Mining and Dwarves Walkthrough
From the first click to a mixed crew, then through orb cycles using the June demo as a map of the early tree.
This is a progression walkthrough for Mining and Dwarves, the Sockhouse Studios incremental that launched in full on 27 August 2026 after a free demo on 10 June 2026. Single-player only, no prestige: you keep this save. The first session is not a 100 percent of the board. It is a mixed crew, Super Auto Miner, and the orb cycle that prints void shards.
A slower first-hour checklist lives in getting started. This page is the route after the mouse already works.
First rocks and the first pay
On boot you pick Auto Click or Manual Click. Auto is the one to live with. Click (or hover, in Auto) the rocks on the floor until they shatter. Drops sit until they are hauled into the central deposit. You are the only hauler until a collector exists, so do not panic when ore sits there; the bar still wants it.
Filling the deposit spawns a special orb. Mine the orb too. When it dies, rocks return and you get paid: gold plus void shards. That pair of wallets is the whole economy. Gold is spending money. Shards open the skill tree. There are no redeem codes and no second map.
Do not wait for a hidden tutorial about prestige. There is not one. Every shard you spend in the next hour is still spent next month.
Hire a mixed crew, then unlock Super Auto Miner
Open the tree as soon as you have a few shards. The first honest spike is a dwarf miner (damages rocks) plus a dwarf collector (hauls to the deposit). That mixed pair is documented on miners and collectors. Do not stack three of one role because the icon is on sale.
Player mining damage is a fine early pickup while you are still the clicker. Worker movement speed and collector carry are better the moment the pair exists. Max rocks plus one is the density node people skip; take it when the floor looks empty under your cursor.
Unlock Super Auto Miner as soon as it is reachable. Press Q. The cursor auto-clicks for a short burst, about seven seconds on a long cooldown. You still have to hover. Park it on a cluster, not empty dirt. Cooldown ranks beat tiny duration ranks; the skill tree page is the longer version.
While Q is down, let the crew work. While Q is up, you are the extra miner. That is the game.
Orb cycles until the demo board is clear
Once Q exists, play in cycles, not in a trance.
- Hover Q across a cluster until the floor is rubble.
- Let collectors feed the deposit.
- When the special orb spawns, hover Q onto it and fire Multi Ore (W) on the orb, not on a random brown rock.
- Spend the shards. Repeat.
Ore Vacuum and Refresher show up on the same early board. Vacuum is weak. Refresher resets cooldowns if Q and W are down and the orb is alive. Strike the Earth is a worker window with a ruby gem chance. Click pies if they spawn.
Keep recruiting in mixed pairs. Buy worker speed when the next ability rank is too expensive. Treat max rocks as a Q multiplier. Compare forks against the skill path ranking when two nodes cost the same.
The June demo is the best map of that early board. Sifd 100 percented it. That video is a tour of every node the demo will sell you, not a claim that the full game ends there. When the demo board is bought out, leftover locks remain: Big Rock, Reactive Rocks, Strike the Earth multiplier, and Enhancer multiplier. Those are full-game or later-tree nodes, not missing bugs. If your save shows the same locks, you did not break the tree.
Use that 100 percent as a checklist: mixed crew, Q cooldown ranks, W on the orb, vacuum and refresher, new rocks as they appear. No invented drop percentages.
What the 27 August 2026 launch adds
The full game is not a different loop. It is a bigger tree on the same floor.
The demo shipped two dwarf types (miner, collector) and four player abilities. The launch build advertises five dwarf types and eight unique player abilities. Three extra specialists join the crew; the demolition dwarf is the one named in Steam reviews. Do not invent names for the other two. The full eight abilities are Super Auto Miner, Multi Ore, Ore Vacuum, Refresher, Strike the Earth, Big Rock, Reactive Rocks, and Enhancer.
You also get more rock types and clickable pies that enhance skills. Pies are floor pickups. Click them. New rocks change how long a stone lives, not where shards come from.
Launch does not add prestige, multiplayer, or a reason to reroll. If you already 100 percented the demo, you are buying the four leftover locks and the new dwarf branches. Read demo versus full for the side-by-side, then spend shards as if this is the only save you will have.
The walkthrough ends when Q, W, a mixed crew, and the orb cycle are habits. After that you are on the bigger tree, not in a new game. Some hours will feel cozy. Some will feel like a linear slog with clutter. Same floor either way.
Frequently Asked Questions
Quick answers to the most common questions.
What should I unlock first?
A miner and a collector, then Super Auto Miner. Player damage is fine before the crew exists. Cooldown on Q beats extra duration.
Where do I use Multi Ore?
On the special orb that spawns when the deposit fills. Using W on a random early rock wastes the burst.
Does Sifd's demo 100 percent mean the full game is done?
No. That run maps the early tree. Leftover locks (Big Rock, Reactive Rocks, Strike the Earth multiplier, Enhancer multiplier) are later-tree or full-game nodes.
What does the full launch add over the demo?
Three extra dwarf types (demolition dwarf is the named one), four extra abilities, more rock types, and pies. Same loop, bigger board, still no prestige.
Are there exact drop rates for gems and pies?
Not published here. Strike the Earth can spawn a ruby gem, pies boost skills when clicked, and we will not invent tables.
Is there multiplayer or a reset?
No. Single-player, persistent progression, Steam Cloud. Plan the tree as if you will keep the save.