Void Opal Mining - Broken?

[CMDR Cknarf]

Someone mentioned regular trading for big money per hour. Thing is, you often need a decent, mid range cargo hauler or better to do so.

An Adder (Sub 2 million cr build)with 8 tons of cargo, and basic mining gear can rake in nearly 25 million credits in one trip, assuming they sell at full price.

I can start a new account right now, and have enough money for a Python or better in no time.

 

[Eldragon]

I think the money making with Void Opals and other mining is perfect. It takes a little skill, a little prep work, and is profitable enough where players can get rich and feel not only like they accomplished something, but they can afford to fly (and lose) the big ships.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

It sure beats the old system lol.

All those hours wasted, scraping rocks for a mediocre paycheck.

I didn’t know any better back then.

 

[Maymo]

The whole game feels like it needs a major balance pass to be fair. Combat activities and ranking have been lagging behind the other two professions for a long time now when it comes to profits.

The mission boards be like:

Kill pirate: 120,000c
Destroy turrets: 100,000c
Salvage this: 80,000c
Massacre 100 of these: 1.500,000c
Mine 1,000t of this: 2,000,000c
Or just go deliver us 80 of these to the next system for 5,000,000m.

The pay for combat missions (despite requiring more skill, better ship, more engineering/more time etc...) don’t hold a candle to simpler missions...

Little story:
I just started a new CMDR from LHS 3447. Jumped straight to Frigaha and did my thing with the FSS, then did 3 jumps to Aphra to sell the data and bought a DSS for my Sidewinder.
Went next door to V1688 Aquilae and probed three planets, then two jumps to Clayakarma and probed another four planets. Then one jump to Yorua and managed to straight up purchase:
D rated DBX
5A Frame shift drive
4B Fuel scoop

2.5mil left in the bank and the controlling faction are so pleased with me for dumping over 10mil of exploration data on them that they’re now offering me another 2mil to fetch a black box for them from the system next door...

It shouldn’t really be possible for it to play out like this.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

I miss when you could stack massacre missions. There was a nice risk/reward aspect there.

Now they want you to spend all day killing 90 ships for like 5 million credits. Might as well just go bounty hunting in a hazres at that point, you'll make that in a half hour with less effort.

Assassination missions can earn you a quick 2-3 mil in the right places these days, and take about 10 minutes to complete

 

[Eldragon]

I miss when you could stack massacre missions. There was a nice risk/reward aspect there.

Now they want you to spend all day killing 90 ships for like 5 million credits. Might as well just go bounty hunting in a hazres at that point, you'll make that in a half hour with less effort.

Assassination missions can earn you a quick 2-3 mil in the right places these days, and take about 10 minutes to complete

Agreed. The game has a massive Risk vs. Reward problem.

Stacking massacre missions in Combat Zones was fun and dangerous. A true Risk vs. Reward situation. I don't mind that you can't get double/triple credit for kills, but I hate how terrible the payout is, especially considering how heavily engineered the targets are in combat zones.

Similar with surface skimmer killing. It was a hell of a lot of fun to airstrike bases and blow stuff up. But instead of fixing the stacking problem, they removed the ability to destroy skimmers from the air by not spawning skimmers until you're on the ground. FDev tossed the baby out with the bath water on that one.

 

[Lestat]

You know what they say: a pedant a day makes the pain go away.

My sister has Cronic Back pains. If she heard you say that she slap you silly.

 

[Lestat]

Three hours, 128 limpets, and one hot spot = total waste of time. Could have made more at a freaking Nav Beacon. I'm not looking to make 100m an hour, I'm looking for fun and a little cabbage on the side. One core. In a 'hot spot'. No fun. The opposite of fun.

Hum. Let me guess. You had the planet as the directinal indicator. Follow the same route other players would? I tend to pick the main Star as a directional indicator. That might help. Some times after the first 10 Minutes if you don't see Void Opal. Go into supercruise and maybe try the edge of Void opal location.

Good luck.

 

[RELSPI]

Three hours, 128 limpets, and one hot spot = total waste of time. Could have made more at a freaking Nav Beacon. I'm not looking to make 100m an hour, I'm looking for fun and a little cabbage on the side. One core. In a 'hot spot'. No fun. The opposite of fun.

That's... really bad luck.

But that limpet number suggests you don't know the signs of a core 'roid.

 

[RELSPI]

You think?

The guy on my left shoulder was saying, "Hey, just relax and enjoy it." The guy on my right shoulder was all, "I'm bored, let's go do something stupid."

I probably don't 'get It'. I dunno. I can be real dumb sometimes.

For relaxation, laser mining is the way to go. Core mining is more active, and is basically playing 'spot the specific asteroid' for 10 minutes then quickly making about 30 million in vopals. That's if you're lucky. It's entirely possible you just got completely trashed by RNG.

 

[Lestat]

I'll try it a few more times - shipping the mining vessel out to Rohini to use as a distraction when I'm passing through. I'd like to blame it on the RNG, but It's most certainly me that's g up.

Still, very frustrating. Makes me just want to blow stuff up; it's always the easiest way to get something done.

You can check my location on an Elite Trader way too fast. First post. I pointed out my location. Other trick that might help is using other stars, Planets, Mining Sites to set as a focus point when mining at Void Opal location. You will not fly back to the same location you already search for.

