Excavation
Excavation is an ability that most Jobs possess, where citizens must dig holes in order to unearth their contents. Holes are found all over The World of Little King's Story and mostly contain spoils.
Overview
Holes are an obstacle in Little King's Story. Like most obstacles, they can be targeted and have an associated health bar. Unlike most obstacles, however, they do not stand in the way or pose an inconvenience, merely offering a reward for their "destruction".
Holes have three sizes:
- A small hole: when citizens dig this hole, up to four can surround it and dig from its edges. Soldiers will not fall in this hole.
- A medium-sized hole: citizens will climb into the hole to dig it. Soldiers will also not fall in this hole.
- A large hole: citizens will also climb into this hole, and it can fit even more citizens, but Soldiers are able to fall in and take 1HP of damage.
When a hole is finished, it may either produce treasure, become a larger hole or, very rarely, produce nothing. Most holes will be small by default, but some will already be medium-sized or large before being dug. On rare occasion, a large hole will turn into another large hole, such as the islet at the end of the area known as Near New Island.
Holes can either be set in place or randomly generated. Holes can be hidden under other destructible obstacles.
Holes are marked on the radar by a yellow X shape.
Special Holes
Cracks
Cracks will appear in the ground, often blending in with the environment. Unlike most obstacles and regular holes, Corobo cannot target them and most citizens will not react to them at all, not even showing their confusion for the obstacle. In essence, most citizens act like they are not there. However, they can be opened by either the Hardworking Farmer or Craftian by running over them under Corobo's command. The Farmer or Craftian will leap into the air and slam into the ground to open them. After this, they will become regular holes or, if they emit steam, they will become a Hot Spring or Geyser.
Hidden Holes
Hidden holes are a variety of hole which are not visible by default. Additionally, they will not appear on the radar. To make them visible, and thus intractable, Corobo must command a citizen over their exact location; the citizen will discover the hole, shown by a lightbulb above their head, and the hole will appear, allowing it to be interacted with as any regular hole. Alternatively, the Savvy Merchants possess a passive ability which allows them to discover holes simply by walking in near proximity to them while in the Royal Guard. Hidden holes are most prominent on the New Island and during TV Dinnah's battle.
Shining Holes
Shining holes do not differ from regular holes in functionality. Their appearance merely indicates a greater reward inside the hole. If a hole is glowing, it either has an expensive spoil, an Art piece, a Flying Machine part, a Weapon or Armor.
UMA Holes
Sometimes the excavation of a hole will be interrupted by a group of three Onii emerging from the hole, which will be alerted on the news ticker. Stronger UMA can also appear after a stage of a hole has been completed and has moved on to the next (small to medium, medium to large, large to large). In this latter instance, any single UMA can appear, and this will not be notified on the news ticker.
Other Holes
During the Last Ingredient! quest, a hole that looks like a pair of lips appears at the Foot-Shaped Peninsula in Skull Plains. The lips-shaped hole also occasionally performs an attack during its excavation where it breathes fire and spits Crab Onii on occasion.
Job Performance
Unless they use it to dig, citizens will throw away anything they are holding before digging, which takes a few seconds before initiating the excavation. For jobs that hold a non-digging tool by default, such as Buff Lumberjacks or Animal Hunters, they will always have to throw their tool away first before they start to dig. Jobs that use their tool to dig naturally and jobs that do not hold anything do not have this animation and can start digging immediately, unless they are equipped with a weapon item, in which case they will similarly throw it away before they begin digging.
| Tier | Job | Description |
|---|---|---|
| S | Hardworking Farmer, Craftian | Pummels hole, dives into medium and large holes |
| A | Carefree Child | Hands, but faster than peers |
| B+ | Carefree Adult, Giga Carpenter, Savvy Merchant, Mountie | Average, but uses hands instantly |
| B- | Buff Lumberjack, Regular Carpenter, Mega Carpenter, Gourmet Cook, Animal Hunter, Rainbow Wizard, Brainy Doctor, Eggan, Broadcaster | Average, but must swap tool with shovel first |
| C | Ripped Miner | Pickaxe, slow |
| X | Grunt Soldier, Hardened Soldier, Steel Knight | Cannot dig, falls into large holes to take damage |
Trivia
- Early trailers show citizens digging up pots which would presumably be broken to release their treasure. This is even shown in artwork of the Farmers. In the final game, no destructible obstacles come out of holes.
- Holes used to have a much more three-dimensional design. In the final game, this would only be used for the countries in TV Dinnah's battle.
- Oddly, TV Dinnah's country holes are all marked on the radar before the battle begins, but cannot be interacted with.