Shaft Miner

Welcome, Miner! You will break rocks, slay monsters, and die lost and alone in the depths of the caverns. Not on some sandy asteroid, but on what we call Lavaland!

**Bare minimum requirements:** Stay alive long enough to return your loot to the station.

## Workin' In The Coal Mine

 File:Mining Dock.png
Being a miner can be somewhat tedious, but you serve a crucial role in the R&D food chain, and can accrue some decent personal rewards. Just follow a few guidelines to keep yourself from becoming dead in the mines.

Your workplace, Lavaland, has some hazards

* Ash storms will cut right through your clothes, dealing constant burn damage if you are outside. A rain of dark particles outdoors indicate an ash storm.
* Lava - one step in and you'll be badly burned and on fire.
* Chasms - Anything that falls into one will disappear from this world.

The risk of these hazards can be reduced by watching your step and being aware of your surroundings. Don't walk into lava, chasms, or outside during an ash storm. You'll get a text warning not long before a ash storm is about to begin, so long as you stay near shelter (or have a bluespace shelter capsule with you) then you'll be fine.

If you run into rock with a pick or drill in your inactive hand, it will automatically start digging for you. ALSO, it is important to note that **you are able to click more than ONE square of asteroid at a time** when mining or digging for sand! As long as it's accessible, you don't have to wait to finish digging before you start digging again, so you can have several dig jobs running in parallel. Just don't change hands or move until all dig jobs are done.

### Working With Your Boss

Who is your boss? You answer to the Head of Personnel, much like the rest of Supply -- but usually, you'll just be talking to the Quartermaster or other Miners. He can watch cameras on the Asteroid and has full access to Mining, so keep that in mind.

### The Objective

You're here to mine, so get digging! Once you're full to bursting with ores, drag your ore box back to the station and head to cargo where the ore redemption machine sits. Insert your ID, and empty the box next to the machine to offload your ores and have them instantly processed into sheets. You gain points for doing this, so be sure to claim them and then retrieve your ID. Now buy new gear if you want, take your crate and it's back to the mines!

#### How to Do This

1. Gear up! From the mining equipment locker, you will need Meson Scanner goggles, a mining scanner, your pickaxe (optional), a bluespace shelter capsule (DON'T FORGET!) and your standard issue proto-kinetic accelerator. If you want, there is also a additional mining satchel, and a shovel.
2. Use your voucher on a mining vending machine to select your choice of advanced mining tool: a bluespace shelter capsule-chest rig combo pack, resonator, advanced mining scanner or a drone.
3. Go to the lava mining station and get an explorer suit, breath mask, and oxygen tank from Mining 'EVA'. On the western side of the base, there is a mini-Medbay where you can find first-aid kits. There is also a maintenance room adjacent to it where you can top off internals.
4. Before you go, you'll want an Ore Box, which can hold an infinite amount of minerals. Ore boxes are available on the mining station, the mining shuttle and the asteroid.
5. Make sure you've packed a bluespace shelter capsule if you plan on a long distance expedition.
6. Pick a destination: Both sides have a transit tube you can shove yourself into for quick access to the relevant outposts, located near the Mining Shuttle.
7. Find dem minerals. Click the scanner in hand to be able to see deposits in the rock. Try to get a mixture of:

	* Gold
	* Silver
	* Uranium
	* Plasma
	* Diamond

	Note:Sand can be dug up with a shovel or drill and iron can be seen without a scanner, but they do not redeem as many points as the other minerals.
8. Go to the ore redeemer and get points. If R&D doesn't show up, you can also deliver materials to R&D (10-15 sheets each material except iron) and everything else to Robotics. Ask R&D for a sonic jackhammer if they have the materials.
9. At the mining equipment vendor you can get sonic jackhammers, jetpacks, MediPens and more with the points you've gained.
10. Use your better gear to push deeper into lavaland.

