Prospecting

Prospecting is a tier 1 metalworking crafting skill that allows the player to prospect the ground for ores and precious metals. Higher levels increases prospecting range. The range used is a radial sphere around the player, measured in meters.

Ranks

 * Prospector
 * Master Prospector
 * Grandmaster Prospector

Training Tips
Prospecting! Or how to get some ore without a rock handler. This tutorial will be updated.

Prospecting is the first skill in the miner-blacksmith branch and is available to all players from the beginning. Prospect for copper ability is available at 0 skill level and so we can start the guide immediately.

Initial search
What do you have to know about the ore? Ore veins are located in rock terrains, that is why you won't find much in sands, plains or swamps. It doesn't mean you will find nothing as there may be rocks beneath the layers of soil, mud and sand, so no one can say for sure where you can find ore.

Prospecting skill level determines the maximum distance at which you search for ore veins. When you use the ability, you prospect a sphere, centered on the tile you use the prospect ability on, with radius you set when use the skill. So, the max horizontal search distance is on your level and max vertical search distance is where you stand.

Initial search must be performed with max radius in order to find any vein of the ore type you are searching for.

Locating the ore vein
So, you've finally received a positive prospecting result and are jumping around! What should you do?

First, you should determine the ore vein direction.
 * 1) In case you prospect somewhat flat terrain, you have to determine the minimal radius at which you can prospect the vein from the current location. To do so, continuously repeat prospecting while reducing the search radius by 2 (or even 4-6-10 points as you can raise it again if you get a negative result).
 * 2) After you determine the minimum range at which you can prospect the ore vein from the current position, you have to prospect 8 tiles around you with exactly THE SAME radius. Negative and positive results will show you the direction to the ore.
 * 3) After you determine the direction, you have to locate the spot above the ore vein, and it's stratum depth. Move in the direction you've found and prospect every 5-8 tiles. If you don't get a positive result, then increase the prospecting range a little bit. If you move up/down the slope, you have to correct your search radius as every 2 vertical meters(character's height) are equal to 1 tile height and equal to 1 additional search radius. Your task is to find the location, where search radius will be the lowest while taking the terrain elevation in to consideration. This should show you where the ore spot is.
 * 4) After you locate the ore vein, you can start planning the mine entrance. You have to take in to consideration that when you dig tunnel downward or upward, the elevation changes at the rate of 1 vertical tile to 3 horizontal tiles, meaning you have to dig 3 tiles downward in order to get 2 meters (1 tile) down. That is why start mining right above the ore vein may not be the best idea. Usually, you will spend much less efforts if start mining from some lowland nearby.
 * 5) As you proceed with your tunnel, you have to correct the mining direction by prospecting the walls, floor and ceiling of the mine:
 * 6) * search for the minimum radius where you prospect the ore in the direction of the mine.
 * 7) * prospect left and right walls with the same radius. It will tell you to turn if left and right results are different or even less that in the digging direction.
 * 8) * prospect floor and ceiling with the radius+2 (or search for the minimum radius both for the floor and ceiling) - it will tell you if you need to dig downwards or upwards if you receive different results.

Try to avoid digging in the diagonal direction as it increases the number of tiles you have to dig through. And good luck!

Here is one of the videos showing prospecting.

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