⚠⚠ One additional case is needed (thanks to @runswithscissors9429) - testing on iron/lead due to the decreased damage done produces different results. While the stamina breakpoints remain correct, this changes the balance between the steel pick and the auger - and a quick test on iron when transitioning from tier 5 steel pick to tier 1 auger (both with full mods so the steel pick will 2 shot the iron) shows that the auger at tier 1 will match the pick or slightly better it, and that at full T6 pick vs auger, the auger will win handily, as the T6 still pick is still a 2-shot on iron, even when fully modded. So everything in the video is still correct, unless you're mining end game iron or lead, in which case, use an Auger!
I don’t see the minor gain as worth it, with the screamers changes you don’t actually gain anything since you spend so much time dealing with screamers. Mining is so fast late game with rock busters and coffee
Thank you for this additional comment, it caps off your video as the definitive video on mining in 1.0 It's too bad that you can never oneshot lead/iron but I suppose that makes the Auger actually worth something, since otherwise it seems rather useless. End game metal mining otherwise pickaxes seems the way to go.
@@Guts-the-Berserker Thanks for that comment! I wish I could have put it in the video, but it'll have to go as a lesson learned - and something I'll look to do better in future!
@@Guts-the-Berserker I'm too scared to dip my toe into Project Zomboid - from what I've heard there's lots of complexity and I'll spend far too much time trying to learn it all! 🤣 It does look fun though!
imagine if this was all in an excel spreadsheet. surly there could be a calc that would take into consideration total stam - (stam/swing)*(1-reduction%) + stam/s. then fit a table with basicaly n rows and m columns with every possible combo of gear/perks/food. those values then imported into the calc and extrapolated down and out n and m cells respectivly.
One very important fact regarding mining and screamers. Always crouch while mining, as it significantly reduces noise, heat, and the resulting screamer spawns. Just got done mining 20K iron with level 4 auger, while crouching, no screamers. Also helps to mine using a tunnel approach, i.e., mine using horizontal tunnels in various directions until you exit the ore node, then go back to center and mine in a different direction. This can spread the heat out over multiple chunks and reduce screamer spawns.
Also important to note that heat levels increasing much more rapidly from any iron blocks (PoI, ore and etc) being damaged in comparison with damaging other blocks, respectively stone (concrete) ones. At least it was so in pre V1.0. Mining a vein full of lead attracted to me around 6 screamers total. Mining a vein full of coal? None.
Not sure if they changed it in V1, but I remember Capp00 made a noise/heat map test with the auger in A20 or A21, and the auger only increased the heat map when you started mining (clicked the mouse button), but it didn't increase heat if you kept it running after that and kept mining.
The video mentioned that when you have cave in is what can spawn screamers if they are large enough. So crouching won't effect that, it will just effect wondering zombies near by from detecting you. Which reminds me, doesn't the game have a stealth aspect you can put points into to make you more quiet? I know the assassin outfit helps.
i mean honestly dont know if crouching really helps, have you seen something in files? i just farmed 50k iron with lvl 5 auger no crouching same hole 0 screamers, i then did 20k wood with chainsaw no screamers with 2 furnaces blasting iron, somehow when i was just standing in base it spawned 3 rad screamers (everything off except for dew collectors)
@@ChrisDaRunt Sounding 'cool' isn't something I have ever bothered with. I am too old for such nonsense. My OP was to acknowledge the tremendous work of Cautious Pancake, nothing more.
My perception of Auger was always a tool for someone who doesn't spec into mining skills + it's multipurpose tool for digging and mining alike. The fact it doesn't use stamina can be useful in some cases, like collecting materials in POI and having an option to just jump or run to safety or when you have to dig a trench and need to jump out of it in a pinch.
That's what I used it for when playing with my friends. Someone wants to help out our designated miner and get us a little more resources faster? Here's an Auger, hop in the mine next to the guy with the pickaxe. The sniper/archer thinks the grove of oaks/pines I planted is blocking too much of his FOV? Here's a chainsaw go clear it out and plant them wherever you want.
Even already knowing 99% of this info (veteran player just curious about what's different in 1.0 vs A21), this video was amazing. So clear yet quick enough that it's not super boring. Seriously kudos to you, you've earned yourself a sub.
beginner tip - an easy early game way to get some wood and iron and leather is to collect every chair you find in a poi then scrap them in your inventory. most recent playthrough i didn't even use the stone axe except on zeds.
2 things. Charismatic Nature 2 from a party member helps boost block damage, making the breakpoints a little easier. Especially the 1 hit breakpoint. And the other thing is the penalty on experience gain. The gathering boosters like mother lode, rock busters, art of mining coffee buzz all give a slight penalty to experience gained. The only exception seems to be the mining helmet. It is claimed that mining helmet 6 with treasure hunter mod, mining gloves, 1 hit setup with steel pick axe, and all the mining books, and learning elixir when mining coal/shale is the best mining xp. You still get a lot of gathering from the speed of it, but you maximise the experience gain. Though I have yet to compare it precisely to iron/lead.
The iron and rock breakers also effect other blocks, iron breaker is also for lead and the rock breaker also increases damage on coal, oil shale, nitrate
Really good guide! As someone who has around 600 hours of playtime and played since it first came out back in 2013, the auger is awful in its vanilla state, since it's suppose to be the end game item, I modded it so it 1-hits stone blocks because trying to clear an area quickly without it is a real pain
im new to 7 days and this taught me so much, i ended up maxing my miner 69er and then my mother load in the beginning but now im so far into my skills i have everything maxed out but i havent started building a base yet. Thank you for this!
One further thing to consider is resource conservation. Getting more ore from fewer nodes can reduce travel time from searching or traveling to more distant locations. So ore per minute, while important, isnt the only necessary consideration.
I think the biggest draw for the auger prior to 1.0 was the capstone perk for art of mining giving you a chance to instantly break blocks. The augers incredibly high hit rate made it by far and away the best option for mining, and it wasnt even close. Now with it only being 20% more ore, the use of gas, and the noise, steel picks are much better now.
The way I see it, the reason to use the auger over a pickaxe is that it's a tool that mines dirt and ore, combining the shovel and pickaxe so you don't have to keep both. If you watch GNS's videos, you'll see Temreki generally prefers to start a mine by using the augur to clear out all the topsoil over the ore veins before delving into the ores themselves. This essentially allows him to start strip mining with far less trouble than having to shovel out the dirt and then switching to the pick (degrading two tools rather than one), and without wasting a bunch of stamina that will eat into your hunger and thirst.
Thanks for a clear and thorough guide. As a veteran I learned a bit, but I think it is clear enough that new players would be well served watching this early. One final comment is that if you're trying to save points for non-strength builds, there's a couple of ways to get +1 to strength. One is the cigar, another is the strength mod for helmet. Those are the ones I know of. I was able to go to 2 and 2 in mining skills without spending any points in strength. Later when I began making things like bulk ammo and steel, I increased strength and mining skills.
Yeah thats a good tip, I wish I'd thought of putting that in! If you get those mods early it's great to pop them in your mining helmet, although it means when clearing a poi it'll be a bit slower.
Just got a subscriber. The amount of work I can see you put in you deserved it. Not only testing all these variables, but then editing and putting together this video and others. Good man. Keep it up.
This is an excellent video, and very thorough! The only time i will use an augur once i get to high level is for the interim period while my stamina regenerates from using the steel pickaxe. This way, there is no down time, you're using way less fuel, and there is less chance of calling in a screamer, before switching back to the pick axe once stamina has regenerated. Other than that particular situation, i just don't think the augur is worth the hassle.
Thanks for watching and agree that the auger is limited - hopefully if you can hit that 35% stamina reduction you won't have to wait for your stamina to regenerate anymore!
