Is mining ment to be that xxxx
- Thread starter nariquo
- Start date
Viajero
Volunteer Moderator
Many of the mining game mechanics described in the DDA are still not implemented. What we seem to have at the moment is barebones and feels quite incomplete indeed. Some of those missing mechanics should help with pinpointing the vest seams in asteroids. Plus there is probably a bit more balancing in terms of the Cr reward to be done.
We dont know if FDEV will finish it off or develop it further but I would be a bit disappointed if they left mining as is tbh.
We dont know if FDEV will finish it off or develop it further but I would be a bit disappointed if they left mining as is tbh.
Mining is not worthless if you go to the right area's and it takes a fair bit of money for the correct upgrades to make it really profitable.
Mining will be better when they finish implementing the rest of the mechanics so as it is now I would probably just trade if you have the capital behind you to do it.
Mining will be better when they finish implementing the rest of the mechanics so as it is now I would probably just trade if you have the capital behind you to do it.
I agree - mining is tedious and fiddly. It needs to become something you can do to relax, not something that has you fiddling about with cargo scoops to get your ore.
I've played just about every 'space' game out there. ED and X series blast rocks and scoop chunks. SPG2 has you blast rocks and then get close enough to hit a collect button. EvE has a working 'beam' collection system that fills your hold up with raw ore and then lets you ferry it to a processing plant.
Of the above examples, I prefer EvE's method since I'm not trying to roleplay in a 'Steampunk' space epic...
I've played just about every 'space' game out there. ED and X series blast rocks and scoop chunks. SPG2 has you blast rocks and then get close enough to hit a collect button. EvE has a working 'beam' collection system that fills your hold up with raw ore and then lets you ferry it to a processing plant.
Of the above examples, I prefer EvE's method since I'm not trying to roleplay in a 'Steampunk' space epic...
I watched a video how mining worked and how to do it in its most optimum form, so that the different containers lined up neatly to make the scooping as easy as possible.
Decided then and there it wasn't for me..
Decided then and there it wasn't for me..
Eighties' Sci-Fi? They had tractor beams in Star Wars which was seventies' sci-fi
I expected that the technology in ELITE might have moved on in thirty years as much as our real life technology has in the same period.
It needs to be updated - it's a clunky mess. Don't even get me started on the 'computer' in the ships
I expected that the technology in ELITE might have moved on in thirty years as much as our real life technology has in the same period.
It needs to be updated - it's a clunky mess. Don't even get me started on the 'computer' in the ships
At the moment, for the reasons already mentioned, if you want to earn credits as fast as possible then fitting out for mining isn't worth the extra weight and compartment space. As a secondary activity, however, it complements one career path, exploring, quite nicely. I like to "assay" the belts and rings in newly explored systems, and if I return to known space with a hold full of minerals and precious metals then that's a bonus.
Mining is the most excruciating way to make cash in the game.
Your spelling is pretty xxxx too!
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You must have the Marcel Marceau version of the game.
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You must have the Marcel Marceau version of the game.
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I tried mining for the first time yesterday. Was very tedious. Shame, hopefully it'll get better.
I usually make 220,000-285,000cr profit per mining trip and each one takes just under an hour. Now you might be able to make a lot more trading but mining is incredibly fun and very relaxing to me. of course if you line up with the rotation of the asteroid correctly you can get it to throw the fragments in your direction so you only need minor thruster adjustments to collect most of them.
Also I'd like to say anyone asking for tractor beams added to mining need to have their Elite pilots licence revoked
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You mined in the wrong place. ....or have no patience.
watch the "How to Mine" video someone else mentioned above (I don't have the URL right now). In an hauler with a 4 bin refinery, 14T cargo space and a tiny bit of luck (mostly compensated by the choice of asteroid belt/ring) I can easily make > 100k pure profit after 20-60mn (depending on the luck thing) of relaxation, listening to music.
The basic process is :
* Probe-mine asteroids until you find what you want. In most cases, that would be platinum, palladium, gold or silver although it's always good to check the boards at your port of call for people looking for particular minerals (20K for 2T of easily found indite for example is a very sweet deal, as you can be sure you'll get it in less than 10mn).
* Once you have found the jackpot (mining is really like scratch-lottery), you check the rotation of the asteroid and try to pinpoint the axis around which it revolves (or at least a point that is halfway steady)
* ... and then you mine away, always on the same spot (technically : always on the same polygon) so that all the chunks line up neatly. If you can't get a straight line you might need to dig in 4 or 5 chunk batches to avoid the ore to decay, collect them and then repeat until no chunks are created anymore.
* Once you have your chunks nicely lined up you select the first chunk you digged up, align your ship so that the rest of the ore form a line away from you. All that's needed is to select the next chunk as soon as you scooped one. Very effective, no hassle ...
* fly to your station of choice which hopefully isn't far.
