Fancy a new mining ship. Suggestions welcome.
- Thread starter Stealthie
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I like my Chieftain Minor. Packing a lot into a small space I don't run shields because I prefer to bask in auto super cruise, and evade with chaff and heat sink, but little girls could probably add a shield generator if they want.
Military hull has a heavy tanking mod and as I get better results from a medium to large displacement drill, got a triple mining laser set up with the usual abrasion and seismic trimmings. 10 refinery slots, 3 limpets, brilliant for fast reclamation of tritium .. and not bad for everything else in 74 ton doses either.
Last ship you'll every need imo. My other ship is also a Lakon.
Military hull has a heavy tanking mod and as I get better results from a medium to large displacement drill, got a triple mining laser set up with the usual abrasion and seismic trimmings. 10 refinery slots, 3 limpets, brilliant for fast reclamation of tritium .. and not bad for everything else in 74 ton doses either.
Last ship you'll every need imo. My other ship is also a Lakon.
My 2 cents: Python is an awesome miner. But for mining I now use the Cutter. I bought all the Imperial ships when they were on sale but I couldn't find any use for them. So I nearly sold them all. I just wanted to give Cutter a shot in mining and I was very positively surprised. With my build (which I can't show ATM because I stripped Cutter and I'm 25k lys away from the bubble) I had 9 collector limpets, could fire 4 prospects and had all the mining weapons. Even with core mining it does decently. Yes: core mining is far more easy with medium ships but I found it very doable with Cutter. Only the fast rotating asteroids with the rocket drill I find a PIA so I leave them. But that's mostly my lazyness. For me the other "downside" is I often get stuck with my wings. But that's mostly my lazyness too...
I haven't mined in the new meta: want to wait out until they are satisfied in nerfing mining into the ground before I decide I will even bother with it. But in the "old" meta Cutter was also excellent in going to places to sell my harvested materials. I made sure a station was nearby my mining spot so I could swap the limpet controlles and refinery with FSD booster, fuelscoop, cargo rack (to empty my refinery) and extra fuel tank so I could move my stuff for credits asap.
I haven't mined in the new meta: want to wait out until they are satisfied in nerfing mining into the ground before I decide I will even bother with it. But in the "old" meta Cutter was also excellent in going to places to sell my harvested materials. I made sure a station was nearby my mining spot so I could swap the limpet controlles and refinery with FSD booster, fuelscoop, cargo rack (to empty my refinery) and extra fuel tank so I could move my stuff for credits asap.
A vote for the Clipper here (Missing mining hardpoints, but you get the picture..).
Once you get used to the divergent hardpoints, there's no greater joy than boosting through the asteroids seeking out the cores*
It's also fast, so outrunning pirates is easy. And it looks sexy as hell**
o7
* Requires PWA getting fixed, first
** In midnight black
Once you get used to the divergent hardpoints, there's no greater joy than boosting through the asteroids seeking out the cores*
It's also fast, so outrunning pirates is easy. And it looks sexy as hell**
o7
* Requires PWA getting fixed, first
** In midnight black
Well, since you asked...
Had a play in both ships (FDS and Crusader), with a mixture of unengineered parts and stuff I had lying around.
Fortunately, the results didn't really highlight anything that might be improved by engineering.
First, there's the Crusader.
If you want to mine 64t of ore slowly, and shoot at anything that comes to bother you, it's the ship for you.
As a mining ship, it's a bit of a "dead end", though.
What I mean is, cos it's only got those 2 C6 slots, you're going to put a cargo rack in one and something else in the other one.
If the "something else" is a shield, 64t of ore is your maximum and you can only run 4x Collectors... which is slow.
If the "something else" isn't a shield, you can either fit another cargo rack and collect up to 128t slowly or you can fit a C5 limpet Controller and collect 64t at a half-decent rate.
Only trouble, there, is without the shield your canopy is a serious weak point which isn't helpful in combat and means you don't actually need those defensive hardpoints any more cos you'll be running away instead.
Also, you can really only squeeze a C1 Prospector into it, which some might be okay with but most miners like to be able to tag at least two roids at a time.
Then there's the FDS.
This is a bit more interesting (to use, if not to look at).
You can configure it in a similar way to the Crusader, with 64t of cargo, 2x C5 Collectors (C3s on the Crusader) and a C3 Prospector (C1 on the Crusader) - which is all good.
On the down side, it only has one "spare" hardpoint for a defensive weapon - which is not so good.
However...
Since it's not especially fighty with a single weapon, you can get rid of that weapon completely and replace it with another mining laser.
Once you've done that, you can get rid of the shield too, which frees up a C6 slot.
Bung another cargo rack in there and you can collect 128t of ore, or you can bung a C5 Collector in there to collect 64t of ore very speedily.
In my test-drive, the Crusader did okay but my main issue was that I can see no way to really improve it further.
The FDS hoovered up 64t of ore in about 15 minutes, went back to my FC, fitted another mining laser and another cargo rack and (unsurprisingly) it can collect 128t of Ore in about half an hour.
It does irk me that I can't explode pirates but, meh.
Ultimately, the FDS doesn't have the same potential, as a mining ship, as the Python or Krait but, in it's own right, it does make a half-decent little mining ship.
The problem I now have, though, is that my original intention was to build a fighty mining ship.
If I'm going to abandon that requirement, I might as well just use a Python, throw mining tools in all 5 hardpoints and end up with a more capable medium-pad laser-mining ship.
You want fast... you mean mining at 555m/s?
s.orbis.zone
Ok, there's only 5 collector limpets, and room for only one large (well placed, turreted?) weapon, but one of the cargo racks could carry an SLF bay, and 555m/s!
