Mining asteroids for engineer materials

[zipline]

Hi cmdrs,

I have looked through a number of old forum posts and also watched a few videos but I can't find a clear answer.

On my exploration build that has no cargo rack, no refinery and no collector limpets, if I add just a small mining laser (that has little impact on jump range) does that give me the option of gathering engineer/synthesis mats on my travels with just manual cargo scooping?

 

[Deleted member 38366]

Yes, it does.

The yield will be "limited" though and you're unlikely to see alot of G3/G4 Elements. Most of what you'll scoop will be G1/G2 Elements - and it'll cost alot of time.
Landing near Sites of Volcanism would be by far the more efficient thing to do and gives a hell lot more of Elements, especially high-grade ones.

 

[Deareim]

bad idea.

 

[S~P]

You are better off getting a SRV and going planet side. Especially planets that have geological sites, makes it easier getting those grade 4s.

 

[zipline]

Thanks for the responses. Not intending for this to become a primary source of mat gathering, more like something else to do every now and then (in addition to SRV mat gathering) to break up the long periods of exploration scanning.

 

[Unknown Zombie]

Thanks for the responses. Not intending for this to become a primary source of mat gathering, more like something else to do every now and then (in addition to SRV mat gathering) to break up the long periods of exploration scanning.

I had the same idea, but ended up thinking that mats from asteroids were not common enough to make it feel like it was worth the time spent.

 

[Kenneth McGrew]

I had the same idea, but ended up thinking that mats from asteroids were not common enough to make it feel like it was worth the time spent.

but if frontier turned all those thousands of pointles asteroid clusters into Engineer MAT only mining sites.... well it would be wonderful!

 

[zipline]

I had the same idea, but ended up thinking that mats from asteroids were not common enough to make it feel like it was worth the time spent.

So did you give it a go and found it to be fruitless or did you not bother?

 

[BlackSpaceCowboy]

I also had the same question and got the same answers.

In most games, you collect crafting materials as you play. You gather loot by killing enemies and exploring dungeons. You don't have to go out of your way to craft or upgrade. You can enjoy playing the game and be rewarded as you go along.

I wish ED would take this same approach. They've moved more in that direction but it seems like they have to be dragged kicking and screaming.

 

[Limoncello Lizard]

Without using prospecting limpets (which identify how good a roid's material content is as well as increasing the number of fragments), you should stick to metal-rich rings, as nearly all metal-rich ring roids are either medium or high (about 1% will be low).

Without prospectors, you should average around 2-3 material fragments per medium roid and around 3-4 fragments per high roid. Using just a single small mining laser, it'll take you quite a while to get many materials via mining.