how do deep drills work

[ThatUselessGuy]

does it mine thesame type of ore over and over or is it random

[Cormac]

TL;DR:
you scan with the deep scanner (or what it was called) for deposits, if he finds a deposit, it mines only what he found, if you were to have 2 deposits next to eachother (i don't believe they stack over eachother), it mindes the closest deposit first and the others when finished.

if there is no deposite nearby, it mindes chunks and nothing else

[ᖇIᑎ]

You need a ground-penetrating scanner. A pawn to scan with the scanner. They will find deposits of minerals on your map. When you have the scanner selected, you can see all the spots that were found, they show up green. Then you have to move a deep drill over the deposit and a pawn will start drilling. Caution: deep drills will occasionally disturb insect hives under the ground and they'll spawn above ground to attack your colony.

[ThatUselessGuy]

can i just keep reinstalling it untill i find something?

[ᖇIᑎ]

I don't think so? I'm pretty sure the deposits only spawn when they're found at the scanner.

[Cormac]

Originally posted by Stariali:

I don't think so? I'm pretty sure the deposits only spawn when they're found at the scanner.

that... basicly, the scanner generates a deposit you can mine, and at least in theory, you can empty out a tile and later, find another deposit on the same tile that was emptied earlier

[Atrophus]

You can put them on different tiles tho and check what chunks they produce, for mass marble statue production I like me some deep drilling in the living room

[Astasia]

Originally posted by Chad McThiccAss:

can i just keep reinstalling it untill i find something?

You used to be able to do that, but not any more. The deposits don't generate until you find them with a scanner, this system is infinite so you can keep mining up and generating new deposits forever.

[ThatUselessGuy]

im kinda stuck cos of metal i cant call in traders and cant mine any what do?

[ᖇIᑎ]

Do you have buildings made of steel that could be replaced by other materials? Like a steel bed, table, chair, doors? Deconstruct them. Do you have a smelting table? Smelt steel slag chunks. Deconstruct spaceship parts. Set up a quick mining colony?

[gimmethegepgun]

Or set up a caravan and go buy some. Note you're gonna need a lot of caravan capacity because steel is very heavy.