The Mining discussion thread.
But don't try to mine ice rings. That doesn't work.
And don't plan on getting rich as it's just a time well IMHO, I've tried mining for 5 hours and find the whole thing very unrewarding, it is quite literally boring.
Ya, I just found some stuff to mine and spent a good hour+ at it. It was pretty fun, and I made some decent creds... about 35k. I could certainly have made more money just trading and running bulletin board missions but it was a fun little diversion.
Don't think I'll be a full time miner but glad to have figured it out.
Is it possible to mine without a resource extraction site?
Hi All,
I have been trying a few planetary rings without resource extraction site to mine resources. Unfortunately, none of the rocks would give me any pieces of it.
Is it possible to mine rocks which are not in a resource extraction site? Or do I need to search for those sites to be able to mine any resources?
Hi All,
I have been trying a few planetary rings without resource extraction site to mine resources. Unfortunately, none of the rocks would give me any pieces of it.
Is it possible to mine rocks which are not in a resource extraction site? Or do I need to search for those sites to be able to mine any resources?
Yes, you can mine anywhere there are asteroids, you can not mine ice asteroids tho.
Water water everywhere and not a drop to drink.
I feel like the problem is that most of the professions increase in profitability in a linear fashion as you level up your ship and skills, but profits from trading increase in an exponential fashion. It means that there's a clearly defined "best way to play," which is trade until you have an obscene amount of money, and then buy a whole bunch of ships and do whatever the heck you feel like just for fun.
I have a nicely kitted eagle, and there's just only so much I can do with it. Doesn't matter how badass I am in that eagle, I could be an incredible pilot who can take any ship including anacondas... but there's nothing for me to do to make use of that skill in a super profitable way.
In a sense, the only occupation that 'scales' as you progress is trading.
I have a nicely kitted eagle, and there's just only so much I can do with it. Doesn't matter how badass I am in that eagle, I could be an incredible pilot who can take any ship including anacondas... but there's nothing for me to do to make use of that skill in a super profitable way.
In a sense, the only occupation that 'scales' as you progress is trading.
Mine from pristine belts (get away from "home") and focus on high value metals and minerals. The good stuff isn't just going to be right there for you. You are going to have to do some prospecting.
Also, the current implementation of mining is incomplete, as FDev has already indicated. Asteroid resource scanning is still missing and I've heard on these forums that there might be a solution for aiding in collection.
Though, really, once you've got scooping down and find some fields with high value metals, you'll be rolling in credits soon enough.
Also, the current implementation of mining is incomplete, as FDev has already indicated. Asteroid resource scanning is still missing and I've heard on these forums that there might be a solution for aiding in collection.
Though, really, once you've got scooping down and find some fields with high value metals, you'll be rolling in credits soon enough.
Once you have a lakon 6 you can make ridiculous amounts of money. And you can do it while not actually playing actively. Im sitting in the dock with a hold full of stuff and checking every few minutes to see if they have come up on the bulletin board and cash in ... While im making the evening meal, watching telly and chatting on here...
yeah this is exactly what I'm talking about. There aren't any equivalent mechanics for the other jobs. Right now there don't seem to be any big super difficult bounty jobs, or they're very very rare.
It would also be nice to see bounties that weren't just tied to ship size. It's ridiculous that anacondas are the only ships that have high bounties. I suppose it could be because the AI isn't good enough to provide a challenge for the smaller ones?
That mining mechanic needs looking at. I don't mind the small amounts you start with and I think it is a means to an end in terms of it being a segway between small trade runs and a larger trading machine. Mining seems too small to do for very long and my put many ED noobs at a patience threshold that would make the process prohibitive.
I think the process needs a quick win one off event occasionally that gives a nice cash/ore boost and rewards patient searching. At the moment the mechanic is a patterned process and quite drab. There also needs to be clear differentiation between mining lasers (only 1 at the moment (I think)) and refineries. Refineries have hopper options but could also do with assessment and ordering adaptations. If the idea of building an empire through a mining process there needs to be the fundamental ability to acquire as much money as trading within it or it is just going to be a side mission.
One thing that might come out is multiplayer adaptation which allows teams of miners with catcher/refiners.
I think the process needs a quick win one off event occasionally that gives a nice cash/ore boost and rewards patient searching. At the moment the mechanic is a patterned process and quite drab. There also needs to be clear differentiation between mining lasers (only 1 at the moment (I think)) and refineries. Refineries have hopper options but could also do with assessment and ordering adaptations. If the idea of building an empire through a mining process there needs to be the fundamental ability to acquire as much money as trading within it or it is just going to be a side mission.
One thing that might come out is multiplayer adaptation which allows teams of miners with catcher/refiners.
Mining is free credits, just like the other "free credit for nothing" activity: exploration and makes comparable credits. In fact, to make a pile of credits as a miner you need exploration to go out and find those juicy gold asteroids.
It's fine as it is. The good stuff should be hard to find but when you do then the credits should roll in.
It's not exactly fine as it is - the mechanics of it are tedious: mine a piece of rock, fly chasing it like a dog dashes after a thrown stick... that part would do with some polishing - send a drone to fetch the pesky rock, even if it'd take exactly as long as it'd take for you to fetch it, it'd avoid the rather cumbersome hassle of zigzagging around and let you concentrate on the job itself.
