Does mining now require a combat ship?

Hi There Cmdr's
I just started playing after a 6 month break. Before the break I was mining void opals. I saw a video showing that Painite mining is now profitable so I thought I'd give it a go. I already had an engineered Type 7 fitted for mining so I took that. However, I was unable to mine. By the time I deplete a rock a pirate or 2 drop in. 4 out of 5 times one of the pirates was an Anaconda. I had to run leaving my limpets and minerals in space. I tried boosting away and beginning again (used to work before my break) but a new group would drop in on me again once I started mining.
So, either I had very bad luck or mining now requires being in a wing (something I've never done) or having a combat fitted ship, probably something tanky that can defeat an anaconda whilst continuing to mine, plus have enough space left over for all the mining stuff. Maybe an Anaconda or a Cutter.
Any suggestions?
 
A couple of days ago I had a persistent wing of ships whilst I was after Bromelite.
Struck me as a bit unusual.
 
Is the OP mining in a RES or something?

If I visit a hotspot I get harassed by 1 or 2 ships, ranging from a couple of eagles/adders to a Krait/Python.
Never had an Annie show up in a ring.

Also, I guess the OP isn't aware that you can just drop into a ring, wait for the pirates to show up, scan you and then leve before you start mining.

Also, also, I find that pirates don't show up very often at all these days.
Just spent a week mining, over multiple sessions, and I only got visited by pirates twice in total.

Regarding ship, I'd say a "combat ship" is more useful for deep-core mining than laser-mining.
To DC mine, it's better to have an agile ship so you can zip around the roid, planting your seizmic charges.
To laser-mine, you really just need to plod from roid to roid, shooting at them as you go.
 
Currently 250Ly outside Colonia bubble. Dropped into a hot spot (well, some 500km from the spot) on a random gas giant and sure enough, an Alliance Chieftain spawned couple of seconds later, storming towards me, trying to scan my ship 😅👌 Didn't give him the pleasure and just silently boosted away.

But yeah, if you want to mine in peace, the cut-off point for those script-pirate spawns seems to be somewhere around 300Ly or so. After that it's just you and the rocks. Mind you, the clairvoyant pirates will be back when you start your journey home and will spawn right behind you when you drop out of hyperspace in a random system, being surprised you made it that far with a haul like that.
 
Is the OP mining in a RES or something?

If I visit a hotspot I get harassed by 1 or 2 ships, ranging from a couple of eagles/adders to a Krait/Python.
Never had an Annie show up in a ring.

Also, I guess the OP isn't aware that you can just drop into a ring, wait for the pirates to show up, scan you and then leve before you start mining.

Also, also, I find that pirates don't show up very often at all these days.
Just spent a week mining, over multiple sessions, and I only got visited by pirates twice in total.

Regarding ship, I'd say a "combat ship" is more useful for deep-core mining than laser-mining.
To DC mine, it's better to have an agile ship so you can zip around the roid, planting your seizmic charges.
To laser-mine, you really just need to plod from roid to roid, shooting at them as you go.
It was a painite hotspot.
Thanks for the tips CMDR's I did let the 1st lot scan be but I assumed they would scan me again once I got some cargo on board. I didnt realise they would ignore me. I'll try again in the Type 7.
 
I wouldn't use language like "depleting a rock" to describe core mining. So, would it be safe to presume that you dropped into a res site or hotspot and started shooting surface deposits immediately and then were scanned by pirates?

If that is the case, in the future, no matter if you're core mining or surface mining, if you're dropping into a hotspot, wait a minute after you drop out of SC (before you start mining). You'll be scanned by a pirate almost every time, this is ok because you waited and your hold should be empty (save for limpets) the pirate will scan you and leave disappointed. This will be the one and only time you're scanned. You'll then be free to fill your hold with all those tasty spess gems.

If it's a hazardous res site and there's pirates attacking other ships, as those ships are destroyed, new ships will drop into the instance. If the 'replacement' ships coming in are pirates and you're within scanning range, you could potentially become a target well after you've been there a while.
 
