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Welcome, Miner! You will break rocks, slay monsters, and die lost and alone in the depths of the caverns. Not on some sandy asteroid, but on what we call Lavaland!
Welcome, Miner! You will break rocks, slay monsters, and die lost and alone in the depths of the caverns. Not on some sandy asteroid, but on what we call Lavaland!



Revision as of 23:58, 29 January 2025

This page needs to be reviewed/updated.
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SUPPLY

Shaft Miner

Superiors: Quartermaster
Difficulty: Medium
Guides: This page.
Access: Mining Station, Mining Station EVA, Cargo Office, Mineral Storage
Duties: Mine ores and process them into useful materials. Kill hostile wildlife. Go on an adventure in mysterious ruins.
Minimum requirements: Stay alive long enough to return your loot to the station.
Minimum Chronological Age: Not defined

SUPPLY

Department head:
Quartermaster
Supply roles
Guides
Cargo Policy

Department Standards: The Quartermaster can lay out additional standards for the department, within reason.

  • Orders, legal or illegal are an IC issue, unless breaking another rule. (see: cargo setting up their own SM.)
  • The Cargo/Supply department are not formal employees of NT, they are temporary-contractors from the FTU, filling in for the Cargo Department.
  • As cargo, you shouldn't be refusing orders without a justifying IC reason.
  • Cargo is still under Corporate Regulations while on NT Property.

Welcome, Miner! You will break rocks, slay monsters, and die lost and alone in the depths of the caverns. Not on some sandy asteroid, but on what we call Lavaland!

Workin' In The Coal Mine

Mining Dock
The Mining Dock is your access to the Mining Station.

Being a miner can be somewhat tedious, but you serve a crucial role in the R&D food chain, and can accrue some decent personal rewards. Just follow a few guidelines to keep yourself from becoming dead in the mines.

Your workplace, Lavaland, has some hazards:

  • Ash storms will cut right through your clothes, dealing constant burn damage if you are outside. A rain of dark particles outdoors indicate an ash storm. Occasionally you will luck out and a storm will turn out to be a harmless emberfall. Listen to the weather radios mounted in the mining dock and cargo bay for warnings about coming storms, or examine them to see when the next one is scheduled to arrive, or using your suit voucher to take a SEVA suit.
  • Lava - one step in and you'll be badly burned and on fire. The mining base has showers mounted just inside the entrance door to put you out, and extinguishers are generally placed there as well.
  • Chasms - Anything that falls into one will disappear from this world. If your fellow miners take a dive in to one, consider buying an emergency retrieval hook from cargo or the mining equipment vendor and fishing them out with a fishing rod.
  • Atmosphere - Lavaland's atmosphere is randomized at roundstart, and is almost always unbreathable. Exact mixes can be anything from a gradual build-up of toxin damage, to immediately knocking you out if your mask is off, to giving you brain damage and traumas if you breathe it in. An underrated killer of civilian miners is catching fire from lava or enemies and having your breath mask burn away - Fortunately, mining masks are fireproofed by default.

The risk of these hazards can be reduced by watching your step and being aware of your surroundings. Don't walk into lava, chasms, or outside during an ash storm. You'll get a text warning not long before a ash storm is about to begin, so long as you stay near shelter (or have a bluespace shelter capsule with you) then you'll be fine.

You can click on an adjacent rock or run directly into it to begin picking or drilling the rock, but the Kinetic Accelerator is much faster and more efficient and you should be using that instead of a pickaxe or basic mining drill. Keep in mind that if you do decide to pick or drill your way through rock, you can have multiple dig jobs running at the same time to mine faster.

Working With Your Boss

Who is your boss? You answer to the Quartermaster, much like the rest of Supply. They can watch cameras on lavaland and has full access to Mining, as well as track you via GPS, so keep that in mind.

The Objective

You're here to mine, so get digging! Once you're full to bursting with ores, drag your ore box back to the station and head to cargo where the Ore Redemption Machine Ore Redemption Machine sits. Insert your ID and, drag the box next to the machine to automatically offload your ores and have them instantly processed into sheets. Then click "claim" to retrieve money as a reward to your currently work ID. Now print new gear from the supply techfab and buy new gear from the mining vendor, then take your crate and head back to lavaland!

How to Do This

Gearing up

  1. Gear up! From the mining equipment locker, you will need Meson Scanner goggles, a mining scanner, your pickaxe (optional), a bluespace shelter capsule (DON'T FORGET!) and your standard issue proto-kinetic accelerator. If you want, there is also an additional mining satchel, and a shovel for digging up ash (for glass). Grab your mining mask out of your backpack's emergency box and put it on - It's fire-proofed, and can be pushed aside to eat and drink. Your mining radio headset also comes built in with a specialized microphone/heads-up display, altering your Control+Middle Click point to allow you to place visible markers with basic commands attached (EG Go Here, Attack, Danger).
  2. Attach your seclite and knife to your proto-kinetic accelerator to save space, and to let you bash things harder without having to take out your knife. If you keep this on your belt slot, you can use it as a flashlight and keep your pockets free for your satchel and whatever else you need.
  3. Use your voucher on a mining vending machine to select your choice of advanced mining tools, listed below.
  4. Go to the Lavaland Mining Station and get an explorer suit, breath mask, and oxygen tank from Mining 'EVA'. On the south-west side of the base, there is a mini-Medbay where you can find first-aid kits, and a maintenance room where you can top off internals. The nearby storage room has more gear lockers and Ore boxes, as well as the old ore refinery machine if you feel the need to make material sheets by hand for some reason.
  5. Before you go, you'll want an Ore Box, which can hold an infinite amount of minerals. Ore boxes are available on the mining station, the mining shuttle and rarely on the field. More can be built with wood planks. Dragging an ore box while you have a mining satchel in your pocket and walking over ores automatically deposits them into the box.
  6. For extra safety, grab a GPS device, set it to your name and tell the QM and other miners about it. If you're lucky, they will drag your lifeless body back to medbay. Also consider taking a fire extinguisher with you, in case you step in lava - Lava adds a large amount of fireticks to you, enough to require rolling for several seconds to put out.

Smashing rocks

  1. Find minerals. The further north, the better ore. Activate your scanner and shove it into your bag or internals box. Every once in a while it sends out a pulse that lets you see deposits in the rock a few tiles away from you. Try to get a mixture of every type of mineral.
  2. Pick up minerals by either having your mining bag in your belt slot or pockets, then just walk over the minerals. If you're dragging an ore box behind you, you'll automatically deposit minerals into the box instead of your bag.
  3. Once you've had enough, return to the main station with your Ore box. Do not deliver ore to the processing plant on the lavaland mining base, as that room is outdated.
  4. Miners have access to the science channel (with :n).
  5. Drag your ore box to the delivery tile next to the ORM Ore Redemption Machine (usually north or south of it, depending on station). That'll automatically empty the box into the ORM Ore Redemption Machine.
  6. Take your mining satchel into your hand and activate it while standing on the same delivery tile next to the ORM Ore Redemption Machine. This will empty any ores in the bag into the ORM as well. Already processed sheets inserted into the ORM do not give any points. Only raw ores count.
  7. Click "Claim". You do not need to insert your ID.
  8. Go to a mining equipment vendor to buy advanced equipment with the points you've gained. Gear can either be delivered through the cargo shuttle, or pod-dropped in immediately for an extra charge.

