Saltpeter will be mined through niter deposits...

[Paldrion]

I just got a gigantic salpeter nite ... got 260 salpeter out of it. 5 minutes into mining @ 1538 luck.

edit: 30 seconds after writing this i got the next gigantic niter deposit.

183 salpeter on this one.

160 salpeter on the thiurd gigantic nite.

Thats 603 salpeter while mining 1 hour in shame, trammel, shoevels set to ore only.

So maybe its the luck over 1400 or setting shovels to ore only or a combination of those...

 

[G.v.P]

I wonder if you can get it from rowboats. Have to dig off boat or in a dungeon, right?

 

[Kas Althume]

I believe all boat mining locations work. Iam sure to remember that i saw screenshots from minoc mountains with niter deposits on boats.

 

[Paldrion]

Nah, I looked all over for higher luck armor and can get it only up to 1248, and with shovel set to ore only now I am getting about 200 saltpeter an hour. Its just not increasing anywhere close to the 1,000 per hour that others have claimed.

 

[Babble]

Fel might yield better results

 

[G.v.P]

850 luck after using luck sculpture

got a gigantic turned to massive then huge then large then small disappeared ... 202 total saltpeter, shame, ore only

1-4 per dig

next one ... 25 till gigantic turned to massive ... 142 till huge ... 176 till large ... 188 till small ... (198 till gone)

not bad for 10 mins

 

[ziggy29]

Nah, I looked all over for higher luck armor and can get it only up to 1248, and with shovel set to ore only now I am getting about 200 saltpeter an hour. Its just not increasing anywhere close to the 1,000 per hour that others have claimed.

I'm on LA, and in the last couple of days my take of saltpeter has been... zero. Before the last couple of days I was having moderate success (luck in the 600-800 range), but in the last couple days I've mined over 3,000 ingots without a single niter deposit at sea.

 

[Paldrion]

Finally

Okay, I went out and bought a 10th Anniversary Sculpture. That brought my luck up to 1948 for one hour. Got 1017 saltpeter in 1 hour. At that rate it is failry reasonable. Now I can mine for an hour a day and have enough saltpeter for a week's worth of fun battle shipping...

It would be more reasonable if now the 8 items used for making blackpowder would make 8 blackpowder, not just 1. No one wants to mine for 7 hours a week in order to spend 7 hours crafting, so you can enjoy the game for less time than you spent making it possible to play battleships.

 

[Phoenix_Mythic]

I'm on LA, and in the last couple of days my take of saltpeter has been... zero. Before the last couple of days I was having moderate success (luck in the 600-800 range), but in the last couple days I've mined over 3,000 ingots without a single niter deposit at sea.

The only reason I can think of that this could possibly happen is that there is no open space on your ship's deck for niter deposits to spawn. I would suggest making sure that there is at least one space adjacent to you on the deck of your ship that is completely unoccupied. With luck as you describe and with GM mining, you definitely should be getting a niter deposit every few minutes.

 

[G.v.P]

Ship mining seems very tedious, always needing to move the ship to mine more ore. An interesting alternative, I suppose, but dungeon mining seems a lot easier.

 

[Kas Althume]

Boat mining was great before all those new features like fire beetles etc. Ever since they got introduced i havn't boatmined anymore. The good thing about boat mining had been, that you could dig huge amounts of ore and sail home once every x weeks and smelt the stuff in 1 go. A stack of over 400 stones weight wouldn't decay on a ships deck (or anywhere else on the surface).

 

[G.v.P]

Boat mining was great before all those new features like fire beetles etc. Ever since they got introduced i havn't boatmined anymore. The good thing about boat mining had been, that you could dig huge amounts of ore and sail home once every x weeks and smelt the stuff in 1 go. A stack of over 400 stones weight wouldn't decay on a ships deck (or anywhere else on the surface).

True. I always preferred packhorses for mining back then. Kept lots of bone armor and such on my ship back in the no-decay days though ;p.

