Mining "large structures" for hardened clay?

[BethanyFerrell]

I've been trying to fulfill the first of the bridge commissions involving pretty big quantities of Hardened Clay. Even after reducing game speed to 50% — and ohhh, how I wish I'd known about that technique when starting the game! — I can't mine enough Tempering Liquid to keep up. Looks like the demand will just go up in succeeding commissions.

In this thread and others I've read about mining some kind of "large structures" in the hazardous ruins to gather Hardened Clay. I've found numerous hidden rooms but never noticed any structures near them, even after reading the thread and specifically searching for such structures.

Is the info in that thread outdated? Can Hardened clay still be acquired this way? If so, what am I looking for; about how far from the hidden room should I be searching?

I've not yet cleared any levels of the sewage treatment plant so I can't hire the Civil Patrol to do the dirty work, darn it. With time running out on the commission I'd rather find a quicker way to gain the stuff.

[sga100]

If I remember correctly you can make hardened clay in the blender. For the tempering liquid you can do the inspection mission at the commerce at the weekend. It most often give tempering liquid as a reward, it isn't that much but it adds up.

[esotericist]

there are things you can harvest for various things in the secret rooms, and i did get tempering liquid that way once, but there's no reliable way to get specific secret rooms, so no reliable way to get tempering liquid this way. plus getting secret rooms reliably is also difficult.

the intended way to get bulk tempering liquid is, in fact, through the sewage plant. the game expects you to have done some of that before the bridge quest. if things are that tight, you might have to roll back some days?

(also: 'hazardous ruin' specifically refers to the combat dungeons like the sewage plant. the thread you linked to is discussing 'abandoned ruin 2', which is not a hazardous ruin)

[1MBee]

Don't forget that you can also post commissions for the Civil Corps at their hangout next to the clinic. Depending on how many levels you cleared in the Sewage Plant, there's a higher chance they will bring back tempering liquid, but it does cost $$. To sum up what everyone has said so far, you can get tempering liquid by: mining in AR #2, going into the Sewage Plant, posting a commission at the Civil Corps, or completing weekend Commerce Guild inspections.

As for hardened clay, yes, you can only get this from a blender.

[BethanyFerrell]

Thanks for the advice. I was hoping to get the hardened clay without burning through my meager supply of tempering liquid (could really use more metal storage boxes for collating relic pieces), but it looks like that's how it will have to be.

Here's what made me wonder, in addition to the older threads on the topic. From the fandom.com wiki[mytimeatportia.fandom.com]…
"Hardened Clay can also be obtained by breaking structures in any Abandoned Ruins with Iron Pickaxe or higher."

Of course, wikis can become outdated or contain incorrect information in the first place.

One odd thing: in my most recent play session, I mined abandoned ruin #2 and found four or five tempering liquids. One, maybe two max on prior mining expeditions. Go figure. Or maybe it's not so odd, it could be switching to half speed gives so much more time that it's not unusual at all. Will try this a couple more times.

Originally posted by esotericist:

(also: 'hazardous ruin' specifically refers to the combat dungeons like the sewage plant. the thread you linked to is discussing 'abandoned ruin 2', which is not a hazardous ruin)

My mistake; abandoned ≠ hazardous!

[Ranayna]

I remember the structures you are referring to. I have not played again for much yet, and have not dug much in the abandoned ruins this time, so i do not know if they are still there. It's hard to prove a negative...
But i remember large structures with a blue outline when targeted, that could be mined. They took a lot of hits, and could indeed return hardened clay, but not always.

[BethanyFerrell]

Aha! Thank you, that's the closest I've seen to definite info. I've not seen any targetable objects near hidden rooms using the once-upgraded relic-detecting goggles. Not been playing either this week, for that matter; too much work. But I'll keep it in mind and do some extra exploring next time the so-called real world lets me have some time off.

[worstcase11]

Those structure objects have been removed from the abandoned mines in the PC version some updates ago. (They might still be found in some of the older console versions.)

[BethanyFerrell]

Aw, rats. Rat princes and kings, even. Oh well, I'll keep digging for that darned tempering liquid. Thank you for confirming what I'd been suspecting.

[Pixel Peeper]

Yeah, I started playing a few weeks ago and I've never seen any of those structures, there's no way they would have been this rare. They're just not in the game.

Thankfully, Tempering Liquid is pretty easy to find in fairly large amounts. The first Hazardous Ruins lists which of its four sections drops them, and once you get to a decent Workshop level you get some just for doing inspections.

[esotericist]

the easiest way to get tempering liquid in large quantities is still to blow through the first two stages of the sewage plant, so you can place orders with the civil corps (i say the first two stages, because the second stage has some notable things you'll need as well in addition to the tempering liquid, which shows up reliably in the civil corps commissions for it. some of which does not show up in the third and fourth tiers of the commissions, which is annoying).

the game does expect you'll be doing the hazardous ruins stuff in advance of when you genuinely need things (and in general there's a bunch of bits where there's a degree of 'guide dang it' on mats you didn't know you should be collecting in bulk until you suddenly need it in bulk, like blood stone).

[BethanyFerrell]

Very good counsel, thank you both. I often blunder my way through a first play-through of games like this (or Stardew Valley, or No Man's Sky, or Terraria or Minecraft or…), consulting the wiki — often after it's too late — and then having a serious go once I'm up to speed on the basics.

Despite the dumb-in-retrospect missteps, those first play-throughs have in their favor many magical moments: learning that things in Portia really do cast shadows, even the ornamental windmill over at Sophie's farm; getting the hang of stocking up on life-support chemicals so I can explore longer than just a minute or two away from my first, crummy, broken-down starship; finally getting the hang of growing wheat underground (and not starving to death repeatedly) on the tiny, nearly resource-less island I spawned on, then swimming for the mainland and discovering a pyramid.

[worstcase11]

@BethanyFerrell: On that note - get some big planters aand plant some crystella trees in your yard (if you haven't already). Save up on crystals and saphires, you will need a bunch late in the endgame, also carbon fibre cloth, though that can be aquired relatively easily from the civil corps - though it is a hidden resource in their ingalls mine level commissions.