Mining Tritium - Ugggg!

[A D]

Having recently purchased (or rented depending on how you look at it) an FC I've set about mining tritium.

The cost of tritium is around 50k Cr per tonne, so I could buy it so long as I stay in the bubble, but I'm looking at taking the FC into the deep, so need to mine instead. I've got a 'Conda that is set up for mining and about as good as it gets - previously used it extensively for void opal mining.

So here's the issue. There's plenty of tritium in icy rings, but when your'e looking at filling up the FC fuel tank it's a 1,000 tonne exercise. That's a fair chunk of mining. So far I'm really averaging about 60 tonnes an hour. Could be more with practice, but can't see filling up the FC tank in under 10 hours of mining. Multiple that by 10, 20, 30, etc. jumps to go deep and it's a lot of mining and not much fun.

Have I a missed something or is this yet another example of FD forcing players to grind?

 

[Elfener]

Quote from the Fleet Carrier Owners Club:

- Max range after the August patch is circa 132,000ly, depending on services. Don't mine Tritium unless you are insane or love mining. Just buy the stuff and forget about it.

 

[A D]

Quote from the Fleet Carrier Owners Club:

Sounds encouraging. So that's 132k on a full tank (1,000 tonnes)? I'm not insane, so would prefer to buy

 

[Achtung-Goomba]

Offer low-range mining ships to, ahem... friends, and have them do all the mining for you. Consider them a force multiplier; just don’t tell the journos.

 

[Elfener]

Sounds encouraging. So that's 132k on a full tank (1,000 tonnes)?

It's about 132k ly if you have your tank and storage full of tritium

 

[A D]

Ah!.. not so attractive. That's 50k per tonne x 26k (fuel tank and hold max capacity). My calculator doesn't even go that high, but it's around 1.3 billion credits! Still my choice I suppose. I wonder whether tritium vendors offer pay day loans to FC owners

 

[DemiserofD]

Ah!.. not so attractive. That's 50k per tonne x 26k (fuel tank and hold max capacity). My calculator doesn't even go that high, but it's around 1.3 billion credits! Still my choice I suppose. I wonder whether tritium vendors offer pay day loans to FC owners

It's a matter of time efficiency. Mining that much yourself at 100 tons/hour would take 260 hours. By contrast, if you mine Platinum and Osmium and sell at 300k each, it would take you about 15 hours, plus about 3 hours of shipping in tritium.

I've said it before and I'll say it repeatedly until Fdev listens, tritium mining needs to be at least ~5x faster.

 

[A D]

It's a matter of time efficiency. Mining that much yourself at 100 tons/hour would take 260 hours. By contrast, if you mine Platinum and Osmium and sell at 300k each, it would take you about 15 hours, plus about 3 hours of shipping in tritium.

I've said it before and I'll say it repeatedly until Fdev listens, tritium mining needs to be at least ~5x faster.

Good tip thanks.. in fact, obvious except for my tunnel vision

P.S. I'm sitting on some LTD hot spots right now, and they sell for 1 million CR per tonne at some stations, so that's 20:1 tritium ratio. Good stuff.

 

[Astaran]

From my own experience while exploring with a FC:

It highly depends on what you consider "deep space". I just returned from a month long expedition with my FC. I explored mostly in Norma Arm and Empyrian Straits (around 14k-15k ly away from the Bubble), using my FC as a base of operations. This means I park the FC somewhere (preferably next to a Tritium hotspot) and then use my exploration ships to travel around. I often leave my FC behind for several days to explore up to 2k or 3k ly away from the FC (or ~35 jumps in my Asp), before I return.

I recommend (depending on destination) purchasing a fair stock of Tritium before leaving the Bubble. Always keep at least enough Tritium in your storage to make the return home without having to mine. I use moderate Tritium mining to enable detours. In my configuration I need ~100 Tritium per 500ly jump, so that's a bit more than an hour of mining. I use two different mining ships depending on my plans for the day/evening and general mood: A Python with 192t cargo for "short runs" and a Cutter with 512t cargo. When I have a bad day and just want to mine in peace with loud music and a drink, I jump into the Cutter. The benefit is that such a Tritium haul will extend my range by several thousand lightyears in one gaming session.

The general idea is that you don't mine all the Tritium you need in one go. Just use mining to break up the monotony of jump-honk-scan-repeat.

