Little mining tip that I wanted to throw out there...

[Deleted member 110222]

Hey there fellow miners. You flying a small ship that requires you to compromise on defences? You need to use turreted pulses where you'd like to use gimballed beams?

Well I worked out ONE WEIRD TRICK that lets you have those quality defences, while also having full mining gear.

When you're not mining, turn off your mining equipment. If you get interdicted in transit, you'll have more power available for better defences as a result.

When you're in an asteroid field, turn off those defences and switch on your mining gear. EASY. Don't worry about pirates. When you're in a remote part of the belt, far from any RES, you shouldn't have to worry about pirates. If you do see another ship, just jump out and drop back in on another of the ring.

I know this should be obvious to some, but like I said, I just wanted to throw it out there. I'm using this technique already on my Cobra Mk IV, and have successfully mounted two gimballed beam lasers.

 

[Mr Cynical]

You can use similar power management tricks to get away with much lower class (weight) of power plant than you might think possible in exploration builds.

There is some amazing flexibility in this game if you dig just a little deeper.

 

[Nerwan]

Wouldn't help me, I always mine in RES sites That's were the real fun and profit is

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Wouldn't help me, I always mine in RES sites That's were the real fun and profit is

Fair play, but when you're looking to avoid conflict, like I do, and use a manual prospecting technique similar to what I use, RES's aren't required.

 

[Nerwan]

Fair play, but when you're looking to avoid conflict, like I do, and use a manual prospecting technique similar to what I use, RES's aren't required.

Ok, curious now, what do you mean by "manual prospecting technique" ?

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Ok, curious now, what do you mean by "manual prospecting technique" ?

I only use a 2A refinery on my Cobra Mk IV. That lets me use a bigger fuel scoop.

What I do, is deploy two collector limpets. I shoot out one fragment from the rock I'm looking at, close as possible. Let the limpet pick it up, and see what gets added to the bins. If it's mostly one of the big six ores, I dry the rock out, and constantly dump any lesser ore as I go.

If the first fragment is pretty naff', however, I abandon the rock and move on to the next one. Of course, I dump the cheap ores as well. Eventually, my refinery only has the big six inside it and it auto-rejects the lesser ores as a result.

Is it a hassle? You bet it is. But it does work quite well. Overall profits are no different to someone using a prospector. And I never use prospectors.

 

[Nerwan]

Hmm, sounds like you could get very unlucky on those 20% indite, 50% painite roids.. Two things you may or may not be aware of:

1. Prospectors don't just tell you what's in the asteroid, they also double the number of fragments the asteroid will produce. I never mine without them.
2. RES sites also increase the number of fragments per asteroid on a sliding scale from low RES -> haz RES, so doing that in a pristine metalic ring RES is pretty sweet..

With prospectors, you can get ~20 tonnes of painite from a single asteroid if you have a good roid in a haz rez.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Hmm, sounds like you could get very unlucky on those 20% indite, 50% painite roids.. Two things you may or may not be aware of:

1. Prospectors don't just tell you what's in the asteroid, they also double the number of fragments the asteroid will produce. I never mine without them.
2. RES sites also increase the number of fragments per asteroid on a sliding scale from low RES -> haz RES, so doing that in a pristine metalic ring RES is pretty sweet..

With prospectors, you can get ~20 tonnes of painite from a single asteroid if you have a good roid in a haz rez.

I know the benefits of prospectors and RES sites.

I just don't care for them. What I do, for me at least, works.

Another thing I've noticed is that it seems the smaller rocks are more likely to yield better ores. So I target them first. Again, it seems to work.

There's a mining meta, and like all metas, I don't follow it.

 

[Nerwan]

I know the benefits of prospectors and RES sites.

I just don't care for them. What I do, for me at least, works.

Another thing I've noticed is that it seems the smaller rocks are more likely to yield better ores. So I target them first. Again, it seems to work.

There's a mining meta, and like all metas, I don't follow it.

Fair enough, so long as it's a conscious choice ;-) I quite like doing the RES thing, it's quite fun sometimes getting pestered by the pirates, especially if mining in a wing and there's a few of you. You can even get players that want to bounty hunt to act as escort etc which is quite good fun.

 

[Deleted member 110222]

Fair enough, so long as it's a conscious choice ;-) I quite like doing the RES thing, it's quite fun sometimes getting pestered by the pirates, especially if mining in a wing and there's a few of you. You can even get players that want to bounty hunt to act as escort etc which is quite good fun.

Yeah, it's all a choice I have made. I play in solo so there's a lot more room for RP builds for me anyway.

 

[Divine Cerinian]

I only use a 2A refinery on my Cobra Mk IV. That lets me use a bigger fuel scoop.

What I do, is deploy two collector limpets. I shoot out one fragment from the rock I'm looking at, close as possible. Let the limpet pick it up, and see what gets added to the bins. If it's mostly one of the big six ores, I dry the rock out, and constantly dump any lesser ore as I go.

If the first fragment is pretty naff', however, I abandon the rock and move on to the next one. Of course, I dump the cheap ores as well. Eventually, my refinery only has the big six inside it and it auto-rejects the lesser ores as a result.

Is it a hassle? You bet it is. But it does work quite well. Overall profits are no different to someone using a prospector. And I never use prospectors.

This, is where I learned a new trick lol. Staying on top of the bins until you only have the big six would make things so much easier. I'll have to adapt that on a conda

 

[Bieltan]

Another thing I've noticed is that it seems the smaller rocks are more likely to yield better ores. So I target them first. Again, it seems to work

Really? Gonna have to try this. Might be showing a buddy the ropes tonight.

As I mine in a Python, I'm not too fussy about what I refine, so long as its mostly the 3 Ps or Gold