So, 4 patches and mining is still effectively broken :(

[Cmdr Fido]

So sad that laser mining is still basically broken

This was 1 hour spent in an LTD "hotspot" (single hotspot)

I tried an Alexandrite hotspot and got 0 Alexandrite. Void Opal hotspot and got 0 void opals. Grandidierite I got a couple .... LTD still the best of the bunch (no painite hotspots nearby) but all the other "good ones" are still broken

Still, at least I've managed to mine about 500T of Tritium over the last 3 hours whilst looking for riches so my FC won't go hungry for a while

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

I've only ever been a miner for a heart of gold.

Since having the carrier, I've really only mined in Trit hotspots, I got the carrier in Colonia and am taking a slow amble back to the Bubble. Each Trit hotspot contains either LTDs, Opals, Brom, Alex and all the rest. So although I admit that if your gameplay was solely hunting LTDs, it does look a bit broken, I'm still finding plenty. I have ventured into other hotspots, Opals mainly, I have found some in there but only as much as I found in the Trit hotspots. Having said that, my searches were far shorter as Trit was my main concern.

 

[Cmdr Fido]

I've spent 2 days prospecting each of those hotspots from the centre out 25km (ish) in each direction, and other than Trit and a handful of LTDs I came up with nothing ... Alexandrite hotspot was bare, ditto Grandidierite, etc ... the glowy yellow (and various shades) rocks were a mix of water and Methalwotnot ... certainly nothing shiny like LTDs / etc as they used to be

 

[CMDR Deano The Imperial]

I've spent 2 days prospecting each of those hotspots from the centre out 25km (ish) in each direction, and other than Trit and a handful of LTDs I came up with nothing ... Alexandrite hotspot was bare, ditto Grandidierite, etc ... the glowy yellow (and various shades) rocks were a mix of water and Methalwotnot ... certainly nothing shiny like LTDs / etc as they used to be

Alexandrite and Void Opals are core only, same with Grandidirite. There is zero chances of finding any of those in laser miner able rocks.

 

[777Driver]

Tried laser Painite mining at Hyades Sector DB-X d1-112 , every rock was 30+, many in the 40+, made around 800 million for a couple of hours work. That was shortly after the last patch, haven't tried since. Used a T9 chock full of collectors, and only 256 tonnes of cargo, did a couple of runs. On the flip side, I tried out a few old LTD spots, after an hour I had a couple of tonnes.

 

[Cmdr Fido]

So, I posted this on another Elite forum and was quickly shot down by players saying they're pulling 400T/h out mining and that it's all working fine for them ... although digging deeper they appear to be core mining void opals and are using a map.

I'm not sure following a map and rinse/repeat the same site is really fair or "in the spirit" of things ... either way, I'm talking about laser (and SSD) mining rather than core mining (although to be fair I found no cores either whilst prospecting)

 

[-VR- Max Factor]

So sad that laser mining is still basically broken

This was 1 hour spent in an LTD "hotspot" (single hotspot)

I tried an Alexandrite hotspot and got 0 Alexandrite. Void Opal hotspot and got 0 void opals. Grandidierite I got a couple .... LTD still the best of the bunch (no painite hotspots nearby) but all the other "good ones" are still broken

Still, at least I've managed to mine about 500T of Tritium over the last 3 hours whilst looking for riches so my FC won't go hungry for a while





View attachment 185161View attachment 185162

Thats not broken. Issues, yes, broken, no.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

either way, I'm talking about laser (and SSD) mining rather than core mining (although to be fair I found no cores either whilst prospecting)

As CMD Deano the Imperial said, with the exception of Tritium, Painite and LTDs all of these high-value mined goods are core mining only.

Not being able to laser mine them is by design and how it's been since they were introduced in 3.3 a year and a half ago.

 

[Cmdr Fido]

Alexandrite and Void Opals are core only, same with Grandidirite. There is zero chances of finding any of those in laser miner able rocks.

They'd still show up though when I use the pulse wave analyser and show when I then prospect the glowing rock?

All I got was water, methalwatnot and the odd Trit barnacle that I shot off with the abrasion blaster (I am equipped for core mining, I just prefer not to do it and am seriously considering replacing the seismic launcher with another displacement missile launcher so I can do more SSD mining if/when I find the deposits)

 

[Cmdr Fido]

As CMD Deano the Imperial said, with the exception of Tritium, Painite and LTDs all of these high-value mined goods are core mining only.

Not being able to laser mine them is by design and how it's been since they were introduced in 3.3 a year and a half ago.

You guys obviously aren't reading my posts properly ... I've said I'm prospecting the glowing rocks, in otherwords I'm using a pulse wave analyzer to find possible core rocks and then prospecting them, to find they're false echoes mainly ... or just have a few deposits to blast off

 

[Ian Doncaster]

They'd still show up though when I use the pulse wave analyser and show when I then prospect the glowing rock?

Yes - but you can't extract those deposits except by core mining.

