Mining for gold

[DrOnline]

Hey. I've run into problems in previous games where I ran out of components. Now I am trying to get the tech for component assembly. But I need gold for my multi-analyzer.

So this is how I am mining for it. Now - is this how you would approach the problem? I'm bound to get insect infestations in those mines...

[christhekiller]

You could trade for it? Craft some statues out of stone or some other abundant resource and sell them for a profit.

Vein mining for gold can be difficult since they don't appear in large pockets like Iron does.

[ReZpawner]

Ancient evil. The people in the pods usually have some gold on them. Other than that, I think pretty much every exotic trader carries it (atleast the ships do), and possibly other ships as well. It's not hard to come by with trading.

[Bozobub]

You also need to leave only 2x{x} walls in your exploratory mine or you're likely to miss small deposits.

[Serenity]

Mining is also inefficient because gold deposits are very small

I never had problems buying some from traders. You don't need much, so it's not that expensive

[Bozobub]

Mining is also inefficient because gold deposits are very small
I never had problems buying some from traders. You don't need much, so it's not that expensive

Incorrect; gold is nowhere near the only resource potentially gained by mining.  Mining ONLY for gold is ineffecient, sure, but even the stone chunks you produce are quite useful, much less components, steel, plasteel, silver, and gold ^^' .

[Names are for the Weak]

Another problem no one's brought up are cave-ins. I've experienced it several times before; A bunch of rocks collapse onto an unsuspecting colonist, killing them instantly.

[Bozobub]

No one is bringing it up, because they don't happen if you don't create overly large, unsupported areas while mining.  The roof will not collapse, as long as there is a wall 7 or less tiles away (so, 12 unsupported tiles between supports, at the most).  This means you can make, at the maximum, 12x{x} areas with no wall "pillars" in the room, 13x13 with 1 wall in the exact center, and so on.

Simply don't mine out too much support.  If you *MUST* have w/e resource a support pillar contains, build alternate supports 1st.  Wood walls work fine.

[Serenity]

Incorrect; gold is nowhere near the only resource potentially gained by mining.  Mining ONLY for gold is ineffecient, sure

I obviously meant mining for gold. Yeah you can also get other stuff out of it, but if he just wants gold for now, it's not the best way

[Shurp]

Trading for gold is the best way. Opening tombs is a distant second. And mining... There's no guarantee there's *any* gold on your map. You're better off just sending a small squad to a nearby tile and making a mining camp - and abandoning it immediately if no gold is visible. Repeat until you find some.

[Dashthechinchilla]

You can cap the end of your completed  exploration mines with a wall. Won't prevent infestation, but would keep it out of your hair till you are ready for it.

[eadras]

Wood flooring + incendiary launcher has been my recipe for infestations in A17.  The only downside is that it cooks the meat and jelly.  As someone else said, gold deposits are very small, so make sure not to leave undiscovered tiles in your exploratory tunnels.

[Bozobub]

Incorrect; gold is nowhere near the only resource potentially gained by mining.  Mining ONLY for gold is ineffecient, sure

I obviously meant mining for gold. Yeah you can also get other stuff out of it, but if he just wants gold for now, it's not the best way

You're both thinking about it in the wrong way.  Even if you have a specific material in mind, whether steel or gold or whatever, mining is often THE best way, because it generates other materials, ALL of which are at least salable — in exchange for gold, perhaps? — even if you don't find the desired resource directly.

Even dressed stone blocks can be worth a lot in bulk, although I tend to keep those for structures and art, myself.

Try thinking outside the box a bit .

[TheMeInTeam]

A better question is if the chance of finding gold in addition to wealth/time from mining beats out alternative sources of wealth/time.  Since the gold you need is relatively small efficient wealth generation easily covers it (in contrast to Uranium for example, which can be a pain sometimes even with infinite wealth).

I have doubts whether mining can beat out other industry, though it depends on what your mining pawns can do.  If it's "not much else" then mining is a no brainer.  If it's crafting with 18+ skill, that pawn shouldn't be mining, etc.

[Bozobub]

Considering just about all the products of mining are useful and stone blocks are often *critical*, you might want to reassess that evaluation.  Additionally, for a mature colony with established stores and active economy, yeah, trading is probably the easiest and fastest.  For a new/poor colony?  Not so much.