Greetings,
just came from the engineer that doesn't want much: just 10 painites to gain access..... Where to find them??????
Heard about a place called NJIKAN so I went out and looked at the planet that had pristine metallic rings. Yup, there was one there.
Went out with a T-6, a refinery with 9 holding bins , 1 prospector capable limpet control and 1 collector limpet control and 1 mining laser.
Talk about boredom!!!...... spent almost all of my time going from one asteroid to another at a time very slowly... BUT I did find asteroids with 46% painite and I ended up with 24 tons of painite at the end of 3 runs.
What I learned from this is what I am going to get to for those who mining is second or third on the list of things to learn how to do.
1. Get a ship that has room for LOTS of cargo.... you will use up limpets like crazy.
2. Don't expect to get a tonne per limpet..... I got about a 50% return ... 100 tons of limpet... 50 tonnes of refined ore.
3. Be stingy with your prospector limpets... I learned to approach and use the mining laser to get some fragments and see what comes off ...
if it is something that you are interested in... then use your prospector to see the percentages.
4. remember your collectors have a short lifespan so don't let them sit idle while you are shooting samples or sending out a new prospector.
5. There is a way to prioritize your mining for what you want or don't want... see below.
6. there is a definite correlation of availability of minerals or ores when searching.... see below.
okay: after the T6 excursion, I used the money to get a python and fitted it out for 101 t cargo capacity, 1 prospector controller with 1 prospector at a time capability , a collector controller with the capability to send out 3 collectors, a refinery with 9 slots, 3 mining lasers, an advanced scanner and 2 pulse lasers.(defense or just a security blanket for ease of mind), of course a fuel scoop. feel free to use what you want as we probably have different techniques.
Then: once on site.....see for yourself.. try the inner edge, outer edge and the middle to see what floats your needs. stay away from the extraction zones... they do not like strangers coming in. expect to be scanned, intercepted and quite possibly attacked... if you get scanned by the authorities and then get attacked... stay in the fight until the quick reaction force comes in to save the day or flee if that is the smart thing to do.
Now the Mining part: you have approached the asteroid of your choice...get close enough to have your mining lasers ready to shoot, send out a prospector to see what the asteroid has to offer. then shoot fragments off... activate your collectors so they immediately begin harvesting. IMPORTANT: make sure your cargo hatch is open or you will get a message talking about a cargo hatch error and you will not get anything into your refinery bins. This is where having my 3 mining lasers come into play.... 3 lasers being shot in short bursts will move out a lot more fragments than a single laser will . Remember your prospector has a short life(5 minutes) before it peters out but once it gives you the percentages.... forget about it... concentrate on the collectors...3 collectors does 3 times the work of a single. Coupled with the 3 mining lasers... you can deplete an asteroid in nothing short and then start the prospecting procedure while there is a lot of fragments that your collectors are working on. By the time you get a new prospector on line and sending back the percentages of your new target... you will be running out of previous samples and the collectors will be ready to start on the new stuff.
Here is where it get FUN!!! Once you start shooting fragments... go to the f1 page and choose contacts..... you will see your collector and prospector AND fragments that are being collected. highlight a fragment and it will ask if you want to lock on, ignore or go back... forget the lock on... bad for the collector life span.... if you DO NOT want that particular type of fragment... choice to ignore it and the collectors will not bring them back to the refinery. That way , you control what you put in the refinery and what is refined. This helps greatly by preventing the "un allocated" message that brings your refinery bin collection to a screeching halt until you vent out the un allocated item.... Personally, I choose the precious metals over the minerals and then I leave 1 bin open so that message never comes up.
Once you are ready to come back to the station: do not empty out the refinery as they will be available to you when you go back out for more mining.
I have found over time that the middle of the ring has the most variety of materials ..metal ore, minerals , and other items like lead, tin, iron, suphur. As time continues, I plan on visiting other rings to see what they hold ... looking for those cold diamonds....and I will report back.
Feel free to add comments or if you disagree on something.. let me know and let me know why you disagree in a constructive format for future readers.
good luck and may your lasers find profitable ore for you. Cheers.