X4 Novice Questions

[Free Radical]

I do have experience with X3, that said...
1. Best Mining Ship? I just purchased my second mining ship. I have a Drill Vanguard and a Manorina Sentinel, of note the Sentinel costs more, but hauls more.

2. Mining Strategy- With medium sized ships, with relatively limited capacity, as a rule is it more profitable to mine a single item, two, or three items? I assume that different items will have to be hauled to different locations, and you'll be splitting the load, hence possibly smaller profits.

3. Sectors and Mining Materials- Do different sectors favor certain types of material? If so, looking for a reference.I figure that all asteroids include ore, but how about silicon, ice, and nividium?

4.Container Compression aka X3- Can container compression be bought or researched that allows your ship to carry more?

Thanks!

[DeFragMe]

I do have experience with X3, that said...
1. Best Mining Ship? II just purchased my second mining ship. I have a Drill Vanguard and a Manorina Sentinel, of note the Sentinel costs more, but hauls more.

2. Mining Strategy- With medium sized ships, with relatively limited capacity, as a rule is it more profitable to mine a single item, two, or three items? I assume that different items will have to be hauled to different locations, and you'll be splitting the load, hence possibly smaller profits.

3. Sectors and Mining Materials- Do different sectors favor certain types of material? If so, looking for a reference.I figure that all asteroids include ore, but how about silicon, ice, and nividium?

4.Container Compression aka X3- Can container compression be bought or researched that allows your ship to carry more?

Thanks!

iam not the best when it comes to mining, but to point Nr.4 ... no you cant, there is no compresison iam aware of after palying for a few hundedred hours.

[caltrop]

If you are auto mining for profit, nividium is a good starting point if you know where to sell it, followed by silicon

(but be aware nividium demand is limited to just a few locations, which eventually dry up )

So I would allocate my first 5 M miners to silicon, then switch a couple to nividium once you find a selling location

I use drill vanguards as they are relatively cheap, more likely to have the materials in the wharf to build and can give you good pilots (3 stars) to use as autotraders

Re: minerals and sectors the auto miners can find them on their own

[Free Radical]

If you are auto mining for profit, nividium is a good starting point if you know where to sell it, followed by silicon

(but be aware nividium demand is limited to just a few locations, which eventually dry up )

So I would allocate my first 5 M miners to silicon, then switch a couple to nividium once you find a selling location

I use drill vanguards as they are relatively cheap, more likely to have the materials in the wharf to build and can give you good pilots (3 stars) to use as autotraders

Re: minerals and sectors the auto miners can find them on their own

Thanks for the info! My first ship is mining ore. I'll put the second one on Silicon and see how that works. Could you recommend a sector for silicon? My first ship in Argon Prime with a 4 sector jump limit. Should I start the silicon miner in the same location, or would some place else like 18 Billion, be better? I just want to be sure that my jump limit includes a silicon rich location.

[Free Radical]

5. Sector Coordinates- Is there no way to designate the location of something like a Satellite? I realize you can see those on the map. But I used to place satellites high or low below the plain of the sector so it would less likely be destroyed by hostile forces.

I do have experience with X3, that said...
1. Best Mining Ship? II just purchased my second mining ship. I have a Drill Vanguard and a Manorina Sentinel, of note the Sentinel costs more, but hauls more.

2. Mining Strategy- With medium sized ships, with relatively limited capacity, as a rule is it more profitable to mine a single item, two, or three items? I assume that different items will have to be hauled to different locations, and you'll be splitting the load, hence possibly smaller profits.

3. Sectors and Mining Materials- Do different sectors favor certain types of material? If so, looking for a reference.I figure that all asteroids include ore, but how about silicon, ice, and nividium?

4.Container Compression aka X3- Can container compression be bought or researched that allows your ship to carry more?

Thanks!

iam not the best when it comes to mining, but to point Nr.4 ... no you cant, there is no compresison iam aware of after palying for a few hundedred hours.

Thanks! There are a few things I miss from X3, such as sector coordinates. See above.

[caltrop]

Argon prime is fine for silicon, also second contact II next door

About 3x the profit compared to ore - 75k compared to 25k

[DeFragMe]

5. Sector Coordinates- Is there no way to designate the location of something like a Satellite? I realize you can see those on the map. But I used to place satellites high or low below the plain of the sector so it would less likely be destroyed by hostile forces.

havent tried that one, but people keep on saying no, not possible..

thoguht i did wanted to try if i can move the marker upwards like station plots (i have a smart chip factory 250km above the ANT shipyard, is funny to ship fly up/down).. never tried, should do that when iam back from work.