This is the most impressive video I've ever seen when it comes to mining. I don't have a ton of hours, but I figured I knew a lot about the game. Clearly this makes me a novice still lol
Excellent video, only thing missing is the cliffnotes version; 3 points into Miner 69'er, 1 point into motherlode, miner chest armor (upgrade to higher tier when able), iron pickaxe (upgrade to higher tier when able), structural grip mod. Or advance to Summary section in the video.
I'm loving the Mining set in the game. I play Duo with my good friend, he's the Scavenger and Looter in 80% of our games and I'm the recourse gatherer. It's just fun for to gather resources in any survival game, wood, iron, etc. Even gems to give him to sell to traders. I'm simply loving this new update, since I've waited 6 years for the console version to be finally updated, and here it is. Thank you for the guide! :D
Thank you for sharing and in the burnt forrest many of the trees if not all of them all have coal in them as well as wood, i literally chopped down tons of trees and they all had coal and obviously wood in them in the burnt forrest, so it's worth doing it in there if you want to collect wood and coal together, saves some time
And if you aren't into mining: Miner 96er is still crucial for breaking/harvesting stuff in POIs, but Mother Lode is completely useless in that case though. Also when min-maxing magazine spawn rates, keep in mind that the tool crafting magazines will compete with vehicle and workbench crafting magazines if you put any points into the mining perks.
Good point, it pushes the case for just putting more into Miner69er but these don't take itno account how many points you need in strength if that isn't your tree.
Mother load doesn't work on PoI blocks? Curtains, plastic barrels, etc? You can end up one shotting these things anyway without too much trouble without having to max out miner 69er.
Love how you break things down I don't have too many questions about mining but still watched and loved the breakdown! Going to have to check the other videos
Don’t forget to save some points using strength mods! Had a solid setup for mining then added a strength AI and a Cigar mod to my miner helmet, and decided to just max out motherload AND miner 69r, and as an added bonus you can get max level master chef with all that strength as well, if you decide to delve into cooking recipes. (Which I also would highly recommend)
So helpful! I love your videos! Thank you! I’m a noob to this game but loving it and have watched your videos for a long time before actually playing. Any noob help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you immensely for your splendid videos! They serve as a veritable beacon of amusement during my work shifts. May your channel flourish with a multitude of subscribers and an abundance of views, particularly within the realm of 7 Days to Die! Wishing you an ever-increasing reservoir of success and recognition in your gaming pursuits.
seeing the number breakdown is great. i have for a long time felt that the auger was only good if you put no points into stamina reduction and/or got the chance to one shot. with that removed and the screamer changes from heat 100 to heat 25, the auger feels like a complete trap. good to see the trial runs for confirmation. though i feel you should have stayed with mining stone as that is a variable changed from comparing the stone axe.
A wealth of information! I especially love the segment when choosing mods. I've never known which mod is better than another since switching to 1.0. I appreciate the breakdown it helped a great deal!
I dunno about you guys, but I always put at least 2 or 3 points into miner 69'er as soon as possible because it also increases how much damage you do to blocks as a whole, which, if you use the stone axe, allows you to break wooden blocks and doors in POIs much faster.
I’m quite sure the auger is still 2x better than the steel pickaxe, I’ve tested it myself, after 10,000 metal with rock busters and coffee and the +10% ore harvest with the steel pickaxe , I’d have 25,000-30,000 with the auger, both level 6 and modded out completely with the same mods. So yes people keep on using your auger it’s more effective and will get you 2x- 2.5x-3x the iron a steel pickaxe will get you in the same exact amount of time with the same exact buffs.
@@gizmo2231 I think it’s different for nitrate and coal, like the ore themselves has a lower yield for the steel pic and auger. But in my experience harvesting nitrate and coal against metal and lead, I believe they just have lower yield rates with auger and pic compared to their metallic counterparts cause i noticed I wouldn’t get as much with the pic and auger I could be wrong but that’s what I assume. Maybe it could be because they are a stone like ore, ever notice how harvest nitrate and coal they sound like rock breaking compared to the metal thud of metal and lead.
Video Editing is really well done. Only thing that would have been better is having all the stages on screen and done up in a side by side at the end there. I was thinking in the way of a reference sheet or infographic type thing. Possibly do up a image file with you water-mark as the dividers and put that up in a pinned comment (also anywhere else it could be posted).
I always focus on maximizing both skills just to get tool books and better tools spawning early, that and my playstyle revolves around using those same tools as weapons early on, so the stamina bonuses help a lot. Nothing like an early iron axe to split zombies heads early on
It's really weird that the steel pickaxe is better than the auger, but it matches my testing too. The main things to consider are that the auger is better if you have little to no points in miner 69er (like when you use it just to break open end loot), and high-tier augers can be better for iron and coal (which have more HP), if you can't one-shot them with your pickaxe.
That's a good point on the loot boxes - and after doing some retesting I think the iron/lead is where auger does shine as well - I've added a pinned comment on the new tests.
Great job CP! Testing is a lot of work and I really appreciate you stepping through the most efficient mining progress from beginning to late game. I'm in late game right now and the biggest obstacle in mining is screamers...they always spawn full radiated hordes and it's quite a job having to constantly deal with them. :D
Thanks! And even with all the testing I missed something :( The auger is better for iron/lead mining - I've added a pinned comment to clarify. Rads certainly are a lot more present in the new version!
To avoid long detours around mountainous areas I cut vehicle tunnels under them at bedrock level (which makes it easier to stay level). This leads to finding very deep ore deposits. By limiting mining to no greater than 40 blocks above bedrock, crouching and avoiding the auger, I never attract screamers. This bedrock heat hack also works for masking industry heat. I often run 6-8 forges, 4 cement mixers, chem stations and cooking fires concurrently without attracting screamers. One note is to place blocks on all tunnel and base floors to prevent zombies spawning within your base (they can't spawn on player placed blocks). I suspect it's this mechanic to suppress spawning within the 'active sphere' that prevents screamers. If I ladder up to the surface above an industrial base screamers spawn immediately, so the area is clearly very hot. For early game 'top down' mining I always fortify the minehead to avoid screamer hordes entering the mine, and I travel between multiple mines to dissipate the heat (not overly effective for iron mines, they get hot FAST)
Good work as always Pancake 👍🙂 I feel the auger is mainly used for digging up a mass amount of dirt / earth these days. The steel pick is way way nice when you start one-shotting blocks.
Thanks MrMac, I does feel that way, it used to tear up ore, particularly with the extra number of hits and the chance to 1 shot, the auger was brutal. But yes the 1 shot with the pick is so fast but you can also see better to aim than the auger and hear zombies better. Long live the steel pick ⛏️ 😀😀
Awesome content. There is a POI that has Oil Shale as well. I had one the other day in the Pine Forest (Random Map, No Mods). It was some kind of blown up/destroyed Oil Refinery (wish I could remember the name). The POI has a somewhat large blown up Olive (I think) colored silo. It had 3 nodes I believe. Not sure if it was more than surface as I did not mine it.
Back in the day we had to dig around aimlessly in the hopes of finding a vein. No ore was a promise and then it was a great excitement to find one. This is better for a video game but that was hardcore and fun as well.
I was just talking about this in the comments under another video last week :) Great data here. Only thing I think i'd point out, is that the auger performs much better on NON-ore (clay, sand, etc), as it can get into 1-hitting the soft material (very fast at the rate of hits from the auger) Oh, also... the value (or lack thereof) of the auger is NOT new. You can revert your game to previous alphas, and you'll see much the same numbers between the steel pick and auger. oh, also-also, the upgrade from stone axe to iron pick is fairly gentle due to the rate of hitting on the stone axe. This makes the stone axe a great 'multi-purpose' tool in POI raiding very deep into the game (possibly through all of end game, depending on your inventory woes).
