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

[Alpenniless]

Normally - you shoot a prospector limpet, scan and decide to mine an asteroid or not depending on the content. After mining for a while, you get a feel of your mining laser, how much it drains the weapon power distribution, recharge time, etc.

At times I'm low with limpets, I would just shoot the mining laser at asteroids and see the radar if it outputs the material I wanted, watching the Contacts Panel as well.

Option 1 - I may only then launch the prospector limpet to check the remaining %.
Option 2 - when really low with limpet, I just shoot till the radar don't show any output.

In these situations, I got a feeling the depletion rates are much faster. Sometimes after firing a test shoot for materials and only launch the prospector limpet, the remaining shows as low as 50%. If begins with a prospector limpet, this short burst would normally only cause a small depletion of 10% to 20%.

 

[varonica]

A prospector limpet increases the amount of materials available to mine from the asteroid, so of course the material will deplete faster without using prospector limpets because there is less material to mine.

 

[metatheurgist]

No, on ones ever noticed that.

 

[Alpenniless]

A prospector limpet increases the amount of materials available to mine from the asteroid, so of course the material will deplete faster without using prospector limpets because there is less material to mine.

I though it's sole function is to discover content and report the balance. It shouldn't increase the amount.. (my thinking)..

 

[Alpenniless]

No, on ones ever noticed that.

Try it !

 

[BluePilot]

I though it's sole function is to discover content and report the balance. It shouldn't increase the amount.. (my thinking)..

No, it's core purpose was to make mining more viable. Once part of what was needed for that was to vastly increase what could be shaved off a rock.

The lore reasoning was something along the lines of prospectors revealing where the 'best spots' to shave off are located. This is dispite the fact that you're still shooting where ever on the rock.

 

[Alpenniless]

Thanks! Learn something today. Was bugging me for a while.

 

[Captain Willard]

KOOL I was just this close to throwing my computer out the upstairs window.

 

[gorankar]

The prospector limpet bonus. It's a thing. No, it does not make sense, but it is.

 

[Darth Ender]

Remember when fdev though chasing rocks was good gameplay before limpets were added?

They don't really give lore reasons for anything after the game was in beta.
We basically make it up here, usually along with unreferencable video evidence that some fdev employee said x, y , or z about it in some place.

Even more than prospecting limpets giving higher yields... You should be questioning why there are limits to active prospectors... Since once they attach... They don't have to do anything after analyzing but keep transmitting the same data till their battery runs out.

FYI, multiple wing players or just players in general can mine the same roid and not impact the yield of other players. Effectively multiplying yields. A couple players with a lot of time and nothing better to do can be much more efficient at laser mining than one person alone. It's a sad way to spend an hour or two but it is more exciting than being space truckers for the trade bonus.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

Since it has not yet been explicitly stated:
The prospector bonus is also dependent on the class of the prospector limpet controller. In other words, an A-rated prospector will give you a higher bonus than a D-rated one. This is why the pre-flight checklist on the EliteMiners subreddit explicitly mentions ”A-rated prospector”.

 

[MarkAusten]

I did some LTD mining a while back, just to see what the fuss was all about and I noticed this quite clearly. If I ran out of limpets before the hold was filled I would race from one asteroid to another and shoot it with the lasers. Within 5 seconds I could see if fragments were being mined or not. If they were then my remaining collectors only had a few to retrieve and I could race on to the next rock. The aim being, of course, to fill the hold before the collectors expired.

Now, what I would like to see is a comparison between mining with prospectors and without them. Which in reality gets the hold filed fastest?

The assumption is that mining with prospectors is quicker, but has anyone tested this out a few times to see if that assumption is correct?

 

[DaveB]

The assumption is that mining with prospectors is quicker, but has anyone tested this out a few times to see if that assumption is correct?

Pure laser mining, if you prospect as many rocks as possible and laser the ones that show a decent percentage then in a triple hotspot you'll still usually fill your hold marginally faster than you use up limpets. If, along the way, you are pulse-wave-scanning and making sure to prospect all the bright rocks for potential core cracks or SSD excavation (assuming you're fitted for both in addition to basic laser mining) then overall you'll fill your hold about 2x as fast as you use up limpets in the same triple hotspot.

 

[MarkAusten]

Pure laser mining, if you prospect as many rocks as possible and laser the ones that show a decent percentage then in a triple hotspot you'll still usually fill your hold marginally faster than you use up limpets. If, along the way, you are pulse-wave-scanning and making sure to prospect all the bright rocks for potential core cracks or SSD excavation (assuming you're fitted for both in addition to basic laser mining) then overall you'll fill your hold about 2x as fast as you use up limpets in the same triple hotspot.

Thanks for that. Much appreciated.

 

[aRJay]

Snip

 

[Schmack]

Remember when fdev though chasing rocks was good gameplay before limpets were added?

They don't really give lore reasons for anything after the game was in beta.
We basically make it up here, usually along with unreferencable video evidence that some fdev employee said x, y , or z about it in some place.

Even more than prospecting limpets giving higher yields... You should be questioning why there are limits to active prospectors... Since once they attach... They don't have to do anything after analyzing but keep transmitting the same data till their battery runs out.

FYI, multiple wing players or just players in general can mine the same roid and not impact the yield of other players. Effectively multiplying yields. A couple players with a lot of time and nothing better to do can be much more efficient at laser mining than one person alone. It's a sad way to spend an hour or two but it is more exciting than being space truckers for the trade bonus.

I remember people here arguing that collection limpets were OP and didn't need to exist. Netflix, on the other hand..

 

[gorankar]

In a cutter, purely laser mining in a triple, I use 350 limpets to get 512T, (+10T from refinery), of LTD while discarding between 5 and 25 limpets towards the end.
Laser mining is low skill, but not no skill. Positioning is everything when burning a rock unless you want your collector limpets to suicide regularly.

 

[Old Duck]

I though it's sole function is to discover content and report the balance. It shouldn't increase the amount.. (my thinking)..

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.

 

[MarkAusten]

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'll try that out the next time I'm out mining.

 

[[VR] Orodruin]

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.