What is the highest ore concentration on Minmus?

[Jeb!]

Hello chaps, it's Jeb! and I'm new here.

I am planning an ore refinery on Minmus as a refueling base for deep-space missions. After extensive orbital and rover based surveys, I zeroed in on a 10.01% ore deposit less than ~500 feet across. This is the highest concentration I've been able to find. Is this the highest ore concentration on Minmus? Is this a good place to start mining, or should I keep looking?

Thanks, -Jeb!

[oglommi]

Dunno, think that's randomly generated when you start a new game.

 

I got a question regarding ore,. Do I need engineers in the vessel when mining ore? I've sent a unmanned ship with 4 drills to minimus to a spot with over 7% ore. But virtually nothing happens, it extracts ore at a rate of  like 0.0003 ore per minute or something. Does  engineers make the drill more efficient?

Edited March 1, 2016 by oglommi

[Jeb!]

I've heard it both ways. I believe it's scientists, and not engineers though.

Phooey, I have to buy KSP over again (blame Steam) and I really hope I don't have to find high ore concentrations all over again! Can anyone shed light on whether ore deposits are randomly generated or changed between version 1.0.4 and 1.0.5?

[oglommi]

it must be random, i've played lots of saves the resources are different for different games

 

[Jeb!]

Aw man, I spent so much time finding that ore...  The deposits are still specific to the different biomes though, right?

 

[Edax]

24 minutes ago, oglommi said:

Dunno, think that's randomly generated when you start a new game.

 

I got a question regarding ore,. Do I need engineers in the vessel when mining ore? I've sent a unmanned ship with 4 drills to minimus to a spot with over 7% ore. But virtually nothing happens, it extracts ore at a rate of  like 0.0003 ore per minute or something. Does  engineers make the drill more efficient?

Yes, engineers make the extracting ore a MUCH faster process.  Automated drilling platforms can take up to a year to fill up an ore tank.

[Jeb!]

So, if anyone knows, what is a good ore percentage to start mining at? Is 10.01% good enough? How does the percentage of ore affect the amount and time length of drilling?

[oglommi]

10% ore is more than I've ever found

 

[Jeb!]

Supposedly, the average is around 2% I think... but-

5 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

So, if anyone knows, what is a good ore percentage to start mining at? Is 10.01% good enough? How does the percentage of ore affect the amount and time length of drilling?

 

[Nich]

My planets averages are around 4-5% Most I have ever seen is 7.5%.  Engineers provide up to a 25x bonus.  http://wiki.kerbalspaceprogram.com/wiki/Engineer

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Nich

[Edax]

34 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

So, if anyone knows, what is a good ore percentage to start mining at? Is 10.01% good enough? How does the percentage of ore affect the amount and time length of drilling?

If you got the big drill, you'd be fine with 0.5% ore concentration, since time warp makes everything better.  If you got the little drill, you'll need 2.5% or better, but your'll need multiple drills and an engineer if you want your tanks full within the kerbal year.

[Jeb!]

So the little drill is pretty much useless if you want to stockpile big Rockomax tanks with fuel?

[Superfluous J]

51 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

So the little drill is pretty much useless if you want to stockpile big Rockomax tanks with fuel?

Well yeah, but in its defense that's not what it was designed for. Similarly, the Spark engine won't be good for moving them around.

[superstrijder15]

2 hours ago, Jeb! said:

I've heard it both ways. I believe it's scientists, and not engineers though.

Phooey, I have to buy KSP over again (blame Steam) and I really hope I don't have to find high ore concentrations all over again! Can anyone shed light on whether ore deposits are randomly generated or changed between version 1.0.4 and 1.0.5?

Maybe You can copy the save files?

[Thomassino]

I've found a site containing 10.76% ore. Guess where am I constructing my base right now? 

[Jeb!]

12 minutes ago, superstrijder15 said:

Maybe You can copy the save files?

Don't think the saves affect ore. Long story short, I took KSP away from Steam, and I can't put it back. I have KSP, but I can never update it to 1.0.5. Steam and "Humble Store" refuse to give me back the Steam Key. No human contact info. Support doesn't help. Lesson learned: Don't buy from 3rd party websites.

9 minutes ago, Thomassino said:

I've found a site containing 10.76% ore.

