Tips for digging faster

Once the first chapter is behind you, these are the things that make the biggest difference.

1. Read the cell before you push

   Hold any block to see its health and what it pays. If it says nothing you own can work it, upgrade Cell damage before you aim the fleet there.

2. Mark the picture, not the rock

   When a ball hits something buried, the game offers to take you there. Drop a Mark on it so the whole fleet works toward the picture instead of digging at random.

3. Lines beat marks over distance

   A line spreads the fleet along a route and works it from both ends. Use one to connect the start hole to a far picture.

4. Switch standing orders with the ground

   Eager on soft ground, Patient on dense rock, Watchful when you are searching. Switching is free and the fleet stays.

5. Settle when it slows, not before

   The game tells you when settling is worth doing. Settling too early gives little resonance; settling late wastes time on slow digging.

6. Upgrade Nightwork before long breaks

   Away time pays only up to two hours. Nightwork raises the share of your rate you earn while closed, from 20% up to 60%.

7. Mix fast and heavy balls

   Cheap Drifters keep the numbers up; an Echo or two breaks the tough patches that stop them.

8. Drop Electric next to rock

   Electric is too slow to go looking. Release it right beside a rock face and it throws lightning at everything in reach.

9. Feed your Masons

   A Mason pays only through the bricks the rest of the fleet breaks. One Mason with nothing to break it earns nothing.

10. Use mirrors to keep balls in the work

    A mirror is a wall your balls bounce off until it is mined away. Put one behind a rock face to send balls back into it.

11. Learn the grounds

    Brittle Ground cracks the cells beside each break, so it rewards wide balls. Stubborn Ground is the toughest rock in the game, so it rewards heavy ones.

12. Go back to old chapters

    A finished chapter stays where you left it. Play it again any time to finish a ring you skipped.

How to play