The TEST Refinery Deck & Refinery Guide - V3.12

[Black Sunder]

Table of Contents
**Denotes link to section

Introduction to Refinery Decks*

Refinery Deck Locations​

Material Specializations​

The Mining Support Center

Renting Vehicles & Ships​

The Refinement Processing Center*

Ore Sales - Selling Unrefined Minerals/Ore​

Refinement Processing​

Work Order Creation​

Refinement Processes​

Refinement Costs​

Work Order Collection & Delivery​

Selling Refined Minerals/Ores*

Sharing Profits Made Easy​

Links

Final Thoughts

 

[Black Sunder]

The TEST Refinery Deck & Refinery Guide - V3.12

This Guide is intended to help members of TEST Squadron gain a full understanding of Refining gameplay as it currently exists. It contains information taken from the game, gained through personal experiences, or read about from direct sources and is presented in a way that assumes the game client and servers are working correctly. While this Guide will contain advice and recommended actions it is up to the player to make use of them as they will.

This Guide will be updated with new information as the game develops and new mechanics are introduced.

Introduction to Refinery Decks

Refinery Decks and their associated Refineries are the next step toward taking unrefined minerals/ores and turning them into valuable refined commodities to be used in manufacturing. Refinery Decks are split into two parts: The Mining Support Center and The Refinement Processing Center. The Mining Support Center is a shop where miners can rent vehicles/ships or purchase equipment such as Mining Heads, armor, and Multi-Tool attachments. The Refinement Processing Center is split into two areas: Ore Sales and Refinement Processing. Ore Sales are where unrefined minerals/ore can be sold. Refinement Processing will turn unrefined minerals/ores into refined commodities.

Refinery Deck Locations

Within Stanton, Refinery Decks are currently present at five locations with additional Ore Sales terminals at Levski. This is a departure from previous versions of the game which allowed minerals/ore to be sold to a refinery at every landing zone.

Material Specializations

Each Refinery Deck has specializations(positive/negative) for select minerals/ores.. A positive specialization is most often a bonus to yield although it can also shorten processing time of a particular mineral/ore. Negative specializations represent an additional yield loss and/or a longer processing time for a specific mineral/ore. A listing of the Material Specializations can be found here. A Refinery Deck with specializations toward certain minerals/ores can still refine all other minerals/ores.

The Mining Support Center

All Refinery Decks have a Mining Support Center. This shop sells a variety of mining related items such as Mining Heads, Environmental Armor, Mining Consumables and more. Mining Heads and Mining Consumables at these shops are sold at half price. For a full listing of what each Mining Support Center has in its inventory, check the Universal Item Finder. The Mining Support Center is also where mining related vehicles and ships may be rented. Purchasing these vehicles or ships will require the player to look elsewhere.

Renting Vehicles & Ships

Equipment Rentals is located to the left of the Mining Support Center entrance and toward the back across from the 2nd service desk.

Mining vehicles and ships can be rented in the verse for varying lengths of time should the player wish to try the ship out before purchasing it. At this time only the ROC, Prospector, or Cutlass Black may be rented here. The process of renting is rather straightforward:

1. Select the manufacturer or All.
2. Select the desired vehicle or ship
3. Select the rental duration(1, 3, 7, or 30 days).
4. Hit ‘Rent Ship’ and confirm the rental.

When renting a vehicle or ship, the price per day will decrease when rented for longer periods of time. For example, the price for a one day rental may be around 2-3% of the vehicle/ship’s total value in aUEC. However, for 30 days, the price may drop to around 1.25% per day. The time remaining on the vehicle/ship can be checked on the Mobiglas’ Vehicle Loadout Manager app or at an ASOP terminal. The rental ROC and Prospector can not be upgraded in any way. Players used to faster, more maneuverable ships, should not expect the Prospector to perform at that standard and should give it ample time to slow down or accelerate when making maneuvers.

 

[Black Sunder]

The Refinement Processing Center

The Refinement Processing Center is located above the Mining Support Center. Take the stairs to the left of the Support Center’s entrance to reach it. Once inside, the player is presented with two sets of terminals: Ore Sales and Refinement Processing.

Ore Sales - Selling Unrefined Minerals/Ore

Ore Sales terminals function the same way as the pre-3.12 Refinery Terminals did. Unrefined minerals/ores can be sold en masse to the station at 50% of the price that the refined product would bring.

