Prospecting is a broken system being replaced by mods. Let’s fix it.

[Professor Dragon]

Thanks. 

I hadn't properly considered using Temporal Gears for stability. It's a bit pricey, but thanks for that suggestion.

Each reading shown is filtered for Chromite only.
These are the only readings I have for Chromite.
Maybe I should switch from regular ladders to rope ladders and just poke vertical shafts down at each reading from surface to mantle (???).

As part of this same cluster, there are some Poor and Very Poor readings further out from the central blob.

As best as I can work out from the Wiki, Chromite spawns from near the mantle to around 40 (ish)? And web searches show that people have luck around either the the mantle or  L18 on a default world. 

On 9/26/2025 at 1:52 AM, LadyWYT said:

 I would try to search freshly generated chunks if possible, as it seems border chunks on older worlds have issues with prospecting data.

Unfortunately for me, I plonked down my "main base" without realising it would now be in the middle of broken chunks after version updates.
The red rectangles contain clearly broken chunks. This is why I've tried to travel out a bit.
The region of of the Chromite cluster appears to be in a fairly unbroken section. But I take  your point - if this doesn't "pan out," then I'll move east or west to a clearly new section.

Thank you again, LadyWYT.

Back to the mines! 
Professor Dragon.

Edited October 17, 2025 by Professor Dragon
Attachement/s resized to save space. Ask if required.

[Professor Dragon]

PROGRESS REPORT

Eight play sessions.
4th May - Back to the mines.
5th June - Five shafts now sunk surface to mantle. No Chromite Node readings found.

The shafts were spaced 12 blocks apart around the highest reading, and with vertical Node readings 12 blocks apart.
Each orange ladder in this image.

(Shaft spacings are exact - ladder images above are not.)

New steel pick for this mission now at 1628/2500. Some additional horizontal shafts and clean-up.

The new two stacks of rope ladders have been working a lot better than the old ladders. At least I get them back. Fewer torches needed also.

Intersected with one cave system. Explored it a little, but no ores seen. It was a bit high up, but still low enough for some corrupted mobs.
I sealed it off and continued with the shaft.

I can keep extending the drop shafts in a grid outwards, but I'd really have expected to have hit a vein by now, if there was anything here to find.
And yet, there are readings all over the place of "Decent." That indicates that there likely should be some. Are there? I have no idea.

I've decided to burn a lot of the "good part" of this year on this mining expedition, but when Summer rolls around, I'd like to be back at my base harvesting the fruit trees. 
So there is an opportunity cost, apart from the tool wear, hours spent placing shafts and running from the bear and wolves on the trip out of zone.

Professor Dragon.
 

 

 

Edited October 17, 2025 by Professor Dragon
Attachement/s resized to save space. Ask if required.

[Thorfinn]

Chromite doesn't really have veins. The discs they spawn in are positively tiny. IIRC, it's possible there are up to 3 "discs" between adjacent mineshafts. A chromite "vein" might be as small as one block. If you are playing with node search (?) enabled, and you are using it diligently, you still should have most of that space covered. Though because of the way it counts radius, I think you have to offset your mine shafts, i.e., when you go to put in the next row of shafts, offset them so that they are between those in the prior row. Diamond, not grid. At least that's how the game handles "radius" in other contexts. 

I've got nothing more to offer but suggest more spelunking. Then again, that's the only realistic way of encountering it at all without that propick mode. 

Edited September 26, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Professor Dragon]

On 9/27/2025 at 12:20 AM, Thorfinn said:

Chromite doesn't really have veins. The discs they spawn in are positively tiny. IIRC, it's possible there are up to 3 "discs" between adjacent mineshafts. A chromite "vein" might be as small as one block. If you are playing with node search (?) enabled, and you are using it diligently, you still should have most of that space covered. Though because of the way it counts radius, I think you have to offset your mine shafts, i.e., when you go to put in the next row of shafts, offset them so that they are between those in the prior row. Diamond, not grid. At least that's how the game handles "radius" in other contexts. 

