Use of Limpets for Mining

Roland Deschain · Jul 23, 2017

Hello fellow Miners out there!

In order to unlock all Engineers one got to mine 500t -> so I bought a T9 mining build yesterday and just went for it.
First off all: I didn't know that the Limpets take up cargo space. I thought they are handled like ammo, so I set of with 384 Units of Limpets.

All in all for around 370t of Material, in the end I used 200-250 Limpets (Prospector and Collecter). This seems a bit much to me.
I mean, at first I lost a number of units because I went to the next asteroid to fast, but after a while I thought to have the hang of it.

Is that a normal number, or am I doing something completely wrong here?

YinYin · Jul 24, 2017

Perfectly normal if you still need to search for your asteroids and don't fly a quick ship.

GreyAreaUK · Jul 24, 2017

For my mining Anaconda I tend to ship out with about 70 limpets. I find that number to be about right for me, although I may need more if I'm using a lot of prospectors.

Flossy · Jul 24, 2017

I always take a full hold of limpets when mining. I can go through a dozen or so before finding an asteroid that has what I want, then a few more when the collectors are sent out. Occasionally I may have to dump some as the hold fills up, but at least now the collectors don't bring them straight back. Better to have too many than not enough.

Conch · Jul 24, 2017

My mining conda takes 200limpets to the ring with 11 active and 1 prospector.

Hatchepsut · Jul 24, 2017

Sound a bit much.
Are you targeting individual fragments with your collectors ?
Best thing to do is just to target your Prospector and have 3 collectors just pick up anything floating around you.

Roland Deschain · Jul 24, 2017

Hatchepsut said:
Sound a bit much.
Are you targeting individual fragments with your collectors ?
Best thing to do is just to target your Prospector and have 3 collectors just pick up anything floating around you.

Actually I do exactly that. And I have 1 Prospector and 7 Collectors active at all times.

Cpt Spaulding · Jul 24, 2017

I take ½ my cargo space in limpets when I mine everything regardless of value.
I'll take 95% of my cargo in limpets for 3P mining and if I am target mining a single resource as prospecting will eat your limpets up.
You can also zap a rock until 3, or 4 chunks come out, then check your contacts tabs for what's inside, then hit it with a prospector to increase the yield. That'll save you on limpets, but not time.

CMDR Corlas · Jul 24, 2017

Aside from targeted mining sessions, I normally head out with 2/3 to 3/4 of my cargo hold in limpets. Your numbers sound pretty accurate.

I understand that mining will likely get a once-over soon (I forget if it was supposed to be in 2.4 or 3.x), but until then, this is the state of things.

Bottom Hat · Jul 24, 2017

Usually take around 60 to 80% of the cargo hold in limpets when starting off. It follows that I take a higher percentage if looking for a specific set of materials, like O + 3Ps, and if I am chasing a specific single element/material, I will sometimes go with 90-100% of the total cargo capacity - an example of this is when hunting for one item for a CG and so on.

Don't ever feel you have too many, as you can always dump them. If I have to dump from the Python, I will dump 15-20 at a time, and 20-30 for the 'Conda - it is all relative though OP.

Cheers,
The Hat