Ok so I've noticed a few things while mining: first off this is far easier and more of a possibility than it's ever been. Secondly there's still more we could use. I'm going to break this into two sections, first is tips and tricks and the second will be a bit of an armchair developer segment for things I'd tweak or like to see changed. Some of these will be based around some of the future updates coming.
Tips
1)-----First off gotta know where to go. There's two types of rings you want, metallic and pristine metallic. don't go to the asteroid belts in system. They're a bit misleading as the real money is in the rings. You can go to an RES but put a minimum of 30km between you and the beacon, this SHOULD prevent any enemies from spawning and chasing after you. If you can bring a friend. More on that in a second.
2)----- have the right gear. You need at least one mining laser one refinery and cargo space. Go big or go home, you're gonna need a lot of cargo space for numerous reasons. Your refinery needs to be a good one, you'll be pulling multiple ore types and a bin can only hold one type so the more the merrier. You will also want to bring along a PROSPECTOR AND COLLECTOR LIMPET CONTROLLER. The prospector helps you determine which asteroid to mine and increases the amount of ore you get from said asteroid. The collectors on the other hand are what changed mining from the worst to not so bad. They do the work for you. Remember don't target the chunks as it destroys the collector for some reason just deploy them and they'll harvest any nearby chunks. You need to have your cargo door open by the way.
3)---- music. Seriously you'll be at this for a while. Turn on a podcast or music and just take it easy.
4)------- wing mates. This takes a bit of creativity but you can make effective use out of a wingman with a prospector. If you're in a big ship like me (an anaconda) you'll notice aiming your prospector is a pain in the rump. So having a cobra or perhaps an asp to help out can make things easier. Also if you think you've got the collectors for it they can help extract as well. Have your friend jump from rock to rock until he gets something tasty.
5)----- picking your rock. Sometimes it pays to find the rock that isn't spinning like a top on meth. The chunks do have physics and WILL go flying off sometimes fast enough to do damage. I've lost a ring of shields in some of the smaller ships to weaponized chunks or ore. This isn't always avoidable however as sometimes the mother lode is spinning at Mach 4, so what you can do is find the point of rotation (think the North Pole and South Pole on earth) and mine from there. This will minimize the speed of the chunk and keep it close.
6)---- the ore. Time to get paid. There's a handful of ores that will make you big money. Gold, osmium, platinum, painite, palladium, tungsten, and coltan are all good ores to pick up. Coltan is relatively cheap at 1.4-1.7k per ton but money is money. 10 tons of coltan pays for 100-150 limpets. Do the math. If you get the bad ores from chunks just clear the bin. You don't have to if you're not picky and just looking for something fun to do. And don't get me wrong. This is fun to do. Think of it like space engineers or mine craft. You gotta go through the frap to find the good stuff.
7)---- missions. These are a good idea to pick up. From my understanding you get both the mission pay as well as the price of the ores. Easily doubling your income. If you want to login and logout repeatedly to stack your missions.
8)----- stations. Always check where you can dock and make sure it's not too far away. If you get in trouble and blow out your cockpit window you don't want to die due to life support. So I highly recommend having both a good shield and an A rated life support because it can go bad. These asteroids ARE MOVING THROUGH SPACE. Don't AFK log out first.
9)----- bounties. It's possible you could attract some heat depending on where you are. So if you're like me and in an anaconda you could outfit it with decent weapons and make some cash on the side. Again one 10,000 credit paycheck will have covered the costs of your limpets for the whole run.
10)----- have fun. Don't think of it as a job think of it as exploring a field where you could strike it rich. And it can happen. I've made 16 million in an hour.
Additions/improvements
This section I'll be discussing possible additions to the game that could really make mining a possibility. I'm not saying make a type 9 a planet cracker by any means. But we have the potential to do some cool stuff with multi crew and looting and crafting coming up.
1)-----The Mining Laser-the thing that makes all this possible. This is honestly the one thing I think that if got absolutely zero attention, wouldn't cause any drama. But I do have a few ways we could make it better or alter it.
A)---large and huge variants. These could be pretty cool (and expensive). The large could produce a huge amount of chunks quickly but at the same time would generate massive heat and consume a huge amount of energy. But the Huge would be an awesome potential design.
The huge mining laser would require a prospector to work, using the prospector to target the asteroid and lock on. From there it would fire a series of small mining lasers that would crack into the asteroid and use a tractor beam to convey the chunks directly into the refinery, no collectors needed. The downsides for such a thing are very easy to balance out, with heat damage power drain and power plant requirements being a thing. Inefficiency when it comes to the amount of ore extracted is another possibility. So for rapid extraction and refinement you trade for potential overall amount extracted.
2)----limpets. We could do some cool stuff with these.
A)----prospectors. These bad boys are awesome far. But what if you could make an EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE version that would hunt down a specific mineral? This thing would cost an extreme amount of energy to use and would require its own limpet type that could be equally expensive. Another issue is being able to only target the limpet itself for data on the asteroid. Possible change to make the asteroid its own targetable entity rather than relying on the limpet.
