When with devs fix this known bug ?.

[Dreez]

I made a post about this issue on the steam forums, i've also posted the question here but i didn't get an answer.

Apparently there is a bug in the station manager systemcode which causes the miners working for a station
to focus the mining on the most abundant resource. So in my case, if i have a complex that uses Ore and Ice,
with 16 miners working for it, those miners will AT ALL TIMES prioritize mining ice instead of ore,
doens't matter if the station is full of ice and doens't have a single unit of ore... they will continue mining ice.

How long before this highly aggravating bug is sorted out and we can properly run our stations
without pulling our hair while watching the miners being stupid ?.

[g04tn4d0]

Hmmm... I used to have that problem, myself. I believe I solved it by creating a group for one and making them mine resource 1. Then another group and having them mine resource 2. I haven't had to mess with it in a while, but I do distinctly remember watching my miners do what you're talking about when they were all just set on something like "mine resources for station" in the same group. Might be worth looking at, since they may not proactively change mining targets.

[chugster]

I have a similar issue with Silicon. My PHQ is in Savage Spur II and Silicon is rather abundunt, yet I have none. Admittedly what does get mined is used but with over 100 miners on the job I should always have some in the tank. Yet I go through hours with zip and I have miners full of Ice and Ore that cant even deposit what they have because the PHQ is full. Even after building multiple extra storage containers, they come back in, empty and go back to mining ice and ore. Please Dev's, have a look at making Miners mine what we have the least of first.

[Dreez]

I don't understand why Egosoft made it SO aggravatingly hard to run and manage stations....
We build it, we hire people for it, but we can''t tell the manager "Tell this guy to collect this ware only"...

Rather stupid imo.

[GCU Grey Area]

we can''t tell the manager "Tell this guy to collect this ware only"...

Can do that if you build mining outposts which are configured to store only 1 mineral & 1 gas each, then provide each outpost with some miners & a few additional ships to transport those resources where they're needed. I'm using Hokkaidos for mining & Bolos for transport. Mining outposts are dirt cheap to build (essentially just docks + storage) & simplify the logistics of basic resource acquisition immensely.
Mine look like this: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ajygdwg4fq0de ... 1.jpg?dl=0

[Imperial Good]

I have explained this a lot already...

Miners prioritise equally mining resources that are considered available. Once storage for those resources is full then the miners will start to mine other resources that are considered not available.

The issue here is with what marks a resource as available. A resource is only marked as available if a probe within range shows sufficient yield for that resource. For example Asteroid Belt has available Silicon, but does not have available Ore because Ore yields per zone are too low to be considered available. On the other hand Getsu Fune and Savage Spur both have sufficient yield of Ore for Ore to be considered as available. As such with resource probes in those sectors a station in Jupiter will mine Silicon from Asteroid Belt, Ore from Savage Spur (since yield is better than Getsu Fune) and will order miners based on what is currently the lowest in storage so that it averages as balancing both consumed mineables. If only a resource probe is placed in Asteroid Belt then the station will overflow storage of Silicon, run out of Ore and mine very inefficiently.

This behaviour is quite likely a bug and I think it has been fixed for a future update. Availability of resources as determined by probes should not take preference over needs as determined by storage level. Sectors with resources available should be used when mining that resource, but otherwise it should fallback to no probe mining logic for resources that are not available and allocate miners based on the lowest current storage level regardless of what is available or not.

[Gimbutz]

I made a post about this issue on the steam forums, i've also posted the question here but i didn't get an answer.

The Steam forums are certainly a quick way to get community support, but they aren't actively monitored. While some devs occasionally jump into discussions in this forum right here, the best place to report bugs and get the attention of people who can actually do something about it is the Technical Support forum. You can increase the likelihood of a response by choosing a clean title, stating your observation clearly and without contempt, and including a save game where it's easy to immediately see what you're talking about. At worst, you'll get the answer that it's currently working as intended, and in that case you can take to the general forum again and lobby for your desired improvement.

[sh1pman]

I have explained this a lot already...

Things make so much more sense now, thanks! I wish this was explained in the game somewhere. Miners not mining what is needed or flying 5 sectors away when there’s a perfectly good patch of resource in the sector with probes... I need to re-do my HQ mining operation now.

[chugster]

I also found a work around using the Repeat Order command. Huge PITA! but it works.

[Dreez]

I always keep any systems that has resources, covered with probes.
So my collectors working for stations shouldn't have any issues locating what they need.
The issue that i've seen happen repeatedly is that my stations are full of ice 100% of the time,
while ore or silicon barely keeps up with the demand for the factory.

We really need more control over what the assigned collectors picks up, and where.

[ADMNtek]

I also found a work around using the Repeat Order command. Huge PITA! but it works.

using repeat orders works but i quickly ran into issues with over mining causing my miners to just sit in the assigned location waiting for resources to spawn. setting up mining stations is in my mind much easier. even if you have to then get extra mining ships that just serve as transports. they should add cargo ships that have solid and liquid capacity or just switch them to universal.

[Wraith_Magus]

I have explained this a lot already...

When something is this unintuitive (it's not apparent that resource probes do anything in the game besides fulfill arbitrary mission nonsense), it really begs to be put in a tutorial somewhere. In fact, there is a tutorial that has you place resource probes... and does absolutely nothing to tell you why it might be important.

Even if this isn't a bug, it's a total failing of EgoSoft's if they have to rely upon a community moderator personally telling every player who didn't see the last quickly-buried thread to let people understand how to play their game because the game itself has no feedback or means of explaining its mechanics.

[Max Bain]

I have explained this a lot already...

When something is this unintuitive (it's not apparent that resource probes do anything in the game besides fulfill arbitrary mission nonsense), it really begs to be put in a tutorial somewhere. In fact, there is a tutorial that has you place resource probes... and does absolutely nothing to tell you why it might be important.

Even if this isn't a bug, it's a total failing of EgoSoft's if they have to rely upon a community moderator personally telling every player who didn't see the last quickly-buried thread to let people understand how to play their game because the game itself has no feedback or means of explaining its mechanics.

This. Another good example where I think a help is mandatory for new players is the fact that stations need to BUY stuff from your own stations. This is the only game where I know where it is like it is and that your stations need a ton of credits to work, even if you trade only with your own stations. After several months of reading and playing this was still not very clear to me and I think many players think the game is buggy when the station trades only 2 energy cells from your own solar panel because it lacks credits.