Just tried out mining with collector Drones ....

[Luniticisi]

I absolutely love what these little fellas bring to the table .. I was only testing them out (a trail run of the equipment) and within 10 mins and 5 drones (2 of which expired instantly as I had the fragments targeted) I had pulled in about 50.000 credits worth of palladium and osmium .. now I know that's not a lot of cash but the peacefulness of mining that already existed is even better .. Just stick on some music or a movie on another screen and your making loads of free credits ... love it ... nice execution FD .... just .... Nice.

 

[Surly_Badger]

I absolutely love what these little fellas bring to the table ..

Yeah, I like the different depth of play they layer atop the older mining game. Now your ability to mine is a resource management and path optimization problem! It's a cool combination of challenging and relaxing.

 

[Luniticisi]

Yeah, I like the different depth of play they layer atop the older mining game. Now your ability to mine is a resource management and path optimization problem! It's a cool combination of challenging and relaxing.

Didn't think someone would agree with me here .... it does raise a question for me ... do asteroids eventually (for want of a better word) 're-stock' after time ? .. as last time I was out mining you only had to reset the instance to (another poor word) 'refill' them.

 

[FiddenUK]

They won't 're-stock' until you reset the instance. Rocks have memories!

 

[Dommarraa]

Mining is one of the rare areas of the game to have a suitable level of 'depth'. When the Refinerys get their upgrade in the next release, it might be a fun holiday occupation

 

[Luniticisi]

They won't 're-stock' until you reset the instance. Rocks have memories!

I know that was the case, but today I was in a nice asteroid belt, mined it out a bit then had to leave the game ... so I left the area and shut down the game ... when I went back in after about an hour away from the game .. I restarted and entered the same ring cluster and the Asteroids were all empty (and no other ships anywhere near me) .. so not too sure how it works now.

 

[Dommarraa]

I know that was the case, but today I was in a nice asteroid belt, mined it out a bit then had to leave the game ... so I left the area and shut down the game ... when I went back in after about an hour away from the game .. I restarted and entered the same ring cluster and the Asteroids were all empty (and no other ships anywhere near me) .. so not too sure how it works now.

Devs did once say that Asteroids could only be mined once per person. I guess it is remotely possible that they record the ID of each asteroid each person mines, AND that in the vastness of an asteroid field you will ever come across the same patch twice.

 

[Sevanje]

I am usually not a party pooper, but mining could be so much more. Even now it is still "bare minimum" as they said, but with drones.

 

[Surly_Badger]

I am usually not a party pooper, but mining could be so much more. Even now it is still "bare minimum" as they said, but with drones.

What more could it be?
Unless by "more" you mean you'd like to just be able to click "go" and AFK and make credits?

I was pretty impressed by the way FD clearly thought about mining game-play when they upgraded it with the drones. There are other potential upgrade paths but mostly they involve drone-clouds and massive mining ships and transshipping ore... Stuff like that I don't see happening any time soon.

 

[CMDR StackOfCups]

I agree as well. There's something oddly enjoyable about it. My friends and I tried a 3 person expedition and had a plan. Some prospectors and protectors and one refinery ship. It actually would have worked well but we didn't communicate perfectly and one of the friends couldn't quite jump to the system. Now they don't have an interest in mining but as the "refinery ship" I had SO much fun. I'm not sure WHY it was fun, to be honest, but it was.

I do have one question though. My friend was doing the prospecting with drones and he'd tell me which rocks were good, so I kind of queued them up as I went. However once he left (this was my one time mining, btw) I couldn't mine anymore. I didn't have prospector drones and I flew around hitting every rock I saw with my dual mining lasers and chunks just weren't chipping off. I wasn't getting that melted line you get when you're tearing a rock up. So did something change and now we have to prospect a rock before we chip away at it? Can someone break down how that works? I'm eager to get back into mining but I want to make sure I'm well equipped, and the guides online are quite varied, especially since 1.3 update. Thanks!

 

[Sevanje]

What more could it be?
Unless by "more" you mean you'd like to just be able to click "go" and AFK and make credits?

I was pretty impressed by the way FD clearly thought about mining game-play when they upgraded it with the drones. There are other potential upgrade paths but mostly they involve drone-clouds and massive mining ships and transshipping ore... Stuff like that I don't see happening any time soon.

It is not that bad as it sounds in my previous post, I made 70% of my riches with mining. But well, it all depends on ideas someone's have of what it could be done, and frankly I would be very happy with just the half of the things mentioned in DDF. (https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=7007).

Yes limpets are a great addition (only collector not prospector), and something innovative, but I don't really fancy being the manual filter for refinery. Instead I would like to focus my attention to the asteroid itself, and preset refinery or limpets.

For example, ores could be concentrated in small areas, that would be located with some sort of scanner, and you would position your mining vessel accordingly (even better if asteroid is moving). There could be some sort of gas trapped inside (perhaps from radioactive decay), and you would avoid those spots, if not they would explode (due to excessive energy given from mining lasers) or contaminate the ore and perhaps damage your ship.
My thoughts.

 

[FunGas]

they are a pleasure to use, shame the money's so poor until you find a really good spot...

 

[Bacalao]

What more could it be?
Unless by "more" you mean you'd like to just be able to click "go" and AFK and make credits?

