Mining Safely

[Undefined]

Hi all,

Like a self loathing idiot, I've accidentally returned to playing after 3 years away to brush up my skills in anticipation of the next world whenever that may be and am very much enjoying myself, though mining was always one of my favourite things to do (masochistic tendencies) and there seems to have been a LOT of changes to this.
From what I gather there's now 9 mine levels rather than 5 and each minehole is progressively more difficult to build? (Awesome change)
The biggest issue I'm facing though is the whole new underworld ecosystem, louse, slimes and boreworms.
I've been almost wrekked by boreworms in particular several times now and it makes me want to mine on horse so I can leg it, but then one of the only 2 horses I've managed to salvage so far was wrekked when I dug out a troll, plus I hate the aesthetic of doing it so I'm loathed to.

My thinking is to stay safe I'm going to need combat skills on a mining character now. What level would you recommend? (Currently 100 UA/100 MC & about 120 Agi)
Would you suggest mining in armour rather than all these awesome +Masonry clothes I have on?

Any other suggestions on how you deal with it would be awesome.

[Ukhata]

all of these are viable options. as for mining with armour..
do as you please or just raise skills more.

[MagicManICT]

100 UA should get you by on the first few levels without any issue I think L3 or L4 was where I started having issues with the creatures making more openings than I could handle. Boreworms are definitely the worst (other than trolls).

Mining on a horse is not recommended due to trolls. At best, they attack the horse giving you a little extra time to flee (but leaving a horse with one less life). At worse, they scare the horse and you get thrown with a troll coming after you.

Welcome back to Haven. We're all masochists around here.

[pawnchito]

welcome back. mining is in a decent state for casuals and there are plenty of left overs for salvage. i think youll need a bit higher stats in ua or melee to really be able to feel comfortable in levels 3 +. i also think thats when the rewards start to get a little better as well.

when i was in those levels i think i was rocking around 300 melee with rando gildings and stuff and was able to destroy anything that came my way. have a weapon and shield and be ready to fight back and you should be fine.