Mining Drones and Planetary Harvesters, how they actually work
There’s been some confusion about these two, so here’s the plain version.
Mining Drones
You deploy a mining drone at an asteroid field using the green Deploy Drones button. It then works on its own, once an hour, and whatever it mines goes straight into your Commercial Storage. You don’t have to be there, you don’t have to be online, and you don’t have to collect anything. You get 5 drone slots to start with, and the Mining Drone Slot Expansion in the FS Store adds one more per purchase.
Every drone has 1,000 durability and loses 2 on each hourly cycle, so a drone runs for roughly three weeks before it wears out. When it hits zero it stops mining, is automatically returned to your ship inventory, and you get a mail telling you so. A worn out drone can’t be redeployed until it’s repaired (Repair Office, using the blueprint materials from your Commercial Storage), or you can recycle it. Founder drones never wear out.
To recall a drone yourself, open the Info Panel, Mining Drones tab, and hit Recall next to it. That works from anywhere in the galaxy, no upgrade needed. The drone comes back to your ship inventory with whatever durability it had left. Just make sure you have an inventory slot free.
Planetary Harvesters
Harvesters work on planets rather than asteroid fields. Dock at a planet, visit the O.R.S.A Resource Office, rent a harvester slot (10,000 CR for 30 days), deploy a harvester in it and choose which of the planet’s resources it should pull. Like drones it runs hourly on its own and delivers straight into your Commercial Storage.
Harvesters also start at 1,000 durability but only lose 1 per cycle, so they last roughly six weeks. When one reaches zero it is deactivated but it stays in its slot, and you get a mail. It won’t come home by itself, so you need to recall it. Founder harvesters never wear out.
A harvester also stops if the resource it’s pulling runs out. It stays in its slot and keeps its durability, you get a mail, but it won’t start again on its own even when the planet’s resources respawn. Head back to the O.R.S.A office and either switch it to a different resource on that planet, which sets it going again, or recall it. Worth keeping an eye on your mail for those alerts.
Recalling a harvester: either dock at that planet and use the O.R.S.A Resource Office, which is free, or buy Harvester Remote Recall from the FS Store (1,000 FSP, once) and then you can recall any harvester from the Info Panel’s Harvesters tab wherever you are. Without that upgrade the Info Panel button will point you to the store.
Short version: drones come home on their own when worn out, harvesters don’t. A harvester that’s worn out or whose resource has run dry just sits in its slot until you deal with it. Drones recall remotely for free, harvesters need the upgrade or a visit. Both deliver to Commercial Storage, and both can be repaired or recycled once they’re back in your inventory.