How does Finder Amps work

I have recently joined LBML and installed the tracker. i did not do any runs with LBML yet and will share my issues soon i can use it.
My problem is another area wich is not explained in detail: Finder Amplifiers!

Documents say amps increase the claim size but does not mention how much. My level 1 finder amp has 1.3 on it. Does this number mean it increases my claims by 30% ? Another senior player told me 1.3 will increase the claim size 3 level. (i.e. from lvl 2 to lvl5) which one is true? Or is there another way of calculating this?

Thank you for all replies. Cya.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2015 03:59PM by SoulMiner.

effiency is only a scale of decay.

Amp will add decay to your drop.

For example, let say we mining ores only :

F-101 use 20 probes = 1 ped per drop. Lets say you get an average claim size of 2ped.

Now with a level 2 amp, based on entropedia, it add 0.5ped decay, so a total of 1,5ped/drop. claim size are proportional to ped/drop. So with L2 amp average claim size will raise by 50% = 3ped average claim size.

L3 add 1ped/drop = 2ped/drop = 200% size increase = avg claim size of 4ped

L5 add 2ped/drop = 3ped/drop = 300% >> 6ped

L13 add 20ped/drop = 21ped/drop = 2100% >> 42ped

*Note that when I say claim size, I do not mean claim level.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2015 12:01AM by Don Crazyshadow Hunterz.

I know it's a bit late on this topic but let me add some more info.
Of course you can always get lucky and get a much bigger hit with an amp as you would any other time. The thing is, you are spending more money in hopes of a better jackpot. One thing to keep in mind, the loot tables change when you amp. So in other words, what may be 'waiting' for you without an amp, does not mean it will be there if you amp up.

You can not really use a rookie finder, dropping two probes at a shot, find a field, then swap to the L13 amp on your Terraterror 2000 and jackpot it cleaning the field out. The game is designed against letting folks exploit like that.

It is my opinion that amps are for people wanting to hit it big, spend money in hopes of hitting a big find. It is my experience that amps tend to drain your ped card big and fast 99 out of 100 times too.

I would like to believe and please correct me if someone knows I am wrong but, if you ran 100 runs amped and 100 runs unamped. Assuming you did not get any uber hofs, I think in the end your final results would be about the same, just that you cycled a LOT more ped doing it.

I do have a question though, do you skill faster if you run amped, since you are cycling more ped thru?

sluggo





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2015 02:24AM by sluggo miner69er fisthammer.

First of all thanks for all replies. I will try to reply them one by one so everybody can follow different discussions.

I also checked Etropedia and found that; MY Level 1 Finder Amplifier Light (L) has 30ped TT value and 117 uses which gives 0.26ped extra decay per drop.
So in return my average claim size will increase by 30% according to common opinion here.
If i have 1ped average claim size than i will get 30peC extra with this amp and this will cost me 26PeC which leaves roughly 4peC extra for each claim.

Then i concluded that my breakeven point for Finder Amp 1 Light is 1ped claim size.

Unfortunately i have not reached 1ped claim size with my F-101 yet so will keep my amp in a safe place until i reach 1ped average.

Hope this sounds reasonable.

@ Sluggo : Of course skill gain is kinda proportional to ped cycled, which mean roughly 20 time faster skilling using L13 amps :p


@ Soul Miner : Yes, Thats why you want to keep your amps for high MU zone. The rule is : Mining setup MU < Zone average MU

Quote
SoulMiner
Unfortunately i have not reached 1ped claim size with my F-101 yet so will keep my amp in a safe place until i reach 1ped average.

I think you might be missing something here. First, your average claim size won't increase the more skilled you become. Second, you said you've been mining with an F-101, but haven't yet found a claim greater than 1 ped... I think you must be using a rookie finder instead of an F-101.

The F-101 costs 1 ped to drop once (for ores). Now if you did a typical 100 ped run (100 drops), you might get 27 claims. Let's say there were no "multipliers", so all claims were about the same size. You would get about 70 peds of ore returned from your run. This means each claim would be ~ 2.60 peds each. This is why I think you must be using a rookie finder, for which the same run (100 drops) would yield claims of ~0.26 peds each because it only spends 10 pecs per drop.

This ~70% TT return is typical for runs without multipliers. Fortunately, every now and then you will get a bigger claim that brings your TT return up from 70% more to the 90%+ range, but it may take quite a few drops to do this (on the order of thousands of drops). A beginner miner shouldn't amp until they understand the ins and outs of mining and know how to get reliable results, since as Sluggo mentioned, it's easy to lose a lot of peds that way, EVEN if you know what you're doing. However that level 1 amp is the smallest they come and doesn't carry much risk, so don't be afraid of using it if you just want to try it out. You'll find a slight increase in claim size, as you suspect.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/14/2015 05:47PM by Neil Greenleaf Stockton.

the few times I've used the level 1 amp it seems to reduce the number of claims and only marginally increases claim size, say from size IV to V

Lol Don Crazyshadow Hunterz was my mentor <3



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2018 04:04AM by brett shadow67 chiotasso.