The core idea for gathering materials quickly comes down to working your way up through better tools starting with the basic rock then stone pickaxe and eventually getting your hands on a metal pickaxe or ideally a jackhammer. Something interesting about nodes is they have these shiny white spots, and hitting those will get you resources way faster so always keep an eye out for them.

When youre out farming its good to remember that a jackhammer is gonna be your best friend especially since you can refill it at workbenches which is super convenient. While youre gathering pay attention to your surroundings, since other players tend to hunt farmers and having an escape route planned is pretty important.

Good to know: focusing on hitting those bright spots on the nodes consistently will speed things up quite a bit. The large excavator can be tempting for automated gathering but honestly its usually more trouble than its worth with all the player activity around it. If youre just starting out stick to manual farming with the best tool you can craft, and try to be efficient about your routes so youre not wandering aimlessly between nodes. Save your higher tier tools for when youre actually ready to do some serious farming runs and make sure youve got some basic protection equipped cause standing still while mining makes you an easy target.