Mining a different concept

[bilbous]

One thing that has always bothered me about mining is that you did and dig and dig and never make a dent in the ground. I am not sure how you could get around this, perhaps by having the mineshaft built into the landscape and then filled with "pebbles" of ore and every time you get some ore one "pebble" is separated from the mass and added to your pack.
In order to minimize the lag effect of so many distinct items in one place you could have an intermediary item a "boulder"  made up of many pebbles that is actually present and each pebble broken off of it subtracts one from the boulder which disappears when it reaches zero remaining pebbles.

To go even further these pebbles might be of uneven value so that a novice miner might have to cart off a bunch of low grade ore to refine while a more experienced one might be able to determine at a glance if it is worth carting away. This might result in slag piles of discarded low grade ore but it could have an unclaimed duration after which it disappears into the landscape and before which it would be a source of money to scavengers. The npc ore buyers would buy or based on its quality thus low-grade ore would be worth less but still be worth something.

Also I think that having concentrated veins of similar ore is a little unrealistic as some types of ore commonly contain two or more types of usable elements. The precious metal do occasionally occur as the native metal (think gold nuggets) but for the most part not. What I am thinking is there should only be one dig command and the ore you get is the ore you get. you can still have mine fields that are primarily one type of ore where you would dig for that ore but also other fields which were less homogeneous.

Another thing I am thinking about is that stone masons will need miners (or at least mines where) to dig their marble granite or sandstone This could be facilitated by the process I have suggested with a whole boulder being cut from the surrounding rock and then further reduced to building blocks at the building site.

[Nikodemus]

I'm all for no need for specifing what kind of resource you dig. If there are few in the spot you found (these pebbles you talk about), it goes randomly.
I don't know if i got you right. But what about claiming for a pebble, just like we do with mobs? What you leave to others, will be free to take/mine (without claim option anymore) and as you say disappear with time. ( sink to ground just like all these items dropped in FPSes? (WolfET especiall))
There would be that so wanted luck factor, because you could be sometimes very lucky to find eg giant gold nugget inside rock ;P Just look how people kill these rogues in search for some special weapon The luck factor would fit there really good.

Maybe the luck could be increased slightly, when you have prospecting skills and take time to actually prospect? I believe we really need prospecting, about it later.

Also, i would like to inform that platinum is often found in gold mines.

What about sand for producing glass? I know there are also mines for it, but what if in PS it would be brough with a river from somewhre outside Yliakum? We would have logical explanation why it can be still founf in places where already collected. River brought it.
I expect the rivers to be lit bigger in different seasons (i think even setting on PS site say about it), so after these seasons, the rivers going back to normal amount of flowing water, but with new spots of sand on its banks
EDIT:
Ah yes, the later ;P It's where prospecting skill would be of main use, which is looking for these spots on bigger area, where the resource may be found.

[LARAGORN]

I like the idea   Going a step further you could have undetermind mixed ores (pebbles) only finding out the exact content when it is refined in the furnace. One such pebble could have trace amounts of 4 different metals, one being predominant over the others, but the smaller amounts could be saved till enough was collected to equal 1 common ore amount.

This would be a way to bring platinum back without flooding the economy again.

[lordraleigh]

It is a nice idea, currently mining is not much different from working in an assembly line:

- Stand on a good spot for mining
- Realize a repetitive task in a timely fashion ( Press shortcut key for mining gold or type /dig gold 1, 2, 3 .... n times, go sell to Harnquist, repeat )
- It can be as stressful as a job(this is a game!): Don't tell me you have fun from mining nonstop in PS for 8 hours

[bilbous]

I am gratified to see my idea warmly accepted. I didn't want to post too much at first because I had to go to work and the idea minght have been disagreeable.

Another thought I had was that there is no real need for expired mines to remain that way. It would seem to be a really good excuse for a major quest, perhaps run by the GM's over a period of time which would require collecting and/or crafting many items for the priests of the various religions to sacrifice to their respective gods in order to have the gods cause the earth to shift and the mine to be reset to its former state albeit with a different composition of ore.

[Narure]

Not so sure about that but the general idea is good. A more sensical idea would be praying to talad to 'bless' the land and so bring the metals back, how well the quest is completed would determine what metals the ground is blessed with.

[bilbous]

I think that to get such an miracle to occur would be a massively draining affair for the priests required to perform the ceremony. I also think that the gods would require some kind of sacrifice in order to be bothered to grant the prayers. I do not really think it should be something simple to accomplish just whenever. I was thinking that the npc merchants could keep a portion of their purchases on hand to sell at a premium for when the mines run out. I do a lot of idle thinking

[Narure]

Aye, It was just that land shifting in a slaictite sounded... dangerous.

[bilbous]

Yes, you would not want to be in the mine when it happened. The fact that new stuff would be effectively added to the realm is another reason to require the gods involvement. What actually happens and what a casual 'mortal' observer would be able to comprehend happens might be completely different.