Newcomer / Intro Fire groups question

[Poacher886]

Im in need of some info with regards to fire groups.

Having now equipped my Adder with a mining laser / Prospector limpets while still having two lasers im a little miffed as to the set-up..

It seems i need 3x fire groups to assign all, yet we are only provided with a mere 2x !! yet i noticed a + sign next to the first fire group, upon pressing it, it seem to give me a new fire group? what is it im seeing here?, can i assign all the said load to fire groups or am i stuck with constantly switching in and out of 2 fire groups for each tool i need to use?

Thanks

 

[Red Kite]

You can have as many fire-groups as you like, but you only have two triggers to assign in each. As soon as you put something in the second group a blank third group will appear and so on. For mining you probably need your mining laser and collector limpet controller in one and your prospector limpet controller and possibly discovery scanner, if you have one, in the second. If you have any conventional weapons for protection against pirates put them in a separate group. To get the most out of mining these days you need both collectors and prospectors. The same limpets do both jobs, but you need two separate controllers.

 

[Poacher886]

You can have as many fire-groups as you like, but you only have two triggers to assign in each. As soon as you put something in the second group a blank third group will appear and so on. For mining you probably need your mining laser and collector limpet controller in one and your prospector limpet controller and possibly discovery scanner, if you have one, in the second. If you have any conventional weapons for protection against pirates put them in a separate group. To get the most out of mining these days you need both collectors and prospectors. The same limpets do both jobs, but you need two separate controllers.

Thanks, a few question on your answer:

1. So are you suggesting my 'prospector limpets' are also 'collector limpets' ?? and if so, how do change their duty?...also is the prospector limpet a one shot job, or can they be used multiple times?

2. can you switch fire groups via a hot key? or do i need to do this via the rh panel?

3. How do refinery work..i have 2 bins in mine, is there a way of knowing how much i have collected, what are the two bins for (as opposed to one) and how would i eject a low value ore but keep the good stuff if the rock i have picked up contains both?

Thanks

 

[Para Handy]

Thanks, a few question on your answer:

1. So are you suggesting my 'prospector limpets' are also 'collector limpets' ?? and if so, how do change their duty?...also is the prospector limpet a one shot job, or can they be used multiple times?

2. can you switch fire groups via a hot key? or do i need to do this via the rh panel?

3. How do refinery work..i have 2 bins in mine, is there a way of knowing how much i have collected, what are the two bins for (as opposed to one) and how would i eject a low value ore but keep the good stuff if the rock i have picked up contains both?

Thanks

1. Limpets are general purpose drones which are programmed by your controller module as you select to deploy. You stock up on limpets via the munitions screen so buying a pile of limpets they can be used as prospectors or collectors. Each limpet when deployed has a limited life, after which they blow up (you get a message when one expires). You need a prospector limpet controller to use limpets in that mode and a collector limpet controller to use in that mode (controllers are only capable of handling a fixed number of limpets at a time).

2. Hot key for fire group selection is "N" for next (I have "B" for back/previous but I might have set that binding in the options myself).

3. Each bin works with one type of material (metal or mineral) - you have to watch what they are being used for and manipulate their usage as you go (there is a bug at the moment which occasionally stops automatic allocation from the hopper so you have to intervene - you get an "Allocation Error" message when that happens. Basically your drones (collector limpets) pick up the fragments your mining laser knocks off the astroid and brings them back to your cargo hatch, depositing them in the hopper of your refinery. The hopper contents are refined and the refined product (e.g. gold, platinum. or other metal or mineral) is passed into a bin, when a bin is 100% full of a product it passes that as a container (ton) of product into your cargo racks. Higher grade refineries have more bins but of course cost more and / or need a bigger module slot.

I have only tried mining once recently and I certainly wouldn't do it in a ship as small as an adder - you need to use up three slots - refinery, collector controller and prospector controller and still have enough slots for cargo racks and probably a shield generator - adder seems a bit small unless you mine without collector limpets (gathering the fragments yourself via the cargo scoop).

 

[Red Kite]

1. Limpets are general purpose devices, they do whatever the controller tells them to do, collection, prospecting, fuel transfer or hatch breaking. You assign the controller to the fire group and when you fire it the limpet which is released will perform that one function. A prospector is one-shot, fired on line-of-sight. When it hits a rock select it as a target and the bottom left panel of your HUD shows the composition and as you mine it the total percentage will drop until the asteroid is depleted. If you have, for example, a two drone controller you can fire a second prospector at another rock. When you fire a third one of the first two will expire so only two are out there at any time. The prospector will also expire if you fly beyond its range. Using a prospector roughly triples the amount you can mine from a rock, so they are worthwhile if you have space for the extra controller. Collectors will pick up any fragment within their range for as long as they last as long as you don't actually select the fragment. If you do, the collector will expire immediately after returning it. Sometimes collectors expire early, which is annoying, or hit other asteroids, their collision detection is not very good!

