Section 9.1: What is a Grid Map Overlay for UOAM? Why can't I use one?
For Official Shards, resources are divided up into 8x8 Resource Grids. A Grid map overlay for UO Auto Map (UOAM) basically shows you the exact Resource Grid Layout.
The so called grid map overlay has been outlawed by EA as a exploit. When adding it to your UOAM, the UOAM tool loses its UO-Pro status (because you make changes to internal program files). Using tools without UO-Pro status in turn *will* lead to UO account suspension or UO account banning when their use is discovered. As far as EA is concerned (and this is something they have in their ToS!) any program that exposes hidden elements of the background (such as the resource grid) while the client is running is an exploit. Since Stratics does not allow the posting of bugs or exploits we do not allow the posting of any information relating more directly to the grid map overlay.
Section 9.2: What information is available for the Prospectors Tool?
Prospector's Tools (Smith BOD reward)
These items can be used as a macing weapon (similar to a sledgehammer, but cannot be used as a smithing tool), but their real use is "prospecting" an ore site. Before you can prospect a site, you must use a digging tool (shovel, pickaxe, Gargoyle Pickaxe) once on the target area. Such use does not have to be successful, just break the ground (which means, you can do a "false dig" while mounted, be told you cannot mine while mounted, then use the tool to get the enhancement, to maximize your digging tool usage at the elevated state).
A successful use of the prospector tool means that all colored ore you gain from a site will be one level higher. However, you can only use the tool to elevate a site to an ore type that you can already mine. For example, at 85 mining, you could elevate a bronze site to gold, but not a gold site to agapite. Elevating an Iron site to dull copper becomes possible at 65 Mining (the skill needed to mine DC ore), but only a percentage of the ore will be DC; all other elevations simply replace the usual colored ore with the higher type.
You can only use the prospector's tool once per site, until the ore respawns, at which time you can use it again on that site. They have 50 charges when new, and that could easily add up to 1000 enhanced ore if used in Felucca, or even the best locations in Trammel, Malas, Tokuno & Ilshenar.
"Error" Messages you can get while mining, using a Prospector's Tool:
Trying to elevate an ore vein to a metal (other than Valorite) that you cannot yet mine: "You sift through the ore, but do not feel confident with the prospects here."
Trying to elevate a Valorite vein (whether you can mine that level of ore or not): "You cannot improve valorite ore through prospecting." Note that this message supercedes the previous one, so you'll always know when you're trying to elevate a natural valorite spot, even if only 65 skill.
Neither of these will use a charge off the tool.
Section 9.3: What information is available for the Gargoyle's Pickaxe?
Gargoyle's Pickaxes (Smith BOD reward, and also found as loot on most Gargoyle types, on about 5-10% of gargoyles killed)
Gargoyle's pickaxes are magical tools as well. They allow you to mine ore colors one class better than you normally could at a mining site - this includes mining an ore type one could not normally mine yet with your actual mining skill. If used in conjunction with a prospector's tool, this can allow up to a two-step improvement in ore type (but still at that maximum of one type better than you could with a normal tool). They can be wielded as a weapon, but the smart miner will use them from inside their backpack, and wield an earth elemental slayer in their hand.
Examples: With 83 mining skill -
Can get Gold ore from a bronze spot, by using the Gargoyle's Pickaxe
Can get Gold ore from a copper spot, by first elevating the spot with a Prospector's tool, then using the Gargoyle's Pickaxe.
Note that the skill level above could not elevate bronze to gold with the Prospector's tool, then to Agapite with the Gargoyle's Pickaxe, as the Prospector's Tool only works if you can smelt the new type with your current skill. You can get dull copper ore from digging an Iron-ore-only site with a Gargoyle's Pickaxe, but currently that does not cause an elemental to spawn, like for the other metal types (see below). As you may not be able to smelt the ore you mine, one must be careful as where to use it (unless you intentionally are stockpiling ore for later use).
