Newcomer / Intro how to mine faster

[Zeus Cubed]

Hallo. Now that I have mastered my collection limpets, I actually gained some money by mining. BUT it however took me the best of 3 hrs to achieve some 20T cargo of useful minerals and metals.

Questions: do mining lasers come in many sizes? Is there any advantage in using a bigger one?
Can I install more than one mining laser?
What is a Mining Lance and in what it differes from a mining laser?

Thanks

 

[mistohise]

You can get size 1 or 2 mining lasers and a size 2 does break stuff off a lot faster than a size 1.
You can fit multiple mining lasers (assuming your ship allows).
I don't know about lances.

Mining is never a very "fast" activity, but the bigger mining lasers will break chunks off faster than a lot of drones can collect.

 

[FrogsFriend]

Here are my top tips for mining...

More lasers will empty the asteroids faster.
More collectors will scoop it up faster.
Mining in Pristine Metallic rings will give more high value metals (http://edtools.ddns.net/index.php).
Using the highest class of Prospector Limpets will increase yields.

Happy mining!

 

[Rob_the_Sparky]

Class 2 mining lasers are much quicker than a class 1, if you can then use a class 2 but multiple class 1s will also work OK.
A mining lance is a mining laser that also does ship damage, a power play weapon that I know very little about.
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Note: Unless you are going to manoeuvre for faster collector performance there is little purpose to generating fragments much faster than your collectors can collect them.
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Note 2: the further your collectors have to travel the longer they take per fragment. Ideally you should fire at a single point on the asteroid so your chips are in one general area, then position your ship directly above this "chip cloud" so collectors can go directly from there to your cargo hatch.
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Note 3: if you are using a refinery with few bins you have to be more selective about what you are mining (and if you want to maximise profit). Prospectors help but you can also fire at random asteroids with the laser to check what fragments contain.

 

[Dominic Corner]

What is a Mining Lance and in what it differes from a mining laser?

Hi there,

The mining lance is a mining laser which can also inflict combat damage.

The ability to buy one is a reward for powerplay participants pledged to Zemina Torval.

I believe it also has a slightly different colouration to the beam, which makes it a hit at parties.

Thanks,
Dom

 

[Jane Turner]

My top tip is remember that in almost all circumstances its is your ability to collect which is the rate limiting step. If you are waiting around after an asteroid is depleted - you don't have enough collectors. We run 12 collectors when we are taking mining seriously... I'll find a video

- - - Updated - - -

Here - strip mining

[video]https://www.dropbox.com/s/4bz6sqra0841glr/strip%20mine%202.avi?dl=0https://www.dropbox.com/s/4bz6sqra0841glr/strip%20mine%202.avi?dl=0[/video]

 

[d8veh]

In simple words, there's no point in getting more powerful lasers if you can't collect fast enough with the limpets.

 

[Chrystoph]

All good advice, but I am kind of surprised no one asked prior. @OP, what is your mining rig?

I found this guide to be very helpful in terms of good ship design, although the Cobra IV is not available to all players.