That's why I put the question out there, I was interested in getting the general opinion on this.
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Guide / Tutorial Obsidian Ant's Mining Guide
- Thread starter Obsidian Ant
- Start date
That's why I put the question out there, I was interested in getting the general opinion on this.
Well Done, your tutorial Threads & videos should be stickied in the New Players forum if not done so already.
If I might add one more tip.
Once your cargo bay is full, you can still fill the hoppers up to 100%, for a few extra tons
Yep, that's a handy tip. Especially if you get into the high 90% stored.
Keep in mind though, that it will all disappear if you change or upgrade the refinery.
Hey guys and gals. Great guide.
Noob question:
I have found a good location for mining, I have a mining laser, lots of cargo bays, and a refinery. However, when I fly up to a asteroid and zap it, NOTHING happens.
I leave the laser on until it overheats and still nothing. I have all four pips on my "WEP" selection. It just seems like nothing is happening. My laser is a D1 rated one.
I have watched demos, read everything. I just don't see any little red marks on the asteroids that I zap.
Any thoughts???
duffer
Noob question:
I have found a good location for mining, I have a mining laser, lots of cargo bays, and a refinery. However, when I fly up to a asteroid and zap it, NOTHING happens.
I leave the laser on until it overheats and still nothing. I have all four pips on my "WEP" selection. It just seems like nothing is happening. My laser is a D1 rated one.
I have watched demos, read everything. I just don't see any little red marks on the asteroids that I zap.
Any thoughts???
duffer
Good guide, thanks I will start mining tonight! Still pretty new to ED so giving it all a try
I do miss the collector drones module who do the scooping for you as I understand this came with the powerplay update, maybe a idea to update it?
I say yes do share but in private
I do miss the collector drones module who do the scooping for you
as I understand this came with the powerplay update, maybe a idea to update it?I say yes do share but in private
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It was a very helpful guide Granite, as was your video; and I have to say that Nova Kane's video on the use of prospector/collector limpets was also very useful. I gave mining a try today, just for a change of pace. So, I bought another ASP and outfitted it for the task. I was soon cracking away and filling my cargo bay with metals. An hour well spent, I must say. I imagine, like anything else it could get boring after a while. But, then I can always swap out ships and go exploring again.
No mention whatsoever made of mining missions...
Mining missions generate for three cargos: Platinum, Painite and Osmium. Handing a ton of one of these items over to a missiongiver rather than selling it through the commodity board can increase its value massively.
As an example. Painite is worth 30-35k per ton at just about any station in the galaxy. Its worth about 75-110k per ton to just about any missiongiver in the galaxy.
If you are the type who likes to min-max, and wish to see a yield from mining that is in even the same ballpark as that of a looptrader or bounty hunter then unfortunately as mining stands right now you have to leverage the missions like mad. Personally I switch instances to refresh the bulletin board and generate a swarm of mining missions at one dock. If you dont like gaming that particular feature in this fashion then you might visit a selection of docks. Even given the extra time needed to visit and unload at multiple points you will increase your hourly take. Infact if you want to go pure min-max you should actually be jettisoning palladium in favour of osmium while on-site. Feels weird, but the numbers work, the ideal haul is all plat/pain/os.
My python turns about 3.5 million an hour in a pristene metallic assuming I take advantage of said missions and apply that logic to what I allocate cargospace to. The raw value of said ore is likely around 650-700k, i cant say for sure since its not in my interest to actually sell much of it...i'll often make 90% of the credits off the BBoard.
I would also query the line that says (paraphrased) "stay out of a RES it just adds pirates". Yes, it does... but unless im mistaken it also affects the yield. Anecdotally (not statistically evaluated) I make more when im in a HiRES with a buddy keeping the heat off than I do in the very same ring outside the RES (and no, im not sharing bounties, i dont engage).
