Painite Mining Questions?
- Thread starter Starsong
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As for collectors, the answer is simple: for deep core mining you need a few, for regular mining -- as many as you can install.
As for mining lasers the answer would be, actually, the same (supposing you have enough limpets to collect chunks quickly): as many as your distributor can power. On my Cutter with it's 7A weapon-focused PD I can use 3 medium lasers without draining distributor immediately. As you can use 8A, you can, probably, afford 4 lasers and still have 4 free hardpoints for deep core mining tools or whatever else you want.
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To answer your second question, I've done Painite mining and VO core mining quite a bit. Painite mining is AT LEAST as lucrative for your time and comes with far less headaches.
Core mining just isn't worth it imo. Too much searching for rocks/luck involved. Painite mining gets me 100 million credits per hour, consistently. And even though it can be tedious, I find it to be highly relaxing "down time" in Elite if I put on a Spotify playlist while mining. It will be over before you know it.
Core mining just isn't worth it imo. Too much searching for rocks/luck involved. Painite mining gets me 100 million credits per hour, consistently. And even though it can be tedious, I find it to be highly relaxing "down time" in Elite if I put on a Spotify playlist while mining. It will be over before you know it.
I use two small and one medium mining laser on my T9 and 8 limpets still struggle to keep up. The key is getting your limpets to work as fast as your lasers.
Play time shift matters... with cutter...
1 hour shift, Drop cargo to 256 tons, 3 size 2 mining lasers, 16 collectors.
2 - 3 hour shift, keep cargo to 512 tons, 3 size 2 mining lasers, 12 collectors.
1 hour shift, Drop cargo to 256 tons, 3 size 2 mining lasers, 16 collectors.
2 - 3 hour shift, keep cargo to 512 tons, 3 size 2 mining lasers, 12 collectors.
A 7A PDist with a G5 weapon-focused mod' can power 4x C2 mining lasers.
I know, but I was too lazy to grind to G5, and besides I needed 3 hardpoints for deep core equipment and 1 for a huge beam just in case some bot makes me really-really angry
Yes, definitely, if you have the space. Laser mining is certainly better in a big ship, whereas core mining can be a bit fiddly if you don't have the manoeuvrability.
I've briefly considered buying another Cutter/Corvette to see if it's worth trying to build an "all in one" mining ship but, TBH, I prefer to keep specific ships for specific roles so I probably won't bother.
I dunno if FDev deliberately planned it this way but it seems like laser-mining and DC mining are so disparate that trying to build a ship to do both means you're always going to do both things less efficiently.
I like it that way.
How many lasers? Depends on your distributor. However, infinite power is not necessary - you can recharge when you're off to the next 'roid.
How many collectors? That's more difficult. If you're good at positioning your ship so that the chunks practically fly into your hatch, 3 collectors per C2 laser will easily keep up. The further they have to travel, the more you'll need. I usually fly (in a Krait Mk. II) with 2 lasers and 5 collectors.
You can do both in the Anaconda pretty well. There are enough HPs to allow dual mining lasers, abrasion blasters, heat sinks and such, and I never haul any subsurface mining HPs. However I don't see a reason to do both. You can find a station close to the ring/s you want to farm and have your modules transferred there. That will allow you to swap out easily. The issue is normally the best sell is some distance away, so you need a fuel scoop. I keep one locally and swap out with a limpet controller while travelling to sell. Then of course I pick it back up when I return.
VOs are more profitable but Painite is more abundant. It seems to balance out, maybe tilting in favor of Painite if you don't dally.
So what I don't understand is why are there "Painite Hotspots" that have absolutely ZERO Painite in them? I'm just talking about the single hotspots in a metal rich ring. What's the point, to make new players go insane? Seriously, it shouldn't be a hotspot unless it's actually a "hot spot". It's really annoying IMO.
It's not just Painite. I've yet to find anything in a hotspot from which said hotspot is named... These things should be called, "Fooled ya, sucker!" spots.
It's not just Painite. I've yet to find anything in a hotspot from which said hotspot is named... These things should be called, "Fooled ya, sucker!" spots.
Yeah, the Painite hotspots in Metal rich is a weird one. But you're also unlucky.
I use my Corvette to mine, because of getting interdicted by pirates. Here is my procedure
1. I mine in a double painite hotspot that has a starport close by. I then equip my Corvette with 2 cargo pins with a capacity of 256 tons, plus a small bin with 16 giving me 272. I then use a 3A refiner with 10 bins, so I max out at 282. When mining it takes at least 2 hrs to mine that much painite. That all the time I can stand to mine at. I have my two 4A beam lasers plus a 7A shield recharge. I can easily handle any pirates in the asteroid field.
Once I have my load of painite, I fly to the starport. I then re equip my ship with a 3A beam laser, 2 2D seeker missle battery's 2 1D seeker missile battery's. I use Eds mining tools to see the best price for painite, usually 7 to 8 jumps away. Now when I get interdicted, I just blown them away, Don't mess with my Corvette. Once I sell my load, usually 222,000,000 credits I return and re equip with mining tools at the starport, reload 240 limpets and go mining. Works great.
1. I mine in a double painite hotspot that has a starport close by. I then equip my Corvette with 2 cargo pins with a capacity of 256 tons, plus a small bin with 16 giving me 272. I then use a 3A refiner with 10 bins, so I max out at 282. When mining it takes at least 2 hrs to mine that much painite. That all the time I can stand to mine at. I have my two 4A beam lasers plus a 7A shield recharge. I can easily handle any pirates in the asteroid field.
Once I have my load of painite, I fly to the starport. I then re equip my ship with a 3A beam laser, 2 2D seeker missle battery's 2 1D seeker missile battery's. I use Eds mining tools to see the best price for painite, usually 7 to 8 jumps away. Now when I get interdicted, I just blown them away, Don't mess with my Corvette. Once I sell my load, usually 222,000,000 credits I return and re equip with mining tools at the starport, reload 240 limpets and go mining. Works great.
How do you know you get more out of a prospected asteroid?Is that a RNG thing or just a guess?
Prospector Limpet Controller
Limpets controlled by this module can be fired at the surface of a mineable [sic] asteroids to discover the composition of it, aiding in efficient mining. Once deployed the information about composition can [sic] be obtained via targeting the limpet and consulting the cockpit interface. —...
elite-dangerous.fandom.com
Game design thing, actually. A prospector limpet attached to an asteroid will let you get every last bit of useful stuff out of it.
Deep core mining equipment can slightly increase outcome of "regular" mining if you have enough free hardpoints. And as you are mining in Anaconda -- I guess you don't use 8 mining lasers simultaneously
I tried Deep core mining but found it to be too hit or miss, so I just use a 576T Imperial Cutter and I get 450 Million Credits per trip from a Double Painite ring and I now have 13 Billion + in credits ready for the Fllet Carriers when it arrives. So I would say just find a double painite ring and mine to death, it's easy.
Are you actually targeting the prospector after you launch it? You have to target it to see what's inside the rock.