You could also ditch the shield and when pirates show up, go silent, use asteroids to break line of sight, and then play hide and seek.
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s.orbis.zone
Ok, there's only 5 collector limpets, and room for only one large (well placed, turreted?) weapon, but one of the cargo racks could carry an SLF bay, and 555m/s!
You could also ditch the shield and when pirates show up, go silent, use asteroids to break line of sight, and then play hide and seek.
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if you don't go down the "another python" road (which is surely the best, and yes, i have a mining python as well...), i recommend for non combat mining a clipper - it is so nicely manouverable.
other commanders enjoy a beluga for mining a lot - maybe a change as well (i never tried, i have just flown the beluga in the beta it came in - as a railgun station, while i ahve flown the fighter).
other commanders enjoy a beluga for mining a lot - maybe a change as well (i never tried, i have just flown the beluga in the beta it came in - as a railgun station, while i ahve flown the fighter).
The problem with mediums and smalls is the lack of hardpoints and/or internals
You need 5 hardpoints used for mining tools to have an universal miner - a ship that can mine whatever it may encounter.
Challenger and Gunships might qualify since they have 7 hardpoints, which means you are left with some weapons to defend against pirates
But both ships are Combat ships not multiroles - so those military slots are not helping them at all at mining.
So ultimately, the best universal miners are Conda (by far the fastest miner if you manage to use the front cargo hatch), Cutter (cargo space), Corvette (agility), T10 - (industrial look but not so good cargo and crappiest agility of them all)
You need 5 hardpoints used for mining tools to have an universal miner - a ship that can mine whatever it may encounter.
Challenger and Gunships might qualify since they have 7 hardpoints, which means you are left with some weapons to defend against pirates
But both ships are Combat ships not multiroles - so those military slots are not helping them at all at mining.
So ultimately, the best universal miners are Conda (by far the fastest miner if you manage to use the front cargo hatch), Cutter (cargo space), Corvette (agility), T10 - (industrial look but not so good cargo and crappiest agility of them all)
The optional internals of the tank-ships, in particular, makes me wonder if somebody at FDev realised they'd make exceptional combat-mining ships and deliberately nerfed them by minimising the number of large slots.
Might sound like a tiny niche but what I'm looking for, here, is a ship that can do a useful amount of mining without making it into an "event".
When I go mining in my Asps, it's cos I'm doing something else and I want take half an hour off to shoot some rocks.
When I go mining in my T10s it's cos I want to spend time mining to earn credits.
This ship is intended to fit between those two roles - a ship I can use to just spend half an hour mining but still collect ~100t of ore and, thus, easily cover my FC upkeep with a single flight.
The FDS can do that but only by abandoning any combat capabilities... which means I might as well use a Python/Krait instead, and do it even better.
Everything is better in Viper.
Well, if that's the case go for a Krait. The Python exceeds its less-civilized brother for mining, but you've already got a couple of those. The Krait's hardpoint placement is decent, visibility is excellent and while capacity suffers a bit without the extra size-6 slot, it's a lot of fun to fly.The optional internals of the tank-ships, in particular, makes me wonder if somebody at FDev realised they'd make exceptional combat-mining ships and deliberately nerfed them by minimising the number of large slots.
Might sound like a tiny niche but what I'm looking for, here, is a ship that can do a useful amount of mining without making it into an "event".
When I go mining in my Asps, it's cos I'm doing something else and I want take half an hour off to shoot some rocks.
When I go mining in my T10s it's cos I want to spend time mining to earn credits.
This ship is intended to fit between those two roles - a ship I can use to just spend half an hour mining but still collect ~100t of ore and, thus, easily cover my FC upkeep with a single flight.
The FDS can do that but only by abandoning any combat capabilities... which means I might as well use a Python/Krait instead, and do it even better.
An universal Challenger miner. 128t cargo, 4 collectors, 1 prospector
No shields tho, still decent hull and the ability to kill the random pirate.
Eventually one medium mining laser and the small multicannon could be swapped around for a better pirate punching power at the expense of lower asteroid lasering power.
No shields tho, still decent hull and the ability to kill the random pirate.
Eventually one medium mining laser and the small multicannon could be swapped around for a better pirate punching power at the expense of lower asteroid lasering power.
generally, the thing you are asking for might require the return of hulltanking. which isn't all bad.
that said, i never understood why people want to fight in their mining ship, especially a not high tonnage one (the pirate spawn happens at the begin of session, and it is unlikely to log in-out-in for me filling the 48t of my mining AspE).
but as people differ - it is really surprising how durable a hulltank can be pve. don't forget pointdefenses though. and relook at the gunship
that said, i never understood why people want to fight in their mining ship, especially a not high tonnage one (the pirate spawn happens at the begin of session, and it is unlikely to log in-out-in for me filling the 48t of my mining AspE).
but as people differ - it is really surprising how durable a hulltank can be pve. don't forget pointdefenses though. and relook at the gunship
generally, the thing you are asking for might require the return of hulltanking. which isn't all bad.
that said, i never understood why people want to fight in their mining ship, especially a not high tonnage one (the pirate spawn happens at the begin of session, and it is unlikely to log in-out-in for me filling the 48t of my mining AspE).
but as people differ - it is really surprising how durable a hulltank can be pve. don't forget pointdefenses though. and relook at the gunship
Gunship might work too, but i has one less internal compared with the Chally - so keeping the same cargo, it can field 3 collectors while the Chally can do 4
lol. read gunship. think dropship. recommend gunship.
Since you mentioned Asps
UM AspX for the fans of fixed beams: 96t cargo, 4 collectors, 1 prospector, shields, all the mining tools, hardcore defense in the form of 3 mining lances
And if everything else fails, 541 boost speed unloaded, 519 fully loaded