Ughhh Mining - why are collector limpets so stupid and/or fragile?

Factabulous

Factabulous
Cagman said:
Only miners without shields. I just wanted to point that out. You know....transparency and all that crap that people ask for when asking for information.

So yes... if you flew/fly a shieldless ship, you will get spanked. If you have shields, you can have the lowest rating on it..... no problems.
Click to expand...

Did all my mining shieldless for the CG this week (the asteroids are right outside the station, so why not, I thought). No issues with death-by-limpet. Had the occasional fragment that cause my limpet swarm to suicide trying to reach it, but as usual just moved out of range, started on the next rock with a fresh batch and was fine - maybe 1-2 limpet-swarm-deaths filling a 256T hold, which is annoying, but acceptable.

Maybe L2M* ;)
 

CmdrZaratan

C
Kaocraft said:
The limpets sometimes aren't as dumb as the rest of the game. Elite has poor collision detection. That's part of it. Oftentimes the chunks clip partially into the asteroids and there's no way for a limpet (or anything else) to pick them up without smashing into the asteroid. Other times the chunks clip all the way inside of the asteroids and the limpet just orbits hopelessly looking for a way in:

https://imgur.com/a/nTgkdlf
Click to expand...

Same. I've seen my limpets do some amazing pathing trying to get a fragment that's almost impossibly placed. And then every now and again they'll just go "nup" and die. I think just making the limpets more robust will fix most of the issues.

On that last note I love the way a core explosion will wipe out my ship launched fighter, but not any collector limpets that happen to be out.
 

phong

phong
I've just started with the new mining gear,but i cant figure out why my prospectors wont work.Am i too close?
(In my case,it's more likely to be the operator who is stupid)
 
Last edited:

Ethaidan

Ethaidan
phong said:
I've just started with the new mining gear,but i cant figure out why my prospectors wont work.Am i too close?
(In my case,it's more likely to be the operator who is stupid)
Click to expand...

How fast are you moving when you deploy them? I've found that 100% of the time I deploy a PL while moving >200m/s they fail - are untargetable and fly through asteroids. Under 150m/s they never fail.
 

Chaparral

Chaparral
Ethaidan said:
How fast are you moving when you deploy them? I've found that 100% of the time I deploy a PL while moving >200m/s they fail - are untargetable and fly through asteroids. Under 150m/s they never fail.
Click to expand...

This is exactly right. I've also noticed that if you dip your nose you can break prospectors on deployment occasionally.
 
Last edited:

Scoob

Scoob
Kaocraft said:
The limpets sometimes aren't as dumb as the rest of the game. Elite has poor collision detection. That's part of it. Oftentimes the chunks clip partially into the asteroids and there's no way for a limpet (or anything else) to pick them up without smashing into the asteroid. Other times the chunks clip all the way inside of the asteroids and the limpet just orbits hopelessly looking for a way in:

https://imgur.com/a/nTgkdlf
Click to expand...

That's a particularly frustrating situation. I recall numerous times I've found that super rare material inside a wreck in a USS, only to be totally unable to retrieve it. Wreck in question appearing to have the mass of a small moon too, as I couldn't budge it to shake the material free lol.

Scoob.
 

Macy

Macy
I don't launch my limpets until a few chunks have drifted a good distance from the roid.
Make sure the roid is spinning clockwise or anticlockwise, not towards you.
That's all the precautions i can think of.
Limpets are dumb af.
 

Marklar_

Marklar_
Yeah, it's annoying.

Often this happens because a fragment is too close to the surface of an asteroid chunk. In this case you can bump the fragment with your ship to send it sailing away where a limpet can grab it. Sometimes a fragment ends up inside of an asteroid chunk, in this case you can sometimes wait for it to come out the other side and then bump it. Once the chunks are clear, deploy another limpet and hopefully it will go smoothly from there.

Also, make sure that there's no rock below you or right next to you while collecting, the chunks drift around so try to stay clear of them, otherwise the limpets may crash into them while trying to get to the cargo scoop.
 

Flimley

Flimley
GunnerBill said:
I've just used 13 limpets to collect the ore from one deep core rock.

Sat there watching them fly into rocks and explode ad nauseum.

I'm used to a few catching themselves out but this is just plain daft.
Click to expand...

Yep, they just cannot navigate around exploded asteroids. I try to manoeuvre my ship for best results but still go through more limpets then are necessary. I reported it during beta.

Flimley
 
Last edited:

Winterwalker

Winterwalker
Macy said:
Limpets are dumb af.
Click to expand...

Yeah but at least once you know that you can do things to lower chances of limpet crashes. All about spatial awareness imo and how the limpets route (plus putting the material to be collected right below your cargo hatch speeds things up too).

I like limpets largely because they're dumb? I know, daft .. but I think they're characterful because of it.
 

Lobey

Lobey
I've noticed mine got a little more accident prone since last patch, have upped my loadout slightly to compensate.
If you have prospectors failing on launch - reduce speed to under 150 and you should be fine.
 
Last edited:

GunnerBill

GunnerBill
Lobey said:
I've noticed mine got a little more accident prone since last patch, have upped my loadout slightly to compensate.
If you have prospectors failing on launch - reduce speed to under 150 and you should be fine.
Click to expand...

I've found a little up-thrust on launch helps with that.

Marklar4408 said:
I've used both and they both bump chunks just fine. I just did it in my Krait a few minutes ago.
Click to expand...

Good to know, thanks +1
 
Last edited:

ekbot

E
GunnerBill said:
I've seen things you CMDR's wouldn't believe. I've watched NPCs mining ships that didn't have limpets, I've seen chaff glittering in the dark near the Hutton Orbital. All these things will be lost in time like salty tears on popcorn.
Click to expand...

I have a sudden urge to go watch this again.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
Slightly related - In the mining CG. mining lasers only, I have had 3 or 4 occurrences of a fragment being below the surface of the asteroid. This has the annoying effect of your collectors one after the other suiciding into the rock. I even tried scraping the surface in case the fragment was just sitting on the surface but no, it was annoyingly out of view and no amount of cargo scoop scraping over the surface made any difference.
 

Marklar_

Marklar_
Para Handy said:
Slightly related - In the mining CG. mining lasers only, I have had 3 or 4 occurrences of a fragment being below the surface of the asteroid. This has the annoying effect of your collectors one after the other suiciding into the rock. I even tried scraping the surface in case the fragment was just sitting on the surface but no, it was annoyingly out of view and no amount of cargo scoop scraping over the surface made any difference.
Click to expand...

A way around that is to use your ship to give the asteroid chunk a push, and then once it's out of the way you can reach the fragment.
 

Kiwirat

Kiwirat
You do realize that collector limpets have a "Use By date" ?
If they have been sitting in your hold for more than a week they tend to fall over or expire/explodevery quickly when deployed.
You need to refresh your supply before leaving the station on your mining mission. The new limpets are fit and agile and not subject to cramp or being lethargic after extended time in the cargo hold.
Keep them fresh and fit is the answer...[yesnod] [yesnod]
 

[VR] Goooost

[VR] Goooost
I don't know anything about programming, but I know about vectors in photoshop and illustrator. When I think about controlling a limpet I imagine a start point and an end point and a vector line of travel between them. Changing the course of this line should be feasible in real-time if a rock or ship comes in proximity- it would just deform the line. The only reason a limpet should get destroyed is if that line got pinched out before it could be redrawn. I just don't quite get how these things are so fickle.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom