Mining #11 - Calculating Mining Rates

 Calculating your mining rates to get the best value can give you a big advantage on events and take less time during the day. It will also allow you to know when you will be at your protected cargo limit and reduce your repair bills.

These are from Talking Trek

Specialty ships have mining rate modifiers as their ship ability, so that make for different math:

Ship Icon	Math Chart
Botany Bay
D'Vor
North Star

Mining #10 - Bonus Refinery

It is a good idea to always have at least 150k (450k is better) raw of each material (Ore, Gas, Crystal) in the event that a Bonus Refinery occurs. This is a rather special event on the server, and usually coincides around a special event (holiday, or after server crash compensation). Based on history, the Bonus refine is usually a 1 day event, but occasionally is 2 days. This shows up in the Refinery Tab, with a Pre-Cool Down timer showing when it will start, and how long it will last. Once you start refining, the cool down is 10 hours, so you can get in 3 for a 1 Day Bonus, and 5 on a 2 Day Bonus. 

*Prime Refine has no effect on Bonus Refine*

The type of resources vary by level, and it is still governed by random chance, but there are no Common Materials in a Bonus Refine batch, only Uncommon and Rare. This will usually produce a good yield of materials, especially if you have recently moved up in Ops Level (see data below for explanation):

For math nerds, this is from Maztec (Server-32):
The refinery basically operates as a random number generator between FLOOR and MAX. Where MAX = [ f(Ops / ( log(To) )) + f(R&D / ( log(Trd) )) + f(Ref / ( log(Tr) )) - f(PeriodicCap - PeriodicGain) ] and FLOOR = [ MIN - f(PeriodicCap - PeriodicGain) ]. Where f() is a function that is modified by those variables, To/Trd/Tr are time since that level was achieved, PeriodicGain is how much of an RSS you received within a specific period of time (24 hr and 8 day appear to be the time periods), and PeriodicCap is the maximum that’s you can receive a bonus to obtain within that time period. There appears to be a logarithmic decrease in the bonus quantities refined after upgrading Ops, R&D, or the Refinery, which is why those functions include not just the bonus amount for that level but are reduced by the quantity of time at that level. Note, when FLOOR or MAX would be below certain set amounts, the game does flatten out to the preset minimum amount for that level range. From there, it’s basically a matter of RNG(FLOOR,MAX), which generates a value from which the available Quality*Quantity values are factored out from HighestValue to Lowest Value. As people said, it appears (although I’m not absolutely convinced) that you get two rolls per chest and then the rewarded amount is SUM’d and you’re done.

The problem here is that it is very difficult to account for all of those variables, because the PeriodicGain includes some but not all of the sources of uncommon and rare refined materials that would otherwise be available. It appears that at a minimum it is likely something like PeriodicGain = aEventGain + bRefinedGain + cStoreGain + dItemsGain. Where a,b,c,d are some value of constant modifier to each of those and it appears there are some forms of each of those or subforms that are exempt from inclusion in PeriodicGain.

All of this combined ultimately means that it is very hard to fully reverse engineer how the refinery works, without a tremendous amount of data at each level and tracking of many seemingly unrelated variables.

Oh! I almost forget, in MAX, there also appears to be an f(ResourcesSpent / log(Ts)) which functionally decreases your gains the longer you go without spending resources.

Basically, when your’e saving up for that single 2000 uncommon part, if you’re not spending uncommons ANYWHERE, then your gain will slow down. There does seem to be both a general cap for these resources as well as independent caps based on resource type as well. But I haven’t quite figured out where to shove those into the predictive model.

Sooo..... in reality, the formula is probably fairly simple, but it has a lot of variables that go into it that impact the RNG range that generates the award.

For example, in tracking my own data, when I do NOT buy the monthly pack, my daily average TOTAL return on materials is about +9-15 (depends on month/levels/tc) each type, but my REFINERY rates go down by about -3 uncommon per refine and -0.2 rare per refine....
Finally the RNG range is large enough that it makes it difficult to really say what the floor and max really are because a fair amount of it is as it says... random.

Mining #9 - Different Mining Rates for Latinum

As players explore different systems for mining latinum, they will discover different rates and node sizes. It is important to level up the D'Vor as much as possible to increase the speed of mining, as well as complete the new research in the Galaxy Research Tree (released in TOS Arc 1 - Jan 2021).

Mining latinum uses a different math formula to calculate the mining rate than other resources. See below:

Below is the list of systems where mining of latinum can occur. The rates below are the base rates for mining, and the rate increases for "Super Nodes" to as much as 2x. Some are hub systems where a base can be moved to make mining easy. 

