Exploring and Mining?

Surly_Badger · Jun 14, 2015

I can confirm that you can get some amazing strikes out there. I went out to COL 395 SECTOR MV-O C6-2 B Ring (Metallic) and started probing around. It didn't take me long to find some exciting stuff!!!

In about an hour I collected 50 tons of silver, gold, platinum, and osmium. I was a happy badger indeed!

But... I decided to jump farther to another system I had explored earlier, that had a gas giant with some interesting looking rings, and when I did my next jump, an NPC pirate took one look at my osmium and interdicted me.

I've been dealing with a weird bug that appears to corrupt game memory when you chat with collector drones deployed, and I deployed my turrets and ... nothing happened. Time for Plan B (duck and run) but my power management was to weapons b/c of the turrets and I was fumbling around while getting shot and dodging and trying to light up my FSD.

Down to 20%, my FSD lit off and I was orienting for the jump, -thruster malfunction-

I think that deep space mining is probably a job for an Anaconda. I've got to do a bit more bootlegging before I can afford that again. I lost a whole lot of guck in that explosion, and got tagged with a 4.4m/cr insurance bill besides. And a couple of days of outfitting and flying and honking.

But the smile on my face while I was mining those pristine reseves... worth it.

Gorrister · Jun 14, 2015

Ha, I got my gold seeker town!
Thanks to my good friend Roon there is now a space station in HIP 51652 called Roons Haven. Planet 1 got a metallic pristine ring.

I'm off mining.

Surly_Badger · Jun 15, 2015

Things you do not want to hear, 1200ly from home:
WHACK
GRIIIIIIND
"Shields Down"
"Hull integrity compromised"
SCCCCCrrrrrrrrr......

I made it, but my hull is at 85% now. It's no huge deal since I generally don't get damaged while exploring. But - yow! Exploring can be dangerous again!

It doesn't matter that this palladium came from way out there; it's the same stuff as the local variety. But it's MY palladium from a system I found, out here in nothing. And there's no such thing as a metallic belt that's more "pristine" than this!

Murishani · Jun 15, 2015

It only took you down to 85% walk it off, that palladium will pay for the repairs.

Playing around in asteroids is gonna end up with you getting battered, sooner or later.

Surly_Badger · Jun 16, 2015

My first exploring and mining run is done, and was an exciting and spectacular success!!

I decided to finish up and head back to sell my discoveries and my hold full of precious metals. I found about a dozen systems with pristine (of course) metallic rings, and made a point of scanning them and stopping and collecting a bit of stuff from each. The metallic rings (not metal rich) seem to be what drops the gold, palladium, platinum, and silver. Since I didn't have drones - no room in my Asp - I had to collect the ore "old school" style. No problem. I'm old school.

I turned back and headed toward LHS 1110, where I park most of my ships. On my run in, Longshot attracted much more attention from pirates than she usually does!! My first warning was when I jumped into a system and was immediately scanned by a trash-talking pirate, as I was spooling my FSD up to jump out. Next system after that, I was immediately interdicted while I was scooping; that was bad news. I dropped out of supercruise and punched the boost, taking heat damage and having some blasts of frag-cannon junk bouncing off the back of my Asp as I spooled and jumped. I took a bit of damage but nothing significant, really.

Moral: If you're carrying a lot of metal, you're going to attract more attention than usual!

At LHS 1110 I parked Longshot and switched to my Clipper to run in and sell my discoveries for the community goal. I had a couple days of mapping data; nothing to sneeze at. I'm glad I made that decision and didn't just try to run in with my Asp because when I dropped into the system where the discovery bounties are, I was interdicted by a CMDR <deleted> and dropped out of supercruise. He came in firing as I turned my Clipper to face him, put 4 pips to shields and boosted right into his Vulture. There was a brief clunking noise and my shields didn't even flicker; then I brought the FSD up and finished my trip. I hope his head is still hurting from the impact.

The earnings from the mining were not substantial - about 400k cr or thereabouts and a few million from the exploring. But I am taking this as validation of my proof of concept. Next time I do this I am going out in a 'Conda with a hold full of limpets, and I'm going to come back with yummy gold and palladium and new mapping data.

