Newcomer / Intro I know there are some threads about mining out there, but...

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Ive been doing a lot of mining, so been picking up lots of materials along the way... but basically ignored them so far.
is there a general strategy of what I should be doing with them... e.g I read something about 'trading up' common materials, as there's a limit on them.

or do I need to switch focus, and look to see what Im missing for particular engineering tasks?

i.e. for now, my approach was just to let them build up, and hope if/when I turn to engineering I would have some of what I needed...
but perhaps it'd be wise for me to already do some material trading ' along the way'
... but if its very depending upon what engineering that I want to do, then I might as well leave this until, I shift my focus?!

I use Inara crafting list to keep track of what I need. At the start of your engineering projects I will suggest getting a varied stock of the top grade materials you can, and then trade them down as needed for your current engineering project.
Manyfacturedmaterials like Pharmaceutical Isolators are sometimes troublesome to get, and Military Supercapacitors very rare. Imperial Shielding drops in generous quantities in the right locations, so it's a good one to collect and trade across 6 for 1 for any top grade manufactured material you are having trouble finding.
Always good to salvage the wreckage of your enemies and collect materials as you encounter them to avoid spending too much time just hunting materials.
Also be on watch for missions with material rewards.

 

[CMDR Timber McWolf]

I use Inara crafting list to keep track of what I need. At the start of your engineering projects I will suggest getting a varied stock of the top grade materials you can, and then trade them down as needed for your current engineering project.
Manyfacturedmaterials like Pharmaceutical Isolators are sometimes troublesome to get, and Military Supercapacitors very rare. Imperial Shielding drops in generous quantities in the right locations, so it's a good one to collect and trade across 6 for 1 for any top grade manufactured material you are having trouble finding.
Always good to salvage the wreckage of your enemies and collect materials as you encounter them to avoid spending too much time just hunting materials.
Also be on watch for missions with material rewards.

Regarding the material traders... Are some of them limited to one group of materials?
If yes, is there a place (in the internet) where I can find information on which of them trades which material groups?

 

[Tyres O'Flaherty]

Regarding the material traders... Are some of them limited to one group of materials?
If yes, is there a place (in the internet) where I can find information on which of them trades which material groups?

Nearest | Elite:Dangerous | INARA

The companion site for Elite:Dangerous with the game database, market data, trade routes, outfitting, engineers, blueprints, crafting, Thargoid war, squadrons, logbooks, galleries, galaxy information and much more...

inara.cz

Select "material trader" from the station services drop down

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Regarding the material traders... Are some of them limited to one group of materials?
If yes, is there a place (in the internet) where I can find information on which of them trades which material groups?

There are 3 types of material trader - raw, manufactured and encoded.
Look for station service material trader using this:

Nearest stations | Elite:Dangerous | INARA

The companion site for Elite:Dangerous with the game database, market data, trade routes, outfitting, engineers, blueprints, crafting, Thargoid war, squadrons, logbooks, galleries, galaxy information and much more...

inara.cz

 

[CMDR Timber McWolf]

There are 3 types of material trader - raw, manufactured and encoded.
Look for station service material trader using this:

Nearest stations | Elite:Dangerous | INARA

The companion site for Elite:Dangerous with the game database, market data, trade routes, outfitting, engineers, blueprints, crafting, Thargoid war, squadrons, logbooks, galleries, galaxy information and much more...

inara.cz

Great. Thanks a ton.
And Thanks to Tyres O'Flaherty, too.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Great. Thanks a ton.
And Thanks to Tyres O'Flaherty, too.

I chose Wiley Port in Teveri as my home port as it's a democracy player faction in control that I joined, it's a few jumps to Jameson Memorial station where I buy my ships (you need to be Elite in something to get access) and last but not least, it has a manufactured materials trader. Saves me a fair bit of time when engineering a new ship as I can trade my manufactured materials around to get what I need before heading out to the engineers. I don:t find the need to trade encoded and raw materials often, but there is a trader for both these just 1 jump away. At least this was the situation until I got a fleet carrier, and I rarely buy new ships now.

 

[CMDR Timber McWolf]

I chose Wiley Port in Teveri as my home port as it's a democracy player faction in control that I joined, it's a few jumps to Jameson Memorial station where I buy my ships (you need to be Elite in something to get access) and last but not least, it has a manufactured materials trader. Saves me a fair bit of time when engineering a new ship as I can trade my manufactured materials around to get what I need before heading out to the engineers. I don:t find the need to trade encoded and raw materials often, but there is a trader for both these just 1 jump away. At least this was the situation until I got a fleet carrier, and I rarely buy new ships now.

Interesting. I think I'm quite a bit away from JMS, be it spatial or rank-wise...

But Ballard Survey in Suhte isn't half bad either, one of these traders is in house (I think, but my brain is an old jester, so...), the others only a handful of jumps away.
And Elvira is in the system next door.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

Interesting. I think I'm quite a bit away from JMS, be it spatial or rank-wise...

But Ballard Survey in Suhte isn't half bad either, one of these traders is in house (I think, but my brain is an old jester, so...), the others only a handful of jumps away.
And Elvira is in the system next door.

You have a raw material trader there : https://inara.cz/elite/station/21848/

 

[CMDR Timber McWolf]

You have a raw material trader there : https://inara.cz/elite/station/21848/

Indeed. Visited them last session for a little talk...

Totally forgot, there's also a tech broker nearby.

 

[Mas s_1nhibited]

Im gonna big up my favourite mining group the IMU discord server which is part of https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteMiners/. Its basically the equivalent of Canonn for mining, active non-political discussion of mining, mapping, builds and events. In addition they have their own very powerful in-house mining bot for searches.

