Ships Mining Python question

Since you're willing to sacrifice and only have a 2A fuel scoop, I'd leave that in there. I'd get rid of the docking computer for a mining rig and put a 1A prospector limpet in it's place. Add two more mining lasers, a pulse wave analyzer. Upgrade to a 4A refinery and downgrade shield gen to 3D, you'll wish you had the 4A refinery, and then add another 3A collector limpet controller for a total of 8 active limpets at any one time.
I only use a 1a refinery. If you're only collecting ltd you dont need all those refining bins and that gives you room for either more cargo or limpet controllers

Edit: ninja'd ive noticed
 
Heres my all mining Python I consider it perfected: https://s.orbis.zone/6vd1 I don't like stopping to refuel or refit and with a little luck I can fill 192t in about 1h 10m timed from undock to sell. It has the benefit of being able land anywhere and get great sell prices, I see no reason to use anything else.
 
Last edited:
Heres my all mining Python I consider it perfected: https://s.orbis.zone/6vd1 I don't like stopping to refuel or refit and with a little luck I can fill 192t in about 1h 10m timed from undock to sell. It has the benefit of being able land anywhere and get great sell prices, I see no reason to use anything else.
for me personally, the lifetime of the collector is more important than the maximum distance.
 
Heres my all mining Python I consider it perfected: https://s.orbis.zone/6vd1 I don't like stopping to refuel or refit and with a little luck I can fill 192t in about 1h 10m timed from undock to sell. It has the benefit of being able land anywhere and get great sell prices, I see no reason to use anything else.
Wow, I don't know how people can complete one mining run so fast. My mining Python is quite similar to yours - https://s.orbis.zone/6ves The time it takes from reaching Borann triple hot spots to selling the LTDs in a station, takes me about 2.5 hours on average.
 
Wow, I don't know how people can complete one mining run so fast. My mining Python is quite similar to yours - https://s.orbis.zone/6ves The time it takes from reaching Borann triple hot spots to selling the LTDs in a station, takes me about 2.5 hours on average.
I can fill 256 of a type 9 in <2 hours with 14 collectors a 2 medium mining lasers. I think its all about your position in the overlapping hotspots
 
Wow, I don't know how people can complete one mining run so fast. My mining Python is quite similar to yours - https://s.orbis.zone/6ves The time it takes from reaching Borann triple hot spots to selling the LTDs in a station, takes me about 2.5 hours on average.

Apart from making sure that one hits the triple overlap, the crucial parts are how you mine and how you prospect. Prospecting is a major part of the mining game and if you can speed up your prospecting speed you can gain a lot of time. Key for this is not waiting too long for your prospectors to reach the target asteroids (and being in the triple overlap) so target relatively close asteroids whenever possible and fire off a new limpet as soon as you confirm that a prospected asteroid is not minable.

For the mining part, positioning and correct limpets vs lasers numbers are the most relevant. You want to position yourself such that the fragments form a steady stream coming in under your ship and preferably pass close to the cargo hatch. You want to be as close to the asteroid as you can. 5 limpets for 2 lasers is on the low side. If you have too few limpets, the limpets will not be able to keep up. This results in fragments being missed spreading out and it will then take the limpets much longer to pick them up. I made this mining run video some time ago:
The parts between the asteroids are fast forwarded (this is why I sound like Donald Duck), but you can see the positioning close to the asteroids and how the fragment stream is directed below the ship. (This is 7 collectors and 3 lasers.) This particular run I was rather lucky with the LTD content of the asteroids and filled up in just below 40 minutes of actual mining (but the sell station was quite far off so the run itself took 1h17min.

Without actually seeing you mine, it is difficult to say where the "problem" lies.
 
for me personally, the lifetime of the collector is more important than the maximum distance.
I agree with this. The A-rated collector controller has more than enough range. Increasing the lifetime significantly reduces the number of limpets you need.

Buying less than a cargo hold full of limpets absolutely go A grade. Personally I fill cargo before heading out and the shorter duration means I throw less away as I use them faster. I might actually test C or E Grade just to shed more weight and increase jump range, D range is a little too short I think if you mess up and pieces start flying everywhere. Ultimately wont make a huge difference.
 
I can fill 256 of a type 9 in <2 hours with 14 collectors a 2 medium mining lasers. I think its all about your position in the overlapping hotspots
Hard to describe in words, I tried to land close to the middle LTD hotspot, slightly towards the further 3rd hotspot, as two hotposts are closer together while 3rd hotspot is further from these two.

5 limpets for 2 lasers is on the low side
Actually I have 5 collector limpets and 3 lasers.

I can see you have 7 collector limpets but no fuel scoop. I always like a fuel scoop in every one of my ships.
 
Actually I have 5 collector limpets and 3 lasers.

I can see you have 7 collector limpets but no fuel scoop. I always like a fuel scoop in every one of my ships.
Well, that is really on the low side. Do your limpets keep up with the lasers? As in you can keep the lasers firing indefinitely and still pick up the fragments at the same rate. If so, I would like to see a video showing your positioning over a full run.

I have both a fuel scoop and an fsd booster. They are usually lying around in storage at Thomson Orbital in Caereddi. Many times, going there to switch them into the build is not necessary to reach the sell station. When it is necessary, the fsd booster compensates for time lost. A fuel scoop really is not necessary for mining if you set up your personal base nearby. You just have to be mindful of when you have a scoop and when you don’t.
 
Well, that is really on the low side. Do your limpets keep up with the lasers? As in you can keep the lasers firing indefinitely and still pick up the fragments at the same rate. If so, I would like to see a video showing your positioning over a full run.

Sorry I haven't recorded any video of my mining runs. You are right about 5 collectors limpets do take a bit longer to collect those LTD fragments. Also my position near the asteroids is not the best at all time. That's OK though, I only do one mining run per week for that 200-300 million credits. Usually get bored after just one run. I admire those people who have the patience to mine 500-700T in their Cutter or Type-9, I will become brain dead if I do that o_O
 
Sorry I haven't recorded any video of my mining runs. You are right about 5 collectors limpets do take a bit longer to collect those LTD fragments. Also my position near the asteroids is not the best at all time. That's OK though, I only do one mining run per week for that 200-300 million credits. Usually get bored after just one run. I admire those people who have the patience to mine 500-700T in their Cutter or Type-9, I will become brain dead if I do that o_O

I would probably be bored running 5 collectors too. Running enough collectors to start leaving the asteroid right after you depleted it, there is much less down-time. If the fragments spread out you are not talking a little bit more time but quite a lot due to the additional limpet travel time. There is something about a well positioned mining ship just churning out fragments from the asteroid while the limpets make a continuous loop under your ship between the fragment stream and the cargo hatch. I many times wish that the desktop display could be set to an external camera view while keeping the cockpit view in the VR HMD just so I could capture a third person video of this process.

I only take out my Cutter when two conditions are satisfied:
  • I have 3 hours to set aside (this is almost always not satisfied, but sometimes the stars align).
  • Demand at the high-sell station with a large pad is sufficient to avoid significant bulk tax.
The Cutter has a cargo of 520+10 and takes around 2.5 hours to fill. Otherwise I just mine in my Python (192+6), which takes between 40 and 65 minutes to fill depending on luck with the asteroid content. While the Python can dash around between the asteroids like a ping pong ball, the Cutter is more difficult to move around. Both mine at rates around 220-230 tons/hour on average.
 
Back
Top Bottom