Gorrister · Jun 16, 2015

Surly_Badger said:
My first exploring and mining run is done, and was an exciting and spectacular success!!

I decided to finish up and head back to sell my discoveries and my hold full of precious metals. I found about a dozen systems with pristine (of course) metallic rings, and made a point of scanning them and stopping and collecting a bit of stuff from each. The metallic rings (not metal rich) seem to be what drops the gold, palladium, platinum, and silver. Since I didn't have drones - no room in my Asp - I had to collect the ore "old school" style. No problem. I'm old school.

I turned back and headed toward LHS 1110, where I park most of my ships. On my run in, Longshot attracted much more attention from pirates than she usually does!! My first warning was when I jumped into a system and was immediately scanned by a trash-talking pirate, as I was spooling my FSD up to jump out. Next system after that, I was immediately interdicted while I was scooping; that was bad news. I dropped out of supercruise and punched the boost, taking heat damage and having some blasts of frag-cannon junk bouncing off the back of my Asp as I spooled and jumped. I took a bit of damage but nothing significant, really.

Moral: If you're carrying a lot of metal, you're going to attract more attention than usual!

At LHS 1110 I parked Longshot and switched to my Clipper to run in and sell my discoveries for the community goal. I had a couple days of mapping data; nothing to sneeze at. I'm glad I made that decision and didn't just try to run in with my Asp because when I dropped into the system where the discovery bounties are, I was interdicted by a CMDR <deleted> and dropped out of supercruise. He came in firing as I turned my Clipper to face him, put 4 pips to shields and boosted right into his Vulture. There was a brief clunking noise and my shields didn't even flicker; then I brought the FSD up and finished my trip. I hope his head is still hurting from the impact.

The earnings from the mining were not substantial - about 400k cr or thereabouts and a few million from the exploring. But I am taking this as validation of my proof of concept. Next time I do this I am going out in a 'Conda with a hold full of limpets, and I'm going to come back with yummy gold and palladium and new mapping data.

Congratulations!

Could you please wright down the system an planet numers with pistine metallic rings and post it into my thread "Call of the wild"?
https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=156428
Thanks in advance.

Dommarraa · Jun 16, 2015

It is nice to have useful data that you can actually share.

Gorrister · Jun 16, 2015

Please wright down also metal rich planets. I guess they will be relevant in the planet langing addon.
Thx, Gorrister.

Dommarraa · Jun 16, 2015

Gorrister said:
Please wright down also metal rich planets. I guess they will be relevant in the planet langing addon.
Thx, Gorrister.

Who wants "metal rich" there are "metalic" planets out there, they are going to be the ones to go to IF there is any mining.

Agony_Aunt · Jun 16, 2015

Nice report Surley. I think I might give this a go when i've had a bit of a play with powerplay.

Always wanted to do some mining, and makes sense to get away from all the NPCs while doing so.

An Asp sounds like an ideal ship for it.... but will have to think about fitting some drones. Or maybe the Orca will do, but it would be a terrible thing to take an Orca mining... think of the space dust getting all over it.

Dommarraa · Jun 16, 2015

For mining, you want slots. Lots of slots. So an Orca is better than an Asp as long as you dont crash into everything. Python is better if you can afford it.

Agony_Aunt · Jun 16, 2015

Dommarraa said:
For mining, you want slots. Lots of slots. So an Orca is better than an Asp as long as you dont crash into everything. Python is better if you can afford it.

Hmm.. when long distance mining, presume cargo space is more useful than drones as well.... although suppose it depends on how long you are willing to stay out for. Either way, i can't see the point of drones here as one would run out of them quite quickly, long before ones cargo hold was full.

Food for thought.

Dommarraa · Jun 16, 2015

Agony_Aunt said:
Hmm.. when long distance mining, presume cargo space is more useful than drones as well.... although suppose it depends on how long you are willing to stay out for. Either way, i can't see the point of drones here as one would run out of them quite quickly, long before ones cargo hold was full.

Food for thought.

Not sure that long distance exploring AND full mining at the same time is a very effective option, you cant really do either very well unless you are in a T9 or Conda. Long distance exploring and a bit of Sampling, then a dedicated trip out to mine the found areas would be my Modus Operandi. If I dont have drones, I am not mining.

