a spot to open up my original cave entrance. I will then mine out a tunnel system underground and use analyze to find other veins from that point.

With the pillars, it doesn't matter if you find ore via prospecting the top part of a mountain, you could still create a cave at an easier level to use and mine to that pillar. The vein will run the entire height of the cave map.

[brentallen]

wurm is 2D so the vein is the same at sea level as it is at 10,000 ft
if the rock is exposed then you can surface mine to find ore and then tunnel in near by. if not you find a place where wou will come out above the waterline, a dry mine and then search for veins and tunnel to them. do not make turns too tight or it makes your mine go all wonkey and dont over or under mine yourself

[The Insane Dump]

Originally posted by brentallen:

wurm is 2D so the vein is the same at sea level as it is at 10,000 ft

Random question from a prospective buyer; is Wurm mining still 2D where you can't create a multi-level mine?

Has there been any progress in this direction now that there are two-story houses and such?

[Brewdu]

mines have multiple "layers" or heights above or below the entry level, it is the ores that are colums or pillars that can be mined at the top or the bottom, and it will still act as the same ore.

[Keenan]

Originally posted by The Horrifically Insane Dump:

Originally posted by brentallen:

wurm is 2D so the vein is the same at sea level as it is at 10,000 ft

Random question from a prospective buyer; is Wurm mining still 2D where you can't create a multi-level mine?

Has there been any progress in this direction now that there are two-story houses and such?

Mining is likely as you remember, though we have improved modifying cave heights and floors quite a bit. You can also build structures in caves as well.

As for "3D" caves, it's something we discuss quite a bit but we have no plan currently to implement this. There's a LOT that needs to be considered (such as preserving existing caves), so even if we do announce it, the feature will take some time to develop and test.

[The Insane Dump]

Originally posted by Keenan:

Originally posted by The Horrifically Insane Dump:

Random question from a prospective buyer; is Wurm mining still 2D where you can't create a multi-level mine?

Has there been any progress in this direction now that there are two-story houses and such?

Mining is likely as you remember, though we have improved modifying cave heights and floors quite a bit. You can also build structures in caves as well.

As for "3D" caves, it's something we discuss quite a bit but we have no plan currently to implement this. There's a LOT that needs to be considered (such as preserving existing caves), so even if we do announce it, the feature will take some time to develop and test.

Thank you for the reply Keenan, much appreciated! Loved Wurm Online, but don't hate, as I am totally buying this the next time it's discounted! :)

[Freth]

I'm sure this varies depending on the custom map, but when I look at a typical custom map, the ores seem to be evenly peppered throughout. So it doesn't necessarily matter where you decide to put your mine, you'll eventually find the ores you're looking for. Also, on a decent server with an ongoing population, you'll find abandoned mines everywhere, where the work of finding veins has already been done by someone else. Use what's at your disposal. Scout areas where settlements used to be and check out the mines. Even if you can't find the ores you're looking for in your own mine, it's probably close by.

I send the other posts... use analyze to narrow down ore locations after you've dug your mine. Keep in mind that analyze will give you direction based on the wall you mined shard from.

[Keenan]

Originally posted by Filcher:

I'm sure this varies depending on the custom map, but when I look at a typical custom map, the ores seem to be evenly peppered throughout. So it doesn't necessarily matter where you decide to put your mine, you'll eventually find the ores you're looking for. Also, on a decent server with an ongoing population, you'll find abandoned mines everywhere, where the work of finding veins has already been done by someone else. Use what's at your disposal. Scout areas where settlements used to be and check out the mines. Even if you can't find the ores you're looking for in your own mine, it's probably close by.

I send the other posts... use analyze to narrow down ore locations after you've dug your mine. Keep in mind that analyze will give you direction based on the wall you mined shard from.

A note about the ore distribution. Custom maps do evenly pepper it or have their own way of doing it. The server will often group ores together though. So you may find a spot that is abundant in iron but little else.

You can use MapViewer to view the ore distribution of the default maps if you'd like.

https://github.com/xorith/MapViewer/releases/tag/1.3.2

While this is my program, it isn't an official CodeClub product or program. Support by me is limited at the moment due to my time spent on Wurm :) It should be an "executable jar", which means as long as you have Java installed, double-clicking the jar should launch it.

[Freth]

I think I downloaded this before when playing with the server, but I downloaded it again. Thank you!

[Keenan]

Originally posted by Filcher:

I think I downloaded this before when playing with the server, but I downloaded it again. Thank you!

Feel free to open issues on the github page if you run into any problems :)