In Mines of Titan you play as a miner who's freshly awoken from cryo-sleep in a barely-surviving mining camp. The mines are infested with deadly monsters and there's an invisible infection permeating everything.

The gameplay loop consists of you delving the mines - gathering resources and battling monsters in your way, getting out alive, researching and crafting equipment, improving facilities and going deeper still. There's also side-quests, bosses.

The straits are dire, but with a plan and perseverance you will be able to pull through.

Survival Maintenance

MoT is a survival game in that you have to eat, drink, and sleep. A bit counter-intuitively, the three gauges you have are for unmet requirements - the more they fill up, the more you are in need of drink, food, and sleep, respectively. Keep the gauges in the first half or lower.

Satisfying food requirements is easy and cheap - just buy water and foodstuffs in the Bar or from David's console in Supply, or chow down on cave mushrooms whenever the gauges start filling up.
Satisfying sleep is a bit more involved in that you will predominantly sleep at the Camp. I usually sleep on a cot in the Medbay, but you can also craft/buy a sleeping bag. It takes up space though.

Oxygen in the Mines

The ventilation in the mines is poor, and even with all oxygen filters turned on, you will have to equip an Oxygen Tank to avoid suffocation. Always carry 3 spares whenever going into the mines. You will not die immediately if air runs out, but it's like 50 turns, you'll be lucky to scramble back to the elevator.

Injury and Status-effects

Getting into fights with the monsters will leave you worse-off in many ways. And being the last one standing does by no means guarantee you've won. You will die if your Health (HP) is reduced to zero by monster attacks, but on top of that you have to watch out for deadly status-effects.
The effects are:
Acid - identified by green goo on the floor, leads to HP loss, armor reduction and equipment durability loss. Deadly if untreated.
Bleeding - identified by laceration-like visuals when enemies with claws attack you (for example red lurkers), leads to HP loss. Deadly if untreated.
Fractures - identified by bone-breaking visuals when enemies pummel you. Does not reduce HP, but reduces accuracy and makes you lose turns to flinching.
Burns - identified by, well, fire. Leads to HP loss. Deadly. The only status that can not be cured with items, so prevention is key - wear fire-proof armor when contact with fire is expected.
Poison - identified by purple attacks or clouds, leads to HP loss. Deadly if untreated.
Nano infection - applied by most monster attacks. Buildup reduces available nano-energy and left untreated leads to FUN.

The game also uses a tiered approach to status-effect buildup - status gauge below 30% will have no immediate adverse effects and will diminish over time. There are no quick-icons for this, but exact status gauge values can be viewed in the Status screen (P button). Here's a gauge of some fractures built up, but since they haven't reached 30%, no negative effect icon is shown above the health bar:

Here's a later Status screen with Burn gauge being at 30% and the "Light Burn" negative status effect appearing above the health bar:

Preventing various status gauge buildup will be a matter of equipment and strategy, but when the gauges have exceeded 30%, the correct approach is to apply countermeasures ASAP:

Anti-acid spray to wash off acid, antitoxins to clear poisoning, bandages to stop bleeding, and splints to reduce fractures. Carry two stacks of each.

Nano-infection, while also has a countermeasure, can be controlled with food - once you start finding nano-stones, research blue ones until you get a variant that reduces nano-infection when eating:

Then just carry it around and slot it into the belt when taking a bite.

Keeping the Camp Running

Arguably the least-intuitive aspect of the game.
Same as you have Drink, Food, and Sleep survival requirements, the Camp has Power, Water, and Food requirements. The game always tells you how many turns you've left for each on the upper left. Below 4k in any is very bad an you should work to alleviate that.

Power is generated by burning Methane Fuel which in turn is obtained by recycling raw Methane you've mined.
Water is produced by consuming Phytochemicals which are produced by recycling Nano Cellulose, which in turn can be obtained by recycling plant matter you've gathered (usually Cotton).
Food is produced by consuming Organic Fertilizer which can be made by recycling monster tissues.

To recap:
* Mine Methane -> Recycle Methane to get Methane Fuel -> Power gets produced
* Gather plants -> Recycle plants to get Nano Cellulose -> Recycle 50% of made Cellulose into Phytochemicals -> Water gets produced
* Slay monsters -> gather their bones, skin and blood -> Recycle 50% of each to make Organic Fertilizer -> Food gets grown.

Why only 50% you may ask. The reason is Cellulose and monster tissues will be necessary for other crafting recipes such as plastics, ammo and healing items. Adjust the percentage as need and game-style requires.

