On-site Refining

On-site Refining is a mission type in Deep Rock Galactic.
“ | We've set our targets on several deep wells of Liquid Morkite, so we're sending in a refinery for you to fill. Set the whole thing up, get it cranking, and let's pump those deposits dry! Time to build some pipelines, roughnecks! |
— Mission Control |
Management has detected Liquid Morkite Wells on Hoxxes, and have sent in the Dwarves alongside a Mobile Refinery to collect and process the Liquid Morkite directly on Hoxxes before sending it back to the Space Rig.
The Refinery
Once the Drop Pod has landed, the Mobile Refinery will soon follow. It is a large construct similar to the Mine Head in size and appearance, with several moving parts and structures. A rocket is found in the center attached to a spherical storage tank on top, which is used to store the refined product. Unlike the Minehead the Refinery does not have any defensive utility besides Floodlights.
Pipeline Construction
In On-site Refining, there are always three different Liquid Morkite Wells located throughout the map. They can be identified by the sound of spurting liquid, flame exhausts and dark blue spots along the walls. The Well itself is a dark blue color and constantly spurts a murky, dark turquoise liquid that looks similar to solid Morkite. Upon locating a well, it will show up on the Terrain Scanner.
Pumpjacks must be called for the Wells by standing near them and holding the [USE] key ("E" by default). From there, Pipelines must be constructed to connect the Refinery to the individual Pumpjacks. Pipelines start at the Refinery and are constructed by placing segments using the [USE] key ("E" by default) on the refinery starting points or the ends of existing segments, which form a frame between themselves when placed. The hologram will shine blue when a node is ready to be placed, and red otherwise. Other players are able to see this hologram while you are placing a node.
A segment can only be placed if it satisfies all conditions, indicated by a blue hologram showing where the frame will be placed. They must be placed on solid ground, they must be within 9 meters of one another, they must not be too steep and they cannot be blocked by terrain (segments will automatically clear out terrain alongside them when placed successfully). the last Segment Frames can be removed by striking them twice with a pickaxe. Pipelines can intersect each other and will not be affected by removed terrain or damage. when a connection is made from the Refinery to a Pumpjack it can not be changed.
After being placed, each segment can be built by holding the [USE] key over them, starting from the first segment after the Refinery. Building a pipeline segment takes 5 seconds, independent of its length. Having multiple Dwarves contribute speeds up this process. This process is repeated until the Pipeline is fully built.
The Pipelines (whether they are Frames or fully built), can be rode upon by standing on top of and pressing the [USE] key ("E" by default). This allows a Dwarf to automatically grind along the pipeline using a special Board. While grinding Dwarves can look around and fire weapons freely. The speed is affected by the current angle of the Segment. Obstacles on a pipeline can cause the grind movement to stop. Pipelines that intersect at the same level, however, do not impede grinding. Mounting a pipe cancels all fall damage, so it can be a viable tactic to jump from an otherwise lethal height as long as the player connects to a pipe at the end of the fall (holding down the [USE] key while falling makes connecting easier).
Refining Stage
Once all three pipelines are built, the refinery can be started up by pressing a button on its control panel. The progress of this stage is displayed as a percentage, ending when it reaches 100%. Enemies spawn constantly during the refining phase until players exit the mission, so it is advised to deal with random events and side objectives before launching the refining process.
It takes a total of 150 seconds for the refining to finish. However, after some time segments of the pipelines start leaking, which halts the refining progress. Leaking joints can be identified by a red glow, the liquid spurting out, and a low beeping noise. On the Terrain Scanner broken points are marked by dark red orbs. Joints can be repaired by pointing at them and holding the [USE] key ("E" by default). Fixing takes 5 seconds, with multiple players speeding up this process. If the player holds down the [USE] key while grinding on a pipe, they will automatically stop and disconnect from the pipe at the nearest broken joint.
For every leak, a specific point in time is picked, within a fixed range. See table below for the ranges:
Leak frequency | ||
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Player Count | Time before next Leak | Progress % before next Leak |
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50s to 70s | 33.33% to 46.66% |
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45s to 65s | 30% to 43.33% |
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40s to 60s | 26.66% to 40% |
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35s to 55s | 23.33% to 36.66% |
Extraction Phase
After the refining has been completed, the Refinery button will activate again. Pressing it will launch the Refinery's Cargo Rocket, completing the primary objective. Unlike the Minehead rocket's return to the Space Rig there is not a countdown timer - the Drop Pod will arrive the moment the Refinery's Rocket leaves the planet. the Dwarves have three minutes to get inside the Drop Pod.
Enemy Spawning
- Main article: Swarm
Enemies can spawn upon mission start, or randomly throughout the mission, but every few minutes, a Swarm will occur, which will be announced by Mission Control, and will cause Dwarves to be attacked by an increased number of enemies. (However, when the refining process starts, instead of periodic Swarms, the Dwarves will face a single constant Swarm).
Cave
Caves in On-site Refining are similar to those in Point Extraction in terms of structure, being smaller, non-linear and generally spherical with a few small off-shoots which eventually wrap around back to the main cave. The Refinery will land either in the center or the edge of the map, while the Liquid Morkite Wells will spawn in randomized locations. Depending on the Cave Complexity level, the Wells will be found in harder to reach spots.
Objectives
Primary Objective
- Locate three Liquid Morkite wells and summon a pumpjack on each
- Connect and build pipelines to each pumpjack
- Start the refining process
- Periodically repair damaged pipes
- Summon escape pod
Secondary Objective
Unlike all other mission types besides Point Extraction, On-Site Refinery missions have Dystrum as a possible secondary objective.
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Trivia
- This mission type was added in Update 32: Roughnecks At Work
- A significantly larger amount of Loot Bugs will spawn during level generation than in other mission types
- Constructing and repairing Pipelines uses various tools instead of the typical hammer used when constructing/repairing objects, including a pipe wrench and an oil can
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