I've got nothing more to offer but suggest more spelunking. Then again, that's the only realistic way of encountering it at all without that propick mode. 

Thanks Thorfinn.

I just did some testing to confirm what "radius" means - and for the ProPick, it means a cube.

ProPick detects for a cube around itself.
With a default setting of "6 blocks", count six blocks away (the block you are on is "0") horizontally , vertically, or both horizontally and vertically, any sample in that region will return a hit.

In this image:

• TARGET BLOCK (Chromite) is at 0,0 at the back left of the image.
• MINE SHAFT is six blocks away. So if the mineshaft is "0", you count 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 is the target block.
• Every green Periodote block in the image is where a ProPick (6) can detect the target block.
• Every orange Bauxite block is where the ProPick is out of range of the target block.

What this means in practice (explaining this to other people, not you  ).

HOW TO USE PROPICK

1) A ProPick with default setting of Node Search radius "6" will need shafts dug every 12 blocks.
2) Put down a shaft. This is block "0." Count 12 blocks away in any horizontal direction (NOT including the "0" block you are standing on) and sink the next shaft.
3) Vertically, take readings every 12 blocks. So if you take a reading at Level 1, the next reading will be Level 13, Level 25 and so on:
1, 13, 25, 37, 49, 61, 73, 85, 97, 109, 121, 133, 145, 157, 169 etc.
EDIT: If coming up FROM the mantle, an optimised level dig pattern would be:
L7, 19, 31, 43, (Probably stop there for Chromite), 55, 67, 79, 91, 103, 115, 127, 139 . . . L+12
4) Two stacks of rope ladders are an effective way to get down and up.
5) ProPick only detects readings from "rock". So other "similar to rock block types" won't give a reading. Obviously, there shouldn't be any if you are caving, but it is interesting. Don't try to ProPick a Ruin wall - it won't help.

CAVING VS PROSPECTING

I've been too much of a coward to go caving, because, that's where the monsters are. I saw a single corrupt shiver in a big dark cave, when doing these shafts, and bolted away. That is a natural response to monsters, is it not?
Honestly, I'm amazed that you can find what you want caving. We obviously have totally different play styles. That's why I'm all about sinking nice controlled mineshafts. Prospecting should be a viable alternate way to play. But I'm getting the sense one needs to pluck up one's courage and brave the dark.

SUGGESTION
I wonder if the Handbook and Wiki should have the word "radius" defined more clearly, because it is clearly neither a sphere nor a taxi-cab radius, but just a straight cube.

WRAPPING UP

Interesting the different takes that you and LadyWYT have on the same information.
Thorfinn - Well, yar, it might only spawn in a single measly block and that is giving you a reading.
LadyWYT - But it can spawn in decent size veins, and then you're set for life! Rich, I say, rich!

I'm not sure what to do with my Chromite search in this region. It might be time to pack it in, and go make a Beehive Kiln to have some nice pots.
Then just do Prospecting more while doing other things and see if I hit another reading. Or come back to this one. Don't know.

Anyway, thanks everyone. 
Professor Dragon.

 

Edited September 28, 2025 by Professor Dragon
Added in Level count if coming up from mantle.

[AnniPicto]

Our family has started a new game about four times. Three out of four times, we found iron without even crafting a single copper chainmail cuirass. In the last game, we deliberately didn't install prospecting mods (and found iron again before crafting copper armor). We found not only iron, but also ilmenite, pentaldite, chromium, and cinnabar (cinnabar was hard to find, but we really wanted it). We had no luck with caves, and all the ores I mentioned were found through prospecting. We simply dug mines in areas with a good ore content. We constantly go into caves and look for translocators. We unlock translocators (the clockmaker in the team improves this method) and explore new lands with a prospector's pickaxe. Every time we go far from home to lands we haven't been before, we take a prospector's pickaxe. We never mine in areas with low ore content. We're looking for a place with above-average ore content. This way, we don't have any problems with ore.
The fact that someone can't do this isn't because the mechanics are broken, but because they don't understand how to use them.