Another nice feature of gargoyle's pickaxes is that they start out with 101 to 125 uses, unlike normal tools (that start out with 50) or exceptionally crafted tools (which have 100 at GM tinkering). Only the "Sturdy Tool" rewards have more uses on production shards, at 150 or 200 when new. And, like all other mining tools, if you fail to dig up a piece of ore, no "uses" are lost.
But as with all things that sound too good to be true, there is also a danger! There is a chance that you will pull up an ore elemental of the color you are extracting, hence the need for a miner with any combat skill to be wielding an Earth Elemental Slayer. All types that spawn from gargoyle's pickaxe use are susceptible to the standard Earth elemental slayer, or the Elemental super-slayer. These dangerous monsters range from fairly easy (shadow iron & agapite elementals) to very very hard (copper & valorite elementals). The Dull Copper Elementals were coded differently from the other ore elementals originally, and were for years not included in the Earth Elemental slayer property. As such, DC eles do not spawn from the use of this tool.
Ore elementals spawn right next to the miner and usually attack him first, though on rare occasions a nearby pack animal or mount will be targeted first. Upon death they carry 25 ore of their color as loot, which is especially rewarding with the valorite elementals. Some miners specifically dig with just gargoyle's pickaxes, in order to get the elementals.
Note that if you can't mine the normal ore of a spot (say, using a gargoyle's pickaxe on an agapite ore spot, while only able to mine bronze), all your ore mined will be iron, but you STILL can end up spawning an elemental of the type that the ore vein would spawn (in this example, a verite elemental). This ability seems to kick in only once the miner gains the ability to dig dull copper normally, as repeated tests with a sub-65 miner resulted in no elementals, while numerous ones spawned for a 65 mining skill miner, mining WAY out of league, and getting only iron and the ore from the elementals to show for it.
Another interesting feature is that you can use a gargoyle's pickaxe on a Valorite spot, and get valorite elementals (since there is no higher ore type to elevate to). This method, if one can mine valorite, greatly increases your valorite haul.
A guide to the Ore elementals that spawn from the Gargoyle's Pickaxe can be found in Section 8.2 above (sections 8.2, 8.3, 9.2 & 9.3 trace their origins to an original post by me in 2004, long before I was a moderator):
Common strategies for the "Smith Reward" tools (Prospectors Tool & Gargoyle's Pickaxe):
1. Playing it safe: Using normal tools with the Prospector's tool only. The only danger are miner-killers in Felucca, and normal monster spawn everywhere.
2. The Fearless Elemental Hunter: Mines mostly in the "safe" facets, and is typically a warrior (or paladin) with mining. Uses gargoyle's pickaxes almost exclusively (the only exception is when they HAVE to get Dull Copper ore for some reason), tweaking it with the prospector's tool as needed for the ore types desired. Typically is armed with a good Earth elemental slayer someone priced really cheap (or made by their own smith), a high-resist suit, and an ample supply of bandages (if they have healing) or mana (for healing spells and special weapons moves).
3. The PARAGON Elemental Hunter: A variant of the above, it is growing in popularity, thanks to the exploits of the Extreme Miners Hunting Club (XMHC) guild of Lake Austin. These are miners who fit the description of 2. above, but do their mining IN ILSHENAR, purposefully trying to bring up paragon elementals, and the very, very rare ore elemental paragon chests they have the potential to carry. With these types of hunts, it might be advisable to bring along a melee or archer warrior friend (As spells and pets don't work too well, if at all, on some of the elementals even when normal - let alone as paragons).
4. The Townie: Similar to #2 above, but with less combat skill. The Townie will typically mine in a guard zone (Umbra, Delucia), and try to kill elementals. But, if the elemental is too tough for them, then they can scream for the guards. They'll lose the ore, but keep their life.
5. The Bane of Macroers. Typically mines Felucca. Uses their Gargoyle's Pickaxes when they are near an area frequented by persons using unattended macro mining scripts. When a Macroer arrives, they attempt to spawn an elemental, then immediately leave to let the elemental have its way with the bot. Perfectly legal in Felluca, but illegal elsewhere (not that it's stopped persons sick of macroers from doing it anyway).