Hope people find some of this useful. Im likewise going to refrain from posting any actual locations. Finding RES sites that sit on a pristene metallic ring is hard, there are very limited crowd-sourced lists (as opposed to the general pristene metallic list, which is everywhere). Plenty of systems with the ring you want will have the RES sites scattered across the rocky/metal rich rings instead. When you realise that the situation you want is something like "pristene metallic, with hazres and Hudson control for the benefit of my cover-pilots" then suddenly you are looking for a very specific setup... My advice is to go looking in an Asp, come back in the miner when you find it.
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Apologies for the double-post, seems I cant edit.
I should also point out that you can sometimes find commodity request missions for the cargoes other than those i listed. palladium and gold are worth offloading in this fashion.
And yes, picocommander is correct above me. Chunks from an asteroid are not identical. An asteroid can contain 1-3 minerals/metals. Chunks can contain 1-2 (they will only ever contain 1 if the entire asteroid contains only 1, they will never contain 3). The actual amount (%) of a given mineral in a given fragment seems to slide about a bit and is probably based on the relative concentrations in the asteroid, which can be guaged with prospectors.
This is true now and has been since I joined the game, though we were already in 1.4 then, it may well have come through with the limpet stuff.
Mining missions generate for three cargos: Platinum, Painite and Osmium. Handing a ton of one of these items over to a missiongiver rather than selling it through the commodity board can increase its value massively.
As an example. Painite is worth 30-35k per ton at just about any station in the galaxy. Its worth about 75-110k per ton to just about any missiongiver in the galaxy.
If you are the type who likes to min-max, and wish to see a yield from mining that is in even the same ballpark as that of a looptrader or bounty hunter then unfortunately as mining stands right now you have to leverage the missions like mad. Personally I switch instances to refresh the bulletin board and generate a swarm of mining missions at one dock. If you dont like gaming that particular feature in this fashion then you might visit a selection of docks. Even given the extra time needed to visit and unload at multiple points you will increase your hourly take. Infact if you want to go pure min-max you should actually be jettisoning palladium in favour of osmium while on-site. Feels weird, but the numbers work, the ideal haul is all plat/pain/os.
My python turns about 3.5 million an hour in a pristene metallic assuming I take advantage of said missions and apply that logic to what I allocate cargospace to. The raw value of said ore is likely around 650-700k, i cant say for sure since its not in my interest to actually sell much of it...i'll often make 90% of the credits off the BBoard.
I would also query the line that says (paraphrased) "stay out of a RES it just adds pirates". Yes, it does... but unless im mistaken it also affects the yield. Anecdotally (not statistically evaluated) I make more when im in a HiRES with a buddy keeping the heat off than I do in the very same ring outside the RES (and no, im not sharing bounties, i dont engage).
Hope people find some of this useful. Im likewise going to refrain from posting any actual locations. Finding RES sites that sit on a pristene metallic ring is hard, there are very limited crowd-sourced lists (as opposed to the general pristene metallic list, which is everywhere). Plenty of systems with the ring you want will have the RES sites scattered across the rocky/metal rich rings instead. When you realise that the situation you want is something like "pristene metallic, with hazres and Hudson control for the benefit of my cover-pilots" then suddenly you are looking for a very specific setup... My advice is to go looking in an Asp, come back in the miner when you find it.
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Apologies for the double-post, seems I cant edit.
I should also point out that you can sometimes find commodity request missions for the cargoes other than those i listed. palladium and gold are worth offloading in this fashion.
And yes, picocommander is correct above me. Chunks from an asteroid are not identical. An asteroid can contain 1-3 minerals/metals. Chunks can contain 1-2 (they will only ever contain 1 if the entire asteroid contains only 1, they will never contain 3). The actual amount (%) of a given mineral in a given fragment seems to slide about a bit and is probably based on the relative concentrations in the asteroid, which can be guaged with prospectors.
This is true now and has been since I joined the game, though we were already in 1.4 then, it may well have come through with the limpet stuff.
Yes it affects yeild but you'll likely lose the amount per hour having to defend your ship, unless you have real good shields and a ship that can defend itself. If you have that layout then you're going to be compromising cargo space and jump range.
