Mining in 1.3
- Thread starter Sonoskay
- Start date
I tried it in 1.2, and quickly tired of chasing down the fragments.
Tried it again in 1.3, and am really enjoying it - found a nearby Hi-Tech system that has a planet with Metallic rings in Major reserve, and have taken to alternately mining and killing the pirates who try to interrupt. It's a nice change of pace, but I also pack an interdictor to mix things up when a fun mission presents itself.
The drones do have a few quirks (I jettisoned that for a reason, you pesky bot), but nothing I can't work around. My wish list is as follows.
1. When the hopper is empty, don't set the focus to the first slot - I've accidentally jettisoned quite a bit of Palladium that way.
2. Let us tell the drones not to pickup "stolen" cargo, so I can get rid of stuff without them picking it back up.
3. Give us the ability to target the asteroid in front of us, and determine both it's content as well as it's "status" of depleted. I miss a lot of asteroids, 'cause I can't tell if I've already drained it unless I shoot it again. Too time consuming, so I target a distant object, and work in a straight line.
4. Let us stow the number of limpits it can control directly in the controller (say 2 for the A3)
5. Make the limpits time out in the same intervals, rather than at random
Tried it again in 1.3, and am really enjoying it - found a nearby Hi-Tech system that has a planet with Metallic rings in Major reserve, and have taken to alternately mining and killing the pirates who try to interrupt. It's a nice change of pace, but I also pack an interdictor to mix things up when a fun mission presents itself.
The drones do have a few quirks (I jettisoned that for a reason, you pesky bot), but nothing I can't work around. My wish list is as follows.
1. When the hopper is empty, don't set the focus to the first slot - I've accidentally jettisoned quite a bit of Palladium that way.
2. Let us tell the drones not to pickup "stolen" cargo, so I can get rid of stuff without them picking it back up.
3. Give us the ability to target the asteroid in front of us, and determine both it's content as well as it's "status" of depleted. I miss a lot of asteroids, 'cause I can't tell if I've already drained it unless I shoot it again. Too time consuming, so I target a distant object, and work in a straight line.
4. Let us stow the number of limpits it can control directly in the controller (say 2 for the A3)
5. Make the limpits time out in the same intervals, rather than at random
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IMO id say mining in ED is alot like fishing in the real world..... calming. you sit there not doing to much staring at your refinery and move to a new rock every now and then. Deff a good thing to do while watching TV or youtube stuff like that. As far as profitable...... yeah no. still is not and never will be a money maker, as we have all seen FDevs want you to grind your little heart out and thats ok. Still fun and something different to do. for profite per hour... there are other threads which all find the same numbers i have... in a big ship with huge refinery you're ganna make maybe 1mill an hour. still more than exploring and atleast you are close to home.
You can in fact tell the asteroids content and status with the magic of prospector drones, much maligned but in my opinion underrated.
They only work on one roid at a time though, which is sad. Class 3 contoller lets you leapfrog and have two roids scanned at once, but imo it's still a little punitive to spend a ton of cargo space to scan a single roid- they make things much faster, but it's near impossible to have a 1-ton mined to 1-ton drone used ratio while using them, which for me equates to more profit per hour, but smaller hauls.
They only work on one roid at a time though, which is sad. Class 3 contoller lets you leapfrog and have two roids scanned at once, but imo it's still a little punitive to spend a ton of cargo space to scan a single roid- they make things much faster, but it's near impossible to have a 1-ton mined to 1-ton drone used ratio while using them, which for me equates to more profit per hour, but smaller hauls.
I'm actually enjoying the mining lately. The 1.3.02 patch fixed drones, at least 2 active far. They don't crash into crash other or chase the same rock.
Although I haven't tried prospector drones as from what I heard they are one use per asteroid launched at.
