How often do ore spots change their color?

I am trying to mine some ores. Back in the day before I took a very long break, you could find a spot then keep mining it for days. I realized this is not the case anymore. Does anybody know how often do the spots change their color?

Somebody has told me that it happens whenever I deplete a spot. According to him if I never deplete a spot, and keep going back every 5 minutes I should be able to get the same ore type indefinitely. But I could not get this to work for me.

Anybody has any cool strategies for mining color ore?

Stop mining start pirating 

I believe each spot is generated with a fixed amount of ore, once that is depleted it becomes eligible to change. So, a valorite node might spawn with say 300 pulls of ore.. regardless of return. Once those 300 pulls are expended it will become something else. 

It's random and spots will last for days or less. as @Grimbeard says, Piratin' is where it's at for high end Ore, Logs, and leather. not to mention it is much less boring.

I wish we could get granite on ships

Like someone said, when you deplete it, it will change to another color in a few minutes.  If you do not deplete it to a point, it would recharge as the same  color, but 300 is nowhere near what you get in a cycle.

I use Fel Delucia. You can make a round and where you started is fresh.

@shootgun
Use a prospector tool and a gargoyle pickaxe to get higher ores. Don't bother with the low ores unless you need them.

I have had spots last a week before changing and I have had spots change the very next day.  When you are on a lower population shard it is likely you are the only one mining that spot.  This notion of 300 or whatever is IMHO a made up BS number or all the spots would change at the same time to a dedicated miner.

You two are clowns, it was a made up number for an example. I'll be sure to use a number you can use your fingers for next time.

Trallic said:

You two are clowns, it was a made up number for an example. I'll be sure to use a number you can use your fingers for next time.

Next time make up a number closer to realism.  Since you only know enough about numbers to use body parts or hundreds, total fingers and toes would be way more realistic than 300.  😂

But otherwise I see the same as you described when Mining an area.

@shootgun,

Ore was randomized with publish 46 in 2007.

• Wood and ore nodes now have a chance to randomly respawn with different resource types.

Publish 46 9th August – Ultima Online (uo.com)


When a resource chunk is consumed (i.e., you mine from it), when the resource respawns, it can respawn as any ore type. It doesn't matter if you have exhausted the resource chunk or not.

Ore veins respawn between 300s (5min) and 660s (11min), that I have tracked. Some veins may take longer or shorter, but I have not encountered any.

In general, lower-level ore resource nodes remain the same ore type through a greater number of respawns, but there is so much randomness that some valorite veins outlast some dull copper veins.

I have seen a brand-new respawned valorite vein exhaust in as little as 188 valorite ingots (94 valorite ore), with only me mining that vein. I have also tracked a valorite vein which yielded 2154 valorite ingots (1077 valorite ore). Ore yield per vein has a wide range.

There does not appear to be any correlation between how long a vein takes to respawn, the amount of ore yielded on respawn, or the ratio of iron vs. colored ore on a respawn.


-- Other notes
As others have stated, if you are interested in Pirating, that is another way to get ore, as is treasure hunting.

If you mine in Felucca, you get two resources per mining strike, so you will exhaust the veins faster, but use fewer charges on your tools.

The gargoyle pickaxe and/or prospector tool can raise ore veins by two levels (i.e. agapite to valorite) and you can do quests in Ter Mur to get potions to convert ore up through the levels to make everything you have valorite.

You can also get talismans and maps from Void Pool / BoD rewards to convert ore upwards or locate ore lodes in specific colors.

If you use the EC, you can write long macros to mine, smelt, create new pickaxes, and relocate ore to a pack animal, all with one keypress. This allows you to strip-mine entire areas rapidly. All you have to do is guide your character around. This creates gameplay more similar to other modern (and popular) mining games, with far less UO '97 button clicking tedium, and yields far more ore than many players are aware is possible with mining skill. With the EC's grid style containers, it also allows for a nicely organized, more modern interface. 

--
Some may consider mining boring, but miners are still around in Britannia.


- Good luck!

In general, lower-level ore resource nodes remain the same ore type through a greater number of respawns, 

Now I know why I stayed away from the low level veins.  They kept being low level for me also.

