Is mining worth it?
- Thread starter Oakos
- Start date
Almighty Bob
Banned
no.......
more cargo space? some people even sell their shields and install an extra cargo rack instead. as for profit, is 1/4 of a million credits an hour enough? if so get to it! you may want to find the D2? mining laser first though as the D1 is a bit slow at chipping off chunks of the asteroid.
You should fly outside core systems,or explore galaxy map and find system with pristine metallic belts but more important with pristine metallic ring around gas giants, go there and mine.And watch for npc pirates in belts if you are in "only" mining ship. Mine only platinum if you have small cargo.1t of platinum is about 18.5k so fly around and mine that.Palladium is the second choice.Thats all.Good luck!
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It's only going to get you anywhere if you can find a pristine metal rich or metallic asteroid field or planetary ring. Even then once you are past the cargo capacity of an adder or cobra, the time it takes is better spent just finding a solid 10 minute trade route you can readily make 600-800 per ton on. If you just want to have fun and try it, the mining laser is dirt cheap, but make sure the refinery module has at least 2 slots, preferably 4+, or you will be pulling your hair out constantly jettisoning the fractional portions to make room for different ones.
Almighty Bob
Banned
Talshiarr you are paraphrasing me again stop it
Mining is relaxing (until the rats show up) and can be profitable, as others have pointed out, but needs a lot of exploration to be successful.
No; it's not worth it. It doesn't really compete with trading, which isn't necessarily bad, but to me it's the most unfun game mechanism ingame so I'm not mining. (I dislike having to scoop dozens of canisters and the UI for refineries in one of the clunkiest mechanismes I've seen in a long time.
Mining is definitly not worth the time. i tried it for an hour today in my cobra and it got me no where, catching These stupid rocks is just horrible in 60 minutes i have only managed to chatch 3 rocks. Why there is nothing like an Traktor beam or why is the ore you mine not automaticly stored in your chargo like in every other space game?
I stick witch my trade route, on one way i make 860cr per ton and on way back only 120 but its ok, my cobra has 44 chargoslots so my Profit is around 38k per run and soon i have enough Money to buy the Transporter for 1mioCr..
Btw. if anyone knows a better trade route thats fast i would be happy to hear.
I stick witch my trade route, on one way i make 860cr per ton and on way back only 120 but its ok, my cobra has 44 chargoslots so my Profit is around 38k per run and soon i have enough Money to buy the Transporter for 1mioCr..
Btw. if anyone knows a better trade route thats fast i would be happy to hear.
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Almighty Bob
Banned
Lovely answer, do you want to scoooooop or refine, I'm one of your two guys as long as you are not the other 'guy'
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Pristine resources are much easier to find at the edges of inhabited space where mankind hasn't started exploiting them yet, it's quite logical really.
When i started mining i just checked the galaxy map for where the federation, imperial and alliance territories had its edges and went straight for the closest edge, it was a long trip but i found plenty of pristine systems with both alliance and federation systems around so i could make extra profit from bounty hunting while mining.
When i first arrived i was a complete mining newbie but my first two hour trip to a pristine metallic ring yielded 34t of metals för 320K credits and bounties for an additional 40K, the two hours included learning scooping and stuff so it's quite profitable.
Later i got a surface scanner so i could search out metallic areas in unexplored systems (most are at the edges) to get some variation when i play, so i combine exploring, bounty hunting and mining which makes it far less repetitive.
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Mining is worth it if you know where to look.
You need to find Metallic rings or ring clusters (not Metal Rich mind you, Metallic) and you want to make sure they aren't in a hugely populated system where they'll be mined out. If you find Metallic rings with 'pristine' then you've hit pay dirt!.
You'll need a mining laser (either go for a size 2 or get 2 small ones, otherwise it's too slow) and a refinery. Aim for a refinery with 3 bins rather then those with two or one bin.
The rocks you find are listed as 'mineral name xx%'. If the percentage after the mineral is less than 6% then don't bother with that rock.
