The Lie that is Oil Drilling?

[Jodian]

Let me start out by saying that I spent about a week putting together a fully functioning oil rig, complete with a fractioning tower and several large oil storage tanks. It took a lot of designing and redesigning and a LOT of trial and error. I probably went through 4 different methods just to get the well head down to the sea floor without it's contraption blocking the drill rig. I can't even tell you how many times I reloaded the save with little bug fixes. Anywhoo....

I finally get my oil rig perfect, like I'm thrilled at myself for getting such a complicated project done. I fire down 12 pipes and boom, hit oil. I've done that part dozens of times so far but this is the first time where I can actually work on filling my storage tanks. I fire up the pump and watch the numbers start to go up. In the meantime I decided to do some rescue missions, because why not?

Returning to my oil rig later I was pretty thrilled to see about 300k worth of oil in my storage tanks and about another 150k in my fractioning system. That said, the numbers weren't moving anymore. They weren't climbing, or falling, they were just sitting there. I checked the oil pump, it was running. Even stopped and started it. Tried putting down another pipe in case the oil reservoir works like a straw in a glass. Nope... No more oil.

So for all that effort I ended up getting somewhere between 450 and 500k worth of oil from the oil rig location. Didn't even fill 1/4 of the tanks in the oil freighter I built.

Is this REALLY all there is to oil drilling in this game? A whole pile of effort for an extremely small payout? I mean, I've put less effort into a "do it all" rescue vehicle that I can use to complete pretty much every mission. Please tell me I ran into a bug because the oil rig, without even considering the initial base purchase, cost me like $500k to build and I was expecting the oil payout to at least double what I put into it.

[The Entity]

Might be a dumb/obvious question, but you dont have a vacuum somewhere do you? I.e you remembers relief valves?

[Jodian]

Originally posted by The Entity:

Might be a dumb/obvious question, but you dont have a vacuum somewhere do you? I.e you remembers relief valves?

Good thought, but I have pressure relief and air equalization mechanisms all over the place. I have them on my storage tanks, built in-line on pipes, even on my fractioning tower. I'm pretty confident there's no possibility of overpressure or vacuum anywhere in the system.

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Hey, you're missing an economic point about your rig.

You've ALREADY invested the hours to engineer it. You've ALREADY invested the money to deploy it. You don't have to invest all that time and money twice. It's saved; It's built; And even if you despawned it to the bench, that money gets refunded to you. You lose, NOTHING.

Now, your deposit ran dry. But that's why you have an oil vendor selling deposit locations. What, you think it would just be one and done? No.

Pack your s***, pull up your pipes, go buy a new survey from the oil survey vendor, reposition your rig, and drill another deposit!

[Jodian]

Originally posted by AdmiralTigerclaw:

Hey, you're missing an economic point about your rig.

You've ALREADY invested the hours to engineer it. You've ALREADY invested the money to deploy it. You don't have to invest all that time and money twice. It's saved; It's built; And even if you despawned it to the bench, that money gets refunded to you. You lose, NOTHING.

Now, your deposit ran dry. But that's why you have an oil vendor selling deposit locations. What, you think it would just be one and done? No.

Pack your s***, pull up your pipes, go buy a new survey from the oil survey vendor, reposition your rig, and drill another deposit!

Wait... There are just random oil deposits around the ocean? I built my oil rig at the actual oil rig base because I thought that's what you had to do. Didn't know there were just oil deposits all over the place.

[Captain]

Flying by the seat of your pants

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Originally posted by Jodian:

Originally posted by AdmiralTigerclaw:

Hey, you're missing an economic point about your rig.

You've ALREADY invested the hours to engineer it. You've ALREADY invested the money to deploy it. You don't have to invest all that time and money twice. It's saved; It's built; And even if you despawned it to the bench, that money gets refunded to you. You lose, NOTHING.

Now, your deposit ran dry. But that's why you have an oil vendor selling deposit locations. What, you think it would just be one and done? No.

Pack your s***, pull up your pipes, go buy a new survey from the oil survey vendor, reposition your rig, and drill another deposit!

Wait... There are just random oil deposits around the ocean? I built my oil rig at the actual oil rig base because I thought that's what you had to do. Didn't know there were just oil deposits all over the place.

What did you think the 'Oil Data Vendor' locations on your map did?

