The Mining Drill is the backbone of your Fortress. Build on a mineral deposit to mine 28 minerals each round, Drills have a 10% chance to mine an additional rare mineral every round. Stack up to three drills to increase production.
Mining Drill Mods[]
HP Mod: Increase the health of the block by 20 hp. 5 maximum
Repair Mod: Slowly repair the block over time when it is damaged. 5 maximum.
Power Source: The block becomes self powered, no longer requires a Power Block. 1 maximum.
Salvage Mod: Receive back 100% of the block build cost when the block is deleted. 1 maximum.
Mining Drill Facts[]
A Mining Drill can be placed on a Mineral block or a terrain block (any earth/snow/dirt/bedrock block) but not trees or player placed blocks. Mining drills will actually mine more than the game implies they will in each round. The minerals mined that are listed at the end of each round do not include minerals that were mined during the attack phase of the round. These numbers will generally vary +/-1, apparently there is some level of chance involved.
Drill Placement & Resources gained *Easier
Amount of Drills stacked
Block Type
Minerals Shown
Actual minerals gained
1
Terrain
7
11
2
Terrain
16
22
3
Terrain
27
34
1
Mineral
42
53
2
Mineral
96
111
3
Mineral
162
179
Drill Placement & Resources gained *Normal
Amount of Drills stacked
Block Type
Minerals Shown
Actual Minerals gained
1
Terrain
5
7
2
Terrain
12
15
3
Terrain
21
24
1
Mineral
35
39
2
Mineral
72
79
3
Mineral
116
125
For comparison, Mine Shafts produce:
Mine Shaft Placement & Resources *Normal
Block Type
Minerals Shown
Actual Minerals gained
Terrain
4
5
Mineral
20
26
So, for Mineral mounted mine equpment, keep in mind that the increase in yield on triple mounted drills is not that much difference. For the money, it is always better to spend it on two shafts instead of a single Drill.
Terrain mounted Drills, however, are much more efficient than terrain mounted Shafts. You need to be able to afford 6 Shafts to beat the efficiency of 3 stacked Drills.
Tactics[]
The costs of the mining drill follows the following equation:
P'= 60 x (1.5)n (rounded to nearest whole number)
where,
P' is the cost of the mining drill rounded to nearest whole number,
n is the number of existing mining drills in the map.
So, if you have no mining drills, the first mining drill would cost $60. Any additional mining drills would be 1.5 times the cost of the previous one i.e. the cost of any additional mining drill would increase by half the previous cost.
Mining Drills and Shafts are your goal. Turrets and weapons, even equipment should be bought with the consideration that the goal is to keep your Mining Drills safe and stacked, preferrably three high, drilling on a mineral deposit. Salvage should be one of your first purchases as you will be moving these constantly until you have mined all of your minerals. Self power is another important upgrade as it allows you to skip building Power blocks altogether.
