Why is Coal an Ore?

I'm not sure if anyone has actually thought on it, but why is coal a part of the penalize drops after death?
It isnt an ore it is a fossil, Tree fossil and thats what has me interested into why... not only that its also a very minimally used material compared to the Ores used in alot more recipes.
I'd like a reason why it should be dropping on deaths, It just dosn't make sense.

 

That.. is a good point actually.
I never really thought about it until now..
..
I assume it's because it's a resource similar to Ore, but it's probably not that.

 

because it must be mined from the ground. therefore, for gameplay purposes, it is classified as an ore

 

I honestly think it's because lazy programming. I think the ingame file name is coalore or something like that so likely when they were doing the drops thing, they just did an include all *ore* or something. Coal is particularly bad to drop, and I'd even go so far as to say it's worse to drop, because it is a fuel, plus it's used to make torches and stuff. Like, in a 'worst case scenario' type thing... you lose all your ore and bars, on a planet that has no remaining ores you just pop your coal into your ship and fly to another planet and boom, mining ahoy. losing coal however? Congratulations, you're now stranded and can't advance period.

 

Always keep plenty of tree seeds and dirt with you.
This allows you to grow and harvest trees for wood and fuels

 

Ok but why not make a seperate Material from trees... I mean why is Coal a Fuel, not seperate from Charcoal which isnt a fuel. while thinking on this I also realise alot of the game uses a Science "sense" . so for that reguard trees dont make Coal.

@Ultra snakey I get that as a point but its not just mined from the ground.

 

Probably because they feel the need to reprimand people for death, which is the entire reason ore drop exists, and figured that the loss of coal is more serious than the loss of anything else.
Otherwise, I'll have to agree with Tymon.

 

Coal Hardly seems like a Vital loss Its too easily aquired.

 

But it is (arguably) more necessary at the beginning of the game than most metals, as it is used to fuel the ship... which takes a lot of coal if you aren't remaining in the same solar system.

 

but at the begining, Your already stashing it in containers know full well its a fuel ur also farming it.... rendering it a pointless Drop-by-death. That being said Unrefined wood is Abundant to aquire it from. Both in Stable and Nightly build Im sure everyone can max out the Ship's Fuel in a couple of hours. Without the fear of loss... (higher difficulty not with standing)

 

okey, I get that. But why is it that Unrefined wood is a source for it? Cause IMHO i find it rather pointless to be a penalizing drop.

 

I haven't seen Charcoal as a extra drop!?
It would be nice, but "not really gamechangingly essential" if the worked wood would become "Charcoal" and the one in the ground is just "Coal", with Charcoal having a little less potential for generating energy.

Still, coal is very easy to optain, maybe too easy^^
Maybe those who really care about the scientific side should\could ask some of the modders, who already started to make mods which try to fix\fill that angle.
The base game in the current stable doesn't have thaaat many items in it... maybe its different in the nightlies.

Very true, if you start modding the game the games itemlist can be nearly doubled. Especially big Mods like Fracking Flora add many items by themself.. try sorting all that xD

 

Well yeah, But the internal name I think is coalore. I'd have to look into the files again. But I'm pretty sure the string (What the game uses to identify what the item is) Is coalore. In fact, I just checked in the internal game files and it is indeed coalore. So again, my original statement still stands regarding it likely being lazy programming.[DOUBLEPOST=1415648800][/DOUBLEPOST]

Hmm... 200 fuel required to go to another system. 1 coal requires 10 unrefined wood... 1000 unrefined wood just to get to another system. Even if it is 'abundant' 1000 wood isn't THAT abundant if you're planting the saplings. plus, the time to refine that much wood... you're talking 2-3 hours minimum. At least I think 1 coal gives 2 fuel? I forgot. I haven't played this in a long time.

 

Yeah...The name ID of it is coalore, but, i haven't played nightlies much, but dose Uranium and Plutonium drop when you die?
(Or however you spell it) ^

 

Well lets leave the poor coal alone then^^

 

Dude, you're so far off base you're in the stands. The internal name means everything in the context of programming as far as what I mentioned. I said that it's called coalore and as a result of the word 'ore' in there, that's probably why it was included in with the drops. if they did an include *ore* thing, it would include ironore, copperore, coalore, etc.

 

WHO isnt spending 2-3 hours doing that? You should see my planet... i litterally had fun just Terraforming it most of the top side is trees.

Not entirely true.