Boulder Mining

  1. Make sure you have the boulder refinery machines build. Make SURE you turn on both the machines AND the conveyor belt underneath them.
  2. Find a boulder vent. There will always be one that is already complete near the mining dock, providing the station with a trickle feed of glass and iron. Others can be found by listening to your mining scan, which pings when you're within around 7 tiles of a vent, or by buying a vent pinpointer with mining points, which roughly points you to the nearest unclaimed vent.
  3. Hit the vent with your mining scanner. After a short scanning period, it will do a few things:
    1. Flag it with a GPS signal.
    2. Earn you a handful of mining points
    3. Replace the question mark above it with symbols denoting what materials it produces
  4. Prepare for a fight, preferably by clearing a decently large area around the vent of rocks and enemies and grabbing one or two more miners, then hit the vent with your scanner again to call in an autonomous drone. Your job for the next few minutes will be to protect the drone; Enemies appropriate to the area (EG, goliathes and legions for lavaland, polar bears and snow lobstrocities for Icebox) will start spawning in around the vent, in waves of around 2-4 enemies per wave. By default, they will begin pathing to and attacking the drone (except for polar bears, which are passive by default), but will turn and attack you if you get their attention. Depending on the size of the boulders the vent produces (examine the vent after the first scan to check), the fight will last for around 3-8 waves. If the drone gets destroyed, clear the enemies out, consider grabbing better gear, then try again.
  5. Once the drone has successfully activated the vent, you're done! Boulders will automatically be teleported from the vent up to the refinery teleporter, and get processed by the machines into usable ores. You also receive a large chunk of mining points for helping defend a vent.

Life beyond smashing rocks

  1. Use your better gear to push deeper into Lavaland.
  2. Print Advanced Plasma Cutters and Mining Satchels of Holding at the cargo protolathe for even more efficient mining.
  3. If science didn't prinit them, yell at them with :n or .n or go and ask at their front desk. It's hard to overstate how much these improve efficiency.
  4. If you feel robust enough, explore some ruins and die horribly get amazing rewards. Tendrils are an easy enough source of special loot, if you can fight off two to three enemies at once while attacking them.
  5. If you feel VERY robust, look for Megafauna with your GPS and try to kill it, for extremely valuable loot. If you do this, make sure to tell the Cargo department beforehand, so that they can send someone out to retrieve your corpse if you die. Do your absolute best to not fight them near the mining base.

Voucher equipment

You start the shift with a complimentary mining voucher, worth one free item out of a selection of four. These items, and their strengths, are:

  • Survival Capsule and Explorer's Webbing: The webbing (you put on your belt slot) allows you to carry even more mining equipment - having a second shelter capsule is nice too. 900 pts value.
  • Resonator Kit: Comes with a resonator, and a mini extinguisher. 800 pts.
  • Mining Drone: A little companion that helps in storing ore and hunting wildlife. Only useful once you install the sentience upgrade module. Comes with an industrial welding tool, a welding mask and a KA modkit that allows shots to pass through the drone. ~800 pts.
  • Extraction and Rescue Kit: Contains a fulton extraction pack and a beacon, which allows you to send back home minerals, items and dead miners without having to use the ferry. As a bonus, you get 30 marker beacons too. 1700 pts.
  • Crusher Kit: Contains a proto-kinetic crusher and a mini fire extinguisher. The crusher is two-handed and hard to use without getting hit, but has a chance to make fauna drop powerful trophies. 800 pts.
  • Mining Conscription Kit: A duffle bag full of basic items for one conscript - Proto-kinetic accelerator, survival knife, seclite, explorer's suit, mesons, mining scanner and satchel, gas mask, a supply radio key and a special card that adds mining access to IDs. Good for when you want to recruit metafriends fresh conscripts. 1500 pts.

Mining Skill

Mining with certain tools will slowly increase your mining skill, making you faster at mining. If your skill in mining is greater than Journeyman you will also randomly see ores around you when using a mining tool.

For Great Profit!

Mining for the sake of it can only get you so far. By mining minerals and returning them to the station you'll accrue mining points, you can then use these points to buy better and more powerful equipment and supplies from an equipment vendor. You can then in turn use these items to push further into Lavaland to mine more minerals, fell stronger wildlife and find greater treasure. Consider it all an investment.

Survival Medipens can help you in a pinch for example, or a Wormhole Jaunter can help you escape what would have been a death trap. Or using Stabilizing Serum on Legion Cores, to let you save their heal and anti-slowdown effects for later. Or you can spend it all on booze and cigars.

Default Gear

The following is a list of default mining equipment:

Essential Equipment

Item Description

Explorer Suit
This comes with a inbuilt hood. It provides some protection against heat and cold, and works as decent armor with no slowdown. It is not spaceproof, but can hold a full-sized oxygen tank or other mining gear. You can also reinforce the suit and hood with up to 3 goliath plates.

Melee 30-60, bullet = 10, laser = 10, energy = 20, bomb = 50, bio = 100, rad = 50, fire = 50, acid = 50.


Explorer Gas Mask and Oxygen Tank
So you can have oxygen when mining. Oxygen tanks are available from the tank storage unit, and can be worn on your suits storage slot. You can also use your emergency oxygen tank which can be placed on your suit. Running out of oxygen is unlikely with the full sized tank.

Meson Scanners and Automatic Mining Scanner
Activating the scanner will briefly flash any ore on screen - it works even inside a box. Can be used to stop gibtonite from exploding.
File:GPSm.gif
Global Positioning System, GPS
The crew monitoring console back on the station won't catch your suit sensor signal from all the way down on the planet. Having one of these on you will help others track down your body if you happen to develop a case of the dead. In addition it can be used to locate other miners (who bothered to take it) as well as "lost" signals. Megafauna, necropolis tendrils, and certain ruins emit GPS signals. Be wary. Be sure to set your name on the GPS.

Proto-kinetic Accelerator
A standard issue gun. The good part is that it packs a punch in a low pressure environment, is very good at digging and has infinite shots. The bad part is that it tickles in pressurized environments, has a cooldown after each shot, and has a range of three steps. Can be dual wielded on
Combat Mode
Toggle with 4 or F by default. Left-clicking people with an empty hand will Harm them if on, or Help them if off. Prevents you from switching places or being pushed when colliding with people.
at the price of lower accuracy and speed. Alternatively, turn off
Combat Mode
Toggle with 4 or F by default. Left-clicking people with an empty hand will Harm them if on, or Help them if off. Prevents you from switching places or being pushed when colliding with people.
and switch hands after every shot to get around the accuracy reduction.

KAs deal brute damage (40 standard/10 in pressurized rooms), but count as explosive versus armor. That way, suits like bomb suits and the RD hardsuit can negate 90% of the damage dealt.


Survival Knife
Use it for butchering the wildlife (hit corpse while on
Combat Mode
Toggle with 4 or F by default. Left-clicking people with an empty hand will Harm them if on, or Help them if off. Prevents you from switching places or being pushed when colliding with people.
). It's as strong against mobs as a pickaxe, but you can't mine with it. You can store it in your boots to save space, but remember to alt-click the boots to draw the knife back out. Alternatively, stick it on your KA.

Survival Emergency Medipen
A medipen for surviving in harsh environments. Heals most common damage sources. WARNING: May cause organ damage. Takes 10 seconds to inject and only injects half the reagents unless done in low pressure environment, where it's instant. Contains 8u Epinephrine, 8u Aiuri, 8u Libital and 6u Leporazine.

Point Transfer Card
A card that can store mining points, to transfer between miners. Comes pre-loaded with 500 mining points.