Attacks on Reactor

Similarly how you will be attacked individually by monsters, the Camp will also suffer monster incursions. If you fail to defend, all reactor cores will be destroyed and that's a Game Over. You will get a warning about when monsters are incoming, usually 800 turns prior. Make a save whenever this happens and start getting back to the Camp. The monsters will spawn in the Reactor Facility (RF for short) zone in the basement of the Engineering building which is in the upper left of the Camp ([Ground] Engineering -> [B01] Generator -> [B02] Reactor Facility). RF is a special location because it is the only place where turrets can be placed. Make sure to have all three slots equipped, and at least five outward squares around them barricated.

Finally, about the Facility Maintenance and Ration Distribution sliders.

As of 2024-09-12 I believe they are a bit broken in that Facility condition will deteriorate on any setting other than 200%. Rations work as expected - 100% will maintain whatever Living Condition is present. Keeping this in mind, I recommend keeping Maintenance at 200% and Rations at 100% forever to get best recycling and crafting results, but if you are strapped for resources, set Maintenance to 0% till you stabilize.

Contrary to other games where extreme specialization is the key, skill selection and combat in Mines of Titan plays out differently. The ultimate limiting factor is the cost of turns and damage output. Seeing how even 1v1 battles with monsters can be deadly, and monsters regenerating very quickly, you have to play for brutal advantage and be able to wear down enemies at range as well as eliminate them quickly up close.

In practice this means playing Rifler + Sword & Shield + Magic.

Skill build is not strict, but here's what makes sense:
1. [1HM] Counter Stance - free adrenaline for safety
2. [Physical] Quick Dash - get out of trouble
3. Nano Shove - massive utility
4. Nano Recovery - free healing
5. [2HR] Snipe
6. [1HM] Upper Hand
7. [1HM] Dash Combo
8. Nano Wall - detonate exploders
9. [1HM] Shield Mastery
10. Nano Mastery
11. [1HM] Sawshank Boomerang (OP!)
12. [1HM] Counterstrike (1 level is sufficient)
13. [2HR] Focused Stand - more damage in long fights against bosses
14. Physical attributes as needed, Keep Pushing makes life easier

Engage single enemies with the rifle so that monsters are not full health when nearing you.
When monster is 2 squares from you, switch to Sword&Shield, cast Counter Stance, Upper Hand, fight. Always have the possibility to retreat with Quick Dash.
Use Nano Recovery after fights.

Mines of Titan is well designed in that game mechanics are introduced gradually - attacks on reactor, infection, nano research, facility upgrades only come up in their due turn, so pay attention to notifications about these.

Once you're through the tutorial (or opt to skip it) and have access to the main elevator in the central Hub building in the Camp, throw together starting necessities and head down.

Every mining trip checklist

Every time you go down into the mines you want to be equipped to achieve these goals:
1. Be able to activate the next Power Relay - make sure to produce and carry at least one spare Power Relay Fuse
2. Be able to breathe - make sure you have oxygen canisters with you. Four is optimal.
3. Be able to mine and gather - make sure you have a scythe and a pickaxe in decent condition
4. Be able to fight - weapons, armor, status-healing items
5. Be able to slot filters into Oxygen Filter stations - carry two-three with you at all times

Also recommended:
1. Bring lights, usually one more than oxygen canisters
2. Bring Barricades (yes, these work even outside Reactor)
3. Bring repair kits
4. Bring food + nano infection reducing module

Getting to mining

Once you're down in B01, you will have to loop through the initial B01 residence level to reach the Power Relay, and then explore the western part of the same-named, but actually lower B01 residence level to get a keycard for the eastern part that hosts the first Oxygen filter and connection to mine entrace. Push on to get to mine levels and gather everything you see. Beware poison and acid plants, sometimes if you fail, they will produce harmful substances. Just move away if that happens. Pay attention to how many times each type of resource node type can be harvsted, methane rocks can be harvested 4 times even though visually it does not seem so. It's important to gather iron and copper, these will give access to better equipment.

Reach the second Oxygen filter in [B01] Mine C and take the stairs down, then proceed immediately to the left and fight hard through this last hurdle. Once in [B02] Old Leisure, move up and left for the second Power Relay and elevator access. Plug the spare fuse you were told to have into the relay, go into Camp management screen and start sending power to B02, so elevator starts working. Take the elevator back to the surface.

