Ships Suggest a decent mining build

I don't have access to a Cutter, (thought I'd get that out of the way first).

I've never mined before. I foolishly focused my efforts elsewhere and missed out on the credit farm that it apparently was recently.

I'd like to knock off the few mining achievements this game has, as well as get some materials for synthesis when I make my run to Sag A (hopefully in a week or two).

I'm probably going to focus on standard asteroid laser mining as it seems the simplest for someone so new to mining, but I'm open to suggestions.
 
Don't limit yourself to laser mining only. Pick a ship with five harpoints, take two mining lasers (it's enough unless you have 8-10 or more collector limpets onboard), seismic charge launcher, abrasion blaster and subsurface missiles. If you follow a simple rule (don't drop into the mining location with mined stuff in your cargo) and can win an NPC interdiction mini-game (or are able to boost away if you lost one), NPC pirates are no threat at all, so lack of regular weapons is not a problem.

It's gonna be not only more interesting (pure laser mining is the least demanding and the most boring activity in the game, IMHO) but most likely more profitable, too.
 
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Really depends on how much mining (DC or laser) that you want to do, for a short mining expedition I use the Alliance Challenger it has great low speed agility and enough cargo capacity for occasional mining duties.

Challenger all miner https://s.orbis.zone/c73I

Challenger DC miner https://s.orbis.zone/c73K

Python DC miner https://s.orbis.zone/c73B

Python all miner https://s.orbis.zone/c73Q

T10 miner something different but DC mining does take a bit of effort! https://s.orbis.zone/c73S

I usually don't bother with the SSD missile it's fun but really doesn't add a lot of ore, if you want serious cash from mining a Python is the obvious choice as it's ability to land at outposts opens up a lot of markets.

Try this tool for mining and selling locations https://edtools.cc/miner
 
If you are not interested in loosing time , grab a T10 , put all MC on him except 2 class 2 slots where you will fit 2 mining lasers and go for
Platinum - the new "painite" in a overlapping hotspot like here : https://edtools.cc/miner

In 30 min you make 90-100 millions.

The T10 is hard enough to pop most of the pirates, big enough to load a fuel scoop so you can reach the markets at will in just 3-4 jumps and big enough to harvest 266 tons without risking or fearing pirates. No rank needed.
If you want a decent build for this - just beep me here. I have mine T10 only for mining in harsh conditions - specialized miner with a hard bite. Never worried about pirates. Ocasionally I take her even in ResH for fun :p
T10 is a better laser miner for Platinum than the Python for an obvious reason - can take twice as much cargo ! And do not worry about landing pads - the best station at 2-3 jumps away are all L size.
I only mine once a couple of days not for credits ( even if those are a sweet extra) but yes to feed my Vette guns with raw for ammo synth.
Cuz I just love stacking assassinations missions in big numbers - love the payout and the materials you get. But you need ammo for that - lots of ammo - and the synth is your best friend if you do not like to make dumb trips each half hour just to rearm. And here come the mining necessity.
 
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I don't have access to a Cutter, (thought I'd get that out of the way first).

I've never mined before. I foolishly focused my efforts elsewhere and missed out on the credit farm that it apparently was recently.

I'd like to knock off the few mining achievements this game has, as well as get some materials for synthesis when I make my run to Sag A (hopefully in a week or two).

I'm probably going to focus on standard asteroid laser mining as it seems the simplest for someone so new to mining, but I'm open to suggestions.

Only just seen this post:)

As you are new to mining, the basics.

First of a ship, almost anything you are comfortable will do, my first mining was done in a T6, I would not recommend one now but it can be done.

Equipment,
Good shields, some of them rocks - the spinning ones can belt you pretty hard, they can hurt.
Lasers, preferably 2, you can work with 1 but it is slower, more than 2 and your limpets probably wont keep up.
Refinery, preferably a rated and nowdays the largest you can fit.
Collector limpet controller, go for A rated, a couple of 3A's will do to start.
Prospector limpet controller, only 1 required, I prefer 3A's, these you fire into a rock, target them and they tell you what is there, they also increase the yield of the rock. A's give max yield.
Detailed surface scanner, first time you approach a new ring you need to scan it, you can then see the hotspots, Hotspots only show if you have a scanner fitted.
Limpets, take lots, you can always throw them away to make space,

Optional equipment.
Pulse wave analyser, only used for looking for SD's, SSD's and Cores, these can also occasionally found with a prospector or by MK I eyeball.
Abrasion blaster, used for mining SD's, handy if you have space.
Sub surface displacement missile and Seismic charge launcher, used to mine SSD's and Cores only. both of these take practice to use, probably better to leave alone until familiar with working in rings.

