Deep Core Surveyors

[Gixxer]

HI,

 

I have started building Deep Core Surveyors. The Wiki(now a PDF file) says I should get a line showing the success or otherwise if each DCS that runs, but I only get :

 

3 Deep Core Surveyors were able to operate on [planet name]
Deep Core Surveyors operate on [planet name] attempting to raise its yields

 

and that is it.

 

The Wiki says I should get something like this:

 

3 Deep Core Surveyors were able to operate on GenericSystem - 9
A Deep Core Surveyor has discovered a new source of Meat on GenericSystem - 9, raising its yield!
A Deep Core Surveyor has discovered a new source of Hydroelectric Potential on GenericSystem - 9, raising its yield!
A Deep Core Surveyor has failed to discover any new resources on GenericSystem - 9

 

So does this mean my DCSs didn't do anything? Do I have to do a GEO just to see if they worked at all? I know that if they did find something, you have to do a GEO to see the exact change in value, but I don't know if they have changed anything, has the reporting changed for DCSs since the Wiki was written?

 

Cheers

 

Gixxer

[richardjohns]

You have to do another Geo of your planet to see the changes.

[Gixxer]

So to clarify, you are saying that the Deep Core Surveyors DON'T give reports like the Wiki said?

 

I was kind of hoping they still did, cos then I'd only need to do a GEO if I got a hit on something I was interested in.

 

Ah well, I'll just set up a fleet to do a GEO every turn then.

 

Thanks

 

Gixxer

[Lord Deependra]

Originally, I put everything I knew into a pdf for myself and my allies, then I later converted that into a wiki. Then I took a break from the game for a few years and the wiki site went commercial so I let it drop.

I still have my original documents, so at some point I will update the original pdf and post it again. Are there any other changes people know about?

 

Scott

[General Miles Avatar]

what your seeing is the new way its displayed. This was done many moons ago because many players had built 1000's of surveyors and the printouts where getting a bit unruly. 20 or 30 pages of DCS reports was a bit much and not required.

[Gixxer]

Thanks for the confirmation. My goal to have 10 DCS running each turn on my homeworld, should be enough to get interesting changes every turn or so :-) I fouund out I can't set up an automatic GEO each turn, so I'll just issue a GEO order for my Home Defense Fleet each turn, since they sit around doing nothing anyway.

 

Gixxer

[Gixxer]

Lord Deependra, just wanted to say , thanks for making that document, it is really very useful, I refer to it very often. :-)

 

Cheers

 

Gixxer

[General Miles Avatar]

Your going to want way more then 10. ICE'ing the world would be much faster although a tad bit more risky

[Gixxer]

Thanks General Miles Avatar, having seen the results of my first few turns running Deep Core Surveyors (just building 1 per turn atm) I see what you mean about wanting lots of them. BTW, is there an upper limit on how high Resource Yields can go? If not, then the more DCSs I can build , the better, and I can understand why people are saying you can do without Stripmines later in the game.

 

Cheers

 

Gixxer

[General Miles Avatar]

there is a maximum number after which you don't see much of a gain. the target number is on the mid 30k's which is dern good potential

To get it higher you will need ICE. preferably massive quantities of it. with that your resource potentials can go into the millions.

[Guest]

Ice-4 is fun to play with wish it was in draco

[hobknob]

When DCS's first showed up and were getting into use it was somewhat interesting to track progress. With the original reports, coupled with a GEO every turn you could really get a sense for how much increase you get from one hit. If I recall the numbers were not that high, something like 20 or less per yield with averages on multiple his in the 7-12 range. Still, it does help a great deal and will eventually get you to about 32k, where you top out. This seemed to be a function of programming or operating system stuff.

 

Using ICE-X is much faster and is not so limited. Drop a bunch of ICE-X and watch your yields go up and sometimes you lose a yield or two. Drop enough ICE-X and you get yields over 1M. Thus far I have not seen an upper limit to yields using ICE-X.

 

This is most likely the reason ICE-X is not in Draco. One does wonder if something else has been introduced as a ground tech to replace the 4 slots of ICE-X in the Special Weapons category since they were the only tech to provide a rating.

[General Miles Avatar]

I certainly hope so. Although I believe PPC tech also gives you special weapons tac rating. I could be wrong but I seem to remember that it did.

[General Miles Avatar]

nope its confirmed. The PPC tech line also yields the special weapons tac rating for your grunts.

[Gixxer]

I've only used ICE-1 once, just to see what it did, I dropped 4000 on a planet I've not got round to colonising yet, I got a lot of gains, and a large loss on Crystal yield, giving a nett loss of -6 across all yields. So I figured it wasn't worth using til I could make at least 10 times as much, preferably a lot more, to use at once, see what happens. Meantime, I'm building DCS on my homeworld :-)

 

Gixxer