Base Extraction Rate

Base Extraction Rate
Base Extraction Rate, or BER, is the base rate at which a harvester will collect resources per minute. This rate varies among different types of harvesters, and is also affected by the skill of its architect, the quality of the tools, and materials used to create the harvester. Because of this, many people look at the BER before looking at the hopper capacity when purchasing these from the bazaar or vendors.

BER is not, however, the lowest rate at which your harvester will extract. Nor is it the highest. Resources are found on each planet in levels of concentration, displayed as a percentage when surveying. This percentage affects whether or not your harvester will extract at a rate higher or lower than its BER, hence the "actual extraction rate" found on your harvester's operation screen. As of Publish 27, harvesters saw an increase of 50% to their harvest rates. To estimate your harvesters "actual" extraction rate, use the following formula:


 * Estimated Actual Extraction Rate = BER x Concentration Percentage x 1.5

Example, say you're harvesting resources at a concentration percentage of 95%, and your harvester has a BER of 10.

10 x 0.95 x 1.5 = 14.25

As you can see, a concentration of 95% yielded an extra (estimated) 4.25 units extracted per minute. This "actual extraction rate" is estimated since the concentration percentages are programmed with decimals, and cannot be seen in the survey results. Because of this, it may yield slightly lower or higher numbers, usually not much more than couple tenths.

Likewise, a lower concentration level might yield an extraction rate on par with, or below the harvester's BER. Using the same formula, a concentration of 40% using the same BER of 10 would result in an (estimated) actual extraction rate of 6.

While lower concentration levels still get the job done, it's less efficient than placing a harvester with the same BER over a higher concentration. Such efficiency can be taken into account when calculating the exact cost to operate your harvesters in a given area, if one were inclined to do so.