Bluespace shelter capsule
Activate this in your hand, and it'll near instantly produce a beautiful shelter. Ash storms do not hurt you inside, but wildlife can break through the walls. The shelter contains a cupboard which contains a guitar (or dice) and some donk pockets. It also has a stasis bed which requires another person to use. Never leave home without one. You're issued one for free in your the mining lockers on station.
File:OreSatchel.png
Ore Satchel
For carrying ore without using a mining cart, holds 50 ore nuggets. Empty it into boxes by using the satchel on them.
Newbie tip: Put it in one of your pocket slots, then start dragging an ore box. Any ore you walk over will be transferred to the box.
File:Orebox.png
Ore box
Used for carrying huge amounts of ore. While a satchel can only hold 50 nuggets, this can hold an unlimited sum. You cannot carry it, but you can drag it with you.

Use your satchel on the box to empty it into the box. Even better: Drag it behind you with an ore satchel in your pocket.


Mining Voucher
Found in your backpack, exchange this at the mining equipment locker for one of several selections which include various mining items.

Seclite
A beefed up flashlight. Does 9 damage. Put this on your KA to free up inventory space.

Miscellaneous Equipment

Items that, while not critical to take, can be situationally useful.

Item Description

Pickaxe
Somewhat antiquated thanks to the prevalence of the proto-kinetic accelerator and resonator. Nevertheless it can be used to dig wide tunnels, robust things in melee combat and as a backup if you lose your resonator. It can also fit inside a belt chest webbing.

Shovel
Gathering sand. You can stick this in your backpack. A crappier version of a compact pickaxe

Crowbar
For removing KA mods, or just in case when there is a blackout. Spawns in your box.

Advanced Gear

The following are more advanced items that need to be purchased from a mining equipment vendor, with points:

Voucher/Reward Equipment

These items can either be acquired from a voucher, or can be bought with mining points, usually earned from delivering ore to the Ore Redemption Machine Ore Redemption Machine on the station. Prices are included.

Mining Equipment Vendor
Mining Equipment Vendor
Mining Equipment Vendor List
Item Description cPrice
1 Marker Beacon A glowing prism stone that you can anchor to the ground. Useful if you tend to get lost. a10 Points
10 Marker Beacon Same as above, but 10 beacons. a100 Points
30 Marker Beacon Same as above, but 30 beacons. a300 Points
File:Whiskey bottle.png
Whiskey
A bottle of alcohol, helps you forget you literally work in hell. a100 Points
File:Absinthe bottle.png
Absinthe
A bottle of alcohol, helps you forget you literally work in hell. a100 Points
File:Cigar.png
Cigar
A high-quality havana cigar. a150 Points
File:Soap.png
Soap
A bar of slippery soap. a200 Points
File:Laser pointer.png
Laser Pointer
Just a laser pointer, don't shite it into people's eyes. Useful against rogue Cyborgs. a300 Points
File:Facehugger.png
Toy Facehugger
An extremely realistic-looking facehugger toy, to prank the crew with. Latches onto faces and tears off masks. a300 Points
File:Bottle17.png
Stabilizing Serum
Can be used on legion souls to prevent them from decaying. a400 Points
File:Fulton beacon.png
Fulton Beacon
Creates an anchored beacon when used in hand that fulton packs can target as a drop-off point. a400 Points

Bluespace Shelter Capsule
The Shelter Capsule is indispensable for long expeditions: it creates an ash-storm proof 3x3 room complete with breathable air, a sleeper and some warm donk-pockets. a400 Points
File:Gar mesons.png
GAR Mesons
A pair of very sharp meson scanners. Can be thrown as a weapon, with a chance to embed. a500 Points
File:Miner webbing.png
Chest Webbing
Can be worn on the belt slot, stores mining equipment. a500 Points

Survival Medipen
Contains several healing and heat-stabilizing chemicals. Using more than one in a short period may cause overdosing. Takes 10 seconds to inject and only injects half the reagents unless done in low pressure environment, where it's instant. See contents here. a500 Points
File:Box.png
Brute First-Aid Kit
Contains bandages and brute-healing patches. a600 Points
File:Implanter.png
Tracking Implant Kit
Contains three tracking implants and a locator; useful if you want others to find your corpse for up to 10 minutes after death. a600 Points
File:Jaunter.png
Wormhole Jaunter
One-use item that creates a wormhole to a random beacon on station. The portal is unstable and will make you dizzy after using it. Can be worn on the belt slot to prevent death on chasms. a750 Points

Proto-kinetic Crusher
A powerful two-handed melee weapon. Shoots kinetic bolts that don't deal damage, but can mark large creatures making the hammer deal increased damage (20->50 Brute) when used on them. It will deal even greater damage (80) on backstab.
What makes the Crusher special, is that enemies killed by it have a chance to drop trophies, powerful "modkits" that can be attached to the Crusher.
a750 Points

Proto-kinetic Accelerator
The classic mining weapon. Buy it from here if you did not get one at roundstart. a750 Points

Advanced Mining Scanner
A upgrade over the default Mining Scanner. This tool has a much larger detection radius of seven tiles (the entire screen), and updates more frequently. a800 Points

Resonator
Another deadly tool. This will, when used on rock or an empty space, create a field on that spot that lasts until detonated, causing serious damage (60 Brute) to anything standing on it. Has 2 modes: Automatic detonation after 2 seconds, or manual which triggers after you hit a field with resonator. You can activate it in your hand to switch mode. Fields can chain detonate. Just like the kinetic accelerator, it does reduced damage (20) in pressurized environments. Using it on an already-marked spot will instantly rupture the field. a800 Points

Luxury Medipen
Cutting edge bluespace technology allowed Nanotrasen to compact 60u of volume into a single medipen. Contains rare and powerful chemicals used to aid in exploration of very hard enviroments. WARNING: DO NOT MIX WITH EPINEPHRINE OR ATROPINE. Takes 10 seconds to inject and only injects half the reagents unless done in low pressure environment, where it's instant. Contains 10u Salbutamol, 10u Penthrite, 10u Oxandrolone, 10u Salicyclic Acid, 10u Omnizine, and 10 Leporazine. a1000 Points

Fulton Extraction Pack
A balloon that can be used to extract equipment or personnel who are outside (not within the station or the mining base) to a Fulton Recovery Beacon. Anything not bolted down can be moved. Swap which beacon the pack is aiming at by using the pack in hand. It has a limited number of uses, examine the pack to check how many are left. a1000 Points

Lazarus Injector
A miracle injection capable of reviving simple living beings from death, making them friendly to you and the crew. Useless on humans, monkeys, and other complex living beings. Resurrect Ian for all access from a thankful Head of Personnel! Or make yourself a pet Goliath. The lazarus injector can be EMP'd to make revived mobs hostile to everyone but you. Also useful for bartering with the HoP or any staff with a pet. Expect R&D to want one, as it has high research value. a1000 Points

Silver-plated Pickaxe
Slightly better than the default pickaxe, but still a lot worse than your starting KA. a1000 Points
File:Dufflebag.png
Mining Conscription Kit
Contains a proto-kinetic accelerator, survival knife, seclite, mesons, an ore scanner and satchel, an explorer suit and gas mask, a supply encryption key and a card which adds mining access to IDs. a 1500 Points
File:Mining jetpack.png
Mining Jetpack Upgrade
A jetpack that you can attach to any hardsuit for better mobility. Useless on Lavaland but great back on the station. a2000 Points

