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From time to time, I download a new idle android game and play it from time to time. This time, the game I downloaded was Idle Miner Tycoon. They're normally not demanding without any real timeline, but in this case, I got addicted I found myself playing the game all the time for a week. The learning curve for this style of game is fairly low, and that's just as true for Idle Miner Tycoon. But they also lose their replay value fairly quickly from doing the same task over and over. And once a large number of mines have been created, they create a new currency type out of the blue that is similar to restarting the same game.
Idle Miner Tycoon Basics
It's simple. There are many different mine locations. Each mine locations operates in exactly the same way, however they collect different types of minerals, which convert to different amounts.:
- There is one Warehouse, with one warehouse attendant. The warehouse attendant moves minerals from the elevators to the warehouse. The max mineshaft level is 2400.
- There is one Elevator, with one elevator attendant. The elevator attendant collects minerals from the different levels of the mine. The max mineshaft level is 2400.
- There are multiple mineshafts, each with their own attendant. They collect a different amount at different rates. The max mineshaft level is 800.
Each of the attendants at the warehouse, elevator, and mine can be upgraded to improve how fast they move, how fast they mine, and capacity. When the various attendant attributes are added together, each of the attendants have a total mining speeds per second.
Part of the goal is to get the the total of the mineshafts to be near or at the rate of collection of the elevator and the rate of transportation of the warehouse. Your mine's total collection speed will be the slowest of the three.
Idle Miner Tycoon Strategy
After almost a couple of weeks, I've developed my set of tips and strategies to most quickly update mines at my mineshafts.
- Keep the warehouse, elevator, and mineshafts at the same rate. The three will only mine at the speed of the lowest building. Use the Mine Overview popup to easily monitor the totals.
- If you plan on actively playing vs idle playing, it's worth spending money to get the right attendant. If you can find Executive attendants, you can reduce the skill by 80%. My favorite is the 80% off upgrade cost.
- Use attendants wisely. Don't activate all at once in the mine, otherwise you won't have enough money to take action on all the buildings. I like to take them one at a time.
- Get Super Managers with double skills. These can be purchased by completing Mainland mines. Super Managers can move around to any mine, last forever, but have the same countdown timers.
- Make certain to collect your daily bonus. It doesn't need to be consecutive days, but the best gift comes after 30 days of playing the game. It resets after that time.
- Keep the Expeditions going (from the main screen). Though it works faster with friends, doing it solo works just as good.
- "Prestige" your mines when you get the chance. You'll need to rebuild the mine (which is tedious), but you'll make more money.
- Once you "Prestige" an existing mine, focus upgrades on upgrading the barriers which take time to complete in the first sitting.Upgrade the level of the mine afterwards.
- Earn Super Cash which can be exchanged in the store for limited time boosters.
Improvements to Idle Miner Tycoon
After playing long enough, the part of the game that makes me the most impatient is the time it takes to switch between mines. Once the game has progressed, it isn't unlikely to have nine mines. Unless you opt to watch an advertisement, you'll need to to collect earnings one at a time. And when it takes 5-6 seconds per mine to load, I get impatient.
Other than that, I wish there were some differentiation between the mines, other than the wording for the currency and some of the images.
The Event Badges are interesting, but other than being the same as any other mine, and the potential to earn a badge. No additional profits.