Should I Come Back to Mining?

[droscoe]

I've considered coming back to mining. After Engineers and ice mining was introduced, it seems like I should try it again and pick up where I left off on my Mining Tool I was developing, but it seemed as though mining was just...a halfway secondary activity that isn't too popular. You check out my old post on it, and I still have it.

Is mining any more popular? I've been tossing around the idea of finishing the tool and include all the new ore types.

Dustin

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

There is now good reason to mine in icy rings, as the missions are pretty good. Materials makes metal-rich rings rather good places to mine, and there is the odd mission for cobalt and other things that are present in rocky rings. So I think mining has expanded quite a lot. There are more ores available in metallic rings now too.

Mining has also got a boost in Selene wanting players to do a little mining. Only 500 tons, but an afternoon's mining never hurt anyone. Some players have even discovered that they like it.

Unfortunately, it's no longer as safe as it once was. There will always be a pirate spawn, no matter where you go in the bubble. And take just one ton of an engineer commodity and you are a pirate magnet.

 

[GTwannabe]

No, it's a pain due to all the material spew. Mining each rock takes 3x as long due to all the additional worthless fragments. Limpets are still incredibly stupid and frequently chain suicide into rocks. Still no ability to auto-purge junk ores or discard them without your limpets putting them back in your ship.

 

[Ignition]

Mining is so boring.

If we could store items from my cargo I would mine only for Engineer upgrades. I will not mine for fun with the current mechanics.

 

[Devari]

I've considered coming back to mining.

I don't understand why you were mining in the first place. It is the lowest effort/reward activity in the entire game, even exploration can be more lucrative (at least if you're farming neutron stars). At this point at least you can get some planetary mats from mining asteroids so that might allow you to avoid SRV driving but the drop rate of the mats isn't particularly high. What I would ask if what you even found interesting or enjoyable about mining to begin with. It is unlikely that mining has gotten less rewarding than it used to be, but considering it was the least rewarding game activity this isn't exactly saying much.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

I don't understand why you were mining in the first place. It is the lowest effort/reward activity in the entire game, even exploration can be more lucrative (at least if you're farming neutron stars). At this point at least you can get some planetary mats from mining asteroids so that might allow you to avoid SRV driving but the drop rate of the mats isn't particularly high. What I would ask if what you even found interesting or enjoyable about mining to begin with. It is unlikely that mining has gotten less rewarding than it used to be, but considering it was the least rewarding game activity this isn't exactly saying much.

It's not all about how many credits you can get. It's not like we get paid for playing the game.

 

[Devari]

It's not all about how many credits you can get. It's not like we get paid for playing the game.

Sure, I get that for activities like exploration or Powerplay which aren't about making money. Mining, however, has very little appeal given that it's repetitive, boring and has little to offer compared to other activities. I suppose if you always wanted to imagine yourself as a space miner, sure, that's one reason. In fact that's the best reason I can think of to do any of the various activities in Elite. My issue is that it only has an appeal to a very limited number of players and it should really have been developed into a worthwhile activity in it's own right. The only "mining" I ever tried was specifically to get planetary mats from asteroids (I ignored the other mining fragments completely) and it was literally the most boring time I have ever spent in Elite. This includes my time spent going to SagA and all the SRV driving I've done to collect planetary mats, and those were generally pretty boring tasks overall. Not only that, but it requires a specific weapons build because you need at least one mining laser, takes up refinery space in your cargo hold and in most cases you also need to have cargo space filled with limpets and a limpet controller if you expect to actually mine and collect the fragments at any reasonable rate. For all of that time, effort and ship build requirements it really gives players very little in return. FD should really make it a viable economic activity in the game on par with trading and exploration rather than just artificially locking certain Engineers like Selene behind a "mining grindwall" to try to force us to try it. I still flatly refuse to mine and have just accepted that I won't be putting armor mods on my ship because of how badly FD have neglected what could otherwise be a viable game mechanic.

 

[droscoe]

I don't understand why you were mining in the first place. It is the lowest effort/reward activity in the entire game, even exploration can be more lucrative (at least if you're farming neutron stars). At this point at least you can get some planetary mats from mining asteroids so that might allow you to avoid SRV driving but the drop rate of the mats isn't particularly high. What I would ask if what you even found interesting or enjoyable about mining to begin with. It is unlikely that mining has gotten less rewarding than it used to be, but considering it was the least rewarding game activity this isn't exactly saying much.

