Mine Diving for Newbies (A Reference for the Rest Of Us!) or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love The Mines! This is a common question which comes up... how do I progress in the mines? There's several theories on this topic which we will be exploring. However, I feel that it is more important that you understand the mechanics and the underlying concepts than to give people a streamlined 'one true way', so if you're just looking for a tl;dr, this isn't going to be the post for you. Also, for purposes of this guide, we will be assuming you want to descend as rapidly as possible, with progression as the primary goal and loot as strictly secondary. As we are trying to dive, tactics for 'farming' specific levels are outside the scope of this guide. Please note, this is just for the mines, many of these concepts do not translate well, or at all, for Skull Cave diving, which is its own separate thing that can be boiled down to 'spam staircases, then play bomberman'. To attack or to dodge enemies? That is an interesting question, and it really depends on how fast you can kill things. On the upside, there's a flat 15% chance that killing an enemy on a tile that is open will spawn a ladder. On the other hand, especially when first starting off, it can take quite some time to kill enemies, and do recall that especially with flying enemies, that might be occupying a tile that is not clear, which obviates the chance. If you can kill the enemies in, say, 2-3 hits, go for it. If it will take more than that, it's generally better to dodge them if possible. Obviously, it's not always possible to dodge them, so you may have to engage for safety's sake. Luck has zero impact on the chance to spawn a ladder after an enemy dies. What else can spawn a ladder? Well, there's a chance that a ladder will spawn randomly, but it basically looks at all tiles on the level, and if it hits a blocked tile, it won't spawn. So this will depend on how open the map is. It's worth checking, but don't depend upon it. Also of note, Luck has zero impact on this roll. Breaking stones also has a chance of spawning a ladder, but this is a somewhat complex and poorly understood formula. Let's see if we can go over this. There's a base 2% chance, flat. This is always added. If the floor has no enemies, add 4% The inverse of the number of rocks left on the level is also added as a percentage. Thus if you have 5 rocks left, you get (1/5=) 20% chance added. Once one spawns, no further will from this mechanic. Luck has no impact on this chance as was once theorized. Luck%/5 is added, resulting in a total +/- 2% (base luck without the Special Charm is +/- 10%) added or subtracted from the total. This is the only mechanical impact Luck has on mine progression, and as you can see is fairly minimal. You can also craft a Staircase for 100 stone. More on this in a bit. Maximizing Performance by strategizing the buzzword randomizer! So now that we know how we can generate the means for progression, let's critically examine and come up with some general practices which are favorable to creating them. Consistency is Key! The more you go to the mines, the more chances you have of progressing. Therefore, unless something explicitly pressing presents itself, it is better to go mining than to skip. This explicitly includes ignoring daily luck. It is better to make five levels of progression than make zero levels of progression because you never went in. Five levels of progress is still progress! Don't be discouraged if you 'only' get 5 levels of progress. Do so over 16 days, and you're down in the mine levels where gold spawns. This dovetails into the previous practice. If you CAN dive 10 or 15 levels in a day, that's great! But as long as you hit 5 levels down, you've made permanent progress. Don't be afraid to run. I would rather get five levels of progression and make it home safe than try for 10 and either die or hit 2 AM while in the mines. If you think you can safely go for it, absolutely go for it! But if you find yourself getting in a bad position, consider retreat as a viable option. Monsters hurt. Unless you've got a decent weapon, or are just really good at the SDV combat system, I'd generally suggest avoiding them as much as possible. It usually takes too long to kill them, and isn't as consistent as focusing on mining. If you've got a good weapon, then go ahead and go after the low hanging fruit, but I'd suggest evading unless you just aren't going to be able to. FOOD! In your first spring, you have Spring Onions and Salmonberries. After that, Cheese is an amazing food you can have daily. Other types of food are useful, but are either expensive or requires the upgrade to your house. More stamina is more better. I'd suggest avoiding Trail Snacks unless you already have your oak tree stand planted for later Keg production. If you don't care about keg production, or already have your stand, go for it. Either way, you're far more likely to run out of endurance than out of time, so having something to munch on will be beneficial to you. Bring a chest with you the first time you go to the mines, and place it over by the minecart. No one ever goes in there, other than a couple of cutscenes, so it'll be safe there, and give you a place to store your goodies while you continue to progress. Every five levels, you can dump off excess loot, and progress further unladen by goodies, even if you don't have a backpack upgrade yet. Your biggest percents are going to be mining those last few rocks, and this is the only guaranteed way of getting a ladder, as the last rock is guaranteed to provide one if one hasn't already spawned. As such, for consistency, you probably want to focus on this. That means pick upgrades are going to be a priority over any other tool other than maybe Axe on a Forest map. Staircases: use and abuse Staircases require Mining 2, which probably won't take you very long to get, and 100 stone, which can be a substantial investment especially in the early game. As such, we want to make sure that it is going to be a worthwhile investment. So, when is it worthwhile? Here's some general ideas: On a level ending in 4 or 9, it is a guaranteed level progression to the next elevator entrance. Especially if you get the spiral formation or an infested level, it can be valuable here. If you are running out of time/endurance, or if you feel the level is going to block you... this is a good use. Don't use it if there are few rocks and enemies, as progression shouldn't be too difficult, unless you happen to be right before an elevator floor and you're out of time. Playing a staircase on any floor not ending in 4 or 9 is a