the question is are the claims already in earth or only appear on probe dropped...if they already in earth higher range means higher covered area.
if they created on probe dropped i thought range is like quant-conditiion slider in crafting.
but neil stated that claim size doesn't change (only indoor-planetside)...
if you tested this Neil, how did you do it? compared claim sizes (like II,V etc) or ped extracted each claim?
Yes claims are already in the ground before you probe. All they have is X,Y coordinates, no depth and no mineral identity until discovered. If you want to do the test, take out a gang of friends, stand in the same spot and drop your probes one after the other. Only the first person to drop will find the claim. If another person finds a claim, it will always be the very next person to drop, and the claim will always be farther out from the drop point (except in very rare cases where a claim spawns during your test). This shows that claims are actually in the ground, shared between all miners, not generated on drop.
You can test if claims have depth while "in the ground" by doing the same test as above, except use finders of different depths. The results will be the same... miners, no matter their depth, share the same "claims". The depth, and therefore mineral identity, are only generated when you discover the claim.
If you load up a finder full of range enhancers and compare claim sizes, you'll see that the average hit rate rises, and the TT return correspondingly rises. My own tests on range vs claim size were done a little differently, in a way that's not easily repeatable.
But a good way to test range vs claim size would be like this:
Mine as normal, but use a random choice generator like
this one to choose which finder to use for that drop. Use the Z1 (55m, 1.5 decay), island Z1 (55m, .75 decay), and the MD-10 (53m, 1 decay). 53m vs 55m means a 7% difference in area, so that should be noticeable in claim size, if claim size is effected and if you do enough drops. Record the exact ped sizes of every claim you get. Record enm and ore data separately, of course. Treat all the finders the same, so make sure you get to your location first, before choosing the finder, and dig up claims the same way after each drop. After you've got enough drops (I'm guessing 1000 drops for each finder would be enough). Look at the median claim size and the distributions. The Z1 vs Island Z1 controls for finder decay. I'd do the test in the island area where it's all lyst and oil. This will make any potential size effects easier to spot.