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What does each tool break?
In survival you dig progressively: keep the left mouse button down and the block cracks until it goes. In creative mode a break is instant. What goes at the end depends on the tool in your hand.
| Tool | One break removes | Fast on | Slow on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hand, or any other item | One voxel (0.25 m) | - | - |
| Chisel | One voxel, faster with a better tier | All matter alike | - |
| Pickaxe | The aligned 1 m cube, the aimed material only | Rock, ores, ice, masonry, metal | Leaves and plants (25 times slower) |
| Shovel | The same cube | Dirt, grass, sand, gravel, snow | Rock (5 times), leaves (25 times) |
| Axe | The same cube, plus a ragged edge around it | Wood, wool, hay | Rock (5 times), soil (3 times) |
| Shears | The same cube | Leaves, kelp, mushrooms, wool, hay | Rock (12 times), soil (8 times), wood (6 times) |
What does the tier change?
- 38 sa cube of stone, by hand (64 voxels)
- 1.1 sthe same cube, wooden pickaxe
- 0.4 sthe same cube, titanium pickaxe
| Tier | Speed | Life (cubes of stone) | One cube of stone, pickaxe | In short |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wood | x1.1 | 71 | 1.1 s | Soft but springy. |
| Stone | x1.5 | 108 | 0.8 s | A hard edge that chips. |
| Iron | x1.8 | 288 | 0.67 s | Tough and forgiving. |
| Titanium | x3 | 880 | 0.4 s | The best of the Earth, with its heat-tinted blue and copper colours. |
| Raisonite | x3.4 | 1325 | 0.36 s | The strongest of the game, from the raisonite synthesizer's ingots (late in the game); holds three alloys. |
How long does a break take?
Time for one cube = time of one voxel by hand x 2, divided by the tier speed, times the matter factor of the tool. By hand one voxel takes 0.6 s in stone, ores, bricks and metal (the slowest, except concrete), 0.45 s in wood, 0.3 s in dirt and sand, 0.2 s in glass, 0.15 s in leaves; plants go at the first click. Poured concrete is 4 times as hard as stone, reinforced concrete 8 times.
| Matter factor | Rock | Soil | Wood | Leaves | Wool, hay |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pickaxe | x1 | x1.5 | x1.5 | x25 | x2 |
| Shovel | x5 | x0.4 | x3 | x25 | x1.5 |
| Axe | x5 | x3 | x0.5 | x2 | x0.5 |
| Shears | x12 | x8 | x6 | x0.05 | x0.1 |
Two examples: an iron shovel on a cube of dirt takes 0.3 x 2 / 1.8 x 0.4 = 0.13 s. A wooden pickaxe on a cube of leaves takes 0.15 x 2 / 1.1 x 25 = 6.8 s, which is why you cut leaves with shears. Glass, lamps and doors are the same for every tool.
How long does a tool last?
A tool of life D lasts D voxels of stone. Every voxel you break wears it by its hardness compared with stone: dirt wears it half as much, leaves a quarter, concrete four times more. An iron pickaxe has a life of 288 cubes of stone, that is 288 x 64 voxels. When the life is spent the tool disappears and a message tells you.
How do I craft tools?
Pickaxe: three heads across the top, a handle down the middle. Axe: three heads and two handles. Shovel: one head on two handles. Chisel: one head on one handle. Shears: two blades crossed, no handle, and metal only (iron, titanium or raisonite). The head is planks for wood, any rock for stone, then an iron ingot or a titanium ingot. The diamond makes no tool: it is an ore and a gem.
Heads and handles
Can I make a tool better than titanium?
Yes, two ways. Late in the game, raisonite tools, crafted from the raisonite synthesizer's ingots, dig at x3.4, last 1325 cubes of stone and hold up to three alloys. And on any tool, forge an alloy: Duracier triples its life, Celerite digs 1.75 times faster, Nivelite flattens the ground, Lissite smooths it, and a Raisonite axe fells a whole wild tree in one blow. The Raisonite is fired in the Furnace, the others pressed in the hyperbaric press; then put the tool and one alloy in the crafting grid. Everything is in forging alloys.
Questions
Can a wooden pickaxe mine iron ore?
Yes. No ordinary block needs a minimum tier. A wooden pickaxe is just slower and wears out faster than an iron one. Only raisonite is twelve times slower below an iron pickaxe.
Why does my pickaxe break a whole cube and not one voxel?
Pickaxe, shovel, shears and axe break the aligned 1 m cube (64 voxels) of the material you aim at. To take a single voxel, use your hand or a chisel.
What happens when a tool is used up?
It disappears and a message says so. Craft a new one before you go down.
Is digging instant in creative mode?
Yes. The break times and the wear only count in survival.
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