Hello, I have been laser mining the past couple days and was wondering about a couple things. When you prospector limpet an asteroid it shows a percentage of the type of material type you are looking for (Ex: LTD 22%). Then it shows Material Content: Low / Medium / High. Now when you laser and create fragments, are all fragments considered the same size and make the same progress towards create a whole item in the refinery? Does the percentage and material content level matter about how much progress fragments create in the refinery?
Mining mechanics behind fragments?
- Thread starter Iron Golem
- Start date
I might be wrong about some of this, but from my mining experience I think:-
All asteroids, whatever size, give the same number of fragments.
The fragments on average have the percentages of minerals shown by the prospector, but they aren't all the same. I haven't managed to relate percentage in a fragment to how much it fills a refinery bin.
There's a distinction between minerals (shown by the percentages and put in the refinery) and materials (engineering materials). The low/medium/high materials shows you something of how many and what grade of materials turn up. However I think these are just quantised estimates. Some asteroids give a few good materials, others hardly any.
All asteroids, whatever size, give the same number of fragments.
The fragments on average have the percentages of minerals shown by the prospector, but they aren't all the same. I haven't managed to relate percentage in a fragment to how much it fills a refinery bin.
There's a distinction between minerals (shown by the percentages and put in the refinery) and materials (engineering materials). The low/medium/high materials shows you something of how many and what grade of materials turn up. However I think these are just quantised estimates. Some asteroids give a few good materials, others hardly any.
The number of fragments is random within a range. You can tell because the % changes are different when you wear one down. The % composition of each fragment is also random so no, each fragment will not add the same to your refinery. Obs the higher the % prospected the more likely you will fill your 100% faster.
The low/med/high rate for mats is a random factor (because FD just can't let go of it's randomness), so with bad luck a "high" might produce less mats than a low.
The low/med/high rate for mats is a random factor (because FD just can't let go of it's randomness), so with bad luck a "high" might produce less mats than a low.
Incidentally, I don't use a prospector unless I can already see the rock has fissures - if it's a core I want to be able to find all of them quickly. Instead I just use the mining laser and check the contacts panel for composition. It's quicker and saves on limpets.
You'll mine more (with mining laser) from an asteroid that you've prospected, than from one you've not used prospector on. Prospecting limpet doubles the yeld of an asteroid.
The % composition of each fragment adds to what is in the refinery. If you pick up a 35% fragment, that will add 35% to whatever is in your refinery. If you already have 95% of the stuff sitting in your refinery, that will add to 130% - you will get 1T of refined stuff added to your cargo and the left over 30% will remain in your refinery waiting for the next fragment.
Refinery bins count as storage. Once you have filled your cargo hold, you can keep filling refinery bins to 100%. When you get to port and sell your cargo the refinery will automatically refine the full bins to your cargo hold.
The Material Content: Low/Medium/High doesn't directly affect the refining. I would say it affects the %s you get and/or how many fragments.
Refinery bins count as storage. Once you have filled your cargo hold, you can keep filling refinery bins to 100%. When you get to port and sell your cargo the refinery will automatically refine the full bins to your cargo hold.
The Material Content: Low/Medium/High doesn't directly affect the refining. I would say it affects the %s you get and/or how many fragments.
The only thing that matters is the percentage of the stuff you're trying to mine. The higher their percentage, the more you get. I've never seen much difference in the number of fragments, nor the time it takes to mine a rock. There are some exceptions. If the rock has a core and/or surface deposits, the percentage relates to the total of all, so if you don't have an abrasion blaster or equipment for core mining, you don't get it all. Without that equipment, it's best to ignore rocks with cores unless you're not bothered about optimising your efforts.
The time it takes to mine a rock does vary by quite a bit. I know this because I have a macro which fires my mining lasers for exactly the same amount of time. Sometimes it’s not enough and sometimes it’s more than enough and finishes early. I suspect this means the fragment count is different however I’ve never checked because there’s no way to tell in advance anyway.
I didn't know this. Thanks. I'll check it out for myself later.