So I constructed several space stations with Geological Sensors, then gave them the command to conduct a Geological Survey.
However, it seems they are not carrying them out. Is it common for only Mars to have minerals? I sent one to Luna, Mars and Venus; but only one turned up anything.
Wow, lots to unpack here. It is generally not a good idea to give immobile stations geo-sensors, because they will only be able to survey the body they orbit. Geo-sensors only work when the ship carrying them is in orbit (range 0) of the body it is surveying, so a station with sensors will not be able to survey the rest of the system. I'm not sure how you sent stations to other planets, given it has a speed of 1 and would take forever to get there.
Likewise my Fuel Harvester Stations turned up fine, but my Asteroid Miners did not. Is this an error in the Asteroid Miner? I attached an Orbital Habitat as well, could that be the problem?
Fuel harvesters must orbit a gas giant that has been geo-surveyed and has sorium on it. Once in orbit over the gas giant, they will automatically begin filling their fuel tanks at a rate based on your racial fuel refining tech and the number of modules on the harvester.
Asteroid miners work a little different. The asteroid mining modules must be in orbit over an asteroid that has been geo-surveyed and has resources you want to mine. That body must also have a colony for your race on it. To do this, go to the system view and select the asteroid or comet you want to mine and then push the "Add Colony" button. Once there is a colony in place and you have the ship or base with the asteroid mines in place in orbit mined resources will begin appearing on the colony and can be found on the "mining/maintenance" tab on the Population and Production screen.
Orbital habitats won't help you asteroid mining operation and will only slow down or immobilize your ships/bases with asteroid mining modules on them.
So, how do Asteroid Miners and Geological Sensors work? Is there any way to check if an Orbital Geological Survey has been carried out on a body? If so, how?
NOTE: My Sorium Harvesters worked fine, and had no Orbital Habitats.
Also, do bodies without minerals display "0" for their value or "-"?
Thanks in advance... and Cheers!
You can see if a geo survey has been done on the "system generation and display" screen. The column on the far left will have an "S" for bodies with no resources, and an "M" for bodies with resources. If it is blank then the body hasn't been surveyed yet.
Bodies that have been surveyed will display differently on the Mining/Maintenance tab of the "Population and Production" screen. If it hasn't been surveyed yet then it will show a "No Survey" in the quantity row. If it has been surveyed then it will either show an amount in the quantity row or a "-" indicating that there is nothing there.
For reference, here are my fuel refinery and asteroid miner designs from my current campaign:
Exxon-Mobile r1 class Fuel Harvester 72,250 tons 319 Crew 1672.5 BP TCS 1445 TH 1200 EM 0
830 km/s Armour 1-154 Shields 0-0 Sensors 14/14/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 14 Max Repair 100 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 60 months Spare Berths 0
Fuel Harvester: 23 modules producing 1840000 litres per annum
Cox-Glover Commercial MP Drive (3) Power 400 Fuel Use 5.3% Signature 400 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 5,250,000 Litres Range 246.7 billion km (3439 days at full power)
Basic Thermal Sensor Mk V (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 14m km
Basic EM Sensor Mk IV (1) Sensitivity 14 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 14m km
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes
Hobo class Asteroid Miner 58,000 tons 564 Crew 1867 BP TCS 1160 TH 400 EM 0
344 km/s Armour 1-133 Shields 0-0 Sensors 6/5/0/0 Damage Control Rating 1 PPV 0
MSP 20 Max Repair 120 MSP
Intended Deployment Time: 36 months Spare Berths 0
Asteroid Miner: 10 module(s) producing 200 tons per mineral per annum
Cox-Glover Commercial NP Engine (2) Power 200 Fuel Use 7.07% Signature 200 Exp 5%
Fuel Capacity 250,000 Litres Range 10.9 billion km (368 days at full power)
Basic Thermal Sensor Mk II (1) Sensitivity 6 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 6m km
Basic EM Detection Sensor (1) Sensitivity 5 Detect Sig Strength 1000: 5m km
This design is classed as a Commercial Vessel for maintenance purposes