[Captain]

Originally posted by Jodian:

Let me start out by saying that I spent about a week putting together a fully functioning oil rig, complete with a fractioning tower and several large oil storage tanks. It took a lot of designing and redesigning and a LOT of trial and error. I probably went through 4 different methods just to get the well head down to the sea floor without it's contraption blocking the drill rig. I can't even tell you how many times I reloaded the save with little bug fixes. Anywhoo....

I finally get my oil rig perfect, like I'm thrilled at myself for getting such a complicated project done. I fire down 12 pipes and boom, hit oil. I've done that part dozens of times so far but this is the first time where I can actually work on filling my storage tanks. I fire up the pump and watch the numbers start to go up. In the meantime I decided to do some rescue missions, because why not?

Returning to my oil rig later I was pretty thrilled to see about 300k worth of oil in my storage tanks and about another 150k in my fractioning system. That said, the numbers weren't moving anymore. They weren't climbing, or falling, they were just sitting there. I checked the oil pump, it was running. Even stopped and started it. Tried putting down another pipe in case the oil reservoir works like a straw in a glass. Nope... No more oil.

So for all that effort I ended up getting somewhere between 450 and 500k worth of oil from the oil rig location. Didn't even fill 1/4 of the tanks in the oil freighter I built.

Is this REALLY all there is to oil drilling in this game? A whole pile of effort for an extremely small payout? I mean, I've put less effort into a "do it all" rescue vehicle that I can use to complete pretty much every mission. Please tell me I ran into a bug because the oil rig, without even considering the initial base purchase, cost me like $500k to build and I was expecting the oil payout to at least double what I put into it.

So I assume you are going to edit your post and retract your statement. Maybe something along the lines of:

"I could not be bothered to read the oil update info or watch tutorials. So because I did not invest any time in learning the mechanic I assumed it was a game issue not my own ignorance about how the mechanic works."

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/573090/view/3647388158746595952

"Surveying For Oil

Players can just start drilling in the hope of striking black gold, but it's probably more sensible to purchase surveys. You can discover oil fields by purchasing survey data from the existing oil sites in game. Industrial Frontier DLC owners can also drill on land at any of the pre-established oil wells on the Meier Isles that include static workbenches for creating rigs."

"Feature - Oil Industry Major Update

Oil drilling is a new late-game activity for Stormworks, with high start up costs but a large return on investment.
Oil can be found under oil rig workbenches or under random ocean tiles (Purchase survey data from an oil company to reveal them on your map)
Once you have located an area rich in oil it's time to set up an oil rig and start drilling!"

"Oil Survey:
- Randomly generated ocean oil deposits
- Oil Data Vendors which sell oil deposit location information
- Oil deposit below the static oil rig base
- 4 Oil Well locations on the Meier Isles (Industrial Frontier DLC)"

[AdmiralTigerclaw]

Originally posted by Captain:

Originally posted by Jodian:

Let me start out by saying that I spent about a week putting together a fully functioning oil rig, complete with a fractioning tower and several large oil storage tanks. It took a lot of designing and redesigning and a LOT of trial and error. I probably went through 4 different methods just to get the well head down to the sea floor without it's contraption blocking the drill rig. I can't even tell you how many times I reloaded the save with little bug fixes. Anywhoo....

I finally get my oil rig perfect, like I'm thrilled at myself for getting such a complicated project done. I fire down 12 pipes and boom, hit oil. I've done that part dozens of times so far but this is the first time where I can actually work on filling my storage tanks. I fire up the pump and watch the numbers start to go up. In the meantime I decided to do some rescue missions, because why not?

Returning to my oil rig later I was pretty thrilled to see about 300k worth of oil in my storage tanks and about another 150k in my fractioning system. That said, the numbers weren't moving anymore. They weren't climbing, or falling, they were just sitting there. I checked the oil pump, it was running. Even stopped and started it. Tried putting down another pipe in case the oil reservoir works like a straw in a glass. Nope... No more oil.

So for all that effort I ended up getting somewhere between 450 and 500k worth of oil from the oil rig location. Didn't even fill 1/4 of the tanks in the oil freighter I built.

Is this REALLY all there is to oil drilling in this game? A whole pile of effort for an extremely small payout? I mean, I've put less effort into a "do it all" rescue vehicle that I can use to complete pretty much every mission. Please tell me I ran into a bug because the oil rig, without even considering the initial base purchase, cost me like $500k to build and I was expecting the oil payout to at least double what I put into it.