Refinement Processing

Refinement Processing is where the player will go to create work orders, see work order status, collect refined minerals/ore, and view current station capacity.

Work Order Creation

A work order must be created to begin the refinement process . A player may put in as many work orders as there are loads of unrefined minerals/ore to be refined. Work orders, once created, will run concurrently, not sequentially, on the backend of the server and will persist across sessions and server crashes. Thus far work orders have only been wiped when a patch occurred, but not when a player initiated a character reset.

In addition to beginning a work order(3) the splash screen for Refinement Processing will show how many work orders are completed(1) and how many work orders are currently being processed(2). Once the player presses ‘Begin’, the Refinement Center Interface will be pulled up.

1. Refinement Center Interface Heading - Name of station, Name of player, and player’s current funds.
2. Material Specializations - Specializations(Positive/Negative) toward select minerals/ores. This only shows yield modifiers, not any additional time modifiers(if any).
3. Refinery Capacity - How ‘loaded down’ the refinery is. Workload level will determine if a surcharge will be applied to the player’s work order and how much it will be.
4. Material Selection - Material source. Refineries only accept unrefined minerals/ores from a Prospector or Mole. Once a ship is selected this panel will tell the player how much material can be refined, the amount of Inert Material, and how much cargo space was left unfilled. Gems such as Hadanite and Dolivine do not need to be refined.
5. Setup Work Order - Greyed out until a source ship is selected.
   
   

Once a material source ship is selected, press “Setup Work Order”. The interface will then expand and allow the player to choose what Refinement Process is desired for their minerals/ore, what minerals/ore are to be refined, and a quoted cost and time for the work order.

1. Refineable Material - Total amount(in Centi-SCU. 100 CSCU = 1 SCU). Does not include Inert Material.
2. Refinement Process - Helps determine yield, cost, and time the work order will take. See further information about these Processes below.
   
   
3. Material Selection - Allows the player to select what minerals/ores are to be refined. Partial work orders are allowed but will result in unselected minerals/ores being discarded. This will also show the yield for the various Processes once ‘Get Quote’ is pressed. Inert Material is always discarded.
4. Work Order Time/Cost - How much the work order will cost and the time it will take once ‘Get Quote’ is pressed.
5. Get Quote - Calculates work order yield, cost, and time. A surcharge may be added depending on current Refinery Capacity.

Once a player has selected a Refinement Process and materials to refine, pressing the ‘Get Quote Button’ will show the calculated yield, cost, and time to complete the work order. ‘Get Quote’ can be used multiple times to show data for each Refinement Process allowing the player to select the one that best suits their cost/time situation. If satisfied, the player can confirm the work order. If any minerals/ore are left unselected, a warning will pop up informing the player of this. The player is free to continue or cancel and reevaluate.

Up until the final confirmation of the work order, a player can completely cancel a work order without any loss of cargo or money. Once a work order is confirmed then cancelling it will result in the loss of all unrefined materials. Work orders are run on the backend and will persist across sessions and even server crashes. Once confirmed, the player may leave to prospect for more minerals/ores or log out. Once the work order begins processing, the player need not do anything else until it completes.

Immediately selecting a Storage Option once the work order is processing is not necessary. Doing so will light up the ‘Stop & Collect button which can then be used to halt the work order. Pressing it while a work order is processing will bring up a warning. If the player presses confirm then all unrefined materials will be lost and only the currently refined minerals/ores will be retained. There is very little reason to ever exercise this option as the player is already given the opportunity to choose what should be refined before initially confirming the work order.

Refinement Processes

Values taken from game XML files and ingame testing.

1. Refinement Process - The Process’ name.
2. Base Yield - All stations regardless of the chosen Process give a base yield of 95% of the input minerals/ore. This is before Process Yield Reductions and Material Specializations are factored in.
3. Process Yield Reduction - How much yield is lost due to the Refinement Process itself.
4. Total Yield Reduction - The combination of the Base Yield and the Process Yield Reduction together.
5. Process Cost - General Refinement Process cost. Acts as a multiplier on different mineral/ore refine costs per unit(see table below). Current Capacity of the station will affect the final total but all Processes seem to use Dinyx as a base cost and build on it.
6. Refining Speed - Generally how long each Process takes to refine materials. Acts as a multiplier on different mineral/ore refine and discard times Cormack has the lowest processing time and seems to be the base time that all other Processes build on.
7. Process Time % - Modifier based on Cormack Method to processing time. This is before the Station's current Capacity and Material Specialization time modifiers(if any) are factored in.

The Processes themselves give no special bonuses to any particular minerals or ores. As previously stated, Refinery Processes help determine a work order’s overall yield, cost, and time before specific Material Specializations and Refinery Capacity surcharges are added in. These 5 Processes stand in a triad of Yield, Cost, and Time with each process having different advantages and disadvantages. A player must then choose what to sacrifice: yield, time, or cost when creating a work order. It is up to the player to choose the best process for their needs.

Refinement Costs

Values taken from game XML files.

1. Refinement Cost/Unit - The cost in aUEC to refine 1 unit of the mineral/ore. 100 units = 1 SCU. Units are also known as CSCU or Centi-SCU.
2. Discard Cost/Unit - The cost in aUEC to discard 1 unit of that mineral/ore.
3. Refine Time/unit - The time it takes to refine 1 unit of a particular mineral/ore What measurement of time this refers to is currently unknown.
4. Discard Time/unit - The time it takes to discard 1 unit of a particular mineral/ore. What measurement of time this refers to is currently unknown.

Different minerals/ores have differing refining/discarding costs. Refining/discarding time for all minerals/ores is the same although it is probable that these XML entries were created by CIG for use later to further balance the different minerals/ores.

There are a few things a player can do to keep work order costs as low as possible. First of all, choose a Refinery Deck with as low traffic as possible. With there only being 5 Refinery Deck locations at this time, this is very difficult as Refinery Capacity is shared across all servers resulting in them all being overworked at this time. The next best thing is to choose Dinyx Solventation as the Refinement Process which has the lowest cost if the player is willing to sacrifice completion time. Furthermore, a player should keep extracted Inert Material as low as possible. Inert Material is always discarded from work orders and as the table shows, it costs more to discard it than it does to refine Hephaestanite.

Work Order Collection & Delivery

Once a work order is completed the player will be made aware by a HUD notification and by the Refinement Processing terminal’s splash screen. There is no time limit on when completed work orders must be picked up.

Press ‘Begin’ to view the completed work order(s). The same interface as before will be presented only this time it will now also show completed work orders. From here, select a Storage Option.

A Storage Option is a ship with a cargo grid and a hold large enough to take the entire completed work order. Partial loads into ships with small holds are not allowed. The ship must have enough cargo space to take the entire work order at once or it will not be selectable. Multiple work orders may be put into the same ship provided there is enough free space. Once a ship is selected, hit “Collect”. This will bring up a confirmation window. Hit ‘Confirm’ to complete the transaction. The cargo will then be put in the ship that was selected.

 

[Black Sunder]

Selling Refined Minerals/Ores

Once the refined minerals/ores have been loaded on a ship, they must be flown to a suitable location to be sold. This introduces significant risk and any number of reasons may see the cargo be lost and the player left empty handed. Refined minerals/ores may only be sold at the Trade and Development Division(Central Business District for Lorville) or at different illegal outposts and salvage yards around the system. Check SC Trade Tools and select the commodity for what those outposts will purchase. Selling these commodities is no different than any other trade good. Simply go to the terminal, select each commodity, and sell it.

Sharing Profits Made Easy

The mo.TRADER app on the mobiGlas allows players to quickly disseminate profits to mining crews and pay security escorts without the need for cumbersome and unreliable public contracts. The app itself is very intuitive, quicker, and safer to use than contracts. Start by opening the mobiGlas(‘F1’) and navigating to the icon shown and press the ‘Begin’ button:

At the top the Select Recipient screen is a Search feature in case the recipient is not a member of the party or on the player’s Friends list. From here Party members or Friends can easily be selected. Simply click on the recipient’s name to proceed to the Transfer Details screen.

There are several items to pay attention to on the Transfer Details screen:

1. Current Player Balance - in aUEC, before any transfer has occurred.
2. Merits - Prison Merits. Merits can be traded for supplies or to help free another prisoner faster. Not applicable for this example.
3. Sending To - The recipient.
4. You Send - The amount in aUEC the player wished to give to another before tax.
5. Total Cost - Total amount including the 0.5% Service Fee transfer tax The tax is added on top of what the player wishes to send and is taken from the giving player, not the recipient.

