So I decided that I am gonna give Deep Core mining a try and I have a few questions....

[GreyAreaUK]

As for how to pick where to go mining...

Some people deliberately travel 100Ly out of the bubble and then look for a pristine ring.
Personally, I think that's overkill.
Pick a mining site within the bubble, in an inhabited system.
Land at the station, take a look at the station news-feed and check out the local traffic report.
If it says that a hundred Pythons/Kraits/AspXs have been through the system in the last 24h, chances are they've been there to mine in that system, in which case the number of core roids will be reduced.

Some good advice there. I used to travel to a Pristine I knew of inside the bubble, but nowadays I tend to stick to Wolf 25 (my current home system). It may not be the best but it satisfies my mining itch when it crops up.

I'm definitely getting better at spotting the 'roids that aren't worth my time, but there's still plenty that look 'close enough' to fool me. However, I'm doing it because I enjoy it, not because I need the cash as such.

 

[cheesenbiscuits]

The Python has internal space for all the required mining bits and all the flight assist modules too.

 

[Stealthie]

Some good advice there. I used to travel to a Pristine I knew of inside the bubble, but nowadays I tend to stick to Wolf 25 (my current home system). It may not be the best but it satisfies my mining itch when it crops up.

I'm definitely getting better at spotting the 'roids that aren't worth my time, but there's still plenty that look 'close enough' to fool me. However, I'm doing it because I enjoy it, not because I need the cash as such.

That's my attitude too.

I probably could save a few thousand credits by halving the amount of limpets I buy before going mining but I actually enjoy whizzing around, punting Prospectors at anything that looks vaguely glowy - as well as stuff that isn't.
Also, I like to think that I'm learning something by doing it.
If I see a roid that's glowing brightly but not quite that bright, I'll still punt a Prospector at it 'cos I want to learn as much as possible about the different things that cause different roids to glow in different ways.

Once you start to recognise the different shapes of roid, and the different ways they glow, you find you can spot roids that are likely to be worth laser-mining or SS mining as well as the deep-core roids.

 

[Requiem Mortis]

I pretty much only go for deep core asteroids and those can be identified without a prospector by a close inspection to reveal the fissures on them. I still use a prospector after identification, to mine them successfully though.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

Once you start to recognise the different shapes of roid, and the different ways they glow, you find you can spot roids that are likely to be worth laser-mining or SS mining as well as the deep-core roids.

I'd quite like it if FDev mixed it up a little with regard to which 'roids are Core ones, rather than sticking to the same shape(s) in the different types of ring.

 

[War Eagle]

In your Navigation/Contacts panel you can tell you Limpets to ignore anything you want- so they only go after the good stuff.
As for how many you'll need(Limpets) depends on what you are mining Painite/Low Temp Dias. My AspX hold 68tons I take 58 Limpets- they die quick in the cold.
As for Metallic rocks- if you look at the market before you leave you can find what pays the most- don't waste you time mining stuff that doesn't pay "Ignore that stuff". ie:200k+
Use: This Site to find the best price of what you have on "Where to Sell it".
Lastly after your prospector has scanned the rock pull up the nav/contact and it will tell what level of mine to use for each Fischer - only use 1 high/1 med/1 low to get the best yield.
o7
Oh make sure you move back about 1k before they go off- upper right = proximity alarm.

 

[CMDR Gwillem]

So here's my two cent's. If you can swing an Anaconda, it's a great mining ship all the way around, or a T10. either way, I found LTD overlap spots the best. fit rigs for both core and laser mining as you can stack up the LTD's doing both. Typically in my 'conda I also fit some mult-guns and instead of waiting out the ubiquitous pirate when I start at each site, I just take them out (a little added bonus toward my combat ranking (though most are Novice and after a certain point it doesn't help, but its fun blapping them) and then set to mining. If you can find a triple overlap LTD site, all the better. I have cargo cap at 192 and pack 150 limpets. I average about 50 mil per hour. This is a great miners tool for finding and selling: http://edtools.ddns.net/miner

All that said, there is no best way. watch the vids, listen to the folks on the forum but chart your own style. It's ED, do what works for you!

 

[WinterKing2112]

1) Whatever ship you like. Larger ships = more cargo space, less nimble. Distributor is negligible for core mining, so no point in using a big-distro ship.
Hardpoint placement is also not relevant, as you only need one seismic charge and one abrasion blaster.
I like the FDS as Budget Miner.

2) I always fill up the cargo hold with limpets -10% and then drop them as needed if my hold is full. Better having some limpets too many then not enough

3) I won't bother with anything except Void Opals, mostly because sometimes you need to bring the stuff to two different starports to get maximized pay.

4) Your Python build would work.
But I would use more collector limpets, more shields and less cargo. Switch the shield for a 5A, add at least one more collector limpet.