One other thing you should consider is wing up. I'm sounding like I've only got one track on this one but a rock that has 10 tons of paininte will yeild 20 tons for 2 people and 30 for 3 and so on. You hit good rock more often as there's more than one person prospecting and when you hit a good roid just call all your wing over.
You could even get clever and have 5 in wing but only one collecting (for a CG for example). So 5 hit the selected roid and you fill the hold for 1 ship in a few roids just with the CG item. That commander then goes to drop off thier cargo and stock up on some limpets. The others start filling up the 2nd commanders hold and they then go off. The first commander returns and you have a rolling stock of fast filled cargo holds. Or you could all fill at the same time and wing in together. Less likely to be a target for pirates in a wing of 5 Pythons/Anacondas.
Excellent point on the first one. Yes it does rather impact you if you have to defend yourself. Thankfully in a Python you can generally fit turrets in such a way that a low or medium RES site requires no intervention, in smaller craft I would agree that the time taken to defend yourself eats any gains. Certainly I dont have to compromise cargo on a Python for those two levels of RES, though creating a tank to withstand HiRES certainly does.
Love that you agree on the winging up. I generally have a bounty hunter wingmate, who manages all the heat and is repaid for his trouble with boosted rates. (Because you, the miner, are also in the RES, the game spawns ships for two, yet only 1 is killing, so he makes more than alone. He also gets trade vouchers, though by leveraging missions as I recommended this is paltry since he will only share in the trash you are forced to sell to the market rather than deliver to the board.)
Multi-miner Ops. Thats very clever...it's something I've been working on with a few of my fleet members, though we dont have so many players who mine so its taken some time to sort ship designs.
Currently we use an Anaconda as the mothership (me). I fit no lasers, am the only ship with a refinery and have unholy numbers of collector limpets/cargo space. All other pilots fly Cobra, they fit dual class 2 mining lasers (which a solo Cobra miner should never do), have a single collector controller they do not use during the op and also cargospace. The Cobras fly through the ring annihilating rocks in a heartbeat, the Anaconda follows like an industrial vacuum cleaner. The only awkward part of the whole thing comes from Elite not having a player exchange mechanic in place, once you are done you have to drop ore from the conda to the cobras via their collector limpet so they get 'paid', but its quite simple to give someone a lot of money, even in a limited cargohold if you are dropping miningmission ores.
I have trouble finding missions. It might be because I'm in a conda and can only go to starports. I checked at High Tech, Industrial that would ordinarily import metals, and also checked at Refinery. I just can't find more than one or max of two missions anywhere.
Is this an outpost/starport thing, or what? What gov/econ type places give out the most mining missions??
Just a correction with your above graphic, Mr. Ant
If you want to shoot at a point that isn't moving, you don't need to put your ship in orbit around the asteroid. Just fly over the north or south pole and shoot straight down at the pole. If you hit the asteroid on the equator, parts might drift back into the wider lumpier sections of asteroid because the rocks chunks don't have collision modeled with asteroids. Unfortunately your limpets do, and they will explode if they fly "into" the asteroid to retrieve the rock chunk!
Ergo, it's always safest and most efficient to aim your mining laser directly at the poles of rotation, at least on larger odd shaped "space mountains"
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^^^ this is the way to do it
Just a correction with your above graphic, Mr. Ant
If you hit the asteroid on the equator, parts might drift back into the wider lumpier sections of asteroid because the rocks chunks don't have collision modeled with asteroids. Unfortunately your limpets do, and they will explode if they fly "into" the asteroid to retrieve the rock chunk!
Ergo, it's always safest and most efficient to aim your mining laser directly at the poles of rotation, at least on larger odd shaped "space mountains"
I have no idea how to tabulate data on this forum, so I'll just link to my post https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteMiners/comments/3xyjbf/mining_lasers_weapons_capacitor_use_numbers/ on https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteMiners/
I've tabulated out how long each Power Distributor can power Mining Lasers for, how quickly five Mining Laser combinations dig fragments, the resultant total MJ needed to dig a 35-fragment asteroid, and how quickly each Power Distributor can provide that amount of MJ.