Good info. I always use pick axes and usually put 3 points into Miner 69er and 3 into Mother lode.... So I'll refrain wasting those two point in Mother lode now. Early game is when you really need to optimize your time, money and resources. Especially base building.
Because Silver/Gold nuggies and diamonds are gained by each time you hit an ore block, using an auger over a steel pickaxe is probably superior since the auger has a faster attack speed. Just a little bit of information if anyone was questioning that.
Just use the auger. You don't need to worry about an armor set, coffee, candy... and just fuel. You likely have the chem station by the time you have the auger so fuel is not an issue. The best thing about the auger is putting both the pickax mods in it. It rips through rock like butter. Just so much easier.
If you're happy getting less material in the same time, sure! And honestly that sounds worse than I mean it to- there's really not that much difference in gameplay between 5 mins mining with a pickaxe and 5 mins with an auger, you're still gonna get lots of mats :D For example the coffee and candy only ensures you're going to get more mats for the same effort (unless you need coffee for the stam, but hopefully after this vid people don't need that)
@@CautiousPancake True but not everybody is going to need a huge base. I pretty much just finished my second playthrough and I only needed to mine less than 5000 iron total. Most of my iron comes from breaking down stuff. And this is so much better because after say 2 POI missions I have probably 10,000 Dukes in brass, lead, mechanical, electrical, pipes... If I wrench some cars too I can sell engines. Basically I would rather have a small but effective base and focus on missions than be grinding out for resources to build a monster base. My current base I picked a house with concrete walls. I fixed the fence around it, reinforced the doors inside and out, and built 3 defendable locations that I can fall back to if needed. Everything is safe in the attic and I can abandon the base to a water tower or billboard (just do not run too far or the game sends nastier stuff after you). I actually built a horde base near all 5 venders and I still have about 1500 cement left over. I even left the workstations, crops, storage, and some inventory at all the bases, but took the station upgrades.
For me the augur is more about time saved, I tend to build mega structures and if I build underground I use rockets to blast mine out the foundations.. the no stamina drain is better for me when you need mass clearing but want some basic shaping and resources or xp. If I actually need resources then yeah the tool is better, it's just not likely I ever need after digging out a base... blood moons are mining time.
Hey - that's fair enough. The pick can be just as quick once you get the stam reduction levels right ,but if you're not doing lots of mining I agree that you probably don't want to invest points into it, and just use the auger!
Great guide! I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention the strength mod and cigar as a way of getting more points into M69er. I still find the auger best for clay, but there is something therapeutic about the pick when you're one-shoting the ore 😂
Thanks! I did think about the cigar, but given anyone with a non-strength build is usually better off using the the boost to their own stat (to save 3 skillpoints when maxing to 10) that I didn't think it was mining specific enough. That was my thinking, but I'm sure it could go either way :) Agree on the one-shot on the pick it's very satisfying after knowing how many hits it used to take!
i have heard that the auger is unbeatable in clay harvesting, so it would be important for that, since so many things require clay anyway. another thing to keep in mind, is that if one needs fortitude perks to keep stamina up to acquire these results, then they may just opt out since it is slow to gain perks over time, and intellect tends to be more important than fortitude. i don't typically go with fortitude.
For me, the numbers to remember the most are the stamina bonuses needed to never stop using the tools: 25% and 35%. because when going in POI you normally don't bring the miner suit. So you have to know how much is needed to use them to go through walls
All fine informative points. I am still going use my level 5 sugar and level 6 Helmut. I am rather lazy and the super helps me keep my mines organized.
Thanks. I got into this game in 2016 but I've never bothered with mining, only harvesting POIs. Sounds like it's basically just "invest 69er, don't eat a ceiling" which is nice I still miss the level 942 toilet pistols.
Great vid dude, I could talk about mining in this game all day. Just one note in regards to the types of resources, you missed an important one....clay. Can be tricky to get in some biomes or in towns. Always dig down below topsoil for max efficiency as topsoil has higher hp and yields no extra than the easier to break soil underneath. Rock busters and coffee buzz also increase clay gathering. Noticed very recently that you can one hit soil with a pickaxe once you have the strength, this removes the need to carry a shovel and actually gives more resource per block! Also worth noting that getting to advanced engineering lvl 3 or higher will reduce how much is used in forge, reducing how much mining you need to do in first place. Lastly, but i have more tips, there is one thing that could drastically change your numbers, there is an option to increase player block damage, you only have to tweak this slightly and you will be able to one hit iron/lead with steel pickaxe. Auger is absolute garbage now, noisy (you can change game files to reduce sound output), constantly calls in screamers and requires fuel like you mentioned. As a reminder, going to miner 69er will increase your chances of getting stronger tools sooner as well as increase your chances at getting the art of mining skillbooks. And if you are buzzed off coffee when mining, this will help with stamina regen so worth keeping in mind. Sneaking whilst mining reduces heat and noise for player. Auto-turrets can be helpful to deal with zombies falling into mines, especially screamers. If you have the coin you can buy a forget it elixer from trader to do the respec trick if you need to redistribute points better. And this is the last one, cigar and strength mod can be added to helmet to reduce the number of level up points required for miner 69er and motherlode
Thanks mate - that's one detailed comment! I agree with everything you said - and the use of a pick for clay (with increased yield) is a new one to me - I'll have to go have a play with that thanks! I did miss the iron/lead extra damage needed - which I had to put in a pinned comment to flag that the auger is superior only when you're mining those ores since you can't 1-shot (at least I couldn't see how). I avoided the cigar / str mod in this since - similar to my comment on heavy armor - most players (I assume) will pick their stat mod based on the one they need to max to 10, rather than just using it for mining (although you could swap it in and out). It was hard to choose some of the items to leave out of the vid so that it didn't get too lost on the ins and outs.
@@CautiousPancake ah yes, see your comment now. Just thought some things worth mentioning just in case some people might not realise i.e. customised fitting mod along with athletic shoes can heavily reduce movement/stamina penalties when using the other miner gear. I dont normally go full into strength anymore so whatever i can do to spec in to reduce the spend the better. With the mods added you can level up miner 69er and mother lode to level 3 without having to put a single point into strength and could potentially save you 4 points if you did want to max them out. I try to max out agility asap so strength is like a side tree nowadays for me. Ps. If you didnt want to add mods to your main armour helmet, just add it to miner helmet and carry it round with you or in vehicle for some impromptu mining or opening loot containers
From this point forward, my name for the Ergo grip mod is Ogre grip mod. My old ears kept hearing Ogre instead of Ergo and I spent a few minutes trying to find out about this new mod. :)
I never switch to tier one tools unless I'm jumping a whole tech or have no mods. Unless I trip over it while in the field, it's almost never been worth spending the resources to craft a tier 1 for me. Especially since draining your stamina in time for a pair of screamers to show up is less then ideal when things are running around.
The one thing the auger still does better imo is digging out huge sections of clay. The shovel easily one hits it but the animation is just a lot slower than an auger is. Which still isn't a big enough reason to use it really unless you're like me and are currently building a labyrinth in the front yard
Auger is the best tool in the game shreds locked chests doors ore dirt everything you get that and the chainsaw you dont need any other tools while out in the world
Good video - I'm very curious about the exp rates though. I followed FireSpark's early levelling build guide, which is basically mining - but he essentially just suggested full Mining 69'er and armor, but for the benefits but also to increase the book droprates in order to craft the tools/armor. I'm now wondering if, books not withstanding, the 3 into 69'er and then points into Mother Lode approach would be better from an exp approach. Fortunately if anyone did follow that guide you end up getting so much exp that getting full Mother Lode after the initial build is pretty easy, but it's definitely an interesting point to consider. Edit: I will say getting 1+ point in armor early on is probably worth it just for the increased book drop rates. Takes 20 books to craft just the tier 1 versions of the armor, let alone the 100 books (IIRC) it takes to craft the tier 6 stuff.
