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[0leg]

We can choose to give our points to mining and can take a pickaxe, but it seems it doesn't really do anything, can we mine or is it just there for no reason?

[Strik3r]

nope, you cant mine, but a high skill in mining makes the pickaxe a deadly weapon.

[FantasticDorf]

In fortress mode, dwarves can train up using pickaxes in barracks without having to dig, so its a legitimate weapon skill.

Pickaxes have the benefit of being swung but penetrate just like the stabbing-edge of a sword on every attack. So yeah, if you have any artifact pickaxes lying around (or better yet ones made of candy), they can be very effective for breaking into monsters with tough hides or made out of tough material like forgotten beasts.

[Albedo]

(A bit late to the party, but...)

... but it seems it doesn't really do anything... is it just there for no reason?

Not sure what "it" is... 

If you're talking about the pick, a pick is required to do any mining. No pick, no dig.

There has been no research (afaik!) that indicates that a better quality/material pick means "better" mining, either in speed or stones/ores recovered. But, as mentioned about, picks are legit weapons, and use the Mining skill in combat when equipped (via the military/equip/Weapons menu), which makes a trained Miner w/ a high-quality bronze/iron/steel pick a solid back-up military asset.


If you're talking about the skill, then, as with many "no-quality" labors, Mining speeds up the task considerably. The diff between a no skill starting miner and a +5 skill starting miner is ~about~ doubled, so that miner is now doing ~about~ the work of 2 miners, doubling his dwarfpower.  And since it's not uncommon for a starting fortress to have a dedicated full-time miner, that's like having an extra 8th (unskilled) dwarf in your starting crew to help w/ mining - handy.

Mining can be trained up very quickly in sand/soil, and an untrained Miner can hit +5 after a season or so of that, BUT if you need/want to get a fortress up asap then starting w/ a skilled miner solves the problem of underground space, stones and ores that much faster.


(In my Embark layout, I start w/ a +5 Miner (/Armor User 5), who really gets the first area cleaned out fast. After he gains about +2-3 more levels (Miner 7-8) from the soil layer, I send him to start digging toward the caverns/magma, and I forge a 2nd pick and start a 2nd (unskilled) miner! I put a door/hatch to keep the two separated (so the new miner gets skilled faster concentrating on soil digging), and only open it when the real miner signals that he's thirsty/hungry. Takes a little bit of shuffling of skills on/off to keep them separated, but it's very doable.

Once the main miner can be replaced, he joins the military, usually after a year or so, depending.

Point is, yes - Mining skill can be that important.)

[HungThir]

...

we're in the adventure mode section, not the fortress mode section

if you have dfhack, and the advfort plugin, and your character has a pick, then you can dig in adventure mode.  digging will slowly increase your mining skill in the same way as it does for your fortress mode miners.  digging in stone will produce stones

the advfort plugin is... fiddly, and difficult to explain, but reasonably coherent once you figure it out.  go find the thread for it, and read the entire thread, and then fiddle with it and re-read the thread again and again until it clicks.  expect to spend a lot of time scratching your head

picks are quite hard to come by in adventure mode, so if you wanna get going quick, start your adventure in an old player fortress with a stockpile of them, or just spawn one in with dfhack.  if you wanna find a pick "organically", the best way i've found is to cruise dwarven settlements until you find a miner, and "exchange personal items" with them.  actually, i guess nowadays you can choose your start items, so just choose one at the start!  (but now you know how to get one if you forgot to)

if you don't have dfhack, or don't/can't/won't use the advfort plugin, then the pick item and the mining skill are only useful in combat.  they're very effective weapons, but that's all

[Leonidas]

. . . picks are quite hard to come by in adventure mode, so if you wanna get going quick, start your adventure in an old player fortress with a stockpile of them . . .

Better yet, put them on a pedestal. Retiring a fort scatters loose items in stockpiles. Items on pedestals stay put and are easy to find.