Newcomer / Intro Power Usage Changed

I disagree with this - I have 5 collectors on the go with 3 mining lasers and they have no issue clearing up all the mining fragments before any fragments expire. I have checked this several times, targeting the last fragment and watching it decay, they always get collected before they wither and die. ;)

As long as you don't have fragments spurting-off in all directions and so having more travel time for the limpets then I can't see a problem - I try to have the fragments come off in a steady stream and ensure I am close and move above them on depletion - things seems to run smoothly.
I think you're misunderstanding. You can't always control the way the fragments come off the rocks. When they spread out, the collection time goes up exponentially, There's no way that 5 collectors can keep up with three lasers. Be truthful: How often and how long do you have to wait before you can mine the next rock? I have 8 limpets on my Cutter with two mining lasers, and the limpets are still the controlling factor over my mining efficiency. My lasers are much better focused than they are on a Python as well.

Are you pausing with your lasers to let the limpets catch up, in which case using three lasers for 2/3 of the time is the same as using 2 lasers and unnecessary?

The only way of checking whether it's more efficient is by the rate at which fill up your hold. You need to do a back to back comparison over several sessions.
 
With perfect positioning I am even having one limpet hanging back because of lack of collection targets (not always though, so running 6 would be too few for me). Obviously, the number of collectors required to keep up with the lasers strongly depends on positioning relative to the fragment stream.
This is the problem. people talk about how things are when they work perfectly. If you're mining efficiently with respect to rock selection vs time travelling to the next one, you cannot get the perfect situation at many rocks. Frequently, the fragments will spread regardless of how hard you try to get in the best position. I've mined nearly a 1/4 million tons so i have a good idea about how things work, and I've tried lots of different layouts to see what works best for me. How many tons have you mined?
 
I've tried lots of different layouts to see what works best for me.
I would say this is the problem. What works best for you is not necessarily going to work best for the next person.
Having started the game less than a year ago, I have obviously not had the time to mine as much as you have. Given my play time I have done a fair share of mining and experimenting. My statistics are obviously not as large, but it is enough to know that I can comfortably mine an asteroid with 7 limpets and three lasers in a Python. Do I screw up some times? Of course I do, everybody does - but it gets better with training and experience. In those situations I do screw up, having fewer lasers would usually not have helped me.
 
I think you're misunderstanding. You can't always control the way the fragments come off the rocks. When they spread out, the collection time goes up exponentially, There's no way that 5 collectors can keep up with three lasers. Be truthful: How often and how long do you have to wait before you can mine the next rock? I have 8 limpets on my Cutter with two mining lasers, and the limpets are still the controlling factor over my mining efficiency. My lasers are much better focused than they are on a Python as well.

Are you pausing with your lasers to let the limpets catch up, in which case using three lasers for 2/3 of the time is the same as using 2 lasers and unnecessary?

The only way of checking whether it's more efficient is by the rate at which fill up your hold. You need to do a back to back comparison over several sessions.

1. No I am not misunderstanding - I make sure I don't have fragments flying off all over the place. The fragments remain in a nice group and so I can minimise the time it takes for a limpet to travel by a) initial placement to ensure steady stream b) move close and above the fragments after lasering.

2. When I used to mine in a conda with 2 lasers and only 3 limpets I stripped the asteroid in two batches, first 50% then the remainder when I got the first "no valid ..." message. I don't need to do that with 5 collector limpets and 3 lasers on my python.

If the asteroid is tumbling or rotating fast and very irregular then you can of course end up with fragments scattered all over the place. By positioning relative to the axis of rotation of the asteroid you can ensure that doesn't happen (well, most of the time).

Next time I can be bottomed to go mining I'll do a video (lord knows when though). EDIT - Quick video made and linked in post #30 below.

BTW I couldn't care about whether something is more efficient in credits per hour - I am just interested in getting the job done without too much faffing about. ;)
 
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BTW I couldn't care about whether something is more efficient in credits per hour - I am just interested in getting the job done without too much faffing about. ;)
If you don't care about your efficiency, then you can use whatever method floats your boat. Loads of people are using very inefficient methods and they're very happy. Many people have tried various ways of doing things and are convinced that they're doing them well. It's only when you produce objective data that you can compare methods to show whether you're doing something well or not. That's what the forum is for, so we can share our ideas and experience and data. The only time I'm not happy is when people claim something is best without putting up any objective data.

I can tell you that over a period of 8 weeks mining every single night with my Cutter (6 limpets, two lasers and 586T), the entire trip was taking between 3 and 3.5 hrs, depending on RNG and how close the selling station was, so about 195T/hr while mining. For the next two months. I changed to 8 limpets, two lasers and 522T. That reduced the trip time by approximately 30 minutes, which works out at 208T/hr while mining. That's more efficient regarding the mining, but when you take the overall time including travelling, the rates become 180T/hr and 190T per hour which is closer, but 8 limpets and reduced cargo make it approx 5% more efficient.

If somebody thinks they've got a more efficient way of doing it, record the actual times so that we can compare. The type of ship doesn't matter so much as the number of limpets and lasers, which are the main factors in determining your mining rate, assuming that you know how to mine.
 
........, assuming that you know how to mine.

Feel free to criticize how I mine in the following video short video I just made if you wish. However my point is that you can clearly see how five collector limpets easily keep up with 3 lasers.


