New command : Vein

[Brar]

Command: Vein

Result: Gives you the size of the vein your are mining and an idea about it's use. "New", "Half used", "Almost used"

Could be tied to your mining level for the accuracy.

[Selveem]

I like the idea, but it'd be nice if it could be expanded:

Vein would be the command, but there would be other options to it.

Vein Info
Inept Mining: The type of vein available in this area.
Apprentice Mining: The amount remaining within the vein.
Expert Mining: The next vein naturally available with your skill.

Vein Scour <input, see below>
Inept Mining: Does not allow argument; terminate existing vein to search for random one within your skill range. Any higher skill can also Vein Scour without argument for same results.
Novice+ Mining: Allows argument for any type of vein currently minable. Vein Scour Stop would end the search.

The second option would be most useful to lower level miners who are attempting to mine from veins already set by higher level miners. Higher level miners can use the command in a suitable place to search for specific goods such as emeralds for lapidary, steel for commercial use. I don't think certain materials such as Elven Steel, Adamantite, or Mithal should be accessed through the use of actual input. Perhaps without input to take their chances.

There could be a stamina drain for the duration that Vein Scour is used with an argument (I'd not suggest it without an argument so it doesn't harm lower skilled miners too much). If the miner does not find anything before their stamina is depleted, their scouring ends and cannot resume until they have sufficient stamina.

[Eltsac]

On one hand, I like to be able to search for specific veins, rather than mining ore you will never use hoping the vein you search to show up.

On another hand, several miners can mine in the same area (which can be quite large), not searching for the same material, and you would not like to have someone "ending" all the good vein you find because it's not the one he wants. That's why I'm not up for being able to terminate an existing vein.

Maybe we can just add the possibility to add an argument on mine when it is used when a vein has been depleted. It would only increase your chances to have the wanted ore, it's not automatic.



On the other subject, being able to know what is the state of the current vein sounds really good to me.

El

[Necalli]

I like the idea, but it'd be nice if it could be expanded:

Vein would be the command, but there would be other options to it.

Vein Info
Inept Mining: The type of vein available in this area.
Apprentice Mining: The amount remaining within the vein.
Expert Mining: The next vein naturally available with your skill.

Vein Scour <input, see below>
Inept Mining: Does not allow argument; terminate existing vein to search for random one within your skill range. Any higher skill can also Vein Scour without argument for same results.
Novice+ Mining: Allows argument for any type of vein currently minable. Vein Scour Stop would end the search.

The second option would be most useful to lower level miners who are attempting to mine from veins already set by higher level miners. Higher level miners can use the command in a suitable place to search for specific goods such as emeralds for lapidary, steel for commercial use. I don't think certain materials such as Elven Steel, Adamantite, or Mithal should be accessed through the use of actual input. Perhaps without input to take their chances.

There could be a stamina drain for the duration that Vein Scour is used with an argument (I'd not suggest it without an argument so it doesn't harm lower skilled miners too much). If the miner does not find anything before their stamina is depleted, their scouring ends and cannot resume until they have sufficient stamina.

Agreed.

The only problem is that one room of a zone auto-sets all of the rooms in the same zone to the same ore. To stop one miner from scouring away another miners vein in the same zone, each room would have to be like it was before and have it's own individual vein.

I am all for reinstating the 1:1 ratio of rooms vs. veins. The way it is now, one miner can go to the starting room of every mine on the map and open up giant veins of uselessness which spread to every room in the area more or less.

[Brar]

I am all for reinstating the 1:1 ratio of rooms vs. veins.

This my friend, never existed in the first place...
It has always been area wide (not really area wide in fact but anyway).
the difference is that now, you just have to finish a vein to be able to find something else, while before you had to wait for a copyover.

I find the current system nice, the only thing I could see added would be a way to see what vein is currently active and perhaps its size, but nothing really that important or "must have"

[Nysan]

As Brar stated, mining has never, ever, been room specific. It has always been area specific. Granted, certain areas had their lines redrawn with certain changes, but thats about it.

As I stated in the other thread, a vein-check command would be nice. A method to determine the life-span of a vein, outside of counting the ore I have gathered and comparing it to prior experience with X-sized veins, would be nice. Maybe not a "there are 3 pieces of ore left in this vein", but something along our way of doing things such as "this vein is fresh", "this vein is nearly played out", and so on.

That said, I still see no reason to introduce a 'delete vein' type function. Here are my main reasons why:

1. Rare metals are rare for a reason. If you could merely erase every iron/copper vein until you find that titanium or mithril vein you wanted, whats the point of rare metals?

2. Not everyone can pull titanium, at least not with any decent success rate. I would hate to see a world where inept miners need to spend MORE time to gather any good amount of ore.

3. And finally, there are NO useless metals. Everything you can mine has a use or purpose. Please do not try to condemn this or that metal, or expect it to disappear, merely because you have no use for it. From the poorest piece of tin to the finest mithril ore, everything has its place.

[Necalli]

Ah, that must be it then, because I remember being able to go from one room of an area to another and get different ore most of the time. Guess the zones were redrawn to include rooms that they didn't before.

1. Rare metals are rare for a reason. If you could merely erase every iron/copper vein until you find that titanium or mithril vein you wanted, whats the point of rare metals?

If the command was based on mine location, mining skill, and a percentage then they'd still be rare. Not all mines are going to have mithril, elven steel, or titanium veins, not all miners are going to have the skill required to find/mine the vein if the area does have it because the only way they can effectively raise the skills is by mining/smelting/smithing the lesser ores first - so it's not like lead/copper/iron would just disappear, and a percentage table would ensure that they wouldn't be so easily found if the previous two requirements were met. Add a reasonable lag period and size-able stamina cost to the command and that would divert spamming in an attempt to bypass the percentage.

[Nysan]

Do you believe a lag/stamina cost on a 'delete vein' command would have an impact? I don't. Even if the command zapped all your stamina, the number of miners that have access to stamina spells (refresh/revive), being a priest or having potions, kills the purpose of any such cost, so we are left with a lag effect. And I cannot see the length of a command lag being effective enough to impact changing veins without riding the realm of excessiveness.

Current areas are already metal specific in their percentages, at least as far as I can tell from extensive mining experience. Area X, in a low level newbie friendly area, is iron heavy, as expected. Where as area Y, a heavy high level area most folks would die getting to, I have pulled gold, platinum, gems, titanium and even multiple mithril veins in the same amount of time. Sure Y still have iron and copper in it, its expected, but the numbers favor the higher level metals.