Pickaxe vs drill

[Suxar]

There are two main tools for mining ore: the steel pickaxe and the drill. Each has its pros and cons, which I won't go into here. While it's common knowledge that a drill mines ore faster, finding even rough estimates is nearly impossible. To determine this, I conducted a short test. The test is subject to error due to the fact that I'm not Shiva and only have two hands. I used a mobile phone as a stopwatch.

The character had the Miner 69er skill level 5 and miner armor level 6. All The Art of Mining books had also been read.
The pickaxe was equipped with the following modifications: an ergonomic handle, an iron scrap, a rock breaker, and a weight. The drill was equipped with a large tank, an iron scrap, a rock breaker, and a weight.

The test ore vein consisted of a 400-block, 20x20-sized vein.


Time spent on extraction:
Iron.
Pickaxe 16:01
Drill 8:53 (4 refills)
Coal.
Pickaxe 8:01
Drill 8:45 (4 refills)
Gravel.
I didn't use the pickaxe; it'll be the same as for coal.
Drill 4:54 (2 refills)

I used a gravel block because the sand block from the creative menu yielded clay and sand when harvested, instead of stone and sand. For some reason, I couldn't find the sand block that fills veins in the creative menu.

I hope someone will need these numbers.

 

[Riamus]

I think some additional information would be helpful. Did you have mining perks? Did you have stamina reduction for tools? I see you using coffee, which helps stamina regen, but was that on for the entire time? Pickaxes use stamina, so whether or not you're running out of stamina has a big impact on your mining speed. Augers don't, so stamina doesn't matter there. That could impact your results.

I don't use a pickaxe just because I like the auger. It wouldn't matter even if I get more ore with the pickaxe. I would still use the auger. But that's just personal preference.

 

[Suxar]

Did you have mining perks? Did you have stamina reduction for tools? I see you using coffee, which helps stamina regen, but was that on for the entire time?

I wrote it

The character had the Miner 69er skill level 5 and miner armor level 6. All The Art of Mining books had also been read.

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Pickaxes use stamina, so whether or not you're running out of stamina has a big impact on your mining speed.

With the Miner 69er skill fully trained and level 6 Miner armor equipped, the steel pickaxe consumes no more stamina than it regenerates. Stamina was always full. After holding the button for 16 minutes, my finger got a little tired. And there is also a modification to the pickaxe that reduces stamina consumption, which I also indicated in the text.
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I don't use a pickaxe just because I like the auger. It wouldn't matter even if I get more ore with the pickaxe. I would still use the auger. But that's just personal preference.

The amount of ore mined doesn't depend on the tool. I was specifically testing the mining speed, or more precisely, the difference in speed. The results with coal surprised me a bit, but considering that a real vein will contain sand inclusions, coal/shale/saltpeter are still faster to mine with a drill.
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I see you using coffee

It's not coffee. It's a yuki smoothie. There's no option to disable food or water consumption in the game, so I chose the smoothie out of habit. But given my skills and gear, it made no difference.

 

[Riamus]

I wrote it

Oops. My fault for not noticing that.

The amount of ore mined doesn't depend on the tool.

I was referring to the ore mined within a time frame, so based on speed.

 

[Suxar]

I was referring to the ore mined within a time frame, so based on speed.

This is an equation with a whole bunch of unknowns. While a pickaxe can still be given a formula, since its variance in parameters is almost insignificant (1 hit on sand/shale/saltpeter/coal and 2 hits on iron/lead), a drill also requires taking into account the variance in the drill's damage. Whether you drank miner's coffee or not, or whether you ate candy, also affects your yield. There are many nuances involved.

In the test, I tried to determine how much faster the drill was. It will be 10-20% or it will be a two-fold difference.

 

[Riamus]

This is an equation with a whole bunch of unknowns. While a pickaxe can still be given a formula, since its variance in parameters is almost insignificant (1 hit on sand/shale/saltpeter/coal and 2 hits on iron/lead), a drill also requires taking into account the variance in the drill's damage. Whether you drank miner's coffee or not, or whether you ate candy, also affects your yield. There are many nuances involved.

In the test, I tried to determine how much faster the drill was. It will be 10-20% or it will be a two-fold difference.

Yeah. I had just said that even if the pickaxe were faster, I wouldn't use it.

 

[MiTHMoN]

Was there a particular reason you chose not to use the Tempered Blade Mod for either? Seems like a glaringly obvious choice instead of the Weighted Head Mod.

 

[NewGuy]

Are you all playing the console version? I'm on PC and have never seen any drills. There is an impact driver that kinda looks like a cordless drill. There's an auger for mining but is not a drill. Are you playing in some weird foreign language and the the localization files have weird alternate names for certain tools? If not, then why are you calling something a drill when there is no drill in the game?