[LadyWYT]

57 minutes ago, Professor Dragon said:

I've been too much of a coward to go caving, because, that's where the monsters are. I saw a single corrupt shiver in a big dark cave, when doing these shafts, and bolted away. That is a natural response to monsters, is it not?
Honestly, I'm amazed that you can find what you want caving. We obviously have totally different play styles. That's why I'm all about sinking nice controlled mineshafts. Prospecting should be a viable alternate way to play. But I'm getting the sense one needs to pluck up one's courage and brave the dark.

I think which is "better" depends on the player's preferred playstyle. Sinking mineshafts is safer and offers easier access to the ore, but it can also be a bit demanding on time and resources. Caving can be a lot faster, but it's risky due to monsters and no guarantee of the cave venturing near the ore that one's after, and no easy way in/out should the ore be there. Both options can be lucrative to the player, but both options can disappoint the player as well.

In any case, both are viable, and it doesn't hurt to use a mix of the two.

[Entaris]

18 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

CAVING VS PROSPECTING

I've been too much of a coward to go caving, because, that's where the monsters are. I saw a single corrupt shiver in a big dark cave, when doing these shafts, and bolted away. That is a natural response to monsters, is it not?
Honestly, I'm amazed that you can find what you want caving. We obviously have totally different play styles. That's why I'm all about sinking nice controlled mineshafts. Prospecting should be a viable alternate way to play. But I'm getting the sense one needs to pluck up one's courage and brave the dark.

You have steel tools.

Give'em The Bonk. 

If you scare, build armor. 

 

I support blasting methods for mining, myself. 

[Echo Weaver]

On 9/26/2025 at 8:13 PM, Professor Dragon said:

I've been too much of a coward to go caving, because, that's where the monsters are. I saw a single corrupt shiver in a big dark cave, when doing these shafts, and bolted away. That is a natural response to monsters, is it not?
Honestly, I'm amazed that you can find what you want caving. We obviously have totally different play styles. That's why I'm all about sinking nice controlled mineshafts. Prospecting should be a viable alternate way to play. But I'm getting the sense one needs to pluck up one's courage and brave the dark.

You and I are of a mind .

I think I said earlier in the thread that I haven't had nearly the kind of luck caving Thorfinn describes. I find stuff caving, but finding a specific ore I'm looking for this way just seems like an exercise in frustration. Moreover, iirc chromite is down near the mantle. Firstly, one has to find caves that go down that far. Secondly, caves have a lot of vertical drop and other navigation nonsense that makes me less likely to want to charge in at speed. Thirdly, it's nightmare rotbeast territory. 

I haven't done the chromite search. I've never even seen a positive chromite reading of any kind yet. But I'll attack it the way you do. So good luck. I'm learning from you.

[Bumber]

7 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

Firstly, one has to find caves that go down that far.

The ones under oceans tend to be by default. Translocators will send you there sometimes.

That said, ocean caves are usually dead ends in my experience. The one cave I found chromite in was a lengthy one that reached the surface and contained locust nests, glow worms, and multiple ruins. (Or was that the ilmenite one?)

Edited September 28, 2025 by Bumber

[Thorfinn]

I have more of a "que será será" approach to VS. To the best of my knowledge, chromite is (currently) only used to make larger backpacks, which, frankly, I don't care enough about to bother with adding to the "to do" list. I've only gone consciously searching for chromite a couple times, and prospecting was pretty much pointless. The last game I remember finding it while caving was in a low reading.

Though I'm usually done caving by June or July. By then I've found pretty much everything I need to finish the game content.