B)-----collectors. I've said this countless times. Why do they run on batteries? And why do they explode when you target and collect a chunk? It makes no sense that they'd be a one and done item. Also a minor buff to movement speed when traveling would be welcome. Also perhaps a larger drone that would require the use of the fighter hangar in order to collect large amounts of ore (or possibly already refined chunks) and transfer them to your hold.
3)-------refineries. These are really solid so far but there's always the lovely thing called variety. More bins is unnecessary. 10 is a pretty high number. But some of the changes I listed earlier could rely on a matching refinery making the cost of said changes to your mining abilities cost more than just buying one thing. It would lead to the actual specialization of your mining vessel. A drone miner or a mass extraction vessel.
4)----- multi crew. First person controlling of limpets to allow for speedy recovery or a remote control drone that collects chunks or mines. We can go places.
A)-----small mining ships. The use of a sidewinder (or similar sized ship) as a long range mining vessel while your main ship acts as a mothership. Off loading cargo and sending it back out for more. This would emphasize the need for teamwork and communication and allow for better play interaction and gameplay.
B)------short range scanning. One person inside your ship could be operating a scanner that doesn't require a prospector drone to tell what an asteroid contains, but it wouldn't increase the amount that was extract able like the prospector does.
C)------crew operated tractor beams. A means of crudely guiding chunks closer to your ship, or perhaps used to combat smaller ships????
5)------looting and crafting.
This is gonna flip the current combat meta on its head. And the chance to alter our mining equipment with upgrades could be substantial.
A) mining laser specialization. Focuses on making the mining laser good at one thing rather than just a large stat boost all around. Fast extraction that is crude but saves time. A very careful but very slow extraction variant that pulls large amounts of ore per chunk reducing the count needed. Long distance mining laser.
B)------limpets. The upgrades above could be part of the looting and crafting update, requiring a player to actually find the materials needed. Earning the new abilities besides just saving up their money.
C)-----refinery specialization. Turning your refinery to specialize in refining a specific material such as being extremely efficient at refining painite. Or assigning bins for specific roles that way you can always keep one open in case you find the good stuff but have to dump something.
D)-----shields. Possibly tuning your shield to be much more resistant against actual collisions rather than gunfire.
6)----missiles. MINING TORPEDOES. Expensive explosives that you can use to get between 1-??? Chunks past the asteroids life. Could be risky where the asteroid could blow apart and hurt the mining vessel.
This is pretty much all I got guys. I really hope someone finds this list helpful/thought provoking and I really really hope FD at least gives us miners trying to earn an honest wage a few toys to play with. They clearly acknowledge we exist with prospectors and collectors after all. Happy mining fellas!!
Tips
1)-----First off gotta know where to go. There's two types of rings you want, metallic and pristine metallic. don't go to the asteroid belts in system. They're a bit misleading as the real money is in the rings. You can go to an RES but put a minimum of 30km between you and the beacon, this SHOULD prevent any enemies from spawning and chasing after you. If you can bring a friend. More on that in a second.
2)----- have the right gear. You need at least one mining laser one refinery and cargo space. Go big or go home, you're gonna need a lot of cargo space for numerous reasons. Your refinery needs to be a good one, you'll be pulling multiple ore types and a bin can only hold one type so the more the merrier. You will also want to bring along a PROSPECTOR AND COLLECTOR LIMPET CONTROLLER. The prospector helps you determine which asteroid to mine and increases the amount of ore you get from said asteroid. The collectors on the other hand are what changed mining from the worst to not so bad. They do the work for you. Remember don't target the chunks as it destroys the collector for some reason just deploy them and they'll harvest any nearby chunks. You need to have your cargo door open by the way.
3)---- music. Seriously you'll be at this for a while. Turn on a podcast or music and just take it easy.
4)------- wing mates. This takes a bit of creativity but you can make effective use out of a wingman with a prospector. If you're in a big ship like me (an anaconda) you'll notice aiming your prospector is a pain in the rump. So having a cobra or perhaps an asp to help out can make things easier. Also if you think you've got the collectors for it they can help extract as well. Have your friend jump from rock to rock until he gets something tasty.
5)----- picking your rock. Sometimes it pays to find the rock that isn't spinning like a top on meth. The chunks do have physics and WILL go flying off sometimes fast enough to do damage. I've lost a ring of shields in some of the smaller ships to weaponized chunks or ore. This isn't always avoidable however as sometimes the mother lode is spinning at Mach 4, so what you can do is find the point of rotation (think the North Pole and South Pole on earth) and mine from there. This will minimize the speed of the chunk and keep it close.
6)---- the ore. Time to get paid. There's a handful of ores that will make you big money. Gold, osmium, platinum, painite, palladium, tungsten, and coltan are all good ores to pick up. Coltan is relatively cheap at 1.4-1.7k per ton but money is money. 10 tons of coltan pays for 100-150 limpets. Do the math. If you get the bad ores from chunks just clear the bin. You don't have to if you're not picky and just looking for something fun to do. And don't get me wrong. This is fun to do. Think of it like space engineers or mine craft. You gotta go through the frap to find the good stuff.