Section 9.4: What items exist to supplement one's Mining Skill, other than the tools above?
The most useful are the three types of "
Gloves of Mining", which come as Blacksmith BOD rewards. They come in Leather (+1 skill), Studded Leather (+3 skill) and Ringmail (+5 skill). All of these come in the colors of the 9 ingot types, despite being made of their normal material, and retain that color when enhanced, regardless of the color of the material used to enhance them. The leather gloves do not interfere with meditation, but the other two types prevent meditation when worn.
These gloves ignore the skill cap for mining (100 skill), increasing the ingot return and (if below 99 skill) allow you to mine ores normally out of your range when worn.
For smelting ore, each +1 of the Gloves is a 2% increase to the chance of success.
For smelting metal items, each +1 of skill gives an additional 0.66% to the ingot return. As the return for Grandmaster Mining is 66%, it requires either the +3 or +5 gloves to reach 66.67%, and get back the most ingots from items made with multiples of 3 ingots. Similarly, the way the numbers factor, one gets one more ingot with the +5 gloves when smelting 25-ingot items (plate tunics, chaos shields, order shields), than with +3 or lower gloves (69.3% vs.67.97%, with 68% needed).
This is best seen in the use of the +5 gloves, where most items return 69.3% (or whatever whole ingot amount is closest yet less than this precentage). At Grandmaster real skill, There is a 1 ingot difference between +3 & +5 gloves when dealing with items requiring 25 or 28 ingots, and a +1 ingot difference between +1 (or no gloves) & +3 (or +5) gloves, when smelting items made with an ingot amount that is a multiple of 3, as even 101 mining falls short of the 66.67% target for 2/3 ingot return.
Note that the Gloves of Mining CAN be imbued, so long as they were not enhanced with colored materials prior to 2010. As non-crafted items, they have a property intensity cap of 450%, and the Mining +10 counts as 66.67% times the Skill property weight of 1.4, for a total of 93.33%, leaving 356.67% intensity to be added. You can then enhance after the imbued items are added.
Note: after the loot revamp a few years ago, the +10 Mining might not count AT ALL against the imbuing weight.
Examples of Gloves of Mining that are imbued:
a. 4 Resist categories at +13% each (or any combination up to 52%) (then enhanced)
b. 3 Resist categories at +12% each (or any combination up to 36%), plus 100 Luck (then enhanced with gold to 140), for Saltpeter miners.
c. 3 Resist categories totaling 32%, plus Mage Armor (then enhanced)
d. Mage Armor, Luck, and 1-2 other properties at low value (116.66 weighted intensity, so 17 resists, or any one 1.0 or 1.1 weight property at max value, like Mana Increase) (then enhanced)
The effects of the +5 Gloves can best be seen in the essay on the bag elsewhere on the Craftsman forum.
Note that for the specialized mining tasks of mining stone and mining sand (described later), one can wear gloves to reach the level required to learn those skills.
Another useful tool for the below-Grandmaster miner is the one a new smith can get in New Haven.
Jacob's Pickaxe is a tool one gets as a result of training mining up to 50 with the New Haven miners quest. It has 20 uses (that regenerate - rate of 1 every five minutes, and does not break at 0, unlike normal mining tools), and gives +10 mining when held. However, this skill bonus functions like normal bonuses, and cannot put you over 100 skill, by itself. If you need to combine it with the bonus from Gloves of Mining, you must equip the Jacob's Pickaxe
FIRST, then put on the gloves (doing it gloves-first will not go over 100 skill). However, it is a fine accessory, for sub-GM miners, when it comes time to smelt their ore. And, the fact that it is blessed, means the miner is never without a weapon, if they can use it. It is also popular with Treasure Hunters, as to squeeze out an additional 10 skill points for their template without sacrificing other skills or armor protection (as using mining gloves require taking off the character's normal gloves, which have much better and important bonuses.)
Section 9.5: What information is available for Regular, Exceptional and Sturdy Shovels / Pick Axes?
