Mining lasers - pointless?

[Bigmaec]

I still can't wrap my head around the need for the abrasion blaster.

Why oh why can't we just blast off the chunks with the normal mining laser?

 

[Ian Doncaster]

I did not know this about mining lasers and wings. That’s pretty cool. I also didn’t know about the boost near Res sites. This could provide much fun in wings. As to how much one ends up making, I guess we could share our results. I make a bit over 160 million for 2 hrs work core hunting for Void Opals in my Phantom on my own. What do you pull off Painite hunting? If it’s close, then I def want to get some friends together and give it a shot.

I don't make close to that much Painite mining, because I'm doing it on my own and I don't practice anywhere near enough. But other people are far better at it than I am.

Here's a post from the experts from back when Painite prices were around 80k/tonne in Boom systems
https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteMiners/comments/6ynhnx/several_miningnewbie_questions/dmop90b/
They were getting 15-60 million an hour then (plus trade dividends) - and I've seen other miners claim similar yields - so I guess potentially add a zero to that now if you can find a pristine metallic HazRES reasonably close to an Investment+Civil Liberty+Pirate Attack system.

 

[aRJay]

As long as you can earn back the cost of the lasers why wouldn't you keep using them?

 

[CyberFoxx]

I'm hoping that mining lasers are still viable, I just finished kitting out my 'Vette for laser mining. Sure I got 2x abrasion blasters and a sub-surface launcher, but it's mostly setup for good old sit and laz. With the right music playing, laser mining is very relaxing.

 

[Monkey Pants]

I don't make close to that much Painite mining, because I'm doing it on my own and I don't practice anywhere near enough. But other people are far better at it than I am.

Thought i would do a little Painite session in the name of science

Spent 3hr 25mins hours in a Painite hotspot with my T10 with a 384 cargo capacity:

Took another 20mins round trip to transfer ship, find & sell to a good market: so less than 4hrs total.

I imagine a Python could do a smaller amount quicker.

MP

 

[Arkadi]

Thumbs up for the Mining Juggernaut! [up][up]

repped

 

[Yure]

Does anyone use the 8 prospective limpets module?

 

[Stinja]

Was that only (old) lasers?

 

[aRJay]

If minig missions would be a bit more worthwhile, mining laser would have theire niche maybe.

I used mininglasers to take samples to see what a random rock has. It saves you some limpets, you won't have to fire that many prospectors. It's only relevant if you are looking for particular ore's for missions. And missions could need a littel buff. Also mining missions should get material deposit abiltiy like trade missions have, so we can go on mining missions with smaller mining ships.

Mining is a perfectly profitable and interesting activity without having to get some NPC to order you around.

Sorry that should have read without having to bother with missions.

 

[Monkey Pants]

Was that only (old) lasers?

Yep, but with 3 Mining Lances (Powerplay item). These make a massive difference in prospecting speed (range of 2km vs 0.5km for normal mining lasers).

Am optimising the build to go even faster: watch this space [yesnod]

MP

 

[Agony_Aunt]

I've used the old mining lasers. Might be me, but it seems like they strip rocks much faster now.

The only one i don't see much use for is the subsurface missile thingy.

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I've used the old mining lasers. Might be me, but it seems like they strip rocks much faster now.

The only one i don't see much use for is the subsurface missile thingy.

Yeah, Subsurface mining is underwhelming.

I like the mechanic... the drilling minigame is fun, but it just doesn't reward as well as it could for the time investment.

 

[Old Duck]

I'm new to the mining changes, and I see there's a ton of new tools, too many for the ship I have in mind. So flipping this OP around, is equipping a ship with just mining lasers and an abrasion tool pointless, or is there money to be made there?

 

[Deleted member 115407]

I'm new to the mining changes, and I see there's a ton of new tools, too many for the ship I have in mind. So flipping this OP around, is equipping a ship with just mining lasers and an abrasion tool pointless, or is there money to be made there?

Doing one or the other is ideal.

Either go laser mining or core blasting.

Unless you just want to go out and chill and do whatever.

 

[Old Duck]

Doing one or the other is ideal.

Either go laser mining or core blasting.

