As a cheapskate iron hammerer (?) I now reliably get between 50-100 gems hourly on t6 worlds. First visit I save a lot of hotspots then i’ll warp between them. Gems come easily if I find the rare area that hasn’t been wrecked by those using aoe hammers. To my mind the problem is too small planet and over mining. T5 are worse because they’re so popular too.
/Couple gem sales pays for warps
Actually, maybe it’s the Atlas that needs more regular updating…That’d save a lot of frustration.
EDIT/ I was a fool. I should have just bought titanium hammers froom the get go. Mistakes were made…
I don’t know that I have seen anyone else make this point.
Metrics can’t show you what is going in the players mind, and while people have expressed frustration with its absence. Here is what I think was so appealing about it, and why so many players were lost following its removal.
The bomb mining mechanic amounted to a slot machine. You had to do a fair bit of pre-work to get ready. But once set up here is what happened. Busting a small whole, and throwing bombs is lit was like pulling the leaver on a slot machine. There was a distinct pause, and anticipation. You don’t know what your going to get. It might be **** it might be a jackpot. Then there was a loud earthshaking bomb, lag spike, and then… Jackpot! Ore, gems, coal, floating like mana from the heavens. You have but a few seconds to one hit all of it. A mad dash ensues to get as much as you can before the block timer resets damage.
Bomb mining was also a very social experience. You could bring friends, noobs, and share in this group excitement about your findings or the lack there of. I had some really enjoyable memories bomb mining with friends. That has been completely removed in the current state and it was one of the best mechanics/form of content that game had to offer.
3 Likes
Hammer mining is soul destroying at the moment.
I have to confess that I do prefer the lack of bomb mining. If bomb mining returns then there would be no point in hammer mining, we might as well go home.
I actually think that Atlas should be removed as a tool. It’s hours old anyway so when you get to a hot spot and dig, chances are it’s already been mined dry just adding to a frustration.
The rewards for digging in t5 and t6 are really not worth it at the moment but I think the problem is not just a gem issue and extends back to resources offered on lower level planets as well, the whole progression. Iron and copper is so plentiful that you can build entire buildings and cities out of it but then there’s a sudden brick wall on gold and silver being so drastically rarer than copper / iron and then titanium and gems being the next hard brick wall with rarity.
When you do end up getting a smattering of gold and silver, the tools are not worth having anyway and the Iron Hammer still reigns supreme at this level. [I know the coming patch looks to address this but we’ll see]
I have actually found more titanium in a 2 x 4hr hour digging sessions on serp than a similar 2 x 4hr hour digging session on a lvl 4 planet for gold and silver - My titanium haul was 22 titanium ore ! so hardly rewarding for 8 hours digging. Unfortunately with the XP nerf I cannot really say I gained much in the way of xp anyway.I did get a ton of coal [not that I had much ore to need to use the coal on 
] and I did get more Iron and copper en-masse to build a full scale model of tower bridge in London with enough spare to likely make a full scale Taj Mahal
On lower level planets there’s an emphasis on copper/iron and nothing else at all - why are other resources not possible on these planets. On mid planets l3 and l4 there’s an emphasis on copper and iron with a tiny chance of gold and silver and then on t5 and t6 there’s an emphasis on iron and copper with a tiny chance of the good stuff.
The issue then is not just Gems, Its absolutely everything and the levels you can find it on - just all feels totally wrong. There may well be a bigger picture that we of course cannot see, the roadmap of how the game is heading and the end result means that everything falls in to place and the balancing works itself out and makes sense but in the mean time - throw us a bone please.
I have titanium tools , I have gems I have power coils, I am not complining that I do not see these things or have the option to use them, I am complaining that I would prefer to obtain them myself via digging with my hammer rather than making easy money by visiting shops, buying their stock and selling it for profit. There is an element of fun in buying and selling but it’s not really how I want to play. I spent 3 - 4 hours last night digging blocks randomly just massive areas going down and down on a lvl 3 planet [my home] getting 2xp a block as I wanted to feel like I was progressing and I get 2xp per block on lvl3 world the same as I get on a t5 world except the lvl 3 world takes 1-2 hits per block to destroy it whereas t5 take 4-5 hits. - why is that a thing? adding to a grindy feeling task by adding health to the same stone just to make it a more grindy feeling.
As much as I enjoy the game - it really needs a whole rethink on the resource positions , quantities, respawns and levels to make it less grindy and more rewarding.
I would love to whine about gems with you guys but having only ever seen 3 topaz while digging t5 and t6 I am still clinging on to that moment and do not wish to taint it 
it looks like ur digging with a very imperfect mining skill build. Mining with an titanium hammer should not take more than 3 hits to destroy rock. actually should be like 1-2 hits to mine comfortable… can i ask u for ur skills?If ur too low lvl, i suggest u go to lower lvl planets because gaining xp is easier there.
I am using Iron, not titanium
Would not waste Titanium tools on the rock we endlessly get currently to be honest. My Titanium stuff I sell for profit. My skills are purely mining, nothing remotely non mining except 2 points in luck [Out of desperation]
Btw luck is really important for mining. I was mining only few days on serp and got enough diamonds to mass craft compacted and refined diamonds, hundreds of gold and Titanium ore just with an iron hammer. U must be doing something that really hurts ur efficiency. Also u shouldnt dig for copper and iron on lvl 5 worlds due to blocks breaking much harder. go for copper and iron on low lvl worlds specifically and avoid or at least ignore them on lvl5+. hammering 1 block wide explorative shafts into the walls of the tunnels u dig increase the area of sight on surrounding blocks per block removed greatly. Are u digging on the right altitude under the right terrain? every gem has its own sweet spot.