I had never mined before that, so I wanted to try something new. I eventually wanted to compare some performance statistics from my mining runs, in an effort to maximize payout and efficiency. TBH, I did miss the combat in RESs, so I went back to that.

I suppose I enjoyed it for a while because it was relaxing, easy, and I could make a few million an hour. That was several months ago, I was just curious what it's like now. I created lots of useful statistical reports that others could use. I just felt like contributing to the community, but it seems to be the least popular activity.

 

[Devari]

I had never mined before that, so I wanted to try something new. I eventually wanted to compare some performance statistics from my mining runs, in an effort to maximize payout and efficiency. TBH, I did miss the combat in RESs, so I went back to that.

I suppose I enjoyed it for a while because it was relaxing, easy, and I could make a few million an hour. That was several months ago, I was just curious what it's like now. I created lots of useful statistical reports that others could use. I just felt like contributing to the community, but it seems to be the least popular activity.

Oh well that's different then, you were taking a very systematic look at mining as a game activity. For some reason I thought you were just wondering if mining had gotten notably better or worse in general. I don't mine so I can't really answer that, although some players would argue that the ability to get planetary mats from asteroids does improve the "utility" of the activity quite a bit. I've spent large amount of time driving the SRV so this wasn't really an issue for me but the added benefit of getting mats like vanadium might make it even more useful an activity if you already enjoy it prior to 2.1.

 

[Surround]

I used to enjoy mining but the new speed for collectors and their stupid fixation to go 200m under the belly makes mining frustrating.

And ice mining is pretty painful because if you mine too close it will kil lyour fps.

And the crazy pirates that want your 10t of cobalt. But atleast they leave you alone if youre with anaconda

 

[ForeverN00b]

I only tried mining recently thanks to selene. If you have a python/bigger, and you fully outfit it for mining, you can make 1.5 mil per hour if you go to a pristine metallic ring.

A lot of ifs for not a lot of return. Especially given the frustration of collector limpets and their inabilty to handle rotating rocks. Ugh.

Mining needs some love.

If you after materials, go prospecting in your SRV, it is much more effective.

Edit: mining is serene and rewarding in that you are producing something of value. IMO, a simple tweak to the limpits which would reduce the stupid suicidal behavior (paging SJA) would go a long way to make it a more attractive career choice.

 

[droscoe]

It's interesting that so many comment on the issue with limpets. I always felt like they should redesign that whole thing, and instead have a drone bay module, where they last forever (unless destroyed), instead of so-called limpets that use cargo space. Sort of like how EVE handles mining drones. I say this, because a portion of my mining tool was dedicated to identifying the optimum number of limpets to take with you, based on your time and performance.

TBH, if I can't land anywhere in a ring, outside of a RES, without getting pirates, then its not worth the trouble.

Looking back at my mining tool and my performance reports, I actually topped out at 2.7m an hour.

Thanks for the input. I wanted to know if it got any better, because honestly, I'm doing smuggling runs worth 12-20m an hour now. What a fool I would be to risk the integrity of my ship for 1-3m an hour. lol

 

[Red Anders]

Unfortunately, it's no longer as safe as it once was. There will always be a pirate spawn, no matter where you go in the bubble. And take just one ton of an engineer commodity and you are a pirate magnet.

This is true; however I've resolved it so far by taking just two class 3 pulse lasers on my Python miner and reading them their horoscopes at the drop-in before heading off to mine in solitary splendour. Mining is still a great way to make some money and a nice change of pace.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

It's interesting that so many comment on the issue with limpets. I always felt like they should redesign that whole thing, and instead have a drone bay module, where they last forever (unless destroyed), instead of so-called limpets that use cargo space.

Maybe FD will reconsider how limpets are implemented. It seems a bit wierd that our ships will be able to build new fighter ships in the fighter bays, but is unable to make new limpets. This might provide some reason for the stupid sizing of the larger limpet modules (i.e. class 7 is 128 tons and only controls 4 limpets).

- - -

The only "mining" I ever tried was specifically to get planetary mats from asteroids (I ignored the other mining fragments completely) and it was literally the most boring time I have ever spent in Elite.

If a player had posted that they thought combat in ED was boring because both times they tried bounty hunting in a Nav beacon they didn't enjoy it, your response would likely be less than polite.

 

[droscoe]

This thread seems to have finished its course, but I'd like to nail down something you all have said.

