Mining Lance: Where Is It?

[Jaybird3326]

I’m considering outfitting my ship with a mining laser, and I know that it has something to do with pleging allegiance to and ranking up with a certain person. How do I rank up with a person?

On a side note, is the mining lance even worth it?

 

[DNA-Decay]

Mining Lasers? You can just buy them from the shop.

You'll also need a refinery. And you'll also want a collector limpet controller, and a prospector limpet controler.

And limpets.
Which are hidden under Station Services >> Advanced Repair >> Restock >> Limpets.
Oh and the limpet purchase tab is a little buggy on exit, you'll see what I mean and you'll figure it out.
LHS 2661 planet 6 - the ring closest to the planet. Or Delkar because there's a station.
You're welcome

There is a pledged weapon that is just as useless in combat.
And it's the Mahon (Alliance) Retribution Laser. The backstory is that it was supposed to pump heat into the target so they made it with very little damage. There's a video of one of the Alliance PowerPlay senior folks in an Anaconda with 7 Retribution Lasers shooting a shieldless Sidewinder. 15 minutes to kill. Sidewinder just sitting there taking the damage. Not dodging. 15 minutes. Anyway Frontier decided in their wisdom that the Heat would be cool and rolled it out as a thing on all Lasers via the beginners. And then the PvP mob all went with "Heat Meta" ships, and the Retribution Laser still wasn't as good as ordinary Lasers. And the seal clubbers had a lot of fun and Frontier in their wisdom decided to nerf the heat meta. And then there was a beta where they actually fixed the Retribution Laser but then someone said "Oh we can't have a heat weapon again that was a bad thing" so they nerfed it before it went live. Do I sound annoyed? I'm annoyed. The Retribution Laser is no good even as a tea cozy. Three years. What a debacle. Sorry for the rant.



Also Don't bother with a Haz Res - you look kinda new.

 

[CMDR Corlas]

The Mining Lance comes from being pledged to Zemina Torval. For ranking tips, check her pledge info when you sign up, or look at the Power Play forum, I'm not the one to give advice there.

The main downsides of the Lance are it's high heat generation - problematic if you have a ship that already runs hot - and the fact that as small mining laser, it mines pretty slowly. If you're used to smalls though, no worries.

The 2km range on it is pretty awesome though, especially if you're looking to mine specific materials. You can use it like a poor man's prospector, to sample distant rocks, and then fire your actual prospector when you find something you like. Aside from just saving on limpets, it's a lost faster than prospecting everything around to find something you like.

Good item basically, let down by the excessive heat gen and the general low performance of small mining lasers.

 

[insanephoton]

Powerplay isn't my thing, so I can't be 100% sure. IIRC you need to pledge to Torval to get the Mining Lance. The general opinion is that it's worthless trash, so don't bother signing up just to get that. I suppose some might make a case for it with small ships with limited hardpoints, but you'd still be better off avoiding combat if that was your only weapon.

Mining lasers are widely available and require no pledging. Fixed is the better option unless you are likely to be using multi-crew.

 

[IndigoWyrd]

I know a thing or four about Power Play, and Mining Lances - I have quite a few of them actually.

They are a Power Play reward item. You have to be pledged to Zermina Torval for a period of Four Weeks (that's a month), and by the fourth week you must reach at least rank 3. Once these conditions have been met, you may purchase Mining Lances from a wide number of stations. If you quit Power Play, or your rank drops below Rank 3, you will no longer be able to purchase Mining Lances, however you may keep and use any you have purchased.

As a module is concerned, these are Fixed, Class 1 weapons. As a weapon, they are... a bit underwhelming, though I did once fry a sidewinder with mine. They do produce a fair bit of heat, and have a fairly high power draw, but on a dedicated mining ship, like a Type-9, they work quite nicely. With a 2km range, you can have a rock about half stripped by the time you're in range of standard mining lasers and optimal limpet range.

Power Play is as complicated or as easy as you want to make it. I generally do my part by delivering Fortification goods. I'm not interested in PvP, and while not unfamiliar with Combat in general, it's not my main reason for playing. Most of the time I'm perfectly content hauling passengers around or mining.

The Mining Lance can also be quite useful as part of a Mining Pair - that is one Lance, one regular Laser - ideally a Class 2 Laser with the Class 1 Lance, allowing you to get a good head start stripping a rock before you close to Mining Laser Range, and the heat generation and power demands are pretty reasonable and this pairing is quite effective.

 

[DNA-Decay]

Facepalm.
Uh, sorry about the rant.