Space Cash
A thousand credits, to spend however you want! Of course, it's almost completely worthless on the station. a2000 Points
File:Mining Hardsuit.png
Mining Hardsuit
A nostalgic suit piece from the older days of asteroid mining. Useless on Lavaland but great to explore space. Can be upgraded up to 3 times with goliath plates. a2000 Points

Diamond Pickaxe
For when you want something shinier and better than your default pickaxe and the scientists are either too lazy or too dead to make drills or jackhammers. STILL worse than a basic KA. a2000 Points

Super (Upgraded) Resonator
Like the regular resonator, but able to have 6 fields active at a time - with no damage penalty for fields that are detonated early. Also comes with a third mode: Matrix traps, which makes fields detonate when someone walks over them. a2500 Points
File:Jump boots.png
Jump Boots
A pair of boots that allow you to jump over three tiles, skipping chasms. Does not prevent lava damage, however. a2500 Points

Luxury Shelter Capsule
Tired of cramped shelter capsules? This is for you! Comes with a three-course meal, a deluxe companion and much more. a3000 Points

Luxury Elite Bar Capsule
A luxury bar in a capsule. Bartender required and not included. a10000 Points

KA White Tracer Rounds Mod
A modkit that makes your KA's projectile flight path visible, in a white color. a100 Points

KA Adjustable Tracer Rounds Mod
A modkit that makes your KA's projectile flight path visible. Use in hand to cycle between colors. a150 Points

Super KA Chassis Mod
A modkit that makes your KA look yellow, like one of the no longer existing Super-Kinetic Accelerators. a250 Points

Hyper KA Chassis Mod
A modkit that makes your KA look orange, like one of the no longer existing Hyper-Kinetic Accelerators. a300 Points

KA Range Mod
A modkit that increases your KA's range by 1. a1000 Points

KA Damage Mod
A modkit that increases your KA's damage by 10. a1000 Points

KA Cooldown Mod
A modkit that reduces your KA's cooldown by 0.25 seconds. a1000 Points

KA AoE Damage Mod
A modkit that makes your KA hit in a 3x3 AoE, dealing 20% of the original damage per modkit. a2000 Points
File:MiningDrone.png
Mining Drone
This helpful little guy goes around collecting loose ore so you don't have to. Will drop its haul when you hit it with the mining scanner. Clicking on it with an empty hand will toggle it between ore collection and wildlife fighting mode, where it will attack xenos with its built-in kinetic accelerator and drill. Will not pick up sand with no nearby ore around, for some reason. Comes with an upgraded welding tool if redeemed via voucher. It cannot be repaired while it is fighting. It can be further upgraded with special modules bought from the vending machine to increase its effectiveness. a500 Points
File:Circuitboard.png
Drone: Melee Upgrade
Increases the Drone's melee damage. a400 Points
File:Circuitboard.png
Drone: Health Upgrade
Increases the Drone's health. a400 Points
File:Circuitboard.png
Drone: Ranged Upgrade
Decreases the Drone's ranged weapon's cooldown. a600 Points
File:Circuitboard.png
Drone: AI Upgrade
Installs a high tech AI into the Drone (grants a ghost control over the Drone). a1000 Points
Free Golem Equipment Vendor
Free Golem Equipment Vendor


The Free Golem ship has some extra goodies:

Golem Equipment Vendor List
Item Description cPrice

Extra ID
An extra ID that works for holding money and entering the station. a250 Points
File:Science Goggles.png
Science Goggles
A pair of regular science goggles. a250 Points
File:Monkey Cube.png
Monkey Cube
A single monkey cube. Just add water. a300 Points
File:Utilitybelt.png
Toolbelt
A toolbelt, like the ones on station. a350 Points
File:Sheetrd.png
Royal Cape of the Liberator
A replica of the Liberator's cape. A must-have for every Free Golem. a500 Points
File:Slimegrey.png
Grey Slime Extract
Ever wanted to do Xenobiology on Lavaland? There you go. a1000 Points

Trigger Guard Modification Kit
A trigger modkit that allows golems to use the Kinetic Accelerator. a1700 Points
File:Box.png
The Liberator's Legacy
A box with all circuit boards needed to build your own RnD department! The RnD console synchronizes with the station's server. a2000 Points

RnD Gear

The following is a list of advance items that can be acquired from your departmental techfab after research.

RnD Gear
Item Description
File:Miningdrill.png
Mining Drill
Can be acquired early on from RnD. It's twice as fast as the standard Pickaxe but is quickly superseded by better variants and is expensive for what it gives.
File:Diamonddrill.png
Diamond Tipped Mining Drill
Very powerful drill, able to almost instantly mine mineral walls. Very expensive in terms of Diamonds needed to produce however.
File:Sonicjack.png
Sonic Jackhammer
The epitome of mining. Can practically instantly mine through rock and walls. But it requires three times the Diamonds of a Diamond Tipped Drill.

KA Triggerguard Mod
A modkit that will allow species that cannot normally fire guns to use the KA, such as golems and hulks.

KA Range Mod
A modkit that increases your KA's range by 1.

KA Damage Mod
A modkit that increases your KA's damage by 10.

KA Cooldown Mod
A modkit that reduces your KA's cooldown by 0.25 seconds.

KA AoE Mining Mod
A modkit that makes your KA mine rocks in a 3x3 AoE. It does not, however, deal AoE damage. You're usually better off carrying a plasma cutter to deal with rocks and keep the KA for combat.
File:Plasma Cutter.png
Plasma Cutter
A fast mining (and welding) tool. Shoots rock-breaking bolts that pierce up to 5 rocks per shot. Rechargeable by inserting plasma ore or sheets into it. Less efficient in combat than a KA, however, and even less when in high pressure.
File:Adv plasma cutter.gif
Advanced Plasma Cutter
A very fast mining (and welding) tool. Shoots rock-breaking bolts that pierce up to 10 rocks per shot, basically allowing you to pierce rock as fast as you can walk. Rechargeable by inserting plasma ore or sheets into it.
File:Bluespacemining.png
Mining Satchel of Holding
Very cheap mining satchel that can hold an unlimited amount of minerals and ore.
File:NV meson glasses.gif
Night Vision Mesons
These glasses work like normal mesons, but they can see perfectly in the darkness negating the need for flashlights in lavaland.


All of this gear is printed out at the supply department protolathe.

The Wildlife

Lavaland is filled with a variety of bloodthirsty alien lifeforms populating the caverns, walking just fine over the ponds and puddles of lava. Fortunately, you can fight them whilst taking minimal damage, if you have the know-how.

Useful items can be harvested from these creatures' corpses should you triumph; butcher them with a knife by attacking the corpse on

Combat Mode
Toggle with 4 or F by default. Left-clicking people with an empty hand will Harm them if on, or Help them if off. Prevents you from switching places or being pushed when colliding with people.

and the goods will spill out!

Wildlife
Creature Description Threat
File:Legion.png
Legions
Considered annoying at worst, and a free minor heal at best. These creatures unleash legion skulls, one after another at you whilst trying to keep a distance. Fortunately, each of its spawn dies in a single hit (even a single punch), and deal tickle damage to you; the legion itself can't directly hit you. It's best to go on the aggressive against these with pickaxe in hand, advancing constantly whilst picking away each of its brood. Once you've closed the gap or have it stuck in a corner, it's toast. If you fall unconscious while you're being attacked, however, you will instantly die and be turned into a Legion.