Interesting - I'd have said most people want to get xp through combat, but not all of course. That's the benefit of this game - so many different ways to play it :) I think hitting your stamina breakpoints that I've mentioned would help your xp rate though as it means non-stop mining rather than having to wait for stam to rebuild.
Yeah in hindsight I should have - almost certainly auger is best there, as the low HP should mean it will finish a dirt block and be starting on the next one while the pick swing animation is still going. Thanks for the feedback!
Cave-in's generate heat?! Did not know that, and that explains a LOT! edit: Upon finishing the video, I need to say thank you! Fantastic breakdown. I always look forward to your videos. On a funny note - This video has caused me to reflect on my gaming style. And it would seem that my personal strategy has been to push my points towards creating an ability to not run out of stamina for as long as possible, rather than maximizing the ore intake. It seems mostly due to my inability to think in terms of ore intake and selfishly only consider how much of my game time I would spend watching my character regenerate stamina. Not sure if that is brilliant or short sighted.
This is really only applicable if you're after output over time, if your goal is overall output from a vein you'd want to preference yield over stam. Given how much ore there is though I doubt anyone cares, I just like using the whole buffalo. The auger is really only useful for removing topsoil in an open pit mine or for quickly flattening out a spot for a base, they need to buff the damage or give it a yield bonus to make it competitive.
would be nice if you made a video explaining how the investing in certain skills increases likely hood of certain books appearing (like how putting a point in lockpicking makes finding forge/workbench magazines wayy easier)
Auger is still the mathematically best for all levels of the game. Before you hit max level, auger ends up with a higher xp per hour rate due to mining and zombie kills, so you end up at max level faster using the auger in comparison to other tools. Even at max level, the auger is still better because the zombie spawns have a chance to drop bag, which contain raw brass, ammo which can be scrapped if not needed for brass, and dukes (on top of books, extra bars, food, or whatever else), which is the only way you can technically ve farming ore and still acquire brass without going out of your way to do so. The only point where it would be better to use tools would be super early game (which you won't have an auger anyways) or before you can get weapons (which you should have before you get an auger anyways), or super late game where everything is maxed, at which point you are swimming in ammo so it doesn't matter either way. While the tools may be better for newer players or players not used to higher difficulty, the statement that tools are better is simply not true.
Without XP gain in mind and using the auger as a weapon its inefficient and ass compared to steel or iron with the right gear. This is primarily tested on just mining alone not xp or killing
That in mind, you statement is still not 100% as you only save a few swings from a max tier steel pick per minute to stop to kill a zombie or 2, which nets you a few hundred of that ore. Let's say for the sake of it you are efficiently mining something of double output value like shale or coal, that also do stone, then your statement may be true, but only in those situations. Anything like iron, lead, nitrate, or raw stone would be a loss as the resources dropped from bags net you more efficiency (iron and clay that was needed for the bars that dropped, brass from ammo, or even raw brass) in terms of raw output compared to what you would have gotten otherwise, which is a few hundred more ore. Even smelting and reselling the excess ore at max value to trader is still lower duke-wise than the drops you would have gotten, literally proving value-wise that picks are only better for shale/coal farming (which also nets the highest xp rates in the game as well for pure mining methods, and yes, this has been proven). The information in the video is helpful, but there are lots of caveats in the blanket statement in your thumbnail, which again, is not 100% true. If zombie spawns are turned off and viewed from a pure-mining only viewpoint, then yea, I'd say they are correct, but it's not really 7 days to die at that point, just another survival crafting game.
@@jakedegrendel6941 again none of what you say matters if you are only looking for efficiency on mining not on ANYTHING ELSE. Motorised tools use way too much fuel and getting them is already a task so stamina management is way easier, why are you so obsessed with XP it has nothing to do with mining alone also its 1 hit with a pickaxe vs a few seconds to an ore with an auger…
⚠⚠ One additional case is needed (thanks to @runswithscissors9429) - testing on iron/lead due to the decreased damage done produces different results. While the stamina breakpoints remain correct, this changes the balance between the steel pick and the auger - and a quick test on iron when transitioning from tier 5 steel pick to tier 1 auger (both with full mods so the steel pick will 2 shot the iron) shows that the auger at tier 1 will match the pick or slightly better it, and that at full T6 pick vs auger, the auger will win handily, as the T6 still pick is still a 2-shot on iron, even when fully modded. So everything in the video is still correct, unless you're mining end game iron or lead, in which case, use an Auger!
I don’t see the minor gain as worth it, with the screamers changes you don’t actually gain anything since you spend so much time dealing with screamers. Mining is so fast late game with rock busters and coffee
Thank you for this additional comment, it caps off your video as the definitive video on mining in 1.0
It's too bad that you can never oneshot lead/iron but I suppose that makes the Auger actually worth something, since otherwise it seems rather useless. End game metal mining otherwise pickaxes seems the way to go.
@@Guts-the-Berserker Thanks for that comment! I wish I could have put it in the video, but it'll have to go as a lesson learned - and something I'll look to do better in future!
@@CautiousPancake Hey thanks for appreciating it. Ever play Zomboid out of curiousity? Can't wait for that one to update.
@@Guts-the-Berserker I'm too scared to dip my toe into Project Zomboid - from what I've heard there's lots of complexity and I'll spend far too much time trying to learn it all! 🤣 It does look fun though!
society would be doing worse if it wasn't for people who posted in-depth tutorials concerning game statistics, thank you so much
You're most welcome - and thanks!
imagine if this was all in an excel spreadsheet. surly there could be a calc that would take into consideration total stam - (stam/swing)*(1-reduction%) + stam/s. then fit a table with basicaly n rows and m columns with every possible combo of gear/perks/food. those values then imported into the calc and extrapolated down and out n and m cells respectivly.
One very important fact regarding mining and screamers. Always crouch while mining, as it significantly reduces noise, heat, and the resulting screamer spawns. Just got done mining 20K iron with level 4 auger, while crouching, no screamers. Also helps to mine using a tunnel approach, i.e., mine using horizontal tunnels in various directions until you exit the ore node, then go back to center and mine in a different direction. This can spread the heat out over multiple chunks and reduce screamer spawns.
Also important to note that heat levels increasing much more rapidly from any iron blocks (PoI, ore and etc) being damaged in comparison with damaging other blocks, respectively stone (concrete) ones. At least it was so in pre V1.0.
Mining a vein full of lead attracted to me around 6 screamers total. Mining a vein full of coal? None.
Not sure if they changed it in V1, but I remember Capp00 made a noise/heat map test with the auger in A20 or A21, and the auger only increased the heat map when you started mining (clicked the mouse button), but it didn't increase heat if you kept it running after that and kept mining.
The video mentioned that when you have cave in is what can spawn screamers if they are large enough. So crouching won't effect that, it will just effect wondering zombies near by from detecting you. Which reminds me, doesn't the game have a stealth aspect you can put points into to make you more quiet? I know the assassin outfit helps.
@@fragalot crouching affects the heat generation speed afaik. Meaning that you'll hit the critical heat point twice as less with stealth mode enabled.
i mean honestly dont know if crouching really helps, have you seen something in files? i just farmed 50k iron with lvl 5 auger no crouching same hole 0 screamers, i then did 20k wood with chainsaw no screamers with 2 furnaces blasting iron, somehow when i was just standing in base it spawned 3 rad screamers (everything off except for dew collectors)
The most comprehensive guide to mining you could want. Even with 2k+ hours, I still learned a few things.
Thanks PJF!
Because the devs are pure shit and changing there ideas every view seconds. Forget all u learned in the videos. Will all be changed bei the dEvS
Thats because they keep changing things even though they wouldnt need a change :D
Game hasn’t even been out for a month but you have 2k hours bro using alpha hours to sound cool 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
@@ChrisDaRunt Sounding 'cool' isn't something I have ever bothered with. I am too old for such nonsense. My OP was to acknowledge the tremendous work of Cautious Pancake, nothing more.