When you drop into the rock belt and fly down to the rocks, ships will spawn. Any pirates will come directly to you and scan you. After they've scanned you, they'll do a complete lap of your radar flashing at its edge. Once they've completed 360 degrees, which takes about 5 minutes, they'll leave. While you're waiting, you can checkout your emails, go and make a cup of coffee or something like that.

If you don't want to wait, you have to either kill them or keep boosting many times after they've disappeared off your radar, bearing in mind the circle that you can expect them to circle. A couple of times I started mining after they scanned me and before they left, and they didn't bother me. Another time they mysteriously reappeared and came after me, so you can't guarantee that they'll leave you alone after they've scanned you.

Sometimes, there are no other ships that spawn, other times, it's only mining ships, so it's worth having a look to see what they are. If nobody comes to scan you, you're good to go, but you do need to wait long enough to be sure that no more ships come.

It's best to not start mining before the pirates have gone because even the small ships that are relatively easy to kill use hatchbrakers, which will spill out all the cargo you've collected.

I do painite mining that takes about 2 hours per trip in my well-defended Cutter. I find that the easiest and most efficient solution is to simply wait until they're gone and use the time to do something else useful. I do kill the pirates sometimes just because I'm bored, but I'm pretty sure that it doesn't save any time. The Vipers and Sidewinders spend most of the time out of range, where you can't shoot them, then they come boosting in with chaff. By the time you turn to face them, they're out of range again, so battles are boring, frustrating and time-consuming unless you use frag cannons or something like that.
 
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When I did go VO mining (a month or so ago) I had to do four or five game sessions (RL...) before filling up the hold. Most of the times pirates appeared on login, sometimes it was other miners or police. Which is exactly as it ever was. So yes, I use a capable warship for mining. It still takes a long time to fill some 250+ tonnes of cargo space and by then I'm pretty fed up with mining anyway, so...
 
I use a G5 Engineered Python - core mining equipment leaves 3 Large Hardpoints for Defence / Pre Emptive Offence.

I find the ships that spawn are split between Pirates/Miners/Search and Rescue....so worth scanning and being scanned as noted above.
 
I'll try again in the Type 7.

On which note, maybe you could post up your mining T7 build?

The T7 can't deep-core mine cos it doesn't have any C2 hardpoints to fit a seizmic charge launcher to.
I guess you could fit 4x C1 mining lasers to a T7 to go laser-mining but the C4 PDist means it's not going to be a fun time.

I know it's always tempting to go mining in a ship with the biggest possible cargo capacity but it's not always wise.
I'd much rather go mining in an AspX with 64t cargo capacity than a T7 with, erm, however much cargo capacity it has.
In the AspX you're more likely to have an enjoyable time, and get done fairly quickly, which means you'll be happy to go and do it again.
If mining is a chore in the T7, you're not going to want to do it very often.

My T10 is set up for DC mining and laser-mining.
Took it VO mining once.
Never again.
It's okay for chilling out, laser-mining, but attempting to collect 256t of VO's in it is soul-destroying.
Far better to collect 128t of VOs in a Python or 64t in an AspX.
 
It sounds like you dropped in a RES. Try dropping away from a rez. Usually only one pirate shows up at the beginning, sometimes a wing.

Once I met a pirate in a sidey while I was in the conda, I gave him one ton of bromellite cause it was cute.
Ha! Yes, sometimes the cheeky ones get rewarded. :D(y)
 
In response to OP, I have two T-9s for mining, one for VO, one for double Painite.
Neither is armed, never lost either one to NPCs while mining. Know your enemy and all that. (y)

It's not so much the pirates who show up in the ring that cause problems as the ones you might encounter when you're transporting ore to market afterwards.

In a T9 you're totally defensive, which isn't the end of the world but it is inconvenient and irritating.

Which is why I chopped in my mining T9 for a T10.
 
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