Can drillcone mining be made more accessible?

[Tigin]

with the new space POIs as a reward for destroying the large potato, I always thought drillcone mining was gated behind a lot of tech. Drillcone mining is also tremendously unpopular (See the percentage of Steam users who've completed Mine The Gap)

You can arguably get the niobium from superconductive faster than you can finish Drillcone research and set up mining infrastructure which renders iridium somewhat redundant. Thoughts on shufftling the tech/reducing the cost/introducing a lower-tech alternative? 

[Carib94]

If anything they can update the research portal to unlock the Drillcone early and then all we need is Radiation research to get cargo bays and loaders seems fair since we have Wheezworts and Uranium for radiation on Relica.

[xbxbxb123]

Besides this, I would also like if destroying the impactor asteroid left behind a smaller asteroid "in orbit" you could land on, which would have all the resources that would have been placed by the impactor. You could call it the Demolior core or something. That way you can get a bigger reward for succeeding the mission.

[Carib94]

 

46 minutes ago, xbxbxb123 said:

Besides this, I would also like if destroying the impactor asteroid left behind a smaller asteroid "in orbit" you could land on, which would have all the resources that would have been placed by the impactor. You could call it the Demolior core or something. That way you can get a bigger reward for succeeding the mission.

I can actually see them doing something like that of sort but that could be a Lab map if anything or they might update PPP in a later update like they did with FPP when they created a Mini Ceres Cluster variant but who knows.

[xbxbxb123]

That sounds weird, this wouldn't be a starting asteroid, it would be one that you get depending on what you do in the game. It would replace one of the resource clouds you have to mine with the drillcone

3 hours ago, Carib94 said:

 

I can actually see them doing something like that of sort but that could be a Lab map if anything or they might update PPP in a later update like they did with FPP when they created a Mini Ceres Cluster variant but who knows.

That sounds weird, this wouldn't be a starting asteroid, it would be one that you get depending on what you do in the game. It would replace one of the resource clouds you have to mine with the drillcone

[Farsight]

I don't mind the spot on the research tree, since you can still rush it with some planning.

But I'd -love- a smaller drillcone option, to use with the smaller rockets (like CO2). It'd be perfect for when you blow up the asteroid and spawn the POIs right near your home.

It'd wear out faster, but use less rocket height, giving us more options for rocket designs without affecting balance much.

[Simonova]

I agree, the mechanic feels too difficult to get set up until you're already late end-game; literally, it wasn't until I was already sitting on 100 tons of thermium and had fully industrialized my other asteroids that I considered trying to visit space POIs for more than just artifacts.
The other problem is that the space POI resources tend to not be particularly rewarding for the effort that goes into collecting them; only the ones that produce uranium and fullerene feel worth visiting, as those are the only resources that feel limited in availability (with a big asterisk on fullerene, because unless you're dedicated to replacing all the water on the water asteroid with super coolant, the amount available is enough to suit anybody's needs).

[Electroely]

17 minutes ago, Simonova said:

I agree, the mechanic feels too difficult to get set up until you're already late end-game; literally, it wasn't until I was already sitting on 100 tons of thermium and had fully industrialized my other asteroids that I considered trying to visit space POIs for more than just artifacts.
The other problem is that the space POI resources tend to not be particularly rewarding for the effort that goes into collecting them; only the ones that produce uranium and fullerene feel worth visiting, as those are the only resources that feel limited in availability (with a big asterisk on fullerene, because unless you're dedicated to replacing all the water on the water asteroid with super coolant, the amount available is enough to suit anybody's needs).

Exactly my thoughts! They're soo late into the game and there's clearly some progression to them, as a lot of more basic debris fields spawn closer to the center of the world. By the time I got the 4800 radbolts and however many data banks I need to just research a Drillcone, it's already pretty much obsolete save for the few cases where the resource is pretty much unrenewable.

I would like them to generally lower the research requirement of the Drillcone. I also think it'd be cool to have a lower tier Drillcone to take advantage of some of the basic resource fields that spawn close to the starting planet (like the organic mass field that can be used as a source of polluted dirt and slime)

[Simonova]

If the solo spacefarer nosecone also had limited drillcone functionality (a quarter the diamond capacity?), it would both make the activity more accessible, and give more incentive to come up with creative builds to make the nosecone habitable, rather than the flyover technology I currently treat it as on my way to the roomier spacefarer module.
It could also make more clear the ratio of diamonds to return materials, as I avoided it off the bat on the assumption that it was 1:1, and nothing was worth as much as my precious diamonds to me.
Frankly, I feel like there's enough potential in Spaced Out's rocketry that Klei should consider refocusing the DLC on the radiation aspect, and bring SO rocketry into the base game so that future DLC can build on it; building functional micro-habitat and ecosystems under varying conditions is where ONI really thrives, and why I've kept coming back to it for 6 years.

[JDL]

On 5/27/2025 at 12:29 PM, xbxbxb123 said:

Besides this, I would also like if destroying the impactor asteroid left behind a smaller asteroid "in orbit" you could land on, which would have all the resources that would have been placed by the impactor. You could call it the Demolior core or something. That way you can get a bigger reward for succeeding the mission.

Alternatively, as a once-off event after shooting it down, you get a meteor shower of iridium, isosap, and other rare resources.

This would give you a small amount of rare resources to kick-start late game, but still require mining in space to obtain these renewably.

[Gurgel]

I think it is fine as it is. I always saw the Drillcone as end-game only. Yes, it is a bit bizarre if you killed Demolier right next to your starting asteroid and cannot get at what it offers. Maybe a short-range (say, 3 tiles?) ground based mining robot or the like?

[gigamoi]

I had an idea similar to Gurgel's. Since meteor blasters can now canonically launch small space-faring rockets, perhaps it could also launch a small, short-ranged, space-mining, disposable robo-rocket. Upon completion of its mission, it would launch a regular old-fashioned interplanetary payload back to where it came from.

 

Its small capacity and and/or yield to cost ratio would balance out its ease of use. Said ease of use would make mid-game space mining relevant. As to avoid ceiling effects while still limiting its usability to short range mining, perhaps its yield to cost ratio could drop with distance.

Edited June 4, 2025 by gigamoi
typo; I'm dyslexic.

[Sicariusdracus]

I absolutely love the idea the solo spacefarer nosecone having a smaller drill bit on it. 250kgs. It would immediately make that technology relevant. And would introduce players to space mining earlier, but not industrially. 

[xbxbxb123]

On 5/28/2025 at 10:47 PM, JDL said:

Alternatively, as a once-off event after shooting it down, you get a meteor shower of iridium, isosap, and other rare resources.

This would give you a small amount of rare resources to kick-start late game, but still require mining in space to obtain these renewably.

That would still be worse than letting it crash. You get 4 vents and several tons of useful resources with a very low cost from the meteor landing, I think adding a planetoid is the better option

[Pproy]

Bump,

But yeah, I think a steel drill cone would be a great addition to the game. Even if it only harvest at a 5-10% efficiency, it would encorage early space mining. It feels weird that currently, it is easiyer to let the meteor crash to get decent amount of iridium

[meekay]

On 6/26/2025 at 8:03 AM, Pproy said:

But yeah, I think a steel drill cone would be a great addition to the game.

Or depleted uranium, although that's probably counter to the original intent of this thread.

[mitboy]

On 5/27/2025 at 8:46 PM, Simonova said:

I agree, the mechanic feels too difficult to get set up until you're already late end-game; literally, it wasn't until I was already sitting on 100 tons of thermium and had fully industrialized my other asteroids that I considered trying to visit space POIs for more than just artifacts.
The other problem is that the space POI resources tend to not be particularly rewarding for the effort that goes into collecting them; only the ones that produce uranium and fullerene feel worth visiting, as those are the only resources that feel limited in availability (with a big asterisk on fullerene, because unless you're dedicated to replacing all the water on the water asteroid with super coolant, the amount available is enough to suit anybody's needs).

I mean, I think you can just focus on rushing research instead? You can quite easily get necessary reasearch on relica by using manual radbolt generator with Enriched Uranium, and you need just a steam rocket engine to carry the mining operation, since pois will be close. Im mining rn on cycle 216, though I probably wouldve been able to launch it at the same time as I blased Demilor if I thought to build steam room in advance. 

[Im_not_Included]

how's it feel to have the next update after your ask give some version of what you were hoping for?

 

Spoiler

Love the idea now that space POIs start with a little bit of free floating stuff to gather without a drill cone, and it feels super nice that to get more, that's when the drill cone starts to shine. Might make it where I start doing space stuff before cycle 500+! 

 

Edited November 1, 2025 by Im_not_Included

[SkunkMaster]

The drillcone is so late in the tech tree that by the time you get access to it you don't care for it or to use it. 

I Would suggest introducing 1 maybe 2 more tiers of the drillcone, in lesser&cheaper versions that are accessible earlier, just like rocket engines don't only come in hydrogen.

[Carib94]

2 hours ago, SkunkMaster said:

The drillcone is so late in the tech tree that by the time you get access to it you don't care for it or to use it. 

I Would suggest introducing 1 maybe 2 more tiers of the drillcone, in lesser&cheaper versions that are accessible earlier, just like rocket engines don't only come in hydrogen.

Well they sort of address it in a different way by making space Poi's now have free floating resources, data banks, and an artifact to be harvested without a drillcone. You just need to have the cargo bays required lol. Which so far in playing is kinda cool that i can send my boop immune to pop ears to space to make data banks but also get some resources with a C02 rocket with a cargo bay, artifact module, and a solar panel.

A lower tier of drillcone would still be nice for the mid game

Edited November 17, 2025 by Carib94

[Electroely]

2 hours ago, SkunkMaster said:

The drillcone is so late in the tech tree that by the time you get access to it you don't care for it or to use it. 

I Would suggest introducing 1 maybe 2 more tiers of the drillcone, in lesser&cheaper versions that are accessible earlier, just like rocket engines don't only come in hydrogen.

I quite like Klei's current solution to this problem: Every Space POI comes with a bunch of resources you can harvest without a drillcone, but past that first 10t or however much there is you need a Drillcone to get more. The amount of resources you can obtain early on feels like enough to get to the Drillcone research, especially with all the Data Banks you can obtain from scanning Space POI.

But here's an idea for an early alternative to the Drillcone: What if you could shoot Space POI with interstellar blastshots to chip some resources off the POI (like maybe 1-2 tons?) Considering these blastshots cost 200kg combustible fuel, 100kg peat/fertilizer and 50kg refined metal each, I'd say it sounds like a significantly less efficient but still worthwhile alternative if the resources you're after are that important.