It drops a core when killed. Hit yourself with the core and it will give you a slowdown immunity for a while and slight heal. Don't think you can store these for later, though -- they will spoil after a few minutes unless you use a stabilizer from the vending machine. However active legion cores can be inserted into one's chest (as an organ) through surgery to provide a hands-free use of it, which will automatically activate if you fall into crit.
tl;dr strategy: Attack with your pickaxe/knife. Hack your way through the legion and its heads until the host is mush. Alternatively, two KA hits kill a Legion, or one KC mark detonation.

Low
File:Watcher.png
Watchers
Fierce, territorial beasts capable of firing freezing beams, cold enough to inflict serious freeze burns while the watcher closes in and attacks its immobilized target. Fortunately, they don't attack unless someone comes close to them, so if you don't feel confident, you can just wait until you have a few more goliath plates, or maybe some gibtonite.


Butcher a watcher for 2 pieces of diamond ore. Use your ore box for cover while shooting them with your KA from a distance. Alternatively, with a KC, close the distance before it shoots you, then alternate marking it and hitting it, and pop a survival pen afterwards.
Tip: Watchers are notably weak to explosions due to the nature of their bodies, taking over half their health in damage from even the weakest of explosions.

Medium
File:EdgyGoliath.png
Goliaths
The bane of many careless miners. These monsters carry a hefty health pool, a mean wallop, and a deceptively dangerous ranged tentacle attack. They are inherently resistant to lasers, so using a KA is the best option regarding dealing with these. They move at a slow pace, stopping every couple seconds to burrow tentacles under you. These will trap you for a long duration if you stand on top of them for too long.


Fighting them is simple: Shoot, step back, shoot, avoid tentacles. Repeat this process until it stops moving. Alternatively, with a KC, get in mark range, mark it, run in, hit it, run out, avoid tentacles, repeat.
Butcher a goliath for its hide and its meat. Goliath plates can be used to reinforce your hardsuit and helmet a maximum of three times, allowing you to turn your suit into something closer to a piece of riot gear if you hunt some Goliaths. The meat can be cooked in lava.

High
File:Tendril.png
Necropolis Tendrils
Huge spikes of organic matter, from the base of which crawl out countless monsters. Each Tendril only spawns one kind of monster, between legions, goliaths and watchers, every once in a while. The tendrils themselves are fairly fragile and will die in a few well-placed shots, if you can fight through the other mobs. Once killed, it will drop its loot, shake the earth around it for a while, and then spawn a huge chasm around it, destroying anything that did not get out of the way in time. Chasms are deadly even after formation and should be avoided.


Fighting them can involve killing all its protectors patiently, or using tactics like gibtonite. Either way, once killed, ignore the remaining monsters, grab the chest, and RUN.
When killed, they spawn necropolis chests which can contain a variety of useful artifacts, that usually cannot be found anywhere else. See the table below for the possible loot.

Medium to Very High
File:Goldgrub.png
Goldgrubs
Mostly harmless and quite rare. These creatures swallow up any loose, valuable ore they can find and flee when approached by a human, smashing through even solid rock on their path of escape before burrowing into the ground. A tactic toward killing one is to throw an ore towards it, and quickly charging in to kill it while it's busy eating, but note that kinetic accelerator shots do nothing against these. Their skin is reflective, requiring a pickaxe melee smackdown to ensure a kill.


When killed, they spit up multiple pieces of ore, based on what they ate. Feed them many different types of ore before killing them, and they'll spit out more of each type than you gave it! Just don't let it get away after spooking it.

None

Megafauna
Extremely big and powerful creatures, that randomly spawn in lavaland. Each one of these emits a GPS Signal that can be tracked with your own GPS, to either seek or avoid them.

To beat them and get their valuable loot, you must either have good equipment or be VERY good at dodging their attacks, as failure usually means not only death, but gibbing as well.
Their slow speed means that you can usually outrun them, although you should be careful of not letting them hitch a ride in the mining ferry, as the station has very few weapons that can damage megafauna.

EXTREME

Shiny Mobs

Common lavaland mobs now have rare mutations. Common mining mobs have a 1% chance on initialize to gain a new appearance and new stats, however, this is 5% for legions.

Wildlife
Creature Description Threat
File:Dwarflegion.png
Dwarf Legion
On the rare occasion that a human with dwarfism falls to a legion, they can become infested like any other. Dwarf legions have 20 less health but move slightly faster.


It drops a soul, the exact same soul as dropped by the normal legion.

It's still rather harmless. 2 KA shots kill it, a couple of pickax swings will knock it out.

Low
File:Magmawingwatcher.png
Magmawing Watcher
Whenever a shiny watcher appears, (which is a 1% chance), there's a 75% chance that the mutant is going to be a magmawing watcher, and a 25% chance that it is going to be an icewing watcher. When raised very close to lava, some watchers adapt to the extreme heat and change coloration. Such watchers are known as magmawings and use intense heat as their tool for hunting and defense. The magmawing watcher shoots scorching blasts instead of freezing blasts, which heats you up and can set you on fire.


Unlike normal watchers, a shot from this watcher will set you on fire, and trying to roll it out will only result in the watcher getting more free shots on you, which means that you're pretty much forced to man up, pop a survival medi-pen, and melee it to death while you lose half of your HP to fire.

It has normal watcher loot. It's really simply just not worth fighting.

High
File:Icewingwatcher.png
Icewing Watcher
Whenever a shiny watcher appears, (which is a 1% chance), there's a 25% chance that the mutant is going to be an icewing watcher, and a 75% chance that it is going to be a magmawing watcher. Very rarely, some watchers will eke out an existence far from heat sources. In the absence of warmth, their wings will become papery and turn to an icy blue; these watchers are fragile but much quicker to fire their trademark freezing blasts. The icewing watcher has 50 less health and fire shots 33% more often, as well as dropping 5 diamonds and no sinew


It's a beefed up watcher which is more tanky and shoots more often. Treat it like a normal watcher, except you have to get into cover a bit quicker each time.

It has normal watcher loot, but drops 5 diamonds instead of 2, and drops no sinew.

High
File:Ancientgoliath.png
Ancient Goliath

Goliaths are biologically immortal, and rare specimens have survived for centuries. This one is clearly ancient, and its tentacles constantly churn the earth around it. Tentacles constantly extrude from the ground around it, even when it is not aggroed to any particular object.


It is recommended that you clear an area around the ancient goliath so that you can take shots at the ancient goliath without getting snagged by the tentacles. Once you've done that, just run circles around the thing while shooting at it, and dodging any emerging tentacles.

When killed, they drop their goliath hide directly, more can be obtained through butchering.

Very High

Necropolis Chest Loot

Necropolis Chests are guaranteed whenever you destroy a tendril or a pulsating tumor. They also drop from the Legion megafauna, when you kill a Stage 3 skull.

