Outstanding, thank you so much!
If I could drop 10 likes on this, I would...
What's the most efficient way to mine Tritium?
- Thread starter BradHann
- Start date
If I could drop 10 likes on this, I would...
Additional points on the cutter laser build:
1. I use an exploration scout ship to find planets with tritium hotspots while doing other exploration activities, then return later with the mining ship.
2. The DSS is necessary. Even if you use a scout ship to DSS a ringed planet and find tritium deposits, your mining ship requires a DSS to see those hotspots.
3. No need to G5 everything. But I recommend G5 thrusters and power distributor. You want pretty good performance.
4. All 4 mining lasers fire together in a single fire group.
5. Notice my 4 mining laser placement. I tried a couple configurations and this was my preferred placement. I found if i placed my lasers under the ship I would hit the returning limpets. Others might have other preferences.
1. I use an exploration scout ship to find planets with tritium hotspots while doing other exploration activities, then return later with the mining ship.
2. The DSS is necessary. Even if you use a scout ship to DSS a ringed planet and find tritium deposits, your mining ship requires a DSS to see those hotspots.
3. No need to G5 everything. But I recommend G5 thrusters and power distributor. You want pretty good performance.
4. All 4 mining lasers fire together in a single fire group.
5. Notice my 4 mining laser placement. I tried a couple configurations and this was my preferred placement. I found if i placed my lasers under the ship I would hit the returning limpets. Others might have other preferences.
Subsurface tritium was purposely buffed just after carriers were introduced to deal with the initial tritium complaints. If you count the fragments you get from subsurface deposits of various kinds, you see that tritium ones produce more fragments than most others.Really? Seriously?
Wish I had known that.
OH WAIT! I DID!
<Edit> Here's my "it can mine anything" Python:
The Cutter is imo too big and it doesnt handle well enough to worth the effort. I used Cutters for both core mining and for laser mining too
Using a way too big ship with a less than optimal build and less than stellar mining skills means you would need many hours to fill it up
Also, a Mining Cutter with only 320t cargo for mining in deep space (where you have no npc pirates and no human opposition either) - is a bit silly
I'd say you should evaluate your mining abilities and use a ship that you can fill in a single session, something smaller than a Cutter and/or more maneuverable.
I did some posts in this thread where i gave builds and advices, but IMO to mine in the most efficient way, you do need specialized ships for the intended mining type (laser, subsurface or core) and you need to develop the skills and method needed to make mining as efficient as possible.
Else you will soon join the chorus of people that say mining is too slow and this is crap and this should be changed ASAP
Sure, if you are happy with mining less than 80-100t per hour, then you can disregard anything more or less related to efficient mining and fly whatever ship you like more.
As said I haven't mined in over a year, and at the time surface mining was considered the method for tritium. It wasn't difficult, it was pretty easy low stress gameplay. I would fill the 320t cutter in an hour which was fine, but after an hour of staring at asteroids I would want to do something else. Increasing the cargo capacity to 512t is easy but I couldn't be bothered. For surface mining I found the maneuverability of the cutter just fine. You just park in front of the asteroid. With a bit of practice there's not much to it.
In terms of functional design, any more than 4 mining lasers would drain the distributor too fast*. Everything G5 engineered. Sometimes I would need to pause firing to let the distributer build up again. And there was sufficient collector limpets such that they could easily keep up with the lasering. Usually I would know which asteroid is the next one to go to, and during travel I would look for the next one after that.
I found the biggest lost time in surface mining was if I couldn't find the next good asteroid quickly. The actual mining process at each asteroid was pretty quick.
I doubt other ship builds would have much increase in the actual surface mining process. If there is a build with a power distributor enabling more than 4 lasers that can fire for the duration of asteroid depletion and enough limpets to keep up with the lasers then certainly. The power distributor is the limiting factor. A ship with better accel will get to the next asteroid quicker. the decel is irrelevant.. the asteroid stops you just fine. Which is why you don't go shieldless.
