Which type of UNDERGROUND-deposit mining is/feels more rewarding/convenient?

I hope this doesn't mean that one will be removed. I enjoy the variety.
Edit: I would also enjoy even more variety such as different shaped 'seams' of ore, smaller or larger rocks or pretty crystals

 

imo, The SSOR deposits are more engaging than the voxel deposits due to the wider ranging and clearly defined goal involved in mining by being able to see the ore nugget and dig towards it instead of simply emptying out a uniform spherical node in the ground.
The problem with them is that they're poorly configured and have a number of bugs, not that the Voxel deposits aren't lacking for bugs either.

>Autominer Depletion works on SSOR but doesn't work on Voxel, resulting in infinite automined resources regardless of settings with voxel deposits.
>SSOR deposits do not affect faction reputation when mined, allowing you to mine in other faction territory without penalty.
>Ore Scanner doesn't work from a drill turret on SSOR deposits, either due to the turret interface or simply the distance.
>SSOR deposits cannot be configured in any way, shape or form. They're destroyed instantly on contact with any drill, have a visible health bar and level and the resource yield cannot be altered.

SSOR deposits would be better if the "rocks" were spread more widely, more numerous and obviously if they could have their HP and yield altered.

 

I will mirror that I like the variety of having both. I will also mirror that I wish the voxel style had a bit more variety than a glob in the ground of various sizes. Even something as simple as having it found as a seam that runs in a linear fashion as opposed to just a ball of ore.

But first and foremost, I would like to see the phantom <10% remaining bug to be finally squashed.

 

I prefer voxel, and agree with @ChumSickle that shapes could vary. I found that SSOR makes a mess of the terrain, and I know this impacts performances. Voxel blobs are easier to tap into with various methods, while SSOR forces removing lots of unneeded ground to get the chunks, and that scales up when using ships to mine (HV / SV). SSOR are also more prone to leave these tiny bits of rocks that players get stuck against, which is easier to avoid when mining a uniform mass : the individual remaining chunks can be tracked when seeing the voxels "melt" and with a little experience we can find these tiny bits inside the original blob's radius, while SSOR and its resulting intricate labyrinth makes it harder.

I suggested long time ago to simply give random attributes to the ground, so ore types and concentrations could vary and players could simply get ore by mining everywhere, but with vastly different yields. Players already like to carve the terrain, so this is kind of unavoidable. By making resources "shape independant" but somewhat tied to concentration in a defined zone, players could then simply get materials while making the holes they so like to make everywhere when making an underground base or tunnel. This could alleviate the fact that mining requires making holes that are left there and useless after depletion of the "deposit".

To push my reasoning a bit further, we could imagine that after some time, the "carved holes" would slowly fill in (from erosion and natural processes) except if a structure is present (underground shelter or walls, etc). If ore was to be simply more concentrated at deeper layers (top layer = very low yields, lowest layer = highest yield) then this refilling of holes would go unnoticed from the surface and may feel more "natural". Players could still decide to mine at intermediate layers for lesser yields, or even scrape the top layer for a quick refill of cheap minerals and very low yields. We could expect that on most part of a planet surface, yields would be generally too low and players would mostly waste fuel to get significant amounts of ore. To get to better concentration zones would still require exploring around a bit.

 

I like both and I think having variety is good.

What I like about SSOR:
The shape can be customized a lot more in scenarios. You can make sense blobs, spread out fields, snakes, and columns of ore. You have a lot of control over the size and shape of each deposit. It adds some variety.
Autominers will deplete it.
Gives an "objective" to head towards with the ore scanner.

What I dislike about SSOR:
Sometimes bugs out and has no ore.
Does not decrease reputation when mined.
The ore outline is too dim on the ore scanner. It should be a lot brighter.


What I like about Voxel:
Better with mining vessels.
You don't need to chase down the ore nuggets.
Better early game since you get a constant stream of ore instead of mining larger chunks that might not fit in your inventory.

