Calling all miners

  1. Get a big ship, with a good distributor. Corvette is the best, but Anaconda is good. If you can't afford either of these, a Python or a Dropship will do.
  2. Fit as many medium mining lasers as your distributor can handle, Vette should handle 4, Conda 3, Python can do 3 with engineering.
  3. Fit a 1A or 3A prospector controller, and enough limpet controllers to have at least 4 active limpets per medium laser. Limpets are more important than lots of cargo space.
  4. Fit a 4A refinery.
  5. Set up a fire group so that the mining lasers and all the collector controllers are on the primary button, put the prospector on the other.
  6. Half fill your hold with limpets and head to the nearest pristine metallic ring. Use Hozbase or EDDB to find one near you.
  7. Fire a prospect limpet at the first roid you see that is either spherical, or not rotating wildly. Approach withing 500m and fire mining lasers - your collectors will deploy automatically if you set up the fire group in step 5. You don't care what the roid contains, because you want it all.
  8. Open your cargo hold, so your collectors fill the refinery.
  9. When your hold is fill, or you have run out of limpets, go to the nearest station and sell your cargo.
  10. Repeat from step 6

If you don't care about profit, it won't take long at all.
 
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Many thanks for the comprehensive reply Commander Lizard!

I was hoping to scrape by with my trusty explorer Asp "The Golden Torc".

Looks like I'll have to dig deep and buy a Python....

Better get back to Lidpar and grab some more bounties....

O7
 
you don´t have to get a python if you want the engineer now. just fit 2 medium mining lasers (everything above is just because every extra mining laser doesn´t stack up to mining speed.)
Get a Prospector and i think in the ASP it would suffice with an A 3 Collector, maybe 2. A shield and the rest cargo racks. just don´t go into any extraction site. just drop somewhere in a ring and fly a bit so you lose the initial spawning NPCs and then mine away. ASP X is a decent miner.
 
Remember that you need a permit for Alioth. As I learned first hand, you don't want to grind for that permit with a cargo-hold full of bromelite.

Edit: Whoops, just realized you were talking about Selene Jean. But my advice still stands for Bill Turner! In fact, you might want to get him out of the way while climbing towards that 500 ton amount for Selene.
 
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I do my mining in a Federal Drop Ship.
As a matter of fact, it's still parked in a nearby system to where I discovered a very nice location for mining Painite.

Now, the root of Painite is "Pain", so this is going to hurt.

I had long since mined and refined 500 tons of ore, so I didn't have to do much for this but...

This is my Federal Mining Ship: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fed...m020404030504B21v2b5dC0C0P4.Iw18eQ==.Aw18eQ==.

When I set out, I load it full of Limpets, all 96 tons. I'll use several prospectors before I find the first rock I want to crack in most cases. But let's hold that thought first...

When I first drop in to the ring I want to mine, the very first thing I see are the obligatory NPC pirates. Since I'm armed, and it is a FDS, I simply take them out. Where I go is an anarchy system so I don't even need to worry about scanning them, I simply open fire until they are charred husks floating in space. Then I can start mining in peace. I split pips between weapons and systems, as I maneuver just fine with no pips in engines.
Once all the pirates are dead and forgotten, it's full power to weapons.

I fire off prospectors until I find what I'm looking for, fire up the mining lasers, and once the first few bits are blasted off, I start sending out the collectors, as this tends to maximize their lifespan.
I can fire my lasers until the rock is exhausted and never drain capacitors, and the limpets do just fine harvesting the bits - I do have to watch for stalled limpets collecting materials, as I simply cannot hold any more - I've been at 1000/1000 materials since I think my 3rd day playing. Some times I'll blow out some materials in favor of better ones, but for the most part, it's just blow out 3 carbon, get 3 carbon back, or whatever it happens to be.

I'll always run out of limpets before storage, so once my supply is depleted, it's back to the station to reload.
Since all you need to do here is plain old mine and refine, you might consider a slightly different and cheaper approach:

The Type-7 Heavy Miner:
https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/typ...l--02040003050505CeCe4aP902.Iw18aQ==.Aw18aQ==.

At two hundred tons of cargo space, you're talking maybe 8-10 full-load trips out to a ring to mine and refine.

Ultimately, it doesn't matter what you mine and refine to get the invite from Selene, you just have to refine 500 tons worth of ore.
Of course, with this, you'll take a slightly different approach:

Once you drop in, you'll have to wait out your obligatory pirates - they'll scan and be sad you have 200 tons of limpets, probably say some rude things and go away. You should go the opposite direction so they don't get interested in you later.

After that, it will be pretty much the same - fire a prospector, start chipping at a rock, fire off collectors and wait. When you're all out of limpets, head back, sell whatever you've refined, buy another 200 tons of limpets and repeat, until you've mined and refined your 500 tons of ore and get your invite.


Then comes the painful part - the Hunt for Painite.