Don't bother with anything less than Silver and remember that Platinum is the most valuable followed by Palladium.
If done right you'll find yourself with ~8 tons of Palladium every hour supplemented by other minerals. 8 tons of Palladium is worth well over 80k cr.
Beware though, some people find it very boring.
You need to find Metallic rings or ring clusters (not Metal Rich mind you, Metallic) and you want to make sure they aren't in a hugely populated system where they'll be mined out. If you find Metallic rings with 'pristine' then you've hit pay dirt!.
You'll need a mining laser (either go for a size 2 or get 2 small ones, otherwise it's too slow) and a refinery. Aim for a refinery with 3 bins rather then those with two or one bin.
The rocks you find are listed as 'mineral name xx%'. If the percentage after the mineral is less than 6% then don't bother with that rock.
Don't bother with anything less than Silver and remember that Platinum is the most valuable followed by Palladium.
If done right you'll find yourself with ~8 tons of Palladium every hour supplemented by other minerals. 8 tons of Palladium is worth well over 80k cr.
Beware though, some people find it very boring.
Further out you get from the core worlds area, the better the mining is. I'm in an area a bit over 150ly from the core worlds (Achenar, Sol, etc), still a reasonable population, and have my pick of systems with pristine metallic rings (2 in my system, the one I mine less than 2ls away from the local coriolis station which is orbiting just outside the outer ring, and with a decent police presence so my mining is seldom interrupted by pirates). There's at least another 2 or 3 systems with pristine metallic rings within 20ly of the system I'm now home based in, and another 4 or 5 with metallic asteroid fields (but no rings, which I prefer).
Market trading is still a better moneymaker, but in the neck of the woods I'm in, I can generally turn 250-300k/hr or so mining.
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Don't listen to some of these people, take my advice. DO NOT DEAL WITH CLUSTER BELTS, THEY ARE BAD. They are rare but look for "pristine metallic" planetary rings instead.
THERE IS ONE IN NJIKAN. Master scooping fragments. Mine ONLY palladium, platinum, and gold. High-percentage only. If it's less than 15% then pass it.
I make about 500k an hour, I don't think I can increase past that. I use two mining lasers and 4-bin refinery. More bins should give you more money though.
I am in a Cobra with 32 cargo slots. I cannot give you the rest of my mining locations.
THERE IS ONE IN NJIKAN. Master scooping fragments. Mine ONLY palladium, platinum, and gold. High-percentage only. If it's less than 15% then pass it.
I make about 500k an hour, I don't think I can increase past that. I use two mining lasers and 4-bin refinery. More bins should give you more money though.
I am in a Cobra with 32 cargo slots. I cannot give you the rest of my mining locations.
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All good points. Particularly scooping fragments. Best way I've found to do that is line up on the topmost one (they'll often shoot off in a line if you hold your mining laser steady) and rotate so your cargo scoop is in the same orientation (i.e. your cabin on top of your ship is facing away from the line, your cargo scoop on the bottom of your ship is lined up with the topmost fragment (you do this to prevent your cabin from knocking all the other fragments out of line), then do the "vacuum cleaner maneuver". Thrust forward to pull the topmost fragment in - soon as it hits the hopper, hit reverse thrust for a few seconds. Reorient cabin so that the next fragment is lined up with the hopper, repeat until all fragments are gone. Generally I can vacuum up all the fragments in under 30 seconds and return to mining the next batch off the rock.
Mining IS worth it, but it requires patience and effort. It isn't just about flying from station to station. It's about researching the right location and learning the right techniques, then taking the time to acquire your loot.
With the right ship, the right kit, and the right idea, you can make a lot of money doing it.
It's also very therapeutic.
People who poo-poo the idea of mining probably haven't given it enough time and effort for it to feel worth it to them. Each to their own.
With the right ship, the right kit, and the right idea, you can make a lot of money doing it.
It's also very therapeutic.
People who poo-poo the idea of mining probably haven't given it enough time and effort for it to feel worth it to them. Each to their own.