Coal Mining

[Glflegolas]

Hello folks,

As of now, coal is a bit of a pain to obtain in large quantities; often, you have to go to multiple caves (each of which spawns with a piece or two of coal) in order to get enough coal to keep your fire going through the night. Even the coal mines don't seem to have much more coal lying on the ground than a regular cave.

Since the coal mines (presumably) have exposed coal seams, I think there should be a way to mine coal in the game, along with a new tool to help you mine it: the pickaxe. The heavy hammer could also be used to mine, albeit significantly less efficiently. When you come to a coal seam (found most abundantly in mines, but possibly in occasional caves), you'd select your tool and for how long you want to mine (just like fishing), and get chunks of coal the same way you get fish. Of course, to balance this out, coal mining would consume calories and fatigue quickly. The pickaxe could also be used in a struggle, with similar stats to the heavy hammer.

What do you think?

[ajb1978]

Fatigue would be the least of your worries--how would you light the way?  You'd be burning through gallons of lamp oil just to get a few pieces of coal.

[Lumiiyx]

I suppose it depends on your difficulty. I just went through the cave to get to PV and left like 20 pieces behind. Are you playing a harder difficulty because your resources are meant to be lower? Also wouldn't mining the coal yourself be a waste of resources?

[Omnijack]

Wait, why are you burning a coal fire through the night? I pretty much just use coal for forging.

[Lumiiyx]

1 minute ago, Omnijack said:

Wait, why are you burning a coal fire through the night? I pretty much just use coal for forging.

I make a pile and start lugging it to FM as needed. Plenty of fir and cedar to harvest. Although getting to a shelter where you don't need a fire also a good idea. I save on what resources I can.

[oplli]

6 hours ago, ajb1978 said:

Fatigue would be the least of your worries--how would you light the way?  You'd be burning through gallons of lamp oil just to get a few pieces of coal.

if as @Glflegolas said, in the coal mines there is already open coal veins and coal isnt that hard, it wouldnt take that much time to collect.

i dont really like the pickaxe idea, it is a heavy item and only useful for mining coal, wich does not worth the effort to carry it. maybe you would have some chaces that the pickaxe spawn in the mine already and you leave it behind once you are finished. or the second option would be to be able to mine coal with the heavy hammer (wich would be long but will not break the tool a lot) or with a hatchet (wich would not be long but would use the item quite a lot).

[ManicManiac]

I think the mechanics for coal are fine.

Although, the idea of another specialized tool could be a nice touch.  After all, the Hammer is kind of like this - it's rather heavy, and exists mostly for the forge... but is also useful as a defensive weapon and for clearing out ice fishing holes.  I suppose a pick could be similar in that respect.

I'm not sure about the idea of mining though, I wouldn't want it to increase the amount of coal that could be found... I say that because the mines are supposed to more or less "tapped out."   ...so I wouldn't mind having a mining mechanic as long as the yield was the same or less than what we already find on the ground in the caves. 

I do kind of like the idea of needing to put in more effort into getting coal, but I wouldn't want there to be a higher yield.
To me, I think coal is perhaps a little too abundant (even as it is now).

Edited October 11, 2020 by ManicManiac

[Glflegolas]

In Interloper, coal can be "black gold". I use it often when ice fishing because it makes a hot fire fast, and doesn't need a hatchet to collect.

[oplli]

2 hours ago, Glflegolas said:

In Interloper, coal can be "black gold". I use it often when ice fishing because it makes a hot fire fast, and doesn't need a hatchet to collect.

that is true. once you crafted one or two hatchet and knife and a whole lot of arrowheads you are pretty fine and can use the coal for fire. its a great idea. however at the time in hushed river valley there is AAA LOOOOOT of coal everywhere is you want a good source of it now you can go there.

[panda_gamer87]

The coal mines themselves seem unstable. I always encounter tremors when traveling in coal mines. Earthquakes are of one the contributing factors for The Collapse on Great Bear, so wouldn't there be a risk of shafts collapsing if coal mining was implemented? 

I also believe the mines already have a decent spawn rate for coal. Typically, if you wait until after a blizzard, you can find 10 or more pieces. I sometimes find 1 or 2 pieces just lying in the snow. However, I do think that you should be able to use the hatchet to re-open some of the collapsed shafts since the only thing blocking them are a few wooden beams. I also think caves should spawn more coal as well.

[UTC-10]

The way the coal mines exist in the game it is no wonder that they were no longer worthwhile to operate commercially and even for limited local coal production they seems pretty marginal (better than nothing but not by much).  

In terms of game balance, I would not think coal mining would be necessarily a good thing because of the "balance" consideration by the devs.  Such a mechanic would almost certainly be better overall than the existing mechanics, but whether it would be worth the effort by characters to get that better effect would be a question.