Reading and improving your sample
Facts checked 1 Nov 2026
Your sample has a number on it: the tonnes waiting under that lot. This lesson shows you what that number means, how it compares with what the lot could hold, and when it's worth drilling again to improve it.
Reading your result
- The Sample Size: The tonnes of the resource your sample has found. It's what you can extract from that lot, and it goes down as you extract.
- The Most a Lot Can Hold: A sample can never be bigger than the lot's abundance multiplied by 10,000 tonnes. On a lot showing 87% Olivine, the biggest possible sample is 8,700 tonnes.
- Where Yours Landed: Each sample lands somewhere between the minimum and maximum you saw before you drilled, most often near the middle. So on that 87% lot, a first sample of about 4,000 to 5,000 tonnes is typical.
Why a bigger sample matters
Size isn't only about how much you can take. As you learned in Your first extraction, the fuller a sample, the faster each tonne comes out. A big sample extracts quickly for longer, and you need plenty: the Training Ground's warehouse goal takes about 8,900 tonnes of Olivine and 5,400 tonnes of Carbon Dioxide.
Improving a sample
If a new sample came out small, you can drill the same spot again. The result can only go up: it lands somewhere between your current size and the lot's maximum, again most often near the middle. Improve the 4,000-tonne sample on an 87% lot, and you'd typically end up with about 6,300 tonnes.
- New Samples Only: You can improve a sample only until you extract from it. Once you've taken even one tonne, it can't be improved, so improve first, then extract.
- Same Cost as Before: Improving uses another Core Drill and takes about as long as the first sample, with your crew busy the whole time.
- When It's Worth It: Improve when your sample is well below the lot's maximum and you need a lot of that resource. If it's already close to the maximum, there's little left to gain.
Improve your sample
- Select the lot. With a new sample there, the sampling button reads Improve Core Sample.
- Choose a Core Drill from your crew's warehouse, check the times, then confirm and approve.
- When the timer runs out, click Analyze Sample to see the new size.