I was pretty impressed by the way FD clearly thought about mining game-play when they upgraded it with the drones. There are other potential upgrade paths but mostly they involve drone-clouds and massive mining ships and transshipping ore... Stuff like that I don't see happening any time soon.

There could be a lot of quality of life improvements, like asteroids being marked as depleted, asteroids being targetable and marked on the scanner, priority/exclusion rules for refinery bins, limpets not expiring due to targeting a single chunk. Stuff like that.

 

[Luniticisi]

they are a pleasure to use, shame the money's so poor until you find a really good spot...

Good thing I always find a good spot then ... I have 128 tons of space in my combat clipper (not got enough to buy the 7A shields) but seeing as two Large Pulse lasers work so well on the Vulture .. why not add a couple of good mining lasers and a nice refinery and those collector blighters ... only had to give up around 20t of space .. If pirates turn up ...nice bounty to collect if they don't nice 5.000 cr + metals to pick up .. it's all good here

 

[Surly_Badger]

There could be a lot of quality of life improvements, like asteroids being marked as depleted, asteroids being targetable and marked on the scanner, priority/exclusion rules for refinery bins, limpets not expiring due to targeting a single chunk. Stuff like that.

Ah, right. Dumbing it down. That's what I thought.

Edit: they are making some reasonable "quality of life" changes in the next release, in that your refinery will automatically assign stuff to an empty bin if there is one. How's that? It's a step toward making it AFK friendly.

 

[Luniticisi]

I have to say here that mining should not just be an AFK experience and nor should it be something that is exciting (unless you want to mine where pirates are!) ... mining is .... well mining ... collecting rocks and making a profit (you're always making a profit!) .. it doesn't need to be Jazzed up or made all sparkly and shiny .. it's a dirty business and someones gotta do it ...

What'd be nice is that manufacturing would cease if the right metals/minerals were not being brought to the source .. a man can dream .. (and so can a woman ... I'm not sexist !!!!)

 

[Bacalao]

Ah, right. Dumbing it down. That's what I thought.

Edit: they are making some reasonable "quality of life" changes in the next release, in that your refinery will automatically assign stuff to an empty bin if there is one. How's that? It's a step toward making it AFK friendly.

It's a step toward getting rid of the vertigo I get from switching to my right hand panel every 4 seconds, as it is, mining isn't about mining, it's about tabbing around.

The DDF has some great stuff in there, making it skill based and immersive, mining the right part of an asteroid, using precision, scanning carefully, making decisions. Mining isn't a decision based scenario, it doesn't require any skill, it is a lot of hitting the 4 key to do something I just did 5 seconds ago and making sure I have a big refinery. There is something fun about doing it sans limpets, because then I pilot my ship and get good at handling the scoop, but in doing so I halt any progress I am making toward mission goals/faction progress/BGS interaction/Cr earning because it is ridiculously time intensive. There are other ways to engage more with the game and handle my ship well.

But I suppose if slamming that 4 key, while cruising around blindly groping for another un-mined asteroid is what people find as an engaging and challenging scenario then I really do need it dumbed down from that because I just don't get it.

 

[Luniticisi]

It's a step toward getting rid of the vertigo I get from switching to my right hand panel every 4 seconds, as it is, mining isn't about mining, it's about tabbing around.

The DDF has some great stuff in there, making it skill based and immersive, mining the right part of an asteroid, using precision, scanning carefully, making decisions. Mining isn't a decision based scenario, it doesn't require any skill, it is a lot of hitting the 4 key to do something I just did 5 seconds ago and making sure I have a big refinery. There is something fun about doing it sans limpets, because then I pilot my ship and get good at handling the scoop, but in doing so I halt any progress I am making toward mission goals/faction progress/BGS interaction/Cr earning because it is ridiculously time intensive. There are other ways to engage more with the game and handle my ship well.

But I suppose if slamming that 4 key, while cruising around blindly groping for another un-mined asteroid is what people find as an engaging and challenging scenario then I really do need it dumbed down from that because I just don't get it.

Why not just keep your focus on the right hand panel 'Cargo' as your drones collect ? .. serious question ... that's what I have been doing.

 

[Iskariot]

What more could it be?
Unless by "more" you mean you'd like to just be able to click "go" and AFK and make credits?

I was pretty impressed by the way FD clearly thought about mining game-play when they upgraded it with the drones. There are other potential upgrade paths but mostly they involve drone-clouds and massive mining ships and transshipping ore... Stuff like that I don't see happening any time soon.

What I think could really get made into something much more exiting is the prospecting itself.
I'd like to see a much more interesting scanning mechanics/tools.
And I also hope we will get an orbital scanning mechanic when Horizons is released.
I believe Horizons could add an entirely new dimension to mining.

 

[CMDR Weatherwax]

What I think could really get made into something much more exiting is the prospecting itself.
I'd like to see a much more interesting scanning mechanics/tools.
And I also hope we will get an orbital scanning mechanic when Horizons is released.
I believe Horizons could add an entirely new dimension to mining.

Prospecting I think could be made a bit better. Maybe the limpet generates some kind of mineral heat map so you have to aim for the better spots to get the good stuff, together with maybe a mining permit so you can legally only get a set number of chunks off at a time unless you revoke the permit and further deplete the asteroid which would activate security response? Dunno just trying to think up how that could work.