2. There is a default key for "Next fire group". I can't remember which one it is as I have reassigned mine to a button on my HOTAS. Changing fire-groups quickly can be essential in combat. To find it go to Options on the main menu (not the menu in the HUD) and select Controls and scroll down to find it.

3. The refinery has two areas, the hopper, at the top, which has 2 sections, and the bins at the bottom. 2 bins isn't really enough for serious mining, but it's enough to give you a try-out. I can't remember the maximum you can get in an Adder. Most fragments have two different materials in them which come in to the hopper, are refined, and then transferred to the bins. When a bin reaches 100% it creates 1 ton of the material and puts it in your cargo hold. If there isn't a spare bin the material stays in the hopper, which jams and you get a Resources Unallocated message. You must then manually either vent the stuff from the hopper if you don't want it or vent a bin to make space for it. With only two bins you'll be doing that a lot! (I just checked the Adder: a 3A refinery gives you 8 bins, a 2A gives you 6). Since the 1.4 update the transfer is supposed to be automatic if there are empty bins, but it seems to be liable to stick some of the time.

Looking at the Adder you can get everything in like this: http://coriolis.io/outfit/adder/03E3E3E1E2E3E3C-1717--02441lC5P4.Iw1+kA==.Aw1+kA==, but there's only 8t of space, no discovery scanner and only one of each type of limpet at a time. The limpets take up cargo space as well so overall you are going to be pretty pushed for space unless you fly without a shield (not recommended in an asteroid field!)

There is a Youtube tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkU-1SJ_7a4 which may be useful.

Ninja'd: but between the two of us and the tutorial you should get the idea!

 

[Firestarter]

1 limpets are universal. So long as you have a controller module they can be used for that duty. Collector, prospector, fuel transfer, hatch breaker, etc. By having the module you will have the option to put that function into a fire group.

2 Yes. It's in the key bindings, select next fire group.

3 Two bins require micro management. Asteroids can have up to three ores. As you mine, fragments will come off the asteroid. Your collector limpets bring them back to the refinery. The contents go into the hopper then automatically the bins get filled. Click the ^ next to the bin to dump it's contents of you don't want it. As soon as the contents of a bin hits 100% you get a tonne of that in your cargo and the bin is emptied. Sometimes some ore will get jammed in the hopper and you either click it to allocate it to a free bin or dump it.

FYI if you use a prospector on an asteroid it will increase the number of fragments that you get from it by about 3x. With a small ship the tactic is to mine the asteroid a bit, see what the first fragment contains then use a prospector if it's valuable. With a large ship (and lots of limpets) you just use a prospector on every asteroid before deciding if you want to mine it.

 

[Poacher886]

Thanks chaps, the Adder is my first bought ship (and a pain the cockpit is aswell), i wanted to have a go at most of the options the sim has to decide my path eventually, i decided the solitude profession of mining is a nice place to acquire the loot for my next ship,,the Adder is the cheapest miner available and im in no rush to get rich so i take a crack at this.

I have indeed increased my cargo to 10t, ditched the discovery scanner and armed myself with a class 2 mining laser, a refinery 2xbin and a prospect limpet controller with 2x limpets...i will have to collect the ore manually, but thats fine...if they keep simplifying things it all becomes to straight forward imho.

A good idea to check the first fragment before using a precious limpet..thanks.

 

[Para Handy]

Thanks chaps, the Adder is my first bought ship (and a pain the cockpit is aswell), i wanted to have a go at most of the options the sim has to decide my path eventually, i decided the solitude profession of mining is a nice place to acquire the loot for my next ship,,the Adder is the cheapest miner available and im in no rush to get rich so i take a crack at this.

I have indeed increased my cargo to 10t, ditched the discovery scanner and armed myself with a class 2 mining laser, a refinery 2xbin and a prospect limpet controller with 2x limpets...i will have to collect the ore manually, but thats fine...if they keep simplifying things it all becomes to straight forward imho.

A good idea to check the first fragment before using a precious limpet..thanks.

You might want to put it all on hold for a bit. If you take your adder to system Kaushpoos (yes that is the spelling) then go mine a bit of metal, deliver it to Neville Horizons station you will earn yourself a guaranteed 2million credits.

It is a community goal to provide metals, everyone who signs up and sells at least 1 t of any metal in the commodities market of Neville Horizons will get the minimum reward, at the moment that reward stands at 2 million credits. You just have to remember to go to the bulletin board there, click on the community goal mission (it is at the top) and click on sign up before you sell your first load of metal. The community goal ends on the 29th October at 16:00 UTC so you need not rush and at least you will get a good payout (after the CG finishes) no mater how much you actually earn while learning to mine.

DON'T DO IT IN OPEN PLAY - there are silly kiddies of code pirating people in open play - do it in solo or join a private group (MOBIUS is best - all members agree to not attack other players - just NPCs if they want).


https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=194113