Edited September 28, 2025 by Thorfinn

[Calecute]

I starded playing a few weeks ago and this has been my experience with prospecting:

I prospect mostly in convenient places with exposed rock while exploring, natural caves and montains/hills. I sometimes complement this with digging to rock to prospect in big plains, if i see there's a really big gap in prospecting.

When I decide i need to find a mine for some mineral, I'll check my map to see what are the highest findings and kinda haphazardly prospect around it. Once i'm sure i found a local peak, i dig down near it. I don't make sure to dig exactly above it, sometimes I dig down a few blocks near it where I find a mineshaft would be convinient. 

My first mines were to get bronze, I didn't seem to have any tin near me, but had readings for zinc and bismuth, so the choice of alloy was made for me. (copper was mostly sourced from digging around copper bits on the floor and panning initially)

Zinc mine was straightfoward, found a ultra high reading (3,85‰) in good terrain almost instantly, dug down, found a good amount of zinc quickly, mission acomplished.

Bismuth mine was pretty hard. I overprospected a very rough area area in the vain hope of finding a ultra high reading like the zinc was, before accepting there was no ultra high to be found and i'd need to settle to high(2,51‰). Mine started to get pretty deep, and i was woefully undersupplied for it. Taking top ladders out to put them bellow, using ladders every other block so they'd cover more space. It was my first time dealing with temporal stability trouble. Each time i needed to bail due to temporal stability i needed to deal with managing the ladders up, it was hell. I couldn't do it in one day, went back a few times, with more food. When i finally prospected bismuthine, i breached into a cave, went in to take a look around, noticed the drifters here were a little bit harder hitting than the ones on top and retreated and closed the oppening. Was really worried the bismuthine would be in the cave, but continued looking around, and finally fond a small amount of it. It was pretty exhilarating tbh, but i must confess if i ended up not finding it it would probably be very frustrating. 

 Not something i prospected for, but while digging a surface lead deposit i randonly found a borax one in an area with very poor borax (1,38‰).

This coloured my perception that actually it was not that hard to find ores, certainly if i can sucessfully find ores with low per mille readings, i can find halite in an area with poor halite 23,36‰, i mean it's like one order of magnitude more common than the other ores i actually found! Needless to say it went poorly. I then went to look at mineral gen to see why it was wenting poorly. Halite forms differently then other ores, it's more concentrated, so 23,36‰ doesn't really mean you'll find it easilly, it just means that when you find it you'll find an absurd amount of it. I also noticed that what rocks you're in really matter when searching for ore.

I gave up on the halite, and went for iron. Found a very high hematite (5,08‰), dug down, found a lot of olivine right on the shaft's path, mined it out, found titanium, left it there, found a really big patch of hematite also right under the shaft, couldn't even mine most of it.

Cooking flint for fireclay was really driving me nuts, so i decided to mine for it instead having read it spawns with coal. Area i'm in is positively bursting with brown coal, but i needed black or antracite. I had a very poor (4,02‰) bituminous coal, so higher than the ores i had found, and on top of it, i know it's not deep, it's on the claystone layer, really reduces the search space. I found it pretty quickly prospecting every 13 block down and to the sides. I find some more borax and zinc too.

Next I exausted the closest surface coppers and decided to try to prospect for it. Find a very high (27,23‰) reading, i easilly find copper, tin, zinc and bismuth right by each other. This place was made for bronze making. Tin was not listed on the prospecting readings of the area.

Went back to the iron mine i had left, it was unfortunatly taken by mobs, a bell guy spawned in. I tried to fight it but failed and retreated. Made a new mine a few blocks away, started taking more care with leaving big open chambers in mines. New mine fond olivine, straight in the shaft and titanium again, and also antracite(and fire clay) for some reason. It was not listed. Found a really big patch of hematite, manage to mine all of it in a few quick trips, it was more than two crates of hematite bits.

Went back to the shaft were i mined black coal, tried to find more of it, didn't, but on the way back to base, took a different path through some forested montainous area and found a pillar of halitite exposed on a montainside.