What I dislike about Voxel:
No customization for scenarios, always a blob.
Autominers never deplete even when the setting is enabled.
You don't get any stone for mining them.

 

Voxel is preferred for STARTER Planets - until you can move on to other Stars.
Why? Because you can easier dose the amount of ore your Backpack can take.
If forced to brake a SSOR you have a good chance to loose some because you bit more off than you can swallow.

Besides Variety is good, lesser starter Problems is better.

Oh, and you get at least 10% Crushed Stone from hand drilling a Voxel Deposit(often so much that you have to dump it)
If you need Stone...drill a hole into the next Mountain

 

Well, I prefer voxel deposits since autominers can't deplete them even if the depletion setting is turned on.

I like realistic mining instead of mining out a deposit in a matter of minutes. I usually build small mining BAs on top of the deposit with an open spot where the autominer goes. Like a real mine.

 

I prefer the individual rocks, SSOR. It seems closer to finding a "vain" of resource than just a big blob. I like the variety of having both but I change all of mine in the editor to be SSOR and then play around with the distribution settings.
I think it will depend on people's playstyle though. I for one, personally can not stand HV miners and will not waste the materials to build one or use them (I would be fine if they were removed from the game) , but they seem more suited for Voxel mining. I do all mining using the drone and a hand miner. Keeps all of the mines small with only a single, small opening on the surface or an Auto Miner. I also don't build massive ships or bases, so don't need tons of resources, which might be a reason. SV space miners make sense though and I like using them.
I would love to see the the Voxel style editable to make it more vainy or random and not just a big blob that leaves a giant empty space once mined.

Before I get flamed, because I know a lot of people love their HV miners: I have had nothing but horrible, glitchy experiences using them whether they were built by me or downloaded from the Workshop, almost enough to make me want to quit playing this awesome game.

 

Underground stones are a pain in the backside for HV/SV mining. OTOH, they are easier for hand tool base mining (except for the extra tunnelling needed) - unless you happen to be near full, then you cant just take a little, they are all or nothing.

I never played project eden much because of its use of stones - hate it for everything and didnt really want to have to re-edit them all out.

I think the underground stones are only OK for small/very small deposits. Anything larger should always be voxel. I dont mind if on starter planets that means more separate small deposits replacing some mediums, but once I have a HV miner, I never want to touch the damned hand drill again - WAY TOO SLOW!

As for HV based miners, I agree to an extent - it seems a completely stupid idea to me in the first place, however a decent HV miner design and a method of using it make them sort of OK and vastly faster than any hand tool. OTOH SV based miners would have been FAR better. (I run my game modded to allow SV based mining with both the small and large mechanical drills).

Not sure why, but I find mining in this to be utterly tedious - even with CV lasers and mining turret. I think it gets doubly annoying because the salvage tools are so awful to anyone used to space engineers, especially if they also use the nanite build and repair system mod. I would say there should be a way to scale up mining, but really the CV turret drill is probably about as scaled up as a really boring manual labour intensive effort can be with the current sizes of even asteroid deposits (which relative to need and asteroid size are still tediously tiny).

Maybe if salvaging wasnt so bad (even more boring, labour intensive and time consuming than mining) in this we would salvage more instead.

Maybe part of the problem in this is that the deposits are so tiny - I even think a 'very large' is still tiny. I think the game would be much better if large ore deposits tended to be found in hill areas and deeper (think 10-50x what even a current 'very large' is) and they tended to be clustered - ie iron, copper, etc all nearby. Having really huge deposits would make it worth setting up and defending a mining outpost, that for Zirax for eg could pay special attention to demolishing...

The current sized deposits re really only fit for starting locations and just get far too tedious later to the extent that I just dont visit planets at all to mine them and stick with asteroids.

 

Voxel mining feels better to me in every way (even if the SSOR bugs were fixed). The only thing I would like to see is the veins being stretched more into a vein shape instead of a big sphere.

 

Could we also have an ore spawn algorithym that changes the shape of said voxel spawns or a cavern generation system?