Mining is a pretty decent money maker. My mining op is currently 1 orca supported by 4 dolphins and a caimen that I fly to break up the asteroids. I run around with the caimen and break up most or all of the asteroids in a sector and run seta while the dolphins collect the goods. If there are a large number of asteroids I will break up several at a time rather than all at once so they don't despawn before the dolphins can collect them. I have trade 2 software installed in the dolpins and have their home base set to the orca so when I go to sell I can simply give them the 'sell ware' order which takes out most of the micro management involved with unloading all that ore and silicon. Doing this I can generally make over a million for about 20 to 30 minutes real time, this coupled with factory income from running the SETA is pretty decent. This is my preferred way of making cash until Ego gets the freakin joystick controls fixed, ship captures are better for making money over time but I just get too frustrated with it right now.
I have cleared most of the new southern areas and there are several high yield silicon and ore asteroids down there, including a 72 silicon that people have been talking about. In fact there is one system that is nothing but silicon asteroids, quite a few of them and several with pretty high yields.
On a side note, the way to get AI ships to collect the ore is to install the 'special command' software in them. Once you do this you can instruct them to 'collect wares in sector' and they will pick up the ore bits that are floating around, this command also works if you want a freighter to collect leftovers from ships you are killing (hornet missiles and the like).
Mobile Mining 101
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Pretty much the only way is to kill bad guys in Paranid sectors. Pirate ships are easiest or stray khaak M5's. You can try it with an M5 but its alot easier and goes pretty quick if you're flying an M4. You could also try to capture a demeter but with their shielding its not going to be easy and you'd be pissing off the Paranid even more in the process. If you really want to get into mining early and don't want to wait I'd suggest the vulture, its cargo capacity makes it better than the demeter in a single ship operation anyway IMO.Whats the easiest way to accquire one of these paranid demeters early on in the game.. Paranids wont let me dock at there shipping yard.
EDIT: You could also build a factory in Paranid space and as their ships will trade with it regardless of your faction relations you'll slowly go up, but it will be very slow compared to the gains you get from combat.
I tried mining last night...it's fun.
A vulture doing the mining (good tip, whoever suggested it) although I spent 5 minutes trying to mine before I realised the drill was in the REAR!
I have (now) 3 captured pirateships scurrying around on collect wares and send 75% full ships to sell the goods while the others keep collecting.
Managed to eliminate almost all the asteroids in Seizewell in the hope that a few good ones will respawn. I've now moved to another area and am doing the same. It would seem a good starting strategy once you've collected enough to buy a drill and ore collector.
It's far better than mining in elite:frontier.
A vulture doing the mining (good tip, whoever suggested it) although I spent 5 minutes trying to mine before I realised the drill was in the REAR!
I have (now) 3 captured pirateships scurrying around on collect wares and send 75% full ships to sell the goods while the others keep collecting.
Managed to eliminate almost all the asteroids in Seizewell in the hope that a few good ones will respawn. I've now moved to another area and am doing the same. It would seem a good starting strategy once you've collected enough to buy a drill and ore collector.
It's far better than mining in elite:frontier.
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willieh811
- Posts: 7
- Joined: Fri, 26. Dec 03, 00:43
Mining
This part:
"A mine can be a good place to distribute from, if you don't feel like delivering what you harvest: Drop the stuff off and let the AI traders come to buy it. Ore mines are better for this because they can hold a lot more stock, but there's no reason it can't work with silicon too. "
Is a bit confusing. Can you explain a bit more?
It seems you have two options if you want to mine, you set up a TP to do so and another TP with an ore collector and then blast the asteroids and le the TPs collect the ore. Or you can have a mine and let the mine do the work. One thing, if I am right about the mine, how do you set it up? You find a big asteroid, buy the mine and then have it towed to the asteroid you find? Are they also mobile so that once the asteroids dries out can you move them to another asteriod? I am confused about this part and wanted to explore how to do it.
"A mine can be a good place to distribute from, if you don't feel like delivering what you harvest: Drop the stuff off and let the AI traders come to buy it. Ore mines are better for this because they can hold a lot more stock, but there's no reason it can't work with silicon too. "
Is a bit confusing. Can you explain a bit more?
It seems you have two options if you want to mine, you set up a TP to do so and another TP with an ore collector and then blast the asteroids and le the TPs collect the ore. Or you can have a mine and let the mine do the work. One thing, if I am right about the mine, how do you set it up? You find a big asteroid, buy the mine and then have it towed to the asteroid you find? Are they also mobile so that once the asteroids dries out can you move them to another asteriod? I am confused about this part and wanted to explore how to do it.