Necropolis Chest Loot
Name Description
File:Paradox bag.png Paradox Bags A pair of bags with a linked storage: anything that is put in one can be pulled out of the other and vice versa.
File:Soulstone.png Soulstone A soulstone much like the kind used by a Blood Cult or by the chaplain on MetaStation, except it can be used multiple times. When used on a corpse it disintegrates it, and traps the soul inside the gem. The soul can then be released as a weak ghost bound to the will of the soulstone's owner, or it can be put into a construct shell, if you somehow own one.
File:Cursed Katana.gif Cursed Katana A cursed katana for ninja enthusiasts. It deals 15 damage to unarmored targets. It is a retractable but irremovable organ, when you obtain it out of the tendril chests you have to use it in your hand. File:Cursed Katana Organ.gif But it's cursed, and it mauls your hand if you retract it without attacking a live target. Able to do combos (viewble by examining it twice), and has a lower attack cooldown when attacking fauna.
File:Godeye.gif Eye of God A strange eye. It can be worn on the glasses slot to gain the ability to scan targets to reduce their attack speed, along with night and meson vision.
File:Flight potion.png Flight Potion
("Strange Elixir")
A bottle containing 5 units of flight potion. Ingesting flight potion will turn the drinker into an angel: a human with wings. Wings allow jetpack-like movement wherever there's air when activated, also giving increased speed and free movement over tables and chasms. You lose your back slot as an angel.

It only works when drinking at least 5 units, so do not dilute or split the content. Does 20 brute damage when drunk.

File:Cursed heart.gif Cursed Heart A cursed heart. When used, it grants fast regeneration, but it must be pumped manually at least once every 3 seconds and one second early to account for lag. Screen turns red if you miss a beat and lose 100u of blood but gain 50u every successful pump. Warning though, there is no warning except by medical scanner on how close you are to death. Before use I recommend that whoever uses this has a blood bag ready for transfusion and a medical scanner to keep an eye on your blood level.
File:Bottled ship.png Ship in a Bottle When used, spawns a Mysterious Boat, which can travel over lava without need for oars.
File:Champion hardsuit.png Berserker Hardsuit A hardsuit coming from a Khorne Berserker Champion. It has no slowdown, is immune to magic and ash storms, by getting damaged in it you gain berserk charge, which you can use to start attacking incredibly fast with a lot of melee armor while losing your ability to fire guns.

melee = 30, bullet = 30, laser = 10, energy = 20, bomb = 50, bio = 100, rad = 10, fire = 100, acid = 100

File:Sord.png Sord An unbelievably shitty sword.
File:Dusty shard.gif Dusty Shard When used, spawns a power miner bound to you. The type is chosen at random.
File:Warp cube.gif Red/Blue Cube A pair of cubes. When one is used, it teleports the user to the location of the other cube, with no cooldown.
File:Wisp lantern.png Wisp Lantern A lantern containing a wisp. When used, it releases the wisp, making it orbit around the user's head and granting it thermal vision and serving as a light source. It can be returned to the lantern by using it once again. The lantern does not otherwise need to be carried or protected for the effect to persist.
File:Immortality talisman.png Immortality Talisman A magic talisman. When used, it makes the user invulnerable but immobile for ten seconds. Being invulnerable does not protect from instant death effects such as singularities or point-blank bombs. Has a 60 seconds cooldown.
File:Summon spellbook.png Instant Summons Spellbook A spellbook that grants you Instant Summons. When first used, it binds the item currently in your hand; every time it is used after will teleport the linked item (and any container it should be inside) to your hand.
File:Book1.png Book of Babel Instantly teaches you all languages. One time use only.
File:Ladder00.png Jacob's Ladder A ladder that extends all the way to a different Z-level.
KA Death Syphon/bounty Modkit Disk Allows you to make a modkit that when killing or assisting in killing a creature permanently increases your damage against that type of creature.
AoE Hybrid Modkit Disk A disk that allows you to make a Kinetic Accelerator Modkit that allows it to both mine and deal damage in a 3x3 AoE. Secondary targets receive 25% of the original target's damage, up from the 20% of the normal AoE damage modkit
KA Rapid Repeater Modkit Disk Allows you to create a modkit that greatly reduces the KA's cooldown on striking a living target or rock, but greatly increases its base cooldown. Don't miss!
KA Resonator Blast Mod Disk A tech disk that allows you to create a mod that uses the kenetic accelerator to fire shots that leave and detonate Resonator blasts.
Lifesteal Crystal Modkit A mod kit that, like the name suggests, steals life from enemies you attack. Comes with a free cult blankie!
File:Memento mori.png Memento Mori A necklace that once equipped links your life to it. You cannot die while it is equipped but if removed turns you into dust. Seals your guardian spirits while you're in crit (-100%).

Note: Megafauna are the exception and will still turn you into gibs if you're knocked into critical condition.

File:Asclepius active.gif Rod of Asclepius A rod that can be used to make yourself start swearing an oath. If you finish the oath, the staff will bind to your hand, giving you a healing aura and pacifism. You will also gain the ability to perform multiple surgeries at once.
File:Concussive gauntlets.gif Concussive Gauntlets Jackhammer in the shape of gloves, for fast mining without needing to hold any tools.

For the bosses' loot, see Megafauna.

Pulsating Tumor

See Pulsating Tumor

Crusher trophies

Each time you kill a Lavaland enemy with the Crusher, there is a chance that it drops a trophy. These can be attached to your Crusher for unique effects.

Item Enemy Description
File:Legion skull.png
Legion skull
Legion Makes your Crusher recharge faster.
File:Goliath tentacle trophy.png
Goliath tentacle
Goliath Mark detonations deal more damage the more health you're missing.
File:Watcher wing.png
Watcher wing
Watcher Mark detonations delay some creatures from using certain attacks for 0.5 seconds.
File:Magma wing.png
Magmawing Watcher wing
Magmawing Watcher After a mark detonation, the next destabilizer shot will deal damage.
File:Ice wing.png
Icewing Watcher wing
Icewing Watcher Similar to normal Watcher wings, but lasts 0.8 seconds over 0.5 seconds.
File:Hunter eye.png
Eye of a blood-drunk hunter
Blood-drunk Miner On mark detonation, gain stun immunity, damage-slowdown immunity and 90% damage reduction for one second.
File:Tail spike.png
Tail spike
Ash Drake Mark detonations deal area damage and push enemies back.
File:Demon claws.png
Demon claws
Bubblegum & Wendigo Melee hits deal bonus damage and heal you. 500% as strong during a mark detonation.
File:Blaster tubes.png
Blaster tubes
Colossus On mark detonation, the next shot moves slower, but deals damage.
File:Vortex talisman.png
Vortex talisman
Hierophant Mark detonations create barriers that only you can pass.
File:Iceblocktalisman.png
Wendigo horn
Wendigo Mark detonations deal twice as much melee damage.
File:Iceblocktalisman.png
Ice block talisman
Demonic Frost Miner Mark detonations freeze and immobilize its target.

Craftables

Not only can you kill the local fauna, you can also cobble together items from their smashed remains. Open the crafting menu for this.

Item Description

Ash Drake armor
A really strong, storm proof hardsuit that doesn't slow you down. 5 Ash Drake hide, 2 Watcher sinews, 10 bones.

melee = 65, bullet = 15, laser = 40, energy = 40, bomb = 70, bio = 60, rad = 50, fire = 100, acid = 100.

File:Goliath cloak.png
Goliath Cloak
Weaker than the standard explorer suits and can't be upgraded, but way more stylish. 2 leather, 2 Watcher sinews, 2 Goliath hides. To get leather, strip goliath hide with your knife, wash it in the sinks on the mining base, then throw it in the microwave.