During my explorations i found an area with more black coal, poor (9,61‰) dug there, found more black coal and fire clay

My last mine was for lead, i dug a poor (3,42‰) area, found lead, and also found gold that was not listed.

I also find quartz absolutely everywhere, don't even dig it normally. Even found it just digging a random place for full blocks.

I find prospecting really worked well for me, not sure it was luck either with the shafts themselves, or with my base being in a ore rich region, but i pretty consistently find what i'm looking for, even without the autist grid prospecting, I use the "useless" number of blocks per mille all the time to make decisions.I also consistently find ores i'm not looking for while minning, an that makes me think the density of ores is quite massive. The failure i had with halite encoraged me to get to know the system better and lead me to be a better player. I also don't even think my shafts are optimal. Mining 5 straight shafts is probably better than diggint 12 blocks to each side of the shaft most of the time.

 

On 9/21/2025 at 2:51 PM, Rexvladimir said:

And let’s be honest — even in this very thread, you didn’t know it was parts per mille. “Oh, I see. I think it’s parts per thousand.(...)"

Do note that just like per cent is the same as per hundred, per mille is the same as per thousand. I find the confusion about what ‰ means pretty weird, but given that a lot of people seem unfamiliar with the symbol (or even being unable to read it clearly in the chatbox) I think the devs should maybe consider reporting "per thousand" so it is recognized.

Here's the halite i wasted hours and hours trying to dig for:


 And here's my prospecting map:

[Calecute]

On 9/25/2025 at 10:43 AM, Professor Dragon said:

REQUEST: If anyone would like to make suggestions or a course of action, I'll implement them in my world.

 

So, looking at the wiki chromite spawns at max y=44. You seem to be at at like 110, so you're paying a ~50 blocks dig down tax to start the search on the next shaft. You should instead pay a 24 blocks dig sideway tax. Did one shaft to matle, go up to y=38 (44-6), dig 12 blocks sideway, and start the new shaft down from there.

Also about the temporal stability, i'm not sure how bad it is, but the temporal unstable place is about 2x as good as the stable. I think materials are not really a concern for you, only time/effort. If you think you could work about twice as much on the temporal stable place is probably worth it to search there. 

[LadyWYT]

3 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

To the best of my knowledge, chromite is (currently) only used to make larger backpacks, which, frankly, I don't care enough about to bother with adding to the "to do" list.

Chromite can also be used as a mordant, but I don't think there's any reason one really needs to dye cloth, outside of cosmetics or crafting certain items for sale to traders.

[DUCATISLO]

yeah ig it could use a rework

(like the combat)

[Professor Dragon]

6 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

I have more of a "que será será" approach to VS. To the best of my knowledge, chromite is (currently) only used to make larger backpacks, which, frankly, I don't care enough about to bother with adding to the "to do" list. I've only gone consciously searching for chromite a couple times, and prospecting was pretty much pointless. The last game I remember finding it while caving was in a low reading.

Though I'm usually done caving by June or July. By then I've found pretty much everything I need to finish the game content.

Yes, I understand that approach of making the best of what is hand, and see its benefits. That's for the future for me.
I'm more moving along a series of check marks "Get iron", "Get steel", "Get chromite." 

Also, I feel like I've been "speed rushing" the game content, but I'm still on my first serious play through, several real life years into my world. I'm still gearing up to savour the story missions. I'll get there after better armour, bigger backpack, beehive kiln up, some of my own home coloured pots in my base, making the orchards larger and prettier . . . and so on. But I am speed rushing to get to the story content - there are just a few detours along the way. It will feel so good when I can slow down and start decorating properly.

 

4 hours ago, Calecute said:

So, looking at the wiki chromite spawns at max y=44. You seem to be at at like 110, so you're paying a ~50 blocks dig down tax to start the search on the next shaft. You should instead pay a 24 blocks dig sideway tax. Did one shaft to matle, go up to y=38 (44-6), dig 12 blocks sideway, and start the new shaft down from there.

