Mining Guide
Behold, mining information! Let's start with the things you put on your ship.Hard Points
Mining Laser: You need this to shoot the asteroids and cut off fragments. They come in 2 sizes, bigger is better. They have a fixed and multicrew version, fixed is cheaper. They have a short range of 500m.
Mining Lance: These are a special size 1 variant only purchasable after at least one month pledged to and rating 3 achieved with Zemina Torval. They are more effective than size 1 mining lasers and have a 2,000m range.
Abrasion Blaster: This is used to blast targetable chunks off of the surface of an asteroid. It comes in fixed and multicrew versions, fixed is cheaper. It is size 1 only.
Sub-surface Displacement Missile: This is used to dislodge targetable chunks beneath the surface of an asteroid. It comes in size 1 and 2 with fixed and multicrew versions. Larger size gives more ammo, fixed is cheaper.
Seismic Charge Launcher: This is used to blow up an asteroid with targetable fissures. This is what is used when Core Mining.
Utilities
Pulse Wave Analyzer: This high energy consuming modules sends out a pulse that highlights any asteroid that has Surface deposits, Sub-surface deposits, or a minable Core. It does not tell you what the asteroid actually contains. YOU ONLY NEED THIS IF YOU ONLY WANT TO MINE SURFACE, SUB-SURFACE, AND CORES. You still need to use a prospector limpet on the asteroid to get targets and asteroid information.
Optional Internals
Cargo Rack: You put stuff here. That stuff being limpets and fragments processed by your refinery. Bigger is better. Available in every size.
Collector Limpet Controller: This allows you to deploy collector limpets. Comes in sizes 1, 3, 5, and 7. They deploy 1, 2, 3, and 4 limpets respectively. Classes most important to mining are B and A. Class B have the longest collection range. Class A have the longest deployed lifetime. WHEN USING do not target anything collectible as you launch and they will remain out for their entire life. If you target a fragment (or other collectable thing) they will rapidly grab it and kill themselves after delivering to you. The more the merrier.
Detailed Surface Scanner: This allows you to find hotspots in rings and on planets. To use, target the planet and fire at it (for SRV mining) or its rings (for space mining).
Planetary Vehicle Hanger: This needs to be equipped with an SRV in outfitting. It allows you to deploy a ground vehicle when landed on a planet or at a Surface Station. The SRV is then used to find a blast various types of outcrops, geological structures, and biological thingies for raw materials.
Prospector Limpet Controller: This is used on asteroids to determine the contents of them. Information provided by the prospector includes: Amount left to be mined from the asteroid, what types of fragments are minable from the asteroid and % of the asteroid that is that element, how much raw materials can be expected from the asteroid, if it has a core and what the core is (and where the fissures are), and whatever surface and sub-surface deposited are present. It is available in sizes 1, 3, 5, and 7. The classes of this module increase the yield you will receive while targetting the limpet and laser mining. Class A is always recommended.
Refinery: This is crucial to asteroid mining. The refinery processes the fragments collected from asteroids and converts them into the 1 tonne commodity that can then be sold or turned in for a mission. The bigger the refinery the more bins. If you are mining a specific thing you won't need a large refinery.
Mining Basics: Asteroids
Laser Mining:
- Mining Laser(s)
- Cargo Rack(s)
- Collector Limpet Controller(s)
- Prospector Limpet Controller
- Refinery
- Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS)
For laser mining, assemble a ship with at least one of each of the above modules. Then load up half to all of your cargo with limpets and head to your destination. In supercruise, fly towards a planet with rings and target the planet. While in Analysis Mode, fire your DSS at the rings. This reveals hotspots, while not all Metals and Minerals have hotspots the more valuable ones will have them. Hotspots have higher concentrations of whatever they are for, overlapping hotspots of the same type further increase this concentration. Dive into your chosen area.