### Voucher

You start the shift with a complimentary mining voucher, worth one free item out of a selection of four. These items, and their strengths, are:

* Bluespace Capsule + Chest Belt Webbing: The capsule is a good choice to allow you to explore out in lavaland for even longer, and the webbing (you put on your belt slot) allows you to carry even more mining equipment, like a pickaxe. A strong starting choice.
* Resonator: A viable alternative weapon, not as competitive since you start with a Proto-Kinetic Accelerator but the Resonator can prove useful for large scale mining or for fending off certain wildlife.
* Adv Mining Scanner: This scanner has a more expanded view range, allowing you to see all minerals withing the entire screen. Very useful but not a critically needed item as you can compensate with the standard scanner by exploring more thoroughly.
* Mining Drone: Some swear by it, other's hate it. A 'useful' companion that helps in storing ore and hunting wildlife. You can also purchase upgrade to make the little bugger more useful.

### For Great Profit!

Mining for the sake of it can only get you so far. By mining minerals and returning them to the station you'll accrue mining points, you can then use these points to buy better and more powerful equipment and supplies from a equipment vendor. You can then in turn use these items to push further into lavaland to mine better minerals, fell stronger wildlife and find greater treasure. Consider it all a investment.

Stimpacks can help you in a pinch for example, or a Wormhole Jaunter can help you escape what would have been a death trap. Or saving up for a Legion Stabilizer can let you save their instant healing heart for later. Or you can spend it all on booze and cigars.

## Default Gear

The following is a list of default mining equipment:

#### Essential Equipment

 File:BreathMask.pngBreath Mask and Oxygen Tank
 File:MGlasses.png File:MiningScanner.pngMeson Scanners and Mining Scanner
 File:GPSm.gifGlobal Positioning System, GPS
 File:Buckknife.pngSurvival Knife
 File:Bandaid brute.pngBrute patch
 File:BScapsule.pngBluespace shelter capsule
 File:OreSatchel.png Ore Satchel
 File:Voucher.gifMining Voucher
 File:KineticAccelerator.pngProto-kinetic Accelerator

#### Miscellaneous Equipment

Items that, while not critical to take, can be situationally useful.

 File:Shovel.pngShovel
 File:OreCrate.pngOre box
 File:Crowbar.pngCrowbar | Just in case when coming back from the mines there is a blackout. Spawns in your backpack.

## Advance Gear

The following are more advance items that need to be purchased from a mining equipment vendor, points being earned by mining.

#### Voucher/Reward Equipment

These items can either be acquired from a voucher, or are bought with points earned via mining via the redemption machine on the station. Prices are included.

 File:Resonator.pngResonator
 File:MiningScanner.pngAdvance Mining Scanner
 File:MiningDrone.pngMining Drone
 File:Circuitboard.pngDrone: Melee Upgrade
 File:Circuitboard.pngDrone: Health Upgrade
 File:Circuitboard.pngDrone: Ranged Upgrade
 File:Circuitboard.pngDrone: AI Upgrade
 File:MediPen.pngStimpack Medipen
 File:Box.pngMedipen Bundle
 File:Bottle17.pngHivelord Stabilizer
 Wormhole Jaunter
 Lazarus Injector
 File:Pickaxe.pngSilver-plated Pickaxe
 File:Pickaxe.pngDiamond Pickaxe
 File:JetPack.gifMiner Jetpack
 File:Mining Hardsuit.pngMining Hardsuit
 File:KineticAccelerator.pngSuper Proto-Kinetic Accelerator
 File:Resonator.pngSuper Resonator

#### Misc/Joke Reward Equipment

These items are either joke items or are highly situational items you can buy.

 File:Cigar.pngPremium Havanian Cigar
 File:Soapnt.pngSoap
 File:Laser Pointer.pngLaser Pointer
 File:Facehugger.pngAlien Toy
 Point Card
 GAR Mesons
 1000 Space Cash

## RnD Gear

The following is a list of advance items that can be acquired only from RnD, using a combination of minerals and high tech research.

 File:Diamonddrill.pngDiamond Tipped Mining Drill
 File:Sonicjack.pngSonic Jackhammer
 File:Hyperproto.pngHyper-Kinetic Accelerator
 File:Bluespacemining.pngMining Satchel of Holding

## The Wildlife

Lavaland is filled with a variety of bloodthirsty alien lifeforms populating the caverns, walking just fine over the ponds and puddles of lava. Fortunately, you can fight them whilst taking minimal damage, if you have the know-how

Useful items can be harvested from these creatures' corpses should you triumph; butcher them with a knife and the goods will spill out!

