Mining 101 - Stick to the RES
31 May 2018Daemonhunter Kees
Having a great time space trucking with the Vesuvius, but decided it was time to try something new so headed into the starport and did a refit to set her up as a basic miner. Installed prospector and collector limpet controllers, and a Class 3A refinery (8 Bins). For my first attempt I thought I'd try mining away from any RES sights in the hope that there would be fewer pirates. Checked the databases and found a nearby by system (LFT65) that had four ringed planets with pristine rings.Dropped into the system only to find that the main feature of LFT 65 is a beautiful Neutron Star. Being careful to not take any damage from the jetstream, I headed off to the first plane in the system. Dropped in on the outer ring, but soon discovered that it was just an ice ring. I decided to try out the equipment anyway and soon got the hang of the mining mechanics. Ominously though, within a few minutes of arriving I was being scanned by three ships. I was in the middle of nowhere so this didn't look like a good sign. I quickly jumped into supercruise, headed closer to the planet and dropped into the inner ring which was a high metallic. No sooner had I opened the cargo scoop and sent out the first prospector limpet, then I was under fire!! It appears the three pirates had followed me to the next ring and decided that a lone T7 look like a nice easy target. They immediately demanded that I drop my cargo or face the consequences.
I decided to try and make a run for it. I put full power to shield and engine, and boasted straight up from the asteroid belt. All three came after me hard, and I was getting hit from all sides. The shield dropped completely and I started taking hull damaged but I eventually managed to break mass lock and engage supercruise. With the hull down to 67%, I nursed the Vesuvius back to the nearest starport and while repairs where being made, I made my way to the nearest StarBar to settle my nerves. Lessons learned - stick to the High RES for mining in an unarmed T7, and consider installing some counter measures. A little chaff would have gone a long way today.