Harvesters (Game Mechanics)
Game Documentation - Harvesters
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Algorithms
Output
Output per hour = Extraction rate in kg/h * 60 * density % = # units produced / hour
Output per day = Extraction rate in kg/h * 1440 * density % = # units / day
Example: A medium mineral harvester with an extraction rate of 6 kg/h on a 75% aluminum density will give you
= 6 * 60 * 0.75 = 270 units per hour production or 6480 per day
A handy rule of thumb is that for a 70% density you will get roughly 1k output per BER daily. So a BER10 on 70% will give you about 10k a day.
Potential Energy
PE of <=500 = 1:1 ratio of power:units used.
Example: PE of 432, Quantity of 100.
100:100 = 100 Units of Power
PE of >500 = (x/500):1 ratio of power:units used.
Example: PE of 750, Quantity of 100.
= (750/500):1 = 1.5:1 ratio of power:units used. = 150:100 = 150 Units of Power
FAQ
Types
Mineral
Mineral harvesters are used to harvest all metals, ores, solid petrochemicals, and radioactives (see also fusion generators). A mineral harvester can be used to extract any resource found using a mineral survey tool.
- Personal (light) Mineral Harvester
- Medium Mineral Mining Installation
- Heavy Mineral Mining Installation
Chemical
Chemical harvesters are used to harvest anything you can find using a chemical surveying tool, such as inert petrochemicals, liquid petrochem fuel, fiberplast, and lubricating oil.
- Personal (light) Chemical Harvester
- Medium Chemical Harvester
- Heavy Chemical Harvester.
Wind Generators
Wind Generators are used to harvest wind energy for use in other installations. The energy harvested by a wind generator is produced in a liquid form and stored in a canister-like object that you can carry in your inventory. This power can *only* be used in other harvesters, factories and so on as a power source.
There is only one type of wind generator. It has no power requirements, as it produces, not conusmes power. It does have a maintenance requirement, however.
In general, wind generators are considered to be the low end of power generation. They do not produce large amounts of energy, but they are suitable for running a few small to medium harvesters, or for low-volume operations. Their main advantage is that they are cheap, as they can be produced by Artisans and do not require an Architect to make. An Artisan with Engineering II can make a Wind power generator, although it will not be a very good one.
Solar
Solar Harvesters, or Solar Power Generators, are used to harvest solar energy for use in other installations. The energy harvested by a solar generator is produced in a liquid form and stored in a canister-like object that you can carry in your inventory. This power can *only* be used in other harvesters, factories and so on as a power source.
There is only one type of solar generator. It has no power requirements, as it produces, not conusmes power. It does have a maintenance requirement, however.
Solar generators are a good middle of the road power generation solution. They are not too expensive to maintain, yet produce a decent amount of energy. You won't run a huge fleet of industrial harvesters with them, but you can get some pretty decent amounts of power, if you get some with a good Base Extraction Rate.
Fusion
Fusion Generators are the high end of power generation. Fusion generators are placed on veins of radioactives, preferably with the highest PE possible, and produce this resource by the ton. If properly used, they are the best bang for the buck in terms of power generation. You can get a lot of power very quickly with a good fusion generator.
Water
Moisture vaporators are used to get water from the environment. Although no one is required to drink water, many medical components and craftable items require water of one type or another- the most popular being Talusian water, from the moon Talus.
Flora
Flora refers to anything organic that isn't an animal. This includes stuff like berries, wheat, wood, and other organics that you would normally farm and/or harvest from trees or plants. Many medical components and spices require flora of one type or another, and chefs need a lot of flora items.
Harvester Basics
Harvesters are structures that you can place in a resource rich spot of that will automatically sample resources for you while you're off doing something else. Basically, you craft or buy a harvester, find a spot of land that contains a good concentration of the resource you are looking for and place it. You must then feed it power and pay maintenance to get it up and going. Other people can use your harvesters, add them to the admin list for full control, or the hopper list for only hopper control.
Who can use harvesters?
Anyone can use any type of harvester. If you have the deed for one, you can place it, assuming you have the lots available. Although any player can place a harvester, the Surveying tree in the Artisan class is required to locate particular resources, so the harvester can operate most efficiently.
How do I place harvesters?
Harvesters are placed like any other structure. Once you locate a suitable spot for your harvester, open your inventory and double-click the deed you wish to place, or select "Place Structure" from the radial menu. You will be shown an overhead view of your current area, with a "wireframe" outline of the harvester to be placed that you can move around to different locations by moving the mouse. The "footprint" of the harvester will be a square or rectangular block that moves around with the wireframe diagram.
Move the wireframe around to find a suitable location. If you can place a harvester, the footprint will become green as you move it over the spot. If you cannot place a harvester in a particular location, the footprint is red. You can click the right mouse button to rotate the footprint and try different orientations for your harvester.
