For those who aren't familiar with Alien Worlds, it's a free-to-play, play-to-earn game on the WAX blockchain that has just recently opened up the first section of it's gameplay to the public -- Mining!
NOTE: Alien Worlds is at an early Beta stage, so many things may be subject to change! I will try my best to keep this article up-to-date with the latest.
Forget the details, how do I get started?
So you want to just jump right in without a clue as to what you're doing? Luckily, you can do just that!
Getting started is extremely simple and completely free! All you will need is a WAX wallet, which you can get here (https://all-access.wax.io/dashboard) if you don't already have one.
Once you have your wallet setup, visit https://beta.alienworlds.io/ and login. You'll be shown the setup screen, where you choose a name and an Avatar.
Then, you'll see the plot selection screen. The game will have already selected a random planet and plot for you. You can stick with the one picked or choose one of your own.
After that, you'll be dropped into the Mining Hub which shows your selected Land plot and your already equipped Standard Shovel (which you get for free).
Click the Mine button, and within a few moments (sometimes a little longer), you'll be able to claim your rewards, which will include Trilium (the in-game currency), and possibly an item. If you're lucky, it may even be a tool to help with your mining efforts! Once the mining is done, click the Claim button and whatever you have found will be automatically deposited into your WAX wallet.
You'll notice that there is a timer limiting how often you can mine, but with just the Standard Shovel, the delay is only a few minutes. Once that timer expires, you can mine again!
And there you have it! That's the very basics of Mining in Alien Worlds. Just like that you can be on your way towards accumulating Trilium and Alien Worlds NFTs from your very own browser!
OK, I'm in, give me some of those details now
Though the process itself is simple, there are a number of underlying calculations to the Mining results and several variables that you can manipulate to get the results you want.
Each and every Tool and Land plot has stats. These stats can affect your Trilium output, your chance of finding an NFT, and the time delay between mining attempts.
The stats are Power (upper left corner, affects amount of Trilium obtained), Proof of Work (lower left corner, affects how long it takes to get your Mining results), Luck (bottom right corner, affects your chances of finding an NFT), and Charge Time (bottom center text, affects how long you have to wait before you can Mine again).
The graphic below, created by Upland Comics, breaks down the forumlas for you.
When you look at our Standard Shovel, you can see it's not giving you many bonuses. However, the advantage is that you can mine every few minutes. If you would prefer to increase your income, you can find a plot of land that has a large Power bonus, though the tradeoff will likely be longer recharge times.
On top of this, you can equip up to three tools, with all of their bonuses adding together. If you're patient, you can eventually dig up some additional Tools for yourself (mining on a plot with a high Luck factor will help), but if you don't want to wait for the RNG gods to deliver something nice to you, you can buy Alien Worlds NFTs on the Atomic Hub market - https://wax.atomichub.io/market?collection_name=alien.worlds&order=asc&schema_name=tool.worlds&sort=price&symbol=WAX
Another thing to note when choosing a plot is the Owner Profit Share. This is a flat percentage that will be taken from your Triulium findings and given to the owner of the plot you are mining on. The default rate is 20%, but owners can change this and you can find plots as low as 5-10%. Of course, if you own the land you are mining on, all of the profits go into your pockets!
What do I do with all this crap?
Trilium can be used in-game for Staking, which will determine how quickly the Mining pools are refilled (not yet implemented). If you're more of a immediate gratification person, Trilium can be sold for WAX on the Alcor market (https://wax.alcor.exchange/trade/TLM-alien.worlds_WAX-eosio.token).
If you get a lucky roll while Mining, you may unearth an NFT for the game. These come in several flavors. The most useful (at the moment), are Tools which you can equip and use to enhance you Mining efforts
You may also find Minions and Weapons, both of which will be used in the Thunderdome (not yet open), and Avatars.
Don't throw away those duplicates!
You may find yourself with a plethora of Abundant and Common NFTs as you mine over several days. And while you can throw these out or sell them on the Market for a small amount, I would suggest that you instead hold onto them. At some point, another feature will be added to the game called Shining which will let you combine multiples of the same NFT into a better, shinier one!
You can read more about that planned feature here - https://alienworlds.medium.com/how-shining-works-in-alien-worlds-71393dd5bf91
What's the best place to mine? What are the best tools to use?
The answer to both of these questions are the same. It depends. There are multiple strategies to pursue and each person has to figure out which one they prefer.
So instead of trying to list out all of the possible paths to pursue, instead I will leave you with some useful links and a few tips to help you find your own path in the Alien Worlds cosmos!
https://aw.anyo.io/planets - This site will show you the current Mining Pool for each planet. The higher the pool, the more Trilium you can find. At the moment, the pools are refilled at the same rate, but in the future, Staking will affect the Trilium pools. For now, you can use this chart to see if a particular planet has a larger pool before you start mining
Get your family to join in!. The devs have said that there is no concern about using multiple accounts from the same IP address as long as its reasonable (i.e. family members and not a mining farm)
You can see all of your transactions on Wax Blocks (https://wax.bloks.io/). This is also where you can see all of your tokens and stake CPU/NET, which may be needed if you mine a lot
Remember that when using three tools, only the two highest Charge Times will be counted.
Try different Tool combinations on different lands and find one that works for you
Switch out to lower Charge Time tools when you have more availability, longer Charge Time tools when you will be sleeping or unavailable
If you have funds available you might consider purchasing a land plot. They are pretty expensive, but can provide a steady passive income, and should retain resale value.
Be careful in the markets. There has been a lot of FOMO into Alien Worlds over the past week, and prices for Lands and Tools have shot through the roof. Do some market research before making any large investments
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Speaking of Lands, I have several that are open to the public for mining at the very reasonable commission percentage of 10%!
They are:
