Digging properly
The mining ladder, and what it does and does not buy you.
There are four mining tools and one that is not a tier. The thing nobody guesses is what separates them.
You will need
- A Hand Drill — 3 Copper + 2 Wood, at the bench
- Later, whichever rung you can afford
Steps
- Make the Hand Drill. Right-clicking with bare hands works, but barely.
- Upgrade when the radius starts to matter, not when you hit rock you cannot break — see below.
- Make a Harvesting Sickle — 3 Copper + 2 Wood — if you are farming. It cuts only what grew, so it clears a wheat field without eating the floor.
When it works
The ladder:
| Tool | Radius | Bite per swing |
|---|---|---|
| Hand Drill | 18 cells | 40 |
| Rock Auger | 28 cells | 72 |
| Thermal Lance | 42 cells | 144 |
| Disruptor | 64 cells | 336 |
Every one of them bites equally hard. The ladder is speed and reach, not hardness. A Hand Drill breaks titanium exactly as readily as a Disruptor does — it just moves a fraction as much rock while doing it.
This is deliberate, and it means there is no pick you are missing. If something will not break, it is not because your tool is too weak; it is because that material is not diggable at all. Only two things in the game are: Stratum, the sealed floor between cave layers, and the machines.
When it does not
You cannot break through a particular grey layer, however hard you try. That is Stratum, and it is meant to stop you. It sits above every tool in the game on purpose. Going through it is a different problem.
Sand keeps collapsing into your tunnel. Sand and dirt are powders. They fall and they slide. Tunnel through stone where you can, and shore up a ceiling of powder before you stand under it.
You are mining and getting nothing. Not every material banks. Check the material's own page — the Mining section says what it drops, and a few things drop something other than themselves.
Acid ate your tunnel. Acid dissolves rather than mines, and it destroys the cell outright rather than banking it. Glass, gold and ceramic are immune, which is the entire acid-proof container mechanic.
You want a bigger brush, not a bigger tool. Hold Q and use the wheel.
Next
The crafting ladder — what each station opens up.