Shaft Mining

Shaft Mining
Availability
Introduced in	Age of Empires IV
Civilization	All civilizations
Age	Castle Age
Research
Researched at	Mining Camp Ger Forge Steppe Redoubt Kura Storehouse
Prerequisite(s)	Specialized Pick
Required for	Cupellation
Wood	100
Gold	250
Research time	60 seconds
Effect
Villager gold / stone gather rate +15%

Shaft Mining (named Acid Distillation before update 12.0.1974) is a technology in Age of Empires IV that can be researched at the Mining Camp, Forge, Ger, or various landmarks starting in the Castle Age. Once researched, it increases the rate at which Villagers mine Gold and Stone by 15%.

Civilization bonuses

• Abbasid Dynasty: Research speeds are +15%/+20% faster while Golden Age tiers 2/3 are active. If Preservation of Knowledge has been researched, this technology costs -20%.
• Ayyubids: Research speeds are 25% faster while Golden Age tier 2 is active
• Byzantines: Research speeds are 30% faster per water level at buildings within the influence of a Cistern with the Dialecticus ability active.
• Chinese and Zhu Xi's Legacy: The technology researches 150% faster when the Mining Camp is supervised by an Imperial Official. For Zhu Xi's Legacy, this can be improved to 300% faster after researching Regional Inspection.
• Delhi Sultanate: The technology is free, but takes 5x as long to research (300 seconds instead of 60 seconds).
• French and Jeanne d'Arc: Economic technologies are 35% cheaper.
• Malians: Technologies take less time to research based on how much gold has been obtained through trade.
• Mongols: Can research Improved technology for another 350 stone - Villager gold and stone gather rate +22.5%.

Changelog

• Originally, the Mongols' Improved Acid Distillation provided an additional 5% gathering rate (for a total bonus of 20%). With Season Two Update 17718, it provides an additional 7.5% gathering rate (for a total bonus of 22.5%).
• Originally, Acid Distillation cost 150 wood, 350 gold and took 75 seconds to research. With update 24916, it costs 100 wood, 250 gold and takes 60 seconds to research.
• Originally, the technology was named Acid Distillation and used the same icon as Specialized Pick. With update 12.0.1974, it was renamed to Shaft Mining and the icon was changed to its current version.

Campaign version

Because the original four campaigns have not been rebalanced since the release of the game, Shaft Mining is still called Acid Distillation and has different stats in those campaigns:

• It only affects gold mining rates, not stone mining (there is a separate technology for stone called Planned Extraction)
• It costs 400 gold and takes 75 seconds to research
• The Mongol improved version costs +400 stone and increases gather rate by an additional 5% only (for a total of +20%).