Chance to Find Coal Doubled – OK, but...

[hexnessie]

... but what is the baseline chance actually? The one that gets doubled by the mining profession?

I've always chosen this profession because I had no reason to sell metal bars as my economy was fueled by starfruit. Now I'm doing the vegs-only run and thinking of adding some Iridium Bars as income source, as I have close to 2000 ore available.

But the tradeoff would be giving up the "doubled" chance to find coal so I can sell my iridium at 1500g.

Now, if the baseline chance is something like 0.5% and I get a whopping 1% with the profession, it's easy to give up. But if it's 10% and I get 20% chance, that's another thing entirely...

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Depends on the rock type, luck, and daily luck. If you're currently using prospector, after a day's run, just look at how much you have and cut it in half. At only 250 per coal though, my counter question would be, does it matter? You can get 100 for only 25,000 if you ever run out, or you can farm 200+ from dust sprites if you're so inclined and have a burglar ring within the course of a day. Dust sprite drops also don't gain benefits from Prospector. It's definitely worth switching to Blacksmith over a certain sell value, and then once you're switched, you'd need an additional 80+ coal to make it worth switching back / switching again next time you want to sell.

So for me, I'm typically of the mind that I go with prospector all game (since any extra coal is worth more than the 0 extra gold from sales of bars, since I won't sell bars as I need them all for stuff). If and when I get to the point where I'm selling bars for income, it's worth switching, and once the switch has occurred, it's not worth switching back, unless I'm not planning on selling again for like a year or something. Sorry I don't have the percentages!

 

[MissDandy]

The baseline changes based on daily luck, so there's no set number for all time reference. I believe though that it's higher than 0.5% on average without the profession, because from what I understand you will find a significantly larger amount of coal if you chose "Prospector", and on a daily trek into the mines you can come out with a fairly big stash and not have had to break every rock in sight.

If you're going to sell bars I would also say go for the "Blacksmith" once you get into selling the bars. Dust Sprites have a 50% chance of dropping coal, so if you're ever in need you can always go and slay a few of them and have a pretty high yeild, and then get the extra money for the bars.

Then there's always Clint for buying coal. He could "use the cash".

And a friend.

 

[hexnessie]

Thanks!

I've just finished a SC run and got a disappointing 26 coal (and 500 iridium) with Prospector enabled. I believe some were from a coal cart, so say 20. That's only enough to process 100 iridium anyway so I can as well switch to Blacksmith and go on a Sprite spree...

 

[FilthyGorilla]

Thanks!

I've just finished a SC run and got a disappointing 26 coal (and 500 iridium) with Prospector enabled. I believe some were from a coal cart, so say 20. That's only enough to process 100 iridium anyway so I can as well switch to Blacksmith and go on a Sprite spree...

Yeah, idk, coal turn-out is somethign that always seems to rely quite heavily on luck.
Sometimes I do 2000+ iridium runs and only get 40-50 and othertimes I do the exact same or even less floors and iridium and get 150.
I honestly just buy coal at this point, The other day I bought maybe 20 stacks which will last for a while.

 

[Boo1972]

I generally stick with the prospector profession. I always seem to need coal and really only sell metal bars late game when the money is basically meaningless. For as long as I can I spray on some monster musk and farm dust sprites. Clint seems just so smug when you buy ore from him. Meanwhile, my tree farm by the sauna is so overgrown, no one can catch a train out of Pelican Town. If I need wood, I’ll just buy stacks of it from Robin. She at least appreciates my business.

 

[BlaDe]

Outside of the mines standard rocks have 2 chances to drop coal.

The first chance has a 3.5% chance to drop coal. Prospector doubles this to 7%
The second chance has a base 5% chance to drop coal. This is slightly adjusted by Daily luck, Mining Level and Luck Level ( base chance * (1 + dailyLuck/2 + MiningLevel * 0.005 + LuckLevel * 0.001). Prospector adds a second roll using the same %

Inside the mines standard rocks have a similar chance to drop ore. If ore is dropped, there is a 25% chance to also drop coal. Prospector makes this a 50% chance.

Overall, prospector gives you very little coal.

 

[Giant Octopodes]

Outside of the mines standard rocks have 2 chances to drop coal.

The first chance has a 3.5% chance to drop coal. Prospector doubles this to 7%
The second chance has a base 5% chance to drop coal. This is slightly adjusted by Daily luck, Mining Level and Luck Level ( base chance * (1 + dailyLuck/2 + MiningLevel * 0.005 + LuckLevel * 0.001). Prospector adds a second roll using the same %

Inside the mines standard rocks have a similar chance to drop ore. If ore is dropped, there is a 25% chance to also drop coal. Prospector makes this a 50% chance.

Overall, prospector gives you very little coal.

What about the volcano? I ask because from my times spent bombing everything in sight in there to farm stone (they drop a TON relative to rocks elsewhere), I've come away with a Lot of coal at the same time. Could be a placebo effect caused by wonton bombing of rocks, but I'm wondering if they have additional "loot rolls" for stone and if those could also result in additional coal drops. Mind you, it's still not as efficient of a coal farm as the slaughter of dust sprites so I'm not recommending anyone go there with prospector for that purpose, just asking out of curiosity.

 

[hexnessie]

What about the volcano? I ask because from my times spent bombing everything in sight in there to farm stone (they drop a TON relative to rocks elsewhere), I've come away with a Lot of coal at the same time.

I tested that yesterday and it DOES give a ton of coal (and stone) compared to anywhere else. It looks like all rocks in the Volcano are the "stone ore" type and on top of dropping at least 3 stone, they also often drop coal.

I might hold off on switching to blacksmith for a while yet and go through the Volcano a bit -- my crystallariums need lots of stone and the coal is a very nice bonus.

 

[MissDandy]

I might hold off on switching to blacksmith for a while yet and go through the Volcano a bit -- my crystallariums need lots of stone and the coal is a very nice bonus.

That makes sense, and you can keep the Prospector as long as you like and get all the coal/rocks needed before you feel obliged to switch to Blacksmith. It's also worth it because you probably won't be too eager to switch back once you've done it, so might as well make the most of it while it's convenient!

 

[BlaDe]

What about the volcano? I ask because from my times spent bombing everything in sight in there to farm stone (they drop a TON relative to rocks elsewhere), I've come away with a Lot of coal at the same time. Could be a placebo effect caused by wonton bombing of rocks, but I'm wondering if they have additional "loot rolls" for stone and if those could also result in additional coal drops. Mind you, it's still not as efficient of a coal farm as the slaughter of dust sprites so I'm not recommending anyone go there with prospector for that purpose, just asking out of curiosity.

These have a flat 8% chance. Prospector is not even looked at here. Interestingly, these are treated like the grey rocks in the mines (stone nodes).

 

[hexnessie]

These have a flat 8% chance. Prospector is not even looked at here. Interestingly, these are treated like the grey rocks in the mines (stone nodes).

Wait, WHAT? You mean Prospector doesn't affect the grey "Stone nodes" at all? Or just the ones in the V dungeon?

I've been mostly mining the stone nodes (apart from bombing ore veins of course) so if it stays the same 8% without Prospector...

 

[BlaDe]

Correct, prospector doesnt affect those stone nodes.

 

[Boo1972]

I’m switching my prospector profession to gemologist- at least gemologist is fun.

 

[VampireCake]

I think Dust Sprites are a better source of coal than rocks most of the time, if you have a Burglar's Ring and chug some monster musk to increase their numbers. (I like doing these runs with a Hot Java Ring as well, gets a ton of coffee.)

 

[MissDandy]

I haven't switched any professions really, might reconsider now haha.