Discovering a mining planet

A mining planet is a temporary world containing Iron, Crystal, or Aether that several players can exploit with an Orbital Drill and Miners.

Between 10 and 100 mining planets may be active at the same time. Each contains a single resource and appears with a stock equivalent to between 5 and 10 24-hour resource chests for that resource.

Its appearance reveals whether it contains Iron, Crystal, or Aether. Espionage confirms the resource and reveals the remaining stock, the estimated time before depletion, and the players present, along with their Drills, Miners, drilling rates, and their occupancy of the planet.

Preparing the Drill and its rate

The Orbital Drill is built in Specialized Devices. It requires Shipyard level 12, Infrastructure and Hull technologies level 10, and Orbital Drilling level 1.

The base rates below apply to a ×1 universe, before technology bonuses. They are multiplied by the universe’s production speed: at ×7, the Drill and Miners drill seven times faster. The effective rate is fixed when the mission launches. A drilling mission carries exactly 1 Drill and up to 200 000 Miners. The Drill alone yields 50 000 Iron-equivalent per hour, and each Miner adds 1,4 Iron-equivalent per hour. With 200 000 Miners, the total rate is:

  • 330 000 Iron/h;
  • 220 000 Crystal/h;
  • 110 000 Aether/h.

The 200 000 Miners therefore add 280 000 Iron-equivalent per hour to the Drill.

Mission operations

The Miners’ drilling capacity is separate from their global production bonus on planets. The combined rate of the Drill and Miners then receives +8% per level from the technology associated with the resource: Iron Extraction, Crystal Extraction, or Aether Refining. This bonus is fixed at launch, so a mission already in progress keeps its rate.

The Drill has a base cargo hold of 18 000 000 units, improved by existing cargo bonuses. The mission occupies one slot in the global active-mission quota during the outbound journey, drilling, and return. Resources are credited only upon arrival at the planet of origin.

When not drilling, a Drill can be deployed alone between two of your planets, like a Recycler. It cannot carry Miners, cargo, or any other unit, and its visible cargo hold remains reserved for fuel. This deployment can be recalled like an ordinary fleet.

The Orbital Drilling technology authorizes a first mission at level 2, followed by one additional simultaneous mission every two levels. A player may maintain only one active mission on the same mining planet, but several players can exploit that planet at the same time.

Depletion and reappearance

The fleet returns automatically when its cargo hold is full or when the planet is depleted. Manual recall remains possible.

A mining planet has no predetermined lifetime. It disappears only when its stock is depleted. A new planet usually appears after 120 to 240 minutes, or immediately if fewer than 10 mining planets remain active.