There is no doubt that the addition of Drones to mining has helped make mining more scalable.
Prior to 1.3, I was content to sit on my Asp and mine away. There was no real motivation to get another ship for mining, but the addition of the collector and prospectors changed that. This allowed me to sample more rocks in a shorter time and cherry pick more lucrative roids.
The time came when I had about 80mill and had to decided whether spending that money on a mining python would give me a gain. Was it worth spending the 80mill + ?
Well this weekend in southern Australia we were hit by a polar vortex that bought so very cold air up from the south polar region so the whether was horrible. What better time to try out a new mining vessel, with a hot cuppa and a warm cat on my lap.
I bought and upgraded a Python while still keeping enough cash to cover insurance excess etc.
I now have 128t of space, that's a lot of prospectors so I can always sample more rocks and find what I need. I can also have more collectors out at the one time picking up bits faster. (I can get more space but I need the longer jump ranges for where I am).
And of course it’s a Python so I can hold my own in the High Intensity RES sites where the yields are so much better.
Day one was great, bring in millions and spending it on upgrades, while maintaining a buffer for insurance.
On Sunday morning I did get a bit careless once though:
Happily mining away and I come across a beautiful 57% painite roid and start blasting off chucks, 16 chunks woohoo!!!!
I get the usual you are being scanned message and I check and its a Dangerous NPC Viper. No probs I engage but I was greedily trying to maintain my station near a 57% painite rocks to allow the droids to finish collecting the precious.
Then suddenly some purple flashes and I get attacked from behind by another ship ... … I look and it’s a Dangerous NPC Python, oh oh!. Hit the button to drop Chaff and does not see to help much.
Within seconds it had all gone wrong and shields were down, hull was rapidly decaying with that horrible glass cracking sound and the ship voice calmly rattling off a list of things that were taking damage or were now offline.
OK I am out of here. See you Painite……. I start to move off raise the cargo scoop about to hit boost and the dreaded “Thrusters Offline” announced!!!!! Nooooo, I drift a few meters and stop. Now being pounded with some purple flashes and lasers and hearing much hissing and spitting.... 50% hull... 40% hull, more glass cracking. I try to get to the Systems panel but before I can, the voice says "Thrusters Online". What? Ummm OK BOOOOOOOOOOOOOST, CHAFFFFF, BOOOOOOOST, which way is Up I need to get clear. I assume it was the automated repair module but it surprised me as I was flailing through the menus and had not got to that tab yet to see what I could do.
I managed to manoeuvre through some roids so they would take most of the hits, full pips to engines then start boosting a chaffing some more. I managed to get away with 35% hull and no sensors. I get clear of the field and jump into Super Cruise, then it is a nervous trip back to the station hoping not to get interdicted. I made it home safe, repaired the sensors and docked.
Man mining is boring…. Not if you don’t want it to be.
Prior to 1.3, I was content to sit on my Asp and mine away. There was no real motivation to get another ship for mining, but the addition of the collector and prospectors changed that. This allowed me to sample more rocks in a shorter time and cherry pick more lucrative roids.
The time came when I had about 80mill and had to decided whether spending that money on a mining python would give me a gain. Was it worth spending the 80mill + ?
Well this weekend in southern Australia we were hit by a polar vortex that bought so very cold air up from the south polar region so the whether was horrible. What better time to try out a new mining vessel, with a hot cuppa and a warm cat on my lap.
I bought and upgraded a Python while still keeping enough cash to cover insurance excess etc.
I now have 128t of space, that's a lot of prospectors so I can always sample more rocks and find what I need. I can also have more collectors out at the one time picking up bits faster. (I can get more space but I need the longer jump ranges for where I am).
And of course it’s a Python so I can hold my own in the High Intensity RES sites where the yields are so much better.
Day one was great, bring in millions and spending it on upgrades, while maintaining a buffer for insurance.
On Sunday morning I did get a bit careless once though:
Happily mining away and I come across a beautiful 57% painite roid and start blasting off chucks, 16 chunks woohoo!!!!
I get the usual you are being scanned message and I check and its a Dangerous NPC Viper. No probs I engage but I was greedily trying to maintain my station near a 57% painite rocks to allow the droids to finish collecting the precious.
Then suddenly some purple flashes and I get attacked from behind by another ship ... … I look and it’s a Dangerous NPC Python, oh oh!. Hit the button to drop Chaff and does not see to help much.
Within seconds it had all gone wrong and shields were down, hull was rapidly decaying with that horrible glass cracking sound and the ship voice calmly rattling off a list of things that were taking damage or were now offline.
OK I am out of here. See you Painite……. I start to move off raise the cargo scoop about to hit boost and the dreaded “Thrusters Offline” announced!!!!! Nooooo, I drift a few meters and stop. Now being pounded with some purple flashes and lasers and hearing much hissing and spitting.... 50% hull... 40% hull, more glass cracking. I try to get to the Systems panel but before I can, the voice says "Thrusters Online". What? Ummm OK BOOOOOOOOOOOOOST, CHAFFFFF, BOOOOOOOST, which way is Up I need to get clear. I assume it was the automated repair module but it surprised me as I was flailing through the menus and had not got to that tab yet to see what I could do.
I managed to manoeuvre through some roids so they would take most of the hits, full pips to engines then start boosting a chaffing some more. I managed to get away with 35% hull and no sensors. I get clear of the field and jump into Super Cruise, then it is a nervous trip back to the station hoping not to get interdicted. I made it home safe, repaired the sensors and docked.
Man mining is boring…. Not if you don’t want it to be.
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