Hotspots are a joke!
- Thread starter ithinkiam
- Start date
But there is no visual way to discern a "bountiful" asteroid vs. a dude, correct? Not for laser mining, anyway. I've got to rely on RNG when it comes to firing prospector limpets?
Correct.
Thing is, the addition of hotspots really improved the likelihood of finding suitable 'roids (no more trundling along, finding one Painite 'roid an hour) and the overlaps multiply that likelihood.
If you really want to min/max your mining experience, you can unlock and fit a mining lance.
That has extra range, which means you can, basically, fly along shooting at everything with the mining lance and check your Contacts HUD for Painite fragments without ever stopping.
More mundanely, though, if you just fill up your cargo hold to 75% capacity with limpets and then just fly along shooting a prospector at every 'roid and you'll still end up with a hold full of Painite before you run out of limpets.
Night vision doesn't help much (if at all) in brightly lit fields with a lot of dust in the view, as shown below.
Also .... and this is important ... I suspect different observers see subtle differences depending on display and graphics settings.
The display of hot rocks has definitely improved in the last month or so. Never before did I see red rocks illuminated like this (void opal rock):
Also .... and this is important ... I suspect different observers see subtle differences depending on display and graphics settings.
The display of hot rocks has definitely improved in the last month or so. Never before did I see red rocks illuminated like this (void opal rock):
This.
There's no "magic bullet" to help with mining.
NV helps sometimes but fails in bright light.
Spotlights help in the dark (duh!) and also help gauge distance but they can wash-out detail too.
The "trick" is just being aware that all these things can help and making use of them appropriately.
OP here. I probably wasn't clear regarding my gripe. The lack of cores isn't the issue here, but the lack of ANY platinum in a supposed platinum hotspot most definitely is. I must have investigated 50-60 rocks with a mix of prospectors and simple zapping.
I did a lot of laser mining and filled up with the other minerals for the CG.
I know how to find DCs and I also know they are much less obvious in rocky/metallic rings. LTDs and VOs are pretty easy to spot IMO.
I did a lot of laser mining and filled up with the other minerals for the CG.
I know how to find DCs and I also know they are much less obvious in rocky/metallic rings. LTDs and VOs are pretty easy to spot IMO.
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This only makes me want there to be turreted mining lasers and 'roids to be targetable so I can just...
But on asteroids while I sit in my mining ship of choice(preferably Cutter since they love turrets)
Heh, yeah.
It would be cool to just fly through a ring looking like a massive Van de Graaff generator but, somehow, I suspect FDev will want us to work harder than that.
I don't even care if rocks only put out 1 fragment. I just want a sweet rave party unce unce unce unceHeh, yeah.
It would be cool to just fly through a ring looking like a massive Van de Graaff generator but, somehow, I suspect FDev will want us to work harder than that.
I've tried many a depleted metallic/rocky ring and the hotspots have next to no content. I avoid depleted rings now. Icy rings are better.
Likely confirmation bias I'm afraid... Even in pristine rings, I have had instances of no VO's for half an hour of flying. Then I find 7 rocks in 10 mins. Best advice I can give is get a phantom or clipper (fast and not too large to navigate inside a detonated 'roid) and haul rear towards anything shiny.
I have pulled full loads on my phantom from depleted rings as well as had many slow runs where I got bored. The same experience has also been seen in pristine. Fact is it makes no difference if you are only cracking 'roids for that juicy center bit.
if you want numbers, I mine VO 5 ly from Sol and have 33 billion in cash. Core mining has nothing to do with reserves.
My experience with "Hotspots" is that they are not hotspots at all. It seems that evey time I drop into a void opal hotspot, I search around for asteroids with cores, and yes I do know what one looks like, and only find maybe 5 an hour. Of those five that have cores, only one or 2 will be void opals, in a void opal hotspot. It is very frustrating. I'll just stick to pirating LTD's.
Are you in a hotspot or just flying around in a ring?
You might be flying too slowly ... a doubling of your speed as you scan will double your chances. Play the RNG in your favor.
I constantly tell people to use the Phantom... really can't beat that loadout for speed and still having just enough capacity for just over 100 units/ton of cargo. Also that dope thruster layout lol...
Im sure someone has said this but if not , instead of firing off all your prospectors you can switch on nightvision and simply check for fissures , they tend to stand out much more in nightvision. So many times when out core hunting i see rocks that shine brighter than the sun but upon inspection they have no fissures on the surface and i save a drone for another time.
So my MO is, once I find a core asteroid, I then skip the next however many asteroids and fly about 20km before checking them again. Actually fairly reliable for me.
I have had a number of instances (maybe 1:15) where I will actually find cored 'roids next to one another. I just use La Phantoma to speed scan... and sometimes pass a rock by 3 km trying to break and look closer lol.
I dunno why anybody would worry too much about it, TBH.
If you're flying a Python/Krait you probably have 128t of cargo space, which means you can carry 128 limpets and you need to locate 9 DC 'roids to fill your cargo hold.
Unless you're firing limpets at everything that's even vaguely glowing (or eating them as snacks), you should never run out of limpets while DC mining.
Even if you use a new batch of collectors for each DC 'roid you mine, that's still only 50 limpets, which leaves 78 to use as prospectors to find 9 DC 'roids.
That shouldn't be too difficult for anybody.
Also, I've found that firing off prospectors at things that I don't think are DC 'roids can help teach me what to ignore and reassure me that I have some idea of what I'm doing.
Sure, at Cr100 a pop, you can save a few credits by minimising your limpet purchasing but, geez, when you're earning Cr1.6m/t for VO's, you can afford to splurge.
