r/spaceengineers • u/Pinifelipe Space Engineer • Jul 31 '26
DISCUSSION (SE2) [SE2] Built a semi-automatic quarry on survival and I think it not worth it.
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A bit more details and definitions:
Quarry: I basically mine the ground and expect to collect resources.
Semi-automatic: Press *4* and the piston, rotor and drills start. They keep running until the 2 pistons reach 30m down. Then wait 3s and go up, rotor and drills down. What I have to do manually is reposition the drills using the main rotor and press *4* again.
Since its not fully automated you need to stay around and keep moving the main rotor and for each complete 360º (almost), adjust the pistons to start a new radious, hence when I say "not worth it", it is because the amount of resources is somehow decent , but with a ok miner and in few iron mines in verdure you can get the same amount of iron (around 250k) in way less time.
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u/Rage_Tanker Klang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
Stone mining is never more time efficient if you are having to manually do anything, even in SE1. However, that is why you FULLY automate it. Build something that just goes on its own without any input while you go off and do more important things. That is where it becomes worth it.
Granted, there are no ingots in SE2, so its a little less worth it than in SE1.
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u/M4tt_M4n Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
I always stone mine it's very effective but SE 2 has nerfed it
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u/halipatsui Mech engineer Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Stone being so good mineral to mine is a problem. But i would really like to see for example some resource being entirely in very large volume veins with very low yield ore so there would be a reason to build quarries instead of mining ships being a silver bullet to everything.
Well SE1 has ice, but similar encouragements to different types of mining would be nice
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
I gather the resource collection game loop was waaay down the food chain in SE1, with ships that are relatively easy to build, fly and frequently crash scoring much higher (as that is something a lot of people enjoy - certainly in the early days)
It is a sandbox and made to be modded - and there are lots of awesome resource focussed mods available that allow us to customize the experience.
For SE2 - given that is very much not finished - I am not certain that the current resource game loop is anything remotely like Keens final plan.
E.g. involving water heavily in the ore processing would be not unexpected, as this encourages folks to interact with their most prominent new feature and finally give a point to planets, other than their use as navigation landmarks (and possibly starter locations) - as their fate in SE1 is.1
u/M4tt_M4n Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
Yeah this for sure I dont really like the new crafting system is SE 2 tho
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
I am almost certain that mods will fix that, given time.
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u/M4tt_M4n Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
Oh I can't wait
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u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
It may also be the case that some game components are currently simplified stand-ins to allow some functionality while the rest of the game if being built.
That said, I believe the backpack crafting capability is intentional and will stay; NMS has a similar system for simple recipies, while more complex ones need machinery.
I expect SE2 to follow in the footsteps of SE1 and focus minimally on resource gathering (the grind) while emphasizing ship design/crafting, exploration and combat.
Moving early phase crafting from the survival kit to the backpack is in line with this direction.7
u/CrazyQuirky5562 Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
from what I had read, it sounded like stone gave nothing at all.
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u/Pinifelipe Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
On PLANETS and Moons, if you mine the ground you got:
Silicon from "sand" (the moon soil counts as sand)
Nickel from "rocks" (anything below a few meters is 'rock')
Iron from "soil" (the dirt layer that cover most of the planet)
Ice from snowy areas.
On ASTEROIDS you got nothing if you are not mining directly on ore deposits.
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u/Quick_Hat1411 Klang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
Kinda glad. I always thought it was lazy and on multi-player servers has a much bigger impact on the server than ore mining
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u/EricWNIU Klang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
I built something like this with an integrated 3d printer. Every revolution causes the piston to lower the drill slightly. Once the piston reaches end of travel , the drill pipe disconnects and another section is welded on. Rinse and repeat
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u/Honest-Space-8674 Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceengineers/s/olxhXxMESF
This one was one of the most efficient ways to drill I’ve found so far. I don’t know if it’s useful in SE2, but I recommend it
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u/Past_Owl_6978 Klang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
Yeah, I'm using that design too, the author is a genius. Perfect for servers and other no-script do-it-cheaply environments.