You'll need a Pristine metallic ring for this, and this is when the FDS or Python miner are good plan - pirates get all big and rubbery over painite, so you'll want to be sure you can either lay them to waste or escape them, all the way to Selene's. Fortunately she doesn't want that actual much painite - just 10 tons, which with any luck can be done in just one trip out.
 
Many thanks for the comprehensive reply Commander Lizard!

I was hoping to scrape by with my trusty explorer Asp "The Golden Torc".

Looks like I'll have to dig deep and buy a Python....

Better get back to Lidpar and grab some more bounties....

O7

Asp's are pretty good miners, I've made top 10 commanders in a mining CG in an Asp before now. And if you don't have funds then when mining be a little more selective and make sure you always hold onto the 3 P's. If you spend any real time in Pristine Metallic you will hit Painite at some point, the most I've seen that sell for is 80K per unit (again look on EDDB to find the best price).
 
(everything above is just because every extra mining laser doesn´t stack up to mining speed.)
Please explain?

Mining is chipping fragments off a roid with lasers. So how can it not be limited by the lasers you use?
There are other limits, sure. No point having more lasers than your distributor can handle. An Asp can only power one medium mining laser, though it might manage a small as well if the distributor was engineered. Another limit is collectors. You need 4-6 per medium laser. A skilled miner can get away with mining quickly with fewer, but the OP is not a skilled miner.
Yes, you can mine in a Asp, but a Python will be more than twice as fast. I suggest you read the OP, he specifically asked how to mine quickly.
 
Mining doesn't scale well as you rank up in the game. As you rank up, you can earn money faster by gaining rep with local factions and running cargo missions...

That being said... (Maybe it doesn't matter, money is not everythinb...)

I started out mining early in the game. I found this to be a relatively safe (NPC Pirate wise) endeavor as the only time anyone bothered you when mining was when you first dropped into a ring. ...and at that point all you typically have is limpets and the NPC pirates won't bother you ("How do you guys make a living" is the quote most frequent). Anyway, this is an important consideration as I explain a bit further...

So, I finally got my Cutter and was busy earning enough money to get her properly outfitted. Somewhere along this journey I decided to take her out and revisit the mining thing. I didn't have the all the weapons or shield I wanted, but this should be a fairly safe endeavor once I get to the ring and start mining. Then there is just the run back to sell the stuff, but that was a risk I was willing to take...

The Cutter is a stellar mining platform. I forget the details but I had a big 10-bin refinery (4A?), 2 Collectopr Limpet controllers (3A?) for 6 total limpets running simultaneously, a Prospector Limpet Controller, and 2 large mining lasers (2A?). Once I identified an asteroid I wanted, I could pop the prospector and literally drain everything from the rock in about a minute and a half. I had 6 limpets running and stuff was pouring in! Mining Heaven!

Then I found out about the "Refinery Lockup Bug"...

I run through a few asteroids and BOOM everything stops flowing through my refinery. I have cargo space, available material space, etc. I checked everything. A little online research indicates that this bug will start manifesting itself when you have a big refinery and at least 3-4 limpets running. Basically the refinery crashes. I even tried rebooting the whole ship - nothing. The only way to clear the lockup bug is to exit the game and come back in. Then everything is fine, the refinery flushes itself and you can keep going. However, you lose whatever was pending in that really nice asteroid you were working AND you drop back into the game OUTSIDE the ring. So now when you fly back down into the ring, and the compulsory NPC pirate drops by to say "HI", you now have all that nice Painite, Palladium, or Platinum in your hold!

I never did get a full cargo hold in my Cutter. The refinery locked up three times before I was even half full. I got tired of fighting NPC pirates in my marginally equipped, nigh rebuy ship, so I quit the activity, flew back out and sold my cargo (about 1/3 full).

TL;DR: Beware, the better your mining build-out is, the more likely you will trigger the Refinery Lockup bug. Hopefully it will be fixed sometime soon...
 
I do my mining in a Federal Drop Ship.
This is my Federal Mining Ship: https://coriolis.edcd.io/outfit/fed...m020404030504B21v2b5dC0C0P4.Iw18eQ==.Aw18eQ==.

Here is an alternative Mining Dropship. The Dropship has pretty good armour, so it can get away without shields.

I'm sure that many players don't enjoy mining because they don't have enough collectors, so they are spending too long waiting for their too few collectors to pick up the fragments. Once a player learns how to direct a fragment stream near their cargo hatch they won't need quite so many, but this takes a while - and in some rings the roids are too misshapen and tumbling too fast to allow this anyway.
 
I'm currently going through it right now.

I have a T7 with 224 cargo (2 limpet controllers (4 limpets), 9-bin refinery and prospector (1 limpet)), and 4 mining lasers (very odd "pattern" on them).

I mine in icy rings, because sometimes you can get a high % water/etc rock/ice cube, that refines into tonnage quickly. I'd reserve the pristine stuff for the painite.

Than being said, I took a break from it and unlocked the Dweller, so I know have a G5 Distributor on the T7. You can get about 20-25% yield knocked out of it before you need to recharge. That also paces nicely with 4 limpets picking it all up.

