Mining annoyances: Refinery and targeting improvements

[norcus]

Mining improvement suggestions

- Autoallocate resources in refinery. Please let us have an option to auto allocate resources from the hopper. With all the maneuvering and back and forth between menus while on the clock is kind of a minigame, it wears on my old arthritic wrists and leads to stiff shoulders

- Non-target item scooping. The chunks of ore are sometimes too close together and it almost impossible to scoop one without bumping another chunk or two spinning away. However if you aim your mining laser skillfully you can get the chunks to line up perfectly. Problem is that the next one or two chunks will be outside your field of view so you cant target them without stopping and pitching your ship - further risking bumping them away. Is it really necessary to have an item targeted in order to scoop it? I suggest we can scoop stuff without targeting them.

- Target next/previous/closest similar. If the above cannot be done, at least allow us to cycle through targets of the same type so we can target chunks that are out of view like we can do with ships.

- [Edit: added] Move refining status updates away from target monitor! The status updates obscures the monitor making it harder to pick up stuff in time. Completely unnecessary!

Cheers!

 

[Lapsed Pacifist]

Mining improvement suggestions

- Autoallocate resources in refinery. Please let us have an option to auto allocate resources from the hopper. With all the maneuvering and back and forth between menus while on the clock is kind of a minigame, it wears on my old arthritic wrists and leads to stiff shoulders

- Non-target item scooping. The chunks of ore are sometimes too close together and it almost impossible to scoop one without bumping another chunk or two spinning away. However if you aim your mining laser skillfully you can get the chunks to line up perfectly. Problem is that the next one or two chunks will be outside your field of view so you cant target them without stopping and pitching your ship - further risking bumping them away. Is it really necessary to have an item targeted in order to scoop it? I suggest we can scoop stuff without targeting them.

- Target next/previous/closest similar. If the above cannot be done, at least allow us to cycle through targets of the same type so we can target chunks that are out of view like we can do with ships.

- [Edit: added] Move refining status updates away from target monitor! The status updates obscures the monitor making it harder to pick up stuff in time. Completely unnecessary!

Cheers!

As a fellow miner I totally agree.

If my refinery module has unallocated slots then auto allocate the stuff to the free slots.

If nothing else, please please please move all the messages from the cargo scoop target window, it's so annoying not being able to see where to aim with the message obscuring it!

 

[Marek15]

allocating bins before mining, locking them in and automatically discarding other types of ore if all bins are locked would be useful. also tractor beams that work by canceling existing momentum of objects and slowly pulling them towards the cargo scoop would be nice.

 

[Nom Anor]

allocating bins before mining, locking them in and automatically discarding other types of ore if all bins are locked would be useful. also tractor beams that work by canceling existing momentum of objects and slowly pulling them towards the cargo scoop would be nice.

Adding that would necessitate downgrading the mining, I think. Mining is already very lucrative, so I doubt they'd want to unbalance the grind.

All of the OP's suggestions, I'm fully behind. "Target Closest", irrespective of whether it's a chunk, ship, station would be very useful for landing, taking off, mining, fighting and all sorts of other situations.

It would be nice to be able to scan asteroids instead of littering space with chunks as we pick our way through fields. Make the scan take just as long, but perhaps from a wee bit further out, would be nice.

 

[angryowl]

These are much needed improvements. I enjoy mining but there's too much micro managing required.

 

[Marek15]

Adding that would necessitate downgrading the mining, I think. Mining is already very lucrative, so I doubt they'd want to unbalance the grind.

mining is the slowest source of income after exploring. trading with a type-6 or larger and doing 150k+ assassination missions against anacondas in a cobra will bring in more credits per hour than mining, even if all these ideas were implemented.

 

[Nom Anor]

mining is the slowest source of income after exploring. trading with a type-6 or larger and doing 150k+ assassination missions against anacondas in a cobra will bring in more credits per hour than mining, even if all these ideas were implemented.

Really? Hmm. I must be doing it wrong, then . I've tried trading, exploring and missions.. Made tiddly sums.. So switched to mining..making about 400k per hour in a Cobra mining.. I think I'll do something else then!

Cheers for the heads up.

 

[norcus]

Really? Hmm. I must be doing it wrong, then . I've tried trading, exploring and missions.. Made tiddly sums.. So switched to mining..making about 400k per hour in a Cobra mining.. I think I'll do something else then!

Cheers for the heads up.

I would really like to know where you find all that gold and platinum

 

[BillD]

I would really like to know where you find all that gold and platinum

It pays to be very selective. I chip a sample off a roid and if it has less that 15 to 20 percent of a good ore I move straight on to the next one.
It takes a long time to pick up all the bits, so while you are gathering low yield stuff, I may have been able to sample 10 roids to find a much higher yield roid. Does not always work out sometimes you seem to go to rock aft rock with nothing but low yields or junk but then suddenly you hit the jackpot. My theory is tap as many rocks as you can and be selective. The odds are higher of finding the good stuff.


In regards to the OP. I agree, these are the same issues I have with mining:
Auto allocation - If I have gold in a slot and pick up a frag that gets me over the 100%, put the remain gold in the same refinery slot. Why make me do it over and over again.
Non Target Collection - It would be cool if the cargo scoop was a camera with cross hairs, you could see all those frags that grouped without having to constantly back up to target them.
Status messages: Argh!! I dunno how many times I have been swearing at the Resources Allocated or Resources Processed messages to get out of the way as I am approaching a frag. I can understand for the UNALLOCATED message but not for the positive ones, just get out of the way and let me work.

