Explosives & Mining - Information from the Bugs & Issues forum

[riddledom]

I found this little exchange in the Bugs & Issues Forum and thought people here might be interested:


Sorry about the confusion! You get 1 explosion for every 6 hours in Fantasy Forest. If you breed a creature that is, for example, 12 hours, you will be compensated and receive 2 explosions for it. Hope this clears up any questions you may have!

Thank you for the reply. A little more detail please. If I put an egg in the nest that requires 5 hours to nest. What d I receive as far as explosives go. 1) Nothing because its less than 6 hours? 2) 5 hours of credit that will be added to the time for the next nesting? or 3) 5/6 of a chance of getting an explosive. or 4) something else?

Hello! You will get #2, 5 hours of credit that will be added to the time to your next nesting. I hope this clears up any questions you may have regarding the explosives!

The first and last messages are from SparklyOctopus, a community manager (sorry, I could not figure out how to get a direct reference to their posts).

So here is some math: if you breed for 21 hours a day, you would get 21/6=3.5 explosives that day. Now we take those to the mines. I am not a good miner and think I get around 1.5 runes on average every time I enter the mine. (Please share mining strategies in the comments, I would be super interested.) Per day I would therefore get about 3.5*1.5=5.25 runes. Currently I am at the 3rd to last explansion, which costs 38 runes. 38/5.25=around 7 days for this expansion, and the time will only increase with higher rune requirements later on.

So the last 3 expansions will take me (and anyone who does not want to spend gems and isn't too lucky mining) 3 weeks. And any following one will likely take another week minimum as well. So far I was always held back in the expansions because I was lacking the money to expand or clear, and I think that is the problem many people still have. This recently changed, and while I can try maximizing money in various ways, the explosive/rune limitation is a pretty fixed one.

I totally understand that the people who have done all expansions are frustrated and feel stuck (I would). However, most forests I visit are quite far from that, and I think that is one reason why no new expasions are added. And given the money and rune requirements, those slower people will not catch up for another few weeks. And probably they are frustrated about that too (I kind of am). How can we tell Team Lava that in order to lower average frustration, the expansion requirements should be lowered and new expansions added?

Last, a shout-out to the contributors of the expansion obstacle and cost thread: that thread was soo useful in deciding where to expand! Thanks!

[bluefoxcrystal]

Well the way I mine could prolly be a little more refined... But I start by touching around each corner, and then the middle, assuming I don't get the runes around a corner....
I can usually get 2 runes... Maybe 3 a bomb ^^ hope it helps...

[SANDSCApe]

There is a very systematic way to sniff out each mine that minimizes the number of bombings to find each rune.
You must first familiarize yourself with the grid of 10x7 holes, divide the grid into 4 quadrants (two 5x5 and two 5x2), and identify landmarks that will allow you to precisely locate the center of each quadrant.
Bombing the center of a 5x5 quadrant immediately tells you whether the rune is in it. "Too far" means it's not there, so your next tap should be at the center of the next 5x5 quadrant. If still "Too far", you have two smaller quadrants remaining (5x2 squares each) where it may be. Tap the center of the 3rd quadrant. "Too far" means it MUST be in the last quadrant.
A "Near" or "Very close" means you are in the right quadrant and you should NOT waste taps looking elsewhere. Remember that "Very close" will ALWAYS mean the rune is exactly one square away and "Near" always means two squares away. Once you narrow the search to a single quadrant, you can rule out ALL squares outside that quadrant and MOST of the squares inside it.
When you first use this method, it helps to keep a blank 10x7 grid on paper and, as you investigate, use a pencil to cross out every square where the rune CANNOT be. Eventually, the grid and the method will be memorized and you will mine with amazing efficiency. The most important thing is to know exactly where the centers of your quadrants are.
The center of the first (5x5) quadrant is 3 squares down from top row, 3 to the right of the first column, and 3 diagonally from upper left corner square.
The center of the second (5x5) quadrant is 3 squares down from top row, 3 to the left of the last column, and 3 diagonally from upper right corner square.
The center of the third (5x2) quadrant is 1 or 2 squares up from bottom row, and 3 to the right of the first column.
The center of the fourth (5x2) quadrant is 1 or 2 squares up from bottom row, and 3 to the left of the last column.

