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 mining 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 +20 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 - having four Followers with Science 40+ adds a +40 chance bonus, for instance.
- Depleting resources adds a (hidden) penalty.