ALSO: This may call itself a cloak, but it goes in your bodywear slot, like a hardsuit or the explorer suit. It's not a real cloak. melee = 35, bullet = 10, laser = 25, energy = 10, bomb = 25, bio = 0, rad = 0, fire = 60, acid = 60

File:Goliath boat.png
Lava Boat
A boat that can travel over lava, but is terribly unsafe as it'll usually set both you and held items on fire. Needs an oar to move. Crafted from three Goliath hides.
File:Oar.png
Goliath Bone Oar
An oar crafted from two Goliath bones. Robust.
File:Bonfire.png
Bonfire
Perfect for roasting lizard tails over. Five tower-cap logs.
File:Mushroom bowl.png
Mushroom Bowl
A bowl made out of mushrooms. Crafted from five Polypore mushroom shavings.

Xenoforms

You're not always the only sentient being on the planet. Aside from the lovecraftian horrors living down there you may also content with several groups or factions of beings on the planet. Some hostile, some friendly.

The follow is a list of all known sentient groups found on the planet based on information sent from recon squads.

Podmen

Recon Expedition #4
Threat Level: Minimal, Non Hostile
Note: A small group of podmen were observed living inside a sealed vault. They appear minimally armed and seem to avoid leaving their home.

Golems

Recon Expedition #9
Threat Level: Minimal, Non Hostile
Note: A unidentified flying object was seen crashing by Recon Team Charlie during expedition #8. Alpha team on expedition #9 located a group of golems, the golems appeared utterly uninterested in their surroundings all things considered.

Ashwalkers

Recon Expedition #13
Threat Level: Medium, Hostile
Note: It appears a group of Basiliscus Lizretus, also known as Lizardmen, live on the planet, they are hostile to all intruders. These 'ashwalkers' only started to appear when mining operations started, they are agile but lightly armed, wielding primitively forged armor and spears. They appear to also have a hostile relationship with the wildlife, having been observed killing and dragging wildlife corpses away, as to why they need these corpses the recon team is unable to ascertain.

Syndicate Agents

Recon Expedition #45
Threat Level:Extreme, Hostile
Notes: It has come to attention that the syndicate (direct corporation/group unknown) has recently set up a large compound in lavaland. This may explain where expedition #38-44 has gone. They are equipped with high end weaponry and has been stated that trace bits of gunpowder has been found around the lava moat that the base is stationed in, suggesting that this base may be wired to self-destruct. We also detected radio waves coming and going from the compound. If found, turn back and report to your superiors immediately.

The Ores

These are what you should be looking out for, generally try and get a good mix of the more exotic ore types. Iron ore is ok but it sells for little and is highly abundant on the station already.

Name Wall Raw Ore Money Reward Value Processed Ore Frequency Uses
Iron File:Ironwall.png File:Ironore.png 1 Very Common For just about everything.
Sand File:Minefloor.png File:Sandore.png 1
File:Glass.png
Very Common For making glass, which has a plethora of station applications. Activate sand in your hand to make sandstone bricks. These can be used to make dirt which can be used to grow plants.
Plasma File:Plasmawall.png File:Plasmaore.png 15 File:Plasmadone.png Common Ship sheets back to Centcom for bonus money to the cargo budget.
Silver File:Silverwall.png File:Silverore.png 16 File:Silverdone.png Semi-Common Making dosh, mechs, and researching Bluespace.
Gold File:Goldwall.png File:Goldore.png 18 File:Golddone.png Semi-Common For making various electronics or pimping out Beepsky.
Titanium File:Titaniumrock.png File:Titaniumore.png 30 File:Titaniumdone.png Uncommon For high-tech mechs or R&D components. Also for building shuttle walls and floors.
Uranium File:Uraniumwall.png File:Uraniumore.png 30 File:Uraniumdone.png Uncommon For making you radioactive (notice: no joke, this shit is deadly as a wall or a door). Delicious cocktails.
Diamond File:Diamondwall.png File:Diamondore.png 50 File:Diamonddone.png Rare For making mech parts, among other industrial uses.
Bluespace Crystal File:BluespaceCrystalWall.png 50 File:BS polycrystal.png Rare These crystals can be used in various ways. Give them to science to increase bluespace science, hold onto them to use as a risk free jaunter, or throw them at people to make them teleport randomly (often into space.)
Bananium File:Bananimumwall.png File:Bananimumore.png 60 File:Bananiumdone.png HONK! A rare and unusual mineral found exclusively in clown-controlled space. Used only for the H.O.N.K. mech and other clownlike items.
Gibtonite File:Gibtonitewall.gif File:Gibtoniteore.png N/A Uncommon For trolling miners blowing shit up, whether they be solid asteroid or other things. Hitting it with your mining tools will start a chain reaction. If you don't stop the reaction with your mining scanner in time, the gibtonite will explode. If you do, you can mine the ore, pick it up (you need both hands free) and use it as an explosive. The closer the gibtonite was to exploding before defused, the more potent its power. Cannot be forged or turned in to the Ore Redemption Machine Ore Redemption Machine, so don't bring any of this to the station or else you'll be arrested ignored by security because they don't know what the hell it is. Gibtonite can be used to craft a Chemical Payload File:ChemPayload.gif.

How to obtain Gibtonite: Hit ore, count to 8 flashes of the ore then hit it with your scanner. Gibtonite varies in the number of reactions it has, so you may get lower quality ore. Use 2 of the 0 reaction ores (the most potent) to blow open the AI core and make it cry at it's malf failure!

Alloys

Some ores can be smelted to produce alloys.


Plastitanium
  • Found in: Syndicate spacecraft
  • Used for: Evil walls and floors
  • Strategy: Use it to create the walls and flooring used in a Syndicate spacecraft
Description

An alloy of plasma and titanium.

Who Needs What

Long gone are the days of miners delivering refined materials to the various departments by hand (or the crew coming directly to cargo for themselves), thanks to the introduction of the Ore Silo's bluespace storage system -- but it never hurts to know what to aim for.

  • Scientists need at least a bit of every ore to fabricate new parts and to complete material scan experiments. In exchange, they may research upgrades for your Kinetic Accelerator, a Plasma Cutter, a Mining Satchel of Holding, and, if you're lucky, Night Vision Meson Scanners or a Bag of Holding!
  • Roboticists need diamond, uranium, silver and gold for building mech parts and equipment. Give them enough and you've indirectly helped out most of the departments on the station if the Roboticists are competent enough to build helpful stompy mechs for everybody! If you feel like mining with your own stompy mech, get a Clarke and reap the profits. They also use an extreme amount of iron - Don't skimp on it just because it's not worth many points.
  • The Quartermaster may want mineral sheets to trade them in for bonus supply credits. Plasma in particular is both common and valuable.
  • Medical Doctors and Station Engineers need uranium, titanium, silver and gold for a number of their higher tech equipment, once the R&D gets the tech for advanced tools and higher end biotechnology of course.
  • Everybody could always use more iron, glass and plasteel, but especially Roboticists (cyborg shells cost a surprising amount of metal) and Station Engineers (basic construction materials for just about everything).
  • The Chemist and Xenobiologist will all appreciate having extra plasma.
  • A competent Medical Doctor can use several sheets of uranium to create incredibly powerful healing viruses that let you heal out of crit in two seconds.
  • A Clown with Bananium is a grateful and dangerous ally.
  • The Bartender can use a few sheets of uranium or iron to craft some of his rarest cocktails.

Vent Mining and Boulders

Vents are the best way to automatically mine infinite materials for the station and passively get mining points for your more deadly activities. It is very useful, and common courtesy (if you can), to complete several vents as soon as possible to supply the station with materials, in case all of the miners die or the lavaland base gets destroyed.

