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### Topic

#### Y U No Wait?! Discuss Mining Bonuses

So...
Anyone who's ever mined in a group place like Ajaya Bliss or Neva Neva has heard this argument before.
You get more ore if you wait for everyone for a group bonus.
or
You get more ore if you mine first. Everyone else who follows gives you an added bonus.
So which is right? Discuss...

Posted 13 months ago by ~Macbre_Musings~ | Permalink

### Replies

- RTP is an asshat.
  Posted 13 months ago by mrk00k | Permalink
- Ajaya Bliss is filled with uncultured savages, too concerned with survival instincts and loathe to help their fellow Glitches. Neva Neva is haven for the philanthropist in us all.
  Also, I hate you RTP.
  Posted 13 months ago by Lt. Colonel Awesome | Permalink
- LMAO @ mrk00k
  That may be, but it'd not conducive to this discussion.
  Posted 13 months ago by ~Macbre_Musings~ | Permalink
- I don't really think those two statements can be separated into a "this or that" situation - they're rather linked. If you mine first, yes, you'll probably get the most bonuses, but it only works if you wait for people to join you. If everyone else is at another rock and you're mining first by yourself at another rock, you won't get as much of a bonus as if you had waited for people to start moving in your direction.
  The bonus only applies to the people that join while your green mining bar fills up. So if you have a crowd joining you and you aren't the first to tap the rock out of that group, you potentially won't get as much of a bonus as the person who did. But if you start mining first and your bar is already half full by the time other people join you, you won't get as much of a bonus either.
  So I guess it comes down to: yes, you want to wait for a group, but for the higher bonus of ore, you'll want to be the first out of that group. Personally I don't care whether I mine first or last. In the end, I have a far more efficient energy-to-ore return mining in AB than I do by myself and I don't have to eat stacks of food to sustain myself either.
  I also don't understand the comments above me.
  Posted 13 months ago by Myuki | Permalink
- If you have Mining IV it is more efficient to go mining solo in Callopee or Pollokoo while drinking Earthshakers. The reason behind this is because you mine so quickly that you have a very small window to have people "help you mine" and therefore receive little to no bonus while mining in Ajaya. Even if you're first on a rock on average you'll only get like 10-12 bonus ores. The real profit of Mining IV comes from the Gems that you will obtain while mining, thus the more hits on the rock you get the more chances at precious gems. By using Earthshakers and a combination of Eyeballery and instinct you can mine 4-5 WHOLE sparkly rocks with zero energy drain all for the cost of ~120-130 currants for a single Earthshaker. The profit margin is huge! Not to mention, I personally find it much more fun and engaging to run street to street looking for rocks to mine rather than camping or circling Ajaya.
  Posted 13 months ago by TRB4 | Permalink
- Er, haven't we discussed this exact thing eleventy billion times?
  Not that you shouldn't rehash it all right here if it makes you happy, but if you search you will find ALL KINDS of threads going over and over this.
  Posted 13 months ago by Feylin | Permalink
- My opinion is the whole world of Ur is not Neva Neva or Ajaya Bliss. I prefer to mine by myself and I feel that I get more ore if I mine by myself rather than run from rock to rock in one space.
  Posted 13 months ago by Eye Wonder | Permalink
- I think efficiency's overrated- I mean, sure, you might get more rock mining with eleventy-thousand people (provided you managed to start a split second before everyone else), but I have more fun just mining with a few people and talking than I do worrying about whether or not I'm being efficient and checking spreadsheets. I know some people are into that, but I'm not a robot, and don't wanna mine like one. Besides, what buzzer do you really have to beat in this game? You've got all the time in the world. Just my two cents'.
  Posted 13 months ago by Djabriil | Permalink
- You can't get 4-5 whole sparklys on one earthshaker. I average about 3 sometimes 4 and you have to mine whatever is nearest, not just sparkly.
  Food works better if you are in Callopee or Pollokoo where the sparkly rocks are a bit more spread out. And you can never mine sparkly completely solo, there are nearly always others around.
  I like to to mine out there for the variety.
  And you're right that mining 4 is great for getting gems.
  Posted 13 months ago by Treesa | Permalink
- Sparkly is overrated. You get 7 points per rubbed copper ingot and 10 per rubbed molybdenum ingot. The difference isn't enough to be worth it. And all you need to make the copper is the elements from dullite. My practice is to mine solo, and to get what sparkly rock I can but focus on dullite, beryl, and metal rocks. I get enough shiney element to make my powders and produce copper to donate. And I almost never have to 'fight' with anybody to mine, or split rocks with anybody.
  There is a nominal bonus of a few bits given out for mining with somebody else, but that is offset by having to travel two or three or four times as much to locate rocks to mine. No, when somebody 'helps' me mine, I move along to another rock, or another entire area to mine in.
  And I have to laugh at the people I see in places like Pollokoo leaping over and around the dullite and beryl and ignoring it. They spend 80% of their time not mining anything at all.
  Posted 13 months ago by Parrow Gnolle | Permalink