Honestly, use titanium on t5/6 I stubbornly clung to Iron too for as long as possible, but titanium near doubled my hauls.
Well then it’s going to take longer.
I’m sorry but it’s beginning to get a bit frustrating reading posts like this.
You’re complaining that it’s taking you too long. Whilst simultaneously selling the equipment that would drastically reduce the grind for you. The solution is staring you right in the face.
You guys cry too much. I can get around 200 emeralds (1 1/2 hours) at the cost of a single iron hammer Non-buffed. (Also 100c to warp back to the portal).
And I get tired of reading posts like this. Someone writes out a long, fairly well thought out, post about resource distribution and their relative values, and the only response that anyone can muster is “Lul, grind noob.” I think it’s pretty clear he’s okay grinding, but can we maybe make the grind a little more fun/rewarding/balanced for progression?
He is complaining about the grind, and a hour and a half per day, can get you 10 advanced coils. That is plenty fast enough.
No, my response is not ‘lul, grind noob’ My response was to use the materials he’s gained already to speed it along, completely different from the situation many others are stuck in, In that they don’t have access to the materials, this individual actually has the materials and the capability to craft the superior tools, but shirks them in order to profit, then complains it takes him too long to mine using inferior tools.
I mean… I don’t really know how else to put it.
1 Like
“fairly well thought out”? he was just posting endlessly which could be condensed into 2 sentences: i want more stuff with less effort. And especially i dont wanna think about ways to channel my effort efficiently.
But do u know that stuffs worth is determined by the effort to obtain it? btw u could try teaching porridge which doubles ur xp from crafting and gathering
So, sure, but is he not highlighting the huge issue that everyone in the mid-game is struggling with? Iron -> Titanium is a huge gap, titanium is very rare/still need diamonds first/ very little gold/silver when those should be obvious progression steps/XP doesn’t make any sense, etc. Maybe he is mining super inefficiently, but is 22 Titanium in 4 hours really the rate that people still stuck on Iron should just live with? And maybe that’s unlucky, or low, or whatever, but it meshs with my experience hammer mining with iron as well, so it can’t be too far off what a newer player would expect when trying to make that jump.
TL;DR: He makes a bunch of valid points about progression that you (and everyone else) blow off because he admited to having a few better tools or “lul, I can get 10 advanced coils per day for 100c, why can’t you match my obviously BS numbers”
Lennon, Titanium is useless. waste of money. Iron is all you need.Only 100c each
bs there is no struggle lol
iron is good enough for everything u need in mid game. Thats the reality and ur struggle is only perceived in the tunnel vision when u set ur eyes on a goal that is farer away than u think
but titanium is not useless lol >.< when u have the means to use it then u should… and omg u pay for iron? and 100 c for iron? come to my shop i sell this for like 30 c
I don’t know what to tell you. If you can’t see that progression is badly broken in this game, comapred to any other MMO or any other Sandbox, I don’t know what to tell you. Because it can be done as is does not mean that the way it is is good. Agree to disagree. Have a nice day.
All valid but really, why are we able to dig stacks upon stacks of iron / copper at lvl 10 under mountains on a lvl 5 & 6 planet. I am ok with where to find things with regards to planet and level, there’s a ton of online resources telling us all of that.
I cannot argue that my efficiency might be low but if I see copper and Iron in front of me then I am digging it - past experiences leads me to think that at least i’ll have that junk to come home with so it won’t have been a complete waste of time.
I actually get happy when I see and dig coal.
This does highlight an issue when players are still seeing endless copper/iron on the highest lvl planets in the game and that they are happy to be dgging coal seams
When a player prefers to dig in a lvl3 planet as blocks are super quick to break and get XP for as they don’t want to waste precious tools on the endless rocks and no rewards of a 5&6 planet.
WHen a player enters a planet to do digging with the mindset of ’ this will be a waste of time’
When this happens and I know I am not the only one as others above mention they do not bother mining anymore - this is the start of losing players when things are not fun.
Luckily there’s other stuff to do but surface gathering issues is just another completely different topic to get started on.
I am not sure how it was before release but it just feels all wrong with regards to the resources available. Not sure if that’s a dev plan to extend the grind until something they have planned is added to fix it or if it’s a rgen issue.
I will be mining again later so I am not whining and crying to quit, i enjoy the game but as I mentioned in a previous post [about fibrous leaves that turned out to be a regen glitch pn Finata] there has to be reward for the effort put in and a sense of progression that is self earned. So far my progression has simply been bought from selling things I buy cheaply etc and that is not as rewarding.
We will see what this weekend brings though but the issue is not just the lack of gems, it’s generally a lack of everything.
1 Like
I am happy for you.
I am not crying about anything but simply offering a point of view on my experiences.
If you disagree with them then that’s no problem at all for me. I hope you continue with your success
My comment wasn’t suggesting it’s slow nor that I do not like the grind.
My comment was trying to highlight that I feel the resource balance is all out of whack.