Bugs and issues with mobile mining.

[Midnightknight]

Hello, so first i have two bugs with mobile mining, related i think to cargo space not calculated correctly.

First here it is
https://i.imgur.com/0NbJOTw.jpg
The ship will fly forever around switching orders between "none" and "idle" while there are still tons of silicon around. The issue i think is it still tries to put a silicon wafer in it's cargo bay that can't hold it anymore. 14 empty space while silicon requires 18. I don't have the issue with my falcon miner, i don't have the issue with Ore and Ice, so it's really something that happens only if the remaining space is between 14 and 17 included.


Secondly almost the same issue if you ask to mine nividium and another type of Ore. Even if there is no Nividium to mine in system, the ship will fly around with less than 8 of free space hunting for Nividium and never returning to base to empty it's cargo.


Now the two next aren't really bugs but ... Weirdness or inconvenience.

First collect rocks in sector would really benefits emptying in a base like for mobile mining and have the possibility to make it continuous.

On the same flavor, when using a M7D to mine, (and it's awesome) you can't select what you want to mine and you can't select where to empty it either. That makes it a lot less interesting than using a TL and fighters in the end, and a lot more expensive too.

[Cycrow]

the first 2 will be fixed in 1.2
This issue is that the first script that looks for a viable sector to start mining in, checks if there's enough room for any of the selected minerals. But the mine sector script was failing if any of the minerals were too big to fit.

The mine minerals command is supposed to get one cargo load of minerals from the sector. If you want a drop off point, then you use the Automated mining command, if you set the range to 1, it'll work the same as mine minerals but will use the drop off point. Having both commands function the same would be pointless.
mine minerals is supposed to have a simple interface to use so you dont have to configure anything to get it running.

for the drone carriers, its essentially the same as the mine for station command, and uses the drone carrier as the drop off point.
in 1.2 one thing you could do if you prefer a different drop off point is to setup a trade distribution run between the drone carrier and your TL to move the minerals

[Midnightknight]

the first 2 will be fixed in 1.2
This issue is that the first script that looks for a viable sector to start mining in, checks if there's enough room for any of the selected minerals. But the mine sector script was failing if any of the minerals were too big to fit.

The mine minerals command is supposed to get one cargo load of minerals from the sector. If you want a drop off point, then you use the Automated mining command, if you set the range to 1, it'll work the same as mine minerals but will use the drop off point. Having both commands function the same would be pointless.
mine minerals is supposed to have a simple interface to use so you dont have to configure anything to get it running.

for the drone carriers, its essentially the same as the mine for station command, and uses the drone carrier as the drop off point.
in 1.2 one thing you could do if you prefer a different drop off point is to setup a trade distribution run between the drone carrier and your TL to move the minerals

Ah thank you for the fixes and the clue about M7D, will think about it yes.


For the collect rocks it's not really the same as it do not breaks rocks in the sector but only collect everything, even debris, cleaning the sector. That's not really the same as automated mining that breaks asteroids picks up only certains and do not clean debris at all (what is the point about collect rocks for me). So it's not really the same. currently i have to use Athenas to collect rocks and check often if they are full to empty and restart them, a bit tedious to make a sector clean and flyable.


Or maybe add "Debris" do automated miner then lol.

[Cycrow]

of course, if you dont equip the automated miner with weapons, then the only thing it will do is collect the rocks, as it wont be able to break them up.

also, only missiles or a mobile drilling system can be used to break up the large asteroids, so without these on the ship, then an automated miner will only focus on the debris fields

[Midnightknight]

of course, if you dont equip the automated miner with weapons, then the only thing it will do is collect the rocks, as it wont be able to break them up.

also, only missiles or a mobile drilling system can be used to break up the large asteroids, so without these on the ship, then an automated miner will only focus on the debris fields

So if i put an automated miner in a sector with no weapons it will gather the rocks including the debris? Will try that but what i have seen so far was the automated miners only collect Ore/Ice/Nividium/Silicon and leave a mess of debris on their path. But will give it a try and check.

[Cycrow]

yes they should, as they all use the same core script

[Klord]

I didnt run in to a debris mess on their path. Maybe I wasnt looking hard enough.
I really love this automated mining command.

>> I have a suggestion, dunno if its possible to implement. Currently the automated mining start when you select a sector. You can select a range (km) within the sector and jump range as well. Instead of (or in addition) using the sector as the base point to start mining, can we get the functionality to use a carrier as the base point?

Let me explain with an example.

I have 10 Falcon miners mining nividium homebased to a TL. When they run out of nividium in their set range. They dock in the TL and wait (which is really cool). If I relocate the TL to another sector where there's nividium, I have to restart automated mining in each and every falcon miner selecting the new sector.

Instead, if the falcons mine keeping the TL (home base) as the base point to their range, we can simply relocated the homebase ship every time the resources depletes. If the miners detect nividium in the new sector, they will automatically start mining.

>> Also, is it possible to get automated mining command to wing commands?

[cheef.che]

Is there any way to increase OOS mining efficiency? It's not clear how the following:
* ship speed
* number of turrets/guns
* rotation speed
reflects on mining speed. Thanks

[blazenclaw]

From my watching of an automated miner, I'm pretty sure ship speed is the most important for debris or rock collection, followed by cargo size for dedicated asteroid mining. Don't think number of turrets (so long as there's at least one for asteroid mining) matters.

[Snafu_X3]

of course, if you dont equip the automated miner with weapons, then the only thing it will do is collect the rocks, as it wont be able to break them up.

also, only missiles or a mobile drilling system can be used to break up the large asteroids, so without these on the ship, then an automated miner will only focus on the debris fields

Further to this (& other comments following), in TC & before the 'automated mining' function used the ship itself (if unarmed) to batter non-map-sized rocks into chunks small enough to pick up, hence incurring heavy dmg if <playership> was IS; I've no idea if this behaviour has been addressed in any way in AP or FL, so caveat emptor applies

[Midnightknight]

From my watching of an automated miner, I'm pretty sure ship speed is the most important for debris or rock collection, followed by cargo size for dedicated asteroid mining. Don't think number of turrets (so long as there's at least one for asteroid mining) matters.

You are right number of turrets have no impact at all OOS. It's a bit different IS.
I think speed and Cargo are equally important, sometime speed is a bit more an advantage, sometime cargo is. I use Demeters and Caimans, really different ships and most of the time the Caiman is a lot more effective than the Demeter that is a lot faster. I think when you have a really rich belt not needing you to move too much from rocks to rocks, the cargo wins. If your ship needs to run everywhere to collect some rocks speed for sure wins.

[Midnightknight]

Alright since i'm still on mining issues and questions.

I noticed there was a salvage option with station manager, i thought at first it was to collect wares in sector, but apparently it's some mining option again.
So i was wondering if it was the same script than "mine for homebase" that was used? and if not what script is used?


Secondly, with the rarity of silicon in my game i built a mine on a 70 yield asteroid. And i noticed how expensive a single wafer was. With Ecells cost set at 12 (the lowest) a single wafer cost 288 to produce where it should be close to the minimum price 232. That with ecells at 20 the cost is 480, this time it's right.
Basically that means every mine selling silicon at 232 lose 56 credits per wafer at best, and on the other hand with mobile mining becoming really important, i don't see the point to make those expensive mines that will require a ship to supply/sell and the station manager salary to pay.