Once in the ring, expect pirates to appear within the first 30 seconds of dropping. Wait for them to scan you and move on before you begin mining. You can only mine in Analysis Mode (unless you have the Mining Lance) so if you equipped combat weapons remember you will need to switch. To begin mining, fire a prospector limpet at an asteroid, then target the limpet. Review the content of the asteroid in the bottom left corner of your HUD. Generally, 20% or higher for your targeted Metal or Mineral is as low as you will want to mine. If the asteroid meets that, fire your laser at it. Remember, you have to be within 500m of the rock, not the limpet, and the rocks do spin.
A good rule, when mining a specific thing, is to blast several fragments off of a few asteroids in the current ring and head to your contacts panel to select all fragments other than your target to add to your ignore list. Do not ignore materials, these take no space and are vital for engineering and synthesis. Once you have things ignored and without anything targetted, release your collector limpets and deploy your cargo scoop. You may also have the prospector limpet targeted when you release your collectors without putting your collectors into suicide mode. If you target anything the collectors can grab when you launch them, they will only grab that one thing and die.
The fragments collected will enter your refinery and build up. Once they reach 100%, the refinery will process the fragments into a 1 tonne commodity that then enters your ship's normal inventory. You may need to drop limpets if you are in a hotspot, this is fine. As you mine, try to head in one direction to avoid circling back upon your depleted asteroids. To help this, target the planet or a nearby hotspot and head either towards or away from it.
Pip management - four pips to weapons will help you fire your mining lasers longer and prevent your heat from building up too fast. The bigger and better your Power Distributor is will also help. Engineering for weapons focused will really help.
WING MINING NOTE
When in a wing, designate one person to fire prospector limpets. The whole wing should target the same limpets and mine from the same asteroids. Each player depletes the asteroids separately. Whenever a wing mate is completely full, they should remain with the group so that their fragments can be collected by the others and hasten the mining. It is faster to mine in a wing. Selling together at the same station also provides profit sharing to all wing mates, that's extra money.
Fancy Pants Advanced Mining:
- Mining Laser(s) <optional>
- Abrasion Blaster
- Sub-surface Displacement Missile
- Seismic Charge Launcher
- Pulse Wave Analyzer
- Cargo Rack(s)
- Collector Limpet Controller(s)
- Prospector Limpet Controller
- Refinery
- Detailed Surface Scanner (DSS)
For more advanced mining, outfit a ship with the above. Fill your ship with limpets and head to your destination.In supercruise, fly towards a planet with rings and target the planet. While in Analysis Mode, fire your DSS at the rings. This reveals hotspots, while not all Metals and Minerals have hotspots the more valuable ones will have them. Hotspots have higher concentrations of whatever they are for, overlapping hotspots of the same type further increase this concentration. Dive into your chosen area.
Once in the ring, expect pirates to appear within the first 30 seconds of dropping. Wait for them to scan you and move on before you begin mining. You can only mine in Analysis Mode (unless you have the Mining Lance) so if you equipped combat weapons remember you will need to switch. If you ONLY want to mine rock that have the more advanced mining available, activate your Pulse Wave. The asteroids with fissures, surface, and sub-surface sites will glow yellow and orange.
Pick an asteroid and launch a prospector limpet onto it. The info panel will tell you its content and if it has a core. Targetable fissures, surface, and sub-surface fragments will be revealed. Delete the asteroid with your lasers first, if you brought any. Score the surface by targeting and blasting g surface deposited with the abrasions blaster. Blast out sub-surface deposited by firing a Displacement Missile into them, continue holding the fire button in and wait for the minigame to appear in your info panel. Release the fire button when the scrolling blue zone is aligned properly, repeat.
Now to crack the core open. Use Seismic Charges on the fissures of the rock. THE END. Except not really. Each fissure has a strength. When you fire Seismic Charges you hold it in, the longer you hold it, the higher the strength. Your goal is to fire the right combination of charges into the various fissures to get into the blue zone of the display that overrides your info panel in the top right of your HUD. You may not need to use all the fissures and do not necessarily have to match the charge strength with the fissure strength. You may detonate a failed charge from your contacts panel or detonate the asteroid early if you've met your goal. Once the first charge hits, a countdown begins.