 I have also tracked a valorite vein which yielded 2154 valorite ingots (1077 valorite ore).

I never found anything close to that.  Cha Ching!

Pawain said:

Like someone said, when you deplete it, it will change to another color in a few minutes.  If you do not deplete it to a point, it would recharge as the same  color, but 300 is nowhere near what you get in a cycle.

I use Fel Delucia. You can make a round and where you started is fresh.

@ shootgun
Use a prospector tool and a gargoyle pickaxe to get higher ores. Don't bother with the low ores unless you need them.

 If you do not deplete it to a point, it would recharge as the same  color, but 300 is nowhere near what you get in a cycle.

Hmmm... if so, "when" should a miner stop mining that spot (after having mined how much ore of that color) and after how long they should get back to the same spot to find it replenished of the same ore color so as to be able to mine it indefinitely for that same color type (at least until server down for maintainance when I seem to understand all resources get changed anyways) ?

Just saw that @Arroth_Thaiel wrote (https://forum.uo.com/discussion/comment/100709/#Comment_100709) : 

When a resource chunk is consumed (i.e., you mine from it), when the resource respawns, it can respawn as any ore type. It doesn't matter if you have exhausted the resource chunk or not.

Then, do I understand it as right that it is NOT possible to mine partially a spot and then come back to find it replenished of the same color type ?
That is, when the resource respawns, whether it was partially or completely gathered it can very well respawn to a different color thus making it pointless to mine it partially ?

Did I get that right ?

Arroth_Thaiel said:

@ shootgun,

Ore was randomized with publish 46 in 2007.

• Wood and ore nodes now have a chance to randomly respawn with different resource types.

Publish 46 9th August – Ultima Online (uo.com)


When a resource chunk is consumed (i.e., you mine from it), when the resource respawns, it can respawn as any ore type. It doesn't matter if you have exhausted the resource chunk or not.

Ore veins respawn between 300s (5min) and 660s (11min), that I have tracked. Some veins may take longer or shorter, but I have not encountered any.

In general, lower-level ore resource nodes remain the same ore type through a greater number of respawns, but there is so much randomness that some valorite veins outlast some dull copper veins.

I have seen a brand-new respawned valorite vein exhaust in as little as 188 valorite ingots (94 valorite ore), with only me mining that vein. I have also tracked a valorite vein which yielded 2154 valorite ingots (1077 valorite ore). Ore yield per vein has a wide range.

There does not appear to be any correlation between how long a vein takes to respawn, the amount of ore yielded on respawn, or the ratio of iron vs. colored ore on a respawn.


-- Other notes
As others have stated, if you are interested in Pirating, that is another way to get ore, as is treasure hunting.

If you mine in Felucca, you get two resources per mining strike, so you will exhaust the veins faster, but use fewer charges on your tools.

The gargoyle pickaxe and/or prospector tool can raise ore veins by two levels (i.e. agapite to valorite) and you can do quests in Ter Mur to get potions to convert ore up through the levels to make everything you have valorite.

You can also get talismans and maps from Void Pool / BoD rewards to convert ore upwards or locate ore lodes in specific colors.

If you use the EC, you can write long macros to mine, smelt, create new pickaxes, and relocate ore to a pack animal, all with one keypress. This allows you to strip-mine entire areas rapidly. All you have to do is guide your character around. This creates gameplay more similar to other modern (and popular) mining games, with far less UO '97 button clicking tedium, and yields far more ore than many players are aware is possible with mining skill. With the EC's grid style containers, it also allows for a nicely organized, more modern interface. 

--
Some may consider mining boring, but miners are still around in Britannia.


- Good luck!

I have seen a brand-new respawned valorite vein exhaust in as little as 188 valorite ingots (94 valorite ore), with only me mining that vein. I have also tracked a valorite vein which yielded 2154 valorite ingots (1077 valorite ore). Ore yield per vein has a wide range.

Hi, may I ask a question ?

Did you notice veins to be "consistent" in the quantity of ore which they always respawn at that spot or does the quantity of the resource spawning at a particular location also change and it is also random like the quality of the resource ?

For example, that spot which you found yielding 1,077 valorite ore, did it always spawn 1,077 ore, regardless of the type of ore it respawned as or when the respawn triggers "both" quality and quantity of the resource are subject to change, randomly ?

