Have you noticed (laser) mining without using a Prospector Limpet depletes an asteroid way faster ?

[Vasious]

It does, but here's a tip if you don't want to waste limpets. Peck an asteroid with your mining laser BEFORE firing your prospector. If it drops one fragment of what you are looking for (say, LTDs), then hit it with a prospector. That way you get maximum yields of what you want without wasting limpets on dud asteroids.

I would suggest against this. Lasering off fragments before prospecting will cost you fragments and therefore make you mine slower. Generally, having several active prospectors will make you prospect significantly faster than you could if you need to reach a rock with the lasers first.

Depends on the size of the ship and if the number of limpets one can carry

Probably from a time when Cmdrs were actually limited in CRs to be able to afford a large mining ship

 

[Tharrn]

Prospector Limpet Controller

Limpets controlled by this module can be fired at the surface of a mineable [sic] asteroids to discover the composition of it, aiding in efficient mining. Once deployed the information about composition can [sic] be obtained via targeting the limpet and consulting the cockpit interface. —...

elite-dangerous.fandom.com

All explained with numbers.

 

[ArchEmperor]

The mechanics should have been that it is faster to mine the same fixed amount of materials from the same asteroid if you use a prospector limpet to figure out the asteroid composition and structure. So the amount of materials would be the same, just that it is more time efficient to mine with prospector limpet active. Assuming the process really 'depletes' the entire asteroid and not just cherry picks.

With a prospector limpet you would know where all the valuable materials are on the asteroid surface and thus you know when to stop mining that asteroid. Without it, you would have to keep blasting by trial and error on the entire surface with decreasing amount of yield over time until you find it useless to continue.

But it would be interesting if you could learn to recognize where to mine on the asteroid looking at the surface patterns with your own eyes, without the help of any prospector limpet.
"Ah, this looks like an LTD vein...."

Also, a mechanic to allow onion peeling to refresh the surface yield, would be nice. Instead of just cracking it open, you crack away at it one peel at a time until it is completely dust and depleted.