* My power distributors are always engineered with G5 Charge Enhanced. G5 Weapon Focused would increase lasering capability.
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If you are in reasonable range of one of the bubbles the most efficient way to get Tritium is to go in for some exobiology on the way in and then park where Tritium is bought and using the profits from the exobiology put a buy order up for the Tritium and let someone else do the work.
I laser mine with an Anaconda and have a Python fore cores etc. I have never seriously considered T9s or Cutters for mining.
I laser mine with an Anaconda and have a Python fore cores etc. I have never seriously considered T9s or Cutters for mining.
My mining cutter is configured for all types of mining. I have never particularly had any difficulties with lateral thrust, but if you're really having trouble with it just rotate 90 degrees and use up/down instead. That said, I tend to ignore the subsurface 'roids that have a fast spin, because I know I'll have difficulties hitting the spot regardless of how well positioned I am.
Anyway I still hate mining. I think the real answer to my original question is "Have a podcast or something playing in the background so that you can trick your brain into thinking you aren't actually mining."
Anyway I still hate mining. I think the real answer to my original question is "Have a podcast or something playing in the background so that you can trick your brain into thinking you aren't actually mining."
It is what I am using, so there is that...
Sure there is.
I did a lot of mining in the Cutter.
Took me half a day to fill a Cutter with void opals back in the days and i usually did it in a single session, but then again, we didnt have carriers back then
But this thread was about "efficient ways to mine..."
And a Cutter is far from that
Anyways, the game is about personal enjoyment and if mining in a Cutter does it for you, go for it.
My comment wasn't "what do you think about me using a Cutter for mining?" It was directed to a specific individual asking for his Cutter build.Sure there is.
I did a lot of mining in the Cutter.
Took me half a day to fill a Cutter with void opals back in the days and i usually did it in a single session, but then again, we didnt have carriers back then
But this thread was about "efficient ways to mine..."
And a Cutter is far from that
Anyways, the game is about personal enjoyment and if mining in a Cutter does it for you, go for it.
So, considering my comment was not related to the thread topic (off topic post), what the thread is actually about is irrelevant.
But you are correct that the game is supposed to be about enjoyment for the person who pays the money. Ironically, you attempted to tear down my intended way to enjoy the game anyways. It is a shame that your comment seems to be at odds with your beliefs...
Nope, it wasnt an attept to tear down your enjoyment to the game. Far from it
Just that i've seen way to many complains about mining and too many calls to improve mining because "it sux" "it's too slow" "other games does it better" and so on.
Then it proved that most of the time the ones complaining just needed to "git gud" at it
Hopefully you will know how to play to maintain your enjoyment and to avoid burning out
And again
But this thread was about "efficient ways to mine..."
And a Cutter is far from that
If you just started a thread saying that you really love your cutter and you were asking for cutter builds for different activities, a lot of people would oblige to help you out with their builds
And you'd still get people telling you there are better ships than the Cutter for certain activities
cause that's just the nature of the ED forums and each of us have our own passions for a ship or another
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The Original Post of this thread was from someone else but @mtwill333 did start by posting a very clear and specific question about using a cutter for deep space mining launched from a fleet carrier.
For a surface laser mining ship I really don't think you will get much more quick and efficient than a large sized ship with a minimum of 4 mining lasers, a 5A prospector limpet controller and three 5A collector limpet controllers and throw in the 3E multi limpet controller and have decent cargo space. This will strip asteroids and vacuum up the tritium faster than any smaller build possibly can with far better storage capacity.
An Anaconda can have a similar build with a bigger size-8 power distributor with a little less space for internals but still good.
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Not all large ships are the same.
Cutter T10 and T9 are crippled by their PD
T10 and T9 and the Vette are crippled by their hardpoint placement
Positioning of the cargo hatch matters too, and most large ships have the cargo hatch rather too far from their noses - the only exception is the Conda which has a front cargo hatch. And this can have a quite big impact with correct positioning when mining.
