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Why do ice harvesters have auto-cycle restrictions when strip miners don't?
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Shereza
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#1 - 2012-06-21 21:27:40 UTC
I've been wondering this for years now. Strip miners will auto-start the next cycle regardless of whether or not you have enough cargo room for what the lasers might dump in your hold, but if ice harvesters don't think you have enough space they'll shut off. Worse still they don't even shut off in a sensible fashion. If you fill 4km3 out of a 4,944.7m3 hold (2xT2 expanders, 3xT1 rigs, retriever) one laser shuts off but the other keeps running.

So what's the deal with ice harvesters working, or refusing to work as the case may be, this way? Just gets kind of annoying to need 1km3 more cargo space than the total number of ice crystals your ship is going to hold at maximum. 5km3, 13km3, etc. instead of 4km3 or 12km3.
CorInaXeraL
The Dresdeneers
#2 - 2012-06-21 21:50:01 UTC
Ice miners have a union that dictates when and how they can take breaks whilst on the job.


Also, I'm sure it's a matter of coding. If one starts slightly before the other, then when the first drops it's (last) load, it reads 3k / 4995m3, the second laser will read 4k / 4995m3 and shut off, but the other one still believes that it's got that 4th spot open...

That would have to be my best educated guess. The devs might have a more exact answer, though. The truth is most likely embedded in coding behind the scenes.
Shereza
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#3 - 2012-06-21 21:55:49 UTC  |  Edited by: Shereza
CorInaXeraL wrote:
Also, I'm sure it's a matter of coding. If one starts slightly before the other, then when the first drops it's (last) load, it reads 3k / 4995m3, the second laser will read 4k / 4995m3 and shut off, but the other one still believes that it's got that 4th spot open...


Unfortunately that doesn't quite explain mackinaws which pull in 2km3/cycle but still only need 1km3 for the lasers to re-start. With 13km3 cargo they'll pull 3 cycles and start on a fourth while still stopping at the end of the third cycle with 12km3. If the code goes by the size of the ice crystals and only a single crystal that would cover it I suppose, but it's still wonky.
Stellar Wanderer
The Scope
Gallente Federation
#4 - 2012-06-22 08:44:05 UTC
In my experience you can restart an ice laser with 0 available space. it only checks at the end for space.

That was at least my experience few days back ice mining.
Shereza
Center for Advanced Studies
Gallente Federation
#5 - 2012-06-22 08:47:35 UTC
Stellar Wanderer wrote:
In my experience you can restart an ice laser with 0 available space. it only checks at the end for space.

That was at least my experience few days back ice mining.


You're quite right, I'm just wondering why there's that hitch there for ice harvesters and not strip miners or mining lasers. It doesn't seem all that logical to me that if strip miners can auto-cycle past the point where you no longer have the cargo space to pull in the theoretical maximum capacity of the laser that ice harvesters should too, but they don't. /shrugs.
Master Ventris
Rogue Pioneers
#6 - 2012-06-22 15:00:18 UTC
Except you pull in hundreds of units of ore, which you can have a fraction of that will fit in your hold, but ice comes in units of 1, which can't be split up when the cycle ends.

Also with the mack I bet the check for space doesn't take into account the x2 multiplier bonus as it will be a module level check not at ship level, and ice harvesters will check for 1k m3.