Ships 2.1 / 1.6 Mining ship

[TinyPwny]

I'm not a miner, I'm an explorer, smuggler, a bit of a fighter and a CG'er... I only tried mining once, shortly after season 1 went live. So I'd be more than happy to hear your opinions on this matter.

With some engineering materials only spawning from mining, I want to make a cheap-ish mining ship and permanently put it in a system with both ice and metallic rings. Whenever I need to mine materials, I fly to that system and give it a shot.

At the moment my shed contains an A-specced multi-purpose Anaconda, an A-specced battle Python, an A-specced battle FDL and two Asp Explorers (one outfitted for max jump range --> exploration and one mysterious, unmarked, all-black smuggling vessel I'll never admit is mine).

I wouldn't mind refurbishing any of my current ships to make it a mining vessel but I also have some cash left to buy a new ship (not a Cutter or anything else really large).

Any ideas on what works best at the moment? Armed trader with mining capabilities? Small, fast, cheap ship with only mining capabilities? Somewhere in between? Will NPCs bother me a lot if I carry ores or even just collector limpets?

Any tips and ideas appreciated!

 

[Mindenite]

Ideally, an Imperial Clipper is a great mining ship if you have the rank and money. It is fast, has all the internals you would need, and it can fight/run as needed. Barring that, an Asp can be a pretty good mining ship. Below that, I've actually heard good things about the Cobra MK4. Whichever direction you go, you definitely want room for a prospector limpet controller and as many collector limpet controllers as you can fit without losing all your cargo space.

 

[Ceekay]

I use Pythons as miner/hauler/CG vessels and base them at or near good mining sites, however there are lots of mining missions that a 192 T capacity Python is just a bit OTT and it's never where you want it so I've tried a few "mission miners" one based on the Cobra 4 and one on the Keelback, the Cobra is probably the better of the two thanks to it's better internals but the Keelback has the fighter bay so that could be a worthwhile addition when it becomes available.

https://coriolis.io/outfit/cobra_mk...031qC024P4.Iw18SQ==.Aw18QjMQ?bn=Mission Miner

https://coriolis.io/outfit/keelback...B2C01q24P4.Iw18UA==.Aw19gjMQ?bn=Mission Miner

Another ship I've used for mining is the FDS it could do with some more internal slots (upgraded to Pythons) but it's a pretty solid miner and with level 5 engineered thrusters it's like a mid spec FAS

https://coriolis.io/outfit/federal_...0504B220C8C8P4.Iw18aQ==.Aw18SCMQ?bn=FDS CT 6D

 

[CMDR Corlas]

My favorite miners so far have been the Clipper, the Dropship, the Python, and the Anaconda for a full-out mining-god. I'm currently planning on kitting out a Dropship as a mission runner / miner for gathering engineer items in a wing (pass of mined materials to wingmates in their primary ships, then we swap and I get in my primary and they mine for a bit) - https://coriolis.io/outfit/federal_...k00040404053aB220v6C7P4.Iw18aQ==.Aw1+gjC3EA==

No real reason I'm going Dropship over Python or Clipper right now other than being on Fed kick currently. Overall though, I would say the best dedicated mining ship is the Python. Best internals, medium size, and enough firepower and shields to hold its own.

 

[Viscera]

Hard not to say use something cheap if you are mining for more selective purposes. for example:

http://coriolis.io/outfit/viper_mk_iv/24D4D4D2A3A3D4C272m24240003B303021lC5P1.Iw1-kA==.Aw1-kA==

If you are only running one system, you don't need the A grade stuff all over.

Depends exactly what sort of mining you plan on doing as to how large a ship you need to go to.

Vultures also make a really great selective mining ship, but will cost a little more.

Cobra III is a similar variant of the Viper MkIV in cost and setup , but can get more cargo at the cost of some shields and armour points.

Lots of options in the smaller ship ranks.

 

[Chongo]

I re-purposed my combat vette and it looks like this. I don't want to put the prismatics on my clipper or ditch them so they're hogging that slot. Weapons are a notch up from what's listed since Coriolis doesn't have the new stuff yet. I know you said no cutters, but I figured I'd link this as a general start point. 2 trips will put you at rank 3 with engineers that allow trade progression. After that it's a bit slower.

I'm no expert, but with 4 mining lasers I like having 8 limpets working at once. The 4A refinery bin really reduces micromanagement. If I load up with 90 limpets I can really spam prospectors while collectors are doing their thing and always hit the 160 cargo.

If I were in your shoes I'd just take your Conda and do an easily reversible retrofit like I did with the vette. Something like this. I guess I forgot a scoop though hrm - I'd drop a prospector over one of the collectors and go with a low grade scoop. One quick trip to Shinrarta or LYR space and you're back to your old rig - no big change on core internals. I thought about buying a conda just for mining but it's so quick to switch out the extraneous internals and I like having the cash padding.

When you drop into the ring, you'll usually get a single spawn. You'll be empty on cargo so they'll fly off. Or you can kill them. After that I rarely see additional spawns if you're dropping on non-res sited ring sections.

Anyhow - fit it up like that, remember to go here, and have fun.

 

[Cdr Voorheez]

Some good build suggestions here, I need to get into mining. May retrofit my conda as a miner. Any good suggestions for a trader/miner build?