 

[Maymo]

Three hours, 128 limpets, and one hot spot = total waste of time. Could have made more at a freaking Nav Beacon. I'm not looking to make 100m an hour, I'm looking for fun and a little cabbage on the side. One core. In a 'hot spot'. No fun. The opposite of fun.

Take a fast ship like a Cobra and set it up with the basic core mining tools, try and A/B rate the pulse scanner...
Then forget the hotspots, just drop in at any ice ring and hit the gas. I pulled tons of VO’s off that tiny little ice ring in Eravate...
Fly slightly below the ring, towards the planet and use free look to check left and right as you pulse...

 

[Lestat]

Take a fast ship like a Cobra and set it up with the basic core mining tools, try and A/B rate the pulse scanner...
Then forget the hotspots, just drop in at any ice ring and hit the gas. I pulled tons of VO’s off that tiny little ice ring in Eravate...
Fly slightly below the ring, towards the planet and use free look to check left and right as you pulse...

I use the Python it works just as well. I also had Tobii Eye Tracker.

 

[Stealthie]

Three hours, 128 limpets, and one hot spot = total waste of time. Could have made more at a freaking Nav Beacon. I'm not looking to make 100m an hour, I'm looking for fun and a little cabbage on the side. One core. In a 'hot spot'. No fun. The opposite of fun.

You still in Colonia?

If I was still there I'd have been happy to show you where I go hunting VOs.
I found a system where there's something like FIVE VO hotspots all overlapping and the ring is only about 100m thick, which means you can just fly straight "across" it rather than having to fly around "inside" it, which makes farming VOs a piece of cake.

 

[Retropolitan]

Other trick that might help is using other stars, Planets, Mining Sites to set as a focus point when mining at Void Opal location. You will not fly back to the same location you already search for.

That's something I like about mining overlapping Painite hotspots: you set down near the middle of the overlap and work your way toward one hotspot. Then if things thin out you just move over a kilometer or so and work your way toward the other one.

 

[KILLCO37]

Game mechanics and BGS aside (that's a large discussion). The money from Void Opal mining is currently spot on, it's in a very good place. People have been pushing the narrative for far too long that "players need to spends weeks / months / years to earn credits", and that notion has ultimately been very damaging for the game. The high credit earnings are a massive improvement, because they allow people to do the things they enjoy.

It's interesting to me that the only place I see complaints about "high earnings", is here on the forums. Comments on various YouTube channels, and all over Reddit as well as other communities remain in support of the high earnings from Void Opal mining.

I spent one day on Void Opal. Went from penniless to Elite trader in less than a day and made over Billion Credits and having the third party websites give you the location max selling price.

Something smells fishy here. I mean, and not to be rude, but I can't help but wonder if you're saying your fish was a bit bigger than it really was. There is a lot of time and effort needed to to acquire ships, including engineering, that have the ability to haul enough cargo tonnage and manage distances to stations that will buy at top market prices.

Lets look at the numbers. We'll say you found a station within an acceptable jump range that will buy your VO for 1,650,500 a ton. You will need to haul around 605.8 tons of VO to make 1 billion. Keep in mind at times you might only find 1 or 2 fissure VO rocks in an hour. A blue zone charge placement should yield around 16, or so, tons of refined VO from one core asteroid. You will need to find, and blue charge, 37.8 VO rocks to get to 605.8 tons. I've played for the good part of a day, in my engineered Cutter, and made around 450 million. Could I have gone 24 hours straight and more than doubled my haul? Perhaps. However that isn't happening for a new commander, in a non engineered starter ship...

If there is anything Frontier could consider regarding this issue, it's making earning trade rank more challenging...

 

[Maymo]

Anyone else think rare goods deserve the void opal treatment?

It’s such a neglected feature, I’ve just done a few runs for old time’s sake and a full allocation of rares is worth between 150-200,000c.

That’s just a standard cargo mission in a Hauler these days.

 

[CMDR Cknarf]

Yeah, when the new mining was first released I was like “Wow, this is dumb.”

I was using a lumbering T9, and too many charges on the rocks. Killing the yield with explosive overkill.

Ended up switching to a Clipper, and correctly placing charges. Cash started rolling in like crazy.

Getting to rocks faster, and correctly identifying them is important I think, since I tend to get bored after an hour or so. I’ll go on a mining run with about 60-70 tons of cargo, hit a few rocks, then call it a day.

 

[Exeider]

Fdev "Made Mining Great Again" and I'm honestly happy for it. Fdev did something that most every other space game fails at, they made mining sexy.

EDIT: Also I say this before Void Opals were a thing, I have yet to see one because I'm out in the black with DW2, but from what I did experience when it first came out was awesome. I'd love to see what these Void Opals are all about.

 

[Eldragon]

Anyone else think rare goods deserve the void opal treatment?

It’s such a neglected feature, I’ve just done a few runs for old time’s sake and a full allocation of rares is worth between 150-200,000c.

That’s just a standard cargo mission in a Hauler these days.

This is an excellent idea. IMHO every profession should have the "Money Train" route that takes a little skill and knowledge to make happen and lets players bring in cash when they need it.