Last but not least, fuel costs are the real upkeep of a carrier. It's an endgame asset you should deploy with consideration, care and planning. I love it.

 

[A D]

From my own experience while exploring with a FC:

It highly depends on what you consider "deep space". I just returned from a month long expedition with my FC. I explored mostly in Norma Arm and Empyrian Straits (around 14k-15k ly away from the Bubble), using my FC as a base of operations. This means I park the FC somewhere (preferably next to a Tritium hotspot) and then use my exploration ships to travel around. I often leave my FC behind for several days to explore up to 2k or 3k ly away from the FC (or ~35 jumps in my Asp), before I return.

I recommend (depending on destination) purchasing a fair stock of Tritium before leaving the Bubble. Always keep at least enough Tritium in your storage to make the return home without having to mine. I use moderate Tritium mining to enable detours. In my configuration I need ~100 Tritium per 500ly jump, so that's a bit more than an hour of mining. I use two different mining ships depending on my plans for the day/evening and general mood: A Python with 192t cargo for "short runs" and a Cutter with 512t cargo. When I have a bad day and just want to mine in peace with loud music and a drink, I jump into the Cutter. The benefit is that such a Tritium haul will extend my range by several thousand lightyears in one gaming session.

The general idea is that you don't mine all the Tritium you need in one go. Just use mining to break up the monotony of jump-honk-scan-repeat.

Last but not least, fuel costs are the real upkeep of a carrier. It's an endgame asset you should deploy with consideration, care and planning. I love it.

Very helpful thanks.

I'm probably going deeper than 15k ly... have done 40k in an an ASP and would like to beat my PB. Still like your exploring tips though.

One thing and it's pretty basic. I hadn't checked how much fuel an FC uses per 500 ly jump. When FC's dropped I thought it was a 1:1 ratio (i.e 500 ly = 500 tones). I gather it's a 5:1 ratio (500 ly = 100 tones)? That certainly makes a difference.

 

[varonica]

Very helpful thanks.

I'm probably going deeper than 15k ly... have done 40k in an an ASP and would like to beat my PB. Still like your exploring tips though.

One thing and it's pretty basic. I hadn't checked how much fuel an FC uses per 500 ly jump. When FC's dropped I thought it was a 1:1 ratio (i.e 500 ly = 500 tones). I gather it's a 5:1 ratio (500 ly = 100 tones)? That certainly makes a difference.

Depending on your cargo, 125t or less. So it always pays to top off your fuel tank every chance you get because strangely enough the 1,000t in your fuel tank doesn't count as mass when calculating fuel usage for jumps.

 

[Astaran]

Very helpful thanks.

I'm probably going deeper than 15k ly... have done 40k in an an ASP and would like to beat my PB. Still like your exploring tips though.

One thing and it's pretty basic. I hadn't checked how much fuel an FC uses per 500 ly jump. When FC's dropped I thought it was a 1:1 ratio (i.e 500 ly = 500 tones). I gather it's a 5:1 ratio (500 ly = 100 tones)? That certainly makes a difference.

You might find this page helpful as well.

Elite: Dangerous Index

spansh.co.uk

"Used Capacity" is the overall "weight" of your FC including installed modules and stored goods.
"Tritium in tank" is self-explanatory and means the amount of Tritium currently in your Fuel Tank (I just leave that at 1000)
"Tritium in market" is the amount of Tritium stored in your cargohold

The jump planner works good enough, but there can be issues when the planner does not recognize a system (e.g. you want to start from XYZ BlaBla 524-1 but the planner ownly knows of and suggests XYZ BlaBlub 123-4). But you can work around either by jumping to a proposed system and plan your route from there or by following the proposed route roughly and "manually" by eye-balling.

 

[Factabulous]

So it always pays to top off your fuel tank every chance you get because strangely enough the 1,000t in your fuel tank doesn't count as mass when calculating fuel usage for jumps.

That's not true is it? If you keep fuel in a ship it doesn't count, but I thought it does in the tank.

 

[Rat Catcher]

One thing and it's pretty basic. I hadn't checked how much fuel an FC uses per 500 ly jump. When FC's dropped I thought it was a 1:1 ratio (i.e 500 ly = 500 tones). I gather it's a 5:1 ratio (500 ly = 100 tones)? That certainly makes a difference.