Once a transfer amount has been entered, the Service Fee will automatically be calculated and added to the aUEC being sent resulting in the Total Cost. If this is acceptable the player only needs to click ‘Send’. The transaction will then process and a receipt will be shown showing that the transfer was successful. From here the player has the option to make another transfer with a new recipient or to quit the app. If there is any downside to this app it is that multiple recipients can not be selected at once to create an even profit split.

Links

Refinery Deck Specializations - A complete listing of refinery deck locations and specializations.
Universal Item Finder - Searchable item database
Commodity Trade Locations - Where to sell specific commodities

Final Thoughts

Refining raw minerals/ores is the gameplay endpoint for Mining at this time. Gas Mining has been talked about by CIG and it is likely that it will include an element of refinery gameplay. Collecting refined materials and transporting them to a location to sell moves into the area of Cargo Hauling(Logistics) which by itself can fill a completely different Guide on its own, but such a Guide is for another day. Again, this Refinery Guide like the Mining Guide/Mining Guide Supplement will be updated with each new patch to take into account any new information or changes to mechanics.

Thank you to @Red_Boomstick for his help in calculating Refinery Process percentages. Thank you to all TEST members who contributed tips, tricks, suggestions and other data that has gone into making this the best it can be.

Thank you for reading and thank you to everyone that supports and links this Guide.

Signed,

@Black Sunder

 

[Black Sunder]

And thats it, Refinery Guide done! I'm sorry it took so long for such a simple mechanic but I wanted to go above and beyond and talk about the entire Deck + gather data on the Processes.

 

[Alia_and_Gotin]

And thats it, Refinery Guide done! I'm sorry it took so long for such a simple mechanic but I wanted to go above and beyond and talk about the entire Deck + gather data on the Processes.

Another great job, easy to understand, complete and useful.

 

[Mastersan]

I've gone back to mining recently, and one thing I'm still not clear on after reading your guide (great guide by the way) and some other forums is the yield from product specialisation. What does it give in the end? Can you please help clarifying with the below example?

Example:

• I've got 100 SCU of unrefined Laranite.
• HUR-L1 has +4% yield specialisation, while MIC-L1 has -6% specialisation for Laranite.
• As you've noted above, the base yield is 95%.

• If I refine the whole 100 SCU of unrefined Laranite at HUR-L1 will I get 99% (95%+4%), or otherwise 99 CSU of refined Laranite?
• If I refine the whole 100 SCU of unrefined Laranite at MIC-L1, will I get 89% (95%-6%) or otherwise 89 CSU of refined Laranite ?

Another question: can the total yield be over 100%? E.g. HUR-L1 has +10% for Copper. Does this mean that if I refine 100 SCU of unrefined Copper at HUR-L1, I will get 105% (95%+10%) or otherwise 105 SCU of refined Copper?

 

[Cugino83]

Example:

• I've got 100 SCU of unrefined Laranite.
• HUR-L1 has +4% yield specialisation, while MIC-L1 has -6% specialisation for Laranite.
• As you've noted above, the base yield is 95%.

• If I refine the whole 100 SCU of unrefined Laranite at HUR-L1 will I get 99% (95%+4%), or otherwise 99 CSU of refined Laranite?
• If I refine the whole 100 SCU of unrefined Laranite at MIC-L1, will I get 89% (95%-6%) or otherwise 89 CSU of refined Laranite ?

The yield specializzation (or lack of), it is exactly what is sound like and your math are correct in the principle.
Keep in ming that also the refining process choosen influence the resulting yield so that math could need some adjustment

Another question: can the total yield be over 100%? E.g. HUR-L1 has +10% for Copper. Does this mean that if I refine 100 SCU of unrefined Copper at HUR-L1, I will get 105% (95%+10%) or otherwise 105 SCU of refined Copper?

I'm not sure but I'll say no, if that happen it will probably be a bug and should be reported: you can't create matter from nothing, so a maximum cap of 100% yield should be applied.

 

[Shadow Reaper]

Very impressive! Can this get a sticky so it remains an easy to access resource?

 

[Raven_King]

This guide is/was absolutely awesome. Any plans to update it?

 

[Black Sunder]

This guide is/was absolutely awesome. Any plans to update it?

Depends on if hardware comes more available next year and I can build a new computer.