Prospecting

Prospecting for valuable minerals and gemstones is a potentially rewarding profession in Ikaanos. A prospector must come prepared, however, and know his way around the woods to be successful.

Gear and locations

You can search for gold and gemstones in prospect-enabled locations. To do this, you must have at least one Prospecting Gear in your inventory ($700, General Store, Redhaven).

Locations have finite amounts of gold and gemstones available. Those thresholds are unknown to the player but he'll be notified when a location is close to being depleted.

When landing on a prospect-enabled location, use Investigate Area > "Deploy camp (gold)" or "Enter cave". Some locations only offer gold camps, while some only have caves available. One district, Cole's Canyon, offers both. This is a good starting point for a budding prospector, even if Cole's Canyon's mineral deposits are smaller than Silfren Woods and Bela's Marsh.

Entering caves might potentially be dangerous - you can bruise your knees or be hit by falling rocks. Caves might also contain other valuables like Merchandise.

One prospecting round takes 3-4 hours and costs up to 6 Stamina Points.

Prospecting skill

The MC's prospecting skill is determined by (Science+Survival)/2.

• Artisan 60+ adds a +15 chance modification.
• A Follower with either Science 40+, Survival 40+ or The Scavenger trait adds a +10 modification IF you have more than one Prospecting Gear in your Inventory. Followers with Anger 3+ will not add their help bonus to the chance roll. These bonuses are cumulative - for instance, having four Followers with Science 40+ adds a +40 chance bonus.
• Depleting resources adds a (hidden) chance penalty.