 

[Nom Anor]

I would really like to know where you find all that gold and platinum

It's as BillD says, you just hop 'roids and don't stop for tiddlers. I've got a Refinery with 5 bins, so just hoover up all the metal I can find in quantities of > 15%. Out of 5 days of mining, I'll get 1 day where I find jack all. the other four, I'll make about 400k in an hour. Good job too, cos I tend to only get an hour or two a day

I just tried trading and doing missions. Made about 400k in 2 hours pah. Back to mining. Much less staring at the wall in supercruise

 

[MatTheCat]

Really? Hmm. I must be doing it wrong, then . I've tried trading, exploring and missions.. Made tiddly sums.. So switched to mining..making about 400k per hour in a Cobra mining.. I think I'll do something else then!

Cheers for the heads up.

400K per hour, in a Cobra!?

That must be some Platinum laden asteroid belt that you have stumbled across.

 

[Marek15]

400K per hour, in a Cobra!?

That must be some Platinum laden asteroid belt that you have stumbled across.

if you can find a pristine metallic planetary ring you're in serious business. asteroids with platinum are still uncommon but they can contain as much as 60% platinum per chunk.
also since planetary rings are densely packed and have a infinite amount of asteroids you can just fly from one to the other in a general direction until you hit a 15%+ platinum asteroid.
but do keep an eye out for pirates, they can appear at any time. i learned that lesson the hard way when i had to go to the toilet and upon returning found my type-6 with 1.000.000 credits in platinum and exploration data blown up.

 

[norcus]

if you can find a pristine metallic planetary ring you're in serious business. asteroids with platinum are still uncommon but they can contain as much as 60% platinum per chunk.
also since planetary rings are densely packed and have a infinite amount of asteroids you can just fly from one to the other in a general direction until you hit a 15%+ platinum asteroid.
but do keep an eye out for pirates, they can appear at any time. i learned that lesson the hard way when i had to go to the toilet and upon returning found my type-6 with 1.000.000 credits in platinum and exploration data blown up.

I am currently flying a Cobra in Frey, which has Pristine reserves and metallic ring. I still get mostly minerals and about 1 in 6 rocks have precious metals - usually Silver. I only have a 4 bin refinery. A 5 bin would make me marginally more effective. I still stuggle to make more than 200k an hour. Maybe better trusters will make roid-hopping faster?

 

[norcus]

Back on track though! Profits be damned! I still hurt my wrists and shoulders with all the micro management of mining. Lets try to get more miners to add +1 to the list of improvements and force the devs to hear our cries of outrage!

1. Autoallocate resources
2. Cargoscoop camera and/or
3. target next similar feature
4. Move status updates up to the top left info monitor where they belong!

Secondary improvements:
- Roid scanner to avoid littering (could be expensive)
- Perhaps subtle visual hints on roids to hint at content?
- other?

 

[OldAl]

Once I allocate resources I cannot target the next pick-up. I have to leave the game and restart. This is really annoying because you restart away from the asteroid you were working and have no way of finding it again!

 

[Morlizer]

Back on track though! Profits be damned! I still hurt my wrists and shoulders with all the micro management of mining. Lets try to get more miners to add +1 to the list of improvements and force the devs to hear our cries of outrage!

1. Autoallocate resources
2. Cargoscoop camera and/or
3. target next similar feature
4. Move status updates up to the top left info monitor where they belong!

Secondary improvements:
- Roid scanner to avoid littering (could be expensive)
- Perhaps subtle visual hints on roids to hint at content?
- other?

Not a miner but what you ask for sounds resonable, +1 from me =)

 

[Boff'in]

I moved from a sidewinder to an adder,

and my "mining" time was still the same, even with a class 2 laser.

The "Time" consuming thing is
1) FINDING a 'roid with good % of ore

2) Scooping.

additional
(Finding pristine rings in the first place)

auto-allocation, totally agree, that once you assign gold to a bin, and you roll over that it auto-assigns again.
Tractor beams, hell-yeah

 

[zzzornbringer]

i recently created a similar topic. my suggestions aren't too different either:

https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=106291

mining really needs work. i don't want to continue doing it in it's current state.

 

[Ozmos]

Agree with your suggestions, though I do target the mineral bits with the contact list when they are in a perfect line, and that works out pretty well. Utilizing the headlook to activate the UI while still seeing the cargo scoop HUD.

I like that the mining requires effort. Seems like without the high end metals, that it isn't worth the effort though, sometimes even compared to the most common contracts to ferry goods back and forth.

Early on, I was hoping they were going to make a method of mining that used drones (since I feel that is actually the most practical way I could see it developing as an industry.). They could even make the auto-drone method a reasonable percentage less efficient than picking up the goods manually.

Ultimately though, mining gave me a better understanding and skill with piloting the ships that I used for it. I like it as a pilot skill honing mechanic as well.

 

[DeLiRanTe_BR]

1. Autoallocate resources
2. Cargoscoop camera and/or
3. target next similar feature
4. Move status updates up to the top left info monitor where they belong!

Agree!!!

Another thing that happen to me is that sometimes i vent my refined goods, i think that could appear a confirmation message so you dont lost you work , or that it stays floating so you can scoop it back again.