 

[8_Hussars]

Are you all playing the console version? I'm on PC and have never seen any drills. There is an impact driver that kinda looks like a cordless drill. There's an auger for mining but is not a drill. Are you playing in some weird foreign language and the the localization files have weird alternate names for certain tools? If not, then why are you calling something a drill when there is no drill in the game?

If we are going to be pedantic...

An auger is a drill specifically designed to bore holes into materials, featuring a spiral-shaped tool that helps remove debris as it drills.

Not all drills are augers but all augers are drills.

 

[MiTHMoN]

Are you all playing the console version? I'm on PC and have never seen any drills. There is an impact driver that kinda looks like a cordless drill. There's an auger for mining but is not a drill. Are you playing in some weird foreign language and the the localization files have weird alternate names for certain tools? If not, then why are you calling something a drill when there is no drill in the game?

It's probably a fluency thing. People whose primary language is English often use words that fit, even if they're not the exact in-game name of an item. It's also a gamer thing, since there are many games with mining drills.

Like, if I said "t3 wrench", someone who knows the game and speaks English would know I'm talking about an Impact Driver, for example. Since there is no item in the game called "drill", there is no room for confusion among people familiar with the game. "Auger" is "drill", because the Auger is literally a type of drill.

 

[NewGuy]

A Tier 3 wrench would be a wrench with a 3 describing its Tier. Noone in their right mind would interpret a Tier 3 Wrench as an Impact. If the game calls it an Impact, call it an Impact. If a tool is called an Auger, call it an Auger.

 

[Javabean867]

supposedly there is another bonus to using the Auger vs the pick axe. i heard you get more ore from the auger vs the pick axe.

 

[theFlu]

A Tier 3 wrench would be a wrench with a 3 describing its Tier. Noone in their right mind would interpret a Tier 3 Wrench as an Impact. If the game calls it an Impact, call it an Impact. If a tool is called an Auger, call it an Auger.

Heh, yeh; while I have no issue with calling the auger "drill" in this context, if someone says T3 Wrench (with no other obvious context clues), I'm assuming they mean Q3 Wrench.

In this context the "drill" is peerfectly fine thou; the description / OP can only refer to auger, it's the "sane" comparison test to make in the game, the screenshot contains the auger next to the steel pick etc, etc.

 

[Adam the Waster]

I do pick for speed the auger just doesnt do the job for me.

Plus I would rather use gas for my 4x4 that gas drinking aluminum foil vehicle

 

[Riamus]

Are you all playing the console version? I'm on PC and have never seen any drills. There is an impact driver that kinda looks like a cordless drill. There's an auger for mining but is not a drill. Are you playing in some weird foreign language and the the localization files have weird alternate names for certain tools? If not, then why are you calling something a drill when there is no drill in the game?

It's an auger in English. Maybe in the language of the OP, it's called a drill just like a normal drill. Or maybe it's called a mining drill and they shortened it to drill when translating to English. It doesn't really matter what they call it. It was clear to everyone what they were talking about, which means the word used is good enough.

 

[NewGuy]

It's an auger in English. Maybe in the language of the OP, it's called a drill just like a normal drill. Or maybe it's called a mining drill and they shortened it to drill when translating to English. It doesn't really matter what they call it. It was clear to everyone what they were talking about, which means the word used is good enough.

So if I called it a Mechanized Duck Dong, would that be close enough as well, since ducks have corkscrew dongs that look like a drill bit?

 

[theFlu]

So if I called it a Mechanized Duck ■■■■■, would that be close enough as well, since ducks have corkscrew ■■■■■es that look like a drill bit?

Going vulgar is a terrible form for an argument. IRL it might get a weakling to back down - for fear of physical confrontation; online it just makes you look pointlessly rude while remaining exactly as wrong as you were before.

Outside of the braggart vulgarity, your example is merely a completely made up word. You could use one of those, why not; but auger vs drill is not made up, it is a class and a subclass. Mechanized Duck Dicks have no relation to actual drilling equipment. So your comparison isn't even similar.

 

[Suxar]

Are you all playing the console version? I'm on PC and have never seen any drills. There is an impact driver that kinda looks like a cordless drill. There's an auger for mining but is not a drill. Are you playing in some weird foreign language and the the localization files have weird alternate names for certain tools? If not, then why are you calling something a drill when there is no drill in the game?

I don't speak English. I don't know why Google translates "бур" as "drill." You could ask Google that question.

 

[Suxar]

Was there a particular reason you chose not to use the Tempered Blade Mod for either? Seems like a glaringly obvious choice instead of the Weighted Head Mod.

I've gotten used to installing this set of mods. And I don't think replacing the mod will make much of a difference. I've never been able to destroy a metal block with a pickaxe in one hit with any mod. There might be some changes to the drill, but they'll be minor and negligible.

 

[theFlu]

And I don't think replacing the mod will make much of a difference.

Just odd, because the weighted head does nothing; the tempered blade does give 10% block damage. On iron blocks, for my steel pickaxe it's 10 more damage, for the auger it's 3. Pretty meaningless, but free damage anyway.