A couple of mining lasers are good too. Crack open the roid with your seismic charges, let the limpets go in and get whatever's been blown out of the core, use the mining lasers on the nearest chunk of rock, all sorts of goodies come out, then the abrasion blaster to get the chunks on the surface. I use an anaconda, works a treat and lots of spare hardpoints in case any pirates wanna rob me. I also took up mining because my Annie is such an expensive beast to upgrade!

 

[GreyAreaUK]

Typically in my 'conda I also fit some mult-guns and instead of waiting out the ubiquitous pirate when I start at each site, I just take them out (a little added bonus toward my combat ranking (though most are Novice and after a certain point it doesn't help, but its fun blapping them)

Although be aware that not all ships that appear after you drop in are pirates. On a few occasions now they've been System Security, and on at least one occasion it was another miner.

 

[WinterKing2112]

Okay so I went out and found an Alexandrite hotspot and I am still having trouble finding the right rocks, but I have 29 Alexandrite, 14, Void Opals, and 16 Grandidierite after about 45mins of searching random rocks trying to get the hang of recognizing the right ones.


Is that good, bad, or about right for a first timer?

That's a lot of credits! Well done mate.

 

[WinterKing2112]

If you're finding 'roids to blow up roughly once every 5-10 minutes, you're doing fine.

My SOP is to blow up every deep-core roid I find and collect everything.
Sooner or later I'll have to start dumping limpets.
At this point, I start to consider if the next roid I find is more valuable than what's already in my hold.
If, for example, my cargo hold is full and I've got 40 limpets and 40t of Alexandrite and I find a VO roid, I'll dump 15t of Alexandrite (or whatever's the lowest value ore in my hold) so I can collect the VO's.
Effectively, I hang on to limpets and dump low-value ore so I can replace it with ore of a higher value.
That way I can keep on mining for as long as possible, constantly replacing low-value ore with more profitable stuff.

Omg ur dumping alexandrite? That's millions of credits. Get a bigger ship mate.

 

[WinterKing2112]

Okay so I purposely cut myself at the hour mark and went to sell my gains at the best nearby stations according to EDDB.


All in all I made 39 million. I don't think that is too shabby?

Pretty bloody good for ur first time.

 

[WinterKing2112]

That's the key issue, right there.

Go mining in a T10 and you can be at it for 6 hours, by which point you might have lost the will to live and it'll be months before you build up the incentive to go mining again.
Go mining in a Krait or Python (or even an AspX) and you can be done in 1-2 hours, you've earned up to Cr200m and you'll still be ready for another bite at it.

Course, if you really enjoy it (and there are worse things you could be doing in ED) then sure. Use a big ship.

Big ships rool!

 

[CoyoteXStarrk]

So um........lets just say that hypothetically I found a planet in a uninhabited system that nobody ever goes to according to Inara that has 4 Void Opal Hotspots as well as Low Temp Diamond and Alexandrite hot spots. Lets just say that happened.



That is a hell of a find yes?

 

[Stealthie]

Omg ur dumping alexandrite? That's millions of credits. Get a bigger ship mate.

Pffft!

If I'm mining it's because I want to go mining.
Flying a ship that doesn't make me want to go mining is the most counter-productive thing I could do.

 

[Stealthie]

So um........lets just say that hypothetically I found a planet in a uninhabited system that nobody ever goes to according to Inara that has 4 Void Opal Hotspots as well as Low Temp Diamond and Alexandrite hot spots. Lets just say that happened.



That is a hell of a find yes?

The best scenario is overlapping hotspots, cos then you'll find core roids from more than one hotspot in the same place.

Other than that, it's really not that big a deal.
You've only got one cargo hold and you can only fill it once.
Long as you find a single VO hotspot that hasn't been strip-mined by every man and his dog you're going to earn more credits than you can spend.

 

[WinterKing2112]

I pretty much only go for deep core asteroids and those can be identified without a prospector by a close inspection to reveal the fissures on them. I still use a prospector after identification, to mine them successfully though.

You can see the fissures when ur ships night vision's on. They look like spider webs.

 

[CoyoteXStarrk]

The best scenario is overlapping hotspots, cos then you'll find core roids from more than one hotspot in the same place.

Other than that, it's really not that big a deal.
You've only got one cargo hold and you can only fill it once.
Long as you find a single VO hotspot that hasn't been strip-mined by every man and his dog you're going to earn more credits than you can spend.

Well that is good news then. Because a few of the hotspots in my hypothetical system overlap.

 

[WinterKing2112]

So um........lets just say that hypothetically I found a planet in a uninhabited system that nobody ever goes to according to Inara that has 4 Void Opal Hotspots as well as Low Temp Diamond and Alexandrite hot spots. Lets just say that happened.



That is a hell of a find yes?

Ooooh yeaahhh!

 

[Aashenfox]

Okay so I purposely cut myself at the hour mark and went to sell my gains at the best nearby stations according to EDDB.


All in all I made 39 million. I don't think that is too shabby?

See the screenshot I just posted in your billionaire thread (sorry about hte size of it)...For two hours work, if you're lucky and/or good, you can add a zero to that figure.