To mine you need 2 x Controlers, Shields, Refinary, and a FS
To explore you need 2 Scanners, and if you are a big girly girl like me, a DC

Thats 7 or 8 Modules without having ANY cargo space, an Asp only has 7. What are you not going to take on your combo mission ?
My Python (9 slots) only has room for 64t of cargo and its not enough, to do it properly, I would need to explore separately, then go out mining without at least 1 of the scanners.
Thats why I tried to find some nice places within economical route range so I could drop the FS and a Scanner or 2 (nothing of quality discovered)

certhas · Jun 16, 2015

how many different Minerals/Ore can be found in one Ring/Belt? I droped mining after 4t - just like Engadine - way to much tedious work collecting all those containers manually.
But i'ed like to give it a second try when im back - so, does a Ring/Belt allways contain like 2-4 different Minerals/Ore or do they contain every possible Mineral/Ore but in clusters?

CMDR Hagglebeard · Jun 16, 2015

I guess, but right near Antal is an anarchy system with Pristine Metallic Rings. Well, me and some other Archon boys will be having that

Gorrister · Jun 16, 2015

Dommarraa said:
Who wants "metal rich" there are "metalic" planets out there, they are going to be the ones to go to IF there is any mining.

Really? You don't mean metallic rings? Real metallic planets? Like " high metal content planet", "metal rich planet" and "metallic planet"? Wow.
Never saw something like that. Please give me a system name.

- - - Updated - - -

CMDR Hagglebeard said:
I guess, but right near Antal is an anarchy system with Pristine Metallic Rings. Well, me and some other Archon boys will be having that

Whats the name? I need it for the list.

Dommarraa · Jun 16, 2015

Oh I have no idea, they are pretty rare. The first one I saw was 100% iron. Have seen a couple since, always very very close to the star

Gorrister · Jun 16, 2015

Ok. I will keep my eyes open.

Surly_Badger · Jun 17, 2015

A max jump range Python sounds like it ought to be a pretty good exploration/mining heavy tank. 28ly max upgraded jump, I can drop down to 24ly and that's still plenty for exploration in most of the places I'll be going, and I almost pity the NPC that decides to interdict a war-fitted Python. It's got enough cargo space that you can carry a refinery and a ton of limpets and still bring home an impressive load of loot. An Anaconda might actually be overkill. My next exploration trip, I think I will leave Longshotat home and buy a Python.

I have concluded a Type-9 is not a good exploration/mining ship. Unless you have an escort in and out of the bubble and NPC zone. You're just lunchmeat. Also: the amount of mining you'd have to do to fill a Type-9 is probably several daysworth of actual work.

I'd go in my clipper except I don't want to get all that dirty mining stuff on the genuine wool carpeting in the companionways.

I'm taking a brief haitus from the game while I do (real) work so I don't have access to my screenshots with metallic rings and belts, but I will post a few when I get back. I'd guess that pristine metallics are about as common as terraformable worlds: exploring I find one or two per hour. I especially like the great B stars; they have crazy stuff orbiting them and often have pretty blue light and I've found a few metallic belts around them. My thinking is that it's not very exciting to go to someone else's metallic belts to mine: just rig your ship to explore and mine and stop and collect rocks from any metallics you encounter. My first metallic belt I found in my T-9 quickly yielded 50t of very valuable stuff. It doesn't pay as well as trading but I get a kick out of the "buy low, sell high" aspect of mining. Your entry cost is zero and you can get a lot for the palladium and platinum. At 10,000cr per ton if it cost you nothing it's pretty profitable.

Murishani · Jun 17, 2015

Surly_Badger said:
mining stuff...

I did some runs in a T7 and have decided mining is just not for me, I really want to like it but the pace is just so arduous and unless youre already a highly ranked merchant, you can't make the best money because the missions are locked off to you.
There is also the small issue of being 'lunch meat' for any NPC who spots you.
I think Pristine metals may be slightly more common than that, but not by much so youre right I think.
Its profitable if you look at it from a return on investment standpoint, but income/time is terrible, worse than exploring by a long shot. I earned more off the exploration data I collected IN bubble, than I did from the minerals I extracted.