IMPORTANT: At the start of the shift, turn on the automatic boulder retrieval matrix and conveyor belt system to automatically process iron and glass for the station

Finding ore vents is not too difficult, as several spawn all across lavaland. When near one, you mining scanner will beep with each pulse, and the surrounding rocks will be richer in ores. Another easy way of finding them is by looking for characteristic ("plus-shaped") opening in rocks, as they are most likely vents. If you want to find vents consistently, you will have to purchase a ventpointer from the mining point vendor. This device will automatically point you to the nearest uncompleted vent.

Vents have an infinite amount of resources, which are mined automatically and retrieved by the automatic boulder retrieval matrix on the station. To find out which types of ores a vent has, simply scan it with your mining scanner and wait for a scanning pulse. The ores it has will appear as tags above the vent.

To start tapping a vent, scan it a second time. This will initiate the gradual spawning of several waves of fauna (one wave will always have only one type of fauna). A mining NODE drone, which is very weak, will spawn on the vent, and you will have to defend it until the vent is tapped. Once it is tapped, nothing will be able to destroy it. If you fail, you can simply try again, as such always prioritize staying alive over completing a vent.

Vents come in different types, and differ in the amount of ore they have:

  1. Small ore vent: yields small ore boulders. These spawn a small amount of fauna and are generally easy to complete with minimal resources.
  2. Medium ore vent: yields medium ore boulders. These spawn a medium amount of fauna and are generally completable with a fully upgraded PKA and healing injectors.
  3. Large ore vent: yields large ore boulders. These spawn a large amount of fauna at once and it is feasible to complete them alone, but enlisting the help of fellow miners (with PKA passthrough upgrades!) or mining drones is highly advised.
  4. Menacing ore vent: yields large ore boulders, always has every possible ore. These are different and spawn a random megafauna. You will not have to defend a NODE drone, and upon killing the megafauna, it will be tapped automatically. These are known to sometimes spawn near the mining base, in which case either never start them, or make sure to lead them away as far as possible (especially Collossuses, which can obliterate everything nearby). Additionally, always complete other vents first, always secure a way back to the station, and notify everyone else that you are starting them.

Tips for completing vents:

  • Stay near the vent to draw aggro from monsters, so that they do not attack the weak drone. Some fauna are harder to deal with than others, and you can be either lucky to never spawn them, or unlucky enough to fail multiple times. Brimdemons are the worst ones, as they deal a huge amount of damage and are difficult to draw away from attacking the drone. Legions and Lobstrosities are also difficult, as they attack fast, but don't pose as much of a threat if you aggro them and clear them as fast as possible. Less threatening are Goliaths, and the least threatening are Bileworms and Watchers.
  • Prioritize attacking fauna that is directly attacking the NODE drone. Make sure you don't get caught out in the process - sometimes you will not be able to clear an entire wave before the next, especially if many goliaths spawn. Getting caught by a tentacle and having a wave of brimdemons spawn to blast you is a surefire way to die.
  • Having chasms very close to a vent can be extremely beneficial, as fauna will spawn on top of them and fall down. Make sure you don't fall down the chasms yourself, as in order to save you, someone will have to look at the GPS and see if you specifically are moving (very rare, if you even have a GPS in the first place), know how to save you (extremely rare) and have the will/patience to actually go through the hassle and order a rescue fishing hook from cargo, stick it on a fishing rod, fish you out and bring you back (nigh impossible occurence).
  • Vents on top of lava are extremely difficult to complete without either lava immunity or a flight potion (in which case Lobstrosities can still knock you down into lava). You can also find and tame raptors east of the mining base, which can make ore vents surrounded by lava lakes much easier.
  • Clear out nearby rocks, so that fauna don't spawn inside them. Legions can be very annoying and spawn skulls without you being able to find them.

Once you have completed a vent, the automatic boulder retrieval matrix will teleport it onto the station and the conveyor belt system will push it into machines for processing. Conveyors won't work when there's no gravity, but if needed, boulders can be manually put into machines. When each of the machines processes ore, mining points are paid out into them. To retrieve your mining points, simply click the machines with your ID in hand and select how many points you want to withdraw. Make sure to share with your fellow miners. If you have completed several vents, make sure to upgrade each of the machines with a RPED to be able to process all of the incoming boulders. If you bought the boulder beacon item to build them, they come with basic parts by default.

What now? Assuming you have completed several vents, you should be swimming in mining points. Go forth, create an abode on lavaland or even whole new station in space using luxury bar capsules. Buy everyone jump boots, create boxes upon boxes of stabilized legion cores only to die and get dusted from a shotgun from a Collossus or fall down a chasm. Straight up buy money or buy toy alien facehuggers and throw them at people. The possibilities are endless.

Secrets of Lavaland

While on Lavaland, you may come upon artificial structures. They can have items ranging from magical artifacts, to other lifeforms, to alien facehuggers. If you are at all unsure, always let your mining buddies know using :u before going in: some ruins can be very dangerous.

Tips

  • Always go with at least two other people when mining if possible. Not only can you mine faster together, the chance that they could both be 'lings/traitors is rather low. Pickaxe to the skull tends to put down most people. If more than one of you interact with a tendril before it collapses, you can even nag some free chests!
  • You can view the contents of a mining satchel as if it were a backpack. Do this to retrieve plasma ore if your cutters need to be recharged.
  • Minebots are great at distracting monsters. Just walk near and bash the distracted target with your drill. They can take quite a beating, though goliaths can take them down pretty quickly if you're not quick enough. Plus they collect all the crap gibtonite left after exploding.
  • The Proto-kinetic Accelerator can destroy electrified grilles without needing a pair of insulated gloves.
  • The Proto-kinetic Accelerator will obliterate a space carp in one hit while in space.
  • The Head of Personnel may reward you with all access if you resurrect Ian. Also, sometimes the Research Director will reward you for a pet gold grub.
  • If you're expecting trouble on the station, consider taking out a window on the mining shuttle before you return to make a quick getaway so you're not trapped like a rat in a cage.
  • The mining drone can be repaired with a welding tool, but not in the middle of a fight. A goliath will always win in a one on one fight with a mining drone.
  • You could alternatively buy the drone, fully upgrade it, give it an AI Module, and tell it to go valid-hunt. A mining drone dragging a bar of soap is surprisingly robust against even changelings.
  • Life improving things:
    • Mining suit upgrade : Goliath plates add +10% melee resist each time when applied to a suit. The plates will stack until they reach +30%, which may help you live in case a goliath grabs you.
    • Security Jumpsuit : This gives a +10% melee resist to everywhere but your head. Nag the QM or HoP to give you one.
    • Augmentations : Augs are VERY useful for miners, as healing with a welder/wires is ultimately easier. Plus they work differently than armor when it comes to protection, instead reducing all brute damage taken by an augmented body part by 5 (4 for burn). Also they are ashproof. If you get fully augmented, you are ash storm proof. Downside : EMP vulnerability.
  • Kinetic accelerators can be used as infinite tools to navigate space, since every time you fire, it'll throw you in the opposite direction. This also makes them cheap destructive tools when encountering external airlocks/windows.
  • Sentient minebots can very easily be commanded to go help security if there is an imminent threat to the station. Their melee saw is very robust, and works just as well as on the station as it is on lavaland. The proto-kinetic accelerator that they are equipped with is very robust when in space.
  • If science hasn't researched Advanced Mining Technology and Applied Bluespace Technology within 15-20 minutes of the start of the shift, please remind them. There is normally at least 1 single person in science competent enough to do so.
Jobs on Nova Sector Station