Unless you just want to go out and chill and do whatever.

I'm assuming mining lasers and abrasion tools are two birds of the same feather (surface mining). Can I still get "the good stuff" using these? I'm not chasing the Opal goldrush, but I have found some nice deposits of diamonds and painite during my exploration that I'd like to go revisit.

 

[GraXXoR]

Yep. If you’re mining to get credits all you need are blasters (more the merrier so long as they’re in a close cluster) and charges (one will suffice) and dss. Go for Void Opals as nothing else sells for that price (over 1.6 million credits per unit). I’ve mined in a few ships now and have decided to stick with my Phantom but really the Asp is probably the most efficient mining ship in the game and the Cobra four is nice (can make 95+ million credits per run).

Only thing is now credits no longer have any meaning for me. The only choke point is materials grind. Kinda meh about it tbh but whatever. The act of mining is fun though. I like choosing a system, scanning the rings for Void Opal hotspots, then dropping in and searching for viable rocks to crack. It’s nice gameplay and probably the most fleshed out that FD has to offer.

I think the Cobra MKIV is now the ship which can get it’s own value back in the shortest possible time as in rebuys/minute. Love that ship for Mining.

 

[insanephoton]

I'm new to the mining changes, and I see there's a ton of new tools, too many for the ship I have in mind. So flipping this OP around, is equipping a ship with just mining lasers and an abrasion tool pointless, or is there money to be made there?

There is still money to be had, though not as much as core mining. If you made money before using the 'traditional' mining laser setup you can make just as much as you previously did ( actually if you sell in the right systems you can make substantially more than you could before the update)

Abrasion blasters only really make sense used in conjunction with the seismic charges for core mining. Generally surface and subsurface deposits seem to only contain low value stuff ( apart form surface deposits revealed when you crack an asteroid).

Sub surface mining currently seems a bit pointless. The mechanic behind it is moderately engaging but it currently has the worst earning potential of all the forms of mining.

 

[Monkey Pants]

I'm assuming mining lasers and abrasion tools are two birds of the same feather (surface mining). Can I still get "the good stuff" using these?

Not to sure these two go together that well as there are few surface deposits other than on the deep core rocks. There seems to be two distinct builds:

- Traditional Mining: strip with lasers and many collectors & keep moving.
- Deep Core: search for specific rocks and spend time process that rock using abrasion and seismic charges.

But I would take all of the mining tools out and give them all a go to see what you like most.

MP

 

[Stealthie]

I'm assuming mining lasers and abrasion tools are two birds of the same feather (surface mining). Can I still get "the good stuff" using these? I'm not chasing the Opal goldrush, but I have found some nice deposits of diamonds and painite during my exploration that I'd like to go revisit.

The 'roids now have distinct sticky-outy bits on them which can ONLY be dislodged with an abrasion-blaster for reasons.

If you want to embrace the entirety of mining, rather than just playing "hunt the deep-core void opals", you should really fit all the toys and then it becomes all about figuring out the process of mining.
Pick a 'roid, blast off the surface deposits with the abrasion blaster, use the missiles to extract sub-surface deposits and strip the 'roid with lasers and then, after that, if the 'roid's got fissures you can use the seizmic charges to crack it open which'll reveal more surface deposits that require the abrasion blasters to dislodge.

Basically, you need a ship with at least 4 hardpoints (plus whatever defences you plan on fitting), a free utility slot for the new scannermajigger, suitable internals and, personally, I find it useful to fit the sub-surface missle launcher to a hardpoint that's near the ship's centre-line to make aiming easier.

If you're just going deep-core mining then it's probably easier to use a smaller, more agile, ship 'cos you'll just be jetting around, looking for the 'roids with fissures, and you'll be spending more time manoeuvring around to place charges and shoot stuff.

 

[Old Duck]

As insane photon says, currently abrasion blaster don't make much sense without deep core mining. There are some free chunks on the surface of asteroids but mostly just the low level stuff.

Ahhh, good to know! Ironically, to the OP's point, I might be using just mining lasers for my very deep space mining (which is just a "side hobby" to exploring). At least it sounds like "traditional" mining has also seen a buff.