My perception of Auger was always a tool for someone who doesn't spec into mining skills + it's multipurpose tool for digging and mining alike.
The fact it doesn't use stamina can be useful in some cases, like collecting materials in POI and having an option to just jump or run to safety or when you have to dig a trench and need to jump out of it in a pinch.
It was great when you had a chance to one shot ores. Now that thats gone it's not worth the screamer hassle.
That's what I used it for when playing with my friends. Someone wants to help out our designated miner and get us a little more resources faster? Here's an Auger, hop in the mine next to the guy with the pickaxe. The sniper/archer thinks the grove of oaks/pines I planted is blocking too much of his FOV? Here's a chainsaw go clear it out and plant them wherever you want.
Even already knowing 99% of this info (veteran player just curious about what's different in 1.0 vs A21), this video was amazing. So clear yet quick enough that it's not super boring. Seriously kudos to you, you've earned yourself a sub.
Thanks so much!
beginner tip - an easy early game way to get some wood and iron and leather is to collect every chair you find in a poi then scrap them in your inventory. most recent playthrough i didn't even use the stone axe except on zeds.
I love seeing the min/max and math of all the different perks, and tools
Thanks 👍
@@tehaon likewise. I'm implementing this thank you so much @cautiouspancake
I agree showing the math helps a lot. Keep up the good work brother.
The perfect video for mining, not the video I was looking for, but definitly the video I needed
Thanks!!
Good news, everyone!
There's more than one reference going on, now, and you just got delivered both of them!
2 things.
Charismatic Nature 2 from a party member helps boost block damage, making the breakpoints a little easier. Especially the 1 hit breakpoint.
And the other thing is the penalty on experience gain. The gathering boosters like mother lode, rock busters, art of mining coffee buzz all give a slight penalty to experience gained. The only exception seems to be the mining helmet.
It is claimed that mining helmet 6 with treasure hunter mod, mining gloves, 1 hit setup with steel pick axe, and all the mining books, and learning elixir when mining coal/shale is the best mining xp. You still get a lot of gathering from the speed of it, but you maximise the experience gain. Though I have yet to compare it precisely to iron/lead.
Well done, pancake, this must have been a lot of work to put together with results through all the different use cases. Great work!
Thanks! And yes, wasn't the easiest vid to pull together, but worthwhile! 😊
The iron and rock breakers also effect other blocks, iron breaker is also for lead and the rock breaker also increases damage on coal, oil shale, nitrate
Really good guide! As someone who has around 600 hours of playtime and played since it first came out back in 2013, the auger is awful in its vanilla state, since it's suppose to be the end game item, I modded it so it 1-hits stone blocks because trying to clear an area quickly without it is a real pain
Just dig out a box with the one hit steel pick method and let the collapse remove the majority of blocks.
im new to 7 days and this taught me so much, i ended up maxing my miner 69er and then my mother load in the beginning but now im so far into my skills i have everything maxed out but i havent started building a base yet. Thank you for this!
Glad this helped out - hope you enjoy some base building too!
One further thing to consider is resource conservation. Getting more ore from fewer nodes can reduce travel time from searching or traveling to more distant locations. So ore per minute, while important, isnt the only necessary consideration.
I think the biggest draw for the auger prior to 1.0 was the capstone perk for art of mining giving you a chance to instantly break blocks. The augers incredibly high hit rate made it by far and away the best option for mining, and it wasnt even close. Now with it only being 20% more ore, the use of gas, and the noise, steel picks are much better now.
Agreed, I miss that perk! Someone suggested it would be a nice miner armour set bonus, and I agree, even if it was just a low percentage
Just crouch while using the auger
@@gabrielc7861yeah that's what I do then it's just drill baby drill
additional tip while digging with a pickaxe, sneak first before swinging because it will reduce the heat generated, preventing screamer spawns
Works for auger too
The way I see it, the reason to use the auger over a pickaxe is that it's a tool that mines dirt and ore, combining the shovel and pickaxe so you don't have to keep both. If you watch GNS's videos, you'll see Temreki generally prefers to start a mine by using the augur to clear out all the topsoil over the ore veins before delving into the ores themselves. This essentially allows him to start strip mining with far less trouble than having to shovel out the dirt and then switching to the pick (degrading two tools rather than one), and without wasting a bunch of stamina that will eat into your hunger and thirst.
Thanks for a clear and thorough guide. As a veteran I learned a bit, but I think it is clear enough that new players would be well served watching this early. One final comment is that if you're trying to save points for non-strength builds, there's a couple of ways to get +1 to strength. One is the cigar, another is the strength mod for helmet. Those are the ones I know of. I was able to go to 2 and 2 in mining skills without spending any points in strength. Later when I began making things like bulk ammo and steel, I increased strength and mining skills.
Yeah thats a good tip, I wish I'd thought of putting that in! If you get those mods early it's great to pop them in your mining helmet, although it means when clearing a poi it'll be a bit slower.
Just got a subscriber. The amount of work I can see you put in you deserved it. Not only testing all these variables, but then editing and putting together this video and others. Good man. Keep it up.
On that note, I didn't even know cave ins caused heat. That's how much you're teaching pancake, really, keep up the amazing+ work.
Thanks so much Wildoutness - glad it was helpful and welcome!
Now that was a thorough video. Nice job.
Much appreciated!
This is an excellent video, and very thorough! The only time i will use an augur once i get to high level is for the interim period while my stamina regenerates from using the steel pickaxe. This way, there is no down time, you're using way less fuel, and there is less chance of calling in a screamer, before switching back to the pick axe once stamina has regenerated. Other than that particular situation, i just don't think the augur is worth the hassle.
Thanks for watching and agree that the auger is limited - hopefully if you can hit that 35% stamina reduction you won't have to wait for your stamina to regenerate anymore!
This is the most impressive video I've ever seen when it comes to mining. I don't have a ton of hours, but I figured I knew a lot about the game. Clearly this makes me a novice still lol
There's always bits to learn - I've learned new bits as well from people in the comments after putting this out!
3.38 "so if you do have a big one prepare for a screamer". Words of wisdom indeed
🤣🫢
Just watched to see how mining is more of a salvager myself, great vid earnt a sub even though ill never use the info it was delivered flawlessly
Thanks so much!
You know the difference between dicking around and science: science you take notes :D great Vid
🤣🤣🤣
This was a perfect guide. I wasnt even looking for a guide and found this and learned a lot. Thank you sir you have earned a sub
Thanks so much - glad it was useful!
Thank you. I was trying to figure out exactly how to mine without having to stop all the time. Truly thank you.
You're welcome!
Excellent video, only thing missing is the cliffnotes version; 3 points into Miner 69'er, 1 point into motherlode, miner chest armor (upgrade to higher tier when able), iron pickaxe (upgrade to higher tier when able), structural grip mod. Or advance to Summary section in the video.
Agreed and thanks - should have put in the summary at the start and then explained how I got there!
I'm loving the Mining set in the game. I play Duo with my good friend, he's the Scavenger and Looter in 80% of our games and I'm the recourse gatherer. It's just fun for to gather resources in any survival game, wood, iron, etc. Even gems to give him to sell to traders. I'm simply loving this new update, since I've waited 6 years for the console version to be finally updated, and here it is. Thank you for the guide! :D
Thanks - and wow glad you're enjoying the console edition now it's finally here!
Thank you for sharing and in the burnt forrest many of the trees if not all of them all have coal in them as well as wood, i literally chopped down tons of trees and they all had coal and obviously wood in them in the burnt forrest, so it's worth doing it in there if you want to collect wood and coal together, saves some time
And if you aren't into mining:
Miner 96er is still crucial for breaking/harvesting stuff in POIs, but Mother Lode is completely useless in that case though.
