Miner speed

[kaizen]

Been playing for 13 hours prior to 1.0 and miners seem slow now since I have updated. Has the mining speed always been 0.5?

[Morsk]

There was a massive mechanics change somewhere in the middle of 0.17. Miners used to get their speed mainly by having more power than the ore had hardness. Now they just have a speed.

But I think it only changed stone.

For the others, it used to take 26 miners to fill a belt, and now it takes 30, but the belt also holds a bit more than it used to. So it's not changed very much.

[kaizen]

Ahh ok gotcha. I had 9 miners and they would keep up but now it's painfully slow. Ah well. Thank you anyway.

[KatherineOfSky]

Just FYI, you need 30 miners to fill a yellow belt. You can find other handy ratios on https://factoriocheatsheet.com/

[Drizzt]

in case anyone wants to quick guide to doing the maths themselves, the belts say how many items they can transport per second, the items say how long they take to make, the drills say how much they produce per second and the assemblers and furnaces have an efficiency rating

so to fill a belt you either multiply the belt capacity by the time to make an item - e.g. 3.2 seconds to make an iron plate in a stone furnace (that has an efficiency of 1) multiplied by 15 items per second on a yellow belt = 48 stone furnaces to fill a yellow belt with iron plates

so if we use steel furnaces (with an efficiency of 2) it's only 1.6 seconds per iron plate = 15 x 1.6 = 24 steel furnaces for 1 yellow belt

or you divide the the belt capacity by the number of items produced per second - e.g. 15 items per second on a yellow belt divided by 0.5 ore per second from the electric mining drill = 30 electric mining drills to fill the belt

or if we use burner drills which produce 0.25 ore a second it's 15 divide by 0.25 = 60 of those things to fill the belt

or you can use the cheat sheet :-)

[kaizen]

Thank you guys for some good constructive responses. Much appreciated. I'm sot sure what has, if anything, happened since I updated but it is what it is :) I must go as the factory must grow.

[Drizzt]

just remember you must also eat and sleep :-)

[BlueRock]

Just in case. There are a couple other things that can affect mining speed.
1. If you are running a little low on power miners will slow down (hover over a power pole to check)
2. If you had a previous game where you had multiple mining productivity researches done and start over with a new game they will seem slower since they no longer get the mining productivity bonus.
3. (Update: removed this point as I later realized it was inaccurate information)
4. Also, I forget exactly when this happened, but belts got a slight buff maybe about 2 yrs ago. The yellow belt only used to be able to transport 13 or so items a second but now carry 15 items a second. So if you loaded an old game it could be that you might think the miners are a little slower where as in reality the belt are a little faster.

[kaizen]

Originally posted by Drizzt:

just remember you must also eat and sleep :-)

Okay fair enough. Just let me refactor the copper belts. Okay, I may as well rearrange iron, would be rude if I didn't. Since I'm here I may as well replace steel furnace with electric. Ah but I think I should run those with efficiency modules. I'll set up a line for those....

[kaizen]

Originally posted by BlueRock:

Just in case. There are a couple other things that can affect mining speed.
1. If you are running a little low on power miners will slow down (hover over a power pole to check)
2. If you had a previous game where you had multiple mining productivity researches done and start over with a new game they will seem slower since they no longer get the mining productivity bonus.
3. Miners can also have modules placed in them to either speed them up or make them produce less pollution (with efficiency modules) if they are near an enemy base. But efficiency modules will slow them down a little.
4. Also, I forget exactly when this happened, but belts got a slight buff maybe about 2 yrs ago. The yellow belt only used to be able to transport 13 or so items a second but now carry 15 items a second. So if you loaded an old game it could be that you might think the miners are a little slower where as in reality the belt are a little faster.

Thank you also! No. it's a new (20 hour game made in latest release prior to 1.0)
Wait.. efficiency slows down? That may be it. When I read about them, it said nothing about slowing down. Only productivity modules would slow down. Intersting

[BlueRock]

Sorry, my mistake, prod modules will cause a slight slow down but efficiency modules won't. But miners won't accept prod modules because there is a separate mining productivity research, so disregard my point #3.

[kaizen]

Thank you for the clarification :)

[Drizzt]

so hungry..... so tired...... but the factory must grow, yes it must grow......

[knighttemplar1960]

One other issue to check. If your power production is not enough to satisfy demand the miners will slow down based on available power.

[kaizen]

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

One other issue to check. If your power production is not enough to satisfy demand the miners will slow down based on available power.

Yeah checked this. I was close to dissatisfaction power wise so maybeee but I've upped by like 3-4 and yellow belts full now so all is good (for now).