Surface Mining Reform

[Geddingwood 98]

I propose that you add either a new effect to the Mining skill or a separate skill for surface mining which would increase the base chance of changing the slope.  

 

Basis:

I've heard no one who's sure on how exactly surface mining works, all hearsay and supposition, but most seem to believe that there's a base 25% chance to mine a slope downward when surface mining.  A lot of the time though, you can go 15-20 attempts without affecting slope.  I propose that a new skill (or expansion of the Mining skill) takes the base amount and increases it up to a chance of 60% by level 100.

 

Thanks.

[Klaa 4,872]

Would be nice, especially since the slope was nerfed some time ago.

Edited January 16, 2014 by Klaa

[Nicrolis 980]

Ive done ALOT of surface mining, I can tell you... It definitely doesn't seem like 25% >_<   +1 changes need to be made to increase the chance.

[Tuhljin 13]

Perhaps the 25% chance (or whatever it is) should increase each time you surface mine on the same spot (within a reasonable time period - you don't need to track that stuff for long). The amount by which it increases could be based on Mining skill. So really high mining means you're almost certainly going to knock it down a slope within 2 tries.

[Telvanni 185]

+1 I have done a ton of surface mining in my day and I still can't figure out how it is coded.

[Geddingwood 98]

Perhaps the 25% chance (or whatever it is) should increase each time you surface mine on the same spot (within a reasonable time period - you don't need to track that stuff for long). The amount by which it increases could be based on Mining skill. So really high mining means you're almost certainly going to knock it down a slope within 2 tries.

 

So you're saying 25%, 30%, 35%, slope decreases, 25%, 30%, etc...?

 

Or 25%, 30%, 35%, slope decreases, 40%, 45%, slope decreases, 50%, etc....?

 

My thought was take the flat percentage rate (if that is how it actually currently works) and then just increase it as the skill (Mining or a subskill) increases, but your way could work too.

 

So in coding terms instead of the function being like

public boolean isSlopeChanging()

{

return Main.rand.nextFloat() <= 0.25f;

}

it would be like

public boolean isSlopeChanging(float skill)

{

return Main.rand.nextFloat() <= 0.25f + (skill/100f) * 0.35f;

}

[Battlepaw 585]

Would be nice, especially since the slope was nerfed some time ago.

 

I really do miss being able to carve deeds out of cliff faces  

 

It used to be quite epic, when you saw a deed that had done that, knowing how long it takes is rather sobering.    I still to this day can't figure out why that skill had to be nerfed just to fix a bug with the mine doors.   

[theoldknight1701 25]

Why not just increase the timer of Surface mining by 4 and make it so that it never fails to lower the slope? The time to make something is still the same but alot less random and less frustrating.

 

25% to lower the slope can be really frustrating with queued up actions (especially with high mining on superfast timers) if you look away and it lowers 2 in a row possibly messing up your plans and requireing concrete.

[Protunia 735]

-1  its not supposed to be easy....

[Nicrolis 980]

-1  its not supposed to be easy....

 

He never said it was easy, just that it needs to be redone.

 

I propose that you add either a new effect to the Mining skill or a separate skill for surface mining which would increase the base chance of changing the slope. 

[Geddingwood 98]

-1  its not supposed to be easy....

 

I wasn't suggesting it should be easy, just that there should be a natural advancement of skill in doing it as with many other things in this game.  Sorry if you saw it that way.  Notice I said that it would only increase from a 25% chance to a 60% chance at 100 skill...so that means getting to 30-40 (doable in a few days with most skills) would only get you to 35.5%-39%  That's still nowhere near an assured drop in slope, even at 100.  Obviously these numbers could be adjusted by the devs to whatever they feel appropriate.

[Protunia 735]

I wasn't suggesting it should be easy, just that there should be a natural advancement of skill in doing it as with many other things in this game.  Sorry if you saw it that way.  Notice I said that it would only increase from a 25% chance to a 60% chance at 100 skill...so that means getting to 30-40 (doable in a few days with most skills) would only get you to 35.5%-39%  That's still nowhere near an assured drop in slope, even at 100.  Obviously these numbers could be adjusted by the devs to whatever they feel appropriate.

 

 

I think you already get a speed bump from skill right???

 

Or is the timer the same for Level 1 pickaxe and Level 90 pickaxe? ( I meant skill in pickaxe )

Edited January 16, 2014 by Protunia

[Nicrolis 980]

I think you already get a speed bump from skill right???