You used to be able to drop down in a ring, away from a RES, and comfortably mine. is it true that pirates now always spawn?

If so....grrrr

 

[Mangal Oemie]

I don't understand why you were mining in the first place. It is the lowest effort/reward activity in the entire game, even exploration can be more lucrative (at least if you're farming neutron stars). At this point at least you can get some planetary mats from mining asteroids so that might allow you to avoid SRV driving but the drop rate of the mats isn't particularly high. What I would ask if what you even found interesting or enjoyable about mining to begin with. It is unlikely that mining has gotten less rewarding than it used to be, but considering it was the least rewarding game activity this isn't exactly saying much.

I take it you've never mined for Painite during boom times... I once made 40M CR in 3 days like that.

But, odd as it may seem, I actually enjoy mining quite a bit. I looked for the heavy spinners, find its rotation axis and position the ship just right. That's enjoyable to me, and a zen activity where I am still shooting stuff. Mining is also very effective in BGS work, which makes even mining for minerals useful (which fills up your hold pretty quick).

@droscoe: as long as you don't have any cargo, other than limpets, just let yourself be scanned and they'll leave when they find you don't have any. Then boost a bit towards the star, and you won't be bothered as long as you stay in the instance. (If a friend wings up and jumps in, though, expect him/her to bring another NPC or two.)

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

This thread seems to have finished its course, but I'd like to nail down something you all have said.

You used to be able to drop down in a ring, away from a RES, and comfortably mine. is it true that pirates now always spawn?

If so....grrrr

Since 2.1, I've never not had a pirate spawn, sometimes several. I've actually spent longer waiting for a pirate to turn up in a RES than in a remote location in a ring. Doesn't seem to matter whether the system is inhabited or not. You do often get cops in high security systems, but as usual they ignore the pirates until too late. It's not just when you drop into a ring, if you log out and log back in again you get another spawn.
The pirates are a little better in some ways now. They don't do all psycho on you if your hold is empty or only has limpets. But if you have any ores, or worse engineer cargo, you are lunch.
Pirates chasing you in supercruise will also make an appearance once you have dropped into a ring, but they are in addition to the local spawn. These ones will attack on sight.

 

[Devari]

If a player had posted that they thought combat in ED was boring because both times they tried bounty hunting in a Nav beacon they didn't enjoy it, your response would likely be less than polite.

Actually, there are some very boring activities in Elite with terrible effort/reward ratios and you don't need to try the activity for very long to realize this. Mining is generally the worst in this regard, and exploration is probably the second worst. I do a lot of exploring (and actually enjoy it for various reasons) but I completely understand when players complain about the jump/honk/scoop boredom after going only a few hundred ly distance. I don't tell them "well you need to go to SagA to truly understand exploration", because they don't. They don't need to go very far at all to understand that jump/honk/scoop is really all they can do to "explore" unless you count driving the SRV, which isn't really "exploration" although the driving distance does have a very small effect on your exploration rank. Trading is probably the third most boring activity, at least for bulk trading, but at least there are options such as long-range trading as well as interdictions to keep the process from being completely boring. Combat is not really boring at all given all the types of ships/loadouts/combat styles to learn before combat starts to become "routine".

I take it you've never mined for Painite during boom times... I once made 40M CR in 3 days like that.

No, I've never really tried testing the limits of mining, mostly because I found it boring and needed to use a specific ship build. I did try it out briefly to collect mats from asteroids but this was only a few hours because I found that it wasn't worth it for me to dedicate a ship for that purpose and the rate of getting planetary mats from mining asteroids is quite poor. In this sense it's a very restrictive activity as it's hard to build a viable multi-purpose build that can mine efficiently but also still be able to fight, run missions and carry cargo without needing to refit all the modules.

 

[Long Star]

Shouldn't even come back to ED the way this fracking game is playing tonight.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

In this sense it's a very restrictive activity as it's hard to build a viable multi-purpose build that can mine efficiently but also still be able to fight, run missions and carry cargo without needing to refit all the modules.

You are right in that. I've given up trying to make a combat fit mining build. I now use an Orca built for running away. Like combat, you need to dedicate a ship to mining - even if just for materials. Materials mining even more so, as you want to be able to strip a roid as fast as you can.
I suspect you used something like a Python with only one mining laser and one collector controller. That would indeed be boring. But put 3 medium mining lasers and 10 active collector limpets and it's a different story.