What is the dotted texture in the ore survey?

[MathmoRichard]

Did some of my own poking around, found the edge case that's giving you a false splotch.

So you have found an issue causing the polar splotches?

That large red splotch you saw does in fact indicate that there is stuff at the poles (in a specific biome)...

Then why did I see nothing over 5 or 6% on the narrow band in the poles?

[Geschosskopf]

Then why did I see nothing over 5 or 6% on the narrow band in the poles?

To restate:

For starters, the maximum concentration of ore on any planet is 15% with some variation (usually on the low side). So never expect the actual ore in the ground to be much more than 15%, and be very happy if you even find 10%.

Ore concentration is defined by BIOME. Every spot of a given named biome on the same planet has the same ore concentration. You can see the exact amount with the NBS. The ground scanners report by named biome and always know what biome they're in, but are only about 80-90% accurate as to the ore concentration in that biome. Thus, separate ground scanners in the same biome can give slightly different results, but it's close enough for government work.

The orbital scanner, that produces the big overlay on the planet, is very deceptive. It seemingly works (waiting for Roverdude's verification) by looking at a large region of the planet's surface and averaging the ore concentrations per biome within that region based on each biome's surface area within that large region. Thus, where the orbital scanner shows a high concentration, what it's showing isn't a generally high ore concentration, and certainly nothing close to the cut-off value given that even 15% is rare. What it's showing you are regions where the majority of biome surface area is composed of biomes with relatively high concentrations (compared to other biomes on that planet).

The upshot of all this is that the orbital scanner really tells you where to find big expanses of biomes that have relatively high ore concentrations. That's IT. From there on, you have to follow up with ground scanners and/or NBS to determine the actual concenrations for each biome in that region. And you compare this to the planet's biome map to help you figure out what the orbital scan really is telling you.

But again, never expect any biome to have very much ore.

[MathmoRichard]

To restate:

For starters, the maximum concentration of ore on any planet is 15% with some variation (usually on the low side). So never expect the actual ore in the ground to be much more than 15%, and be very happy if you even find 10%.

Firstly, I know the maximum for my Mun is no more than 11.7% after many hours of the NBS, no worries there.

Ore concentration is defined by BIOME. Every spot of a given named biome on the same planet has the same ore concentration.

Secondly, This is wrong or you need to state it better. Perhaps the averages are defined per biome but they are not constant in biomes.

Thus, where the orbital scanner shows a high concentration, what it's showing isn't a generally high ore concentration, and certainly nothing close to the cut-off value given that even 15% is rare. What it's showing you are regions where the majority of biome surface area is composed of biomes with relatively high concentrations (compared to other biomes on that planet).

I want to make this very clear. On my Mun, if we trust the NBS, the polar regions had the very worst concentration on the whole of my Mun, but the orbital (for non-dot-modes) showed it to be extremely high on average (red using red/green at the highest cut off level for which anything was coloured).

But again, never expect any biome to have very much ore.

I'm super happy with the 11.564% at my base Will be jumping for joy if on other planets I can get >15%.