 

[Lowbee]

Ive been doing a lot of mining, so been picking up lots of materials along the way... but basically ignored them so far.
is there a general strategy of what I should be doing with them... e.g I read something about 'trading up' common materials, as there's a limit on them.

or do I need to switch focus, and look to see what Im missing for particular engineering tasks?

i.e. for now, my approach was just to let them build up, and hope if/when I turn to engineering I would have some of what I needed...
but perhaps it'd be wise for me to already do some material trading ' along the way'
... but if its very depending upon what engineering that I want to do, then I might as well leave this until, I shift my focus?!

Your approach to gathering materials will change as your gameplay changes. If you are not focused on accomplishing some kind of engineering goal, just collect them as you find them.

If you do get a hankering for some engineering, though, sites like Inara will help you keep track of the kinds and amounts of materials you will need. Then you can focus gameplay on those. In general higher grade materials are more useful to pursue because they can trade across and down at material traders, so you don't have to chase too many different ones at once.

As other Cmdrs have pointed out, there are specific types of systems where Grade 5 (G5) materials are more available than in others. As a commonly known example, Imperial Shielding is one that can be pursued to good effect if you find High Grade Emissions in Imperial systems. There are other specific situations that can yield other G5 materials that would otherwise be very difficult to find. These can all then be traded to help you reach your goal.

If you find yourself with a plethora of G1 and G2 materials you can trade up to higher grades but the trade ratio starts to work against you if you go more than one level up.

In general, though, don't let material searches get in the way of your enjoyment of the game!

o7

Lowbee

 

[CMDR Timber McWolf]

In general, though, don't let material searches get in the way of your enjoyment of the game!

I am not a big fan of grinding, thus try actively to avoid it, wherever I can. Luckily, these engineers don't go anywhere anytime soon. Which gives me all the time in the galaxy to get that stuff together.
The way I'm playing right now, one day I will be hauling data across the void or doing some deliveries (no pizza, I fear), the next will find me exploring some systems and the one after that finds me digging up some materials, usually starting off with scanning a few wakes at my starting point, then checking for some emissions before I kick up some dust on a planet I deem interesting enough for me to visit. And as soon as I have my miner up and running properly, you might find me in an asteroid belt / ring in the vicinity, trying to mine some credits the other day.

 

[CMDRQuainMarln]

I am not a big fan of grinding, thus try actively to avoid it, wherever I can. Luckily, these engineers don't go anywhere anytime soon. Which gives me all the time in the galaxy to get that stuff together.
The way I'm playing right now, one day I will be hauling data across the void or doing some deliveries (no pizza, I fear), the next will find me exploring some systems and the one after that finds me digging up some materials, usually starting off with scanning a few wakes at my starting point, then checking for some emissions before I kick up some dust on a planet I deem interesting enough for me to visit. And as soon as I have my miner up and running properly, you might find me in an asteroid belt / ring in the vicinity, trying to mine some credits the other day.

These days I'm engineering a new ship a lot less frequently and mostly have all the materials I need just by choosing missions with material rewards or visiting a High Grade Emissions (HGE) site as I happen to see them.
I need Core Dynamics Composites right now. I dropped in on two HGEs in a Federation system where I had a mission, and by chance, found all the Core Dynamics Composites I will need for a while - no relogging to desktop this time.

 

[TheTechnobear]

Your approach to gathering materials will change as your gameplay changes. If you are not focused on accomplishing some kind of engineering goal, just collect them as you find them.

very true... I'm starting to change/expand my gameplay a bit more, now credits are less of an issue to come by... and have the main ships I want (at this stage).

as suggested here, I did visit a materials trader ... just to trade up on mat I had that were at their max.
I've also got some ships with 40+ly jump range... and I do fancy some more exploration, and this time... getting out of the ship more.
so the popular crystal shards route, sounds like it could work for me.

 

[CMDR Timber McWolf]

These days I'm engineering a new ship a lot less frequently and mostly have all the materials I need just by choosing missions with material rewards or visiting a High Grade Emissions (HGE) site as I happen to see them.
I need Core Dynamics Composites right now. I dropped in on two HGEs in a Federation system where I had a mission, and by chance, found all the Core Dynamics Composites I will need for a while - no relogging to desktop this time.

Yeah, kinda curious on my side...
After not having seen any HGE since the day I jumped into a Sidewinder to learn flying, on the day I first found one, it wasn't just one, but five in one session. And since then, each time I went out to scan the skies for emissions, I find at least one of them. Right in the back yard of my recent home station.

 

[Lowbee]

very true... I'm starting to change/expand my gameplay a bit more, now credits are less of an issue to come by... and have the main ships I want (at this stage).

as suggested here, I did visit a materials trader ... just to trade up on mat I had that were at their max.
I've also got some ships with 40+ly jump range... and I do fancy some more exploration, and this time... getting out of the ship more.
so the popular crystal shards route, sounds like it could work for me.

Sounds like you're having fun!

I did the shards on another account and it lasted a looooong time. But I also got my fill of SRV work for sure. I'm a flying type of gal so once was enough.

You should do the run across the galaxy at some point! And then poke around Colonia for a bit. Great engineers out there.

With this current alt Cmdr I'm taking my time and enjoying being a space taxi and an occasional murderer. I am currently debating whether or not to outfit a Python and just gather mats in rings for relaxation. Yes, it's just G1s and maybe G2s but it beats my day job by a mile, and I'm in no hurry.

o7

Lowbee