Raw mats can only be found by laser mining, when you fire a prospector into a rock the material content is the amount of raw mats that are available, not all raw mats are available in rings, most are but some are only available in certain ring types and even then can be very rare, A raw mats trader will be your friend.

When firing lasers watch where the chunks fly off to, this can vary dependent on where you are aiming on the rock, the optimum point on and the distance to the rock can speed up your limpet collection time, it can also save most of your limpets with a spinning rock if you can get the chunks to fly away from where the rock is spinning. another way to speed up collection is to move and turn after finishing firing so the chunks are in the optimum collection position, these can vary dependent on type of ship and number of lasers fitted.

Keep an eye on INARA, sometimes its worth going after some of the slightly lower value commodities because they can be a lot easier and faster to collect or have a higher demand so are easier to sell fast than the latest craze.

It's always worth checking the reserve levels in the system map before mining in a new system and NPC's, well I mine from my carrier out in the black so I do not have to bother with them.

The build on one of my T9 miners Ice Maiden

HTH o7
 
My Universal Miner Conda. She has everything: 320t cargo, 9 limpets, 2 prospectors and all mining tools, being able to tackle all sorts of mining and put up a fight with the 2 large beams and big shields. And she still has decent jump range and a fuel scoop (just in case)
She's also a very fast miner since the build makes use of the front cargo hatch (a quite rare feat) , greatly shortening the limpet travel time.
The mining lance can be replaced by a normal small mining laser, but the lance is better suited if you have it unlocked (the small hardpoints are really in the back on Conda)
 
No, this is not possible. With 900 ton in 30 minutes you would make 250 mil. The T10 can not even carry that. Please post a more realistic value
You right is some 90 millions indeed - I was mixing the cutter load my bad :p
But 90 millions in half hour is not a bad number tough...
And by no means one should bother with anything except laser minding if your goal is the fast credits without loosing time - going for deep core or surface is a bad decision atm - just think about:
1 - you sacrifice weapons for those slots weapons who can save your load sometime.
2 - you lose a lot more time
3 - the market who pay you good credits for platinum will not buy your deep core minerals, so you need extra travel in other system = more time lost.
4 - in the spots I posted above 4 of 5 stones literally are in the region of 40%60 % concentration, so you will get 14-20 tones / rock in 1 minute - that is at 250k / ton = 4-5 millions in 1 minute. Simple math. A lot more than you can make from deep core in the same time.
If you can use a Conda you can get some 330 tones cargo space, 3 x class 5 grade A limpets and still keep a respectable punch with a class 4 MC, 2 class 3 beams and 2 class 1 MC AND 3 class 2 regular mining lasers who will deplete a big rock in seconds...
Like was told here the Conda has the benefit of very fast loading for limpets, so you can finish the job pretty fast before getting bored.
 
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You right is some 90 millions indeed - I was mixing the cutter load my bad :p
But 90 millions in half hour is not a bad number tough...
And by no means one should bother with anything except laser minding if your goal is the fast credits without loosing time - going for deep core or surface is a bad decision atm - just think about:
1 - you sacrifice weapons for those slots weapons who can save your load sometime.
2 - you lose a lot more time
3 - the market who pay you good credits for platinum will not buy your deep core minerals, so you need extra travel in other system = more time lost.
4 - in the spots I posted above 4 of 5 stones literally are in the region of 40%60 % concentration, so you will get 14-20 tones / rock in 1 minute - that is at 250k / ton = 4-5 millions in 1 minute. Simple math. A lot more than you can make from deep core in the same time.
If you can use a Conda you can get some 330 tones cargo space, 3 x class 5 grade A limpets and still keep a respectable punch with a class 4 MC, 2 class 3 beams and 2 class 1 MC AND 3 class 2 regular mining lasers who will deplete a big rock in seconds...
Like was told here the Conda has the benefit of very fast loading for limpets, so you can finish the job pretty fast before getting bored.
You can argue, but for me the most important thing is that the depth does not give minerals for synthesis.
 
You can argue, but for me the most important thing is that the depth does not give minerals for synthesis.

Here is my most important motivation for mining - our Iron , Ni and Sulfur.... without at least 120-150 units of those in reserve I feel bad :p
 
Here is my most important motivation for mining - our Iron , Ni and Sulfur.... without at least 120-150 units of those in reserve I feel bad :p
That's what annoying, I mine a lot and my raw mats are all at 100%, Its a pity that we cannot trade them either for other types of mats or trade with other players😒
 
That's what annoying, I mine a lot and my raw mats are all at 100%, Its a pity that we cannot trade them either for other types of mats or trade with other players😒

Well why you do not exchange them in a raw trader for higher grade, like I do ?
I usually keep 150-200 for my MCs synth and all the rest I convert to higher grade - or you have even the higher grade at 100% ? ( selenium tellurium yttrium etc )
 
Well why you do not exchange them in a raw trader for higher grade, like I do ?
I usually keep 150-200 for my MCs synth and all the rest I convert to higher grade - or you have even the higher grade at 100% ? ( selenium tellurium yttrium etc )
All raw at 100%
 
Hey all, realized I never replied. Thanks for the suggestions. Some of you spoke in a language juuuuust a lil over my experience level, but I think I got the basics.