It drops a soul when killed. Hit yourself with the soul and it will instantly restore your health to its maximum, and even cure diseases or any other ailment on your body. It also has the side effect of purging any beneficial chemicals from your system, so don't munch one just after injecting a stimulant. Don't think you can store these for later, though -- they will spoil after a few minutes unless you use a stabilizer from the vending machine. However, legion souls, spoilt or not, can be inserted in one's chest through surgery to provide a constant regenerating effect.

tl;dr strategy: **Attack with your pickaxe. Hack your way through the legion and its heads until the host is mush.**

Despite the slowdown, watchers can be kited. However, it is often a better idea to **just melee them** with your pickaxe in the event that you have several goliath plates. Have a brute patch handy if you choose to fight a watcher, as it will injure you in a melee.

Butcher a watcher for 2 pieces of diamond ore.

Tip: Watchers are notably weak to explosions due to the nature of their bodies, taking over half their health in damage from even the weakest of explosions.

Fighting them is simple: **Shoot, step back, shoot, avoid tentacles.** Repeat this process until it stops moving.

Butcher a goliath for its hide and its meat. Goliath plates can be used to reinforce your hardsuit and helmet a maximum of three times, allowing you to turn your suit into something closer to a spaceworthy piece of riot gear if you hunt some Goliaths. The meat can be cooked in lava.

When killed, they spit up multiple pieces of ore, based on what they ate. Feed them many different types of ore before killing them, and they'll spit out more of each type than you gave it! Just don't let it get away after spooking it.

Extreme caution is advised when mounting expeditions deeper into 'lavaland'. Central Command recommends teams equip themselves with the best weapons and gear the station can provide.

Miners should use their GPS devices to scan for these larger unidentified lifeforms, with this information a miner can tactically avoid a encounter with one of these unidentified lifeforms, at least until they are ready...

## Xenoforms

Your not always the only sentient being on the planet. Aside from the lovecraftian horrors living down there you may also content with several groups or factions of beings on the planet. Some hostile, some friendly.

The follow is a list of all known sentient groups found on the planet based on information sent from recon squads.

##### Podmen

Recon Expedition #4

Threat Level: Minimal, Non Hostile

Note: A small group of podmen were observed living inside a crashed ship. They appear minimally armed and seem to avoid leaving their home.

##### Golems

Recon Expedition #9

Threat Level: Minimal, Non Hostile

Note: A unidentified flying object was seen crashing by Recon Team Charlie during expedition #8. Alpha team on expedition #9 located a group of golems, the golems appeared utterly uninterested in their surroundings all things considered.

##### Ashwalkers

Recon Expedition #13

Threat Level: Medium, Hostile

Note: It appears a group of Basiliscus Lizretus, also known as Lizardmen, live on the planet, they are hostile to all intruders. These 'ashwalkers' only started to appear when mining operations started, they are agile but lightly armed, wielding primitively forged armor and spears. They appear to also have a hostile relationship with the wildlife, having been observed killing and dragging wildlife corpses away, as to why they need these corpses the recon team is unable to ascertain.

##### Prisioners

PMC Expedition #1

Threat Level: High, Hostile

Note: A prison transport carrying high tier prisioners crashed on the planet, a PMC expedition was mounted to track them down but the team was unable to locate the crash site and was forced to abandon when the ash storms took a turn for the worse. Any prisoners found should be considered armed and extremely dangerous, and should only be approached by a fully equipped security team.

## The Ores

These are what you should be looking out for, generally try and get a good mix of the more exotic ore types. Iron ore is ok but it sells for little and is highly abundant on the station already.

 Plasteel
 Sand
 Reinforced Glass
 Plasma | File:Plasmawall.png | File:Plasmaore.png | 15
 Silver
 Gold
 Uranium
 Diamond
 Gibtonite
 Bananium

Additionally, bluespace crystals sometimes spawn on mining. These crystals can be used in various ways. Give them to science to increase bluespace science, hold onto them to use as a risk free jaunter, or throw them at people to make them teleport randomly (often into space.)