[Free Radical]

Argon prime is fine for silicon, also second contact II next door

About 3x the profit compared to ore - 75k compared to 25k

Maybe I'll switch both ships over to Silicon for now. Thanks again for your help!

[Free Radical]

6. Auto Mining Default Behavior- I assume that a ship considers the home sector (for an order) to be the sector where it was located when the AutoMine order is given?

7. Auto Mining Default Behavior 2- When you assign Max Gate Distance of 4, is this the distance to sell or, will it travel 4 gate distances to harvest?

8. Mining- Is there a way to evlauate how productive a ship is based on it's current orders when Automining?

[Free Radical]

5. Sector Coordinates- Is there no way to designate the location of something like a Satellite? I realize you can see those on the map. But I used to place satellites high or low below the plain of the sector so it would less likely be destroyed by hostile forces.

havent tried that one, but people keep on saying no, not possible..

thoguht i did wanted to try if i can move the marker upwards like station plots (i have a smart chip factory 250km above the ANT shipyard, is funny to ship fly up/down).. never tried, should do that when iam back from work.

I'm not clear on how to orient myself other that looking at the map plot, but I have no clue how high or low I am above or below the sector's (would that be X axis?) plain. Thanks!

[DeFragMe]

5. Sector Coordinates- Is there no way to designate the location of something like a Satellite? I realize you can see those on the map. But I used to place satellites high or low below the plain of the sector so it would less likely be destroyed by hostile forces.

havent tried that one, but people keep on saying no, not possible..

thoguht i did wanted to try if i can move the marker upwards like station plots (i have a smart chip factory 250km above the ANT shipyard, is funny to ship fly up/down).. never tried, should do that when iam back from work.

I'm not clear on how to orient myself other that looking at the map plot, but I have no clue how high or low I am above or below the sector's (would that be X axis?) plain. Thanks!

on the new system.. it is a bit confusing. in the old one you just switched betwen horizontal and Vertical, on the new one you basically move the plain the way you move the kamera.. so if you want to move something like a station or a modul upwards, you have to orientate the camera horizentaly.. wich is, well, anoying to do since it loads everything you look at , even the things the furtest away on the other side of the map.

but anyway, depending on the camera orientation you can move stuff upwards and most anoyengly, diagonaly... but i stil have to try if that works too for waypoints.

edit :

since i forogot, the maps "center" is always the height level of 0. if you buidl eg a station like me 250km above the level, it looks quite dramatikaly out of place on the map.. like you move the map just a tiny bit and suddenly the station is away, than a bit in the next direction and you see it... because the map is anoyingly 3D

[abisha1980]

keep the mining ships to med size the large miners are not worth it, to slow can't use the highway and they flood the market to fast. (kind of a noob trap ship)
also the universe is for each player different they use seeds numbers so i can't give you specifics but you should focus on multi sectors.
to maximum supply and demand.

[Free Radical]

havent tried that one, but people keep on saying no, not possible..

thoguht i did wanted to try if i can move the marker upwards like station plots (i have a smart chip factory 250km above the ANT shipyard, is funny to ship fly up/down).. never tried, should do that when iam back from work.

I'm not clear on how to orient myself other that looking at the map plot, but I have no clue how high or low I am above or below the sector's (would that be X axis?) plain. Thanks!

on the new system.. it is a bit confusing. in the old one you just switched betwen horizontal and Vertical, on the new one you basically move the plain the way you move the kamera.. so if you want to move something like a station or a modul upwards, you have to orientate the camera horizentaly.. wich is, well, anoying to do since it loads everything you look at , even the things the furtest away on the other side of the map.

but anyway, depending on the camera orientation you can move stuff upwards and most anoyengly, diagonaly... but i stil have to try if that works too for waypoints.

edit :

since i forogot, the maps "center" is always the height level of 0. if you buidl eg a station like me 250km above the level, it looks quite dramatikaly out of place on the map.. like you move the map just a tiny bit and suddenly the station is away, than a bit in the next direction and you see it... because the map is anoyingly 3D

X3 had the ability to reorient the grid from horizontal to vertical and back, and there was a coordinate grid. I would purposefully place satellites 10 squares high, so they would not be normally discovered by hostile forces that entered the sector, that tended to stay near the base line.

In X4 I see the map screen in the cockpit, and it looks like if the disk is flat, you are looking straight ahead, but if you rotate it until you see the full circle, then you are either flying up or down. How would you know you flew your ship to a point 250km above the surface? Is there a grid for height, or a reading of height or depth?
Thanks!

