Does it make sense to use Junior Drill-O-Matic on an asteroid?

[Mare Veris]

Hello, friendly people!

The Junior Drill-O-Matic is supposed to work only on more than 2.5% ore concentration. if I employ this part on an asteroid, then I assume that at some point the ore concentration will fall below this threshold, and the Junior will refuse to work any more.

Is that right? Do you use Junior on asteroids, or do you always haul the big one?

[KocLobster]

Indeed, the ore concentrations will be reduced as you mine more and more ore. As a result, you may wish to not use the junior drill. However, this should depend on exactly what the specific concentration of ore is where you plan to mine. If it's already pretty close to 2.5%, then you may want to bring the bigger drill, or pick a different spot.

[Plusck]

Asteroid ore concentration is extremely high (80% to start with, IIRC) so it will take a long time before concentration drops below usable levels.

Still, I've only ever used the big drills and ISRU on asteroids. The only time I've ever used the smaller ISRU was because I was landing on Tylo and didn't want to need a huge lander, and the smaller drill I've only ever used on a spaceplane, again because weight was a bit of an issue.

Edited April 19, 2016 by Plusck

[davidpsummers]

I had assumed that they just gave 2.5% as a level that most people would consider "to slow".  I'm I correct that it doesn't work at all below 2.5%?  Also, I was unaware that the ore got "used" up as you pulled it out.  Is this just for asteroids or also for planetary surfaces?

[FancyMouse]

I don't think Asteroid mining has any concerns about concentrations. I've got multiple empty (literally 0%) asteroid after drilling with junior drills.

[Mare Veris]

4 minutes ago, davidpsummers said:

I had assumed that they just gave 2.5% as a level that most people would consider "to slow".  I'm I correct that it doesn't work at all below 2.5%?  Also, I was unaware that the ore got "used" up as you pulled it out.  Is this just for asteroids or also for planetary surfaces?

Yes, it does not work at all. you can build a rover (or anything with wheels), put the Junior on it, drive off the runway, and try to engage the drill. You will see the message about something being too low. (I do not remember it exactly).

I have read (somewhere, *I do not remember* where exactly) that the ore resources do not get "depleted" on planets (and moons and dwarf planets) currently, but that might possibly be changed in future releases.

(Actually, if you drive slightly more south of the KSC, about 1km, or so, you should find a spot with 5% ore concentration - I've put a harvesting behemoth there, and I'm waiting a month until it gets its tanks filled with precious ore which I will then convert to monopropellant and liquid fuel, and then drive back, and recover it on the runway, and BE RICH! )

[Plusck]

36 minutes ago, FancyMouse said:

I don't think Asteroid mining has any concerns about concentrations. I've got multiple empty (literally 0%) asteroid after drilling with junior drills.

Yeah, that makes sense. I've certainly not noticed any decrease in mining speed when an asteroid nears depletion. It just *empties* like a tank.

[Grumman]

43 minutes ago, Mare Veris said:

I have read (somewhere, *I do not remember* where exactly) that the ore resources do not get "depleted" on planets (and moons and dwarf planets) currently, but that might possibly be changed in future releases.

It won't. It's quite unlikely that your space program is mining enough to make a real dent in a planet's geology, it would be less fun if your game could literally run out of ore to mine, and the way ore levels are calculated is not conductive to such a change in the first place.

[Mare Veris]

8 minutes ago, Grumman said:

It won't. It's quite unlikely that your space program is mining enough to make a real dent in a planet's geology, it would be less fun if your game could literally run out of ore to mine, and the way ore levels are calculated is not conductive to such a change in the first place.

Uff, that clears out some of my fears.

[Nich]

2 hours ago, Mare Veris said:

Yes, it does not work at all. you can build a rover (or anything with wheels), put the Junior on it, drive off the runway, and try to engage the drill. You will see the message about something being too low. (I do not remember it exactly).

I have read (somewhere, *I do not remember* where exactly) that the ore resources do not get "depleted" on planets (and moons and dwarf planets) currently, but that might possibly be changed in future releases.

(Actually, if you drive slightly more south of the KSC, about 1km, or so, you should find a spot with 5% ore concentration - I've put a harvesting behemoth there, and I'm waiting a month until it gets its tanks filled with precious ore which I will then convert to monopropellant and liquid fuel, and then drive back, and recover it on the runway, and BE RICH! )

Launch tanks full of ore and refine to mono, recover, profit

[Mare Veris]

On 19.04.2016 at 1:09 AM, Nich said:

Launch tanks full of ore and refine to mono, recover, profit

[a big, loud facepalm] I can only hope that I'm much better in constructing stuff than in making business.

[fourfa]

On 4/19/2016 at 1:37 PM, Mare Veris said:

you can build a rover (or anything with wheels), put the Junior on it, drive off the runway, and try to engage the drill. You will see the message about something being too low. (I do not remember it exactly).

No need to drive off the runway, in fact.  I have happily tested many a ISRU rig on my launchpad for weeks on end.

Quote

(Actually, if you drive slightly more south of the KSC, about 1km, or so, you should find a spot with 5% ore concentration - I've put a harvesting behemoth there, and I'm waiting a month until it gets its tanks filled with precious ore which I will then convert to monopropellant and liquid fuel, and then drive back, and recover it on the runway, and BE RICH! )

Funny note: in KSP, the location and concentration of ore deposits is quasi-random.  When you create a new save, the game pulls a semi-random number from the computer clock (I assume), and uses that "seed" to compute ore maps on all the mineable bodies in the solar system.  There are zillions of possible seeds - the likelihood that anyone else's game has the exact same 5% spot south of KSC is vanishingly small.  On the other hand, all standard difficulty games are likely to have a good spot somewhere in or near the KSC.  I had 9.4% on the launchpad once.  There is a control for ore abundance when you start the game, and the hardest settings are pretty sparse in hot spots.

There are some situations (challenges etc) where you want to have the same ore map as other players.  It's possible to edit certain files to have whatever seed value you wish, but I wouldn't muck around in those files without a very good reason.

Edited April 26, 2016 by fourfa