 

Or is the timer the same for Level 1 pickaxe and Level 90 pickaxe?

I have a pick thats 80ql with 92 woa. yes i get quick mine times, 3.9, 4.5, 5.4, 5.6. BUT Like I mentioned above, I do ALOT of surface mining and It is definitely not a 25% chance. Ever skill is increased in speed by the ql/enchants of an item, surface mining does not get any special "speed bump" compared to the rest.

[Bix 453]

I have a pick thats 80ql with 92 woa. yes i get quick mine times, 3.9, 4.5, 5.4, 5.6. BUT Like I mentioned above, I do ALOT of surface mining and It is definitely not a 25% chance. Ever skill is increased in speed by the ql/enchants of an item, surface mining does not get any special "speed bump" compared to the rest.

 

The higher your mining skill, the faster the timer on surface mining, which means there's an increased chance of success over that of a player with lower skill within the same time frame.

[Tuhljin 13]

 

-1  its not supposed to be easy....

 

 

I don't think you're seeing the difference between "difficult" and "screwed by the random number generator". Surface mining IS easy. It's just time consuming and inconsistent (both with its randomness and in comparison to how other actions in the game work). What skill, exactly (and I mean real skill, not some character stat), is involved in hoping you get your 25% chance to pop up?

Edited January 17, 2014 by Tuhljin

[Geddingwood 98]

The only change in surface mining currently is that by raising Pickaxe skill you can decrease the time it takes to make an attempt, but there is currently no way to increase the chance of a slope change.

[Kediec 280]

-1 from me.

 

I do a lot of surface mining, and i really do not have a problem with it.

[Arronicus 641]

As a newer player, who has surface mined ~8k stone shards in the past week, I'd much rather it on a longer timer, garaunteed to change the slope, than the inconsistent, sometimes 20 actions for 1 slope, sometimes 3 slope in 4 actions. Especially when you have to get concrete to fix it because it mined too fast.

 

Edit: Over 24k in 3 weeks now heh. Still rather ridiculous

Edited January 26, 2014 by Arronicus

[Geddingwood 98]

All I'm saying is that this is a bit ridiculous being that I have 53 mining:

 

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[Protunia 735]

maybe you need a better pick.....or maybe its based on time?
 

I bet I can go mine for a bit and find 2 back to back successes.

 

a 5 mins window is nothing.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Protunia

[As_I_Decay 1,592]

maybe you need a better pick.....or maybe its based on time?

 

I bet I can go mine for a bit and find 2 back to back successes.

 

a 5 mins window is nothing.

So, you're saying because you can mine 2 shards back to back in, say, a half hour or an hour of window time, it's perfectly fine and nothing should change?

That's one of the silliest arguments I've heard.

 

[Tuhljin 13]

Sometimes I honestly believe this community doesn't want Wurm to be a good game.

[Protunia 735]

So, you're saying because you can mine 2 shards back to back in, say, a half hour or an hour of window time, it's perfectly fine and nothing should change?

That's one of the silliest arguments I've heard.

 

In case you missed it sherlock I was talking about a 5 mins window of time and using that as a reason to change something is ludicrous by the previous poster.

 

Surface Mining is fine for the damage it creates to the game world, If you want to destroy you put in the time.

 

Its bad enough tunnelling creates big gaint offsets in the world the last thing I want to see is surface mining like digging and massive area's of mountains all screwed up with no way to fix it at all.

Edited January 25, 2014 by Protunia

[As_I_Decay 1,592]

In case you missed it sherlock I was talking about a 5 mins window of time and using that as a reason to change something is ludicrous by the previous poster.

Surface Mining is fine for the damage it creates to the game world, If you want to destroy you put in the time.

Its bad enough tunnelling creates big gaint offsets in the world the last thing I want to see is surface mining like digging and massive area's of mountains all screwed up with no way to fix it at all.

Concrete is your fix, and your argument won't have a leg to stand on anymore, once that's made easier to create.

Also, comparing tunneling to surface mining is apples to oranges. Tunneling can only be fixed by a priest or spending coin. Anyone can make concrete.

Edited January 25, 2014 by As_I_Decay

[Cohen 52]

I've done a lot of surface mining, 10s of thousands of shards worth and have noticed the probability of mining a shard converges to 20% as you increase sample size.

 

I don't really think there should be a change to surface mining. As Protunia points out, it would make ruining mountains too easy for the masses.