CastleMiner Z Tips and Tricks
Each entry below is one mechanic, what it costs you, and the update it was last checked against. Filter by category or difficulty to narrow the list, and use the anchor beside any heading to link straight to a single tip.
Dragons
#The Undead Dragon force-spawns at 4,000 blocks on odd days only
It carries 1,000 HP, the most of any dragon in the game. If you are camped at the 4,000 block mark wondering why nothing has arrived, check the day counter rather than your position, and bring a Bloodstone LMG or a laser assault rifle with plenty of ammunition.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Tools
#The Bloodstone Pickaxe is the best tool and it is not unbreakable
Ten Bloodstone blocks and 3 Diamonds buy you something that mines around four times faster than Diamond and is the only pickaxe that handles Lava and Space Rock. Expect roughly two to three hours of real playtime before it wears out entirely.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Weapons
#An energy weapon's color tells you its trim, not its power
Iron makes red, copper green, gold yellow, and diamond blue. A Blue Laser Pistol costs 2 Space Goo and 3 Diamonds against the Red's 2 Space Goo, 2 Diamonds, and 1 Iron, so blue is the expensive option rather than a weaker one. Guides calling Red the top tier mean the cheapest trim.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Biomes
#Hell is 40 blocks down or 3,400 blocks out, whichever you prefer
Both routes reach the same biome, which means you do not have to make the long walk if you would rather dig. It brings lava pits, unique blocks, and enemies that hit harder and take more damage than anything on the surface near spawn.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Bases
#Wall yourself in and nothing can reach you
Zombies do not spawn underground and skeletons cannot break blocks, so a box of copper, iron, or bloodstone holds indefinitely. Simply going underground works too. That combination is what makes safe idling possible at all.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
#Going underground removes zombies and nothing else
Skeletons still appear in caves and aliens still spawn at Alien Crash Sites, so the ground is not the safe zone it gets described as. It is a sealed chamber that protects you rather than depth by itself, because an open cave system underground is still hostile.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Difficulty
#Walking 1,000 blocks raises your threat more than 20 days does
Enemy difficulty is driven almost entirely by distance from spawn and by biome rather than by how long you have survived. That is the most important thing to understand about the pacing, because sitting still keeps a world mild indefinitely.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Bases
#A dragon fireball destroys sand and wood the moment it lands
That makes either one worthless as an outer wall on Hard mode however thick you build it. Use Bloodstone, Diamond Walls, Bulletproof Glass, Space Rock, or Space Goo for anything on the surface that you want to still be there tomorrow.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Ammunition
#Bullets cost materials, so do not spend diamond on surface zombies
Crafting ammunition needs a constant supply, and a weak zombie dies just as well to iron or copper. Keep the diamond and bloodstone rounds for dragons and aliens, which are the only things that genuinely need them.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Loot
#Gold Loot Blocks never appear in Endurance or Dragon Endurance
They are real and drop three items each, including laser rifles, a diamond LMG, bloodstone, and explosives, but they spawn underground and on sky islands in Survival, Exploration, and especially Scavenger mode. They are also not a Crash Site feature.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Resources
#Trees never grow back, so logs are finite where you stand
Do not burn wood on anything stone can do. The world does repeat as you travel, meaning Forest biomes reappear far out past Hell, but that is a long and dangerous walk rather than a renewable supply next to your base.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Achievements
#Only Endurance mode awards achievements, and solo is fine
Survival, Creative, and Dragon Endurance award nothing at all, which is the single most common reason players see no progress after hours of play. Solo Endurance counts perfectly well for the kill, craft, distance, and day achievements, so you do not need a lobby.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
#The time-played achievements are not broken any more
DigitalDNA patched them in August 2025, and Update 1.9.9.8 states plainly that entries like MinerZ Potato now accumulate and save correctly. The same update reduced out-of-memory crashes. Any guide describing them as permanently broken predates that fix.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
#MinerZ Potato wants 100 hours, not one unbroken run
It accumulates across sessions, so ordinary play gets you there without any special setup. The old timer bug that reset progress whenever the game closed or crashed was fixed by Update 1.9.9.8, which is what made the achievement reachable at all.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Tools
#Make the Bloodstone Pickaxe your first goal underground
It will not last forever, but it mines fast enough that you spend far less total time replacing tools than you spend crafting it, and it is what opens up Space Rock. Everything else in the deep underground goes faster once it is in your hands.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Weapons
#Both halves of an energy weapon come from Alien Crash Sites
You craft the guns from Space Goo and their bullets from Space Rock, and both materials are found there, which puts the entire top of the technology tree behind finding one. Nothing else in the world produces either material.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Lobbies
#Host a passcode-protected lobby if you want to idle safely
Since the August 2025 fix the time achievements accumulate through ordinary play, so idling is optional rather than required. If you want to anyway, a locked Endurance lobby with yourself sealed in a box keeps the run alive with nobody able to wander in.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Saves
#Endurance cannot be saved, so a crash ends the run
There is no manual save at all in that mode, and disconnecting or closing the game finishes what you were doing. Since Endurance is also the only mode that awards achievements, every long attempt is a single unbroken sitting whether you planned it that way or not.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
Achievements
#The elaborate idling rituals exist because runs used to vanish
Closing or crashing the game reset the playtime counter for most of this game's life, and players reported losing progress at 30, 33, 89, and even 91 hours. That history is why so much surviving advice reads like a superstition, and it no longer applies.
Verified on 1.9.9.8
What to Read Next
- Enemies and Biomes. What actually scales difficulty, every dragon, and where Hell begins.
- Weapons and Tiers. The full crafting ladder, energy weapon trims, and tool durability.
- Game Modes. Endurance, Survival, Creative, and what each one does and does not track.
- Achievements. Which mode counts, and the timer bug that was finally fixed.
- Getting Started. Your first night, finite resources, and building somewhere safe.
- Multiplayer and Controls. Lobbies, passcodes, and playing with other people.