Generally, it turned out to be easier then I expected. Feels like I barely scratched the surface when I hear some of the numbers you guys are talking about. My plan is to really give it a shot when I return from Sag A.
 
Hey all, realized I never replied. Thanks for the suggestions. Some of you spoke in a language juuuuust a lil over my experience level, but I think I got the basics.

Generally, it turned out to be easier then I expected. Feels like I barely scratched the surface when I hear some of the numbers you guys are talking about. My plan is to really give it a shot when I return from Sag A.

Yup, some guys here are really cool on helping others, something I try also.
It Is not just the "know-how" but also the manner how you can transmit that; And most of the peoples here have them both, with just a very few exceptions ( peoples who know how but have no positive manners to transmit that....)
Anyway, post here anything what may bother you, sooner or later some will come and help you, be sure.
 
My first miner was an AspX when I was very new to the game and could just about afford it (I think I had 6 mil). I just did some laser mining and after two or three runs I was able to upgrade to a Python, and that's when the big buckazoids started rolling in (before the nerf). Back then I went for painite, today you'll probably want sth else.

The Python is the ideal mining ship in my opinion for a very simple reason: highest capacity of any Medium ship. I wouldn't want anything bigger -- by going Large you lock yourself out of about half the galaxy's markets (since the big hulks can't dock at outposts).

Not much to "build" there really. I think I had some A-rated modules (FSD, thrusters for agility etc) and no engineering.
Mining lasers, prospector and collector limpet controllers, refinery - I think that's it.

Note that for me, even laser mining was highly thrilling and suspenseful bc I had problems with my internet connection at the time and every disconnect (mauve adder) meant that upon relog a new assortment of NPCs would spawn -- usually pirates. :p

I only tried deep core mining a couple of times and without any notable success, then gave up and switched back to laser. It's just more reliable.

Note that I have mined only very sporadically since the rebalance, basically only when some engineer wanted a particular mineral as a bribe.
 
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My first mining was with a Cobra Mk III in LHS3447, this was before hotspots, cores etc.

On one of the early trips I found that I had got about 90% of an LTD in one of my bins, I looked it up and decided that I was not going to throw it away when I unloaded my refinery so I went out mining again, it took 2 trips before I found another rock with LTD in it and after I had mined that rock I had 2 LTD's in my hold, Rich I was, I only owned a Sidewinder and the cobra then but I made a couple of cargo runs hauling superconductors and I had enough to buy a T6, haven't looked back since.
 
If you are not interested in loosing time , grab a T10 , put all MC on him except 2 class 2 slots where you will fit 2 mining lasers and go for
Platinum - the new "painite" in a overlapping hotspot like here : https://edtools.cc/miner

In 30 min you make 90-100 millions.

The T10 is hard enough to pop most of the pirates, big enough to load a fuel scoop so you can reach the markets at will in just 3-4 jumps and big enough to harvest 266 tons without risking or fearing pirates. No rank needed.
If you want a decent build for this - just beep me here. I have mine T10 only for mining in harsh conditions - specialized miner with a hard bite. Never worried about pirates. Ocasionally I take her even in ResH for fun :p
T10 is a better laser miner for Platinum than the Python for an obvious reason - can take twice as much cargo ! And do not worry about landing pads - the best station at 2-3 jumps away are all L size.
I only mine once a couple of days not for credits ( even if those are a sweet extra) but yes to feed my Vette guns with raw for ammo synth.
Cuz I just love stacking assassinations missions in big numbers - love the payout and the materials you get. But you need ammo for that - lots of ammo - and the synth is your best friend if you do not like to make dumb trips each half hour just to rearm. And here come the mining necessity.
Yep, T10 miners are built tough and handle pretty darn nicely for such a large ship. Looks and feels like a miner. Build it tough enough and take it into a high res mining site and take out pirates with ease and enjoy the res multiplier. Here is my res miner, Type 10 miner
You can remove a few weapons and go down to two lasers and swap for a pulse analyzer and make it into a full fledged core and sub surface miner with strip lasers. Probably the best view for mining too. This ship does it all for mining.
 
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