[Free Radical]

keep the mining ships to med size the large miners are not worth it, to slow can't use the highway and they flood the market to fast. (kind of a noob trap ship)
also the universe is for each player different they use seeds numbers so i can't give you specifics but you should focus on multi sectors.
to maximum supply and demand.

Thank you. That brings up my questions 6 and 7:
6. Auto Mining Default Behavior- I assume that a ship considers the home sector (for an order) to be the sector where it was located when the AutoMine order is given?

7. Auto Mining Default Behavior 2- When you assign Max Gate Distance of 4, is this the distance to sell, will it travel 4 gate distances to harvest, or both?

[badbane]

keep the mining ships to med size the large miners are not worth it, to slow can't use the highway and they flood the market to fast. (kind of a noob trap ship)
also the universe is for each player different they use seeds numbers so i can't give you specifics but you should focus on multi sectors.
to maximum supply and demand.

Thank you. That brings up my questions 6 and 7:
6. Auto Mining Default Behavior- I assume that a ship considers the home sector (for an order) to be the sector where it was located when the AutoMine order is given?

7. Auto Mining Default Behavior 2- When you assign Max Gate Distance of 4, is this the distance to sell, will it travel 4 gate distances to harvest, or both?

Some things I found auto mine. I have like 20 or 30 to start and they made good money but there will come a point where you have flooded the market and your miners stop making as much money. At that point I would recommend building a station and picking a faction and building a mega station. start with stuff like meat wheat and energy cells. Then keep adding production til you have a producing everything a faction needs from that station so it feeds itself. Then start selling not just the end goods like missle components but sell the middle stuff like antimatter converters. Then get a bunch of miners assigned to the station and traders trading for the station and then you'll make a lot of money. As you will literally become the single point that runs the entire galaxy. Also you'll get other factions trying to send transports to your station which makes them want to build more ships which feeds your mega station. I can make 100 million in a few mintues under seta.

[Free Radical]

9. In X3 I could find Advanced Satellites in a variety of locations including Advanced Sat Fac, Military Stations, maybe Trading Stations, Looking for a heads up for Advanced Satellite availability here in X4.
Thanks!

keep the mining ships to med size the large miners are not worth it, to slow can't use the highway and they flood the market to fast. (kind of a noob trap ship)
also the universe is for each player different they use seeds numbers so i can't give you specifics but you should focus on multi sectors.
to maximum supply and demand.

Thank you. That brings up my questions 6 and 7:
6. Auto Mining Default Behavior- I assume that a ship considers the home sector (for an order) to be the sector where it was located when the AutoMine order is given?

7. Auto Mining Default Behavior 2- When you assign Max Gate Distance of 4, is this the distance to sell, will it travel 4 gate distances to harvest, or both?

Some things I found auto mine. I have like 20 or 30 to start and they made good money but there will come a point where you have flooded the market and your miners stop making as much money. At that point I would recommend building a station and picking a faction and building a mega station. start with stuff like meat wheat and energy cells. Then keep adding production til you have a producing everything a faction needs from that station so it feeds itself. Then start selling not just the end goods like missle components but sell the middle stuff like antimatter converters. Then get a bunch of miners assigned to the station and traders trading for the station and then you'll make a lot of money. As you will literally become the single point that runs the entire galaxy. Also you'll get other factions trying to send transports to your station which makes them want to build more ships which feeds your mega station. I can make 100 million in a few mintues under seta.

Thanks for the info and, I'll keep this in mind, when I get that advanced.

Does anyone know if the Gate Distance for Auto Mining (Default Behavior), means the ship will travel say 4 gates to sell and/or 4 gates to harvest? Or will it always be mining in the sector where the orders are given?
I assume the base sector is the one where the orders to Automine are given?
Thanks!

[abisha1980]

keep the mining ships to med size the large miners are not worth it, to slow can't use the highway and they flood the market to fast. (kind of a noob trap ship)
also the universe is for each player different they use seeds numbers so i can't give you specifics but you should focus on multi sectors.
to maximum supply and demand.

Thank you. That brings up my questions 6 and 7:
6. Auto Mining Default Behavior- I assume that a ship considers the home sector (for an order) to be the sector where it was located when the AutoMine order is given?

7. Auto Mining Default Behavior 2- When you assign Max Gate Distance of 4, is this the distance to sell, will it travel 4 gate distances to harvest, or both?

from what i understand when you give the order for automine that's the start system you can adjust the amount of sectors it's allow to move.
their is only a small problem if you adjust this sector to wide you also allow it to mine in systems you would not like.
so the workaround is to not give it to much space to mine in say 2 sectors max this would anchor the miner into a specific system.