- "And I have to laugh at the people I see in places like Pollokoo leaping over and around the dullite and beryl and ignoring it. They spend 80% of their time not mining anything at all." Maybe (though, not really- 80% is hyperbole), but sparkly miners don't have to craft anything to make money off their hauls, which is why most people mining sparkly are doing it in the first place- whereas, with smelting, not only do you have to mine the dullite and metal, then you have to smelt the metal, crush the dullite (assuming you don't have Flaming Humbabas, and if not, possibly make some of those first), rub the ingots, etc. So the argument could be made that people exclusively mining sparkly are making profits in a shorter chain-of-events, and potentially with less expended energy for the equivalent amount of currants earned by selling straight rock. Just depends on what angle you approach it from. The returns might be higher on donations, but that's only one reason to mine, and not a terribly important one for a lot of people.
  Posted 13 months ago by Djabriil | Permalink
- The first couple of responses in this topic are hilarious (especially if you know RTP). However, I guess what it boils down to is that everybody is going to play the game their own way. The majority enjoy working cooperatively and will do their best to ensure that others are treated fairly/kindly.
  Posted 13 months ago by Riddel | Permalink
- there's more than one mine?!
  I think I get more if I mine by myself
  Posted 13 months ago by Askarema | Permalink
- I just mine whatever rock is closest and on my path. If someone leaves because they don't want "help" that's silly and a little rude. Would you leave a bean tree because someone came along and watered it while you were there petting or harvesting?
  Posted 13 months ago by Treesa | Permalink
- How is walking away from a rock where someone else comes up and starts mining it (and you don't want the help) rude?! That doesn't even make sense...
  The analogy doesn't even make sense either. Harvesting of trees are completely independent of other players - everyone gets their x number of harvests from a tree. "Cooperative" mining actually reduces the amount of that particular ore the other person will get from that rock during that session of mining. If someone is mining in an area where there isn't a bunch of that particular rock, then the 'help' will reduce the amount of ore that person gets from that rock, and they can't just go to the next one to get the same type of ore easily.
  "Cooperative" mining seems to work best in places like the deeps, caverns and mines of Pollokoo and Callopee. It also requires you to have about the same level mining skills to be 'most fair'. In the open areas (Heights, Alakol, Bortola, Salutu), since some of the rocks are more scarce, it seems that people may prefer to mine solo.
  When you are mining solo and a pack of 'helpers' comes along with a higher skill level, you can end up with only a fraction of the ore you could have gotten if you mined solo. Sure you spend less energy onthat rock for it to disappear, but get much less ore out of it (even with the bonus help ore) and then you have to spend more time looking for another - much less of an issue in a rock rich environment, but a royal pain in the more open areas. Especially frustrating if you are attempting to mine for a particular type of rock and really really frustrating if you are out in the open areas.
  I will admit, I was starting to come around to enjoying the "cooperative" mining in the more rock rich environments and felt that it was more beneficial overall, until I, still only having level 2 mining, got pounced on by a bunch of miners that were likely all level 4...I got one hit on the rock, and probably walked away with maybe all of 10 ore with the bonus ore (which is more than I would have gotten alone - yippie). But when they bounced from rock to rock on that street, and I at times could barely even get just one hit in, since I had to wait much longer for the mining to complete on the previous rock just to get my ore from that one hit, it was extremely frustrating at that point. If I could have been left to mine the first rock alone, while it would have taken more energy overall, I could have walked away with 50 ore from that street just by being able to mine a single rock (and they could have had the others), than the maybe 30 ore from that 4 sparkly rock street since I wasn't able to keep up with that group. Does it make what they did wrong? NO! They were having fun, they were mining the way they wanted, and for that group, it probably was beneficial between them since they were probably all about the same skill level. But it did increase my frustration since at that time, I was on a sparkly mission.
  I guess I can see the argument from both sides...
  In general, I think it depends on where you are mining, what your personal preference is in how you like to mine, skill levels of the miners, whether you are going for the quick tooth to tail sell of ore or if you like the process of creating more valuable items, and probably a bunch of other variables that I haven't identified here. Everyone plays different...no one way is right or wrong...just different, and rather than saying someone is rude, take some time to think that maybe they just play different (or are newer and don't realize there are alternate ways to play), and maybe they feel the other player is rude because that player doesn't play the way they do. And maybe rather than having a confrontation with that player, they chose to walk away...
  Posted 13 months ago by ~Pink Flamingo~ | Permalink