Sturdy Shovels and Sturdy Pick Axes are BOD rewards from the Blacksmithy Bulk Order Deed (BOD) System.
The advantage to carrying these around are that they have an enhanced number of uses to them over regular or exceptional tools of the same type.
Regular Character-created shovels / pickaxes come with 50 uses.
Exceptional Character-created shovels / pickaxes come with 100 uses.
Sturdy shovels / pickaxes come from turning in low-end Blacksmith BODs, and randomly have either 150 or 200 uses.
All Shovels weigh 5 Stones each.
All Pickaxes (including the Gargoyle's Pickaxes) weigh 11 Stones each.
These tools have several times the numbers above, on Siege Perilous.
Section 9.6: What information is available for Mining Stone? What information is available for Mining Sand?
To mine either of these resources, one must travel to the Gargoyle lands - the Royal City in Ter Mur - and purchase the books needed to learn these skills. One must be a Grandmaster Miner (real skill), or be 100 skill in Mining with help from equipment, to read these books. Before Exodus laid waste to the Gargoyle city of Ver Lor Reg in Ilshenar, the books were available there.
To learn how to mine for stone a GM Miner must read the book "Mining for Quality Stone"
To learn how to mine for glass a GM Miner must read the book "Find Glass-Quality Sand"
These books cost about 10,000 gold each, as do the books that allow a Grandmaster Carpenter to learn Stoneworking (aka Masonry), and a Grandmaster Alchemist to learn Glassblowing (found in the same shop that sells the books on mining their raw material).
In Ter Mur's Royal City, the Stone Mining and Masonry books are found in the middle shop of the three-part building to the east of the public soulforge, sold by the Stone Crafter NPC.
The skill Glassblowing can be found
Here.
The Masonry skill (called Stonecrafting on Stratics, but Masonry on talismans) can be found
Here.
Note that to mine stone, your mining tools have to be set to mine ore and stone (menu brought up by clicking on the tool). If you only wish to mine ore, make sure the tool is set to mine only ore. Once your tool is set that way, every mining tool you use will use that setting, until you change it again.
Mining sand just requires targeting a patch of sand with a mining tool, such as in a desert, on a beach, or even the "sandbox" half-filled with skulls between the bank & inn in Umbra.
Both Sand and Stone became stackable resources in Publish 56 (October 2008), and the weight of stone mined after this point is "1 stone" per stone.
Stones mined prior to this publish are not stackable, and weigh 10 stones each (and older sand may still be unstackable as well, though it has always weighed 1 stone). This originally made mining for them very unattractive, hurting the trades of Glassblowing & Masonry. Crafting with stone & glass are much more important skills as of the Stygian Abyss expansion of September 2009. Masonry is a specialization of Carpentry from Grandmaster Carpenters, and Glassblowing is an expansion of Alchemy, much as the mining of stone and sand are expansions of Mining.
Section 9.7: What information is available for Mining Gems?
First off, there are two different types of gems to be mined, but both require 100 Mining skill.
The
Mondain's Legacy gems require no special training, and can pop up at any time during mining. They weigh 1 stone each, and stack.
# Blue Diamond (called "a flawless diamond" by the message you get when you dig one up)
# Fire Ruby
# Perfect Emerald
# Dark Sapphire
# Turquoise
# Ecru Citrine
Two more gems are produced by skills other than Mining (but can be gotten as loot from Volcano elementals in Eodon as well).
# The "White Pearl" is gathered from Fishing.
# The "Brilliant Amber" is gathered from Lumberjacking.
Lastly, two other gem types, both varieties of blackrock, were added through events after the release of ML, that fall partially in this category.
# A normal "
small piece of blackrock" (used in crafting food for Bane dragons, as well as in a number of events prior to the introduction of the bane dragons) falls under the same rules as the large gems that can drop from mining, but don't stack. It was only added to the list as a mining drop.
