Here is a work made by Heidi and introduced by DME in the Sept. 2021 Magazine.
Since it is a very useful piece of information, i judged wise to put it all in this section, too empty, for people seeking for mining help
Nothing of this work is from me, i just copy/pasted it all.
Lots to read, but knowledge is power, and extremely well detailed.
Tools are here, up to you to use them now.
Thanks Heidi and DM for putting this all up together ; I need more mining knowledge!
E~
Since it is a very useful piece of information, i judged wise to put it all in this section, too empty, for people seeking for mining help
Nothing of this work is from me, i just copy/pasted it all.
Lots to read, but knowledge is power, and extremely well detailed.
Tools are here, up to you to use them now.
Thanks Heidi and DM for putting this all up together ; I need more mining knowledge!
E~
Mysteries of
Mining on
Monria
By ... Heidi Stassinopolis
Mining on
Monria
By ... Heidi Stassinopolis
This is an article that is meant to assist newer players with mining on Monria. It’s not a definitive guide
or an instruction manual, it’s more of an explanation of what to look out for, and what to consider
before jumping in with both feet. I do see in Monria chat comments like “I’ve dropped 20 probes
and hit nothing!” or “Why have I found no Zoldenite?” and then a mix of advice will be given which,
although helpful, probably just confuses the novice miners.
Thinking about this, I decided I’d try and clarify some of the important points about Monria and the
reasons why the above comments happen and why people struggle with mining.
The most important information you need to remember is that Monria is Untaxed Indoor Mining and
has different rules to normal mining. Firstly, the TT finder range is 21.6m instead of its normal 54m
range. For higher level Finders the range only increases to 22m. Also, the chance of finding a claim is
very much reduced, but the claim sizes are larger.
What this means is that when on a mining run with a normal finder, you will get a hit rate somewhere
between 4% and 8% roughly, 6% is a good run. So if you go out with 10 PED of probes it is very likely
you will get no claims, but due to the variance on indoor mining it is also possible to get 2 or 3. You
need to average out the runs to allow for this, and longer runs are more likely to give a good return
than one-off short runs of a few PED.
There are other things to consider like Markup of the claims you find, the TT return you get and the
Markup of the equipment you use. But we’ll talk about that later.
I have been mining ever since I started with Entropia in 2015, and one of the first things I did was
download the LittleBigMiningLog program which I find a great tool, and for me now, is a wealth of
reference information I have compiled. I know some people don’t like it or use it, and some people
have problems running it, but personally, I can’t recommend it enough.
Even if you don’t run the program, the website itself is a useful resource that you should look at.
On the home page, all the Resources in EU are listed with stats for the last 90 days. Next to the
name is a number in brackets which is the number of claims recorded, the minimum, average and
maximum depths recorded. Then on the “Maps” page it shows the percentage distribution of Ores
and Enmatters for each server zone (Except DSEC-9 which hopefully will be coming soon).
After looking at this information, how do you use it? Well, I have created a chart of the data for
September 2021 and referenced from my compiled data points for the last few years.
It shows the current depths and Markup both refined and unrefined where available. It also shows
the locations that I have found them on Monria, but this should be taken as a guideline as I have
rarely mined in the Caves or the Shub Cavern. This is based on data for depths collected for the last
90 days and the current Monthly Markups of the resources. If you are reading this article in January
2024 then it will have all changed.
Having said that, the depths generally stay within 100m or so over time so the average depths are
where you should be looking if you are an experienced miner that can access them. If you are a low
level miner that can only use a TT finder, you need to look at the minimum depths to see if you can
even reach them!
My Mining skills are all around level 50, so I can hit depths down to 1500m with the right finder setup,
but generally while mining on Monria I tend to aim around 800m which seems to be the sweet spot.
It shows the current depths and Markup both refined and unrefined where available. It also shows
the locations that I have found them on Monria, but this should be taken as a guideline as I have
rarely mined in the Caves or the Shub Cavern. This is based on data for depths collected for the last
90 days and the current Monthly Markups of the resources. If you are reading this article in January
2024 then it will have all changed.