So I assume you are going to edit your post and retract your statement. Maybe something along the lines of:

"I could not be bothered to read the oil update info or watch tutorials. So because I did not invest any time in learning the mechanic I assumed it was a game issue not my own ignorance about how the mechanic works."

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/573090/view/3647388158746595952

"Surveying For Oil

Players can just start drilling in the hope of striking black gold, but it's probably more sensible to purchase surveys. You can discover oil fields by purchasing survey data from the existing oil sites in game. Industrial Frontier DLC owners can also drill on land at any of the pre-established oil wells on the Meier Isles that include static workbenches for creating rigs."

"Feature - Oil Industry Major Update

Oil drilling is a new late-game activity for Stormworks, with high start up costs but a large return on investment.
Oil can be found under oil rig workbenches or under random ocean tiles (Purchase survey data from an oil company to reveal them on your map)
Once you have located an area rich in oil it's time to set up an oil rig and start drilling!"

"Oil Survey:
- Randomly generated ocean oil deposits
- Oil Data Vendors which sell oil deposit location information
- Oil deposit below the static oil rig base
- 4 Oil Well locations on the Meier Isles (Industrial Frontier DLC)"

Let 'im alone. You act like he works for a media outlet and needs to post a correction lest he gets the company sued into oblivion. It's a steam forum post. It'll be forgotten in a few days, and buried in a week.

[GrumpyOldMan]

Originally posted by Jodian:

Is this REALLY all there is to oil drilling in this game? A whole pile of effort for an extremely small payout? I mean, I've put less effort into a "do it all" rescue vehicle that I can use to complete pretty much every mission. Please tell me I ran into a bug because the oil rig, without even considering the initial base purchase, cost me like $500k to build and I was expecting the oil payout to at least double what I put into it.

As opposed to real life, where oil wells can work for decades (with declining flowrates), oil wells in SW don't simulate this and can run dry rather quickly.

Looks like you were just unlucky and had a smaller reservoire on land.

With a drill ship you can go and drill oil on the ocean, which appears to usually have bigger oil reservoires.

Also feel free to use this tool to see how deep you need to drill / total volume of oil to retrieve:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3000873579

Originally posted by Captain:

So I assume you are going to edit your post and retract your statement. Maybe something along the lines of:

"I could not be bothered to read the oil update info or watch tutorials. So because I did not invest any time in learning the mechanic I assumed it was a game issue not my own ignorance about how the mechanic works."

Did you overlook Jodians questions?

[Jodian]

Originally posted by AdmiralTigerclaw:

Originally posted by Captain:

So I assume you are going to edit your post and retract your statement. Maybe something along the lines of:

"I could not be bothered to read the oil update info or watch tutorials. So because I did not invest any time in learning the mechanic I assumed it was a game issue not my own ignorance about how the mechanic works."

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/573090/view/3647388158746595952

"Surveying For Oil

Players can just start drilling in the hope of striking black gold, but it's probably more sensible to purchase surveys. You can discover oil fields by purchasing survey data from the existing oil sites in game. Industrial Frontier DLC owners can also drill on land at any of the pre-established oil wells on the Meier Isles that include static workbenches for creating rigs."

"Feature - Oil Industry Major Update

Oil drilling is a new late-game activity for Stormworks, with high start up costs but a large return on investment.
Oil can be found under oil rig workbenches or under random ocean tiles (Purchase survey data from an oil company to reveal them on your map)
Once you have located an area rich in oil it's time to set up an oil rig and start drilling!"

"Oil Survey:
- Randomly generated ocean oil deposits
- Oil Data Vendors which sell oil deposit location information
- Oil deposit below the static oil rig base
- 4 Oil Well locations on the Meier Isles (Industrial Frontier DLC)"

Let 'im alone. You act like he works for a media outlet and needs to post a correction lest he gets the company sued into oblivion. It's a steam forum post. It'll be forgotten in a few days, and buried in a week.

Yea, I already blocked him for being a prick with his first message. Thanks for stepping in. I honestly didn't know about the oil vendors. I wasn't one of those people who purchased the oil update the second it came out, and I don't actually read every update that gets posted. Have far too many games to do that with them all. I knew about the fish vendors but had no idea there were actual oil vendors. Just thought you had to use the actual oil rig locations.

