Drilling Question

[NewtSoup]

I have a mining vessel with a Convertotron 250,  four drills, four ore tanks, some cooling, some batteries, some solar cells and a load of other stuff which you will see in the picture below.

My question is - why is only one of my drills at 45% load and the other three at around 2%.  The ore in the local area is 14.5% average.  I don't fully understand mining and drilling yet so could somebody explain what's going on here?

Even more confused.  They all say ore rate 0.22 now and I stopped and restarted them and instead of a load they just say "Operational".

Edited July 30, 2017 by NewtSoup

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

First off, is the Kerbal on board an engineer? If so, what's his skill level? That will make a huge difference in drill and converter efficiency. As for the drill saying "operational", I think that may be that your ore tanks are full. Just guessing, though. Try jettisoning the ore in your tanks and check to see what the drill says afterward. For quick advice, four or five star engineers are my usual choice for drilling. Tough in the early game, I know, but even three stars will make a huge difference. Also, for future operations, two of the large drills are all you need. They produce a tremendous amount of ore. Especially with a good engineer. And personally, I try to always use the medium size thermal controls. Usually, one for each large drill. Overheating can be a big problem when drilling. Especially with a lower skill engineer.

Edited July 30, 2017 by Cpt Kerbalkrunch

[NewtSoup]

Thanks once again  I figured it was probably over engineered but that's fine.  The ore tanks are not full but getting close.  There is an engineer on board but she's only 1 star at the moment.  I've not sent her to solar orbit yet.  She has done EVA on Mun and in orbit around the Mun.  So she should get a nice boost.  I'll take your recommendations to Minmus Base ( Rura Penthe ) as it's still in planning.

[Cpt Kerbalkrunch]

3 minutes ago, NewtSoup said:

Thanks once again  I figured it was probably over engineered but that's fine.  The ore tanks are not full but getting close.  There is an engineer on board but she's only 1 star at the moment.  I've not sent her to solar orbit yet.  She has done EVA on Mun and in orbit around the Mun.  So she should get a nice boost.  I'll take your recommendations to Minmus Base ( Rura Penthe ) as it's still in planning.

Ha. Great name. If you can send her to get some of that green Minmus-dirt on her boots, she'll get a great XP boost from that as well. Think of it as sending her on a fact-finding mission, and to oversee the installation of your new mining base. She does have experience, after all. 

[NewtSoup]

1 minute ago, Cpt Kerbalkrunch said:

Ha. Great name. If you can send her to get some of that green Minmus-dirt on her boots, she'll get a great XP boost from that as well. Think of it as sending her on a fact-finding mission, and to oversee the installation of your new mining base. She does have experience, after all. 

Oh definitely.  The whole mining vessel is more than capable of making it to Minmus ( and many other places ) and she was going to be on loan from the K during base construction anyway.  She will enjoy instructing the tourists who thought they were getting a holiday in the finer aspects of drill maintenance and ore processing.