Drill Extraction Rates

[Cunjo Carl]

Hello,

   I've recently started learning to mine! I've made some good strides, but have run into a pair of troubles that have me stuck in the mud. First is, while on Minmus, my stock drills seem to harvest at a constant rate regardless of temp/efficiency. Is this normal behavior or a bug? My Kerbin-based drills became more efficient near their optimal operating temperature, but these don't. I have hyperedit installed for another project, but didn't use it for this.

   Second is, my survey scanner says there's ~80% ore in this area, my narrow-band scanner says the whole area is uniformly stare-at-the-sun bright with ore, but the actual ore concentration is only in the 5-10% ballpark. What causes the massive discrepancy between different survey methods? Once again, is this normal behavior or a bug? I'm confused.

   Thanks in advance for any help and advice!

   Pictures

Spoiler

At very low temp, we get a low ore extraction rate

At proper temp, it's also got the same low ore extraction rate.

 

Edit: Huge thanks to @Plusck for the quick, concise answer. I never would have guessed that "Ore rate" on drills was actually max ore rate, and that the surface concentration percentages have a conversion factor between the different devices. Thanks again!

 

Edited August 28, 2016 by Cunjo Carl
Question answered

[Plusck]

2 hours ago, Cunjo Carl said:

Hello,

   I've recently started learning to mine! I've made some good strides, but have run into a pair of troubles that have me stuck in the mud. First is, while on Minmus, my stock drills seem to harvest at a constant rate regardless of temp/efficiency. Is this normal behavior or a bug? My Kerbin-based drills became more efficient near their optimal operating temperature, but these don't. I have hyperedit installed for another project, but didn't use it for this.

   Second is, my survey scanner says there's ~80% ore in this area, my narrow-band scanner says the whole area is uniformly stare-at-the-sun bright with ore, but the actual ore concentration is only in the 5-10% ballpark. What causes the massive discrepancy between different survey methods? Once again, is this normal behavior or a bug? I'm confused.

   Thanks in advance for any help and advice!

 

  Hide contents

 

The "ore extraction rate" is what the drill is capable of in that particular patch of ground. It isn't the actual throughput, except when at 100% efficiency. IIRC the ore extraction rate changes when an engineer is on the craft (depending on level). In other words, it's more-or-less an indication of the amount of ore in the ground.

The "80%" figure is "80% of maximum ore concentration", not 80% ore. The maximum ever ore concentration you will find is about 10% (again, IIRC - I play on medium difficulty and have never seen more than 8%...).

[Sharpy]

Yep, I'm yet to see more than 10% on a planet surface. Take the orbital survey scanner's results with a grain of salt... or put a dot between the digits: 80% cut-off is more like 8.0% cut-off.

Asteroids, on the other hand, start with honest-to-god 80+% of ore, and corresponding huge efficiency of the drills... but can be depleted.