Yeah. Mining needs to reflect higher demand prices in core systems I think. Otherwise its just a feature no one is going to use.
If they are prepared to do a bit of exploring first, mining allows a small ship owner (up to a Cobra say) to make 100,000 to 120,000 Cr an hour quite easily. Not a bad return and comparable with working a good trade route or going for the larger bounties. If anything I expect mining to be nerfed a little as things are rebalanced for Gamma and Retail.
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Just as combat isn't for some players, so mining isn't for others (tedious isn't a word I would use for mining but I can understand that someone with a different temperament might not enjoy it - my suggestion fwiw is to find something you do enjoy as there are plenty of things to do in the game
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Asking for things you don't enjoy to be automated isn't the answer though. Reading through the forum, there are numerous posts saying "X is broken/boring/difficult so please change the game so that I don't have to put up with it" - if FD responded to all these requests we wouldn't have a game worth playing. Accept the game for what it is (still a work in progress), don't assume things will be made easier, find what you are good at and use the time now to develop the skills and knowledge to play the final version well.
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Just as combat isn't for some players, so mining isn't for others (tedious isn't a word I would use for mining but I can understand that someone with a different temperament might not enjoy it - my suggestion fwiw is to find something you do enjoy as there are plenty of things to do in the game
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Asking for things you don't enjoy to be automated isn't the answer though. Reading through the forum, there are numerous posts saying "X is broken/boring/difficult so please change the game so that I don't have to put up with it" - if FD responded to all these requests we wouldn't have a game worth playing. Accept the game for what it is (still a work in progress), don't assume things will be made easier, find what you are good at and use the time now to develop the skills and knowledge to play the final version well.
If they are prepared to do a bit of exploring first, mining allows a small ship owner (up to a Cobra say) to make 100,000 to 120,000 Cr an hour quite easily. Not a bad return and comparable with working a good trade route or going for the larger bounties. If anything I expect mining to be nerfed a little as things are rebalanced for Gamma and Retail.
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Just as combat isn't for some players, so mining isn't for others (tedious isn't a word I would use for mining but I can understand that someone with a different temperament might not enjoy it - my suggestion fwiw is to find something you do enjoy as there are plenty of things to do in the game
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Asking for things you don't enjoy to be automated isn't the answer though. Reading through the forum, there are numerous posts saying "X is broken/boring/difficult so please change the game so that I don't have to put up with it" - if FD responded to all these requests we wouldn't have a game worth playing. Accept the game for what it is (still a work in progress), don't assume things will be made easier, find what you are good at and use the time now to develop the skills and knowledge to play the final version well.
Heh, I do like mining - I'm combat-adverse (until someone steps on my toes, so to speak) - mining's easy, just that the constant zigzag here and there after the mined chunks makes it tedious (and with trading I can easily make more with same time allotment). Not wanting mining be automated (or anything else to that matter), no - just that the tools be more "user friendly".
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I would have to humbly disagree there
My current trade route in a Cobra is netting me 62,000 creds profit return run. Which is only 1 jump between systems and takes 10 minutes all in all (the second stations is a few thousand LY out, while the other one is right next to the sun -_- ). So summing up, I make roughly 350,000 - 400,000 an hour (trade route is my precious), I'm currently going to buy a Lakon 6 tomorrow and start earning some serious credit. While my experience with mining, was I gained roughly 150,000 - 200,000 an hour, mining Palladium, Gold and Silver (Draconis 68 if you are wondering B field ). So all in all, comparing a good trade route against some of the best metals to mine, it is not worth it IMHO.But, I promise you that will change, mining will receive a buff, as in they will implement equipment that will mine for you while you do trade runs etc (have confirmed this), making mining in the future a lucrative side buisness, or for career miners, a very profitable main buisness. Either way, it would be unwise to nerf mining, as they need to make it attractive to players if they want to have a player run economy. No miners, no economy. Unless they rig the markets mining materials themselves via server.
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I would have to humbly disagree there
... Either way, it would be unwise to nerf mining, as they need to make it attractive to players if they want to have a player run economy. No miners, no economy. Unless they rig the markets mining materials themselves via server.
I totally agree with the last sentiment - mining should be seen as a viable route to progress in the game. My fault that I didn't make myself clear in the original post; when I talked about nerfing mining I was thinking of from its current yield - I suspect every way of making credits will be nerfed/rebalanced in the final version of the game so as to slow a player's progress no matter what career they choose. Making it so that ships like the Asp, or even worse T9s and Clippers, are achievable at Release +2-3 days would be the fastest way to kill the long term popularity of the game that I can think of.
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anikaiful, I share some of your aversion to combat having made my mind up that my primary ED career will be in the mining/exploration area supported by trade when it looks worth it. I got plenty of combat experience in PB so I can handle myself if pushed to it, but I see it simply as bad for business so I don't seek it out and my Cobra's current loadout isn't intended to be combat friendly. What I hope is that once we get past the Gamma reset some of the players currently PKing with dubious justification will realise that their actions now have permanent consequences in-game and that the sandbox of "testing" is over.