You can do much more advanced stuff than that with LBML. As someone who trains new miners and watches their returns every day, I'd have to disagree. Mining is much more than running and dropping. The "new" Ark rares have simply not yet been added to the LBML database.
1. Why bother? 2. Fair enough. But I have followed your posts and more than a few things you say are simply not true....at least from my experience. i.e. you won't find rares with amps. I have been amped for years. I find plenty of rares. But in clusters. Some weeks I find none at all. Some weeks I find rares every other run, it doesn't alter my returns over time. Rares and hofs are simply eye candy. At least for me and the other experienced miners in my soc. I still don't get the part where all your noobs have tt returns over 90%, except the ones that don't hunt. You've introduced a ton of variables when you add hunting to the mix. I throw in as many mining variables as possible and I still can't get my results to vary to any great degree. Any my tt results are very similar to my soc mates with similar gear and experience. 3. Ok. Whatever. Here's a glimpse of my results over time. These runs include rares, hofs, globals, running in a straight line from random tps, grid bombing and grinding certain rotations of tps for days on end. Somehow the X axis and Y axis seem to correlate even though I throw in random variables. My only constants are the finder and amps that I use. View attachment 8031 I am not going to give info on how I figure my results, only that the same method was used for the test period and neither axis has been altered in any way. i.e. The lines on the Y axis are spaced at exactly the same intervals and the X axis is linear. My calculations are the same from the first data point until the last, my mining methods vary a great deal over the course of the test period. Skills are not included in the calculations. Decay is figured in but as an average per run. As are auction fees. About the only thing I will add is that I always will double drop on planets that only allow double drops and I always triple drop on Ark. Hunting and crafting are not figured in at all.
What is your average TT return? Just because you see a relatively straight line doesn't mean that mining technique is not important.
94%....same as my soc mate with similar skills. Same as Las Vegas. My point is that I can replicate my results over months using similar gear and varying mining techniques. About the only technique I have not used in years is vein mining, popular in the early days of EU. I just run and drop for the most parts. My second point is that most ppl over-think the whole mining thing and obsess about factors which don't seem to matter over time.
It sounds like you're already dropping with decently good technique. It's below the average for my mining company, but it's respectable (the difference could be due to you higher decay/depth enhancers). I think if you did use LBML we would see, among other things, that you run far enough to not overlap between drops, which is the main predictor of TT return. Most new players--and many experienced ones--do not use good techniques and their returns suffer for it, and for them, LBML is very useful.
I was consistently over 110% tt when single dropping ores a few years back. But with new new new new new loot, those results are no longer relevant. There are other factors besides tt returns. MU for one and decay costs for another. Hitting a 100 ped of energized crystal is less decay and more MU than 125 ped of oil or lyst. Using a more efficient refiner and extractor would prolly help more miners than anything else they can control. As for enhancers, in my experience, they just break. If I were to use them on a consistent basis, it would have to be with high MU amps and in areas of high MU mats. I don't get the whole depth enhancers thing. My ATH was at 415 meters using off the rack gear. And my 25k was with a TK-320, hardly uber gear. And my preferred finder has a recommended skill level that would take a noob a few hours to skill up to at most. Testing every setup would take so long it would make the results meaningless so I'd rather run, drop and do other things while I mine. I might give the TerraMaster 6 a go after I max it.
There are two ways of approaching mining: 1- You care about hitrate and short term returns and you go for areas with high hitrate etc and get the average 94% return without major hofs etc; 2- You run and drop. Go through periods of 40% returns and then one >1000% run that balances things out. There isn't any more to it. Choose the latter when you're confident you have enough money in hand, it requires a bigger wallet, much much bigger. It's also a lot more risky, because you get an hof on a low MU resource, your average markup is going to go down.
Again Neil you follow ONE mining method. It makes you look seriously clueless when you tell people they are or are not mining "correctly" I routinely can end up with anywhere between 3 and 15 or more on super good days claims all within the inner two radar rings. So again I say. YOURS is only one strategy to mine by. By the way your LBML maps are severely gimped because of relying on that one technique. Stick to what works for you but stop telling or making statements people are doing things wrong.
You guys can mine however you like. I think I've said that before. Ultimately, if you're concerned about profiting you should weigh your costs and returns and judge whether the costs balance your enjoyment of the game. I hear many miners (including you) complaining about TT returns so I have suggested a way that's proven to provide high returns. But it's merely a suggestion. If you enjoying dropping repeatedly in the same spot to try and get as many claims as possible on your radar, then that's the way you like to play and it's completely acceptable for you to do that, even if I would not allow my miners to do it.