Name	Lvl	Rate	Faction	Warp Req	Hub	Deep Space	Notes
Maclyyn	22	32	Klingon	16
S'mtharz	25	32	Federation	18
Hann	26	32	Federation	18
Ciara	26	32	Klingon	18
Cillers	25	32	Romulan	18
Nasturta	26	32	Romulan	18
Lainey	27	32	Federation	19
Losti	28	34	Federation	19
Hoeven	27	32	Klingon	19
Phelan	28	34	Klingon	19
Biruin	27	32	Romulan	19
Koltiska	28	34	Romulan	19
Yoria-3	25	95	Independent	22			Special Borg Token Required
Torra Sedra	28	95	Independent	22			Special Borg Token Required
Zed Alpha	31	95	Independent	22			Special Borg Token Required
H'Atoria	30	34	Klingon	22
Noakyn	30	34	Federation	23
Gradientes	30	34	Romulan	24
Sinisser	31	37	Federation	26	Yes		Aiti nearby with Gas - Pocket Mining
Tullias	31	37	Klingon	26	Yes		Pekka nearby with Crystal - Pocket Mining
Robeton	31	37	Romulan	26	Yes		Kaisu nearby with Ore - Pocket Mining
Andoria	34	46	Federation	30
Vendor	34	46	Romulan	32
Beta Penthe	34	46	Klingon	33
Dessica	39	54	Romulan	39
Barnard's Star	38	54	Federation	40			Base in Wolf system
Suliban	35	125	Independent	40			Max D’Vor Required
Wlb'puq	38	54	Klingon	40
Almango	43	37	Federation	75	Yes	Yes
T'ong	43	37	Klingon	75	Yes	Yes
Esto	43	37	Romulan	75	Yes	Yes
Leebyrn	46	37	Federation	120	Yes	Yes
Lu'Kash	46	37	Klingon	120	Yes	Yes

Mining #8 - Max Horizon vs Faction Mining Ships

The faction mining ships take time to upgrade, and the break even point in performance compared to a Maxed Horizon is Tier 4 w/ Laser Upgraded. Once tiered to T5, the ship ability starts to offset the Laser Bonus of the Horizon, and make it more efficient.

Mining #7 - Prime Refine Research

If you sometimes to spend on this game, Prime Refine of materials does work. Here are some tracked results, and the benefit is apparent (roughly a 30% boost).

Below is what the Prime Refine looks like. Its the same as before, but you get an extra batch for the same cost.

After tracking the refines for 2 weeks, it is apparent that the Prime Refine gives an average boost to the yield of Uncommon materials.

Mining #6 - Increase Mining Rates w/SCREE (Borg Tribble)

SCREE is the sound a tribble makes of course, and it is the cry of faster mining rates. Use wisely, as you will hit OPC faster, and may need to watch your ships closely. 10of10 (SCREE) works on all materials, including Data.

Most will use it to mine Lat and Data but it’s a handy boost on mats and rss too. Mining captain with half synergy plus the tribble at level 5 is a 150% bonus vs 100% for full synergy mining crew (Parasteel, Tritanium and Dilithium Only). Also the Tribble as captain with full synergy has a 200% bonus mining any rss vs the 100% bonus of any of the rss mining captains at full synergy. Makes the par/dil mining missions go a lot faster.

With the new TOS Research Updates, SCREE is not as effective on Latinum due to the boost in ship mining. See TOS #2 - New Research and Mining #9 - Different Mining Rates for Latinum

Mining #5 - Max Protected

Stacking the correct officers can provide more protection to the cargo as long as possible.

Mining #4 - Pocket Mining

Some areas of space require a high warp to get there, which limits other players entry to the area. However, if you move your station, the warp requirement is lower in the area, hence a "Pocket Mining" area.

Another example of a Pocket system is in Federation space, the Wolf system. Moving a station there allows for ships that don't have warp 40 capability to mine Latinum and Gas

Mining #3 - NS Timers

The timers for mining a node is based on the mining rate, which doesn't account for the Healthy Mining ability of the North Star. You must either calculate the rates yourself, or watch your NS to stay within ROE.

Easiest way to calculate the actual mining rate is to measure how much you can mine in 1 min, and multiply that by 60. Then look at the node, and device the size of the node by the rate calculated.
Example: ~290/m * 60 = 17400/h. 18000 node / 17400 = 1.03 Hours to capacity

Leveling up the North Star improves the mining rates significantly over the Envoy

By having a server ROE that protects a North Star to capacity or 0 Node, it gives more nodes to the server for players to mine on to complete their daily goals.

Mining #2: Healthy Mining

Using the North Star (NS) can greatly speedup the ability to collect 3* materials, but beware that the timers do not work as they should. As long as you watch your ships, the NS is very effective at mining when crewed with Health based officers below deck.

Warning: Some alliances hunt Over Protected Cargo (OPC), and don’t observe NS Mine to Capacity rules on server Rules of Engagement (ROE). ROE is an agreement between players to not simply hit anything and allow other players to enjoy the game.

Mining #1: Mine RSS in Enemy Territory

This works in all areas (Federation, Romulus, Klingon, Augment). If you send a ship to a system, the server will register your presence in enemy territory when you arrive. A few seconds later, your ship will be targeted to be destroyed. Here is how to get around it.
Send 2 ships, 1 battleship, and 1 miner. Make sure you get the timing correct so they arrive at about the same time, with battleship first.

When the server changes a hostile to target you, it will only do it for 1 of your ships, and it will usually be the one that arrived first. Make sure your battleship is the first to arrive. Before getting attacked, warp out on the battleship, leaving the miner in the system to mine freely.
This works even in places where you are hated.
Alternate: Come in, and when your mining ship gets targeted by the hostile, attack the hostile with your other ship (doesn’t have to be strong). This will cancel the targeting logic, which is the goal. If your ship is not OPC, you just have the repair cost, and you keep your primary mining ship in the area. You don’t have to win against the hostiles, just redirect their attack, and if your attacking ship disappears because it’s destroyed, your other ship gets left alone.

An alternative method to sending multiple ships, is to use the Recall Method to dodge the Hostiles.