Newcomer / Intro Mining question: what exactly is this?

Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian
New, of course.

I finally got the prospector limpets going. I've been using them to just scan an asteroid and it pretty much doubles the output of that particular asteroid. Well, I just came across this and have no clue what it's all about.

I moved to a new asteroid and sent the prospector out and after it scanned the asteroid looked like this:

20220407130819_1.jpg


What are all the icons for and what am I supposed to do with them and how?

Thanks in advance.

p.s. I just mined the rock normally blasting the surface and letting the collector pick up the shards. It didn't seem any different from any other asteroid.
 

Codger

Codger

Horse372

Horse372
That's an asteroid with a minable core in addition to its base composition (which it sounds like you laser mined) . Those symbols indicate fissure locations. You need seismic charges to crack these asteroids and access the core materials. There are four kinds of mining:

- laser mining done with a mining laser (sounds like you figured out that one). No special symbol shows upon prospect scanning because you can do it anywhere on the surface of the asteroid (versus a specific deposit point like the other 3 types of mining)

- surface deposits done with an abrasion blaster. These will have a symbol with a half circle with a blue dot on the outside of the circle. They are one shot and done (assume you aim is good) and will release one chunk of the indicated mineral

-subsurface deposits mined with displacement missile (mini-game). These will have a symbol with a half circle with a blue dot on the inside of the circle. You have to launch the missile into the deposit and hold the trigger down until the running bar is in a blue zone. If you time it correctly the deposit will release a chunk or 2 if not the deposit will degrade by 15% or so

- core mining done with seismic charges (mini-game). These will have a symbol as in your screenshot indicating fissures in the asteroid. They can be low average or high strength and you can set the charges to a hi, medium, or low yield blast on the fissures. The goal is to get the combined charges into the blue zone of the chart that shows what effect the currently set charges will have. I usually do two high yield charges on low strength fissures then top of with low or med yield charge on a average or high strength fissure.

Asteroids with surface features will glow orange upon being scanned (composition scanner) with core asteroids glowing brightest and longest.

(assuming partial ninja'd at least)
 
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Ashnak

Ashnak
If you just want to do laser mining - ignore them.
Otherwise, the different symbols indicate
  • surface deposits: to be scraped of with an abrasion blaster
  • subsurface deposits: to be dug out with sub-surface displacement missiles
  • fissures: to be loaded with seismic charges in order to crack the rock and get at the core

If you select your prospector, the target display (bottom left on your screenshot) will show you what's inside the rock.
 

Para Handy

Para Handy
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Tyres O'Flaherty

Tyres O'Flaherty
As an aside... I'm not sure whether subsurface mining is worth the effort... laser for getting lots of stuff quickly (except tritium - but that's just my pet peeve :D ), core for getting rarer suff and quite fun to do (when you find one!).
 

Horse372

Horse372
o7
My mining ship is a beluga, the Witch of November, she's set up to do all mining types and has a 288T hold. I don't have the patience to try to fill a 700T cutter or t-series and she's pretty nimble for a big'un.

@ tyres I'll go for subsurface stuff if it's something I'm looking for as the chunks are usually a 1/2 ton (versus 1/20th to 1/5th ton u get from lazing) and u can bank 10+ tons off a 2-3 deposits.
 
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Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian
aRJay said:
Remember to have enough credits to buy your next ship at least 3 times over without selling the Cobra, that will let you make a good start on the better modules you will want for it.
Click to expand...
I'm thinking that the Keelback will be my next ship. I'm making about 350,000 to 500,000 per load with the Cobra right now, so it shouldn't take but a week or so to get enough money to get that ship and outfit it decently I would think.
 

sinisalo

sinisalo
Everyone should own a Keelback at some point and I support this initiative.

I find laser mining mindnumbing, but I enjoy the core and subsurface mining, mostly due to the ship control required. It's fun and keeps me engaged.

This is my mining boat

Twin Reverb Krait II -- Core Mining Vessel

So yeah, mostly core, but if I want to contribute tritium to the squadron carrier's fuel I'll swap the seismic with drill bang rockets. It's way better to just buy it, but I need numbers for Inara badges don't you know.
 

Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian
sinisalo said:
Everyone should own a Keelback at some point and I support this initiative.

I find laser mining mindnumbing, but I enjoy the core and subsurface mining, mostly due to the ship control required. It's fun and keeps me engaged.

This is my mining boat

Twin Reverb Krait II -- Core Mining Vessel

So yeah, mostly core, but if I want to contribute tritium to the squadron carrier's fuel I'll swap the seismic with drill bang rockets. It's way better to just buy it, but I need numbers for Inara badges don't you know.
Click to expand...
That's mostly Greek to me, but I'll get there eventually I'm sure.

My thought is that I'll get the Keelback, get it maxed and use it to make money. Then I'll re-purpose the Cobra Mk. III as a combat or explorer ship and try those endeavors out a bit.

Then I'll move on from there.
 

sinisalo

sinisalo
Yeah, it'll come.

That, or mount your Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator

Drill bang rockets are my term for subsurface displacement missiles. Cause they drill and then go bang.

And if Inara is Greek then that should change. Inara, for me, is the single best third party tool Elite commanders have. Check it out and sign up. It's worth it.

inara.cz

INARA

The community site for Elite: Dangerous, Starfield, Kingdom Come: Deliverance with the game databases, information, gaming news and other handy content...
inara.cz inara.cz
 
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