Harvesting question

[VanderLegion]

Take this all with a grain of salt since I wasn't in the beta so all I know is what I've learned in the last day, but:

re: seeing the cargo in the Ai tab
This only applies when the ship actually has a load and is on it's way back to the destination planet, it'll show how much cargo it's carrying. Otherwise, it'll show Harvesting or something.

1) Correct
2) The collection rate is based on the ship's cargo space. The harvesters you can build starting out have 250 space, so whether the planet has 10k or 100k, it'll make no difference in the collection rate.
3) Assuming it has a mineral production rate (10Ku/+1Ku for instance gains 1Ku per hour), it'll never run completely out, but once you run out of the stored minerals, you'll be getting less than a full load every trip as you'll only be picking up however much has been produced since the last load
4) No Idea

[Corinthian]

Thanks for the info!
So I just checked my harvesters and found 2 carrying. One had 130cu and the other had 63. What produces that difference if each has the same collection rate?

[VanderLegion]

I'm assuming if you look at the planets they're harvesting from, they're at 0Ku/+(whatever their resource production rate is). Basically, your ships are making the trip faster than the planet can produce resources, so when the harvester gets there and does it's job, there's not 250 units for it to pick up, so it just grabs whats there and heads back home. If you're harvesting a planet with a stockpile (such as a new outpost in another system), then you should get a full load every time until you drain it's stockpile.

[Corinthian]

You are so right... Me stupidio