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== Pirates and other miners ==
[[File:Viper-MkIV-and-asteroid-minerals.png|thumb|250px|Viper MkIV and asteroid minerals]]
Miners are a popular target for piracy, and pirates can often be found lurking around planetary rings in inhabited systems, where they will attempt to scan any ship that arrives in their vicinity. If a scanned ship is carrying anything other than limpets, they will attack and try to seize its cargo. The danger posed by pirates can be prepared for in the following ways:
* Miners can, if their ship has the capacity, bring along weapons and simply destroy the attackers, earning a bounty voucher in the process. Obviously, this reduces a ship's cargo space and therefore the time it can devote to a single mining session before it must leave and sell its cargo.
Pirates can be a problem. They occasionally do a fly-by and scan you. They might even attack. You can prepare for this eventuality in several different ways:
* Jumping to supercruise or hyperspace can escape pirates if they cannot be defeated or eluded, but this means losing time to spend on mining. Also note that planetary rings exert mass lock, preventing jumps until a ship has cleared them. Asteroid belt clusters are smaller and do not exert mass lock, but are far less lucrative to mine.
* IfResource you'reExtraction Sites in ainhabited systemsystems controlled by a non- anarchicanarchy faction,minor resourcefactions extractionwill sitesusually are oftenbe patrolled by security forces mobilizedthat towill help defend miners and engage any wanted ships they detect. Ensure your"Report ship'scrimes computercommitted isagainst setme" toin 'reportthe crimesright committedHUD againstpanel me'is toggled on to enable a swift security response. ▼* If you have brought some defensive weaponry of your own it may be possible to turn the tables on your would-be attacker, earning yourself a bounty payout in the process. Of course, rigging your ship for combat might reduce your cargo space, so you would have to travel a lot more between your mining site and the station every time your cargo hold is full.
* While any location in a planetary ring can be mined, there is 25-100% bonus, depending on threat level, in the amount of material that can be mined from an asteroid within a 20km radius of a RES site. Pilots can enter a RES site then fly out to its edge, where no other ships will be active, to safely mine and enjoy the bonus.
* Any ship with a speed of over 450m/s will outrun all pirates except those with engineered ships, such as pirates encountered in Wing missions.
* Jumping away into supercruise or hyperspace is also an option if you find yourself outmatched, although it might be frustrating having to abandon valuable asteroids you may have discovered. It is also important to remember that asteroid rings establish a mass-locking effect on your frame shift drive, necessitating that you clear the asteroid field to a sufficient distance before your FSD will begin charging. Asteroid belt clusters will not lock your FSD, but retain enough local mass to disrupt low-energy jumps. It is also necessary to align towards a sensible escape vector before your computer will engage the jump.
* IfShips yourequipped ship has the optionwith a [[Fighter HangerHangar]] can beuse a[[Ship-Launched good optionFighters]] for defenseprotection sinceif most of yourtheir hardpoints will be beingare usedoccupied onby mining laserstools. Simply deploy a fighter asupon soon as you arrivearrival and use it or order a crewmember to defend yourself. This could make the [[Keelback]] a decent early option for an armed miner, but its low cargo space with a fighter bay may prove an issue. ▼
▲* If you're in a system controlled by a non-anarchic faction, resource extraction sites are often patrolled by security forces mobilized to defend miners and engage any wanted ships they detect. Ensure your ship's computer is set to 'report crimes committed against me' to enable a swift security response.
* Additional tip - You can mine planetary rings anywhere, even completely outside a Resource Extraction Site (RES)- just get close in supercruise, then lower your speed to minimum before hitting the ring. Hitting the ring at this speed will cause you to drop out of supercruise at the ring with no damage although you will not have police protection (usually).
*Alternatively, in a RES, fly 15-20 km away from the RES marker. You will not see any NPCs spawn again unless you go closer. It does not make any difference to the quality of rocks you mine. There is no quality difference, but within 20 km of RES sites, there is a bonus to the amount of material mined from each rock, 25%-100% depending on the RES intensity, from Low to Hazardous. Beyond 20 km, there is NO bonus, thus no point.
* Fast ships, such as those in the Krait family of ships, are capable of outrunning pirates. In fact, any ship with a speed of over 450m/s will outrun any pirate. The only exception to this are opponents encountered during a wing mission, as these may be engineered.
▲* If your ship has the option a [[Fighter Hanger]] can be a good option for defense since most of your hardpoints will be being used on mining lasers. Simply deploy a fighter as soon as you arrive and use it or order a crewmember to defend yourself. This could make the [[Keelback]] a decent early option, but its low cargo space with a fighter bay may prove an issue.
