A couple of (very basic) questions on outfitting for mining.

[LeetNoob]

A couple of (very basic) questions on outfitting for mining.

Hi all. So I have never mined in this game before but have decided to give it a try when I log on later. I’ve read a few threads and still have a couple of newbie questions on outfitting my ship. I’ve been looking in edshipyard and some things I’m not clear on.


The first is about Collector Limpets controllers.
I see that for example a 5A CLC (are we using acronyms for these yet?) has a max of 3 and time of 12 minutes. I am assuming that ‘max’ is not the total amount of limpets you can carry but is the total amount you can have out collecting at the same time.
From what I understand limpets themselves are actually carried as cargo and therefor you are only limited to your cargo space. I have also heard having more than one out at a time causes problems. Is it better to just have 1 collecting at a time and therefore is it a waste to get the larger CLC?

The same is for prospector limpet controller (PLC). A 5A has ‘max’ of 4. From what I can tell I think it is 4 at a time but you can carry more as cargo. Again the question though is it necessary and functional to have 4 out at a time or is 1 by 1 enough. Am I better off with the extra cargo space?

The last question is about refineries. The 4A has 10 ‘bins’. From what I understand that means you can process up to 10 different type of materials at the same time (gold, silver, etc.) This seems like a lot if asteroids only have 2 or 3 different resources. Do you ever really need 10 bins? Is there any other advantage to the larger refineries.

I have a Python so there is lots of room to play with so maybe I don't need to worry about saving cargo space. Can someone recommend a good mining build?

Any help is appreciated.

 

[scbfromnc]

I haven't mined since they came out with the collector limpets, but did some "manual" mining in the past. Max of 3 means you can have 3 out at the time. Don't target the chunks else that limpet will collect only that chunk and self-destruct after returning it to your ship. Leave it un-targeted and it'll keep collecting till the timer runs out. Whether you have more than one out at a time depends on how fast you need to collect and how many chunks are sitting around waiting to be collected, but again, I have no experience with limpets. Prospector max of 4 means you can have up to 4 out at a time. Advantage of multiple prospectors is you can see what you've already mined. But you can deal with that problem by mining in a ring and continually moving in toward the planet so you're not attempting to mine the same asteroid twice. The advantage of multiple bins is that each asteroid may contain a different 3 resources. Ideally need to have at least 5 or 6 and more is good. Otherwise, you'll find yourself dumping bins that are partially filled so you can mine the next asteroid. Can't give you a specific build, but you'll need a big mining laser -- the small ones take too long. Lots of cargo space. And you should probably be equipped for combat as the best mining spots are in high intensity RES.

 

[matemaster]

Hi,
Recently I bought python and equiped it for mining/combat
here's my build
http://www.edshipyard.com/#/L=705,5...,2-BQ9s7_72BG9i8I,0AA0AA7UI5Vk7iM0bq4zM05U5uk

The more limpets the faster mining. I am using collector limpet controler 5A (3 active coll. limpets). 3 limpets work without unusuall problems just as 1 limpet. They can be destroyed stadardly like by asteroid or when you have closed cargo scoop or can be shot down by pirates in combat, you are targeting the mined chunk
I use 4B refinery with 9 bins. I tried 3A refinery with 8 bins but it wasnt enough and sometimes I needed to vent something out
136T cargo is enough for me. Usually when I sell full cargo from HI RES-pristine-metallic ring I make around 1.1-1.4mil credits
For mining trip I take 116 limpets (20T free space left). I found this number to be ideal. Then I use prospector limpets to scan asteroids. When I am running out of limpets I dont use prospector. Sometimes I need to shoot out couple prospector limpets to emptyness to gain cargo space. But overall 116 limpets is the way to go for 136T cargo

Prospector limpet controller I use 1A there is no reason to use higher one in my opinion

 

[LeetNoob]

Ok so prospector and collector limpets are not separate items, you just buy limpets? I did not realize that. Thanks for the build. I’ll try that for size. So you do recommend using a large refinery? I may as well use for 4A then, won’t make any extra cargo space with 4B.

One more question, if I got two mining lasers instead of one would it be faster?

 

[Deleted member 38366]

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[LeetNoob]

Two Mining Lasers will double the speed at which the Fragments get ejected from an Asteroid indeed.
2x Class2 Mining Lasers should be the max. you'll ever need - I've equipped Ships with upto 6 Mining Lasers just for kicks and it wasn't really of any more reasonable benefit

It's a tradeoff, though, as you'll lose a hardpoint that can otherwise fit a Weapon (very important if you want to go mining in any Resource Extraction Site).
If we're talking Class 1 Mining lasers, I'd strongly recommend using two. With Class 2 Mining Lasers, using only one is actually sufficient (Asteroid will be depleted long before Collector drones have scooped up everything, unless you're deploying i.e. 3 Collector Drones at once).

Personally, I've made good experiences with using a Collector Internal that offers max. lifetime of the Drones and be able to deploy 2 at a time.

When it comes to Limpets, filling the Cargo hold to about ~60-70% seems to be sufficient.
Only when using alot of Prospector Drones as well, I'd actually fill 100% of the Cargo hold with Limpets - since you might end up firing 5 of them before getting some 2-3tons of Material into your Refinery.

Great to know, thanks for this. I think I've everything I need.

One last question. I understand the differant types and quality of rings and where to go, but is there any benefit of going to an RES instead of anywhere else on the ring.Is it just the same to go to a ring without a RES and mine there?

 

[Deleted member 38366]

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