SakashiroI'm still pondering buying a carrier and taking it into deep space, trying to survive by mining tritium and scanning life forms for Vista Genomics. Becoming completely self-sufficient. The final challenge, and maybe the last thing I'll ever do in ED.

Glen van RossYou can average around 110 tons of tritium per hour at the right kinds of ring, but that may not get you very far depending on the number of carrier services you have active, and the amount of cargo it is carrying. A fully loaded carrier (25,000T filled) burns 132 tritium per 500LY jump. Filling the 18,380T cargo capacity of a carrier with all services active will mean 167 hours spent mining, for example.

MeowersCapturing newbies right from their starting area and making them do the mining seems like a good idea...

Glen van RossThat was one of the big controversies to hit the ED subreddit in the first few months I started playing. The idea of it still makes me chuckle, but (as I am sure you recall) the 7LD perps earned themselves an FDev banhammer and loss of their in-game assets (carriers etc).

Glen van Ross

SakashiroI'm still pondering buying a carrier and taking it into deep space, trying to survive by mining tritium and scanning life forms for Vista Genomics. Becoming completely self-sufficient. The final challenge, and maybe the last thing I'll ever do in ED.

Tritium mining is the pain point in that plan, because mining trit is slow, and you will spend a lot of time doing it. If you really love mining, then it will be an enjoyable way to see the black. If mining is tolerated at best, you are better off buying all of the tritium you need, and making occasional trips back to the bubble for replenishment.

You can average around 110 tons of tritium per hour at the right kinds of ring, but that may not get you very far depending on the number of carrier services you have active, and the amount of cargo it is carrying. A fully loaded carrier (25,000T filled) burns 132 tritium per 500LY jump. Filling the 18,380T cargo capacity of a carrier with all services active will mean 167 hours spent mining, for example.

Generally on exploration carriers, you want to remove all non-essential services and fill the whole thing with tritium in the bubble, where trit is cheap, and not say out in Colonia, where it is comparatively expensive.

Not saying you shouldn't do it, but have a realistic expectation being fully self-sufficient means a huge chunk of time will be spent in rings looking for trit. I don't love mining that much, so for me it is easier to buy.

SakashiroI just realized I never used turreted mining lasers before. They appear to be as powerful as the fixed ones, so I'm wondering, can they auto-target the prospector limpet and fire without holding down the button all the time? If so, they would be convenient and worth installing.

MarcOmegaTurreted mining lasers are in place to allow for multi-crew mining. The gunner position can use the turreted version to control mining lasers, without a gunner, you are much better off to simply use fixed lasers.

SakashiroTritium mining works well enough even in single hotspots. At least I won't be running out of fuel.

EpisparhYou could've taken sub surface displacement missiles too... Adds more variations in Tritium mining. I even find it interesting.... Or painful with a sluggish ship like the cutter.

SakashiroVista Genomics pays well, better than UC. The Courier is ideal for quick landing, scanning, and take-off.