Just build this Viper IV as a small mission miner and miner escort, to both hunt for good rocks for the main mining ship, and to prospect and mine myself to add to the big ship's haul.
I took it out to a nearby HazRES to test mine, and it's an absolute blast to mine in.
I found a 50% painite rock and made off with 24 tons of painite (full hold and four in the refinery) in less than 10 minutes after dropping in. Sold for just about 2mil in a boom system. Not bad for a few minutes work.
The acceleration, speed, and powerful maneuvering thrusters make zipping around high-density asteroid fields a breeze, and the Viper darts effortlessly from rock to rock, manually prospecting for something worth firing a prospector limpet into. In about two weeks I'll stick a couple of Zemina's mining lasers on it, and be even quicker at finding the good stuff, prospecting from 2km out.
I took it out to a nearby HazRES to test mine, and it's an absolute blast to mine in.
I found a 50% painite rock and made off with 24 tons of painite (full hold and four in the refinery) in less than 10 minutes after dropping in. Sold for just about 2mil in a boom system. Not bad for a few minutes work.
The acceleration, speed, and powerful maneuvering thrusters make zipping around high-density asteroid fields a breeze, and the Viper darts effortlessly from rock to rock, manually prospecting for something worth firing a prospector limpet into. In about two weeks I'll stick a couple of Zemina's mining lasers on it, and be even quicker at finding the good stuff, prospecting from 2km out.
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