Aberration: What's the best way to get Crystal from gem nodes?

[EmberStar]

I'm curious if there's a reliable way to get Crystal from gem nodes. Especially from Green Gem. I've been using a pickaxe, but that only seems to result in a few crystal per node. I've tried the Mining Drill, but that seems to prefer to harvest Metal, then Stone, then everything else. (So from a Green Gem node, the mining drill makes a couple hundred stone, less Green Gems than normal, and barely any Crystal at all.)

I'm still trying to find an ankylosaur worth taming. So far, they've all been less than level 40, except for the three that were busy being murdered by massive packs of Ravagers. :(

If the pick is basically "it," is there any other reliable way to get Crystal besides importing a few Gachas? I do plan to bring some eventually (I'm in singleplayer, and I have "allow foreign dinos" enabled.) But that will have to wait until I have a Tek Transmitter. I don't trust sending things inside cryopods, and Gachas are just big lumpy snacks to everything that would be rushing the Aberration terminals.

(I've had cryopods glitch at least three times - I upload them, transfer to the other map. When I pull them out, either they get instantly set to zero charge and instantly kill whatever was inside... or the game crashes and they just cease to exist because they've been removed from the Obelisk file but didn't exist yet in the most recent world save.)

Sorry, got sidetracked. The TL:DR version - what is the most reliable way to get large amounts of crystal in single player on Aberration?

*Edit* I'm only interested in using the existing game mechanics. I don't want to install mods, and I don't want to just turn up resource harvesting to Youtuber levels where any creature hits its weight cap with every swing.

[Fluffy_Llama]

increase the resource health and you will get more per node

[EmberStar]

Originally posted by Fluffy_Llama:

increase the resource health and you will get more per node

Or if I'm going to cheat, I could just give myself a million billion crystal! I want to do it with the settings I *have.* The settings are fine for everything else. And I'd kind of like there to be SOME point in playing the game. (Why harvest anything, if I can cheat it in? Why tame anything, when it's so much easier to just GMSummon it in pre-tamed at whatever level I want.)

[MacDeltaOne]

Use an Anky with very high melee

[Garma Cyro]

For starters just get a low level anky. Something is better than nothing.
Don't underestimate what any anky with a bit of leveling toward damage can do.
It doesn't take much to outdo a pickaxe.

I also assume your gem problem is related to crafting of gasoline.
How many generators are you running on the map?

Lastly. Modifying the variables are quite common.
Ark's standard settings is a compromise between many different play styles.
This is why I've modified our servers. We're a small and very casual group, most having to balancing work and other duties as well.
The motto I've been running on has been "extend the fun". Making sure things aren't too grindy, while ensuring people doen't max out too fast. It might help you too.

[SpeedFreak3]

After reading your question, i made some tests.

It seems that Ankylosaurus and Doedicurus are more relieable in getting crystal out of gem nodes.
If you have access to a Magmasaur, you hit the jackpot. That creature gets huge amounts of crystal out of gem nodes.
Everything else was worse than a pickaxe. Gacha gets no crystal while harvesting the gems and Phoenix isn't even allowed on aberration.

I hope this information was helpful to your case.

[EmberStar]

Originally posted by Garma Cyro:

I also assume your gem problem is related to crafting of gasoline.
How many generators are you running on the map?
.

No, the problem is that I need more crystal. I have half a vault full of green gems and no particular use for them. Meanwhile, I've got about a quarter of a small greenhouse, because that amount of green gem didn't yield enough crystal to even finish the walls. I have two generators, both completely full of fuel.

I don't have a managarmr. They're so insanely aggressive and suicidal that I normally don't even spot them until they've aggro'd everything in sight. Even if it was possible to get their attention and lead them into a trap, I'd still have to defend them from a herd of enraged mammoths. And their movement and ice beam has been so heavily nerfed that I didn't see any point in trying to tame one. I was not aware they could even harvest gems and crystal, so maybe I'll have to attempt it later.

[Marshall_maz]

Originally posted by EmberStar:

Originally posted by Garma Cyro:

I also assume your gem problem is related to crafting of gasoline.
How many generators are you running on the map?
.

No, the problem is that I need more crystal. I have half a vault full of green gems and no particular use for them. Meanwhile, I've got about a quarter of a small greenhouse, because that amount of green gem didn't yield enough crystal to even finish the walls. I have two generators, both completely full of fuel.

I don't have a managarmr. They're so insanely aggressive and suicidal that I normally don't even spot them until they've aggro'd everything in sight. Even if it was possible to get their attention and lead them into a trap, I'd still have to defend them from a herd of enraged mammoths. And their movement and ice beam has been so heavily nerfed that I didn't see any point in trying to tame one. I was not aware they could even harvest gems and crystal, so maybe I'll have to attempt it later.

Magmasaur , not Managarmr. The Magmasaur you get on Genesis.