Ships Haz RES Miner

[CMDR Corlas]

I've been looking around a lot for a workable Haz RES miner - a ship that can to mine, fight, and run when it needs to. I realized I'm happy with even a small cargo hold, because after I get some loot in me downtime's going to be minimal anyway. This is kind of a stupid setup, if you're looking for credit-per-hour efficiency, but it's a lot of fun. That said though, it's really not hard to collect around million in painite and around the same in bounties.

Anyway, here's what I ended up with. (minus my engineering, which I'm too lazy to add)

It could be a bit more dedicated, but I wanted something that would also work as an everyday sort of ship, and the scoop and the ADS make it that for me. I really don't mind the lack of a prospector, because rocks in a Haz RES give off so much material. With only two collectors, I'd be there all day collecting - which won't happen anyway, because I'll get attacked first. So it really ends up not being an issue.

Generally I'll pop into a Haz RES, chip off single fragments to prospect old-school style until I find one that's ~50% painite. Then I'll deploy limpets, and mine that one dry. At that point, I'm going to get attacked by the next time a pirate scans me, so it gets interesting. I'll generally play cat-and-mouse with prowling ships (or cat-and-Assault-Ship-with-plasma-accelerators, if they're in something I'm comfortable taking on) while I mine what I can when I can and try to fill my hold. A close eye on the scanner is important to know who is out there, who is coming your way, and what they're flying. It's important to know what fights you can win and what ones you're best avoiding.

I find that if I run for a bit out of scanner range, a pursuing pirate will give up. But I need to come back in to around 6km of the RES for the real good stuff, so it's once more into the breach.

I have a Corvette with a similar loadout that I've not taken into a full Haz yet, only High (the lack of escape speed has me worried about getting swarmed, to be honest). And I've also done similar gigs with a Cobra Mk III, a Dropship, a Python, and an Anaconda (even a T9 in a Low RES). So far through, the Assault ship has my favorite blend of internals firepower and speed. I'd bet a Clipper would be perfect for this sort of thing.

Anyone else play around with some similar non-standard mining setups?

 

[YinYin]

Make that 2.5 m in painite alone. Bounties on top.
More if you drop/swap some utility for space (banks, reinforcements? really don't think you'll need those - go for double chaff and you'll be good).

Also this is not stupid for credit-per-hour efficiency. It's actually very good. Mining efficiency requires speed, not space. This distributor is the perfect basis for that.

I really don't mind the lack of a prospector, because rocks in a Haz RES give off so much material.

But it could be so much more reconsider that.

With only two collectors, I'd be there all day collecting - which won't happen anyway, because I'll get attacked first. So it really ends up not being an issue.

Here is why it is an issue: you could be done collecting before you get attacked, or finish up collecting while being attacked (taking cover behind the asteroid or throwing chaff). With just 2 collectors you may end up having to abandon high value fragments. Also asteroids become "depleted" after the first chipped fragment. If you jump out before draining the whole thing you are missing out on the remaining content for 2 hours.

Generally I'll pop into a Haz RES, chip off single fragments to prospect old-school style until I find one that's ~50% painite.

Remember the locations.

At that point, I'm going to get attacked by the next time a pirate scans me, so it gets interesting.

Don't be disappointed if they ignore you. Or tuck their tail and leave seeing your impressive load out. A non bounty hunting instance with pirates only trickling in is pretty chill, even the hazardous ones.

Anyone else play around with some similar non-standard mining setups?

This is all I do. I'm very sad that it's not considered standard.


Things I would change about your build:

Get two medium mining lasers. The distributor can handle them. That's fragments generated twice as fast. Also don't waste a large slot for one, you could have more fire power.
And bump up your active collector count to 3 per medium laser if you want to keep up (maybe just 4-5 total in this case, because the distributor cannot fully sustain 2 without engineering). If you don't, make sure to take fire breaks to not let fragments expire.

Double chaff as mentioned earlier to make up for replaced defensive modules.

Also I generally store the utility modules at a nearby station to pick them up after mining. You gotta dock to sell anyway, why not optimise on that occasion.

edit: nvm about the defensive modules - I haven't used all the combat ships since they got the restricted slots yet - hehe

 

[CMDR Corlas]

The SCB and MRP are in mil-spec slots, or I would have probably put more cargo and an extra collector in there, yeah.

It kind of hurts me having a C2 mining laser in a C3 slot, but an asymmetric weapons loadout would hurt more, so it's only for the sake of my sanity.

You do make good points about more collectors and prospectors though. It felt really weird to run like this at first, after so much mining with them. I'm just not sure I want to trade my scoop and ADS for it. I'll probably try to fine-tune my Python for that purpose, and see how the extra mining efficiency makes up for a loss in speed and agility.

 

[YinYin]

Wouldn't mining lasers left and right be symmetric? Then you can have whatever class 3 on top and bottom.

Python is the king for having the largest medium ship distributor and a lot of space. Without engineering or lances it does need to use prospectors for finding stuff though ... but not any slower if you fire multiple ones.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

Yeah, but I'd have to have more collectors to make 2x c2 miners worth it. When I'm running only one, 2x C2 weapons maximizes weapons damage vs a single c3. If I ever drop my scoop and my ADS for more collectors, I'll totally swap in 2x mining lasers to keep 'em busy.

Have you tried mining lances? I'm always intrigued, but I've never played with them. Given that they're smalls, I'm worried they'll be as uselessly slow as the normal c1 mining lasers. I wish we could get an engineer special or something that would let a normal laser function as a mining laser. That would be amazing.

 

[YinYin]

Have you tried mining lances? I'm always intrigued, but I've never played with them. Given that they're smalls, I'm worried they'll be as uselessly slow as the normal c1 mining lasers. I wish we could get an engineer special or something that would let a normal laser function as a mining laser. That would be amazing.

I have a full set stored (6).

They are in fact only as fast as a small, but they have quadruple range and do almost as much damage as a small fixed beam.
That makes them perfect for prospecting, while also providing some actual damage.

Here is what just one of them can achieve: https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteMiners/comments/54ekqr/painite_run
(16 tons of random Painite in 20 minutes - replicable average)

 

[CMDR Corlas]

Wow, that's awesome! 2km range for mining is kind of amazing for my prospectorless ships, especially ones that already use small mining lasers like my Cobra and Keelback. Might even be useful on some of the others. It's at least some additional flexibility to consider. I may just have to sign up with Ms Torval. Thanks!

 

[sibullski]

Doesn't mining in a haz res produce a higher yield of metals? Meaning if I found a 30 percent painite asteroid inside a haz res wouldn't it yield more fragments of painite than an asteroid with 30 percent painite would outside of a haz res?

 

[YinYin]

Doesn't mining in a haz res produce a higher yield of metals? Meaning if I found a 30 percent painite asteroid inside a haz res wouldn't it yield more fragments of painite than an asteroid with 30 percent painite would outside of a haz res?

Mining within 20 km of an extraction site in general will yield more fragments.

The different extraction site levels do not yield more fragments compared to each other.

A hazardous extraction site will however contain more high value asteroids than lower levels.

 

[sibullski]

Mining within 20 km of an extraction site in general will yield more fragments.

The different extraction site levels do not yield more fragments compared to each other.

A hazardous extraction site will however contain more high value asteroids than lower levels.

thanks that's appreciated like Op I created a miner ship for haz res just for the fun of it.