>> I spent 5 minutes trying to mine before I realised the drill was in the REAR! <<
That's why I prefer the Demeter, no veiw-switching required. It also gives the thing a surprisingly powerful defense; each Mining Laser blast is roughly as powerful as a Wasp missile. Don't believe that "minimal effect against other materials" rubbish! It'll blow away that irritating Khaak M5 in one lucky hit. Good Pirate Ship hunter too; they don't turn very fast, so mine them do death
Been spending some time up in Mines of Fortune sector. Just about filled my Elephant with silicon, some 1600 units. The rocks are rich there, very rich! And absurd numbers of them.
What'd be nice is if there was a script to make collection easier for large-scale mining operations. If somebody is interested in writing this script as a public service to the mining community, I might be able to offer something in trade.
The script:
- Should be assignable under the Special section of the command menu and be called "Collect mineral wares"
- Should perform the following tasks in order of priority:
1. Immediately have the ship return to its home base if it comes under attack. Script should then stop.
2. Maintain a minimum distance of 2Km and a maximum distance of 10Km from its home base. The home base will be a TL class transporter, which can potentially be moving, so checks should be made regularly.
3. If the ship's cargo hold is full, it should return home, unload all Ore, Silicon and Nividium, then launch again and continue collecting. If the ship is unable to unload its cargo because the TL is full, it should wait for orders or for cargo space to free up, not launch again.
4. Search for asteroid ware containers of type Ore, Silicon and Nividium. If found the ship should collect these wares, but ignore all other types of ware containers.
That's why I prefer the Demeter, no veiw-switching required. It also gives the thing a surprisingly powerful defense; each Mining Laser blast is roughly as powerful as a Wasp missile. Don't believe that "minimal effect against other materials" rubbish! It'll blow away that irritating Khaak M5 in one lucky hit. Good Pirate Ship hunter too; they don't turn very fast, so mine them do death
Been spending some time up in Mines of Fortune sector. Just about filled my Elephant with silicon, some 1600 units. The rocks are rich there, very rich! And absurd numbers of them.
What'd be nice is if there was a script to make collection easier for large-scale mining operations. If somebody is interested in writing this script as a public service to the mining community, I might be able to offer something in trade.
The script:
- Should be assignable under the Special section of the command menu and be called "Collect mineral wares"
- Should perform the following tasks in order of priority:
1. Immediately have the ship return to its home base if it comes under attack. Script should then stop.
2. Maintain a minimum distance of 2Km and a maximum distance of 10Km from its home base. The home base will be a TL class transporter, which can potentially be moving, so checks should be made regularly.
3. If the ship's cargo hold is full, it should return home, unload all Ore, Silicon and Nividium, then launch again and continue collecting. If the ship is unable to unload its cargo because the TL is full, it should wait for orders or for cargo space to free up, not launch again.
4. Search for asteroid ware containers of type Ore, Silicon and Nividium. If found the ship should collect these wares, but ignore all other types of ware containers.
Re: Mining
Mines have space for a stock of minerals onboard the station. If you don't feel like selling what you collect right out of your cargo bay, what you can do is build a mine in a high-demand area, then, when you've collected some goods, just bring it back to the mine and drop it off. If your prices are reasonable, the AI traders will come to your mine and buy the goods. That way you can concentrate solely on mining, not selling. Really it's all up to the way you want to play.willieh811 wrote:This part:
"A mine can be a good place to distribute from, if you don't feel like delivering what you harvest: Drop the stuff off and let the AI traders come to buy it. Ore mines are better for this because they can hold a lot more stock, but there's no reason it can't work with silicon too. "
Is a bit confusing. Can you explain a bit more?
To deploy a mine, you first need to have TL class ship, a large transporter. They can be bought (very expensive) or hired (very cheap). Direct the TL to dock at a shipyard that sells the kind of mine you want, ore or silicon.willieh811 wrote: It seems you have two options if you want to mine, you set up a TP to do so and another TP with an ore collector and then blast the asteroids and le the TPs collect the ore. Or you can have a mine and let the mine do the work. One thing, if I am right about the mine, how do you set it up? You find a big asteroid, buy the mine and then have it towed to the asteroid you find? Are they also mobile so that once the asteroids dries out can you move them to another asteriod? I am confused about this part and wanted to explore how to do it.
FYI, check the price before slapping down your card. I was out on the ass end of nowhere; found a nice rock and lots people offering big money for silicon.. but the nearest shipyard was asking 400-someodd thousand for a mine. Well that's a load of used engine lube, since Argon mines sell for less than 200 thousand.
