Automine default behavior grayed out

[Pargen]

I'm new to the X games so bare with me. I am still learning.

I have 3 ships:
Elite starter ship
Courier (Mineral) - s miner ship
Drill - m miner ship

The automining default behavior works fine with my M class Drill miner ship.
On my Courier (Mineral) - s miner ship, automine was grayed out in default behavior. At first I thought it was because I bought it with minimal loadout and it did not come with a mining laser, so I saved up money, bought a mining laser for the Courier (mineral) - s miner ship, and I still can't select automine, it is grayed out.

I am not sure what I am missing, it has 1400ish cargo space, it has a mining laser. I just don't know.

If anyone can offer suggestions, I would appreciate it. Google and searching this forums hasn't helped so far, but may not be searching for the right terminology since I am still learning.

Thanks.

[DnBrn47]

I believe it has to do with Pilot skills. They need a certain skill rating in order to automatically mine/trade. I have a miner atm that can't automine as well, does just fine manually though.

[TearsInRain]

There is a "feature" in the game, if you choose the minimal load out, and then spec it, you get a zero star captain

If you choose the "high" loadout, and then spec it down to the same as the minimal, you get a 3 star captain.

So you can 'sploit it to make sure you get an experienced captain.

Frankly I would prefer if I could just pay extra money and choose the rating of the captain I get.. Make 3 star captains 300,000-500,000 credits.

[DnBrn47]

Just confirmed the skill thing. My manual miner can now Automine within 6 gates, it took quite a bit of manual mining to get there though. My original Autominer can mine/sell within 20 gates.

[Pargen]

Ok thanks for the info!