kirabug's idea files

Day 749: I finished the layer I was on yesterday and dug down again today.

Spent most of the day with one of the giant land squid that walk through walls in the same chamber I was in. This is going to sound weird, but I’ve found that as long as I don’t stare at them they leave me alone.

Then again, I started the paragraph with “giant land squid…”

Anyway, I dug, it stole mounds of gravel and decorated the floor with them, I cleaned up the gravel, it did it again… I have no idea what it’s doing, but it’s not harmful so I’m just doing my best not to draw attention.

I did get my foot caught in a hole earlier and my ankle’s pretty swollen. I don’t think I tore anything permanently but I’d love some painkillers. I’ve tried chewing every tree bark on this planetesimal so far and no luck.

Day 748:

I finished cleaning up the layer I was on yesterday and started the next layer down today. The good news is I can see a lot of big ore pockets that extend another layer down, which is the direction I want to go. The bad news is they also extend in all four cardinal directions and I really want to clean them up so I don’t have to think about them.

The two most important “ores” that I dig up are iron ore and coal — I don’t care which direction seams of those particular things are going. I mean, theoretically, I can build walls of mud if I have to. Mud doesn’t burn though, and it makes a lousy pickaxe. So I pick up the important stuff whenever I see it and I pick up the rest of the stuff… well, let’s be honest, I pick up the rest of the stuff when I can’t stop myself.

Tomorrow is another layer down I hope, which will be (according to my map) the deepest I’ve been in this particular area.

Day 747:  still clearing rubble, but now that the big chamber is done (and on my map!) I’m working on clearing the layer below, at least in the area where I was digging before. To be honest, I’m trying to avoid digging across this level right now because while there is ore here, I’m still doubtful that I’l find diamonds here and I want to dig down to where they are.

To the east of here, I found diamonds roughly 40 meters down, so I still have about 20 meters to dig before I’m in the general area of them, according to my map. And with the hope that diamonds are equally distributed at the core boundary. Neither of which have any guarantees at all. For all I know I could dig out the other side of the planetesimal at any time.

Anyway, clearing this level so I can get to the ore pockets (especially the iron and the coal) directly below me, and then on down to hopefully diamonds.

Day 746: Still clearing rubble, which is boring but makes things safer and nicer looking.

Plus I discovered that I dug under one of the ponds at some point and the sunlight is still filtering through the pond, and then down a couple of levels to here.

So actual sunlight! I know it doesn’t sound like much, but when you’re 20 meters underground and relying on a ton of torchlight to to make the place safe from monsters and navigable, a little tiny bit of actual sunlight is amazing for the morale.

I’m almost done here — I did a ton of work the first time apparently — so soon I dig back down.

Day 745: clearing rubble is so boring.

I’ve already cleared all of the ore out of this area, which is why it’s so big in the first place. And now I have to clear all the boring rock out of the way so that it’s a proper chamber with proper walls and supports and such. Mine collapses are bad news even when you have an entire crew, they’re totally out of the question when you’re alone.

Ok and let’s be honest here: any mining should be done with a partner. The smartest thing I could’ve done when I landed (crashed, appareted, whatever) here would have been to give up mining and become a full-time rancher.

On the other hand, most miners don’t have exploding giraffe-corgis to deal with and so far those monsters have blown through every wooden or mud-built building I’ve created. The andesite, diorite, and granite that I’ve dug up have been the only things they’ve withstood. So one could make the argument that solo mining is self-defense.

But it’s really dangerous self-defense. Like taking up solo swimming after meals for fun.