Adding all of these, makes the Conda the champion of laser mining among the large ships - but only if efficiency matters.
If not? I still have a mining Cutter and i still use it from time to time, but only because i like Cutters, not because they're better at it (i have 3-4 cutters on my each account and on my latest account - the Epic one - i dont even have the Vette unlocked, but i do have 3 Cutters
)I never suggested they are.
What I did say was that ideally the Power Distributor needs to run the lasers for the full depletion of the asteroid. And 4 or more lasers is good. And the collector limpets need to keep up with the lasering. And some cargo space is needed.
Other than that, whatever flies nice and feels comfy for a cmdr is fine.
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I've not used a large ship for mining, but can limpets ever keep up with 4 lasers? My Python has 2 lasers and runs 10 collector limpets, but after depleting an asteroid I still have to wait a while for the limpets to finish. With 4 lasers I'd therefore expect to need about 20 limpets, and I'm pretty sure it's not possible to build for that in any available ship.
I use the time while the limpets finish off to prospect for the next rock.
For Tritium laser mining out in the black I use a T9, 3 Lasers and 15 collectors and an enhanced PD, with 4 pips to weapons it will easily deplete any asteroid in a single burst, since the last update where they adjusted limpet performance I have to wait for the limpets to catch up before moving towards my next rock, previously I could just move on to the next asteroid straight away.
I have got a general purpose mining Cutter, capable of dealing with any asteroid but due to limpet numbers/performance it is slower collecting Tritium than my T9, it is used in Rocky or Metallic rings when I am in a collect anything worthwhile mood.
I have also got several smaller ships set up for core and subsurface mining.
I spend almost all my time out in the black.
Interesting. That matches my "5 limpets per laser" ratio. I just can't see a reason to ever want 4 lasers.
Last night I updated my old cutter mining ship with G5 Weapon Focused distributor and increased to four 5A collector limpet controllers (12 limpets). I don't have a 3E multi with me. (Previously with G5 Charge Enhanced the PD could not fully deplete an asteroid. The pause for the PD gave the collectors time to catch up)
This was my first time mining in almost two years, so my technique probably sucks.
- The Power Distributor can sustain the 4 lasers to deplete 30% tritium asteroids easily. The PD is absolutely not a limiting factor.
- I could now add a 5th laser but did not. I don't think it would help. I am now limited by the collector limpets.
- Asteroids get depleted crazy fast.
On a side note, I didn't lose limpets crashing into the asteroid or getting lost. They behaved really great. I don't know if this is because I'm depleting the asteroid super fast (less asteroid movement during the process) or Frontier improved the limpets. Anyway I didn't pick-and-choose nicer asteroids... I just went to whatever had tritium.
This thread inspired me to revisit mining, so thanks to everybody. This is an example of how forum and player input can really add to the game. When I'm back in civilization I'm excited to build an Anaconda mining ship... so thanks to @Northpin for the great ideas. Definitely going to apply them.
It is also a good example of why it is a great idea to bring a mix of extra modules with you into deep space. I was able to refit my old cutter with improvements and try new things while in deep space. Luckily I had the engineering blueprints i desired too.
Edit:
It is also a good example of why it is a great idea to bring a mix of extra modules with you into deep space. I was able to refit my old cutter with improvements and try new things while in deep space. Luckily I had the engineering blueprints i desired too.
Edit:
- Changed Power Distributor to G5 Weapon Focused.
- Discarded landing assist module for 3A prospector Controller (manually landing the cutter on the fleet carrier is very easy)
- Added additional 5A collector limpet controller (increased to 12 limpets)
- Swapped 8A shield for 6A prismatic. (A normal 6A would be fine... I happened to have a prismatic in storage)
- Increased cargo space to 512t... 1 hour is my mining sanity limit and I didn't fill half the cargo space. I might reconsider this.
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