Subsurface mining interface

[MarKr The Real One]

Hi,

yes, I know that the subsurface mining has currently very little payoff and it is generally considered a waste of time but still I am curious about the interface.

(don't mind the red arrow, I just googled the picture for illustration)

The lower part of the interface labeled as "quality" shows when to release the trigger. What is the upper, "density" part about? It seems to me that no matter where I release the trigger it always spits out one lump of some resource as long as it is released in the blue zone of the "quality" line. Every "how to mine" manual I've seen or read also said just "release the trigger when in the blue zone".

Is the upper part of the interface really just a visual filler with no purpose or does it also affect something?

 

[Boff'in]

It’s a drill, drilling down through the different rock layers of the asteroid.

The denser the rock, the harder it is for the drill to drill and the slower the drills progress through the rock.

Conversely the less dense the rock is, the quicker the drill moves.

 

[MarKr The Real One]

OK, but that still practically does nothing, does it? What does it matter if the drill moves faster or slower, you're gonna release the trigger once you hit a blue zone in the "quality" part of the interface...

 

[jnTracks]

OK, but that still practically does nothing, does it? What does it matter if the drill moves faster or slower, you're gonna release the trigger once you hit a blue zone in the "quality" part of the interface...

It's meant to warn you when your drill will suddenly accelerate, as it hits soft substrate. So the speed of the bar as it move toward, and eventually past, the blue zone will change depending on the density. So you could miss it if you have really dense rock up until just before the blue zone and you hold it too long, not expecting the sudden jump in speed when it gets to a soft spot.

 

[Ezren]

Out of several attempts, I could only get a few successes out of subsurface mining. Couldn't seem to hit the target proper.

It's still on my mining ship because why not.

 

[MarKr The Real One]

So you could miss it if you have really dense rock up until just before the blue zone and you hold it too long, not expecting the sudden jump in speed when it gets to a soft spot.

Oh, I see...well, I can't say I've ever missed the blue zone but at least I know what it was meant to do. Thanks

 

[jnTracks]

Yeah, I think I’ve fired it exactly one time and then moved on to core mining.
will watch for something of value to be added to this mining type.

 

[Hanni79]

As much as I understand why such "minigames" are implemented, as much I wonder how on earth ( or galaxy ? ) my ships computer isn't capable of stopping the drill in microseconds. Obviously, the computer knows where the blue zone is, but I have to trigger it manually to stop ? Come on... the ships computer can land, but not put a drill to stop ?

 

[jnTracks]

As much as I understand why such "minigames" are implemented, as much I wonder how on earth ( or galaxy ? ) my ships computer isn't capable of stopping the drill in microseconds. Obviously, the computer knows where the blue zone is, but I have to trigger it manually to stop ? Come on... the ships computer can land, but not put a drill to stop ?

Hehe!
Plenty of examples of adv dock comp crashing into everything relentlessly, so...

yeah.

 

[Ezren]

As much as I understand why such "minigames" are implemented, as much I wonder how on earth ( or galaxy ? ) my ships computer isn't capable of stopping the drill in microseconds. Obviously, the computer knows where the blue zone is, but I have to trigger it manually to stop ? Come on... the ships computer can land, but not put a drill to stop ?

An excess of automation leads to a loss of control.

Also the ship's computer can't land, the Docking Computer handles that, and only at a docking bay. It cannot land you on a planet.

 

[Ashnak]

Also the ship's computer can't land, the Docking Computer handles that, and only at a docking bay. It cannot land you on a planet.

But it can land the empty (or "unmanned") ship on a planet. Usually in the rubble field on the other side of the wide, smoth, flat spot you're sitting next to in your SRV.

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

IIRC the density has no impact on your reward and you can ignore it for gathering material purposes as the effect on the speed on scroll (for the blue zone) is negligible

 

[Ezren]

But it can land the empty (or "unmanned") ship on a planet. Usually in the rubble field on the other side of the wide, smoth, flat spot you're sitting next to in your SRV.

Fair enough, though that's mostly just a mechanic to keep us from having to drive back to a return point in an SRV. Driving around would be a nightmare if we had to get back to the origin point.

The core answer to the question is because there's a little challenge to it, but the subsurface minigame is pretty simple - getting them to hit the target seems to be the issue.