@Thomassino, is this something I can find, or is it really different for everyone?

[Thomassino]

13 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

@Jeb! As far as I know, resource maps are procedurally generated for every save, or in other words, are unique for everyone.

I found this one using stock survey scanner, then landed a rover with surface scanner in area of highest concentration and then I roved and roved for hours.

Oh this new forum system... I accidentally wrote a reply into quote, sorry 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Thomassino

[Jeb!]

@Thomassino, I said something to myself! @Jeb! 

@Everyone, Sounds good! Thanks for the help!

-Jeb!

Edited March 1, 2016 by Jeb!

[Nich]

there is an ore key somewhere in the persistence file and if you copy that you will have the same ore concentrations.  Cant find the post :/

[Superfluous J]

2 hours ago, Nich said:

there is an ore key somewhere in the persistence file and if you copy that you will have the same ore concentrations.  Cant find the post :/

I can find it, but mostly because I wrote it

On 2/27/2016 at 11:51 PM, 5thHorseman said:

What you're looking for is this:

    SCENARIO
    {
        name = ResourceScenario
        scene = 5, 7, 6
        RESOURCE_SETTINGS
        {
            GameSeed = 316199528
            MaxDeltaTime = 21600
        }
    }

GameSeed is the number Snark was talking about. I don't know what MaxDeltaTime is.

 

[AbacusWizard]

As I understand it ore maps are procedurally generated when you start a new saved game, so they will be different from save file to save file.

 

The highest concentration I've found so far on Minmus is 10.97%, but it was pretty far from the equator, so I decided to build my refinery outpost on a nice respectable 10.4% spot on an equatorial plateau near the Greater Flats--much easier to land on and launch from, and a nice view as well.

 

It appears that the presence of an engineer (the higher level, the better; extra engineers don't help but at least they keep each other company) speeds up the extraction rate of drills impressively, but doesn't do anything to the conversion rate of the refinery. That doesn't seem to be much of a problem, though; I currently have a mining rig at the 10.4% sweet spot with a Lvl3 engineer, 8 big drills, and 2 big refineries, and the drills still aren't extracting ore faster than the refineries can process it.

 

One other thing to keep in mind: use radiators! The drills and refineries heat up as time passes (as long as they're active), and get more and more efficient until they pass a certain temperature (500 for the drill, 1000 for the refinery); after that, they get less efficient as they heat up. You can prevent this by including plenty of radiators--the drills and refineries will get warmer up until that critical temperature, and then the radiators will wick off excess heat in order to preserve peak efficiency.

While you're in the VAB/SPH, take a look at the right-click info boxes for the relevant parts; look for information about how much cooling (in kW) the drills and refineries need versus how much cooling the radiator panels can provide and then work out the math to make sure you have enough. (And don't forget that the radiators need electricity too!)

[Jeb!]

@Nich, @5thHorseman, @AbacusWizard, Thanks! I don't really know anything about drilling, so that definitely helps.

I haven't gotten into changing KSP program files yet, so where exactly is this persistence file? (funny name )

20 hours ago, Nich said:

persistence file

[AbacusWizard]

The persistent file ("persistent.sfs" in your saved game folder) is a text file that contains all the relevant information about that particular saved game--names and experience levels of all kerbalnauts, money, reputation, science points, active contracts, what technology you've researched, the positions and velocities and contents of every ship in your fleet, etc. By editing your persistent file, you can do anything from replacing a broken solar panel to teleporting a colossal spaceship from the launchpad straight to Eeloo orbit. (It's generally considered cheating of the highest degree, though, unless all you're doing is fixing a problem caused by a bug.)

[Superfluous J]

54 minutes ago, Jeb! said:

 

I haven't gotten into changing KSP program files yet, so where exactly is this persistence file? (funny name )

Wherever your gamedata folder is, there will also be a saves folder. In there is a folder with the same name as your save. In THERE is a persistent.sfs file and quicksave.sfs, and maybe even some others too.

There's also a ships folder. You'll find ask your .craft files within.

[Jeb!]

Great. Thanks! Hopefully that will work for a different version of KSP... I'm transitioning from 1.0.4 to 1.0.5, whenever I feel like paying the money over again.