[Jodian]

Originally posted by GrumpyOldMan:

Originally posted by Jodian:

Is this REALLY all there is to oil drilling in this game? A whole pile of effort for an extremely small payout? I mean, I've put less effort into a "do it all" rescue vehicle that I can use to complete pretty much every mission. Please tell me I ran into a bug because the oil rig, without even considering the initial base purchase, cost me like $500k to build and I was expecting the oil payout to at least double what I put into it.

As opposed to real life, where oil wells can work for decades (with declining flowrates), oil wells in SW don't simulate this and can run dry rather quickly.

Looks like you were just unlucky and had a smaller reservoire on land.

With a drill ship you can go and drill oil on the ocean, which appears to usually have bigger oil reservoires.

Also feel free to use this tool to see how deep you need to drill / total volume of oil to retrieve:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3000873579

Originally posted by Captain:

So I assume you are going to edit your post and retract your statement. Maybe something along the lines of:

"I could not be bothered to read the oil update info or watch tutorials. So because I did not invest any time in learning the mechanic I assumed it was a game issue not my own ignorance about how the mechanic works."

Did you overlook Jodians questions?

This is the kind of response I was looking to get. Informative and helpful. Thank you. I actually didn't know you could find oil outside of the Oil Rig and Oil Platform locations. I knew there was a fishing vendor but had no clue there was an oil vendor. Looks like I get to build a new creation to go hunting the ocean depths. Thanks again for your useful and helpful reply.

Originally posted by GrumpyOldMan:

Did you overlook Jodians questions?

Yea, I was about to say, for someone complaining that I didn't read the update it's kind of ironic he didn't read my actual questions. But, I mean, what can you expect from a self-appointed captain... lol

[Captain]

Originally posted by Jodian:

Let me start out by saying that I spent about a week putting together a fully functioning oil rig, complete with a fractioning tower and several large oil storage tanks. It took a lot of designing and redesigning and a LOT of trial and error. I probably went through 4 different methods just to get the well head down to the sea floor without it's contraption blocking the drill rig. I can't even tell you how many times I reloaded the save with little bug fixes. Anywhoo....

I finally get my oil rig perfect, like I'm thrilled at myself for getting such a complicated project done. I fire down 12 pipes and boom, hit oil. I've done that part dozens of times so far but this is the first time where I can actually work on filling my storage tanks. I fire up the pump and watch the numbers start to go up. In the meantime I decided to do some rescue missions, because why not?

Returning to my oil rig later I was pretty thrilled to see about 300k worth of oil in my storage tanks and about another 150k in my fractioning system. That said, the numbers weren't moving anymore. They weren't climbing, or falling, they were just sitting there. I checked the oil pump, it was running. Even stopped and started it. Tried putting down another pipe in case the oil reservoir works like a straw in a glass. Nope... No more oil.

So for all that effort I ended up getting somewhere between 450 and 500k worth of oil from the oil rig location. Didn't even fill 1/4 of the tanks in the oil freighter I built.

Is this REALLY all there is to oil drilling in this game? A whole pile of effort for an extremely small payout? I mean, I've put less effort into a "do it all" rescue vehicle that I can use to complete pretty much every mission. Please tell me I ran into a bug because the oil rig, without even considering the initial base purchase, cost me like $500k to build and I was expecting the oil payout to at least double what I put into it.

First of all I acknowledge that my tone was abrasive and uncalled for. I believe you title is abrasive and I responded in kind. Which was not correct.

The Lie that is Oil Drilling?

Its not a lie, you just didn't research. The title comes off as accusatory. It read as more rant than a genuine reach for help. Perhaps a better title fitting with the tenor of looking for help would be. "Can someone tell me how oil drilling works?"

AdmiralTigerclaw then explained to you the basics of oil drilling. Your question was answered already.

When I had time I added in my post, the link to the Oil major update. I also quoted the relevant parts of the update so you could read the very words from the update explaining the mechanics.

Originally posted by GrumpyOldMan:

Did you overlook Jodians questions?

Yea, I was about to say, for someone complaining that I didn't read the update it's kind of ironic he didn't read my actual questions. But, I mean, what can you expect from a self-appointed captain... lol

So no, I did not overlook the question. I read it and it had already been answered. When I had time. I scrolled through years of weekly updates to provide you with the relevant explanation of the mechanics.