One important discovery was how much more efficient 2D Mining Lasers are.
I've tabulated out how long each Power Distributor can power Mining Lasers for, how quickly five Mining Laser combinations dig fragments, the resultant total MJ needed to dig a 35-fragment asteroid, and how quickly each Power Distributor can provide that amount of MJ.
One important discovery was how much more efficient 2D Mining Lasers are.
Obsidian, do you plan on doing any guides on the new missions for horizons?
Been flying around for ages failing them, having no clue what I am supposed to do or where to go.
I don't understand how new players are supposed to learn when they have no clue what is even possible in the game. I have no background in Elite, so this is all new to me. So far all I do is trade and it's getting really boring. I need some variety!!! I am going nuts.....
I wish Fronteir would not disguise so called game challenge with grindy game mechanics. Where is the fun? games are supposed to be fun, there is none here.
Great guide Obsidian. Your guide got me giving mining a go, but..... I can't stand mining, as much as I tried doing it, I have to admit mining is rubbish. Worst game mechanic I have ever seen. Zero fun, only annoyance and tedium to the max. I got nothing but frustration doing it. I would be mining along all nice and dandy, chunks popping off all good. I send out my first drone, grabs it, comes back, all good, send out the second one, explodes for some reason, send out third one, grabs it all good, returns, then send out the fourth, explodes, fifth, explodes, boom, boom, boom ,boom they all go until I used up all 20. The fact that they have a range limit and a life limit is just really annoying. I mean with the technology in the ships we have, why are we using drones that last seconds lol???
After that I head back to base, re-buy a bunch of drones and head back out. Same problem happens again, I try to get as close as I can to the asteroid chunks so I can preserve the life of the drones. This makes no difference, a few drones collect fine, then booom, boom, some work randomly then eventually I have run out of mining drones. By this point I have just said, F it, I just close my bay, leave all my rocks floating in space, head to the nearest station and sell off all my rocks in my hull and sell off the equipment and back to trading.
Been flying around for ages failing them, having no clue what I am supposed to do or where to go.
I don't understand how new players are supposed to learn when they have no clue what is even possible in the game. I have no background in Elite, so this is all new to me. So far all I do is trade and it's getting really boring. I need some variety!!! I am going nuts.....
I wish Fronteir would not disguise so called game challenge with grindy game mechanics. Where is the fun? games are supposed to be fun, there is none here.
Great guide Obsidian. Your guide got me giving mining a go, but..... I can't stand mining, as much as I tried doing it, I have to admit mining is rubbish. Worst game mechanic I have ever seen. Zero fun, only annoyance and tedium to the max. I got nothing but frustration doing it. I would be mining along all nice and dandy, chunks popping off all good. I send out my first drone, grabs it, comes back, all good, send out the second one, explodes for some reason, send out third one, grabs it all good, returns, then send out the fourth, explodes, fifth, explodes, boom, boom, boom ,boom they all go until I used up all 20. The fact that they have a range limit and a life limit is just really annoying. I mean with the technology in the ships we have, why are we using drones that last seconds lol???
After that I head back to base, re-buy a bunch of drones and head back out. Same problem happens again, I try to get as close as I can to the asteroid chunks so I can preserve the life of the drones. This makes no difference, a few drones collect fine, then booom, boom, some work randomly then eventually I have run out of mining drones. By this point I have just said, F it, I just close my bay, leave all my rocks floating in space, head to the nearest station and sell off all my rocks in my hull and sell off the equipment and back to trading.
It looks like this guide is out of date and needs to cover limpets.
If you have something targeted when you launch a limpet, then the limpet will explode after retrieving it. That's probably not obvious and annoying. The other reason for them exploding is getting hit by a spinning asteroid. See Ziljan's reply.
If you have something targeted when you launch a limpet, then the limpet will explode after retrieving it. That's probably not obvious and annoying. The other reason for them exploding is getting hit by a spinning asteroid. See Ziljan's reply.