[riddledom]

Thanks! I have to look at this in in more detail, but I guess I intuitively do something along those lines. Do you have a strategy for the second rune, apart from going through the same scheme again?
What annoys me is that when you have uncovered a rune, the old "too far" attributes don't hold anymore, so the next one could be right next to places where you have looked already. For me it often seems to be close to the rune I found on the first try, does anyone find the same?

[riddledom]

Wow, Sand, you are the best! For me, the key was to notice just how big exactly the rim is around the minefield (big!). I had been looking too much at the sides. This method is great! Once you identify the points, it's also super easy.

[55lee55]

I will second that! Sand you are the best! If not for you I would still be staring at this game in total confusion. I have successfully followed your guidance in every aspect of this game where I have found it, and I can't hank you enough for making sense of even the most complicated things! I wish I jad this mining advice. I expect it will help me very much, thanks!

[riddledom]

I am sure it will, Lee! I went up from getting around 1.5 runes on average to almost always getting 2, and sometimes 3 (so around 2 on average). So nice! :) 2 expansions left ;), and I am starting to be in the crowd who would like more expansions too.

[SANDSCApe]

Thanks! I have to look at this in in more detail, but I guess I intuitively do something along those lines. Do you have a strategy for the second rune, apart from going through the same scheme again?
What annoys me is that when you have uncovered a rune, the old "too far" attributes don't hold anymore, so the next one could be right next to places where you have looked already. For me it often seems to be close to the rune I found on the first try, does anyone find the same?

You DO go through the same scheme for the following runes, but with adjustments, since your grid will now have dead holes and you will no longer have a true center on some quadrants.
For my second rune, I usually flip the grid so that instead of two 5x5 on top of two 5x2 quadrants, it's two 5x2 on top of two 5x5.
Alternately, I start my inquiry where several dead holes are closely clustered. That way I can use them as clues if I get a Very Close or a Near.

[SANDSCApe]

In theory, with each explosive allowing you to bomb 12 holes in a grid of 70, one can get up to 12 runes from a single mining session, but I've never seen anything close to that. LOL. I once got 5, and I heard of someone who got 7 in the Dragon Story mines. I normally get 2-3, with the occasional 4. I'm currently sitting on 50 runes in Satyr Sanctuary, where all expansions are done, so mining is just for pumpkins in that forest, which also has insane amounts of food and coins.

The two younger forests struggle for coins, so often can't do the expansions when their runes reach max. Let your kids have a turn in the mine. It's a neat logic puzzle. I just wish we could store more than 15 explosives and that we earned one for every 4 hours instead of 6 hours. Sometimes I want to mine just for fun but have no bombs.

[shepsville]

I have just hatched a Sea Drake of 17 hours and only got 1 Bomb?? surely that's not right :confused:

[EviBrooklyn]

Maybe you had 14 mines in your storage. Limit is 15, so you got one and lost the rest

[riddledom]

Sand, I was so proud that I figured out the flipping trick all by myself ;D. And I got 4 runes for the first time a little while ago, yay.
I had the money struggle for a long time (still do in a way), and I think it's the reason why most people don't really see the runes as the problem. At some point the balance flipped for me. We will see what happens after the expansions are released.
I also just recently got grand farms, and finally I understand how people could level so quickly. It is interesting to always discover a little more about the game dynamics. Does my boyfriend count instead of kids, for trying to mine? ;)

shepsville, you get bombs for placing the egg in the nest, not for hatching. Any placed egg that takes between 1 hour and 11 hours to hatch could give you 1 bomb. Congrats to the sea drake!

[shepsville]

Maybe you had 14 mines in your storage. Limit is 15, so you got one and lost the rest

Nope afraid not, had no spare bombs in storage :(