Also about the temporal stability, i'm not sure how bad it is, but the temporal unstable place is about 2x as good as the stable. I think materials are not really a concern for you, only time/effort. If you think you could work about twice as much on the temporal stable place is probably worth it to search there. 

Solid points on the optimisation. The map readings are from my "surface" Chromite Density readings, so they will show L110 or whatever.
I've gone back and Edited my dig post above, as really these are the essential Node (6) readings to take for likely Chromite in a default world:
Level 7, 19, 31, 43.
So a network at L43 would be optimal for tool durability. Note though that to go 12 sideways actually consumes 24 durability, because you need to stand up. A shaft down only consumes single durability per level.

However, I do have an underground lower network of tunnels I sunk a bit lower to be similar to what you said. Not as low as 44. Mainly to be able to dig in any Rift conditions. The existing pattern of five going surface to mantle were mainly to conclusively say "There is NO Chromite here for certainty" rather than being an optimised tool durability saver. The Temporal Stability at L44 is pretty bad. It takes me roughly a 1/2 day to sink a shaft, prospect it, retrieve ladders, and move out of area to recover. Then usually the full day is done by the time I recover stability and have been distracted by base building or whatever. Then I go back and repeat.

I'm going on holidays so I'm going to give this problem a rest. (Headline: Professor Dragon gives up on Prospecting!) I've decided to give prospecting Chromite a break for a while, and focus on base building and other activities, while taking further Prospecting readings in case there is another site out there. I am undecided as of now whether I will (a) Give up totally on this particular dig site and use an x-ray mod just to see where/if there was Chromite there and how close I got (b) Use Creative to gift myself some Chromite for the backpacks, so that I can get on with other "more interesting" parts of the game, and then prospect later again and throw the resulting Chromite into an ocean (c) Prospect elsewhere and/or cave (d) Come back here for "Round 3" attempt.

2 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Chromite can also be used as a mordant, but I don't think there's any reason one really needs to dye cloth, outside of cosmetics or crafting certain items for sale to traders.

Oh, I totally would like:

• Sturdy backpacks
• Mordanted cloth

The former for making bigger builds easier, and the latter for decorating builds.

I agree, neither is necessary, but both are nice. Plus they are obviously there like Gen 10 Sheep and Dairy - things for the long term players to tick off. I just happen to currently like base building a lot more than caving, despite the promised treasures.

Thanks everyone. Professor Dragon.

 

Edited September 28, 2025 by Professor Dragon

[Calecute]

5 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

Oh, I totally would like:

• Sturdy backpacks
• Mordanted cloth

 

 

7 hours ago, LadyWYT said:

Chromite can also be used as a mordant, but I don't think there's any reason one really needs to dye cloth, outside of cosmetics or crafting certain items for sale to traders.

Guys while chromite can be used as a mordant do note so can the much more available cassiterite. 

[Echo Weaver]

1 hour ago, Calecute said:

Guys while chromite can be used as a mordant do note so can the much more available cassiterite. 

I thought so, but it's reassuring to see. I'm interested in dyeing stuff eventually, but not if I have to hunt up chromite to get it it. 

6 hours ago, Professor Dragon said:

Also, I feel like I've been "speed rushing" the game content, but I'm still on my first serious play through, several real life years into my world. I'm still gearing up to savour the story missions. I'll get there after better armour, bigger backpack, beehive kiln up, some of my own home coloured pots in my base, making the orchards larger and prettier . . . and so on. But I am speed rushing to get to the story content - there are just a few detours along the way. It will feel so good when I can slow down and start decorating properly.

