Mining, ores and essences
Mining is where your coins come from. Your coins per second are your damage per second, so every pet you hatch is really a mining upgrade. You can break rocks by hand for the best rate or let your team mine on its own, and in practice you do both.
The rule that catches new players: your pets do not mine on their own until you research the Auto Miner. It opens at level 11 and costs 10 Forest Essence.
What you earn while playing, idling, or away
- Ore drop rate
- Full rate
- Coin and gem income
- Full rate
- Ore drop rate
- 30%
- Coin and gem income
- Not reduced
- Ore drop rate
- 50%
- Coin and gem income
- 50%
Three states, three rates
Time Heroes treats hands-on mining, an open tab you are not touching, and a closed game as three different things. The difference is large enough to plan around.
| What you earn | Playing | Tab open, idle | Game closed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coins | Full rate, plus the coins you tap for | Full rate | Half rate, and only for the away hours you own |
| Ore | Best rate, breaking a rock by hand pays the most | A throttled idle rate | Half the idle rate, inside the same away hours |
| World essence | Yes | Yes | Yes, inside the same away hours |
| Item drops | Yes, once the drop research is bought | Yes | Only if you own away hours |
Away hours start at zero
Earning while the game is closed is something you unlock. Every new account has zero away hours, which is why a fresh player who closes the tab comes back to nothing.
The Auto Miner is what switches away earning on. After that, a later research card extends the window, and a shuttle sleep module, colony perks and the Paradox tree each add more hours on top. Your away earnings stop when your hours run out, not when the day does.
Every world has one signature essence
Essence is a world's own material, and it is what research cards, craft recipes and shuttle parts are priced in. Its rarity band climbs with the worlds, from Uncommon in the first world up to Secret in the tenth.
| World | Signature essence | Rarity band |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Forest Realm | Forest Essence | Uncommon |
| 2 Magic Hollow | Magic Essence | Rare |
| 3 Molten Depths | Flame Essence | Rare |
| 4 Sakura Hills | Sakura Essence | Epic |
| 5 Heaven's Gate | Divine Essence | Legendary |
| 6 Stormspire | Storm Essence | Mythical |
| 7 Shadowvale | Shadow Essence | Celestial |
| 8 Icewaste | Frost Essence | Galactic |
| 9 Eternal Kingdom | Royal Essence | Eternal |
| 10 Edge of Time | Edge Essence | Secret |
What essences are for
Essence is the material the game keeps asking for once coins alone stop being the answer. A world unlock itself is paid in coins, but the boss standing in front of that door charges essence to fight.
- Research cards, starting with the 10 Forest Essence the Auto Miner needs
- Craft recipes and shuttle parts, priced in the essence of the world they belong to
- World boss entry fees, each one paid in that world's own essence
- Colony donations, which accept materials as well as gems
Ores and the industrial layer
Ore is a second resource layer and it starts at level 10, when coal appears in the ground alongside the shuttle. Copper follows at level 11 with the Smelter, and more ores open as you climb. Ore does not feed hatching at all. It feeds the shuttle chain, which turns raw rock into ingots, parts and finally ship modules.
That split is worth learning early. Essence and coins move you through the worlds, ore builds your ship. You dig them out of the same ground and you spend them in completely different halves of the game.
The Digsite
The Digsite opens at level 33 and is a different kind of extraction. One shovel buys a whole expedition down through ten layers of ground. Each layer is a small grid: you dig, then choose to go deeper for richer loot or cash out and keep what you are carrying.
Every layer hides at least one cave-in tile, the surface included. Step on one and the run ends and the whole haul goes with it, including everything you banked on the way down.
Why is my mining paying nothing in Time Heroes?
Your pets do not mine on their own until you research the Auto Miner. It opens at level 11 and costs 10 Forest Essence. Until then, coins arrive only when you break rocks yourself.
Does Time Heroes keep earning when I close the tab?
Only for the away hours you have unlocked, and coins pay at half rate while the game is closed. Every new account starts with zero away hours until the Auto Miner is bought.
What do essences do in Time Heroes?
Each of the ten worlds drops one signature essence. Essences pay for research, craft recipes, shuttle parts and world boss entry fees, and they can be donated to a colony. The world unlock itself is a coin cost.