Automated Ore Farm Blueprint
Maximize ore output with a dedicated mining base — node selection, Pal crew, layout, and throughput math.
Last updated: 2026-05-12
Automated Ore Farm
A dedicated ore base is the unlock that lets you scale your mid-game crafting. Refined Metal Ingots, Plasteel, and almost every weapon schematic gate behind ore throughput. This is the build.
Why a separate base?
Mining and handiwork conflict. If your miners and crafters share a base, miners idle waiting for transport Pals, and crafters can't keep up with raw ore intake. Splitting them lets each base specialize.
Location
Find a spot with at least 6-8 Ore Nodes clustered close enough for a single foundation to cover them. Popular picks:
| Location | When | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Desolate Church | Lv 10-25 | Easy access, no hostile NPCs nearby. Limited node density. |
| Mount Obsidian | Lv 25-40 | Includes coal nodes. Hot biome — need hot resistance gear. |
| Verdant Brook | Lv 30+ | High node density. Some pals in the area are aggressive. |
| Ice Wind Island | Lv 40+ | Premium node count. Need cold resistance. Best for endgame. |
Use the Resource Map to scout candidates before committing.
Pal Recommendations
| Role | Pal | Why? |
|---|---|---|
| Mining (primary) | Anubis | Lv3 mining + S-tier melee. Doubles as base defense. |
| Mining (specialist) | Astegon | Lv4 mining. Pure throughput. Slow to acquire — bred from late-game lineage. |
| Mining (mid-game) | Digtoise | Spins on nodes, dropping ore. Less efficient than Anubis but available much earlier. |
| Transport | Wumpo | Lv4 transport. Moves dropped ore to the chest before it despawns. |
| Transport (alt) | Killamari | Lv1 transport. Cheap, available early. Use until you breed something better. |
| Defense | Blazamut | Lv4 mining AND 150 melee — does the job and fights raids alone. |
(See the Tier List for the full ranking of mining Pals.)
Layout
- Foundation over the node cluster. Flat tiles let miners path to every node. Without foundation, uneven terrain blocks half your crew.
- Logging Camp wood chest off to one side, ore chest near the Palbox. Two chests prevents transport Pals from idling waiting for stack-merge.
- Beds and feed box centered so SAN and hunger top-ups don't pull workers across the map.
- One repair bench — high-tier mining Pals chew through their pickaxes. Repair-on-the-spot beats fast-travel for tool maintenance.
- No kindling, no handiwork. Resist mixing jobs. (See the Logging & Plantation guide for why hybrid bases work for SOME job combos but not this one.)
Throughput
A 6-Pal mining crew on an 8-node cluster produces roughly:
| Crew composition | Ore/hour |
|---|---|
| 2× Anubis + 2× Digtoise + 2× Wumpo | ~600 |
| 3× Astegon + 3× Wumpo (endgame) | ~900 |
| 1× Blazamut + 2× Anubis + 3× Wumpo | ~750 (plus raid defense) |
Compare that to a hand-mining session: even with the Refined Metal Pickaxe, a player chains roughly 80 ore/hour. The base is ~10× better.
Common mistakes
- Putting the ore farm in your main base. Miners idle while transport Pals handle handiwork queues. Productivity collapses by ~40%.
- Forgetting SAN management. A high-output mining crew bottoms out SAN in 6-8 hours. Pair this base with the Hot Spring & SAN Recovery base for rotation.
- No defense Pal. Hostile NPCs and wildlife raids will destroy a defenseless ore base. Even one combat Pal makes the difference.
- Trying to do coal AND ore from one base. Coal nodes appear on Mount Obsidian alongside ore. The crew can theoretically work both — but the transport queue gets overwhelmed. Build a separate coal base later.
Connect it to your other bases
- Ore chest → fast-travel to your crafting base at the end of each in-game day.
- Sell excess refined metal to merchants for gold to fund the Endgame Checklist.
- Use the Workforce Composition Planner to verify your crew has zero skill gaps before committing to a layout.