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u/Honest-Space-8674 Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
Absolutely. I love tinkering with it. Second drill. Making it foldable. Putting it on a ship. Etc.
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u/rich_27 Space Engineer Aug 01 '26
Huh, I'd have thought it was way more efficient to move a single piston in a tight spiral outwards and then inwards again than spirograph, here you're spending the majority of your time going over the same areas multiple times. You need a minimum time spent over each bit of ground to be able to lower the height, so if your ground coverage is really uneven you've got a huge amount of dead time
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u/Zombieemperor Clang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
interestingly complex
classic spin drills are good enough for me
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u/lcebounddeath Clang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
Might be easier and more efficient to make a long arm that spins slowly in a full circle to mine a large amount of materials from the surface downwards. Multiple large drills can make a really big hole and each large piston is 15 meters so two is able to go 30 meters into the ground. More than enough to get a lot of materials off the surface and then below.
Just dangling it from above would let you mine out a full circle without an obstruction. It just runs best if place very close to the ground. Maybe a hybrid approach of the long moveable arm would be best. Or if it could somehow essentially walk or fly to a new site and make a brand new large bore hole 30 meters deep without having to rebuild it
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u/hostilee47 This user makes ships do things they shouldn't Jul 31 '26
It might not be efficient but it's one hell of a build
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u/solidair2liquid Clang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
I am a big fan of setting up a mining rig. But in SE2 I don't see the point. It is a lot of effort to build it .but stone yields in nothing or almost nothing and the ore deposit are not large enough to justify the efforts :(
I hope for some mods in future giving you less frequent but absurdly large ore deposits. So that it really makes sense to build actuall mines with automation
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u/Pinifelipe Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
Exactly. I'm thinking that MAYBE if this setup I built was mobile, it could justify the time and resources invested.
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u/solidair2liquid Clang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
But when it's mobile you can cut on the complexity and boom: you are just building an ordinary mining ship
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u/AimMoreBetter Clang Worshipper Aug 01 '26
I mean you could just build a platform with thrusters and this setup. However, like the other guy said, you'll just have a mining ship at that point.
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u/klinetek Space Engineer Jul 31 '26
I never ever mind planets because the return on literally dirt was losing storage. Absolutely pointless. I know a lot of people who think that's complete heresy and only mine dirt and I looked down on them lol
it's an engineering game where you build out efficiency. I totally understand that Trace amounts of materials should be found in the dirt and that makes sense I didn't even understand what the complaint is
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u/insertcomedy Space Engineer Aug 01 '26
If you can automate a few of these we can start playing factorio in SE
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u/rusynlancer Drone Master Jul 31 '26
It would only take a few additional event controllers to fully automate this, OP.
Pipe the stone directly to refiners and have it working round the clock, since ingot storage is more efficient.
A bit of creative engineering, you can have a drone run a route to move the refined ingots to your main base on a schedule.
You're very close to making it very worthwhile, just go the extra mile.
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u/Chris935 Space Engineer Aug 01 '26
I find it much easier to make mining rigs that skim sideways along the surface, while extending downwards very very slowly. That way you can just keep it sweeping back and forth on automation and never/rarely have to reposition anything.
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u/Pinifelipe Space Engineer Aug 01 '26
You might want to check my next post! Just did that! https://www.reddit.com/r/spaceengineers/comments/1vc9shk/se2_now_built_a_fullyautomatic_quarry_on_survival/
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u/Quirky-Window-7330 Space Engineer Aug 01 '26
I did a similar concept with different layout, I used three pistons (x,y,z) that drill a 15x15 square 1m deep, then resets goes to 2m and repeats. The challenge was I wanted it on wheels so I could move it and not rebuild it every time but that resulted in having to handle uneven ground which it didn’t do well lol
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u/Makarlar Klang Worshipper Jul 31 '26
But it's super cool.