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We're expanding on the benefits to mining roles by adding a few new types of mines on the map in addition to adding a new mining role (The Surveyor) as well as updating some Mining Talents and making some big changes to the refinery.
The new mines we're adding bring more utility to the mining roles so players that want to invest into those roles see more of a benefit for having a more well-rounded family.
Normal Mines
The mines you all grew up with.
- We removed level 1 and 3, and made all that remain level 2 (increasing the average capacity in the shard as level 3 were rare and level 1 were common).
- Can still be mined by any role of Noble.
- No change to mining rates.
[NEW] Rich Mines
Rich Mines replace half the existing Normal Mines on all Shards, and can be thought of as "A Normal Mine on steroids!". They drop the same nine ores as the Normal Mines but, unlike the Normal Mines, they contain way more ore, and have almost double the base rate of extraction as the level 2 Normal mines!
Tier 1
- Rich Bronze, Ruby and Salt Mines.
- Requires a Collier with Automation Rank 2 or higher
Tier 2
- Rich Iron, Emerald and Sulfur mines
- Requires a Prospector with Automation Rank 3 or higher
Tier 3
- Rich Steel, Sapphire and Mercury mines
- Requires a Surveyor with Automation Rank 3 or higher
[NEW] Hoard Mines
Replacing the Mysterious and Glittering mines, "Hoard Mines" drop three different Ores at the same time! Additionally, they also drop a new refineable resource called "Treasure".
Tier 1 - Orc Hoard Mine
- 1/3 Bronze, 1/3 Ruby, 1/3 Salt
- Orc Treasure
- Requires a Collier with Automation Rank 4 or higher
Tier 2 - Undead Hoard Mine
- 1/3 Iron, 1/3 Emerald, 1/3 Sulfur
- Undead Treasure.
- Requires a Prospector Automation Rank 4 or higher
Tier 3 - Dragon Hoard Mine
- 1/3 Steel, 1/3 Sapphire, 1/3 Mercury
- Dragon Treasure.
- Requires a Surveyor with Automation Rank 4 or higher
NOTE: The total Ore mined from a Hoard Mine will match a Rich Mine, just split evenly between all three Ore types for that tier... plus they get some Treasure! Hoard Mines have the same mining rate as Rich mines (almost double that of Normal Mines)
Regular Refines
All of the existing standard refines for the nine materials are unchanged in their refined material payouts. However, with almost double the baseline Ore extraction rates on both the Rich and Hoard Mines, plus the bonuses we’ve improved for the mining roles, and improved talents on the Surveyor (see below), the frequency you can refine and also the use of the 2x and 3x options should improve for all players, resulting in a net increase in the refined material income.
[NEW] Treasure Refines
In the refinery you'll find new refine options for the Orc, Undead, and Dragon Treasure. These refines can be done in parallel to the existing Ore refines and simply have a 1x option.
Each Treasure, when refined, converts into additional "bonus" materials for that tier of Treasure. The Orc Treasure will drop Bronze, Ruby and Salt. The Undead Treasure will drop Iron, Emerald and Sulfur. The Dragon Treasure will drop Steel, Sapphire and Mercury. In this way, the Faction Mines technically have a bonus over the new Rich mines, and the rate all players can earn refined materials gets a further boost!
But wait, there's more...
The treasure refines also have a chance to drop Gold and tier-appropriate Honors, with the Dragon Treasure having an additional chance to drop Dragon Stone!
Removing Gold refines and Ore
We can all agree that Gold refining was a poor use of your mining armies, and by adding gold drops to the Treasure refines you are essentially getting free Gold refines as a byproduct of refining Treasures. The existing Gold Ore refines will remain in the game for a while, giving those with any left-over Gold Ore a chance to refine it. Eventually the Gold Ore refine options and any Gold Ore in inventory will be removed.
Removing Impure refines and Ore
Impure refining required you to mine Glittering and Mysterious mines, to get random quantities of different qualities of Impure materials, to do trading / refining with the Wandering Merchant, to finally end up with some Pure material you could refine into the standard refined materials.
This was a lot of steps and a lot of work for not much reward, also fell off in value sharply towards the end game.
With the new Hoard Mine Treasures being able to instantly be refined into the materials directly, there is no need for these Impure materials, refines, and trades to remain in the game. We're leaving the refine options in for a bit longer so anyone with impure materials can use them up before we remove the refines and trades and any remaining Impure materials from the game.
Mining Noble Talent Changes
- "Meticulous", "Fixated", and "Greedy" Noble Traits now include bonuses to Rich and/or Hoard mine rates.
- "Mining Defense" and "Load Protection" have been removed from "Fixated" and "Greedy".
- New traits "Legendary Excavator" with Gem, Mineral and Metal variants have been added with: 10% bonus Mining Capacity, 10% bonus Mining Rates for Normal and/or Rich mines, 20% bonus to Hoard mines.
[NEW] The Surveyor Role
Available at Keep level 30, this new role gains access to the Rich mines when it achieves level 3 Automation Talent, and the Hoard mines at level 4 Automation.
A word from our sponsor
We thank all those players for supporting the game’s development through in-game and web store purchases, making large-scale updates like this (that reduce the baseline cost to progress for all players) possible. On that note... The existing +1 Family Slot offer, and some Boink Berry offers, are live on the web store and will remain in place over the weekend for anyone who wants to get to work on a new mining noble or to continue to support the game's development.
Some known issues
This is quite a big update, so there are probable some things we have missed or tweaks we need to make, and we'll work to get any and all bug reports addressed as soon as possible. We are aware of three things which we did not consider blockers for this release:
- The new Rich and Hoard mines will not spawn until the mine they will replace is completely vacated. This will happen naturally over time as people mine out the ore... of course some shards may try to coordinate people recalling or helping them off the mines to speed things along.
- Sometimes, not always, the "GO TO" takes you to a normal mine and not a rich or hoard.
- Sometimes, not always, the ETA text says "finished" on a mining army instead of the actual time remaining.
Have a good weekend all! And let us know of any issues or what you think in the chat.
TeamKM