Haha. I'm not a gifted builder or decorator, but I really enjoy making a cozy home. I've spent a lot of time working with livestock, collecting and cultivating crops, keeping bees, experimenting with various forms of food preservation, making leather, designing my windmill power train to fit as efficiently as possible into a space I built out aesthetically without realizing how much space the automation would need, etc. I keep having to remind myself that my goal is to play the story content, but otoh I think I would have a lot less fun if I DIDN'T have a goal. I seem to feel a big difference from not always moving toward the game goals and the game HAVING no goals.... 

Now camped near the Resonance Archives with iron equipment and a temporal gear to change the respawn point. I want to build a base camp before going in because who knows how long it'll take to get through the content and how many times I'll die? 

[Ragman]

I found this post by googling vintage "story prospecting needs rework". My current play-through has been a nightmare. I have spent a whole real life day of 8+ hours trying to find iron. I have been prospecting and digging in the highest spots I can pinpoint after prospecting. My previous play-through over a year ago I got lucky and found Iron but this time it's been a complete waste of my time.

The prospecting system IS garbage. I don't understand why people would defend it. It's not engaging or fun for the average gamer, it's a complete waste of time. Imagine coming home from work to then go and look for iron only to achieve nothing. As the op says. There needs to be a guaranteed hotspot where a node is 100% guaranteed to be within the chunk of the reading.

Also, I am not a geologist so constantly needing to alt tab my game to google what "pentlandite", "magnetite" or "spharelite" means is not immersive or fun. Just show "magnetite (Iron)" in-game or something to make it less tedious. It's actually confusing to google pentlandite and it saying that it's an iron/nickle ore and then in the game it's nickle. It's also not fun to dig down 100+ blocks since you also need to bring 100+ blocks of dirt to get back up to the surface which requires you to constantly make more shovels to dig dirt since tools break so quickly early game. If ores where guaranteed this wouldn't be a problem but because they are not then I have to dig straight down all day and strip mine to find the magical "huge disc" or iron that doesn't exist. Today I have probably dug up about over 2000 blocks of dirt and and gone through 30+ flint shovels.

Edited October 4, 2025 by Ragman

[LadyWYT]

2 minutes ago, Ragman said:

Just show "magnetite (Iron)" in-game or something to make it less tedious. It's actually confusing to google pentlandite and it saying that it's an iron/nickle ore and then in the game it's nickle.

Welcome to the forums! The handbook should list the type of material that an ore will produce, so looking up "magnetite" will show that it produces iron. No need to alt-tab for Google!

 

4 minutes ago, Ragman said:

I have spent a whole real life day of 8+ hours trying to find iron. I have been prospecting and digging in the highest spots I can pinpoint after prospecting. My previous play-through over a year ago I got lucky and found Iron but this time it's been a complete waste of my time.

What iron ore type are you searching for? Hematite tends to be the easiest one to find, while magnetite is very hit-or-miss. Limonite I've only found once, by accident, so I do not count that one. In any case, while it's most ideal to search Decent or better readings, it doesn't hurt to check Poor or Very Poor readings as well, especially in the case of iron since iron deposits are absolutely massive. One deposit should supply most, if not all, your iron and steel needs. Focus on hematite readings first, unless magentite is all you've got to work with/your surrounding rock type is andesite-heavy. In the case of the latter, magnetite is the only iron type that will spawn in andesite, so if andesite is the primary igneous rock of the area there's a good chance the magnetite readings will turn up a deposit somewhere.

[Echo Weaver]

5 hours ago, Ragman said:

I found this post by googling vintage "story prospecting needs rework". My current play-through has been a nightmare. I have spent a whole real life day of 8+ hours trying to find iron. I have been prospecting and digging in the highest spots I can pinpoint after prospecting. My previous play-through over a year ago I got lucky and found Iron but this time it's been a complete waste of my time.

The prospecting system IS garbage. I don't understand why people would defend it. It's not engaging or fun for the average gamer, it's a complete waste of time. Imagine coming home from work to then go and look for iron only to achieve nothing. As the op says. There needs to be a guaranteed hotspot where a node is 100% guaranteed to be within the chunk of the reading.

