Updates

Just an update and feedback gathering post! I've been making some gameplay adjustments to mining, played with it a bit, and this is where it's at so far.

I've implemented deposits of specific types of minerals and crystals. The mine will start out (randomly weighted by region) as either a crystal mine or a mineral mine. Initially this will tend to return a mixed result of either crystals or minerals. Each time you mine, however, there is a chance that you will find a deposit of a specific crystal or mineral. I've currently set it up for deposits of gold, silver, diamonds or plumbite. 

Once you find a deposit, it will return that resource until it is exhausted. At that point, you can make the mine deeper and it will go back to delivering mixed resources until you find another deposit (or exhaust the mine again). The deposits help to differentiate the mines from each other, and when you find a deposit of something valuable, it pays off.

The mining rabbithole interaction currently returns 6 items (of whatever kind) each time and it takes about 30-40 min right now. You lose extra hygiene and energy while mining, since it's difficult and dirty, but you get a fitness gain at the same time. You can mine 3-4 times before you need to rest and clean up. 

I might provide a way to increase the output of each mining trip, since 6 items doesn't really feel like enough reward for the trouble. Maybe increase the output depending on things like Mineralogy skill, Handiness, and various existing reward traits like Treasure Hunter, Forager, etc. Werewolves should probably get some sort of bonus from the Scavenging perk (and maybe Night Vision).

I experimented with taking a few Mining Charges in my inventory to various off-lot locations, including a trip down to Selvadorada. It all works fine off lot. You just select Place in World on the charge in your inventory, it finds a space nearby where it will fit (it has the same footprint as the mine itself), then select Build Mine. It will explode and the mine will appear. I currently have a diamond mine in Selvadorada, a silver mine in Granite Falls, and used to have a gold mine on Deadgrass Island (but it finally ran out of gold).

During these travels, I decided that I wanted to sleep in a mine, like it was a tent. That way, you can go somewhere build a mine, then live in it while you work in it. My 3rd Great Grandfather more or less lived this way near Mud Springs, California in 1850-1851 during the Gold Rush (he didn't find much). So I'm going to add that.

I'm not sure how far I should go with the crystal and mineral deposits. Finding one for something valuable is great, but I'm not sure about finding a large deposit of something common like Obtainium, for example.  It would be more 'consistent', though (I hate to use the word 'realistic' in reference to The Sims, lol).

I'm also not sure what to do when the mine runs out of resources entirely. Once you run out of resources in a shallow mine, you can dig it deeper to a moderately deep mine, then finally to a very deep mine. But once you exhaust the very deep mine, what should happen? Should the mine vanish? Should it board itself up forever? Or should there be a way to 'rejuvenate' it somehow (maybe switch it from metals to crystals, or vice versa). Or maybe just a 'remove' interaction where it blows up and disappears, idk. Oh, should there be a 'Remove' option anyway? Trying to think ahead. :)

As always, feedback and ideas are very welcome!

Thanks for your support!