Mine Hole Placement

[firetown]

About how far away from a ore deposit should I place a mine hole to get the maximum amount of ore?

I know that the mine hole creates a 7x7 area that can delete ore walls but I'm not sure what the general size of ore nodes are.

Thanks in advance!

[Jacobian123]

I try to detect the ore node as far out as I can, and then place the minehole a little further out. Then, just dig towards the node, shouldn't be more than a dozen tiles away. Note that unless you have metal already, this usually isn't advised, as you have to dig through rock just to get the metal to make a mine support, so if I were just starting out, I'd build the minehole directly over the node. You loose a bit of metal, but in the long run, it's a lot safer and quicker to get that metal for mine supports.

[firetown]

Ok thanks for the advice!

lol I just figured I would try and play minesweeper like in Sevenless' guide and just tank any cave-ins that happen.

[vatas]

Ok thanks for the advice!

lol I just figured I would try and play minesweeper like in Sevenless' guide and just tank any cave-ins that happen.

Playing minesweeper is really easy once you get the hang of it. I usually mark all "falling rubble" tiles with stone stockpile with single stone in it. I've dug distances that span multiple minimaps without any supports.

Minehole ladder should have cave-in prevention radius similar to wooden mine-support.

[Thrawn00]

I thought a mine hole could be placed anywhere. I'm having issues placing it on my level one mining cave. It says, "area below is occupied." Did it change and now a mine hole can only be placed if there is a cave on the next level down?

[zebratul]

I thought a mine hole could be placed anywhere.

You'll get that message If, for example, there is an empty cavern filled with boulders directly below the future minehole.
Try moving it a couple of tiles in a different direction. Or, if possible, clear the space underneath the minehole via cave or smth.

[Thrawn00]

I didn't know boulders were naturally occurring, always thought they came from a cave in. No way down to the next level to clear it, that I know of. I'll try to move it around and see if it will finally click in place. Thanks.

[vatas]

Actually, I'm under impression that minehole in fact needs solid rock under it to be constructed due to mechanic of it creating 5x5 room around the ladder.

[Hasta]

Actually, I'm under impression that minehole in fact needs solid rock under it to be constructed due to mechanic of it creating 5x5 room around the ladder.

Nop. Can be created into empty space if the space is, in fact, empty; no boulders, no stalactites (or stalagmites), no bats, forage or localized resources underneath.