7)---- missions. These are a good idea to pick up. From my understanding you get both the mission pay as well as the price of the ores. Easily doubling your income. If you want to login and logout repeatedly to stack your missions.
8)----- stations. Always check where you can dock and make sure it's not too far away. If you get in trouble and blow out your cockpit window you don't want to die due to life support. So I highly recommend having both a good shield and an A rated life support because it can go bad. These asteroids ARE MOVING THROUGH SPACE. Don't AFK log out first.
9)----- bounties. It's possible you could attract some heat depending on where you are. So if you're like me and in an anaconda you could outfit it with decent weapons and make some cash on the side. Again one 10,000 credit paycheck will have covered the costs of your limpets for the whole run.
10)----- have fun. Don't think of it as a job think of it as exploring a field where you could strike it rich. And it can happen. I've made 16 million in an hour.
Additions/improvements
This section I'll be discussing possible additions to the game that could really make mining a possibility. I'm not saying make a type 9 a planet cracker by any means. But we have the potential to do some cool stuff with multi crew and looting and crafting coming up.
1)-----The Mining Laser-the thing that makes all this possible. This is honestly the one thing I think that if got absolutely zero attention, wouldn't cause any drama. But I do have a few ways we could make it better or alter it.
A)---large and huge variants. These could be pretty cool (and expensive). The large could produce a huge amount of chunks quickly but at the same time would generate massive heat and consume a huge amount of energy. But the Huge would be an awesome potential design.
The huge mining laser would require a prospector to work, using the prospector to target the asteroid and lock on. From there it would fire a series of small mining lasers that would crack into the asteroid and use a tractor beam to convey the chunks directly into the refinery, no collectors needed. The downsides for such a thing are very easy to balance out, with heat damage power drain and power plant requirements being a thing. Inefficiency when it comes to the amount of ore extracted is another possibility. So for rapid extraction and refinement you trade for potential overall amount extracted.
2)----limpets. We could do some cool stuff with these.
A)----prospectors. These bad boys are awesome far. But what if you could make an EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE version that would hunt down a specific mineral? This thing would cost an extreme amount of energy to use and would require its own limpet type that could be equally expensive. Another issue is being able to only target the limpet itself for data on the asteroid. Possible change to make the asteroid its own targetable entity rather than relying on the limpet.
B)-----collectors. I've said this countless times. Why do they run on batteries? And why do they explode when you target and collect a chunk? It makes no sense that they'd be a one and done item. Also a minor buff to movement speed when traveling would be welcome. Also perhaps a larger drone that would require the use of the fighter hangar in order to collect large amounts of ore (or possibly already refined chunks) and transfer them to your hold.
3)-------refineries. These are really solid so far but there's always the lovely thing called variety. More bins is unnecessary. 10 is a pretty high number. But some of the changes I listed earlier could rely on a matching refinery making the cost of said changes to your mining abilities cost more than just buying one thing. It would lead to the actual specialization of your mining vessel. A drone miner or a mass extraction vessel.
4)----- multi crew. First person controlling of limpets to allow for speedy recovery or a remote control drone that collects chunks or mines. We can go places.
A)-----small mining ships. The use of a sidewinder (or similar sized ship) as a long range mining vessel while your main ship acts as a mothership. Off loading cargo and sending it back out for more. This would emphasize the need for teamwork and communication and allow for better play interaction and gameplay.
B)------short range scanning. One person inside your ship could be operating a scanner that doesn't require a prospector drone to tell what an asteroid contains, but it wouldn't increase the amount that was extract able like the prospector does.
C)------crew operated tractor beams. A means of crudely guiding chunks closer to your ship, or perhaps used to combat smaller ships????
5)------looting and crafting.
This is gonna flip the current combat meta on its head. And the chance to alter our mining equipment with upgrades could be substantial.
A) mining laser specialization. Focuses on making the mining laser good at one thing rather than just a large stat boost all around. Fast extraction that is crude but saves time. A very careful but very slow extraction variant that pulls large amounts of ore per chunk reducing the count needed. Long distance mining laser.
B)------limpets. The upgrades above could be part of the looting and crafting update, requiring a player to actually find the materials needed. Earning the new abilities besides just saving up their money.
C)-----refinery specialization. Turning your refinery to specialize in refining a specific material such as being extremely efficient at refining painite. Or assigning bins for specific roles that way you can always keep one open in case you find the good stuff but have to dump something.
D)-----shields. Possibly tuning your shield to be much more resistant against actual collisions rather than gunfire.
6)----missiles. MINING TORPEDOES. Expensive explosives that you can use to get between 1-??? Chunks past the asteroids life. Could be risky where the asteroid could blow apart and hurt the mining vessel.
This is pretty much all I got guys. I really hope someone finds this list helpful/thought provoking and I really really hope FD at least gives us miners trying to earn an honest wage a few toys to play with. They clearly acknowledge we exist with prospectors and collectors after all. Happy mining fellas!!