### Who Needs What

Miners don't have to deliver ores directly to departments -- they can if they want, or if those bastards are too lazy to leave their fortress of ~~autism~~ science -- but it never hurts to know what to aim fir.

* Scientists just want a little (10-15 of each is enough to last them the entire round) uranium, plasma, diamond and gold. In exchange, they may give you a bomb or more advanced mining tools like a Sonic Jackhammer or a Diamond Drill, both for even faster digging!
* Roboticists need diamond, uranium, silver and gold for building mech parts. Give them enough and you've indirectly helped out most of the departments on the station if the Roboticists are competent enough to build helpful stompy mechs for everybody! Too bad the Ripley is the only ~~good~~ mech for mining.
* The Quartermaster may want mineral sheets to trade them in for bonus supply credits.
* Everybody could always use more iron, glass and plasteel, but especially Roboticists and Station Engineers.
* The Virologist, Chemist and Xenobiologist will all appreciate having extra plasma.
* A Clown with Bananium is a grateful and dangerous ally.
* The Bartender can use a few sheets of uranium or iron to craft some of his rarest cocktails.

## Secrets of the Asteroid

While on the asteroid, you may come upon small boxed structures, usually made of plasma or reinforced walls. Dig in through openings, or use the blue toolbox in the hardsuit room to break down that wall and discover your prize! They could have items ranging from magical artifacts to alien facehuggers. A plasma wall doesn't necessarily mean an alien, always check. If you are at all unsure, always let your mining buddies know using :u before you tear down that wall.

You may randomly find a facehugger in one of the treasure rooms. Do not infect yourself with the facehugger. This makes the admins very cross. If you are an antagonist, or a responsible parent with a xeno baby den set up somewhere full of monkeys, you should consider yourself as having more leeway. Do not try to pick the Facehugger up. Construct a locker, put the hugger in the locker, weld it and drag it back to the station. It'll leap at the vulnerable targets it sees once it's re-opened.

Some super useful Treasures you might find while mining include:

* A mysterious medibot. It is black and heals significantly better than other types.
* A Grinder. The limits depend on your ability to use it yourself.
* Cultist Armor. Faster than the mining one but can't be upgraded. Also can get you arrested.
* Various spellbooks. Ranging smoke, knock and blind. In the hands of a good miner, can make a huge difference.
* An E-cutlass. Considered one of the rarest and most desired items from mining, An e-sword in all regards.
* Creature : The creature comes from the Cultist room. If you are a traitor, emagging the laz injector gives you a potent ally that's fast and lethal.
* Soul Stone : Useful for slaving people as a traitor, less useful to non antags.
* Sonic Jackhammer : Breaks walls. ALL OF THEM.