#
Crystalline Blackrock is also a "mining Gem" as above, BUT....
a. While it falls under the normal "Mining Gem" rules on most facets, it can be mined up at
ANY MINING SKILL LEVEL in Ter Mur. (in my experience, at least below 60, if not all the way down to 0).
b. It can be random loot on ore elementals (starting where one can start digging them up at 65 skill, with gargoyle pickaxes) in Ter Mur.
c. It can be found on Ore elementals elsewhere, but especially the Golden Elementals in Blackthorn Dungeon.
All these gems (other than the small piece of blackrock) can be gotten in Ter Mur quest reward bags, from several different Gargoyle NPCs (including the non-mining types). They also can be gotten as random loot in Ore Elementals in Ter Mur, though below a certain level (may or may not be Grandmaster) only Crystalline Blackrock appears in the elementals (as noted above).
ML GEM NOTES:
*You MUST be a GM Miner to get the mining Gems (other than Crystalline Blackrock). (Note: You can be at 95.0 or greater and put on mining gloves to raise your skill to 100 or above and you can still get gems. The check for Gems involves your total skill, not your base skill.)
* You can get gems with your tool set to "Ore", or "Ore and Stone", or "Ore and Gems". It doesn't matter which one, though some people cling to their superstitions.
* You can get Gems from Cave Floors, Mountain Sides, and EVERY place one can mine for ore.
*Ore type does not affect the Gem Type. You can get a Blue Diamond from a Iron spot, or any other kind of Gem from an Iron spot, just as you can get any kind of gem from a Valorite spot also.
*Gem spots are not fixed! If you find a Blue Diamond from a specific Ore Spot, and come back later, you may pull a Fire Ruby next time. Gems are random in this regard.
There is, however, some anecdotal evidence that some 8x8 resource squares may have a slightly higher chance of a gem, much like how some consistently produce 70%+ colored ore, when others produce a much lower amount consistently (and the percentages stay the same even when the ore type changes). This is a question that needs to be answered by the Devs.
*Luck does not help or hinder Gem finding!
*Gems are about equally common. However, the streakiness of the random number generator makes it likely that you will get considerably more of one or two gem types in a single long mining session, than the rest.
The other type of Gems one can mine are the
NORMAL GEMS found on monsters, and sold by NPCs. However, to mine these, you must be using a
Stygian Abyss enabled account, and read the book "Mining For Quality Gems", which is for sale by Gargoyle Blacksmith NPCs in the northern part of the three-part building to the east of the Ter Mur Royal City public soulforge.
As with the sand and stone books, one must be Grandmaster Miner to read them (and be able to mine the items, after the book is read). You also have to set your tool to mine Ore and Gems, as well. Each gem mined takes the place of an ore, but if mining with a Gargoyle's Pickaxe, you can still get an elemental spawn, even if the ore is replaced by a gem (and the elemental will have the usual 25 ore, and 2 gems - 4 gems if a valorite elemental - on it).
9.8 Other Rewards from BODs or quests that are of interest to Miners
With the changes to the BOD system, many more items were added to the BOD system, and some of these are items of use to Miners.
The Following Items can be gotten from BLACKSMITH AND TINKER BOD REWARDS
Rock Hammer: A 500-charge tool that has an increased chance of producing granite when mining for stone.
Smelter's Talismans: These come in Golden, Agapite, Verite and Valorite versions. When worn, the miner has a 100% chance of smelting that color of ore, only. They have a lifespan of 24 hours, or until all their charges are exhausted. The charge count is BY INGOT PRODUCED, not by ore count. One of the nice things about these talismans is that you can get together with another minor or two, mine in different areas (but stay in contact), and pass the talismans around as each of you needs it for a specific metal. One night, I was able to team with 2 other miners, and use most of a set of all 4 types, using all of the gold one in the end smelting gold in Blackthorn's dungeon.
Miner's Map: These also come in Golden, Agapite, Verite and Valorite. They provide a map to a location on the shard the map is CLAIMED ON, that leads to an artificially created spot for mining that colored ore. They have about 300-500 charges each, and every swing produces large colored ore.
