A Guide to Mining in Entropia

 

In this tutorial we will be explaining the basics and somewhat more in-depth aspects to mining. We will be starting off with the very basics of what you need to start mining, to more detailed explanations on the numbers you see on the tools you need. This guide will show you how to mine, however it will not tell you where to mine or how to profit; this is something that needs to be figured out by you.

The video tutorial below will also cover the information in this article. We recommend both reading this article and watching the video to gain a full understanding of mining in Entropia Universe.

So without further ado, let’s start!

Basic Tools for Mining In Entropia Universe

To start out with mining you need to understand what kind of tools are required to mine with. First of all is the core of every miners inventory when it comes to mining which is the finder. 

This tool allows you to survey or search the area for resources, but its effectiveness depends on how it is used and the skill level of the user. These finders come in different models and level requirements. Take special care to look at the level requirements and what your level is. Each resource you can mine for has its own profession level. There is Prospector (Ores), Surveyor (Energy Matter), and Treasure Hunter (Treasure). Being eligible to use a finder for 1 profession does not mean you are also qualified to use it for the other professions.

These are the basic things you need to pay attention to when picking out your finder to work with. All other stats you see are dependent on your profession level related to the resource you are trying to dig up. One small heads up: the finders from the TT are there to learn with. They consume considerable less probes (1/10 of the normal finders) but this also means the claims you find are only 10% of the value they could have been.

In order to find something with a Finder you need to have something that helps you detect them. These are called probes. Just like a weapon uses ammo, this is the “ammo”  for your finder. They can also function on Universal Ammo which is also displayed in the stats. 

A normal finder uses: 

• 10 probes/5000 Universal ammo for Energy Matter (Surveyor profession); 
• 20 probes/10000 Universal ammo for Ores (Prospector profession)
• 30 probes/15000 Universal ammo for Treasure (Treasure hunter profession) 

You can search for each resource at the same time or any combination of them.

Then last and not least, the excavator. Because after all, you need to be able to dig up the things you find. That is where the excavators come in. Aim this tool at your claim and use it, and it will dig up the resource you found in certain quantities. The quantities depend on your skill level and the capacity of the tool. In general your professions level with this tool does not really affect whether you can get everything you found or whether you can dig up a certain resource, it only affects the speed at which you can extract it. 

Stats You Need to Know Before Mining

Now that we have the right tools, we can get more in-depth on what certain stats mean on your finder. We've got 2 sets of numbers which need further explaining: these are average search depth and range.

Average search depth is important if you are aiming for specific resources you want to find. Most resources have a minimum and/or maximum depth they can be found at. Lysterium is fairly common and can be found anywhere from 5-1000 meters deep. However Langotz can only be found approximately between 592 and 796 meters and Morpheus between 821 and 1000 meters. 

The other important stat is range. This number is really important to remember when you go for indoor mining. Range indicates the search radius where your finder will search in to find resources. This is relatively important when it comes to effective mining.

If you drop a probe with a finder that has a 55 meter radius and you move 55 meters to drop another probe, the 2 search radii will overlap too much, basically wasting the search since you already searched almost half of the area already. Think of it like 2 overlapping circles, where the center of each one is touching the circumference of the other. This is not an effective way to search for resources. To be more efficient, move further away from the first drop zone so the circles would not overlap. Walking twice the distance than the range of your tool (in this case 110 meters) would prevent this overlap and makes sure you are searching in a fresh area.

Range can also be affected by where you mine. Indoor and outdoor (surface) mining are different with regard to this. While outdoor mining, your tool will have a radius of 55 meter it searches in, while indoor mining has reduces the search radius by about 50%. This more narrow radius means that a find will generally be bigger. 

Now We Can Start Mining

First, equip the finder and a little window will open up on your screen. This little screen is your finder HUD. You can click the symbols on and off to enable or disable searching for that particular resource, whether it's ore, energy matter, or treasure. The number of probes will change accordingly.

Now let's drop that probe. As you will see in the finder HUD, it will tell you it is searching. Sometimes it will say “no resources found" if there are no resources in the area; this is why it is important not to overlap search radii. Once you do find a resource, you can see you received a resource deed in your inventory. For every resource you find you will receive a deed, but you can only find 1 of each type of resource per search attempt. If you search for all 3 different types you can get 1 deed for treasure, ores and energy matter. 

In the world itself you will see these finds manifest themselves into claims, small floating objects signifying a find. Only if you own the deed for it can you extract resources from it. They will only be up for a short amount of time depending on the size of the claim, but you can see the timer on the deed itself. If you are lucky and find something worth over 4000 PED, you get something referred to as a tower. A tower will extract the resource for you, and once every 24 hours you can come around and pick up the resource it drilled up for you (including the skills).

There is an additional function to these claims and deeds. In some cases, some creatures or perhaps the terrain prevents you to dig up the claim you found. For these circumstances you can summon the claim to you. The maximum range you can summon your claim from is about 60 meters, and you have to make sure you are on a solid surface to prevent it from possibly going underground.

What To Do With Your mined RESOURCES

So now you have some materials you mined and you're wondering what to do. Of course, you want to get some of that fresh PED back that you spent on finding and digging it up. But hold your horses, don't run to the first trader just yet! Sometimes some mined materials are worth more when you refine them. A raw ore, energy matter, or treasure usually has a refined version of itself. Refining does cost a bit of decay but in some cases the markup difference can be 5% or even more so it could be worth it. In order to refine your resources, you need a refiner; these are available in the Trade Terminal. Simply put in the materials you want to refine and press the "Refine" button. Fewer items will be delivered into your inventory, but the Trade Terminal value of the items will be the same. This way you can get max efficiency out of your mining run.

One Last Note: Amplifiers and enhancers

This will be a short bit since it is more advanced and preferably you want to get more experience as a miner before heading into this kind of stuff.

Amplifiers are basically self-explanatory: they amplify your mining run, as well as the amount of decay or PED you put into 1 search, which in turn should yield more if you find something. Amplifiers basically allow you to find really big globals or generate Hall of Fame events (HoFs) more easily, but it is never guaranteed. So it is a high risk high reward situation.

There are two ways to amplify your mining run. Attaching amplifiers directly to your finder is the most common way of doing it. The amp, as players call it, will add extra decay to each drop you make, amplifying the find you might get. The amps are level-dependent so that you can't immediately start using the highest level mining amps. 

The second way of amplifying your mining run is to use a finder which uses additional probes when searching for resources. The added amount of value from the probes can amplify the claims you might find. Now, you can always try to be a total beast and attach a normal amp to a finder which is already amped and pray to Lootius you hit something really big. However, these would make for really expensive mining runs, and keep in mind a hit is never guaranteed. 

Just like with weapons and healing tools, finders and excavators can be tiered up and enhanced using tools called enhancers. For finders, these enhancers are depth enhancers, increasing the average depth at which your finder will search for resources. There are range enhancers and skill modifying enhancers as well, however those see very little use. For excavators there are speed enhancers, which basically increase the speed at which you can extract resources from a claim. It's worth mentioning if you ever consider mining in lootable PVP, where extraction speed is critical.

Sign Up For Entropia Universe And Start Mining Today

That concludes the mining guide. If you have any suggestions or general comments, send us a message and we will revise it as necessary.

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