Having said that, the depths generally stay within 100m or so over time so the average depths are
where you should be looking if you are an experienced miner that can access them. If you are a low
level miner that can only use a TT finder, you need to look at the minimum depths to see if you can
even reach them!
My Mining skills are all around level 50, so I can hit depths down to 1500m with the right finder setup,
but generally while mining on Monria I tend to aim around 800m which seems to be the sweet spot.
When you look at the information page of a finder and check the skills required and depth achievable,
you need to make sure that you are maxed out on skill so that you can use the full depth. You also
need to remember that the depth displayed is the average depth you will find claims, but it will go
deeper.
This means if you have your TT finder maxed at a depth of 104.5m, reference it to the table
above, look at the distribution on the LBML maps, you will probably only find Lysterium, Narcansium,
Caldorite, Zinc, Crude Oil, Melchi, Growth Molecules or Force Nexus. Unless of course you get a
lucky find.
The important point to notice is that Zoldenite and Maladrite, Monria’s exclusive resources, are just
not available to you, as they are below 600m depth. I don’t know if people realize this.
The important point to notice is that Zoldenite and Maladrite, Monria’s exclusive resources, are just
not available to you, as they are below 600m depth. I don’t know if people realize this.
With all that in mind, I would strongly recommend if you are a new Monrian Born player, not mining on
Monria. Do all the other starter missions, then take the free Yamato warp to Toulan and skill up your
mining on Toulan where the mining is easy and the local resources are high Markup. Also, on Toulan
a TT finder is ideal for finding Nawa Fragments which are very high Markup and the TT finder uses
fewer probes to drop.
I would very much recommend once your Prospector and Surveyor skills reach over 1 buying a
Finder F-101, because it is unlimited and that means every time you repair it you are paying TT value
only and no Markup, just like a TT finder. The same is true for extractors, probably an RE-101 is the
easiest to buy and use once you have skilled up with the TT equipment. Also, as you use it, the Tier
can increase and you are making the finder more valuable when you decide to sell it.
I did this on Calypso when I started, sold my Finder F-101 eventually and my Extractor RE-101 so I
could buy a Finder F-105 with an RE-104 which I still use even at level 50. The F-105 is now nearly
Tier 5, so instead of a search depth of 522.4m, I can use depth enhancers to increase it to 677.6m,
which is really useful, because if I am in an area and not getting good results, I can tweak the depth
and sometimes improve the hit rate.
Of course, all this costs PED and brings me back to the point about the Markup of your finds and
trying at least to break even so you can do another run.
If you are going to do indoor mining, the other thing that is really important is how much your
equipment costs including Markup, how much decay per drop, extraction cost and possibly refining.
When you add the cost of the Auction House fees then finds with Markup less than 105% probably
aren’t going to cover your costs unless you get lucky.
Fortunately, on Monria there are some higher value resources which you should be able to access
with a maxed out Finder F-101 such as Alicenies Liquid, Angelic Grit and Erdorium Stone in the
DSEC Mining Camp (Yog) crater which is probably where I would start. The Yogs are not too hard to
deal with and there is plenty of space to do a few mining runs.
Something to consider when mining indoors is the skill gains you may see in the system log as
probes are dropped. If you are not seeing any skill gains then there probably are no claims available
nearby at the depth you are mining.
I have found when doing a run in an area I haven’t mined before, that if I get a skill gain like
Prospecting or Surveying or Geology, then it means I am near to a claim, and sometimes it is possible
to track the skill gains to the point of the claim.
However, this is made difficult to judge indoors due to the reduced finder range, and you can follow
the skill increases and then they suddenly stop with no claim. This means you have been following
the trail in the wrong direction and you can sometimes go back to the first signs of a claim and try to
pick it up in a different direction.
The downside of this approach is that you could end up dropping more probes meandering about
than if you just follow a predetermined path. It’s really only something that you can learn with practice,
and again, it is going to cost PED. It might be fun to try with a TT finder though, as the drop costs are
less and you never know, you might hit that HoF or ATH.
Good luck, have fun, and if anyone needs mining advice feel free to PM me.
Heidi ~