** creeps into Basara's domain **Prospector Tool wierdness

[Guest]

I have just recently been noticing strangeness when using a Prospectors Tool. Lemme lay things out and <shrug> maybe I'm just full of it. For this discussion, leave garg pickaxes off the list, please. Human miner, Mining skill 97.2 real.

As I understand it, a miner can dig a spot then use the P-tool to promote that vein **if it can be promoted**. Now I have only recently begun comparing notes on things and it seems to me that if a vein got promoted, you could depend on <u>at least</u> 1 of some size of the "promoted" ore.

But lately it seems it's more like this:
Dig ... hit iron ... P-tool promote, get &lt;some color&gt; message, dig again and the results are:
Iron ==&gt; Dull Copper - 90%+ will get DC of some size returned
Iron ==&gt; Shadow - 20% or less any Shadow actually returned<font color=red>&lt;== my problem</font color=red>
Iron ==&gt; Copper, Gold, Bronze ... right to Valorite - 50-70% will get something returned

If initial dig is non-iron color, almost always a promotion will produce **something** in the higher grade.

So, is my seeming inability to get Shadow ore out of a promoted vein standard or have I hit a nasty RNG for the last 4 nights?

 

[Basara]

I've been noting some freakishness as well, but with the garg pick (my 94.5 miner/secondary crafter in training) hasn't got an ele of any type in the last 3 garg picks. Might be a random number generator issue since the last server update publish, or just bad luck.

On your subject, though - I think that all spots have a certain "color ore percentage chance" that varies from resource square to resource square. It retains it, even if Iron, so that when you elevate it, it uses that number.

Some of my locations, that have changed ore color at least once, produce about the same percentage color, regardless of the ore type (better or worse). I know this because I once had 2-3 books for each ore color (one bought at auction from a player quitting, the other two from IDOCs during the great house fall several years back), with fairly unique spots, and had distilled them down about 2 years ago into only the spots (less than 2 books each) that gave 50-90% colored ore. I still use the books, but just take what they give that I can use (playing with the PT and/or GPA as needed) - and get the same percentages of whatever colored ore that is there, as I did for whatever ore type it was this time last year.

You've probably been hitting some really good iron spots for DC, and some really crappy DC spots for Shadow, or the RNG is FUBAR again.

 

[Guest]

Its just you T!! I have had some bad luck with the RNG for a few upgraded spot after using the pros tool. Like I upgrade copper to bronze and never see any bronze pop up in my pack but I got a dead Bronze ellie at my feet to tell me the spot was upgraded.