The less your FC is carrying, the lower the amount of fuel is used for a single jump. (same as your favourite cargo ship)
If you have minimal services on your FC the more 'fuel efficient' it will be.

I get between 150 - 200 tons / hour mining tritium - pick a hotspot and look for SSD rocks, many will have 2-4 tritium SSD's so can have a single rock giving 30+ tons.
If you are 'exploring' a region you could allocate an hour or two mining to get perhaps 3 jumps 'stored' as part of your routine, rather than looking at filling your tank all at once. Gaining the benefit that the lighter FC will use minimal fuel.

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Mining Tritium is possible - but time must not be a factor.

SubSurface Deposits in glowing Asteroids will be your very best friend - followed by a G5 Engineered 8A Power Distributor feeding 4x C2 Mining Lasers

Tritium really is about min-maxing like no other.
If you find one or more "eggs" in a local Hotspot, it's worth memorizing because you'll want to milk them if you remain in the area for a while.
A good egg is worth its weight in Platinum when it comes to efficient Tritium MIning.

As a general Guideline for Exploration Carriers, I'd recommend :

• fill up with Tritium inside the bubble (as in : maximum load)
• make a solid plan where you want to go
• don't ever waste large amounts in Tritium
• feeding in occasional Tritium Mining runs for recreational purposes increases your Operational Range without being grindy
• have solid Joker and Bingo Fuel Calculation! Know the limits of your Carrier and understand what it means should you decide to cross those limits.
• at all times understand that Tritium in Deep Space is a very valuable asset and manage it accordingly

So in a sense, Exploring in a Carrier is drastically different from "Traveler type Exploration", since there's a few new limits going along with that.
You really don't want to end up in a flamed out Carrier in the middle of nowhere due to some miscalculation or mismanagement. Ever.

 

[varonica]

That's not true is it? If you keep fuel in a ship it doesn't count, but I thought it does in the tank.

Hmm, I was under the impression it wasn't counted, maybe I am wrong, be the second time this year...buuugger!

 

[Factabulous]

Hmm, I was under the impression it wasn't counted, maybe I am wrong, be the second time this year...buuugger!

Could be me. If I log in later I will try & remember to check.

 

[Rat Catcher]

Hmm, I was under the impression it wasn't counted, maybe I am wrong, be the second time this year...buuugger!

Shameful...
How could you make 2 errors already this early in the year!

(I refuse to admit that I was under the same impression...)

 

[Factabulous]

Now for the science:

Jump with Tritium left in FC Hold - 96T for the jump:

Jump with 752T Tritium transferred to a Cutter (i.e. ship) - 94T for the jump:

(so less fuel used as ship-stored Trit does not count towards mass)

Jump with Trit put into tank - 96T (like the first case):

So it seems (assuming those numbers in-game are correct) that I was right. <I was biting my nails though, I wasn't sure >

 

[Boltzmann Brain]

Mining Tritium is possible - but time must not be a factor.

SubSurface Deposits in glowing Asteroids will be your very best friend - followed by a G5 Engineered 8A Power Distributor feeding 4x C2 Mining Lasers

Tritium really is about min-maxing like no other.
If you find one or more "eggs" in a local Hotspot, it's worth memorizing because you'll want to milk them if you remain in the area for a while.
A good egg is worth its weight in Platinum when it comes to efficient Tritium MIning.

As a general Guideline for Exploration Carriers, I'd recommend :

• fill up with Tritium inside the bubble (as in : maximum load)
• make a solid plan where you want to go
• don't ever waste large amounts in Tritium
• feeding in occasional Tritium Mining runs for recreational purposes increases your Operational Range without being grindy
• have solid Joker and Bingo Fuel Calculation! Know the limits of your Carrier and understand what it means should you decide to cross those limits.
• at all times understand that Tritium in Deep Space is a very valuable asset and manage it accordingly

So in a sense, Exploring in a Carrier is drastically different from "Traveler type Exploration", since there's a few new limits going along with that.
You really don't want to end up in a flamed out Carrier in the middle of nowhere due to some miscalculation or mismanagement. Ever.

Good advice! Planning a long trip with FC just now.

However, how could you "end up in a flamed out Carrier in the middle of nowhere"? I was under the impression that Tritium is easy to be found, so as long as you have a mining ship with you, you can always recover.

What are "some miscalculation" that can get you stranded?