- @Beach Bum - I can see your point. I think it's a bit disingenuous (or oblivious at best) when people talk about "cooperative mining" when what they mean is, "me and 15 of my closest friends going room to room obliterating everything in our paths, regardless of what anybody else is doing".
  Personally I think cooperative mining is great; but consideration should be used to ensure that mining congas don't shaft everybody else- take a look around before deciding that the mines are your own personal oyster- you and your buddies are probably not the only people mining at a given time.
  Posted 13 months ago by Djabriil | Permalink
- RTP is awesome.
  Posted 13 months ago by naminami | Permalink
- ""Cooperative" mining actually reduces the amount of that particular ore the other person will get from that rock during that session of mining."
  walking away also reduces the amount of that particular ore that you are going to get and you can't insist that when the others finish that rock they won't be heading for whatever rock or street you've moved to.
  I usually mine "alone" but I set a destination on the map and head for it. I mine whatever is in my path along the way, regardless of whether others are also mining that rock. I certainly don't complain if anyone else arrives at "my" rock and begins to mine along with me.
  Posted 13 months ago by Treesa | Permalink
- I don't even care if a conga comes along to "help". Its a public space so anything goes. It actually breaks up the boredom of solo mining without me having to play by the rules of a group.
  Posted 13 months ago by Treesa | Permalink
- And as for the tree analogy, people have noted that others get to a tree first and pet water it for xp, and mood bonus. There is little you can do about it
  Posted 13 months ago by Treesa | Permalink
- Aww, K00Ky. I know you love me. You friended me. You always hug and kiss me in private chats. Don't be like that. Admit to the world your affections. It's ok. It gets better. Lt. Colonel, Sir, Yes, Sir.
  Posted 13 months ago by RTP | Permalink
- RTP smells like poop. <3
  Posted 13 months ago by Volkov | Permalink
- I mine both ways, and I am unsure why people are QQing about it.
  Posted 13 months ago by Krytalis | Permalink
- I also mine both ways depending on my mood.
  Today I was in Neva, in a not so cooperative mood and got absolutely harassed about mining alone and not calling rocks, not waiting, and generally not doing what everyone else thought it was I should be doing. Of course this makes me much much less cooperative than even before, and more than a little argumentative, which certainly doesn't help matters from my end..
  So maybe I'm wrong about the mining mechanics but here's what I thought... Because I have mining 4 and a smaller window for bonus if i wait for everyone else to get there, I'm probably only going to get 8-18 rocks depending on if i start early enough to get a second chance before everyone finishes. If I don't wait I can get the 30+ everyone else gets from their group mining because I was mining the whole time it took everyone to come and join me, or did it mostly my self. If I want to get gems its much better for me not to wait because i can get 4 or 5 turns on a rock and thus 4 or 5 chances to get a gem. And If I wait, I'll likely only get one chance.
  It seemed to me that they're still getting theirs and I'm getting mine, yet everyone somehow felt entitled to have a chance at every single rock that spawns (as I was told i was "screwing everyone" by mining my way) and I don't quite understand that.
  If I miss a rock I move on to the next one... more rocks will spawn.
  However, the cries of injustice were nearly insufferable. And there was a lot of name calling and involved in their complaints. If I was less passive aggressive I would have left.
  If there was a group of people waiting to mine a rock and they got their first, I didn't just walk up and start, but if I got there first and they're mining elsewhere, I really don't see a problem. Am I wrong? Can people just accept that we play the game differently and drop it if someone refuses a request to wait for whatever reason?
  Posted 13 months ago by Machiavelli | Permalink
- What is RTP?
  Posted 13 months ago by Vocable | Permalink
- Whats RTP?
  Posted 13 months ago by Ima_do_three | Permalink
- Real-time Transport Protocol.
  I find it more productive (inventory-wise) to mine as a group in Neva Neva, but I certainly don't mind mining on my own either.
  It definitely makes a huge difference if you wait for everyone to get to the rock before mining. If you have Mining 4 you can usually mine two or three times on each rock before they're gone, usually netting around 6-10 bonus rocks. If you have Mining 2 or 3, do your best to hit the rock as soon as everyone arrives, and you'll normally get a 20+ rock bonus from all your helpers, which is essentially the same as having Mining 4.
  You also save a lot of energy group-mining. Food and Flaming Humbabas cost money. Changing from zone to zone costs energy (and time). You can generally sit in Neva Neva indefinitely and not worry about either of those because there are animals to nibble, free radiates, and sometimes people just throwing food on the ground. There are no travel costs and the rocks spawn almost as fast as you would come across them mining solo.
  One big benefit to mining solo though, or at least outside of Ajaya/Neva Neva, is that you can mine Dullite. Dullite gives the most green element when crushed, which is annoyingly high demand when you start making your own powders.
  Also, Metal Rock, if you're into that.
  Posted 13 months ago by xylotism | Permalink
- Omjeebus r u on Tumblr.
  And I thought we'd already determined long ago that this all depends on what each player prefers... :p
  Posted 13 months ago by Cerulean | Permalink