Also, I am not a geologist so constantly needing to alt tab my game to google what "pentlandite", "magnetite" or "spharelite" means is not immersive or fun. Just show "magnetite (Iron)" in-game or something to make it less tedious. It's actually confusing to google pentlandite and it saying that it's an iron/nickle ore and then in the game it's nickle. It's also not fun to dig down 100+ blocks since you also need to bring 100+ blocks of dirt to get back up to the surface which requires you to constantly make more shovels to dig dirt since tools break so quickly early game. If ores where guaranteed this wouldn't be a problem but because they are not then I have to dig straight down all day and strip mine to find the magical "huge disc" or iron that doesn't exist. Today I have probably dug up about over 2000 blocks of dirt and and gone through 30+ flint shovels.

This seems to be the kind of prospecting system folks are looking for when they post these kinds of complaints: https://mods.vintagestory.at/bettererprospecting

It takes most of the probability out of the system. It's not my thing, but the idea is to be able to customize the game to be what you like to play.

[Thorfinn]

4 hours ago, Echo Weaver said:

It takes most of the probability out of the system. It's not my thing, but the idea is to be able to customize the game to be what you like to play.

Truth. If all one wants is a "dig here", if that's the mod I'm thinking of, it's pretty easy to triangulate and get exactly that. You can figure out exactly where the ore body is. Assuming there's only the one "closest" ore body, which is not a bad assumption if you are talking iron. By taking a few more samples, say, a dozen or so, getting "hotter, colder" data, it's pretty much a gimmee.

[Echo Weaver]

2 hours ago, Thorfinn said:

Truth. If all one wants is a "dig here", if that's the mod I'm thinking of, it's pretty easy to triangulate and get exactly that. You can figure out exactly where the ore body is. Assuming there's only the one "closest" ore body, which is not a bad assumption if you are talking iron. By taking a few more samples, say, a dozen or so, getting "hotter, colder" data, it's pretty much a gimmee.

Clearly there's a whole category of players who want this. Betterer Prospecting seems to be a popular mod. It's not my thing, but it's clear that folks come to this game with a huge variety of expectations. I certainly don't judge, considering how long my own modlist has become. @Teh Pizza Lady's thread about favorite and unused features was eductational.

[Gazz]

Just saying that prospecting (the way it is) is probably the main selling point of the game to me.

I completely understand that different people like different things but the current system is not bad or broken.

[Copious Kobolds]

I agree. A mechanic that players can't understand without a youtube video, and doesn't even guarantee success when you do, is a broken mechanic. I love almost everything about this game, but I genuinely don't know how I can continue enjoying it with progress locked behind this frustrating mechanic.

My biggest problem with it is that it's just so unnecessarily time-consuming. You have to dig out 12 dirt blocks just to take a reading. Then you have to do it like 20 more times to chase the chunk with the highest density. 50% chance that chunk isn't even above 0.03%, and your time is wasted. Then you have to find the deposit underground. Sure, the pick will tell you it's within 6 blocks, but do you know how many blocks there are in a 13x13x13 cube? 2,197! That's a lot of blocks to search! Sure, you could triangulate it, but that doesn't even work if there are more than 1 deposits nearby, which there are, a lot. Your readings will lead you directly between the deposits.

I've even seen people compare prospecting to a full-time job. Having spent 12 hours and still not found any zinc, I agree.

Edited October 8, 2025 by Copious Kobolds

[Echo Weaver]

42 minutes ago, Copious Kobolds said:

I agree. A mechanic that players can't understand without a youtube video, and doesn't even guarantee success when you do, is a broken mechanic. I love almost everything about this game, but I genuinely don't know how I can continue enjoying it with progress locked behind this frustrating mechanic.

Pretty sure this is a mechanic you would enjoy more: https://mods.vintagestory.at/bettererprospecting