## Tips

* Always go with at least two other people when mining. Not only can you mine faster together, the chance that they could both be 'lings/traitors is rather low. Pickaxe to the skull tends to put down most people.
* You can view the contents of a mining satchel as if it were a backpack.
* Durands only require uranium and silver, which are abundant. So if you find just 5 diamond, to get yourself a diamond drill, and mine out shit tons of metal, uranium and silver, you can make it Durand station 13!
* Wish soup is made of 20 units of water and nothing else, but sometimes (~25% of the time) will actually be generated with nutriment you can actually get full on. Meaning it's one of the only things you can make once the donk pockets run out. It's also the only thing you can make on the DJ station at all without importing ingredients (provided you bring something to hold the water in).
* Ctrl-Z (with no hotkey-mode) or just Z (with hotkey-mode on) cocks the combat/mining shotgun. No more clicking in between shots!
* Minebots are great at distracting monsters. Just walk near and bash the distracted target with your drill. They can take quite a beating, though goliaths can take them down pretty quickly if you're not quick enough. Plus they collect all the crap gibtonite left.
* The Proto-kinetic Accelerator can destroy electrified grilles without needing a pair of insulated gloves.
* The Proto-kinetic Accelerator will obliterate a space carp in one hit while in space.
* The Head of Personnel may reward you with all access if you resurrect Ian. Also, sometimes the Research Director will reward you for a pet gold grub.
* If you're expecting trouble on the station, consider taking out a window on the mining shuttle before you return to make a quick getaway so you're not trapped like a rat in a cage.
* Taking stimulants before delivering materials to science will help keep you alive.
* The mining drone can be repaired with a welding tool, but not in the middle of a fight. A goliath will always win in a one on one fight with a mining drone.
* Life improving things:
	+ Mining rig upgrade : Goliath plates add +10% melee resist each time when applied to a rig, ideally if you're just mining you'd want to solely apply that to your chest piece. When maxed out you'll be able to fight a goliath without kiting and take minor damage. It is recommended to apply plates to the head instead if you plan to antag as players more often target your head. The plates will stack until they reach 80%. That makes your suit a space worthy riot suit.
	+ Security Jumpsuit : This gives a +10% melee resist to everywhere but your head. Nag the QM or HoP to give you one.
	+ Augmentations : Augs are VERY useful for miners, as healing with a welder is ultimately easier. Plus they work differently than armor when it comes to protection, instead reducing all brute damage taken by an augmented body part by 5 (4 for burn). Downside : EMP vulnerability.
	+ If these three are combined you become close to immune to melee, only a ninja's energy blade is robust enough to even so much as scratch you, and blobs are utterly hopeless. However, guns are still a threat, and anybody can still surprise you with a stunprod and strip away your precious +4 rig. And be wary, the  gods may not take kindly to your hubris.
* Kinetic accelerators can be used as infinite tools to navigate space, since every time you fire, it'll throw you in the opposite direction.

## Dead Space

A traitorous miner has a lot of advantages. You have a space suit for free right away and a robust pickaxe. Certain minerals you'll find have more "specialized" uses -- uranium structures will irradiate people, plasma can start fires, gibtonite goes boom. You can also buy dangerous "mining" tools and possibly even revive those monsters you've been fighting. As long as you have some mineral wealth or an ore box with you, no one will suspect your presence around the station, even in highly restricted areas like robotics or toxins, and if you are smart enough, you could get a big stompy mech to drill people to death! In addition, the asteroid is isolated, hard to get to, dangerous, and as expansive as you're willing to dig out. Plenty of room for somebody to get lost in... *Forever!*

### Tips for Traitoring

* If you're a miner and you have to kill another miner; there's a really easy way to block communications one way so he can't call for help.
	+ Grab a multitool, go to the mining communications room.
	+ Use the multi tool on the relay and make sure the relay isn't sending, meaning your headset won't go to people on the station.
	+ Kill your target with their shouts for help unheard.
* You can get plasma at exactly the heat you need for canister bombs by welding a plasma door in vacuum. Use an air pump to take it, then put [REDACTED] KPa into an empty large tank (the size of plasma, emergency O2, etc). You can then ignite it with a can of pure O2 set to release at 1013.25 KPa. This is the Shaft Miner's canister bomb. It's easy to set up on the asteroid.
* More than one uranium wall is hilariously deadly, as they give off a pulse of radiation every couple of seconds. This pulse makes other uranium walls in range pulse as well, and they all run on their own timer.
* Tiers 0-1-2-3 can gib bodies, remember mining suits take 50% of damage away from bombs, so strip miners you want to make disappear forever first.
* Ripley is a fairly robust murdering tool, if you can, convince robotics to put a gravity catapult on it. **SLAM PEOPLE INTO WALLS. THE SUFFERING NEVER ENDS.**
* Space is your best ally. Your weapons are more lethal in space, and anyone who wants to chase you will need access to a jetpack and EVA gear. Make people fight on your terms by blowing up the station with various Gibtonite charges, or bust in, stun and drag targets into space.
* Stim packs don't just increase your movement speed, they lower the duration of stuns. Always have this running in your system to remain speedy and more difficult to keep down.

#### Tips for Culting

If you're a miner, Mining Station is the perfect hive for a cult. The back room can easily be broken down by Constructs, runes can be placed, and a single artificer can make it very difficult for Security to try and raid. Remember to cut cameras, so a Non-Asimov AI doesn't bolt and electrocute every door. Remember to use Teleport other to get Cultists off station and into safe custody. All the station needs is a Medibot and you are golden.