First Thoughts On Mining...

[Seizewell Warrior]

So after reading that deep core mining is the new road to riches, thought I would take a crack at it, ho hum...

It turned out to be a little less than that, at least in the Cobra. You can only carry a limited amount of limpets and no space for a SRV to land and gather mats to resupply. I did have a go (not in pristine rings admittedly) and the sum total of two hours real time gameplay was 5 x 2/3 full bins in the refinery, mostly low grade stuff.

By the time I'd found rocks with any worthwhile minerals, my limpets were down to 50% from the prospecting. I then spent a frustrating time trying to line up seismic charges with the spinning rock, finally got the readout in the blue and - bang - failed to blow up the 'roid. Can't do sub surface stuff as didn't pack a mining laser, the few surface deposits I found blew off with the abrasion blaster and used my remaining limpets to collect the low grade rubble.

I'm going to make more money selling the nav data I acquired looking for systems with rings..!

Not giving up on it, but think I will be ditching the Cobra for something with a bit more space. Mining really needs to be like exploration where your ship is self sufficient and equipped to stay out for a while without coming back in to re-supply.

 

[LumberTubs]

Unless I've misunderstood, your post implies that you're randomly firing prospector limpets at rocks. Are you using the pulse wave analyser to identify the brightest glowing ones that might have a core?

To be honest, even if you're doing it perfectly, core mining can be really hit and miss. I spent about an hour in a void opal hotspot yesterday, boosting and constantly firing off the pulse wave analyser yet only found 1 void opal core.

 

[Clanky Munge]

If you haven't found a core in 10 mins, SC out and back in again, and the RNG will be your friend this time

That method becomes an issue if you have cargo on board already as the Pirates will also respawn.

 

[Nasc]

People who want to be rich now try core mining.
People that regularly get credits know that double painite mining is just as profitable and quicker.

 

[Clanky Munge]

I did a couple of trips out void running, with almost every ship A spec and 2 bill I consider myself rich in ED, never mined a double painite as I liked the gameplay and graphics of exploiting roids.

Sitting and mining laser rocks for hours, I find a bit mind numbing

 

[Nasc]

I did a couple of trips out void running, with almost every ship A spec and 2 bill I consider myself rich in ED, never mined a double painite as I liked the gameplay and graphics of exploiting roids.

Sitting and mining laser rocks for hours, I find a bit mind numbing

Double painite mining doesn't mean you can't blow cores as you come across them. It means you're not dependent on them.

 

[LumberTubs]

If you haven't found a core in 10 mins, SC out and back in again, and the RNG will be your friend this time

That method becomes an issue if you have cargo on board already as the Pirates will also respawn.

Yeah I did that. Not only did a pirate spawn when I dropped back in but so did the other pirate that had spotted me while I was briefly in super cruise. My current miner isn't equipped to deal with that because I only got to colonia a couple of days ago.

I'm currently trying to find a hotspot that's far enough away from the colonia bubble so those PITA NPCs don't spawn.

 

[Clanky Munge]

No room for a mining laser, if I want to kill the Pirates as well, unless I re-kit my Vette for mining again, I prefer my Python for voids and have a type 9 set up for double painite.

But I like your versatility

 

[Clanky Munge]

Yeah I did that. Not only did a pirate spawn when I dropped back in but so did the other pirate that had spotted me while I was briefly in super cruise. My current miner isn't equipped to deal with that because I only got to colonia a couple of days ago.

I'm currently trying to find a hotspot that's far enough away from the colonia bubble so those PITA NPCs don't spawn.

When you first jump into a field to scan you have no cargo, let them scan you and go away find multi void roids and you won't be bothered by Pirates til you leave, make sure to turn them in then though or NPCs will hound you on your return.

Careful doing it so far away, you could be travelling some distance to sell with a really expensive cargo....

 

[Northpin]

Yeah I did that. Not only did a pirate spawn when I dropped back in but so did the other pirate that had spotted me while I was briefly in super cruise. My current miner isn't equipped to deal with that because I only got to colonia a couple of days ago.

I'm currently trying to find a hotspot that's far enough away from the colonia bubble so those PITA NPCs don't spawn.

you cant and you shouldn't bother.
drop in the ring, wait for pirates to scan you.
boost 100km away from your drop point - happy mining
however, if you disconnect before filling your hold, at reconnect dont bother with mining, jump and sell asap

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Thanks for the advice and yes I've done the detailed surface scan of the rings to identify hotspots and the pulse wave to locate potential high yield rocks.

I think it's mainly the Cobra which is the limiting factor - probably good for quick hit void opal etc. fetching where you only need to fill a few bins to turn a good profit. Not so good for plodding around and learning the process. Oh well, back to the ship merchant and see what I can afford in p/x which has way more cargo capacity and the requisite hard points.

 

[Northpin]

pulse wave to locate potential high yield rocks.

There is no such thing.