It's kind of a dirty trick, but if you see other NPC miners out there zapping away, it's usually worth it to mine the rock they're currently working on. They seem surprisingly good-natured about you grabbing their spot, even. Be careful not to accidentally shoot or crash into them however as you may provoke them; or gain a bounty.
== Cooperative mining ==
AMultiple buddyships andor Ia have[[Wing]] beencan fightingcooperate withto waysmine tomore makeefficiently deepby corespecializing miningeach moreship's efficientloadout. withFor theexample, twoone ofpilot us.can Firstfly wea triedspeedy, onelow-mass ofship ussuch withas the [[SeismicAsp Charge Launcher|Seismic ChargesScout]] whileequipped theonly otherwith used[[Seismic theCharge Launcher]], [[Abrasion Blaster]]s, butand found once a[[Limpet Controller/Prospector|prospector limpetlimpets]] iswhile onthe asecond rockpilot itcan reallyfly a bugslarger itship outsuch foras the other[[Anaconda]] personwith (seismicample chargecargo graphicspace, and[[Limpet countdownController/Collector|collector dolimpets]], notand showa etc)[[Refinery]].<ref name=":1">https://www.reddit.com/r/EliteDangerous/comments/a9pgdo/thanks_frontier_for_actually_making_coop_mining_a/</ref>
Then we finally settled on a efficient strategy. One of us would fly in a bare-minimum mining ship with decent speed and low-mass equipped to find and crack rocks while the other would have a larger [[ship]] filled with [[Collector Drone|collector limpets]] and a [[refinery]].
For the miner, I bought an [[Asp Scout]] since it has lower mass and the hardpoints/internals perfect for deep core and surface mining. I fitted dual [[Seismic Charge Launcher]]s just for the extra ammo (not sure if this works?). Here's my [https://coriolis.io/outfit/asp_scout?code=A0pataFaledfsjf43M3M3R3R2x-040344C0P42i.Iw1%2FkA%3D%3D.Aw1%2FkA%3D%3D..EweloBhBGA2H4FMCGBzANokMK5FAoA%3D%3D&bn=Miner%20for%20Collector Asp Scout Mining Build].
My buddy was just rolling in a [[Anaconda]] with the most collector limpets and cargo space he could fit in it, and a 4A [[refinery]].
So here's our routine:
# Asp Scout finds the next deep core rock
# Asp cracks rock and uses [[Abrasion Blaster]] to quick clean it from surface deposits
# Anaconda deploys all [[Collector Drone|collectors]] and [[Refinery|refines]] all ore
# As soon as all surface deposits are cleaned, the [[Asp Explorer]] flies on to find next deep core.
# Repeat until either A) [[Anaconda]] runs out of cargo which then we would go to the best selling [[station]] and split the cargo (not like this, though) or B) Asp is out/low of [[Prospector Limpet Controller|prospector limpets]], at which point the Anaconda can spare some. Or C) Out of [[Seismic Charge Launcher|Seismic charges]], which then requires a station trip to rearm.
So far it's been pretty successful. As long as I can have the next rock cracked by the time the Anaconda shows up we're golden. It's also an amazing sight seeing the collector limpets come pouring from the ship while I'm between the cracked 'roid plinking off surface ore.
=== Split Cargo ===
Ore holder sits in open space away from anything with a beacon on. The smaller ship either jumps into the bigger ship or fits more cargo space. The smaller ship jumps to the bigger ship and the bigger jettisons as much tonnage as the smaller one can carry. The smaller ship jumps to a [[station]], sells/repeats.<ref name=":1" />
The miner ship should crack a suitable deep core asteroid, then use the Abrasion Blaster on any surface deposits. While the refinery ship collects and refines the ore, the miner ship can move on and locate another deep core asteroid with its prospector limpets. This process can be repeated until a ship runs out of cargo space, limpets, or ammunition. Cooperating pilots can then return to a station to split the cargo; take care to avoid jettisoning cargo for this purpose within a station's jurisdiction to avoid penalties for littering.<ref name=":1" />
It's not so much the cargo space as it is the amount of collector limpets the smaller ship can control. The faster you can split cargo the better. The longest step of this whole process is waiting for your collectors to bring in cargo that was jettisoned. So I can deal with selling only 50T at a time as long as I can pick up that 50T within a reasonable time.
==Notes==
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