 

[Watcher]

So sad that laser mining is still basically broken

This was 1 hour spent in an LTD "hotspot" (single hotspot)

I tried an Alexandrite hotspot and got 0 Alexandrite. Void Opal hotspot and got 0 void opals. Grandidierite I got a couple .... LTD still the best of the bunch (no painite hotspots nearby) but all the other "good ones" are still broken

Still, at least I've managed to mine about 500T of Tritium over the last 3 hours whilst looking for riches so my FC won't go hungry for a while





View attachment 185161View attachment 185162

Yeah, this mirrors my experience too.
Was aiming for VOs in a VO hotspot. Lots of Tritium, some Alexandrite even LTDs... Of VOs not a sign until I was packing up for the night then I hit a core VO asteroid. So not quite coming up empty but close. Not sure what 'hot spot' should mean but it feels a little off at the moment.

 

[Cmdr Fido]

Yes - but you can't extract those deposits except by core mining.

If I could find them then I'd consider blowing them up and mining them (even though I'm not a fan of core mining) ... my point is/was that I couldn't actually find cores, but neither could I find other materials in their designated hotspots ... most were false positives. They glowed, but they just had a surface deposit (and usually water/liquid oxygen/tritium)

I guess I've just been spoiled with the proliferation of minerals before the nerf ...

I did try painite mining after patch 3, but all I ended up with was a hold full of Osmium ... no painite at all (in the painite single hotspot) ... I haven't tried again since, but will probably do so once we've finished filling the carrier's hold with Tritium at this spot.

 

[Old Duck]

Four YEARS of patches yet half the features in Elite remain broken. This is the way

 

[CMDR Deano The Imperial]

You guys obviously aren't reading my posts properly ... I've said I'm prospecting the glowing rocks, in otherwords I'm using a pulse wave analyzer to find possible core rocks and then prospecting them, to find they're false echoes mainly ... or just have a few deposits to blast off

First line of your OP says "LASER MINING" is still basically broken and then you go on about alexadrite, void opals etc. not being available in hotspots. So I (and maybe some other peeps ) presumed you were trying to find said minerals to Laser mine and finding none.

 

[Watcher]

You guys obviously aren't reading my posts properly ... I've said I'm prospecting the glowing rocks, in otherwords I'm using a pulse wave analyzer to find possible core rocks and then prospecting them, to find they're false echoes mainly ... or just have a few deposits to blast off

Very much a learning curve on getting to recognise the colour of the glow and the shape of the roid. Could be wrong but I think there is only one core type asteroid type per ring type so get to know that shape. Not there yet myself but getting better. Same with colour, though this feels less consistent. Anything that glows will have surface deposits or sub-surface deposits, there may be learnable differences here too but I haven't picked up on that yet.

 

[Cmdr Fido]

First line of your OP says "LASER MINING" is still basically broken and then you go on about alexadrite, void opals etc. not being available in hotspots. So I (and maybe some other peeps ) presumed you were trying to find said minerals to Laser mine and finding none.

tbh I started looking for things to laser mine but quickly ended up looking for anything to mine and testing out hotspots ... and the hotspots all (except for Tritium) came up dry.

Maybe I'm trying the wrong hotspots, but surely if it shows as a hotspot in a pristine ring then it should have some of the mineral you're looking for?

 

[Cmdr Fido]

Very much a learning curve on getting to recognise the colour of the glow and the shape of the roid. Could be wrong but I think there is only one core type asteroid type per ring type so get to know that shape. Not there yet myself but getting better. Same with colour, though this feels less consistent. Anything that glows will have surface deposits or sub-surface deposits, there may be learnable differences here too but I haven't picked up on that yet.

Well I'm mainly looking for the SSD and surface deposits as I don't like core mining ... but my point is that none of them were core, and the none glowing ones didn't fair much better in the LTD hotspot (for example)

anyway ... I guess everyone is happy with the current state of things, so there's no point in putting a case to FDev to turn the tap on a little more ... I'll get back in my box

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

I've spent 2 days prospecting each of those hotspots from the centre out 25km (ish) in each direction,

Ok. Not saying you're wrong but I always come in at around 300km out from the centre and work my way in, again this is with Trit in Trit hotspots but I often don't make it to the middle before I'm filled up.

 

[Watcher]

Well I'm mainly looking for the SSD and surface deposits as I don't like core mining ... but my point is that none of them were core, and the none glowing ones didn't fair much better in the LTD hotspot (for example)

anyway ... I guess everyone is happy with the current state of things, so there's no point in putting a case to FDev to turn the tap on a little more ... I'll get back in my box

I quite agree the rates seem off whatever your style.

As I say, little in the way of VOs in the VO spot and I too was looking at both glowy and non-glowy rocks.

Not clear what reasonable expected probabilities should be normally so perhaps finding anything was epic? Does feel like if I'm in a hotspot I should find a bit more though, was odd coming away with many more LTDs.

 

[[PS4] Lorenzo Waringos]

My last 6 jumps in my carrier I’ve done no mining at all, been using my Trit reserves, I’m around 8kly from the Bubble, and have collected this from Trit hotspots only. Not a vast haul but a tidy sum I’m hoping.