You use Pulse Wave to locate cores that can be cracked.
Then you fire a prospector at it
If the core contains Void Opals, you break it (make sure you get optimal explosive power), you gather fragments.
No Void Opals, move along. No other deep core materials are worth the effort, except maybe the Low Temperature Diamonds.

 

[Stealthie]

If you haven't found a core in 10 mins, SC out and back in again, and the RNG will be your friend this time

Deep Core 'roids are persistent.
There's nothing "RNG" about locating them.

If you're not finding DC roid's in a ring and you hop in and out of SC, the only reason you might get better results is cos you're in a different place.

 

[Angus]

Guys, "double painite"? :-/

 

[Iskariot]

Thanks for the advice and yes I've done the detailed surface scan of the rings to identify hotspots and the pulse wave to locate potential high yield rocks.

I think it's mainly the Cobra which is the limiting factor - probably good for quick hit void opal etc. fetching where you only need to fill a few bins to turn a good profit. Not so good for plodding around and learning the process. Oh well, back to the ship merchant and see what I can afford in p/x which has way more cargo capacity and the requisite hard points.

Small ships are severely handicapped by the bad implementation of the limpet mechanic.

I (and many other veteran cmdrs) have been proposing a much more flexible and fun limpet system right from the start, but for reasons unknown FDev ignored our early warnings.
A considerable while ago FDev finally admitted that the current confused and stiffling system of countless limpet controllers would have to be addressed, but sadly years later they still have not done anything.

My proposal:

I think the current system is weird and unwieldy. It limits game play too much. It blocks emergent gameplay.
I believe a much more flexible and fun limpet drone system is needed.

Currently we have to buy (multiple) controllers and fill our cargo hold with single use limpets.
We need a completely different approach to make limpets more usable and effective:


0. A fundamental change is that drones would be reusable and repairable!

1. We buy a Drone bay with build-in basic drone controller and build-in storage for limpets.
Drone bays should be available in different sizes and be able to manufacture new limpets from materials and would also be able to repair them if damaged.
The smallest size (perhaps a size 2) module would have storage for two drones, but a large ship might have room for a size 6 for example, with many more drones.
The largest size drone bay might correspond to the number of drones the game allows you to have active at the same time.

All drones would refuel from the drone bay and might also be repaired there if damaged.
When a drone gets destroyed you can manufacture a new one from materials and fill the empty drone slot in the bay.

2. A limpet controller should be a flexible unit that can program a limpet for any task.
We would buy software packages to add options: refueling, repair, combat, reconnaissance, exploration, mining etc. etc. These software packages should be expensive as they add very usefull functionality to every ship.


ADVANTAGES OF THIS SYSTEM
The beauty is that even the smallest ship can reprogram their drones to do all tasks, which makes it much more useful and fun to always have at least one or two drones on board if you are so inclined.

The biggest advantage of this system is enormous flexibility, which opens the game up.
It also makes the limpet drone system infinitely expandable.

For example if I have build myself a mining ship and I encounter an NPC without fuel in a USS I can now reprogram a drone to bring the ship some of my fuel.
When I arrive at my mining area I can then reprogram the drone for mining and when I get attacked I might use a drone or two for defense and when my canopy gets shot out by a pirate I can program a drone to do some repairs.
Mind you: all of this with just one controller, in one single drone bay! Even a small ship with one small drone bay could do this.


With these changes the drone bay would become a true workhorse that most cmdrs would like to have on board.

 

[Angus]

Also...... wouldn't it be cool if FD allowed you to mod a ship launched fighter with an Abrasive Blaster for that fiddlier mining?

 

[Northpin]

Guys, "double painite"? :-/

Double painite is efficient only in really big ships, Cutter (for the efficiency conscious ones) or T9 (for the braves that are not affraid to lose 600t of painite at once)
Otherwise, Void Opals are more efficient for small ships like Cobra Mk3 or an AspX

 

[Soron Silin]

I mine with a Krait Mk II. The cargo hold is big enough to not be full by the time I get bored and it has enough weaponry to give a pirate a hard time, not that I've had to fight yet.

Certainly pirates don't spawn more than 500 ly from the bubble, but that's a long way to commute.

I can't wait to get out again now I've got the thrusters to G5 Dirty. Gonna be fun weaving around rocks at 400m/s without boost.

 

[Seizewell Warrior]

Drones were extensively used in X-Rebirth and I certainly agree they would be useful for retrieval. I can understand the Prospector limpets being one shot, but certainly you should be able to reuse the collectors!

 

[Angus]

Double painite is efficient only in really big ships, Cutter (for the efficiency conscious ones) or T9 (for the braves that are not affraid to lose 600t of painite at once)
Otherwise, Void Opals are more efficient for small ships like Cobra Mk3 or an AspX

Thanks, but I'm still not clear on what the act of "double painite(ing)" constitutes. What does the term actually mean, please?