ISRU with engineers

[minerbat]

so the ISRU is supposed to be better with more engineers and on higher levels of them. but how exactly? are the stats on the equipment like drill and converter with or without engineers? what stats get improved by how much? does the converter change the proportion of required ore and charge or does it really only speed it up? and what is the max number of level 5 engineers before there is no more improvement possible?

[18Watt]

5 hours ago, minerbat said:

so the ISRU is supposed to be better with more engineers and on higher levels of them. but how exactly? are the stats on the equipment like drill and converter with or without engineers? what stats get improved by how much? does the converter change the proportion of required ore and charge or does it really only speed it up? and what is the max number of level 5 engineers before there is no more improvement possible?

The ore extraction rate and the converter rate are what engineers improve.  The rate with a Level 1 engineer is not quite twice the rate of having no engineer.  The rate with a Level 5 engineer is 5 times faster than having no engineer.  
 

Only one engineer is used per ship, regardless of how many drills or converters you have.  Having extra engineers provides no benefit, unless one of them dies in a tragic accident.  The game just looks at the highest level engineer you have on board.

The electricity use and heat generated also go up with higher level engineers.  So you may need more electric or cooling to keep up with the increased rate having a Level 5 engineer.

Edited May 29, 2021 by 18Watt

[minerbat]

are the stats it displays in the VAB based on maximum possible boost, or on when no engineer is present? if it is the last one, how do i calculate the final outcome with an engineer?

[Blaarkies]

1 hour ago, 18Watt said:

The game just looks at the highest level engineer you have on board.

Silly question: Does this mean an engineer in a command pod on the same craft?
Does a Kerbal inside the following (as part of the ship) count as being on board:

• External command seat (aka lawn chair)
• Non-commanding cabins, like the Mk1 Crew Cabin, or PPD-10 Hitchhiker Storage Container
• Lab, inflatable docking airlock, etc.

Just asking because i have wondered about these and never really tested them for this

[FleshJeb]

 

[18Watt]

4 hours ago, Blaarkies said:

Silly question: Does this mean an engineer in a command pod on the same craft?
Does a Kerbal inside the following (as part of the ship) count as being on board:

• External command seat (aka lawn chair)
• Non-commanding cabins, like the Mk1 Crew Cabin, or PPD-10 Hitchhiker Storage Container
• Lab, inflatable docking airlock, etc.

Just asking because i have wondered about these and never really tested them for this

Doesn’t matter where the engineer is, as long as they are aboard the vessel.  I haven’t tested for lawn-chairs, but I can confirm it works for:

Non-commanding cabins, including PPD-10, MK1 Crew Cabin, and the 16-seat MK3 cabin.

Also, the Lab and inflatable airlock work too.

Also, two ships docked together become ‘one ship’, and a single engineer can give the bonus to all drills and converters while docked together.