Wtf clay?

[FierceNomad]

I dig on the shore of a river, get one piece of clay, it continues to dig again and... nothing. Yet, if I dig another time, and another time, and another time etc. etc. I still get 12 or 13 LP, with no clay. Can you only ever get one piece of clay in so big an area? Why do I continue to get LP when I'm not actually harvesting any clay? How do I know where I can get lots of clay/good quality clay?

[Darkren]

Invisible clay deposits. Take a boat and go dig every 30-50 tiles. If you find quality above level 10, you've found a clay deposit. Dig around that area to try and find the highest point of quality.

When you dig play, the quality goes down. When quality drops below 10, the "deposit" becomes unable to yield any more clay until it regenerates.

[FierceNomad]

Is this based purely on location? (i.e. not on "Survival" or some other stat?)

[Allumeuse]

It is based upon location. This is ball clay that you find in shallow water but cannot see before you dig.

But there are also now other sorts of clay. You may find one sort as you do mussels, in shallow water, you see it as a grey lump in a ring of water, and another sort as you do cave bulbs in the shallow water in caves, and there is now a fourth type of clay also that is found in the dirt barrens. If you look in announcements of last week you may read more on this.