Also when min-maxing magazine spawn rates, keep in mind that the tool crafting magazines will compete with vehicle and workbench crafting magazines if you put any points into the mining perks.
Good point, it pushes the case for just putting more into Miner69er but these don't take itno account how many points you need in strength if that isn't your tree.
Mother load doesn't work on PoI blocks? Curtains, plastic barrels, etc? You can end up one shotting these things anyway without too much trouble without having to max out miner 69er.
look now this is how you explain a detailed vid well done and thanks mate saved me from testing it myself💪
Love how you break things down I don't have too many questions about mining but still watched and loved the breakdown! Going to have to check the other videos
Thanks so much!
This was a great video and you deserve way more subs man! Good Job!
Thanks mate! 🙂
This guy literally did the math, and I really appreciate that level of detail!
Thanks🙂
Shouldn't that be in the game files?
Don’t forget to save some points using strength mods! Had a solid setup for mining then added a strength AI and a Cigar mod to my miner helmet, and decided to just max out motherload AND miner 69r, and as an added bonus you can get max level master chef with all that strength as well, if you decide to delve into cooking recipes. (Which I also would highly recommend)
So helpful! I love your videos! Thank you! I’m a noob to this game but loving it and have watched your videos for a long time before actually playing. Any noob help is greatly appreciated!
That's awesome thanks! Glad they are helpful and let me know if there's any topics you think need covering!
I love the auger and bring on the screamers!
If you want them, it'll bring em - but that's totally valid - sometimes you want a bit of extra!
A lot of work went into this one! Thanks for creating this!
You're most welcome - thanks for watching!
Wow, that skill breakdown and testing was awesome. Loved it.
Thanks! Hope it is useful ☺️
Thank you. I learned a lot of things I overlook on my runs. I love mining and this video helped me out
Thanks for watching and glad it was useful!
One of the reasons I switched to an auger, other than memory of it being better than steel, it is both a pick and a shovel in one.
Yeah saving a toolbar slot can be worth it, if you don't mind the noise!
I usually go with 3 pts into miner 69er, 3 pts into motherlode and stick to steel picks. Less trouble from screamers. Good vid btw, thank you
You're welcome, and sounds like you've got the breakpoints all sorted 😀
Thank you immensely for your splendid videos! They serve as a veritable beacon of amusement during my work shifts. May your channel flourish with a multitude of subscribers and an abundance of views, particularly within the realm of 7 Days to Die! Wishing you an ever-increasing reservoir of success and recognition in your gaming pursuits.
Thanks so much Jim! 😊 Have a great day at work!
Love how mining stone underground is more efficient than mining those little stone nodes on the ground
@@bWILLYant Yeah those little stones are convenient in a pinch, but not good for bulk.
seeing the number breakdown is great. i have for a long time felt that the auger was only good if you put no points into stamina reduction and/or got the chance to one shot. with that removed and the screamer changes from heat 100 to heat 25, the auger feels like a complete trap. good to see the trial runs for confirmation. though i feel you should have stayed with mining stone as that is a variable changed from comparing the stone axe.
Unrelated to your comment but wanted to compliment your profile picture! I think its charming 😊
A wealth of information! I especially love the segment when choosing mods. I've never known which mod is better than another since switching to 1.0. I appreciate the breakdown it helped a great deal!
Glad to help!
I dunno about you guys, but I always put at least 2 or 3 points into miner 69'er as soon as possible because it also increases how much damage you do to blocks as a whole, which, if you use the stone axe, allows you to break wooden blocks and doors in POIs much faster.
I’m quite sure the auger is still 2x better than the steel pickaxe, I’ve tested it myself, after 10,000 metal with rock busters and coffee and the +10% ore harvest with the steel pickaxe , I’d have 25,000-30,000 with the auger, both level 6 and modded out completely with the same mods. So yes people keep on using your auger it’s more effective and will get you 2x- 2.5x-3x the iron a steel pickaxe will get you in the same exact amount of time with the same exact buffs.
Yeah i harvest more with auger as well but on coal the auger doesnt seem that good. Could it be coal is diffrent to mine then metal and the others?
@@gizmo2231 I think it’s different for nitrate and coal, like the ore themselves has a lower yield for the steel pic and auger. But in my experience harvesting nitrate and coal against metal and lead, I believe they just have lower yield rates with auger and pic compared to their metallic counterparts cause i noticed I wouldn’t get as much with the pic and auger I could be wrong but that’s what I assume. Maybe it could be because they are a stone like ore, ever notice how harvest nitrate and coal they sound like rock breaking compared to the metal thud of metal and lead.
Video Editing is really well done. Only thing that would have been better is having all the stages on screen and done up in a side by side at the end there. I was thinking in the way of a reference sheet or infographic type thing.
Possibly do up a image file with you water-mark as the dividers and put that up in a pinned comment (also anywhere else it could be posted).
That's great feedback thanks! I'll see if I can finish the next vid early and work on a graphic.
Liked and subscribed. I really appreciate videos based on thoughtful experimentation that save me time! Thank you!!!
Awesome, thank you!
I always focus on maximizing both skills just to get tool books and better tools spawning early, that and my playstyle revolves around using those same tools as weapons early on, so the stamina bonuses help a lot. Nothing like an early iron axe to split zombies heads early on
Great video, well narrated and concise. Thanks!
Much appreciated!
It's really weird that the steel pickaxe is better than the auger, but it matches my testing too.
The main things to consider are that the auger is better if you have little to no points in miner 69er (like when you use it just to break open end loot), and high-tier augers can be better for iron and coal (which have more HP), if you can't one-shot them with your pickaxe.
That's a good point on the loot boxes - and after doing some retesting I think the iron/lead is where auger does shine as well - I've added a pinned comment on the new tests.
Great job with this!! I just got an auger and was wondering why my steel tools seemed to work better.
Glad I could help!
Wow, I’ve been going off of legacy rules. Glad I watched this
Great job CP! Testing is a lot of work and I really appreciate you stepping through the most efficient mining progress from beginning to late game. I'm in late game right now and the biggest obstacle in mining is screamers...they always spawn full radiated hordes and it's quite a job having to constantly deal with them. :D
Thanks! And even with all the testing I missed something :( The auger is better for iron/lead mining - I've added a pinned comment to clarify. Rads certainly are a lot more present in the new version!
That's a unfortunate abbreviation
Do not abbreviate bros name😭
To avoid long detours around mountainous areas I cut vehicle tunnels under them at bedrock level (which makes it easier to stay level). This leads to finding very deep ore deposits. By limiting mining to no greater than 40 blocks above bedrock, crouching and avoiding the auger, I never attract screamers. This bedrock heat hack also works for masking industry heat. I often run 6-8 forges, 4 cement mixers, chem stations and cooking fires concurrently without attracting screamers. One note is to place blocks on all tunnel and base floors to prevent zombies spawning within your base (they can't spawn on player placed blocks). I suspect it's this mechanic to suppress spawning within the 'active sphere' that prevents screamers. If I ladder up to the surface above an industrial base screamers spawn immediately, so the area is clearly very hot.
For early game 'top down' mining I always fortify the minehead to avoid screamer hordes entering the mine, and I travel between multiple mines to dissipate the heat (not overly effective for iron mines, they get hot FAST)
@@doczoff5655 Great tips!
Good work as always Pancake 👍🙂 I feel the auger is mainly used for digging up a mass amount of dirt / earth these days. The steel pick is way way nice when you start one-shotting blocks.
Thanks MrMac, I does feel that way, it used to tear up ore, particularly with the extra number of hits and the chance to 1 shot, the auger was brutal. But yes the 1 shot with the pick is so fast but you can also see better to aim than the auger and hear zombies better. Long live the steel pick ⛏️ 😀😀
Thank you! As a beginner a great guide. Concise and very clear instructions. Subbed!