Lately, of course, piracy in ore deposits in anarchy systems has been on the rise, so you always should keep an eye on new ships appearing and be ready to either fight (if you have any weapons with you) or flee. If you don't have any weapons (And possibly no shields) and someone starts scanning you then don't wait for the scan to end to retract your cargo scoop and hardpoints. If your cargo bay is empty (chunk % don't count as cargo!) you CAN wait to see if the pirate will just leave you alone though. From time to time a psychopath will attack you despite (or because) the fact that you don't have anything valuable, but more oftne than not they'll just let you live.
The whole thing could (and hopefully will) be refined, but right now mining can be quite a nice and interesting activity, especially if you like to gamble. It's not without risks,but the financial rewards can be worth it and most of the time it is relaxing.
The basic process is :
* Probe-mine asteroids until you find what you want. In most cases, that would be platinum, palladium, gold or silver although it's always good to check the boards at your port of call for people looking for particular minerals (20K for 2T of easily found indite for example is a very sweet deal, as you can be sure you'll get it in less than 10mn).
* Once you have found the jackpot (mining is really like scratch-lottery), you check the rotation of the asteroid and try to pinpoint the axis around which it revolves (or at least a point that is halfway steady)
* ... and then you mine away, always on the same spot (technically : always on the same polygon) so that all the chunks line up neatly. If you can't get a straight line you might need to dig in 4 or 5 chunk batches to avoid the ore to decay, collect them and then repeat until no chunks are created anymore.
* Once you have your chunks nicely lined up you select the first chunk you digged up, align your ship so that the rest of the ore form a line away from you. All that's needed is to select the next chunk as soon as you scooped one. Very effective, no hassle ...
* fly to your station of choice which hopefully isn't far.
Lately, of course, piracy in ore deposits in anarchy systems has been on the rise, so you always should keep an eye on new ships appearing and be ready to either fight (if you have any weapons with you) or flee. If you don't have any weapons (And possibly no shields) and someone starts scanning you then don't wait for the scan to end to retract your cargo scoop and hardpoints. If your cargo bay is empty (chunk % don't count as cargo!) you CAN wait to see if the pirate will just leave you alone though. From time to time a psychopath will attack you despite (or because) the fact that you don't have anything valuable, but more oftne than not they'll just let you live.
The whole thing could (and hopefully will) be refined, but right now mining can be quite a nice and interesting activity, especially if you like to gamble. It's not without risks,but the financial rewards can be worth it and most of the time it is relaxing.
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The "low" yield of mining is not the fault of the game, but the players: many use game breaking cheat trading tools, and can find a trade route with ridiculous ROI without investing any in-game time in finding it. Therefore mining looks much worse than it actually is the way the game is supposed to be played (i.e. without external trading tools). Don't blame FD if you break the game for yourself.
I get around 200k per hour mining a Major Metallic belt I found in my Cobra. It took me hours to learn mining, to do it fast, and in finding a good belt. The thing is, the same goes for trading: you have to figure out how to trade, what to trade, and finding short high-ROI routes. Although in fairness it might be easier to find a more lucrative trade route than mining if you're persistent, and mining doesn't scale nearly as well as does trading the bigger ship you have.
With a Refinery with three or more bins it's not as fiddly as with a smaller one, and you rarely need to offload precious metals to make way for new ones.
What is lacking, though, is the skill component. It takes skill to perfect your scooping mechanics which is fun. But there really should be some skill component to mine. Perhaps you can see the veins on the asteroid when you arm the mining laser, and have to hit the vein for best yield.
Also, a way to tag asteroids already mined or checked so you don't double back. Although figuring out which way you're facing after each scooping run can be a challenge in itself.
I get around 200k per hour mining a Major Metallic belt I found in my Cobra. It took me hours to learn mining, to do it fast, and in finding a good belt. The thing is, the same goes for trading: you have to figure out how to trade, what to trade, and finding short high-ROI routes. Although in fairness it might be easier to find a more lucrative trade route than mining if you're persistent, and mining doesn't scale nearly as well as does trading the bigger ship you have.
With a Refinery with three or more bins it's not as fiddly as with a smaller one, and you rarely need to offload precious metals to make way for new ones.
What is lacking, though, is the skill component. It takes skill to perfect your scooping mechanics which is fun. But there really should be some skill component to mine. Perhaps you can see the veins on the asteroid when you arm the mining laser, and have to hit the vein for best yield.
Also, a way to tag asteroids already mined or checked so you don't double back. Although figuring out which way you're facing after each scooping run can be a challenge in itself.
I had started off with mining when I first began Elite, got lucky and found a pristine metallic belt around a sun and made some quick early credits but it got tiring and tedious, fast.
Cargo scooping was just a nightmare after that 100th rock, felt like if I'd ever head the words, "Cargo scoop deployed" I'd break something.
Cargo scooping was just a nightmare after that 100th rock, felt like if I'd ever head the words, "Cargo scoop deployed" I'd break something.
Snakebite
Banned
Eighties' Sci-Fi? They had tractor beams in Star Wars which was seventies' sci-fi
I expected that the technology in ELITE might have moved on in thirty years as much as our real life technology has in the same period.
It needs to be updated - it's a clunky mess. Don't even get me started on the 'computer' in the ships
Frontier had a 'Tractor beam' cargo scoops and that was set a hundred years back, I guess they just forgot how to make them or something