Once you are satisfied with the location of your harvester, click the left mouse button to place the structure. If all the requirements are met, the deed will disappear from your inventory and you'll see a structure marker appear where you placed the harvester. After a few moments, the harvester itself will appear, ready for you to use.
If you can't find a suitable location, press ESC on your keyboard to return to the normal view, move to a different location, and try again.
Common Placement Problems
Harvesters cannot be placed near;
- Points of interest (POIs)
- Municipal zones (static cities),
- Near lairs.
Notes
Each harvester (regardless of size or type) requires excactly ONE lot. Players have 10 lots available to them, so there is a max on the number of harvesters you can place. If you have no more lots, you cannot put down an additional harvester.
Harvesters require a flat space to be placed. The larger the harvester, the larger the area required (usually) for the harvester. You'll have a very difficult time placing a large harvester in the mountains or on hills, because there needs to be enough flat space for the harvester's footprint.
Some harvesters have irregular or rectangular footprints. You can rotate the footprint during the placement process by using the right mouse button, allowing you to try different orientations.
You can move the footprint around quite a bit while searching for a suitable placement spot- dragging the footprint to the edge of the screen will cause it to scroll automatically, up to a certain distance. However, if you can't find a suitable location, you'll have to try elsewhere.
What Stops a Harvester Running
- You or someone authorized to do so shuts it down
- It runs out of power
- Its output hopper fills up
- It runs out of maintenance (and is destroyed, along with its resources)
- The resource being harvested shifts out.
Harvester Operations
Naming
Harvesters can have be renamed once they are placed into the world. To Set the Name of a particular harvester use the "Set Name" command in the radial menu.
Harvester Status
Check the Status of a Harverst by;
- Select "Status" from the Radial Menu
- Select "Manage"
- Select "Status" (from within Manage)
Cost
For maintenance purposes, all power generators use the "medium" rating for their maintenance rate, so regardless of the generator type, it requires 1440 credits/day to operate.
For all other purposes, such as who can create them, placement, and extraction rate, a wind generator is considered a "small", a solar generator is a "medium" and a fusion generator is a "heavy" harvester.
Power Drain
- Small (Personal) harvesters: 25 units/hour, or 600 units/day.
- Medium harvesters: 50 units/hour, or 1200 units/day.
- Heavy harvesters: 75 units/hour, or 1800 units/day.
Credit Drain
- Small (Personal) harvesters: 30 credits/hour, or 720 credits/day.
- Medium harvesters: 60 credits/hour, or 1440 credits/day.
- Heavy harvesters: 90 credits/hour, or 2160 credits/day.
How to Operate
Once a harvester has been placed, make sure it contains the appropriate amounts of power and maintenance, then select "Operate Machinery" from the radial menu. From the resulting window, you can click the "Select Resource" button to select a resource to harvest. The available list will be dependent on the location and planet you've placed your harvester. After selecting a resource to harvest, you can click "Turn Harvester On" to start the harvester, or "Turn Harvester Off" to shut it down.
The Operate Screen
Shows;
- Base Extraction Rate (BER) of the harvester, referred to as "Spec Rate",
- Actual extraction rate (AER) which is based on the density of the resource at a given location.
Retrieving Resources
- Open the "Operate" screen.
- Locate the button marked "Open Output Hopper".
- Select which resources you wish to retrieve.
Notes
- Choose "Dump Hooper" to remove and delete all resources in the Hooper.
Powering
To add power;
- Select "Deposit Power" from the radial menu.
- A screen will appear showing the amount of power you have in your inventory, enter an amount or drag a slider to select the amount to deposit.
Types
- Solar (liquid) energy.
- Wind (liquid) energy.
- Radioactive (fusion) energy.
Re-Deeding
Redeeding a harvester is the process of removing it from the game world and converting it back to a deed that you can carry around in your inventory. However, before you are allowed to redeed a harvester, several requirements must be met:
- The harvester must be turned off.
- The output hopper must be empty.
- There must be enough maintenance in the maintenance pool. If the maintenance pool is too low, the harvester will be destroyed.
To Re-Deed a Harvester, select "Destroy Structure", and if all parameters are met (Green) it will be "re-deeded"
Notes
There are a number of items in the game with the word "fuel" in them, such as liquid petrochemical fuel, and solid petrochemical fuel. These are NOT used as power in harvesters.
You cannot mix power types.
You cannot remove money/power from harvesters.
Wind, Solar and Fusion generators produce power, they do not need power to consume.
Harvesters will not use power when not in operation.
Harvesters will charge maintenance when not in operation.
Harvesters are "self-sufficient" and only need maintenance to be paid on a regular basis. Otherwise damage will ensue and repairs are needed.