 

[aoLOLita]

I'm perfectly happy with the new niter mining. Gunpowder should be a very rare resource, especially in a "medieval" flavored gaming world. I almost never play my Tamer anymore ( Mystic-Mage does a smuch mayhem as GD) so instead of replicating a Luck suit for my miner/s, i just soustoned the Mining to Tamer. I do my niter mining in the Abyss.

With a 1400 Luck suit I average 180 per massive deposit, and a massive deposit every 5 minutes or so. I'll haveto rub Luck statue and see what
2000+ Luck does this weekend...

 

[Kas Althume]

Iam just boatmining in felucca and there is no double resources for salpeter in felucca. The salpeter nites seem to be smaller in general while boatmining.

So far i got 1 stack with 8 salpeter and 1 with 85 salpeter and 1 with 36.

 

[Old Man of UO]

Iam just boatmining in felucca and there is no double resources for salpeter in felucca. The salpeter nites seem to be smaller in general while boatmining.

So far i got 1 stack with 8 salpeter and 1 with 85 salpeter and 1 with 36.

Thanks KA. That pretty much agrees with the Developers notes, boat mining yields fewer and smaller niter deposits than dungeon mining.

 

[Paldrion]

Gunpowder should be a very rare resource, especially in a "medieval" flavored gaming world.

So noted. Its just a game though and there are a lot of seas out there that could be a resource for fun.

 

[Frarc]

Mining+Abyss+ plus 800 Luck was about 800 Saltpeter in half a hour.

 

[Paldrion]

Iam just boatmining in felucca and there is no double resources for salpeter in felucca. The salpeter nites seem to be smaller in general while boatmining.

So far i got 1 stack with 8 salpeter and 1 with 85 salpeter and 1 with 36.

Even in the dungeons it seems to wane. I got progressively lower amount on the last 4 tries, Today I was down to zero saltpeter mined.

 

[hawkeye_pike]

With 2000 luck I boat-mined 1 hour to get less than 400 salpeter. Enough for 10 shots with a heavy cannon. You need about 15 shots to defeat a pirate ship.

To my opinion, having to mine for 90 minutes, then having to craft ammo for an hour is way too time consuming. Most people I know have completely given up on using their new ships.

 

[Chardonnay]

So it's true...saltypeter can be mined...

I've been mining all day long if anyone would like some saltypeter just PM me...

 

[G.v.P]

With 2000 luck I boat-mined 1 hour to get less than 400 salpeter. Enough for 10 shots with a heavy cannon. You need about 15 shots to defeat a pirate ship.

To my opinion, having to mine for 90 minutes, then having to craft ammo for an hour is way too time consuming. Most people I know have completely given up on using their new ships.

Try a dungeon. Easier.

 

[Babble]

So anyone selling salpeter?

 

[hawkeye_pike]

Try a dungeon. Easier.

I tried Hythloth; no salpeter at all.
I'll continue to try other places.

 

[ziggy29]

With 2000 luck I boat-mined 1 hour to get less than 400 salpeter. Enough for 10 shots with a heavy cannon. You need about 15 shots to defeat a pirate ship.

Wow. I had been having trouble earlier, but I built a luck suit that gets me over 1100 luck (and more when I use the 10th anniversary statue) and now when I mine at sea I get 900-1200 saltpeter in an hour most of the time.

Still, for people who don't mine their own and/or don't like mining, if you need 600 saltpeter to claim a 10K reward, the math for pirate hunting hardly makes sense. Good way for miners to make money, though, if people who have tons of gold are willing to buy it in order to engage in an "expensive" hobby (making pirate hunting like the golf of UO)...

 

[Alvinho]

dumb question, do i need to be set to mine stone or can i get saltpeter mining just ore

 

[Quenchant]

dumb question, do i need to be set to mine stone or can i get saltpeter mining just ore

Nope....

Just mine like normaland it drops on the deck or at your feet. The luck suits really help with this resource.

Q

 

[G.v.P]

I tried Hythloth; no salpeter at all.
I'll continue to try other places.

Ah try Shame, I have good luck there. One line of thinking is it's better to mine in places where there is lots of room around the place youre digging to encourage a niter spawn, but not sure.