The strip mine is a location featured in Daxter. It is one of two strip mines (the other being the Jak II strip mine), and is located within a wasteland west of Haven City. The area is considerably rich in dark eco, with trommel-fulls, pools, and dark eco crystals able to be seen nearly everywhere. It appeared to be used for the same reasons the strip mine from Jak II is used, as the same equipment is seen in use.
History[]
Daxter first visited the strip mine in response to a distress call the Miner sent to Kridder Ridder. After receiving access to the power station, Osmo told Daxter to go there. Upon arrival, the Miner explained how he was about to hit the "mother lode" while mining for dark eco crystals before metal bugs showed up. Daxter proceeded to collect eight of the crystals for him. The Miner afterward expressed his gratification, saying how Daxter has "no idea how much those Haven City suckers are paying" for them.[1]
The Miner later had Daxter smash spawners to provoke the hive queen, at which point the queen would fly into a "trap" he set, which was Daxter himself. Daxter proceeded to battle and defeat the queen, to the jubilation of the Miner.
Geography[]
Inside the large trommel.
The strip mine is located within a wasteland west of Haven City, south of the lumber mill–Mountain Temple area.[2] The strip mine is divided into major operations (referred to as "strip mine 1" and "strip mine 2" in-game), both of which are accessed via a warp gate in the power station. Key characteristics of the strip mine include trommels, grinders, conveyors, cranes, crates, and other construction equipment, though the terrain consists primarily of soil cliffs, occasionally grass-topped.
A lake of dark eco within a cave.
The corresponding warp gate in strip mine 1 is placed between two large cliffs. Beyond here is a large area with access points to the rest of the mine. Most notably is a massive trommel suspended in the air, placed between two cliffs. Past the trommel is an area with steel scaffolding, which has access points to two elevators. Each elevator leads deeper into the mine, inside cliffs and caves, which contain within them mass amounts of dark eco.
A mining operation with conveyors, grinders, and mine carts.
Atop the scalable cliff supporting the large trommel in the main area is an entrance to the trommel itself, an entrance to a smaller trommel embedded within a cliff, and an elevator that serves as an exit from one of the mining operations accessed via the scaffolding area. The inside of the big trommel leads to a simple cave that also contains an elevator that leads back to the scaffolding area. The inside of the small trommel leads to a cave with a pipe on the ceiling, leading back to the warp gate.
The warp gate in strip mine 2 is placed in the middle of an expansive area surrounded by tall cliffs and a river of dark eco. There are three main points of interest, each of which are accessed by crossing the river (which periodically burps dark eco bubbles that are deadly when they pop). Two of these areas consist of a network of caves with the typical strip mining equipment such as conveyors, grinders, and hanging crates. These caves have the occasional rocky barriers with crystalline objects embedded within them, which are destructible via the ultrasonic attachment. These networks contained spawners before Daxter took them out. The third and final area leads to the arena in which the hive queen was encountered. This area consists of a soil platform surrounded by a small dark eco river. Cliffs surround the area as well, and wasp nests can be seen along the walls of the cliffs.