Back away from the asteroid BEFORE it detonates. Chunks will be blow free immediately upon cracking, release your collectors. The interior will now be covered in surface deposites, carefully maneuver your ship to use your abrasion blaster on these.
NOTE ON MINING FOR PROFIT
While thing like Low Temperature Diamonds(LTDs) and Painite have the potential to be found in cores, they can be more quickly and easily mined via Lasers in triple and double hotspots respectively.
Mining Basics: Planets (SRV)
- Cargo Rack(s) <optional>
- Detailed Surface Scanner
- Planetary Vehicle Hanger
Ensure your ship is outfitted with the above. Do not forget that once you install the PVH you still have to equip an SRV. Head to a landable planet and target it. While in Analysis Mode, fire your DSS until you have the planet 100% scanned. If it has any geological or biological sites they will appear and you can land at them. You do not need a hotspot to mine at, they just have higher concentrations of the Raw Materials available on the planet. Pick your location and land.
Once on the ground, go to you Role Panel (the bottom one) and deploy your SRV. A good rule of thumb is to ensure you have both its scanners set together on primary or secondary fire and its weapon on the other, default only assigns one scanner and the weapon. If you landed at a geological or biological hotspots, drive away from your ship (or dismiss it) and enter turret mode. While in Analysis Mode, aim at a geological or biological structure, your reticle should flesh, hold in your scanner until it is complete, while not necessary for mining it does give you some goodies. Switch back to combat mode. Find targetable nodes, shoot them. The angles needed to actually knock a chunk off are sometimes difficult and may require hovering or being in turret mode. You can leave your cargo scoop deployed without cost to speed or mobility. To collect, target the fallen material and run it over.
Note
SRV shields only defend against weapons fire. While surface mining, there is rarely need for pips in systems. Engines make you go faster and allow for longer hovering. Weapons let's your pew-pew go pew-pew longer.
If you chose to land randomly or at a station, deploy your SRV as normal. Ensure you are away from your ship (dismiss if you want) and/or outside of the station's No-Fire Zone. To find resource nodes, check the Wave Scanner above your radar. Static on the bottom indicates a resource node. Head towards the center of the static until it narrows. Eventually the node will appear as a white square on your radar. Target it, shoot it. Multiple chunks of Raw Materials will fall out. Target them with your cargo scoop deployed and run them over. Each chunk counts as 3 of that material.
Low gravity planets make gathering raw materials tedious as they can end up floating high for far too long. Higher gravity planets drop the materials immediately where the node was but invite the risk of greater challenge landing and damage recieved from bad driving.
The static on the top of the wave scanner can indicate various things including but not limited to temporary facilities, automated mining sites, crashed ships and probes, structures, thingies, etc. Static the shows on the bottom of the scanner will be a Raw Material Node of some sort. Static the appears on the top of the scanner will be some sort of, usually, scannable structure or commodities.
When you have had your fill of mining return to your ship, if it is absent, recall it from the Role Panel by selecting the SRV and choosing Recall Ship. If your ship cannot land, it will hover above you. To board your ship, align your SRV with the orange hologram descending from your ship. An indicator on the bottom right of your HUD will notify you when you can board. Once aligned, go to the Role Panel, click your SRV, select board.
Note on Cargo
The SRV has a cargo capacity of 2 tonnes. Raw Materials do not go into this cargo but you can find commodities on planet surfaces. If you collect them and try to board your ship, the SRV will transfer the cargo to the ship. If no space is available on your ship, you cannot board it. Also, while aligned with the orange hologram you can transfer cargo between ship and SRV via the Role Panel.
Every planet has a different assortment of available Raw Materials and percentages. FSS, Surface Scanning, and Nav Beacons can all three reveal this information. The System Map displays it once you have acquired it. Raw Materials are most effectively mined in the SRV and are crucial to Engineering and Synthesis.