gamble, because you could end up getting stuck on the next level. That's a really steep investment for a gamble, so this tends to be a 'greedy' strat that can be high risk/high reward. However, it can be used to bypass infested levels, and other levels that are going to take a significant time to clear. I'd generally advise against, but there are situations in which it can be worth it. You can also use it as an escape button to get out of a bad situation. Say you're already low on health and the mist starts rolling in, or if you find yourself getting mobbed and low on health, you can use it as a 'get out of trouble' card. Even if you don't think you can continue to progress, you can always immediately escape. This is still expensive, but it is less expensive than a death would be. Ideally, you'll be close to your next elevator level anyway, but even if not, it's better than a death. In Conclusion Nothing is set in stone here, there is no 'one perfect strategy' for mine diving. However, these are some things to take into consideration when planning your mine dive. Combat is often a controversial topic when discussing mine progression, because on the one hand it can shortcut a floor with a lucky ladder, but on the other hand can take up far more time than simply breaking rocks until a ladder spawns. Staircases can be very useful, but are also non-trivial in cost and getting the best 'bang for your buck' is going to be important. Ultimately, I'm not here to tell you what to do. I'm here to pull back the veil of mystery surrounding several mechanics intrinsic to mine progression, and to collect all general 'tips n tricks' for progressing in the mines in a central location that can easily be linked going forward, instead of being dribbled and drabbled piecemeal every time someone asks. This guide is intended to be used as a resource to form your own conclusions, not as a definitive 'perfect strategy', and is aimed primarily at newer players, or those who simply want to delve a bit more into the mechanics of mining who haven't bothered looking into it before, as opposed to a 'hardcore optimizer' strategy. Perhaps some of the information contained herein can be used to formulate such a strategy, perhaps not. Either way, I provide this information, use it as you see fit. Happy mining!
A couple further notes: Killing an enemy while it is directly on top of you cannot spawn a ladder, since that's not clear ground. (Wood and railways are also not clear) If there are no enemies on the floor, the chance of a ladder from a rock increases by 4%, as Shneekey mentioned, so it may be worth killing a hard-to-kill enemy if it's the very last one on the floor I don't have time to do the math now, but I think selling cheese and buying salads with it is better energy. Takes more time, though. Also, chubs are the best energy/gold out of the fish you will be getting. Honestly, if your goal is just to get to floor 80, copper pick is probably enough. Not to say the iron upgrade won't help, though. Also, consider buying explosive ammo for 100g from the adventurer's guild. (If you don't see it there, make sure you have your slingshot in your inventory). It's basically cheap cherry bombs, with the slight disadvantage that they only explode against the wall or enemies, so you can't hit rocks in the middle of the floor.
This is a pretty good all round guide, including all the mechanics, but there is one bit I'm going to question I know you have a thing about cheese, but It takes such a lot of time and money to get it off the ground. The barn itself costs 6k, four cows is another 6k, the pail is 1k and another 100g for the silo. You'll also need a copper axe to get hardwood for the cheese presses, so that's another 2k. So, that's an upfront total of 15,100g. Then there's all the resources you need for all that; including 4 cheese presses and a furnace, it's 530 wood, 450 stone, 40 hardwood, 90 copper ore and 14 coal. Plus you need Farming 6 to craft the cheese press, which most people aren't getting until at least near the end of Spring, if not later. By the time you can afford the cows, and then wait another five days for them to mature, you're looking at early summer at best, more likely for a casual who also needs this guide, it'll be more like mid to late summer before you're getting cheese. Alternatively, you could force Foraging 4 for free, then and run round and get all the salmonberries, supplementing your early diet with fish before then, when the levels are easier anyway. And starting on day 5, at just five floors per day you could be at floor 80 by day 19 (assuming no mining on egg festival). By the time cheese is online, you could reach the bottom at five floors a day, even with a handful of aborted days for bad luck or whatever. And of course you could just eat the crops you grow as well. Honestly, with the time it takes to build stuff and then wait for cows to grow up, plus waiting for Marnie, who is closed on days 8 and 9, I reckon it'd take me until day 15 to get cheese online, even if I pushed it, and I'm not exactly a casual.
Yea, perhaps I should make a clarification to make it more easily understood the timeline I'm talking about... First is Spring Onions, then Salmonberries. These are things that cost time instead of money to gather, basically it's a tradeoff of time now for banked stamina later. I would expect the salmonberries, especially if you get Foraging 4 prior to Salmonberry Season, to last until the end of Spring at the earliest, probably until mid-Summer. That's why I mention cheese. You're going to be doing it anyway if you are going for bundle completion, because you'll need Large Milk and probably Large Goat's Milk for the Animal bundle and a Truffle for the Chef's bundle, so a Barn is already an invested expense for other purposes. So, since you already HAVE the Barn, and probably a few cows, it doesn't require a lot more additional investment to make a couple of Cheese Presses (you can find 10-20 Hardwood while mine diving from barrels and other breakables), and the profit margins aren't as substantial as your crops are going to be in Summertime. So it is utilizing a resource you already *mostly* have, refining it into something amazingly useful for minimal additional infrastructure cost, and once set up produces in useful quantity daily. One of the things the updated version of the spring build order I'm working on will mention is that the salmonberries should last you until summer, and Cheese is for summer and going forward.
I did the math and I was mostly wrong about this - cheese is better energy/gold than salads unless a) it's regular quality cheese and b) you have the artisan perk.
