mining Drone Comparison
Deep Salvage Drone vs Ore Picker
Comparing the Deep Salvage Drone (Tier 2) and Ore Picker (Tier 1), both mining drones in Starforge MMO. Both deploy from carrier hulls and fill the same wing slot, so they compete directly for your drone bay.
Stat Comparison
| Attribute | Deep Salvage Drone | Ore Picker |
|---|---|---|
| Tier | T2 | T1 |
| Max per carrier | 6 | 20★ |
| production Boost | 0.1 | 0.2★ |
| speed | 40 | — |
| hp | 40 | — |
★ marks the higher raw value for each attribute. Higher is not always better — match the stat to your carrier doctrine.
Deep Salvage Drone
An advanced salvage platform with reinforced cutting arms and a rare-component identification matrix. It recovers twice as much material as the basic Salvage Collector and can extract intact subsystems from enemy wrecks for direct reuse or lucrative sale on the open market.
Carriers: base
Unlock tech: advanced salvage
Ore Picker
The Ore Picker is the standard entry-level mining drone, deployed from mining bases to harvest surface-level asteroid deposits. It is inexpensive, easily replaceable, and gets the job done on common ore fields.
Carriers: base
Unlock tech: basic mining
Which Drone Should You Build?
The Deep Salvage Drone sits a tier higher, giving it the stronger stat ceiling and making it the upgrade target once its unlock tech is researched. The lower-tier drone stays viable as an early-game filler while you tech up.