However, the charge count is BY ORE PRODUCED, not number of digs, so there is ABSOLUTELY NO REASON to claim these in Felucca (or Tokuno or Ter Mur, for that matter); Keep it simple, and only claim these rewards in Trammel or Malas where the spot will be relatively safe. Nor does Tool Choice has NO EFFECT on the color of ore. Using a gold map, produces gold - even if you use both a prospector's tool and Gargoyle pickaxe to dig it.
The Following items can be gotten from Alchemist BOD REWARDS
Cauldrons of Transformation: These exist in both versions for wood, and for metal ingots.
The metal types are Bronze, Golden, Agapite and Verite. For every 3 ingots of that type you use the cauldron on, you get 1 ingot of the next-higher type. For example, you get 1 gold ingot for every 3 bronze ingots you "put into" the Bronze Cauldron.
While these can last 24 hours in deed form, ONCE PLACED they only last FOUR HOURS. So, you need to have the ingots ready to use before claiming them.
Quest Rewards
There is a quest "chain" (more a sequence to where you have to earn credit with specific NPCs) in the Royal City, that can result in being given quests that result in transmutation potion rewards.
These one-shot potions can do the following, based on type:
a. Turn 500 iron ingots into 500 of another color at random, from Dull Copper up to Bronze.
b. Turn 500 dull copper ingots into 500 gold ingots
c. Turn 500 shadow Iron ingots into 500 agapite ingots
d. Turn 500 Bronze ingots into 500 Valorite ingots. (note that at one point this quest was broken, but was supposedly fixed - but I've never managed to get this quest yet).
The Void Pool "game" in Covetous Dungeon allows a player to accumulate points that can be redeemed at the NPC named "Vela", located in Cove. Vela's rewards include all the above Cauldrons, Maps, and Smelting Talismans, as that was the original source for these items before the BOD system was revised. Vela also has a "portable Forge" that has the same 24/4 hour timer as the cauldrons, but is pretty much worthless, if one has a fire beetle.
Number of Uses, by item (regardless of source)
[xtable=698x@]
{tbody}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15}Item{/td}
{td=118x15}Color associated{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Amount/type Input*{/td}
{td=53x15} Ratio{/td}
{td=187x15} Amount/Type output{/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} Cauldron{/td}
{td=118x15} Bronze{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Bronze Ingots (22500){/td}
{td=53x15} 3/1{/td}
{td=187x15} Gold Ingots (7500){/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} {/td}
{td=118x15} Gold{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Gold Ingots (15000) {/td}
{td=53x15} 3/1{/td}
{td=187x15} Agapite Ingots (5000){/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} {/td}
{td=118x15} Agapite{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Agapite Ingots (9000){/td}
{td=53x15} 3/1{/td}
{td=187x15} Verite Ingots (3000){/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} {/td}
{td=118x15} Verite{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Verite Ingots (6000){/td}
{td=53x15} 3/1{/td}
{td=187x15} Valorite Ingots (2000){/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} {/td}
{td=118x15} {/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} {/td}
{td=53x15} {/td}
{td=187x15} {/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x30}
{td=119x30} Talisman{/td}
{td=118x30} Gold{/td}
{td=16x30} {/td}
{td=263x30} Gold Ore (up to 6000 ingot's worth (3000 large ore equivalent){/td}
{td=53x30} 1/1{/td}
{td=187x30} Gold ingots (up to 6000){/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} {/td}
{td=118x15} Agapite{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Agapite Ore (up to 3000 ingots worth){/td}
{td=53x15} 1/1{/td}
{td=187x15} Agapite Ingots (up to 3000){/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} {/td}
{td=118x15} Verite{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Verite Ore (up to 1500 ingots worth) {/td}
{td=53x15} 1/1{/td}
{td=187x15} Verite Ingots (up to 1500){/td}
{/tr}
{tr=@x15}
{td=119x15} {/td}
{td=118x15} Valorite{/td}
{td=16x15} {/td}
{td=263x15} Valorite Ore (up to 750 ingots worth){/td}
{td=53x15} 1/1{/td}
{td=187x15} Valorite Ingots (up to 750){/td}
{/tr}
{/tbody}
[/xtable]