Mining Guide
09 Jan 2019Thebearjew726
I will be updating this guide periodically as I gain experience with the new mining tools and systems.Purpose:
The new mining system with 3.3 has opened up the possibilities of insane profits and as such should be utilized while available. This guide is to share the experience gained and share workable mining loadouts as well as tactics and locations where greatest profits can be made.
Ships:
I have used a Type 10 and a Cutter so far, and have a design for a Corvette. I think that medium ships that are faster may be viable as well since Void Opals are rare, thus large cargo capacities are not mandatory, but fortune tends to favor the prepared so I am going in with loadouts that can handle anything.
In general you will need the following modules at a bare minimum:
Pulse Wave Analyzer
Abrasion Blaster
Seismic Charge
Prospector Limpets
Cargo Racks
Refinery
Shields
The following modules are recommended to make mining easier:
Detailed Surface Scanner (finding hotspots)
Collector Limpets
Weapons (For pirates)
I also recommend at least 64 tons of cargo space. 62 tons of void opals gives 100 mil credits and takes about an hour to gather up, so it's a nice stopping point.
Systems:
Icy Rings. This is where void opals are at. Use EDDB to find a system with Icy rings near where you are going to sell at. There is a squadron bookmark shared with a planet near Niflhel that has Void Opals, and the rings around Niflhel 5 and 6 have them as well. Also use EDDB to find a system that buys high. Once you are newar the icy rings shoot a discovery probe at the ring and scan it. Any hotspots will appear in your navigation panel. Target a Void Opal hotspot and fly at the rings. Slow down when you get close and you'll auto drop when you get close enough to the rings. You want to aim a few Mm away from the waypoint but still in the yellow region of the hotspot, these areas don't get mined very heavily. Some pirates usually follow you in. If you have nothing in your cargo hold then they'll scan you and leave. Or you can blow them up if you have weapons.
Finding a motherlode:
Pick a direction and hit the throttle. You're looking for specific rocks so no need to fire a prospector limpet at everything that lights up.
Hold the button you have Pulse Scanner bound to so it will constantly scan.
Use the Pulse Wave Scanner to see good rocks to crack (See Ymir's Corner on our Discord server). You're looking for asteroids with fissures. You can see these by looking at the while scanning, it will be bright yellow (Night vision is highly recommended.) and then change to very bright red after you get closer. NOTE: It should stay annoyingly bright the closer you get. If it dulls to a dull reddish orange, this is a dud and not worth mining.
Void Opal Cores appear as bright red asteroids on the Pulse Wave Scanner.
Fire a prospector limpet to scan the asteroid. (Not every asteroid that looks good will have a core.)
Shoot seismic charges at the fissures and make sure your yield strength is in the optimal zone. (Displayed in the upper right corner after the first seismic charge is fired.)
Low Strength Fissures with High yield charges do the most damage to the asteroid, High Strength Fissures wilth Low yield charges barely scratch it.
After the blast just hang back a minute and let the chunks float apart. Use the abrasion blaster to break chunks off and let your limpets vacuum them up.
Rinse repeat. Make money. Using my cutter and the techniques above I mined 106 Void Opals in an hour. That's about 170 million credits/hr which is insane considering you don't need a fancy ship to get started mining.
Advice:
Don't be picky. If it came from an asteroid core, it is going to sell high, except for Bromellite. That stuff is garbage unless unlocking Bill Turner.
Use EDDB to find systems to mine in and places to sell
Don't mess with other types of mining unless you want something specific.