# Hearthlings - Mining upward

**URL:** <https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054>\
**Category:** Suggestions\
**Created:** [July 18, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054 "2016-07-18T19:26:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 10\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![judE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bc8723/32.png) [@judE](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/judE)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:26pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/1 "2016-07-18T19:26:42Z")

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Hearthlings should be able to mine upward their position, so that you don’t have to dig downward each game.  
Also we need a kind of transparency tool in order to ease the process of mining orders up the current mining location.

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**Author:** ![wminsing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@wminsing](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/wminsing)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 7:47pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/2 "2016-07-18T19:47:40Z")

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I believe if you build ladders to the ceiling of a tunnel it’s possible to have a Hearthling mine upwards. I agree we could use some new transparency tool for digging, the current views aren’t quite enough.

-Will

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**Author:** ![LeadfootSlim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/leadfootslim/32/43280_2.png) [@LeadfootSlim](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/LeadfootSlim)\
**Post date:** [July 18, 2016, 9:01pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/3 "2016-07-18T21:01:03Z")

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Agreed. The most obvious solution is to have fully tweakable increments for slice views. Change from 5 at a time (4 + floor) to any other number with an up/down arrow. Ditto for the Mine command.

A more extreme option would be a vertical slice option; to wit, slicing the map up so you can see your tunnels from the side, rather than from above.

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**Author:** ![genboom](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/genboom/32/51397_2.png) [@genboom](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/genboom)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:40am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/4 "2016-07-19T05:40:35Z")

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[http://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/r572x64-hearthlings-refuse-to-mine-things/23802/2](http://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/r572x64-hearthlings-refuse-to-mine-things/23802/2)

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**Author:** ![LeadfootSlim](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/leadfootslim/32/43280_2.png) [@LeadfootSlim](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/LeadfootSlim)\
**Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 6:04am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/5 "2016-07-19T06:04:20Z")

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Uff. I’ve had issues like that… My usual solutions are one of the following;

A) Build ladders up the side of a cliff to remove an entire wall all the way down. Must repeat for each layer.

B) Dig stairs from the top down for access to all layers needing to be mined. You can do a 5-tall section like this by leaving the bottom layer intact as a stair step.

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**Author:** ![WolffLaarcen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/wolfflaarcen/32/47680_2.png) [@WolffLaarcen](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/WolffLaarcen)\
**Post date:** [November 15, 2016, 8:15am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/6 "2016-11-15T08:15:41Z")

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/Agree with this, the ability to mine upwards or mine stairs up/down to adjacent levels would be a very welcome addition.

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**Author:** ![AaronD](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/aarond/32/53149_2.png) [@AaronD](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/AaronD)\
**Post date:** [November 16, 2016, 11:46pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/7 "2016-11-16T23:46:27Z")

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I think Team Radiant is aware of this. But I think it’s much harder to code then mining downwards. In order for this to work, hearthlings need to work with scaffoldings and ladders and we know from house building that the AI can have some trouble with things like that.

I think this feature will come 100%, but maybe at a later state of the game, for example when they introduce dwarfes who live underground. No one would play dwarfes if the building features are not optimized for underground gameplay. 🙂

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**Author:** ![YetiChow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/9e8a1a/32.png) [@YetiChow](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/YetiChow)\
**Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 12:06pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/8 "2016-11-17T12:06:01Z")

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A simpler solution is just to have them be able to mine one block above their heads. Note that _simpler_ does not necessarily mean _simple_, but it should be a lot easier than having them build scaffolds. If the player wants a large room dug out then scaffolds would still be required; but I think most of the time players just want to be able to dig a staircase upwards lol.

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**Author:** ![WolffLaarcen](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/wolfflaarcen/32/47680_2.png) [@WolffLaarcen](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/WolffLaarcen)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 4:30am UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/9 "2016-11-18T04:30:06Z")

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> [@YetiChow](#):
>
> most of the time players just want to be able to dig a staircase upwards

Exactly. I like to create a network of mining tunnels that’s only accessible from a single entrance. That’s possible on a single elevation, but it would be great to be able to change elevations from within a network of tunnels by simply constructing a staircase that goes upwards to the next elevation level.

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**Author:** ![coasterspaul](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex022/user_avatar/discourse.stonehearth.net/coasterspaul/32/47876_2.png) [@coasterspaul](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/u/coasterspaul)\
**Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 7:23pm UTC](https://discourse.stonehearth.net/t/hearthlings-mining-upward/24054/10 "2016-11-18T19:23:59Z")

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And as long as you can mine a stair up a layer and clear that layer, you can mine a layer down. So stair mining is perhaps the most important thing.