Built: outside, not with eight coordinates of an existing mine
Skill/Tech required: Ore Extraction
Special Note:
System Message from Gentry:Richter note: "A bit more costly" = pay double the materials. So don't tear down a broken mine thinking to rebuild it cheaper and avoid the cost in leather. Just repair it.
2006-08-21 03:20:27: Mines of all types may now be torn down.
2006-08-21 03:21:06: Note that if you do tear down a mine and rebuild on the same spot, it may be a bit more costly than just repairing an existing mine.
Mines collapse after a certain number of uses. A mine may be repaired indefinitely, but the cost to do so increases each time.
| Boards | Bricks | Water in jugs | Leather | Slate | |
| New | 30 | 60 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Repair 1 | 30 | 60 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Repair 2 | 30 | 60 | 7 | 7 | 2 |
| Repair 3 | 30 | 60 | 9 | 12 | 2 |
| Repair 4 | 30 | 60 | 11 | 19 | 2 |
| Repair 5 | 30 | 60 | 14 | 28 | 2 |
| Repair 6 | 30 | 60 | 18 | 39 | 2 |
| Repair 7 | 30 | 60 | 22 | 52 | 2 |
| Repair 8 | 30 | 60 | 27 | 67 | 2 |
| Repair 9 | 30 | 60 | 33 | 84 | 2 |
| Repair 10 | 30 | 60 | 39 | 103 | 2 |
| Repair 11 | 30 | 60 | 46 | 124 | 2 |
| Repair 12 | 30 | 50 | 54 | 147 | 2 |
| ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... |
| Repair 26 | 30 | 60 | 231 | 679 | 2 |
Formula for leather cost per repair is n^2+3, where n is the nth repair. -- Potamo
Formula for water in jugs seems to be (n^2)/3 + 6 -- Rodent
I have so far tested theories on 2 mines that had excavation limits of 5000 pulls where owner keeps all to see if there was a reason for why mines with excavation limits were producing less ore. MineA was worked until it produced 13 ore per pull, MineB was freshly built and hardly touched at only 2 ore per pull.
A worker with only L1 mining skill randomly worked on all crystals inside each mine 100 times. MineA started at 6 ore per pull and went down to 5 ore per pull. MineB remained at 2 ore per pull.
The same mines were worked in the same manner by a worker with L3 mining skill. MineA started at 12 ore per pull and went down to 11 ore per pull. MineB remained at 2 ore per pull.
Another test was then conducted to see if the ore output would decrease if the mine was worked on 1 crystal only by the worker with L3 mining skill. The ore output on MineA dropped to 10.
MineA was then worked again by the same worker by hitting random crystals. The ore output continued to drop to 6 ore per pull. The mine owner then worked the mine once to see whether the ore output would be 13 or 6, the mine only gave out 6 ore.
The worker with only L1 mining skill then proceeded to work MineA. MineA started at 4 ore per pull and went down to 2 ore per pull.
MineA was worked back up to 14 ore per pull by the owner and then was worked once again by the worker with L1 mining skill, only this time 200 times instead of 100 times to see if the ore output would drop past 5 ore per pull. The mine output started at 5 ore per pull, but at almost 100 pulls it went up to 7 ore per pull. Near the 200th pull the ore output went back down to 5 again and continued to keep dropping all the way to 2.
More data is being tested, however from what has been seen it is theorized that a mine on an excavation limit worked by randomly hitting all the crystals will continue bouncing up to maximum then down to minimum and back again. -- Tigerlily
My observations are somewhat different. Taking a Public Mine built by someone else, I worked it to breaking point six times by clicking on eight different crystals on a random basis. The ore increased up to 14 Copper Ore rather quickly before breaking the first time. Subsequent pulls and breaks, the ore generated has consistently bounced between 13 and 14 Ore per pull. I've tried on two mines, both repaired six times, and the same is evident on both. On each repair, I've done this myself - whether that has any part of the equation - SanderDolphin
A mine can be upgraded with a winch once you have learned the Mine Automation Skill.
Cost to install a winch is:
One a winch is installed, you can "start" the winch. It can be stopped at any time. When the winch is stopped, the mine breaks and must be repaired. the winch remains intact and can be restarted when the mine is repaired.
Tuning of the winch with the Mechanics Skill increases the yield of the winch. A winch tuned to level 2 yield approximately 13,000 ore before break (sample set of 1). The same mine tuned to level 3 has produced now over 44,000 ore and still hasn't broken. I asked a Dev about this, and he said I "got lucky", but it "looked good" - Telanoc
When in the process of building a mine, the crystals will always look black before you hit the "Build" button. I didn't know this at first, but it's good to keep in mind. ~Akefian