As I used the term " please flip the switch and bring back static resources" at a meet and greet, they once said its harder than flip a switch. Otherwise they always stated they are looking for a better solution. Sure its harder than flip a switch, but it being really hard and that they introduced Vela and the Bod rewards because of it, is just speculating.

Mariah said:

I believe when this has been brought up in the past they have said that is easier said than done. It's the reason they added maps and talismans to Vela in Cove and to BoD rewards.

At least to my opinion, both the rewards from Vela in Cove and the Cauldrons from the BoD Rewards take way too much time for the actual bonus that those Rewards give to make them usefull, at least for me.

The Vera Caludrons of Transmutation has a ratio to 3 to 1 and, since there is a weight limit of how many ingots one can hold in one's own backpack, the end result is quite limited, to my opinion, for the hundreds of Void Pool points that the Cauldrons cost to get.

The Vera Maps ? They might be of use to an afk scripter who can set a BOT to script mine all of the 24 hours that the Map is valid for, but if a player has limited time, that the Map is in theory valid for 24 hours helps little when that player, for example, can only play 1 hour during those 24 hours of the validity of the Map...

Different would it be, if the Map was valid for 24 "logged in" hours... then, the player would set a character to mine, give him/her the Vera Map and use it for all of those 24 "logged in" hours....

As in regards the Smelter's Talisman the weight issue of how much ore one can carry in the main backpack limits very much, to my viewing, its usefullness.... even if it smelts 100% of the ore, how much ore one can carry in one's own backpack ? A Large pile of Ore which yields only 2 ingots weights 12 stones... so, if the carrying CAP for weight of a human character is 523 stones (https://uo.stratics.com/content/misc/weight.shtml), that means that at most, a human miner can carry 43 Large Piles of Ore to smelt using the Smelter's Talisman which will yield only 86 ingots.... at the cost of 1 charge of the Talisman which took hundreds of Void Pool points to get....

The BoDs Cauldrons which also convert resources at a 3 to 1 ratio have the same issue of the weight limit that a character can hold in the main backpack thus resulting in little quantity been converted and they must be used within 24 hours from claiming them and once started must be used within 4 hours... they do not have charges, though, I think, which is a good thing... 

Also, all of these convertion tools only start to work from bronze into gold... if a player needs to convert into Dull Copper, Shadow Iron, Copper or Bronze, there is no tool to convert into these other types, that I know of.

For example, during the Tokuno Event I have been using lots and lots of Shadow ingots to make Dragon Barding for my Warrior's mount (750 ingots per armor) and they break way, buy waaaay too fast.... I have been burning during this Event tens upon tens of thousands of Shadow ingots (I think I might be close to 40k-50k Shadow ingots having been burned into Dragon Barding Armor although, I did not want to take note of how many I used up on purpose not to feel bad for seeing so many of them going away....) and it has become an issue to get them.... frankly, either 750 ingots to craft 1 single Dragon Barding armor is too many ingots, or the Dragon Barding Armor breaks way too fast.... a tool to convert Iron into Dull Copper, and Dull Copper into Shadow ingots would come helpfull....

@popps You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with regard to maps and talismans. I use them often, and I do assure you that I DO NOT script. My EC mining macro can be found in the example macros page of the wiki.
I claim 2 maps and one talisman, always from Felucca NPC's, either smith or Vela, I take my fire beetle and a pack animal to the location of the first map and mine the spot dry, smelting the ore as I go, then I move on to the second spot and repeat. IF there are enough charges left on the talisman I might claim another map, but as a rule I mine only 2 maps - 24 hours is therefor plenty of time to use it before it expires. 

Incidentally, if anyone is interested, you can also use the maps with a rock hammer to get coloured granite.

The tool to convert iron to dull copper is called a prospector tool, I'm sure you've heard of it?

Petra_Fyde said:

@ popps You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about with regard to maps and talismans. I use them often, and I do assure you that I DO NOT script. My EC mining macro can be found in the example macros page of the wiki.
I claim 2 maps and one talisman, always from Felucca NPC's, either smith or Vela, I take my fire beetle and a pack animal to the location of the first map and mine the spot dry, smelting the ore as I go, then I move on to the second spot and repeat. IF there are enough charges left on the talisman I might claim another map, but as a rule I mine only 2 maps - 24 hours is therefor plenty of time to use it before it expires. 

