I never tried to analyse the width of a deposit, 1-4 bars etc. but I did a lot of SSD mining recently because we were on the Magellan Expedition where we had to refuel our 3 carriers as we went. The trip was so long, a very roundabout trip to Magellan's Star and back to the bubble, so even with a full cargo hold of tritium in each carrier (approx 19,000t) some mining was still necessary. It was a specific test to discover how easy or otherwise refuelling a carrier in the middle of nowhere as you travelled actually was, with the mining included as part of the expedition.
SSD mining out in the black was faster than laser mining because it could be done in any single hotspot, no special conditions were required to do it and they were quite easy to find in icy rings. Someone would find an icy ring with a tritium hotspot, call over one of the carriers, grab their mining ship off the carrier, mine for an hour or two then get back to exploring.
Use the pulse wave scanner and any glowing ones will have a good chance of surface and sub surface deposits, so anyone can do it. The trusty Python is perfect for SSD mining with a good combination of agility and cargo space.
The only time laser mining was faster than SSD - remembering this is in the black with no hotspots found by anyone already which was part of the experiment - was if someone went to the trouble of making a mining map and then we wing mined, but that relies on someone willing to make one on the fly. That's fine if someone volunteers to do so but it wasn't something we felt was fair to expect of people and plus we wanted to find a way that anyone could just pick up and do with a bit of practice. Overlapping hotspots, the other way of making laser mining faster, are extremely rare in the black and by the time anybody found one, if at all, we could drop into any single hotspot and SSD for around 150-200t an hour.
We therefore showed that taking a carrier out in the black and mining as you go is possible, you can take an hour or two out from exploring to grab tritium with SSDs from any icy ring and a single hotspot, which makes for a bit of variety as you can break up each activity by alternating between them. I'd still advise stocking to the gills with tritium before you go, but if you don't it is doable to grab enough for a few jumps as you travel.
If I was mining tritium for profit, though, I'd go to a double or triple hotspot in or near the bubble and/or use a mining map where laser mining, especially in a wing, would be quicker.
SSD mining out in the black was faster than laser mining because it could be done in any single hotspot, no special conditions were required to do it and they were quite easy to find in icy rings. Someone would find an icy ring with a tritium hotspot, call over one of the carriers, grab their mining ship off the carrier, mine for an hour or two then get back to exploring.
Use the pulse wave scanner and any glowing ones will have a good chance of surface and sub surface deposits, so anyone can do it. The trusty Python is perfect for SSD mining with a good combination of agility and cargo space.
The only time laser mining was faster than SSD - remembering this is in the black with no hotspots found by anyone already which was part of the experiment - was if someone went to the trouble of making a mining map and then we wing mined, but that relies on someone willing to make one on the fly. That's fine if someone volunteers to do so but it wasn't something we felt was fair to expect of people and plus we wanted to find a way that anyone could just pick up and do with a bit of practice. Overlapping hotspots, the other way of making laser mining faster, are extremely rare in the black and by the time anybody found one, if at all, we could drop into any single hotspot and SSD for around 150-200t an hour.
We therefore showed that taking a carrier out in the black and mining as you go is possible, you can take an hour or two out from exploring to grab tritium with SSDs from any icy ring and a single hotspot, which makes for a bit of variety as you can break up each activity by alternating between them. I'd still advise stocking to the gills with tritium before you go, but if you don't it is doable to grab enough for a few jumps as you travel.
If I was mining tritium for profit, though, I'd go to a double or triple hotspot in or near the bubble and/or use a mining map where laser mining, especially in a wing, would be quicker.
