Damage

Damage is caused to the Hull by several reasons. If the Hull's health reaches zero, the mining pod explodes, causing a game over, and you must restart at the last save point.

Health does not regenerate on its own. The Emendation Station 3500 will repair any damage instantly, at the rate of approximately $15 per HP. Hull Repair Nanobots (costs $7500 each) can repair 30 damage each, anytime, anywhere. Buying a new hull at Autobuy 2000 also fully recover health immediately.

Fall Damage
Fall damage occurs when your machine falls from height, causing your pod to fall fast. The maximum height where you don't get fall damage is 24 ft (just under 2 squares).

There are six levels of fall damage: 8 is the maximum normal fall damage as it is based on speed which does not increase once past the 600 ft mark (terminal velocity).

Quantum Teleporters can be a source of fall damage, since it sometimes flings you to the ground, resulting in 5 to 9 fall damage.

Fall Damage cannot kill you if you are at full health, since even the weakest Stock Hull has 10 HP. Dangerous early on, but later becomes more of an annoyance.

Lava pockets
Lava pockets start to appear under about -3000 ft. Drilling into lava does damage which can only be lessened by purchasing stronger Radiators. It is generally advisable to dispose of lava pockets with Dynamite, which deals no damage to you, as they are cheaper than Hull Repair Nanobots, unless this would deny you valuable minerals.

Lava damage can be lethal without the necessary equipment. There are two possible lava pocket damages, with each being approximately 58 and 41.

Damages from Lava pockets can be reduced with an upgraded radiator, since it 'dissipates' the heat. To survive a lava pocket, you should have AT LEAST a Steel Hull(50 HP) and a Single Turbine Radiator(-25% DMG).

The following Table represents Lava damage with the corresponding radiators(Two possible damages, +- 1~2HP) Lava Pockets are certainly dangerous, but since they are clearly visible and can be avoided, it is less of a threat than the Methane Gas Pockets.

With the strongest hull, strongest radiator, relatively little damage is done, making it possible to drill valuable ores by deliberately going through lava, rather than by blasting, and using Repair Nanobots when damage requires them.

Natural gas pockets
The holy terror of Mars. Natural gas pockets look exactly like normal soil, but explode like Dynamite (but the explosion is green) and severely damaging you when drilled in, killing you instantly without sufficient Hull and Radiator upgrades.

Gas pockets vary in damage, influenced by the depth of the gas pocket. Luckily they do not turn up until -4,750ft at least, and very rare until -4,950 ft, where gas pockets increase suddenly. The deeper you go, the more common it becomes, and by the time you hit -6,500~-7,000, it is guaranteed. Like lava, they can be safely disposed of with explosives, and this becomes more and more advantageous deeper where gas pockets are more common and deal more damage.

Gas pockets do award the same score points (multiples of 5 points) as plain dirt.

Gas Pockets explode like dynamite except that the explosion is green, not reddish, and the hull takes damage.

The formula for gas damage is {(Depth in feet+3000)/15} x 1-(Radiator's Effectiveness)

Depth in feet must have the minus value(e.g. -4950), and the result should be a minus, which is the HP damage. Radiator's Effectiveness should be in decimals, since it is based on %(e.g. 40% -> 0.4)


 * Damage may vary by +- 1 HP


 * Bold letters represents instant death(-180 HP), italics represent: death at $100,000 Hull(-120 HP), which is widely used for survival from a gas pocket.

The following table represents maximum depth a pod could go without instant death from a gas pocket. /: instant death

italics: possible but impractical(radiator cost > Hull cost)

*Bold: No depth available (deeper than the core at -7300 ft.)

Trivia

 * As lava deals damage twice, it is technically survivable with Bronzium Hull and using Hull Repair Nanobots. This is not cost-effective however, since Hull Repair Nanobots costs more than a Steel Hull, which is the first 'legitimate' Hull to survive lava.