Minerals

by alexburlton

Definition

Minerals are especially precious rocks found throughout the universe. They are collected by the process of mining and, in the lack of any universal currency, are the most accepted and therefore most common means of trade. Minerals can be exchanged with merchants, who can be found all over the universe, for items and upgrades to help the prisoner in his/her mining missions. Your mineral count is recorded as the number of green minerals you have collected, and so other mineral colours are first converted into the equivalent amount of greens to make bartering easier and simpler for both parties.

Collecting Minerals

Minerals are collected while playing levels, and are harvested from certain types of bricks. Mineral bricks are NOT required to complete a level and it is therefore possible to leave a sector without having fully exploited its mineral potential. Mineral bricks come in three different varieties: green, blue and magenta. Green minerals are the most common in the universe and so are not worth much to merchants. Blue minerals are worth 5 greens, and the rarest by far, the magenta minerals, are worth 25 greens. Mineral-rich coordinates can be found using various data sheets or the alphabounce path planner, but these resources are works-in-progress and so there are many, many sectors which have not yet been recorded.

In levels, mineral bricks act similarly to normal bricks. They take one hit to destroy, and upon destruction the minerals inside are immediatly added to your mineral count at the top-right corner of the screen. Harvesting these minerals is a specific process which is inhibited by various powerups. [G], for example, freezes the conglomerate, causing it to smash upon the second hit. In smashing, the mineral(s) inside are instantly lost. Similarly, powerups such as [O] and [Q] remove mineral bricks without harvesting the minerals inside. It is worth noting, however, that [T] extracts the minerals from the conglomerates and so is a worthwhile powerup to have in mineral-rich areas. Minerals can also be collected by Drones (Item) once the "collector" upgrade is acquired.

Finally, minerals can also be found on the surface of some planets. These minerals are exposed and do not require any specific mining process, allowing the prisoner to directly collect them while moving around. In some areas, especially in some houses, very rare minerals can be found and so it's worth landing to check certain areas out.

Once you have played a level, the minerals will not return for a long time. The time for a mineral to regenerate is estimated to be at around 200 plays. If you play the level before then, the mineral brick will be gray instead of its original color.