What I'd like to see for collector drones:
1. Set collector drone default collection program.
2. Ability to recall drones if you have space. Drone timer halts but does not reset.
3. Visual representation of drone time left until expiration.
4. Warning when drone is almost out of range.
What I'd like to see as far as prospector drones:
1. Set lifespan like collectors.
2. Ability to set what resources the drone is to look for. At least one. Higher rating, maybe two.
3. Drone flags asteroids with requested resource in contacts and on sensor.
Although I haven't tried prospector drones as from what I heard they are one use per asteroid launched at.
What I'd like to see for collector drones:
1. Set collector drone default collection program.
2. Ability to recall drones if you have space. Drone timer halts but does not reset.
3. Visual representation of drone time left until expiration.
4. Warning when drone is almost out of range.
What I'd like to see as far as prospector drones:
1. Set lifespan like collectors.
2. Ability to set what resources the drone is to look for. At least one. Higher rating, maybe two.
3. Drone flags asteroids with requested resource in contacts and on sensor.
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Once I get back to core space from my exploration trip, I'm outfitting my Asp as a deep space prospector ship and heading into the void well past fringe space.
When I find Pannite or Osmium, I'm filling my hold then heading back. With the mining plus exploration income I pick up I should make a decent paycheck.
When I find Pannite or Osmium, I'm filling my hold then heading back. With the mining plus exploration income I pick up I should make a decent paycheck.
Please please read the full list of reasons I laid out in this thread: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=155584
I am like you, never considered mining could be anything at all worth doing but now I've tried it I'm convinced it is one of the most entertaining things to do
I am like you, never considered mining could be anything at all worth doing but now I've tried it I'm convinced it is one of the most entertaining things to do
I really love mining now on my python. I have been mining on a metallic-pristine-high intensity RES and having to avoid and occasionally fight pirates makes mining so much more fun. Also the drones are great now that they've fixed their AI. But making decent profits with mining requires a combat capable ship, a high intensity RES and a pristine metallic reserve, otherwise the profits still aren't there imo. Mining still needs some love, it would be nice to make decent profits on the more common sites too...
I am having a hard time making profits because I get alot of "junk". Would these changes make a difference?
1. Prospect more instead of just prospect and drill and takes what comes
2. Change my mining ship from a cobra to a ?????
3. Mine High Res sites and sell to ???? stations
Also, is galactic average a good indication of the value of the mineral/metal?
1. Prospect more instead of just prospect and drill and takes what comes
2. Change my mining ship from a cobra to a ?????
3. Mine High Res sites and sell to ???? stations
Also, is galactic average a good indication of the value of the mineral/metal?
Sorry but I have to disagree here. Mining is indeed profitable. Perhaps what you meant to say is that is doesn't make those profits as quickly as you would like it to, as quickly as trading for example? But to simply state that it's not profitable at all is inaccurate. It depends on how much you personally value your time in credit terms. I have found mining to provide a good income where I mine - sure I could make more money in the same timeframe doing other things, but mining is anything but unprofitable as many claim.
Mining does not provide competitive credit per hour gains when compared to the investment "tier" required for bounty hunting or trading.
It just really doesn't - I can make twice as many credits in an hour bounty hunting with an equally expensive ship, and we all know that trading can blow both out of the water.
Still better than piracy though- and I think you're sort of right, in that it's not an abysmal failure, but it could use some love in favor of smaller ships.
It just really doesn't - I can make twice as many credits in an hour bounty hunting with an equally expensive ship, and we all know that trading can blow both out of the water.
Still better than piracy though- and I think you're sort of right, in that it's not an abysmal failure, but it could use some love in favor of smaller ships.
I tried mining on a pristine metallic ring outside of RES and it was horrible. Once I went to the high intensity RES I started seeing 40% palladium and other valuables quite often, add that to the increased amount of chunks and that is money. I think you should take your cobra to a low/high intensity res zone and see if that makes a difference for you (it should). If you have enough money buy a bigger ship with mean guns and you'll have to worry about pirates less, also cargo space is useful now because limpets take space and you'll be filling your ship faster because of drones (RIP scooping, thank god). And yes, you should focus on the valuable things as they are more common in said zones.
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