Thanks, and welcome :)
Awesome content. There is a POI that has Oil Shale as well. I had one the other day in the Pine Forest (Random Map, No Mods). It was some kind of blown up/destroyed Oil Refinery (wish I could remember the name). The POI has a somewhat large blown up Olive (I think) colored silo. It had 3 nodes I believe. Not sure if it was more than surface as I did not mine it.
Back in the day we had to dig around aimlessly in the hopes of finding a vein. No ore was a promise and then it was a great excitement to find one. This is better for a video game but that was hardcore and fun as well.
Yeah - some of the overhaul mods remove the nodes on top so you can't tell where it is - I think Darkness Falls and possibly others!
Probably someone: How many times did you watch this?
Me: Yes
I was just talking about this in the comments under another video last week :) Great data here.
Only thing I think i'd point out, is that the auger performs much better on NON-ore (clay, sand, etc), as it can get into 1-hitting the soft material (very fast at the rate of hits from the auger)
Oh, also... the value (or lack thereof) of the auger is NOT new. You can revert your game to previous alphas, and you'll see much the same numbers between the steel pick and auger.
oh, also-also, the upgrade from stone axe to iron pick is fairly gentle due to the rate of hitting on the stone axe. This makes the stone axe a great 'multi-purpose' tool in POI raiding very deep into the game (possibly through all of end game, depending on your inventory woes).
Good info. I always use pick axes and usually put 3 points into Miner 69er and 3 into Mother lode.... So I'll refrain wasting those two point in Mother lode now. Early game is when you really need to optimize your time, money and resources. Especially base building.
Because Silver/Gold nuggies and diamonds are gained by each time you hit an ore block, using an auger over a steel pickaxe is probably superior since the auger has a faster attack speed. Just a little bit of information if anyone was questioning that.
Good little tip!
Just use the auger. You don't need to worry about an armor set, coffee, candy... and just fuel. You likely have the chem station by the time you have the auger so fuel is not an issue. The best thing about the auger is putting both the pickax mods in it. It rips through rock like butter. Just so much easier.
If you're happy getting less material in the same time, sure! And honestly that sounds worse than I mean it to- there's really not that much difference in gameplay between 5 mins mining with a pickaxe and 5 mins with an auger, you're still gonna get lots of mats :D
For example the coffee and candy only ensures you're going to get more mats for the same effort (unless you need coffee for the stam, but hopefully after this vid people don't need that)
@@CautiousPancake True but not everybody is going to need a huge base. I pretty much just finished my second playthrough and I only needed to mine less than 5000 iron total. Most of my iron comes from breaking down stuff. And this is so much better because after say 2 POI missions I have probably 10,000 Dukes in brass, lead, mechanical, electrical, pipes... If I wrench some cars too I can sell engines.
Basically I would rather have a small but effective base and focus on missions than be grinding out for resources to build a monster base. My current base I picked a house with concrete walls. I fixed the fence around it, reinforced the doors inside and out, and built 3 defendable locations that I can fall back to if needed. Everything is safe in the attic and I can abandon the base to a water tower or billboard (just do not run too far or the game sends nastier stuff after you). I actually built a horde base near all 5 venders and I still have about 1500 cement left over. I even left the workstations, crops, storage, and some inventory at all the bases, but took the station upgrades.
Thank you for this top notch production 👏
Glad you enjoyed it, thanks!
Thanks for this very in-depth look at mining!
Thanks 👍
If you're running short of stamina you can drink beer too as that give you a stamina buff that stacks with coffee etc.
For me the augur is more about time saved, I tend to build mega structures and if I build underground I use rockets to blast mine out the foundations.. the no stamina drain is better for me when you need mass clearing but want some basic shaping and resources or xp.
If I actually need resources then yeah the tool is better, it's just not likely I ever need after digging out a base... blood moons are mining time.
Hey - that's fair enough. The pick can be just as quick once you get the stam reduction levels right ,but if you're not doing lots of mining I agree that you probably don't want to invest points into it, and just use the auger!
Great guide!
I'm a bit surprised you didn't mention the strength mod and cigar as a way of getting more points into M69er.
I still find the auger best for clay, but there is something therapeutic about the pick when you're one-shoting the ore 😂
Thanks! I did think about the cigar, but given anyone with a non-strength build is usually better off using the the boost to their own stat (to save 3 skillpoints when maxing to 10) that I didn't think it was mining specific enough. That was my thinking, but I'm sure it could go either way :)
Agree on the one-shot on the pick it's very satisfying after knowing how many hits it used to take!
i have heard that the auger is unbeatable in clay harvesting, so it would be important for that, since so many things require clay anyway. another thing to keep in mind, is that if one needs fortitude perks to keep stamina up to acquire these results, then they may just opt out since it is slow to gain perks over time, and intellect tends to be more important than fortitude. i don't typically go with fortitude.
For me, the numbers to remember the most are the stamina bonuses needed to never stop using the tools: 25% and 35%.
because when going in POI you normally don't bring the miner suit. So you have to know how much is needed to use them to go through walls
Yes absolutely that's what I hope people can remember from this!
Thank you! Finally video explain the map colours. 😆👍🏻
Glad it was helpful!
Dont forget about the lil droid that floats around n yells at you for stamina 😂😅
Thank you for spending the time to learn all this and sharing it!
You're welcome- thanks for watching!
Not only did this video help a lot with mining, it also put me to sleep, 10/10, I guess it’s something about your voice lol
Haha I hope that's a good thing 😀. Warning to viewers not to listen to my vids while driving!
Thank you very much for this amazing and explanatory video :)
You're most welcome - thanks for watching!
Thanks for the info. Have fun!
Thanks, you too!
All fine informative points. I am still going use my level 5 sugar and level 6 Helmut. I am rather lazy and the super helps me keep my mines organized.
Yeah no worries, everyone can play their own way!
Thanks. I got into this game in 2016 but I've never bothered with mining, only harvesting POIs. Sounds like it's basically just "invest 69er, don't eat a ceiling" which is nice
I still miss the level 942 toilet pistols.
"Don't eat a ceiling" - words to live by :D
Mother load doesn't mess with magazines loot. Unless I want good tools early. I just make lock picks
Fair enough! So many aspects to this to try and boil down...
I run an auger because that means I then no longer need to carry a shovel as well.
Agreed, although I still keep a steel pick in my inventory or on my vehicle
yet you still need to carry gas on you so the same amount of slots are being used
@@Moon-cz5ze I'm carrying fuel regardless since I tend to keep some on hand for my truck/motorcycle.
You mean to say no longer need to carry LOCKPICKS as well . Hehehe
Agreed and you need less food and water/coffee
Great vid dude, I could talk about mining in this game all day. Just one note in regards to the types of resources, you missed an important one....clay. Can be tricky to get in some biomes or in towns. Always dig down below topsoil for max efficiency as topsoil has higher hp and yields no extra than the easier to break soil underneath. Rock busters and coffee buzz also increase clay gathering. Noticed very recently that you can one hit soil with a pickaxe once you have the strength, this removes the need to carry a shovel and actually gives more resource per block! Also worth noting that getting to advanced engineering lvl 3 or higher will reduce how much is used in forge, reducing how much mining you need to do in first place. Lastly, but i have more tips, there is one thing that could drastically change your numbers, there is an option to increase player block damage, you only have to tweak this slightly and you will be able to one hit iron/lead with steel pickaxe. Auger is absolute garbage now, noisy (you can change game files to reduce sound output), constantly calls in screamers and requires fuel like you mentioned. As a reminder, going to miner 69er will increase your chances of getting stronger tools sooner as well as increase your chances at getting the art of mining skillbooks. And if you are buzzed off coffee when mining, this will help with stamina regen so worth keeping in mind. Sneaking whilst mining reduces heat and noise for player. Auto-turrets can be helpful to deal with zombies falling into mines, especially screamers. If you have the coin you can buy a forget it elixer from trader to do the respec trick if you need to redistribute points better. And this is the last one, cigar and strength mod can be added to helmet to reduce the number of level up points required for miner 69er and motherlode
Thanks mate - that's one detailed comment! I agree with everything you said - and the use of a pick for clay (with increased yield) is a new one to me - I'll have to go have a play with that thanks! I did miss the iron/lead extra damage needed - which I had to put in a pinned comment to flag that the auger is superior only when you're mining those ores since you can't 1-shot (at least I couldn't see how). I avoided the cigar / str mod in this since - similar to my comment on heavy armor - most players (I assume) will pick their stat mod based on the one they need to max to 10, rather than just using it for mining (although you could swap it in and out). It was hard to choose some of the items to leave out of the vid so that it didn't get too lost on the ins and outs.