 
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Hmmm!. You don't need a PWA for laser mining. Tests I did show that it's a waste of time to make a multi-mining ship because laser mining is the fastest. Also. the limpets can't keep up with three lasers, which causes the fragments to spread out and push the collection time much higher, so three ends up being slower than two.

Laser mining in a triple hotspot (or double, probably) is unquestionably faster than core mining, especially since you can comfortably use a Cutter for laser mining, but it's just so incredibly tedious to me. I can get 100T/hour or so core mining LTDs, and i find it so much more fun. Its not that the explosion minigame is particularly hard or rewarding once youve done it hundreds of times, its that you get to spend a vastly higher percentage of your time just flying through the field and only stop to prospect when you know you're on a winner, as opposed to just inching along spamming prospectors. I mine in a Clipper and, tbh, i find flying through a dense field in that thing with good tunes on in the background to be really relaxing.

Mining in a Clipper does also have the advantage of being pretty much completely impossible to gank except by another Clipper, cos everything else gets left in the dust.
 
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Feel free to criticize how I mine in the following video short video I just made if you wish. However my point is that you can clearly see how five collector limpets easily keep up with 3 lasers.


That was only one rock and it was completely stationary. If you only mine stationary ones, it'll take you forever.
 
That was only one rock and it was completely stationary. If you only mine stationary ones, it'll take you forever.

Jeez-o you just can't admit it when you are wrong can you? I just did a quick video to illustrate 3 lasers 5 collectors no problems. :rolleyes:

Rotating asteroids are just as simple if you position correctly. Only rapidly tumbling ones are a pain as there is no simple axis of rotation.

OK I've had enough, this is the newcomer's so I'm dropping out of your negativity.
 
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Jeez-o you just can't admit it when you are wrong can you? I just did a quick video to illustrate 3 lasers 5 collectors no problems. :rolleyes:

Rotating asteroids are just as simple if you position correctly. Only rapidly tumbling ones are a pain as there is no simple axis of rotation.

OK I've had enough, this is the newcomer's so I'm dropping out of your negativity.
I'm not wrong. Make a continuous video of 10 asteroids in a row to show us how well you can do it. Then I'll believe you.

Right, I've analysed your video. It took 37 seconds to laser the rock and then another 41 seconds to collect all the fragments giving an overall cycle of 78 seconds. I'm going to deduct 5 seconds because your collectors weren't out, so say 73 seconds. Your limpets didn't anywhere near keep up with the lasering. It took over twice as long to collect as the lasering.

Compare that with my video at approx 28:00, where I mine a similar rock. See how close the fragments are and how efficiently they're collected. I only had to wait 19 seconds before moving on. The limiting factor is the number of collectors not the number of lasers.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHcXJcE5vnI&t=2s
 
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I'm not wrong. Make a continuous video of 10 asteroids in a row to show us how well you can do it. Then I'll believe you.
Believe me about what? Are you conflating my position with someone else's?

Look, you are the one that said using 3 lasers to mine meant that collectors couldn't keep up. I just showed you that you are wrong, now you want to divert the discussion into how much you can mine in an hour or whatever - I DON'T CARE - I just proved my point about collectors - now suck it up and admit you were wrong.

Oh yes - here is a video of mining a rotating asteroid (simple rotation):

 
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From when you fire your first prospector until when you leave the rings.
I have typically not recorded this time. What I have recorded is the time from jumping into Borann to jumping out of Borann (no build change will significantly change the time taken from jumping into Borann and firing off the first prospector and I have been mainly interested in differences in speed). In my Python with 3 lasers, 4 prospectors, 7 collectors, core mining equipment, and 192+6 cargo, I am averaging around 57 and a half minute for this, with a standard deviation of around 4.6 minutes. Just looking at the latest few logs, the time to get to the rings and actually start mining is pretty consistently around 3 minutes, but I did not need to deal with any NPC pirates at any of those occasions so deducting 3 minutes should be a conservative estimate. This would give a mining rate of 198*60/(57.5-3) ~= 218 tons/hour.

Edit: I just performed a one-sided Student's T-test on my data. This ruled out mining rates lower than 207 tons/hour at the 95% confidence level. A two-sided test gives the 1 sigma range 211-225 tons/hour.

My Cutter has has 512+10 cargo, 4 lasers, 4 prospectors, and 11 collectors (and no core mining equipment - it is a space cow after all). The same math there gives a rate of 237 tons/hour, but the statistics are much lower since I only dust it off when I know I have time to fill it up and demand at the best-sell location is high enough to avoid severe bulk tax and there is a large landing pad, which unfortunately does not happen too often.

Ideally, if we are comparing mining speed in terms of collectors and lasers, we should try to take prospecting out of the equation and look for how long it takes from when you first fire your lasers at an asteroid until all fragments are scooped up. I have not looked at the logs to try to determine this.
 
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Believe me about what? Are you conflating my position with someone else's?

Look, you are the one that said using 3 lasers to mine meant that collectors couldn't keep up. I just showed you that you are wrong, now you want to divert the discussion into how much you can mine in an hour or whatever - I DON'T CARE - I just proved my point about collectors - now suck it up and admit you were wrong.

Oh yes - here is a video of mining a rotating asteroid (simple rotation):

Again, your limpets didn't keep up. You had to wait 1 minute and 11 seconds to collect the last fragment after you switched off your lasers. Why didn't you show several rocks in a row or 10, like I suggested? That will show a much truer picture.
 
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