Trade with the shipyard, buy the mine. Load it into the TL. Move the TL to where you need it to be. The most effective way, for me, is to first tell the TL to fly to the sector where I want the mine. Follow. Then fly near the asteroid I want to set up on, and tell the TL, "Move to position... this sector... ships... my ship". Then you can move out of the way. When the TL is close enough, have it drop the station, and select which asteroid you want to build on.
Asteroids that are mined by settiing up a station on them will never be depleted. They consume a fixed amount of energy, 6 energy per unit of Ore mined, or 24 per Silicon. Higher yield asteroids will either give more units of mineral per production cycle, or shorter cycles, or preferably both. Keep them supplied with energy, and they'll keep you supplied with minerals.
Once you deploy a mine, that's it, it's permanent. So choose carefully.
A demeter eh? I'll have a look at that. It is a real pain having to turn the ship and jump in the turret to blast the asteroid.
I didn't think about where the drill would go...being new to mining.
It's also the first time I've really had to switch ships in order to do a job. I normal jet about in a Nova but they're no good for mining. I also had to buy an extra transporter and jumpdrive to save having to manually move them over each time I change ships...I can afford it now though thanks to the mining...oh, and an extra mineral scanner!
I didn't think about where the drill would go...being new to mining.
It's also the first time I've really had to switch ships in order to do a job. I normal jet about in a Nova but they're no good for mining. I also had to buy an extra transporter and jumpdrive to save having to manually move them over each time I change ships...I can afford it now though thanks to the mining...oh, and an extra mineral scanner!
The only problem with a Demeter is that its own cargo bay is quite small compared to a Vulture, so if you're in a situation where the same ship which does the mining is having to pick up the rocks, the Vulture is a better choice. It's not like it takes more than 15 seconds to turn the ship round and jump into the rear turret, after all...3iff wrote:A demeter eh? I'll have a look at that. It is a real pain having to turn the ship and jump in the turret to blast the asteroid.
I didn't think about where the drill would go...being new to mining.
I did check the Demeter capacity and saw it's only 1500. However, I have a swarm of collector ships picking the pieces and I just do the shooting. So, at this stage of the game it won't be a problem.
If I were to start a new game by mining I suspect I would do the same thing where I generate enough cash to buy a companion ore collector ship and grow from there.
I like to hop back to a station after 20 mins or so anyway just to perform a save-game so having a giant cargo hold isn't an issue. In fact it's a way of telling myself to save the game!
The Demeter is also very slow...even slower than the vulture...and I thought the Nova was sluggish!
If I were to start a new game by mining I suspect I would do the same thing where I generate enough cash to buy a companion ore collector ship and grow from there.
I like to hop back to a station after 20 mins or so anyway just to perform a save-game so having a giant cargo hold isn't an issue. In fact it's a way of telling myself to save the game!
The Demeter is also very slow...even slower than the vulture...and I thought the Nova was sluggish!
Wow, that's good stuff.Plastique wrote:Mining is a pretty decent money maker. My mining op is currently 1 orca supported by 4 dolphins and a caimen that I fly to break up the asteroids. I run around with the caimen and break up most or all of the asteroids in a sector and run seta while the dolphins collect the goods. If there are a large number of asteroids I will break up several at a time rather than all at once so they don't despawn before the dolphins can collect them. I have trade 2 software installed in the dolpins and have their home base set to the orca so when I go to sell I can simply give them the 'sell ware' order which takes out most of the micro management involved with unloading all that ore and silicon. Doing this I can generally make over a million for about 20 to 30 minutes real time, this coupled with factory income from running the SETA is pretty decent. This is my preferred way of making cash until Ego gets the freakin joystick controls fixed, ship captures are better for making money over time but I just get too frustrated with it right now.
I have cleared most of the new southern areas and there are several high yield silicon and ore asteroids down there, including a 72 silicon that people have been talking about. In fact there is one system that is nothing but silicon asteroids, quite a few of them and several with pretty high yields.
On a side note, the way to get AI ships to collect the ore is to install the 'special command' software in them. Once you do this you can instruct them to 'collect wares in sector' and they will pick up the ore bits that are floating around, this command also works if you want a freighter to collect leftovers from ships you are killing (hornet missiles and the like).
Did you make all your creds just mining? To have an orca and 4 dolphins (probably maxxed out) you would have to had quite a bit of creds.
The reason I asked is that I wanted to explore the aspect of just pure mining and not do the SPP thing (ho hum, snore).
Edit: Sorry, you did say you had factories.
I was thinking of starting over and see if you can finish this game with just mining. It would be slow going in the beginning, but with a fleet of orcas just think of the possibilities.