Incidentally, if anyone is interested, you can also use the maps with a rock hammer to get coloured granite.

The tool to convert iron to dull copper is called a prospector tool, I'm sure you've heard of it?

The tool to convert iron to dull copper is called a prospector tool, I'm sure you've heard of it?

That is for mining ore veins, though....

I was more talking about something like the tools available to convert into golden ingots and up entire batches but for lower end types and, particularly, to get shadow ingots rather then dull copper....

I don't mind the randomization as it mixes things up and keeps you on your toes. That being said, I would prefer a monthly reset. The ore needs to be a bit more reliable but a return to the good old days isn't the best option. 

Pure static spawns just encourages scripting, tit-for-tat barrel blocking and so on. 

Trallic said:

I don't mind the randomization as it mixes things up and keeps you on your toes. That being said, I would prefer a monthly reset. The ore needs to be a bit more reliable but a return to the good old days isn't the best option. 

Pure static spawns just encourages scripting, tit-for-tat barrel blocking and so on. 

Pure static spawns just encourages scripting, tit-for-tat barrel blocking and so on. 

Randomization hurts nothing, to my opinion, for scripters... it only hurts players who do not script.

Why do I think so ?

Because scripters, especially AFK scripters do not use their time and if the player scripting is around, I would not be surprised to hear that they are watching TV, listening to music, browsing the net or doing something else to then show up should a GM decide to question them... they run a scripted mining BOT who just has a mining path to follow, mines, smelts and recalls to unload, rinse and repeat, and can do it hour after hour after hour so, randomized resources, to my opinion, are hardly a problem since in the end, scripted miners still gather any and all types of ore regardless of what the random spawns of the resource might be.

Trallic said:

I don't mind the randomization as it mixes things up and keeps you on your toes. That being said, I would prefer a monthly reset. The ore needs to be a bit more reliable but a return to the good old days isn't the best option. 

Pure static spawns just encourages scripting, tit-for-tat barrel blocking and so on. 

@popps are you trying to be an Ore Mogul?  

Using a prospector tool and gargoyle pickaxe, you dig one time with the tool. Move to next vein and check it. Mine when you find the level you want.  Bots cant think.  You can.

If you want any ore or granite, make friends with players on your shard. This is a perfect time, we should all be happy to have make it to another Christmas, talk in chat.  there are many activities going on right now.  Go in chat and start a conversation, tell them what you would like to do with said item. You will find players that have thousands of that item.

Yield when wanting ingots or boards in Bulk:

Harvesting said resource.   low yield 
Pirating.    Higher yield  plus added benefits
Having friends.   Infinite yield plus added benefits

Pro Tip:  Use a prospector tool to make all your granite yields to be at least dull copper.  All the bottled dyes work on the walls or pavers.

You only need a few higher colored granite when you are making things in bulk.

You can dye walls and pavers when using dull copper or above. 

Some of these are the granite color some are dyed.  One floor is mostly textures of Valorite.
98% of the granite was given to me from long time players. If you want to paver your Keep or Castle on LS gimme a holler, I can give you granite.
I have a granite and ore volcano. You wont out mogul me!

I would like to thank everyone for their contribution. I learned a lot by reading everything in this thread.

It seems like pirating is the way to go. My problem with pirating is that, you can't get into it and get out of it as quickly. If I only have 30 minutes to play, taking the ship out, fixing and loading the cannons, sailing out, then finding and killing the pirates takes 45 minutes.

You can mark a rune while on a ship, it names it with the ship info.  I have runes to many friends ships. Rune stays active even if you dock and re launch the ship, you do not have to mark each time you use the ship.

Pirates are right off the Docks in Zento.  Can go as fast as you can. You can loot a ship once it is scuttled. You could leave the Dread Pirate and move on to the next one.

Personally, I go after the merchant and orc ships to get their ores, wood, and wool.  I mine to get the rare gems and I lumberjack to get the rare non-log stuff.