Using the spoils

Once out of the elevator, go to the red storage box in main Hub's left side and dump all the junk and mined, gathered and slaughtered viscera in it. Open Production panel.

Go to the first, Research tab. See if there's any new weapons or armor to research. If not, consider researching Mutant Spine, Mutant Hide or Mutant Bone. Doing so will unloack Corpse gear, which is slightly better than copper gear (tier 2.5) as well as slightly ease fights against corresponding monster types. Do not research other enemy parts or materials at this stage, money is too scarce.

Then go to the third, Recycle tab. Recycle all copper, iron and methane you've found. Recycling junk for wood and plastic is also useful. Go sleep in the medbay.

Once recycling has finished and you have raw materials, open the second, Craft tab in production panel. Here you'll be dazzled by all the cool new toys you can make. Making everything that has the blue "can be reasearched" marker is a good idea, eventually, but for now focus on crafting a better sword, shield, rifle, 100 rounds of ammo, and armor pieces in this order: body armor -> gloves -> boots -> helmet.

Review the mining trip checklist, once you have everything again, head down to B02 and delve deeper.

There are six sources of cash in the game:
1. Recycling resources that give Methane Fuel, Phytochemicals or Organic Fertilizer - basically the Camp pays you for the resources.
2. Selling shards obtained from monsters
3. Selling mined geodes (B04 thereabouts)
4. Selling junk "weapons" like crowbars
5. Doing quests
6. (desperation) selling unrecycled ores or components like Fiber. Late-game nano-stones can also be sold.

Things can be sold either to David via his shop terminal in Supply Depot or to Litzi or Judith in Engineering.

In [B03] you will come across your first facility upgrades. They present as items in the inventory Task tab. Once you find one, review the special item crafting list (the one represented by a page with a question mark, last sub-tab under Crafting tab in Production), there should be item(s) with blue square icons. Check what resources they need, make sure they're all in your stash and proceed to crafting ASAP. A minor hurdle preventing immediate crafting will likely be a lack of Nickel. Delve deeper until you find Nickel ore deposits.

Upgraded facilities should allow you to research further gear. You can research even badly damaged gear, so consider sacrificing what you have equipped and already battle-worn to research something new.

You may need to backtrack to earlier B levels to get iron and copper. Copper is needed to craft Electronics.

By now you should have full command of the game's mechanics. Delve deeper, find facility upgrade items, delve some more to find the ores needed to craft them. Keep improving your gear and maintaining Camp supplies.

Always carry Chemical-Resistant Suit and Flame-Resistant Suit with you. Yes, they take up space, but it's going to be worth it.




Abuse Nano Shove to push enemies off ledges or push them into walls/each other for extra damage.

Try not to engage immediately after a hard fight, let status gauges deplete, spending 20 turns just waiting is fine.

Be sneaky, you can sometimes avoid fights by going around enemies, turn off the light.

It's OK to retreat if things are not going your way. Stumbled into a mass of enemies? Pop a stim and Quick Dash out of there!

Abuse Barricades. They can be put most everywhere and monsters target them preferentially. You can set them up as you spot monsters and prepare for a fight to have a place to fall back to.

Cast Nano Wall to detonate exploders from afar.

Cast Nano Wall when running around camp for easy Nano skill buildup.

Play dirty, barricade doors and throw acid and poison bombs at the monsters behind them, these will negate some of their high natural regeneration.

Engaging ranged enamies is tough, especially the acid launchers. Equip the Chemical-Resistant Suit, get just outside their range, get adrenaline (with Counter Stance) take a couple of steps and then Quick Dash to them. This should minimize the acid spewed on the ground and damaging you over time. If you reach 30%+ acid gauge, use an anti-acid spray immediately.

Do not stress infection level in the mines. When playing on Nightmare it's basically 100% everywhere all the time, and there's no discernable problem (not even more numerous or deadly attacks on Reactor). It's a Game Over only if reactor cores are destroyed, Camp resources run out (keep delving and bringing in that Methane), or you die.

There's a way to abuse Two-handed Melee skill tree for at least 15% more efficient movement - Level Jousting Dash, Adrenaline Rush, and Amped Up + Quick Dash. This should allow to cast Adrenaline Rush every 10 turns and then use Jousting and Quick Dash to cover at least 6 squares over 3 turns.

Thanks for reading and thanks to everyone at Pixellore for making games I enjoy playing.
Lemme know if I've missed something in the comments.