[DeFragMe]

I'm not clear on how to orient myself other that looking at the map plot, but I have no clue how high or low I am above or below the sector's (would that be X axis?) plain. Thanks!

on the new system.. it is a bit confusing. in the old one you just switched betwen horizontal and Vertical, on the new one you basically move the plain the way you move the kamera.. so if you want to move something like a station or a modul upwards, you have to orientate the camera horizentaly.. wich is, well, anoying to do since it loads everything you look at , even the things the furtest away on the other side of the map.

but anyway, depending on the camera orientation you can move stuff upwards and most anoyengly, diagonaly... but i stil have to try if that works too for waypoints.

edit :

since i forogot, the maps "center" is always the height level of 0. if you buidl eg a station like me 250km above the level, it looks quite dramatikaly out of place on the map.. like you move the map just a tiny bit and suddenly the station is away, than a bit in the next direction and you see it... because the map is anoyingly 3D

X3 had the ability to reorient the grid from horizontal to vertical and back, and there was a coordinate grid. I would purposefully place satellites 10 squares high, so they would not be normally discovered by hostile forces that entered the sector, that tended to stay near the base line.

In X4 I see the map screen in the cockpit, and it looks like if the disk is flat, you are looking straight ahead, but if you rotate it until you see the full circle, then you are either flying up or down. How would you know you flew your ship to a point 250km above the surface? Is there a grid for height, or a reading of height or depth?
Thanks!

Oh, you mean just the numbers for the grid, no, i havent seen anything standing with just numbers. i usually use nav beacons and sateliet placement to triangulate my position. so if you really want your satteliets always X amount of height and with y as distance, i havent found a methode to do that yet.

they proably didnt do this, because their maps are not squares anymore but hexagons and dynamic in size view.

[Free Radical]

keep the mining ships to med size the large miners are not worth it, to slow can't use the highway and they flood the market to fast. (kind of a noob trap ship)
also the universe is for each player different they use seeds numbers so i can't give you specifics but you should focus on multi sectors.
to maximum supply and demand.

Thank you. That brings up my questions 6 and 7:
6. Auto Mining Default Behavior- I assume that a ship considers the home sector (for an order) to be the sector where it was located when the AutoMine order is given?

7. Auto Mining Default Behavior 2- When you assign Max Gate Distance of 4, is this the distance to sell, will it travel 4 gate distances to harvest, or both?

from what i understand when you give the order for automine that's the start system you can adjust the amount of sectors it's allow to move.
their is only a small problem if you adjust this sector to wide you also allow it to mine in systems you would not like.
so the workaround is to not give it to much space to mine in say 2 sectors max this would anchor the miner into a specific system.

This seems to be the impossible question to answer- if you set a ship to auto mine and give it a 2 gate jump limit, does it have free reign to operate within the limit, or will it always return to it "home" sector for harvesting. It would be so much better if it had free rein within the given limit.

[Free Radical]

on the new system.. it is a bit confusing. in the old one you just switched betwen horizontal and Vertical, on the new one you basically move the plain the way you move the kamera.. so if you want to move something like a station or a modul upwards, you have to orientate the camera horizentaly.. wich is, well, anoying to do since it loads everything you look at , even the things the furtest away on the other side of the map.

but anyway, depending on the camera orientation you can move stuff upwards and most anoyengly, diagonaly... but i stil have to try if that works too for waypoints.

edit :

since i forogot, the maps "center" is always the height level of 0. if you buidl eg a station like me 250km above the level, it looks quite dramatikaly out of place on the map.. like you move the map just a tiny bit and suddenly the station is away, than a bit in the next direction and you see it... because the map is anoyingly 3D

X3 had the ability to reorient the grid from horizontal to vertical and back, and there was a coordinate grid. I would purposefully place satellites 10 squares high, so they would not be normally discovered by hostile forces that entered the sector, that tended to stay near the base line.

In X4 I see the map screen in the cockpit, and it looks like if the disk is flat, you are looking straight ahead, but if you rotate it until you see the full circle, then you are either flying up or down. How would you know you flew your ship to a point 250km above the surface? Is there a grid for height, or a reading of height or depth?
Thanks!

Oh, you mean just the numbers for the grid, no, i havent seen anything standing with just numbers. i usually use nav beacons and sateliet placement to triangulate my position. so if you really want your satteliets always X amount of height and with y as distance, i havent found a methode to do that yet.

they proably didnt do this, because their maps are not squares anymore but hexagons and dynamic in size view.

Since you had mentioned placing a station 250KM high, I was hoping there was a way tp determine that number.