I'm currently in Bhotho. I used to prefer uninhabited systems, but it turns out it doesn't matter. As soon as you drop into any ring, regardless of haz res or not, some NPC will spawn in.

While on your first drop in and no cargo, it's not a big deal, if you take a break, and log off, they'll spawn in when you log back on. It's frustrating. They seemed to have programmed it so that you can't just go to some ring in the middle of space, without encountering SOMETHING.

So, my tactic is, as soon as I log in (or even if the first drop in), I just stay above the rock line and mash the boost button. Eventually, they'll fall off the radar, and you can go about your mining in peace.
 
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I have a T7 with 224 cargo (2 limpet controllers (4 limpets), 9-bin refinery and prospector (1 limpet)), and 4 mining lasers (very odd "pattern" on them).
...
Than being said, I took a break from it and unlocked the Dweller, so I know have a G5 Distributor on the T7. You can get about 20-25% yield knocked out of it before you need to recharge. That also paces nicely with 4 limpets picking it all up.
I hope you have made an error in coriolis. You have a class 1B controller in a class 5 slot. So you'd only get a total of 3 active limpets where you could have 5. B controllers aren't much use for mining as the limpets don't last long enough. Use A class, or D if you are short on credits or low on power.

You also have too many lasers. It would be more efficient to have just two small lasers on the T7. Even engineered the distributor won't power 4.

I mine in icy rings, because sometimes you can get a high % water/etc rock/ice cube, that refines into tonnage quickly. I'd reserve the pristine stuff for the painite.
Not sure what you are saying here. Painite is metallic rings. It has nothing to do with being pristine. Pristine is best for all ring types
(Pristine > Major > Common > Depleted).

Also, ice rings, even pristine, are never very high in anything. You will be lucky to get a 30% water roid in pristine ice, but you can get 70% of a mineral in pristine metallic.
(for ore % Metallic > Metal Rich/Rocky > Icy)



Just to be complete. You can also mine for materials. Pristine or Depleted give the same results, but Metal Rich is the place to be.
(Metal Rich > Rocky > Metallic > Icy)
 
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Speed is good defense in a miner. If you have the rank, iClipper makes a very good one, and comes in cheaper than a Python to fit out.
 
Ceekay. Why do you limit the Python and Dropship so much with only the one mining laser?

More cargo capacity only means you can spend longer in the ring before needing to sell/reload. But why make it longer than necessary by underpowering your ship?
 
I hope you have made an error in coriolis. You have a class 1B controller in a class 5 slot. So you'd only get a total of 3 active limpets where you could have 5. B controllers aren't much use for mining as the limpets don't last long enough. Use A class, or D if you are short on credits or low on power.

You also have too many lasers. It would be more efficient to have just two small lasers on the T7. Even engineered the distributor won't power 4.

Not sure what you are saying here. Painite is metallic rings. It has nothing to do with being pristine. Pristine is best for all ring types
(Pristine > Major > Common > Depleted).

Also, ice rings, even pristine, are never very high in anything. You will be lucky to get a 30% water roid in pristine ice, but you can get 70% of a mineral in pristine metallic.
(for ore % Metallic > Metal Rich/Rocky > Icy)



Just to be complete. You can also mine for materials. Pristine or Depleted give the same results, but Metal Rich is the place to be.
(Metal Rich > Rocky > Metallic > Icy)


I probably did make a mistake in where each module is, yes. But that's what I have. I saw no need to have any more than 1 prospector limpet, since I'd only use one at a time. 1 (whatever class, can't remember) prospector limpet, and two 3B collector controllers for 4 limpets, a refinery (4 something), and the rest cargo. Seeing as this was only a stater/temp setup, I didn't want to spend the few credits I had (started a new game a few days ago), on top-rated equipment. My requirements were: most limpets (collector) for least credits, and most bins for least credits.

That said, yes, when I was speaking of pristine/etc, that's where I have/will do the Painite mining (in metallic, not ice). My quote was stating that I'm mining icy rings for the 500T requirement. It's been a long day without caffeine.

As it happens to be, I've been seeing a lot of 30-40% for water/hyd peroxide, which if you're going solely for tonnage mined (for the requirement), the higher % seem to accumulate that faster than say, something with a 3-4% ratio.
 
Don't forget that whats-her-chops wants painite as soon as you've mined the 500T, so it's best to mine somewhere where there's painite. Keep the 10T of painite in your hold so that you can give it to her as soon as you've mined 500T, otherwise you'll have to mine another 500T to get 10T of painite..
 
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If you're on a budget, and even if your not. The Clipper makes a great miner, just fit the largest slot with 128 cargo rack and build from there.

Deciat makes a good central spot to mine, and Frey is also well in the bubble, both are Pristine.
 
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The fastest way to mine anything in quantity is by winging up. You prospect, mine and refine, the rest of the wingmen just cuts the rocks (they can also help prospecting)... That should give you 4x amount of ore from each rock you, as a wing, mine.
 
Make sure you keep any Painite you mine. Once you are done with your 500 refined units, she is going to sent you strait back out.
 
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