@@CautiousPancake ah yes, see your comment now. Just thought some things worth mentioning just in case some people might not realise i.e. customised fitting mod along with athletic shoes can heavily reduce movement/stamina penalties when using the other miner gear. I dont normally go full into strength anymore so whatever i can do to spec in to reduce the spend the better. With the mods added you can level up miner 69er and mother lode to level 3 without having to put a single point into strength and could potentially save you 4 points if you did want to max them out. I try to max out agility asap so strength is like a side tree nowadays for me. Ps. If you didnt want to add mods to your main armour helmet, just add it to miner helmet and carry it round with you or in vehicle for some impromptu mining or opening loot containers
From this point forward, my name for the Ergo grip mod is Ogre grip mod. My old ears kept hearing Ogre instead of Ergo and I spent a few minutes trying to find out about this new mod. :)
Lol between your ears and my ability to mispronounce most things it probably was the ogre mod 🤣
I never switch to tier one tools unless I'm jumping a whole tech or have no mods. Unless I trip over it while in the field, it's almost never been worth spending the resources to craft a tier 1 for me. Especially since draining your stamina in time for a pair of screamers to show up is less then ideal when things are running around.
This video may have been boring..... but it got my like, sub, and comment!
Hehe - I did my best to make hours of mining footage as interesting as possible :D :D Thanks for the sub and comment!
Just realized I’ve been watching you for a while now and haven’t subscribed, there you go.
Thanks for subbing, and for watching :)
The one thing the auger still does better imo is digging out huge sections of clay. The shovel easily one hits it but the animation is just a lot slower than an auger is. Which still isn't a big enough reason to use it really unless you're like me and are currently building a labyrinth in the front yard
Yeah, for clay it's best for sure! Love the idea of a labyrinth!
Auger is the best tool in the game shreds locked chests doors ore dirt everything you get that and the chainsaw you dont need any other tools while out in the world
The dedication good job man. thank you. Can't wait to play. Like for real tho lol Some good testing
Thanks mate - appreciate it!
Good video - I'm very curious about the exp rates though. I followed FireSpark's early levelling build guide, which is basically mining - but he essentially just suggested full Mining 69'er and armor, but for the benefits but also to increase the book droprates in order to craft the tools/armor.
I'm now wondering if, books not withstanding, the 3 into 69'er and then points into Mother Lode approach would be better from an exp approach. Fortunately if anyone did follow that guide you end up getting so much exp that getting full Mother Lode after the initial build is pretty easy, but it's definitely an interesting point to consider.
Edit: I will say getting 1+ point in armor early on is probably worth it just for the increased book drop rates. Takes 20 books to craft just the tier 1 versions of the armor, let alone the 100 books (IIRC) it takes to craft the tier 6 stuff.
Interesting - I'd have said most people want to get xp through combat, but not all of course. That's the benefit of this game - so many different ways to play it :)
I think hitting your stamina breakpoints that I've mentioned would help your xp rate though as it means non-stop mining rather than having to wait for stam to rebuild.
Appreciate the hard work and research
Thanks! 😊
Great test for ore. I hoped that you would also check for clay.
Yeah in hindsight I should have - almost certainly auger is best there, as the low HP should mean it will finish a dirt block and be starting on the next one while the pick swing animation is still going. Thanks for the feedback!
Thank you so much, for all the effort, time and research ! i really appreciate your work Sir !!
You are most welcome! Thanks for watching!
Cave-in's generate heat?! Did not know that, and that explains a LOT!
edit: Upon finishing the video, I need to say thank you! Fantastic breakdown. I always look forward to your videos.
On a funny note - This video has caused me to reflect on my gaming style. And it would seem that my personal strategy has been to push my points towards creating an ability to not run out of stamina for as long as possible, rather than maximizing the ore intake. It seems mostly due to my inability to think in terms of ore intake and selfishly only consider how much of my game time I would spend watching my character regenerate stamina. Not sure if that is brilliant or short sighted.
This is really only applicable if you're after output over time, if your goal is overall output from a vein you'd want to preference yield over stam. Given how much ore there is though I doubt anyone cares, I just like using the whole buffalo.
The auger is really only useful for removing topsoil in an open pit mine or for quickly flattening out a spot for a base, they need to buff the damage or give it a yield bonus to make it competitive.
would be nice if you made a video explaining how the investing in certain skills increases likely hood of certain books appearing (like how putting a point in lockpicking makes finding forge/workbench magazines wayy easier)
That's a whole other topic for sure!
Auger is still the mathematically best for all levels of the game. Before you hit max level, auger ends up with a higher xp per hour rate due to mining and zombie kills, so you end up at max level faster using the auger in comparison to other tools. Even at max level, the auger is still better because the zombie spawns have a chance to drop bag, which contain raw brass, ammo which can be scrapped if not needed for brass, and dukes (on top of books, extra bars, food, or whatever else), which is the only way you can technically ve farming ore and still acquire brass without going out of your way to do so. The only point where it would be better to use tools would be super early game (which you won't have an auger anyways) or before you can get weapons (which you should have before you get an auger anyways), or super late game where everything is maxed, at which point you are swimming in ammo so it doesn't matter either way. While the tools may be better for newer players or players not used to higher difficulty, the statement that tools are better is simply not true.
Without XP gain in mind and using the auger as a weapon its inefficient and ass compared to steel or iron with the right gear. This is primarily tested on just mining alone not xp or killing
That in mind, you statement is still not 100% as you only save a few swings from a max tier steel pick per minute to stop to kill a zombie or 2, which nets you a few hundred of that ore.
Let's say for the sake of it you are efficiently mining something of double output value like shale or coal, that also do stone, then your statement may be true, but only in those situations. Anything like iron, lead, nitrate, or raw stone would be a loss as the resources dropped from bags net you more efficiency (iron and clay that was needed for the bars that dropped, brass from ammo, or even raw brass) in terms of raw output compared to what you would have gotten otherwise, which is a few hundred more ore.
Even smelting and reselling the excess ore at max value to trader is still lower duke-wise than the drops you would have gotten, literally proving value-wise that picks are only better for shale/coal farming (which also nets the highest xp rates in the game as well for pure mining methods, and yes, this has been proven).
The information in the video is helpful, but there are lots of caveats in the blanket statement in your thumbnail, which again, is not 100% true. If zombie spawns are turned off and viewed from a pure-mining only viewpoint, then yea, I'd say they are correct, but it's not really 7 days to die at that point, just another survival crafting game.
@@jakedegrendel6941 again none of what you say matters if you are only looking for efficiency on mining not on ANYTHING ELSE. Motorised tools use way too much fuel and getting them is already a task so stamina management is way easier, why are you so obsessed with XP it has nothing to do with mining alone also its 1 hit with a pickaxe vs a few seconds to an ore with an auger…
this was a phenomenal video and very informative and thank you so much for testing for us
My pleasure - and thanks for watching!
@@CautiousPancake 🤝